SPS 004: How to Self-Publish Your Way to #1 on the Amazon & USA Today National Bestseller Lists with Ryan Levesque

Ryan Levesque is the #1 National Best-Selling Author of the book ASK. In 2008, armed with a $450 laptop, an Ivy League background, and neuroscience he was able to launch a multi-million dollar online publishing business. He sold information and software products using what is now known as the ASK Formula. Ryan has used the ASK Formula to help build several multi-million dollar businesses spread across 23 different industries. He has generated over 100 million dollars in sales. This breaks down to generating over 3 million leads with 170 thousand customers across 19 different markets. Ryan has been a busy guy because these numbers are just from the last 23 months. I met Ryan last September at The Titans of Direct Response Event. Ryan has a background in copy and direct response which is a skill in and of itself. In this episode, we are going to focus on his book ASK. We are going to talk about a case study and how he launched the book. Then we are really diving into the monetizing portion and the survey funnel and different back-end products.    For all this and much more, listen in to this episode of the Self-Publishing School podcast!   You can find Ryan here: Ask Method Ryan Levesque Ryan Levesque on LinkedIn Ryan on Facebook   Show Notes [02:25] How a book fits into Ryan's big picture strategy. Being in the information industry Ryan wanted to expand what he was doing to mainstream products like books on Amazon. [03:37] How the process of writing a book took longer than Ryan had expected. [04:22] The way Ryan shared his story in the book and the ASK formula. He laid it on the line and held nothing back. [05:41] By telling everyone everything you know for free people will pay you to tell them everything again. [07:31] How an illness inspired Ryan to really look at his life and decide how he wanted to make an impact in the world. [07:55] ASK was called the single greatest marketing book since Breakthrough Advertising. [08:35] Don't be tempted to hold information back in your book and create a tease for your product. Instead, put it all in the book. [12:25] How ASK came very close to being a New York Times Bestseller. Being in the How To category as opposed to the Business category had an effect. [14:36] Promotion and launch methods for ASK included creating an amazing product to enlist partners to help promote the book. [15:05] Cold traffic methods used included Facebook advertising, LinkedIn advertising, and they tested a few other things. [16:20] Be prepared for customer inquiries if you sell books on a prelaunch basis. [17:28] Getting great testimonials and telling a great story makes a huge difference in the success of the launch. [19:05] How Ryan and his wife took their business from nothing to $25,000 a month in 18 months. [19:43] Talking with people can help you decide if you really do have a great story. [20:45] Podcast interviews were another awesome tool for the launch and pre launch of ASK. [22:04] Ryan has someone who pitches his story to podcasters to get on their shows. Laddering up is a low-cost method to get guest spots. [25:39] Hitting the top of the list on launch week because of pre-launch sales. [30:14] How book buyers are more critical than information product buyers. [30:41] Fake reviews and planting reviews are the wrong paths to go down. [33:01] Trying to anticipate people's objections to the book. By doing so, you will get counter one aspect of negative reviews. [39:44] Things that Ryan wishes he would have done differently around the monetization of the book such as more clarity about readers options. [43:10] Getting readers into your world without directly selling to them. [47:45] The biggest product that the book helped to sell was the software or the mastermind program, which were also the same offer because they came free with each other. [53:19] Trust created by being a #1 bestselling author is invaluable. [54:57] How running out of inventory can create a hit on your rankings. Out of stock protection can prevent this problem from having. [57:26] An unexpected result of the book is getting people to sign up for Ryan's highest level mastermind group without Ryan even speaking to them.   Links and Resources: Ask Method Ryan Levesque Ryan Levesque on LinkedIn Ryan on Facebook Breakthrough Advertising ASK on Amazon