How to Monetize and Turn Your Book into a Six-Figure Income Stream with Julie Chenell

What if your book wasn't the final product, but the first step to a six-figure business? Many authors pour their hearts into writing and publishing a book, only to struggle with author marketing and visibility, wondering if it will ever lead to a real, lasting income. Allison Lane and Julie Chenell dive into a new path for authors, one where your book becomes a powerful tool for a scalable business, not just a one-time sale.

Julie, a digital marketer who built a multi-million dollar business without a book, shares her framework for finding your readers and monetizing your expertise without guesswork. This is a must-listen for anyone who wants to write a book, launch a book, or publish their work with a clear strategy for success and sustainable income.

In this episode, Allison and Julie discuss:

• [00:02] Why book sales alone won’t create a six-figure income
• [00:06] The “Hawaii journey” analogy for author monetization
• [00:10] How to choose between high-ticket vs. scalable offers
• [00:13] The 3 reflection exercises to design your business model
• [00:17] Why most authors struggle to identify the real problem they solve
• [00:21] How to make six figures with your book before it’s published
• [00:24] The baker’s story: being the best isn’t enough—you need to sell
• [00:26] Julie’s one tip every author must follow

Resources Mentioned:

• Julie’s Website: https://juliechenell.com/ 
• Book: Million Dollar Grit by Julie Chenell https://a.co/d/hZCfOHk 
• Podcast: Million Dollar Grit: https://milliondollargrit.com/ 
• Connect with Julie on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/juliechenell/
• Get Allison’s Essential Author Bio Package: https://www.lanelit.com/package

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Transcript

Allison: 0:01

Welcome back to the Author's Edge. I'm your host, Allison Lane, and I am here for you. And I'm here to answer this question that I get nearly every week. Every time I talk to someone new, they say, I've written this book, but am I going to make money from this book? Or how do I make money from this book? Or will it be worth it for me to publish this book? I really need a new path in my career. And I can't answer that for you because it's all about what you are going to do. What you choose, and how things fold into your life. So many authors pour their hearts into the book they know they mean to write, but they never learn how to turn that book into real lasting income. So, that's why Julie is here. Thank you Julie.

Julie: 0:53

Yes. Thank you for having me. I'm happy to be here.

Allison: 0:55

Oh, I know that you step forward to help people see what they're leaving behind and that they just don't notice. They think, I'm so busy, i'm doing all the things. And I understand that you help them slow down so that you, they can stop doing the things that make them busy and start doing the things that make them money. And free up time. Talk me through, when you come across someone who wants to write a book or has written a book and they're really trying to uplevel. What are the telltale signs or pain points that you see?

Julie: 1:33

Yeah. So, I am a digital marketer and a copywriter by trade. I grew up in the internet marketing world where it wasn't really about content, it was about direct sales. So, that is how I'm trained. And this is a very different method of thinking about monetization from content. On the content side, we have bloggers, we have writers, we have artists. And it's about what they create. And they want to make money from what they create, which is totally legitimate. The problem is that they think that the more they pour into their creation, the more money they'll make. And what they don't recognize is that creation is just a tool to help them actually make the money that they want. So, if we take an example of an author who is an expert in something, doesn't matter whether it's getting your baby to sleep, keeping your marriage alive, helping a teenager who's suffering from an eating disorder, whatever it happens to be. You probably have a philosophy and a framework that you used to write that book. And now, books are not going to be more than$30, even though, like hard back.

Allison: 2:48

Even if they're a gold leaf. And they are delivered to you via stork. They're not going to be more than that.

Julie: 2:55

And so, unless you are going to be James Clear or someone like that who sells a bajillion copies to make all of your money in advances in speaking gigs and book sales. Most of us have to get a little bit more creative. And so, this book becomes a business card to a business that maybe you haven't even dreamed up yet. And that business can be funded by the visibility that you get in your book. But to think you're going to sit on multi six figures of sales just from your book is a mindset shift we got to work on. Because it's really about building a business around your book.

Allison: 3:35

So many people think, but James Clear did it. Well, James Clear had a ghost writer who he paid a hundred thousand dollars. Six figures to write the book. It's a great book. It's a super easy read. Unless you're going to be James Clear and say, this is, I'm going to go into this knowing that I'm going to be speaking, you should expect no matter what. Even when you're writing memoir. And you are now an expert in the thing that you're writing about, that you experienced. Okay. That is you are able to monetize that. Maybe you went through a big trauma and you came out the other side. People will contact you. And say, I love that. I'd love to pick your brain. And as soon as three people want to pick your brain. That's your effing afternoon. That is a telltale sign that you have something to sell. And even though from the goodness of your heart, you're like, I don't mind. What if it's 20 people? That's half your week friends. And you've got to get ahead of it. You can get paid as you start out through PayPal. But you do have to recognize that this is inevitable. People are willing to invest their nickels in your framework, your guidance. So, you've got to get ahead of it. Yeah. And that way, you don't then say, Allison, I'm not making the money that I thought from my book.'Cause you were looking for money from book sales, but that's just the doorway.

Julie: 5:04

Yeah. So, I often tell people, they get worried, they write a book. And they think, why would anyone buy anything from me? I wrote it all in the book, I gave it all away. And people wrongly assume that they're selling information. And this is a very common problem. I always use the analogy, I want you to pretend that the before you is standing on the coast of California. And the after you is standing on an island in Hawaii. So, this is your before and after. Your book is about the transformation, right? Everything that you did to get to wherever, whatever epiphany framework that you have. So, people are going to read. And that is like picking up a book and reading about the journey from California to Hawaii. But people actually want to take the journey from California to Hawaii. Yeah. And so, maybe you have a digital course that is a companion to your book. And that is taking people to Hawaii by boat. Now, maybe you have a retreat that makes that transformation happen faster. It's three days and you go through the book and you go through the stuff. Now, that's like getting to Hawaii by plane. And maybe you offer one-on-one where you actually personally walk with them through that transformation. Now, that's getting to Hawaii by private jet. People will pay to learn how to get to Hawaii. They will pay for the boat to Hawaii, or the plane, or the private jet. And by having one book, you now have three possible business offers that could lead to a six figure business. Yes. Even if all the information is in the book.

Allison: 6:47

Because sometimes people don't want to read the book. They learn about the book and they understand the promise of the book. But they know that just by reading it, they're not going to do it. And they want to be taken by the hand. I get I'm going to understand your method, but I have to apply it now. Yeah. So, what happens when people are posting'cause the road to authorship often starts with; let me share what I know in social. Or I'm going to start a LinkedIn newsletter. Both of which you should be doing. And they're running efforts to build an email list. Yep. At some point, you're not seeing the results that you want because you're thinking now I'm putting money into learning how to get this book published. But you could actually be offering your retreat or your one-on-one before the book. Correct? You just have to take the leap.

Julie: 7:45

So, there are plenty of people who build their expertise through courses, through coaching, through consulting, through retreats, before they even have a book. And I'm raising my hand because I've been in business for 11 years and I finally have my first book coming out in October. So, I've made over$20 million as a brand and as a person before I even published a book. So, I'm a walking example. Right. So, if you need to fund your book publishing. You could think of it that way. You could start that business and then build a book from there. And it's a very lucrative way. Like for me, I have my first book coming out. It's coming out as an ebook, and I have spent over$10,000 to self publish this ebook. And plot twist. I'm not going to sell the book. I'm going to give it away. And I plan to easily make 20 to a hundred to$500,000 with this book. There's no doubt in my mind. And that's because of the business that I'm in. I know how to build a funnel. I know how to put offers behind the free book. Right. I understand the value of getting a book in people's hands, not for the dollars that it costs. And so, this is very effective. And so when people come to me and they already have a book or they already have an audience. I'm like, why aren't you making at least six figures a year? What are you doing?

Allison: 9:09

Is it that they just don't know or is it they think that's one more thing or I don't really know what I would sell?

Julie: 9:18

I think it's all of those things. I think people think that's going to take too much time, or that's going to take more money. And then I haven't even made the money that I need yet. So, they don't want to invest in, the 10, 20, 30 grand it's going to take to build a business around that. And so, I think it's all of those things, but it also just might be belief. They don't realize what the potential is. And so, they don't take the leap.

Allison: 9:42

Yeah. Julie, you've know so much about helping people take their expertise and building a predictable, very scalable income. A revenue that doesn't feel salesy.

Julie: 9:58

Yeah.

Allison: 9:59

And allows you to do it without feeling like you have to be everywhere or not feeling like you have to stop doing the thing that makes you the expert. So, our job is to make you more accessible and as soon as people find out about you, they're going to be like, oh my gosh, she could really help me pass my career through academia and think bigger about where I'm going to go. Can you imagine? But they don't have something that they're selling yet. You help people stop guessing what could I sell or how do I start making money before I start spending money? But it's possible, right?

Julie: 10:36

It is. It is possible. It all depends on when the person comes to me and they say, okay, I'm cash strapped and I need to make money. I usually focus on selling things that are more expensive, not less expensive because it takes almost the same amount of energy to sell something that's$500 as it does to sell something that's 5,000. Yeah. And so, why don't we use our energy to sell something that's 5,000? So, that's usually, if someone comes to me and they're cash strapped, we start high, not low. If someone comes to me and they say, okay, I have a job. I'm a tenured professor. I'm making plenty money, and I'm time poor. Then, we usually start something with something that's a little bit more lower ticket and scalable, but we use more money to do that, right? Yeah. So, we're going to use ads. We're going to build a funnel. We're going to do these things, and we're going to make some money. And we're going to build an audience, but we're going to spend money to do it because this person has money and is time poor. Versus someone who's cash strapped, who's in crisis, who needs money they can't really afford to say, oh, I don't want to spend time. Because a business runs on two things, time and money. So, you get to choose what that percentage looks like, but you won't get in a car, a Mercedes with an empty gas tank, and then blame the car when the car doesn't run. You need to put gas in the car. A business needs time and money. Those are two ingredients. You decide what the split looks like.

Allison: 11:52

So, you help people make offers that don't feel salesy, but first they have to recognize they do have something to sell, which is good. And then, I see people think they have to create like a substack. Please don't create a substack in order to gather people towards you. That's not your first step, right?

Julie: 12:11

No.

Allison: 12:12

When you know someone is going to sell something. It's usually something big. Sell something at a higher level instead of the$27, whatever. What then is the next step?

Julie: 12:23

Yeah. So I ask people, so if you have a book or you are working on a book, you have a framework. You have some sort of transformation that you are describing because all good books carry a transformation. So, the very first thing I do is say, okay, let's talk about this transformation. What is the before and what is the after? What is the problem that the before person is facing? And what does the after or the solution look like? So we architect what that looks like. Then, I say to you, okay, I want you to imagine three scenarios. Scenario one is that you are going to go to your perfect reader's house or your perfect client's house. And you are going to be with them, and you are going to work with them until that transformation happens. How long would it take? How much energy would it take? Would you enjoy yourself? Just like a reflection. Then, reflection two is now I want you to pretend that you have 10 people you have to do this with at once. And you have three days locked in a conference room. How is it going to look? Are you going to be able to get the transformation? What are you going to have to do ahead of time? What are you going to have to do after? Okay. Reflect on that. Then, we say, okay now you have a stadium of 50,000 people that need this transformation. But you don't have a weekend. You can't live at their house. You've got 90 minutes. What do you say on that stage to get 50,000 people as close to that transformation as possible? The point of that reflection exercise is to help them understand what do I have to offer in those three different containers to actually get that transformation. And from there we pick one. Usually, people like the three con, the 10 people in the conference room. And that usually lends itself to some sort of group coaching or individual coaching in a container. And we can price that somewhere around$3,000, which is a nice number that's fairly easy to sell. They sell it off of a phone call. They write up a simple sales page. And then we go out to the market and we attempt to sell that transformation.

Allison: 14:20

You make it so clear. And I think that when people start brainstorming like I could sell this and I could sell that. When I hear that, it's usually a laundry list of the things that they've created that are in their digital garage.

Julie: 14:36

The issue is the creator always looks at it from a creator's mindset. Oh, I made an ebook, maybe I could do a membership. I saw this cool subscription I could host. And they're always thinking about the container and the process and the creation. And in order to be a good marketer and to make money, you have got to get out of that garage. And you've got to think according to the problem. You would not believe how hard it is for me to get an answer from people. When I say, what problem do you solve? They'll say I sell a membership, or I help people you know, have good marriages. I'm like, again, you've not given me a problem. We got to get the customer, we got to get the author in that state of mind because people pay their way out of problems. They buy medicine. They don't buy vitamins as much as we want them to. And so, we have to get in that mindset because chances are. There's a problem that you're solving, but you need to get in touch with that problem in order to build a business around it.

Allison: 15:30

So, let's take a for instance, so say you are solving the problem of like confusion about how to help your child choose the college that's right for him.

Julie: 15:42

So my question is, what's the problem? In one sentence? Yeah. Can't be a paragraph. In one sentence. What is the problem? And usually what happens is there's multiple problems. The problem is confusion or lack of clarity. And I could put that on 85 bajillion other businesses. Yeah. And it would work. So, you have tapped into something that's painful, but it's not specific or urgent. So, try again, what is the problem?

Allison: 16:08

It's like an unmapped path. I don't know.

Julie: 16:13

This is why I'm so glad this happened because 99% of people do exactly what you do. They can't actually articulate what the problem is. And so, they literally cannot do it. They're like, PhDs, they're geniuses. And I'm like, what is the freaking problem? And they cannot answer me. Everyone's like, when they listen to me lecture about this, they're like, oh, I can find, I'm like, no. No, you cannot'cause I've done this enough times to know that you absolutely do not understand the problem. So, if we were to go through this exercise, painful, specific, urgent. The issue right now is the problem is either your problem or the son's problem. Because I don't know that the son actually thinks this is a problem, but the mother thinks this is a problem. For sure. Yeah. So, we would have to; is the problem, I can't get my child motivated to go to college? Is the problem my son doesn't have the grades to get in the college he wants. Is the problem, we don't have the money for college? So, we got to figure this out. One of my old clients is grown and flown. So, back in the day, they were my client. Before they were big time. So groan and flown. I'm sure they've written a book by now. I don't know for sure.

Allison: 17:17

Many of my clients write for Grown and flown.

Julie: 17:20

So, let's just say Grown and Flown has written a book and it's the comprehensive book to getting your child to fly the nest.

Allison: 17:26

Yeah.

Julie: 17:27

A big mistake that this author hypothetically would make is that they would try to write a course that takes you through the entire process of getting ready for college. Now, I'm not saying that course wouldn't sell. Because it probably would, or maybe they offer consulting, right? With a parent, with an expert, right? Who takes the parents. But this is a product for the parents. It's not a product for the children. Obviously, the student comes along, but that's a big comprehensive framework product. Now, if they have a huge audience and we're pretty sure it's going to sell, we could sell that as a course companion. But most people who come to me who are authors, they don't have a big audience like grown and thrown. But if someone doesn't have an audience, we got to get more specific and more urgent. So, it's like from the authors of grown and flown, and then whatever the product is very specific, painful, and urgent. So, I'm going to tell you right now, you want to know what makes me want to throw my computer out the window is filling out that freaking FAFSA form. Like I want to poke my eyes out with a drawer full of forks, and I have four children. So, if I saw a product that would do that whole process, or teach me that whole process for 57 bucks, I would buy that. Would I buy a$997 course on the whole thing? Probably not. If you have a big audience, you could probably get away with anything. But if you don't, you've got to get a specific problem, get very specific. And test everything before you build it.

Allison: 19:00

Testing. Which is not the same as I'm going to post and see what people engage with. No. That's different. And that's a lot of conventional wisdom is you want to test out your idea for a book put some content out there and see what sticks, what questions you get, and that's great. But that's not what we're talking about. We're talking about monetizing your expertise.

Julie: 19:23

Yeah.

Allison: 19:24

Because your book is one thing that you sell, but if it sells for$22, great. You make two bucks. But the person who wants to buy the course that is$3,000 is you'll probably throw the book in as part of that, right? You're like, thank you, and here's a$22 bonus. Yeah. Which still feels like a gift to them. They're like delighted about it. But you do have to solve their issue, which might be help my child make a decision about where they want to go to school based on what they know they want to do.

Julie: 20:01

Maybe the problem is for this particular parent or what we're solving for is that they can't afford to waste four years of college tuition on a degree that's not going to be. And so, what they want to do is they want to give their child a deep dive into what they want to do. And that's the product. And they're like, yes, I want to take my kid through that. Maybe it's an assessment, and it helps them work through. And then, based on that, it gives them recommendations of the colleges that they should apply to. That's a very different product.

Allison: 20:32

I have two or three clients who could literally sell that but they're busy publishing their substack or their newsletter. And that is what they do in their mentorship they have students coming to them for career coaching and they help them get figure out what job they're going to take after college. But they could definitely go bigger and help people that are not enrolled at a university doing exactly what you just said. And they could do it now before their book comes out.

Julie: 21:03

Yes, I have a client who says your book's Table of contents is a sales page. And you should be able to make six figures with your book before it's published.

Allison: 21:12

That is awesome. And I want to know that person right away. That is amazing.

Julie: 21:17

Anyway, it's a different way of thinking about it because I'm coming from the world of business and entering into the world of book publishing. Versus people who come into the world of book publishing and then they're like, oh man, maybe I should think about a business. So, I think it's two different ways in. But it does carry with it. Its own mindset shifts. For sure.

Allison: 21:34

If you are the business, your book is one product, but your course is a product and maybe your one-on-one is the product.

Julie: 21:42

Yeah. The crazy part about it is that now that I've been in this world. I've got this business book right here on my desk.

Allison: 21:47

Oh, selena Sue's book.

Julie: 21:48

Yeah. I literally could take this book. I could go out to my market and say, this book is so good. Has transformed the way I market. I am going to host a three day retreat at my house. And I'm going to work through Selena's book with you, and I'm going to help you come up with a marketing plan. And I could charge$2,000 for people to come to my house for three days. I didn't even have to write the book.

Allison: 22:11

Exactly. I would come to that.

Julie: 22:14

Yeah. I know this is what I'm saying. This is the marketer's mindset into authorship. And I know that authors love to write. And honestly, I'm at a funny stage in my life where I'm like, I would love to just sit and write all day. That'd be amazing'cause marketing's hard, and I just want to write and write and write. But you are not in the business of writing. You are in the business of selling transformation. And that transformation may be in the form of a book, but it may also be in many other forms. And you are missing out on piles of cash by not thinking that way.

Allison: 22:46

And I have to say that not one of my authors identifies as an author. They literally say, I'm not a writer. I'm a psychiatrist, or I am an ER doc, or I am a media studies professor. I'm not a writer. Allison, I don't know what I'm doing. I've written a award-winning book, but I still don't introduce myself as a writer. They hate to write. But they love is helping people.

Julie: 23:17

Yeah.

Allison: 23:18

However fast we can get the words on the page, sometimes it's just talk into your otter, have it make notes, and then send it to me, or I'll hook you up with somebody who can edit for you. But you don't have to be a writer or take writing classes. You can just get the book out. But in the meantime, you could be selling something that someone else is already selling and they don't have your street creds.

Julie: 23:42

Yeah.

Allison: 23:42

And that's what really burns people. They say, so and so has a bestselling book. I was his mentor. How did that happen? He made a decision.

Julie: 23:51

It's not about the expertise, it's about who's best at selling the expertise. Yes. And I always tell the story, there was this baker in town and it was the best bakery in town. And the owner was known for his cupcakes and in the back was this amazing baker, like he was the best baker in the world. And he'd make these cupcakes every day and they'd sell'em. And one day the baker got really disgruntled because he was like, I could do this better. Why am I working for the man? I'm the best baker in the world. This is ridiculous. And I could make millions with my own cakes, my own cupcakes. So, one day he got up and he quit and he's I quit. And he went down to the next town over, and he opened up his own bake shop. Thinking that being the number one baker in the world would make the bake shop popular. And within a year he went bankrupt and he went back to the owner and said, how come I didn't get the best bakery in the world, even though I'm the best baker in the world? And he said, because making money isn't about being the best at what you do. It's about being the best at selling what you do.

Allison: 24:52

Oh, so true.

Julie: 24:54

It's very depressing for people who've worked their whole lives to become experts at what they do. And we see it now even in this economy with like higher education taking a hit, AI's coming in hot. It feels like older brother, prodigal son. What do you mean? I had$700,000 of medical debt and I'm an ER doctor. It's a hard blow. But you can be sad about this or you can recognize that the skill of the hour is not necessarily about what you do, but about selling what you do. And that is through books, that's through courses, that's through mentorship, it's through coaching. And you don't have to do it, but if you want to make money, that's what you got to do.

Allison: 25:29

That's so true. I will add that I think the thing that gets in people's way, especially MDs and PhDs, is that everything that they've achieved up to now has had to be peer reviewed.

Julie: 25:43

Oh yes.

Allison: 25:44

Which is like getting approval from others to take the step forward that you even need to get approval to be tenured, to be deemed fit, right? Yeah. You don't need approval to do this. You can just decide or listen to Julie.

Julie: 26:03

Permission granted.

Allison: 26:04

Oh, perfect. Julie, before we call this podcast complete, what's the one thing that everyone should do today to start making money from their idea or their book?

Julie: 26:15

Figure out the problem that you solve and make it specific, make it painful, make it urgent. And then begin building an audience of the people who have that problem. Those are the two things that you can do, no matter what tactic you are interested in or not, because those two activities will lead you eventually to a profitable business.

Allison: 26:37

Oh, damn. That was good. Julie, where can people find you? Do you have something that they can join or learn from?

Julie: 26:45

Yes, I have lots of things. So, if you want to go to my website, julie Chenell.com. My last name is spelled C-H-E-N-E-L-L. I do have a book coming out October 26th called Million Dollar Grit. You can go to million dollar grit.com. My podcast is Million Dollar Grit as well, so you can listen to my podcast and that book will be free or 99 cents on Kindle. So, that is very exciting. I'm very excited to release that. But if you're interested in coaching or anything like that, you can go to julie Chenell.com.

Allison: 27:16

Awesome. Yeah, thank you so much. And to you listening on your drive, this is your message. It's time to get all your poop in a group and take action now,'cause it is possible and other people are doing it and it rubs you the wrong way. So, it's your time. Get on it.