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Welcome to the Book Business Boss Show with your host, Dr. Julia Royston, helping you get your message to the masses, turn your words into wealth, and be a book business boss.

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Well, hello, I'm Dr. Julia Royston. Welcome to another episode of the Book Business Malls Show, where I'm always helping you, striving to anyway, help you get your message to the masters, turn your words into wealth, and be a book business balls. And so um this season we're all about turning your book into a business. But I don't think in the previous episodes I've talked about this. So I need to take a pause and stop right here just for uh a minute and to really kind of reflect so we can uh redirect or re-emphasize or even change some of the way that we approach turning our book into a business or change the way we've even thought about it. Um, because most people, when you're talking about, I have a book, it's like you have a book, oh my god, that's what you're selling, or what is the book about? And then they can decide whether they want to buy the book for themselves, buy the book to give as a gift to someone else, or buy the book just to support you. And um, you know, and sad to say, but it could be end up in the um secondhand store, it could end up in at the Goodwill on the shelf. I mean, the classics have been in there too, as well, for different reasons. Sometimes it's not just that the book was bad, it's just that they they no longer have any room in their house for it, or it's an estate sale and somebody passed away. I digress, but what are you selling? So the reason why I bring this up right here, and um, you know, I probably should have done it sooner, but sometimes we have to be reminded of something. So um I was I'm I'm an avid social media person, and there are some people that I follow specifically that really help me as a coach. And hence, sidebar, we all need those people virtually that we can get sometimes not just a little information, a little nugget here and there, they can be boulders that can shape and re impact your business in a way that you know your business. You know, me, I'm 18 years, I know my business. Some people who come to me think they know they bus my business better than I do, but I digress. Um, but you know, some people that you listen to help you look at your business, even though you're not in the same business, differently. And so this uh business coach was in a session and it was one of those one minute, 30-second real things, and he said, you know, what you say you're selling is not what you're selling because you haven't said what the benefit is. What why do they need it? Why do they have to have it? And I've said that before, but I didn't look at it this way. He said, What you're really selling is a solution to a problem. What you're really selling that what is the benefit? What is the good they're gonna get out of it? What is um the goal at the end? Is it just to inform? Is it just to educate? What are you really selling? Um you know, you can find subliminal messages in a little bit of everything. But he said, okay, you have a book, yeah, but you're selling more than that. Uh especially if you're building a brand, you're building a platform, um, you're building a an an empire, really. You're building legacy, there's a lot more to it. So and and and also in today's economy, it can't just be about selling a book. It's got to be even more than that. And so whether you are selling a children's book, a book of poetry, nonfiction, fiction, whatever that is, you've got to be uh really selling today an experience. You've got to be selling um an opportunity, you've got to be selling um something that's going to have the potential to change somebody's life. Something that has the potential to um teach someone to do something that will better their life. So, what are you selling? Yeah, I got books, I got courses, I have uh courses, have multiple lessons in them. I have workshops, a two-hour workshop to teach you how to do something, to help you do something, to inform you about doing something. Uh, yes, it is paid. It's not necessarily for free. What else am I selling? Uh, I'm selling my experience, uh, my knowledge, my expertise. I'm selling um um the good, the bad, and the ugly. Um, even though this is a free podcast and you can listen to it as much as you want. If you need more, if you need additionals, we can have a conversation about that hint-hint, talkwithroyston.com. Or, you know, I have stores, I have courses, I have books, I have all those things to help you move yourself to the next level. And then also I have services that we can do it for you. There's a fee for that, there's a fee for all of it, but where are you gonna get in? Where you're gonna fit in. And then if you decide this is not for me, then you wouldn't be a subscriber. You would listen to one podcast and say, Oh wow, do you did a great job, or it was okay, but it what it didn't apply to me. So therefore, you have to make sure that what you're selling or what you're offering in your business, I don't care if it's body butters, I don't care if it's hair extensions, I don't care if it's jewelry, I don't care uh if it's clothes, which is big out there in the markets and in the uh festivals and events. I don't care if it's cups, I don't care if it's cupcakes, um, what is the benefit? Why do they need it? What is it here for? Not just the cupcake is just a cupcake. Oh no, but when it gets in your mouth, if it's moist, if it's good, if it's sweet, if that's enjoyment. That's that's wonderful. That's what that is a part of that. And it's immediate gratification because if you're a long six to eight hour event and you're hungry and you want something quick and you need a good sugar rush, that $2 cupcake comes in handy. So you've got to be looking at your business more than just why won't anybody buy my book? Why, why, oh my gosh, I I have it out there, I spent money on putting it together. Um, I have had it edited, professionally edited. Um, I have a good cover on it. I've had beta readers, I've had other people uh listen to it and and and um read it and they enjoyed it. Why is it not selling? I know I often go from the author's perspective, but when we're shifting gears from the author book uh perspective to business, we have to move to um determining what the um customer needs, not just the reader needs. People who are readers, they just read anything. I've been at events and they say, oh, I just read anything. But when you're really wanting to transition from just people who read to people who will actually do business with you, that's a totally new mindset. That's a totally new shift that has to happen with an author. When you move from author to entrepreneur, when you move from uh book to brand, when you move from brand to business, when you move from business to brand, uh when you're when you're taking it that next level, you have to think about a whole lot uh differently and think differently in a whole lot of different things when you're moving for that business. Now, when I first started, I'll be honest with you, I was not thinking of this was going to be a business. I really did not have that in my little mind. I didn't even really, I had to have somebody else tell me I needed a publishing company and for my books, and there was only for me and my books, because I had fallen in love with the writing thing, and I was on book three probably at the time of that conversation. But when people start asking for more from me, then everything shifted. When the first person said they would pay me to do their book for them, like I had done three, probably headed into book four and five of my for myself, then everything had to shift and change. Like, why did she need me? Why didn't she want to use somebody else? Um, I was early on in this process. So, why do you want to work with me? What it is about me that you want to work with? Well, people do business with people they know, like, and trust. And so, therefore, when they figure out that's something that they need, they know you, they like you, and they trust you. They've trusted me in other areas because she had dealt with me in another arena, a church arena, a ministry arena. And so now I am offering. No, I didn't really offer it. I I didn't offer. She asked me, would I do that for her that I had done for myself? Because at that time I wasn't offering to do anything but sing at your church, or I also write books. Here are devotional books, because that's where I started. Here's my poetry book, here's my poetry CD, here's my poetry DVD and music together. Here is uh so for your enjoyment, your spiritual encouragement that you can put on as your service starts. So, therefore, my benefit for that was for small churches who didn't have um modern or um they couldn't pay musicians. So, my music, people would put the CD on the music, and then they would put the that um poetry and all that together, and they would run it as the um music getting ready for service. So, therefore, yeah, it was a product that I was selling, but I was also selling a service to help set the temple, set the anointing for a service. So it's multiple things that I was selling. There was multiple things that I was doing besides just selling a CD or selling music or selling uh a DVD, etc. So it was, you know, there's multiple reasons why. Because today, again, we need to decide, you know, what our benefit is to the person. What is our benefit to the person in their life? Are they utilizing what I offer as a gift? Is it something that they essentially need for their life? Is it something that um they've been longing to do or they do want it, but they don't want to do it for themselves. They don't want to watch the YouTube videos, they don't even want to take my course, they don't want to take my uh be in my two-hour workshop. They don't want to when I used to do summits, when I do to do conferences, when I used to do all of that work, they don't want to learn, they just want me to do it for them. So, with that said, what are you selling? What is the benefit? I'm gonna take a break right here and I'll be back with more. When you publish a book, you are now in the book business. Sure, you may or may not be signed to a publishing company, but when your name is on the front cover of a hard-copied paperback, audio, or ebook, you are a part of the publishing book and literary industry. You help keep the industry alive and thriving. What do you really need to make your book for a business? What will it take to take this one book, or even more books, to make you an entrepreneur? That's what this book is all about. From author to entrepreneur, it's designed to take the years of publishing, writing, and coaching people in the book business to now creating businesses with their books. I'm Dr. Julia Royston. This is my book, from author to entrepreneur, how to turn your book into a business available now at Royston Royal Bookstore.com. That's Royston Royal Bookstore.com. And we're back. I'm Dr. Julia Royston. And you're listening to the Book Business Moss Show, helping you get your message to the masses, turn your words into wealth, and be a book business boss. So this season, as I've stated before, it's all about taking your book and turning it into a business. But when we do that, we have to think differently and approach what we sell differently. Yeah, we may have a book, a course, a workshop, an event, a conference to sell, and we're all about it. Get the tickets, get the promotion, get it out there. But what are you really selling? What are you really, really selling? What is the full benefit of what you're really selling? So um years ago, and I've talked about this before, my signature set, write, publish, and promote, um, is is my signature signature set of books. And it talks about write that book now, publish that book now, promote that book now. And now is the essential piece part. The reason why I wrote it is because people kept asking me that question. How do I get started? What do I need to do? And I would talk and talk and talk. But then I realized, and my friend encouraged me, girl, you just need to put that in a book and sell it. And then I put it in a course and sold it. And then I've uh offered an extensive course and mentorship to help other people who want to be publishers and want to publish their own books. So I've I've done all the pieces and all the parts, but the primary reason for that is not just to have another book to sell, I'm helping people be able to do it themselves, and I have walked them through doing it yourself, um, step by step, doing it yourself. Yep. And hence it is available at the Royston Royal Bookstore.com. Royston Royal Bookstore.com. You can get the set, you can get each one individually, you can get that yourself, and so that is to help people know how to start, know how to publish, know how to promote. Even people who've gone through my courses are like, oh wow, this was thorough, it was informative, la la la la la. You answered my questions by themselves, or even if they were in an in-person event or a workshop or a course or a summit. But what has happened is I have offered not only books, but it helps them to be able to do it themselves. Yes, it's another course, yes, it's another product that I can offer. But the key thing, what I'm really selling is to show you how to do it. And then if you're not willing to know how to do it, to do it for yourself, then you can come back to me and say, How much are you gonna charge me to do it for me? So that's what I'm that's the benefit of it. Not just another book to have on my table, but that book on my table is to have the ability to help you do this, what I've done and what's on my table for yourself. If you decide, oop, no, I don't want to do all of that, because I've had people do that too as well. They come back to me and say, How much is it if you do it for me? I'm solving a problem, I'm answering a question, I'm meeting a need. It is a benefit to people who want a book. If you don't want a book, you don't care what's on my table. If you don't want to read a book, you you don't care what's on my table. You move on to the clothes and jury people. But if you want what I have, I have to make sure that it's not just the product, it's the benefit. What is it gonna do for you that either you can't do it for yourself or you don't want to do it for yourself? That I offer that you're willing to pay for. We haven't even gotten to the price point yet, that is going to be beneficial to you. That's what you have to decide before it becomes, oh yeah, Julia Warson does that. Oh, yeah. You need a book, girl? That's who you need to call. So again, what are you selling? What are you selling? What's the benefit? Now I know some of you saying, Well, I write poetry books, and I really want people to um buy my poetry books, and I really want to make a business of this. And um, I also now memoirs and things of that nature, they kind of move themselves because that gets into coaching and mentorship, etc. But poetry and fiction, that's a little bit different because that's really for entertainment and enjoyment. Entertainment and enjoyment. And the more people are entertained and enjoy, the better they are. Um, because they've got to enjoy it, they've got to like it, otherwise they'll close up the book and move along. So that really does lend itself to more um what I want to say, that does lend itself to more buying the product. Oh, I just want to sell 10 books, I want to sell five books, but there still has to be a benefit. There still has to be a hook, there still has to be a draw. The benefit has to be uh what is the plot? What is the story? What is the um the what are the characters like? What do the characters do? Leave it open-ended, you know, like I tell people all the time, do you like faith-based fiction? Do you like contemporary fiction? Do you like murder mysteries? Uh, what do you enjoy? I like crime thrillers, I like, and they tell me specifically. And I have books that go along in those specific genres and areas. They like solving the problem, they like being surprised at the end. That's the benefit for them. Now, the next level to that benefit would be if someone says to you, you know, I've always wanted to write a book, a fiction book. I've always wanted to write a crown thriller. Now the door is open for another benefit, not just for their enjoyment, not just for their entertainment, but there's actually a need to teach people how to do what you've done. Now that takes the book, the business with the book to the next level. Yeah, you always sell my fiction books. You know, I always sell them, not as much as children's, children's moves different. But I always uh sell fiction books to people. So what do you like to read? I don't like to read it all. Ooh, but my mama does, oh, but my auntie does, ooh, but my my children do, oh, my daughter does. And sometimes they're buying gifts for other people. Hintend, Christmas in July or the holidays starting about September to the end of the year. That's when the holiday buying is. But there's got to be a benefit. What does she like to do? So I was recently in an event, and a little girl was standing there, and her mother says she's a creative all day long. That's what she loves, that's what she enjoys. She did sings, she dances, she's an actress, she's on the stage. Well, my creatives series, and she's in middle school, teenage years. The book that I've written is about teenagers, and they're in middle school, and um Jalen writes, uh London dances, and Jackie sings. And then, of course, they do, they're all into technology and all that stuff, too, as well. But that appeals for entertainment and enjoyment for a young girl in that age because she's reading about somebody who likes what she likes, who does what she does, who um, you know, just that whole part, that whole piece, that's what you have to invoke that type of emotion, that type of connection to the product. But it's a benefit for her because basically she's not only enjoying it, she's not only entertained, but she has an aspiration to maybe I can write a book like that. Or, yeah, that sounds like me. I identify with that. So, therefore, when I talk about wait a minute, we got all these systems, we got the technology. Who's social media? Wait a minute, what are you really selling? Because I've seen business owners who sell something totally different and do something different, but they've been frustrated because they set up everything, they're paying for something, but they're not profitable. People are not buying what they have to offer. And there was a lady, I need funding, I've done these incubators, I've done these business things, and I don't need any more empowerment, I don't need any more uh tools and resources, but what are you selling, boo? What benefit do we have from what you're offering? Whatever that is. How is that gonna make my life better? Improve what I already do, teach me a new skill, help me to make money and get in the marketplace. Um, I'm unemployed. What will that do? Will that give me a hustle? Will that give me a side job? Will that give me part-time income? What benefit is that to me? She never did say that part on the video. She just complained over and over that somebody was not giving her thousands of dollars and offering her all this uh funding and grants and all that. But what are you offering? And how is it helping other people? Because even before the grant, even before the and I'm I'm getting off topic just a little bit, but even before the grant, even before the loan, even before that, do you have something that people want? And what benefit is it to them to have what you're offering? Is it gonna make them look prettier? Is it gonna make them look smaller? Is it gonna make them look better? Is it gonna improve them in any any type of way? That's what you need to lean into. I'm Dr. Julia Royce, and I hope that's helped you with your books, with your courses, with your workshops, with your uh anything, event, anything you're offering to go along with your book. You've got to make sure that it's beneficial, that it means something. And it um yeah, you know, it all means something. Don't get me wrong, and and don't be offended in any way, shape, or form. But it's gotta mean something, not just to you as the creative, but it's gotta mean something to the customer, to the clients, and the reader. I'm Dr. Julie Royston. Until next time, be blessed.

SPEAKER_01 23:40

You have been listening to the Book Business Boss Show with your host, Dr. Julie Royston. For more information, visit www.bookbusinessboss.com. That's bookbusinessboss.com. So you can get your message to the masses, turn your words into wealth, and be a book businessboss.

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Voices of Faith 30-day devotional, a soul-storing collection designed to uplift your spirit, strengthen your faith, and guide you through life's daily challenges. Presented by Envision Radio and published by B.K. Ralston Publishing, this transformative devotional featured anointed voices including Minister Linda Ross Turner, Desiree Flornoy, Pastor Winston Greer, Apostle George M. Brown, Dr. Julia A. Royston, Bishop Marcus Dixon, Dr. Frederick A. Whitlow II, Carla Jarvis, Dr. Laquita Johnson Gaskins, Kenny Kenya Green, Reverend Dana L. C. Laura Hook, Pastor Dina Miller-Wingart, Esquire, Lydia Pace, Pastor David L, and Lady Linda Smith. Each day offers encouragement, scripture, and wisdom to help you walk boldly in purpose and faith. Don't miss what God is about to speak to these voices. Voice the Faith 30-day devotional. Stay connected with Division Radio for this detail. Voice the Faith 30-day devotional.