It is 1 week after the official launch and I’m here to report for you all.

First off THANK YOU for the huge support during pre-order and launch week. You all put this book to #1 for 20 of the 30 days it was on pre-order and helped keep it at #1 the entire first week after launch.

Subscribe now

How My Crazy Book Marketing Experiment is Going

Remember, I’m buying Kindle versions of my book for anyone that gifts it to a friend.

The gifter gets bonuses unlocked for sharing, the receiver gets the book and the opportunities for the bonuses as well.

That completes the Perfect Circle Marketing effort I’m focused on.

I also reached out to 6 influencers on day 1 and got 3 to share it so far.

The ability to tap into a large audience that can share it puts potential gas to the fire.

The influencers get a landing page with their logo and face and are seen as generous for gifting my book to their audience. (which is how the language reads)

Also, if their audience claims enough books they unlock bonuses as an influencer different than as a reader.

I will mention them and give them a shoutout in my newsletter, help them with their book, or even do a workshop for their audience.

Here are the results so far.

So far 111 have taken up the offer for a free book in a single week.

59 were in the United States which auto selects Kindle redemption code. (outside the U.S. PDF is enabled because they can’t redeem the Kindle codes outside the U.S. amazon)

There is 1 influencer and 1 reader that isn’t an influencer dominating the leader board.

My initial theory was to find at least 2 people that shared this book more than the others in the first month.

Way to go Jeffrey and Summer!

Thanks to the sharing I turned off all ads after launch day.

The book without ANY advertising other than the sharing stayed at #1 and is still #1 in at least 1 category as of this morning.

Prior to launch I had 214 pre-orders sold and now we are at 327.

But I’m moving units for $0.99 and in many cases I’m purchasing them for people.

BUT last week I had 5-7 people grab other books of mine own. Whole sets of my series sold earning me WAY MORE than I’m spending on the Kindle redemption codes. (#’s below are for last week only)

I’ve had to purchase $38.35 in Kindle Codes (after I get my royalties back) and I’ve earned $233.02.

So while I’m spending money to make money, I’m profiting from this type of marketing.

With Bookbub ads now off and this running I’ll be looking to find more people who’d like to ‘gift’ this book to their readers.

It’s proving to be a very profitable form of marketing.

Rarely does being generous backfire, as long as you have a way to profit at some time in the future.

Look at what Alex Hormozi did.

For 3 years he did nothing but serve and when he did have an ask he actually broke records.

If this keeps working I’ll probably do a whole workshop on how to do this for yourself.

Ask your questions in the comments and let me know if you’d like to see how to set this up for your own book(s).

Coach Chris

It is still available for $0.99 on Amazon if you want to purchase it, but if you read more you’ll see how I am gifting you a copy to showcase something rather exciting.

It has been #1 (in two categories on Amazon’s Online Advertising and Writing Business Aspects) 20+ days out of the last 30.

I’ve spent about 2 hours total on the marketing the last month.

How is that FREAKING POSSIBLE!?!?

I have been extremely LAZY in my book launch.

• No extra emails

• No book launch party.

• No upsells and downsells.

• No podcast interviews to release on or around launch day.

What I did do was have a good lead magnet.

I wanted to do something CRAZY no one I’d ever seen do.

So my lead magnet was to give my Kindle version way… for any that was referred to it.

This would allow anyone who felt the book had value to give it away… FREE to their friend.

Now I’m not just slowing PDF’s out there.

I’m purchasing Kindle links and offering redemption codes so I get credit as a sale when the person redeems it on Amazon. (I reduced my price to $0.99 during pre-order and launch week and I’m buying codes at $0.99 per book, I’ll get $0.35 in royalties so I’m paying $0.65 per verified sale on Amazon which has a HIGH likelihood of turning into a reader seeing it was referred)

But I knew I didn’t want to manage spreadsheets and redemption links, emails, purchase #’s so I just built the tool to run it all for me.

Here is what it looks like when they go get their free goodies they see they can share the book with ANYONE for free as well as get their own copy.

Here is what the bonus section looks like that shows them what they can earn if they refer more people to the book.

So that went live TODAY when the book released on Amazon. Right now I have 34 people who have opted in to get the book for free and 3 referrals.

My bet is my book will be referred much more in the coming weeks.

Because I believe (my unproven hypothesis) that if I’m delivering value to the reader, they deliver value to their friend they refer the book to, which gets me more ranking on Amazon and readers in my ecosystem, then all of us are winning.

Plus the original reader is getting bonuses for sending people my way!

I call that Perfect Circle Marketing.

Everyone wins.

Now you might be thinking “That doesn’t sound very LAZY. Building a tool to manage your lead magnet.”

No, no it’s not.

This is infrastructure for not just this book, but all my books. And who knows maybe one day a product you all can use.

If I was doing podcasts, beta readers, and all the crazy things I’m supposed to do for a book launch I wouldn’t have been able to build the LAZY Book Marketing tool… and that is the point of this book.

To free up authors from doing expensive time, energy, and relationship investments so they can focus on what will actually move the need for their business, not just a brief flash in the pan week long launch lunacy.

How I Amped It Up to 11

So I was excited about teh 216 that could refer the book to people, but I wanted to pour some gasoline on this fire.

I invited several “Influencers” and built them custom pages for their audience to receive the book free of charge.

Now I’m not a crazy person, so I coded it in to make it easy to make it for multiple people!

I invited 6 influencers that are good friends in a related space as mine and similar audience size, this morning and already 1 has shared it with their audience.

I built it to where it is a generous gift from the influencer to them, because while I’m buying the book, the influencer is letting me borrow their audience and reach to tell them about my book.

Worth EVERY PENNY TO ME!

In exchange they are seen as generous giving a book and also can unlock bonus rewards for them and their whole audience.

This expands the Perfect Circle Marketing to allow the Influencers to spin it for me! (or you if you decide to try this crazy tactic)

Which you put those two together you get… infinity!

My hope is that my experiment is changing how you are viewing your marketing options with your book.

Last week I shared some crazy data that is inside LAZY Book Launch.

If you get 2 readers at launch and get them to share with 2 people each over the next month… it gets crazy fast!

Start with 2 readers at launch who tell two people you’ve got six people after month one who keep that rhythm going.

Launch: 2

Month 1: 6

Month 2: 18

Month 3: 54

Month 4: 162

Month 5: 486

Month 6: 1,458

Month 7: 4,374

Month 8: 13,122

Month 9: 39,366

Month 10: 118,098

Month 11: 354,294

Month 12: 1,062,882

So the goal isn’t a huge launch.

The goal is to make a book worth SHARING and to make it easy to share.

I hope I’ve done both of those.

If you read the book I’d love your thoughts on it and the LAZY Book Marketing referral system. (which I called MyReaderPerks)

Check out LAZY Book Launch at LAZYBookLaunch.com and click “Get the Free Launch Kit” to grab your free copy of the book and the bonus perks for signing up and to see what else you can earn by referring people.

Your Mini Book Coach,
Chris Stanley

Let me explain.

I’m tired of marketing my books.

I know so many authors are.

I wrote the LAZY Book Launch earlier this year and sat on it for 3+ months before I came back to it.

While thinking about why I’m so tired with book marketing I attended event behind his book launch of Return to Real.

He did everything “right” and I have mad respect for him. But it made me even more tired.

“I can’t do that.” I said mumbling as I watched him break down his massive strategy and push.

But I kept listening... a nugget here for later, an interesting tactic, then he said something about his overarching goal was “Reader Maxxing.”

So I sat with that brewing on how to get more “readers.”

A week before I saw a post about how if you get 2 podcast listeners a year to share your podcast and all 4 share your podcast with 2 others, on and on, you’ll reach 7 billion people in 20 years.

I did the math on doing 2 readers a month the same way (let’s be real, I had the clanker do it), but it turns out if you get that compounding math working for you it looks like this.

Start with 2 readers at launch who tell two people you’ve got six people after month one who keep that rhythm going.

Launch: 2

Month 1: 6

Month 2: 18

Month 3: 54

Month 4: 162

Month 5: 486

Month 6: 1,458

Month 7: 4,374

Month 8: 13,122

Month 9: 39,366

Month 10: 118,098

Month 11: 354,294

Month 12: 1,062,882

So as I’m hearing Ryan talk about Reader Maxxing I’m thinking of this....

Then it hit me like a lightning bolt, “The best way to get readers is to get people to recommend the book! I want to be Referral Maxxing”

(because frankly try to say Recommending Maxxing... doesn’t work.)

So how do I do that?

Word of Mouth Marketing (WOM) is extremely hard. What if it didn’t have to be?

So with the release of the LAZY Book Launch I’m trying something new.

I’m buying a copy of my book for anyone that gets it recommended to them.

Plus, the person who recommended the book gets credit for it that unlocks bonus content like,

- Resource Bundle (1 claim)

- Audiobook (2 claims)

- Replay of my $297 event (5 claims)

- Free coaching call (10 claims)

- LAZY Book Marketing System set up for you (100 claims)

A rewards system for people referring people and claiming their free gift.

I’m only using stuff I already have as lead magnets and content already prepared so it keeps with my LAZY Book Launch theme.

Everyone wins, its Perfect Circle Marketing.

Reader - bonuses to send to a free gift to a friend

Friend - free book (plus opportunity for bonuses)

Author - gets more readers

And because I’m buying the books myself, when the friend redeems their free book they’re counted as a reader by Amazon both in sales and if they leave a review.

But my goal is to get this book and many of my books, in as many hands as possible with the least effort and time given on my end.

Then show you how I did it.

I built the platform to manage it all for me so it isn’t a manual process.

We’ll see if we can change how word of mouth book marketing works.

P.S. If you pre-order LAZY Book Launch it’s $0.99 during the pre-order and releases later this month. Plus you’ll be able to refer any friends, audiences, or family members to grab the book FOR FREE as a gift from you.

Pre-order LAZY Book Launch

People pay me (the company) to get trained to the standard, prove that they meet that standard etc. and it’s earned me a living for the past 10 years. (it’s 10 years old next week!)

I apologize for the delay in writing it has been an insane week,

1. Started participating in Category Design Academy by (for the 2nd year in a row)

2. Driving cross country from Denver to Florida - then to NC (my family is sleeping in a rest area as I type this)

3. IA Path has exploded with opportunity

So as I’m spinning wanting to write to you Category Publishers something about Mini Books I found myself thinking about something very different.

I had a meeting with the largest Auto Auction in the nation and they are wanting to hire our graduates of our program.

Typically its a role you have to have experience for.

Which has always been my focus in that business, how to get people work, but it made me scratch my head and do reflection.

‘How in the flippin world did I become a guy big corporations come to when they need new talent?”

then a 2nd more important thought for you,

“Can others use this business model?”

You may be famliar with some of the other models for online business.

1. Course model - do it yourself

2. Cohort model - do it with others

3. Coaching Model - do it with you

4. Services Model - do it for you

Those are the most common online business types, but what if there was another, less common one?

5. Certification Model - prove it for you

   Category Publishers is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Now the reason most don’t think of this one is, “who am I to certify someone?'“

I ask myself that question all the time, but the reality is our world is FAKE.

I mentioned that in my last post about book Return to Real. People want real.

A reality is that no one believes anyone.

In my industry just because someone says “I’ve been doing this for 5 years” people don’t know if they actually are ANY good at their job.

I believe this represents and opportunity for you as an expert and someone wanting to make a category you can own and be identified with.

Is there a job, a task, a career, an opportunity that you’ve had that others would want to experience, but an external force, like industry acceptance, perceived skill, is standing in the way of?

I think of barbers, just because you have a license doesn’t mean you actually are good at cutting hair. You might only good at cutting men’s hair if its a buzz cut, but are terrible at women’s hair.

Well many salons and shops are likely nervous about bringing in a new person because they don’t know you are actually any good.

What if you knew how to teach someone to do the thing and could build relationships and reputation that people would believe in so they could get work at those better paying barber shops?

That’s what I accidentally did with IA Path.

Here are the 4 components (no, I haven’t languaged them to refine them yet, this is all very raw top of mind),

1. Training: Hands on doing of the thing (not just videos)

2. Competency Testing: I say “We don’t care about what people know, we care about what they can do.”

3. Partnership: having real connections to opportunities and people unlock when they meet your contribution standard.

4. Mentorship: while they may be able to meet a contribution standard, they’ll still have questions and need help.

Now what in the world does all this have to do with Mini Books, Category Design, or Category Publishing?

In the beginning I demonstrated competency to the industry by writing books on my topic.

People would read them and go “You obviously know what you are talking about.”

It helped me build relationships to companies I never would of been able to convince with a syllabus or resume.

Writing a Mini Book on your industry, about your role, about how you see the world is a GREAT way to start the conversation, but it is just the start.

I have so much to say about this topic ☝️ of creating a certification or becoming the standard of your industry.

How to charge individuals for the competency testing, how you could charge the companies a fee for finding them talent, how to protect your brand so they keep wanting your people, how to eliminate refunds, how to offer a guarantee that makes people feel they have to buy, etc..

I just don’t know if anyone here is wanting to know more.

This week was the first time I realized I might have information like this that someone needs about more than just Mini Books.

If you all want to know more about this business model, how to build one, let me know.

Otherwise I’ll resume my weekly Claiming the Category writing and I’ll begin bringing clients I’m coaching on live so you can learn by watching me with them.

Comment below if you are interested in me writing more about creating a Certification for your industry.

“Will I have value?” “Will my industry still need me?” “Will I be able to keep up with the changes in technology?”

I read a book last week that may be the most important book of our age.

It’s called ​”Return to Real” by Ryan Levesque.​ (New York Times Bestselling author of Ask)

We all are so sick of,

• Fake gurus

• Fake news

• Fake claims

• Fake testimonials

• Fake reviews

• Artificial food

• Artificial content

• Artificial relationships

• Artificial people!

Ryan’s premise is that mankind is starving for true human connection, for REAL.

And that this precise time in history is unique because of that and it opens up HUGE opportunities as businesses and in our case authors with businesses.

He has his Kindle book on sale for $0.99!

Grab a copy NOW before the price goes up.

This is interesting for us as authors to observe.

Here is a big name author not afraid to discount his book to get readers, reviews, and reputation out there in a new category.

His book exactly follows the 80/20 rule I’ve been discussing about how to define a new category.

The first 20% is laying out the problem and the new solution.

The back half 80% is how to implement the new solution.

The book is a masterpiece. It shows us as business and how to authors the way a master storyteller writes a book that tells people how to do something, but first gets them emotionally invested.

Buy the book to learn from it, buy it to change your life, buy it to support a big name author leaving a publisher to go self published.

You won’t regret the $1!

Purchase Return to Real

Then implement it in your life and business.

I coached people live on their book ideas and helped shed light on what problem they were solving, who they were solving it for, and revealed their true POV.

Then we took all that and started to craft their category that they could own and stand alone in.

There was new revelation for both me and email copywriter about how we could talk to our past selves and people that are much richer than us to help them become our clients.

You don’t want to miss this epiphany.

I breeze through the whole process I walk clients through across 90 days, but we spend the most time in Stage 1, the category and book, because its what most people skip over.

Check it out.

If interested in getting help with this process of going getting your category crafted and your Mini Book done in the next 30 days I have 5 spots for people to jump into a special offer of Mini Book Manuscript where I guide you through,

• 2hr Category Creation Call
  We discover how to carve out a space in their customers minds

• 2hr Framework Finder
  Where we map out what core process and way of doing things you can be known for and teach

• Stuck Line
  For 30 days I’m your go to help to get you and your manuscript unstuck

  So you can get your Mini Book Manuscript done in the next 30 days for $1000.
  I offer 2 payments of $500, first to get started, 1 in 30 days.
  

  Let’s get your manuscript done and your business started.
  

  Enroll in Mini Book Manuscript

Tonight I’m teaching the 90 Day Mini Book to Business Blueprint for the FIRST TIME.

This is a combination of ideas I’ve been teaching separately, but finally joining together for the first time.

I’ll be guiding people through building their book idea and category of business LIVE.

Show up be ready to take notes and apply it to your business.

I can’t wait, I’m so excited to walk you through it.

Register to Attend Book to Business Live

WHEN: Tonight
​TIME: 7pm (EST)
​LENGTH: 1-2hrs

Always nice to see it IS possible to beat the titans of industry.

Thanks to amazing people like you all who pre-ordered from my email list.

To hit bestseller I spent 15 minutes.

1. 5 minutes creating graphics on my phone

2. 5 minutes to set up Bookbub ads

3. 5 minute email I sent to my email list

This Monday I'm discussing the LAZY Book Launch as part of a 3 phase plan to go form Mini Book to Business in 90 Days.

Register for Free by clicking the article below.

Hitting bestseller is my first milestone for my book marketing, but it doesn't stop here.

I'll be moving onto the next milestone,

Selling 250 copies before or right after launch.

Most self published authors average 250 sales across the life of their book.

I like to have that knocked out in the first week of the books availability of possible.

But even if it takes you longer, just have that as milestone.

After that it's 1000 copies in the readers hands.

If you want to pre-order LAZY Book Launch, it's $0.99 to reward anyone who jumps in early on the pre-order.

You can click below

Pre-order LAZY Book Launch for $0.99

This Monday I’m breaking down exactly how I go from Book Idea to Getting Customers For Your Business in 90 Days.

This is the same process I’ve used and I’ve coached people through.

Most people try to limp into a business with half ideas, but something I believe in very strongly is getting the idea and category for your business right BEFORE you ever write your book.

I’ll show you 3 big shifts you need to make for this to work.

1. How to know your book will make money before you write it.
   I’ve written 31 books. 2 of them really make me money, and the difference had nothing to do with how good they were. I now know why and I’m sharing it live.

2. How to get found, get trusted, and get called, without posting every day.
   There’s a way to make one setup do the work a year of content would do. Most authors never turn it on.

3. How a reader becomes a customer without you ever selling them.
   I built a $750k/yr business by talking more people out of buying than into it. The path from page to payment is shorter than you think, and it’s right in plain sight.

I charge $500/hr to work with people 1 on 1, but I want to workshop this live with 2 people FOR FREE.

EVENT: Book to Business: Go From Book Idea to Customers in 90 Days
DATE: Monday September 28th
TIME: 7-9 pm (EST)

To qualify you gotta do 3 things.

1. Leave a comment with one sentence about you or your topic that will make me want to work with you live. Could be a hook, your story, your book idea, industry, sell me on helping you.

2. Register to attend at the Zoom Link

3. Show up live on Monday

This event I’ve carved out 2 hours to pour into everyone there. Yes 2 people will be the focus but bring your pen I PROMISE you will come away with so many ideas.

Can’t wait to see you Monday.

Register for Book to Business

I blew it off, but wrote the idea down. Few weeks later came up with a name.

Been dreaming about it, longing for it. Not just to make a new product to sell, but to have it for myself.

I’ve been reading new book “Return to Real”.

The premise is that we as humans, that our customers, are longing for real in a world that is artificial everything.

Ever since I started reading his email newsletter a year ago about the book he was writing, I was hooked.

My soul knew I wanted real.

The past few mornings during my morning walk with my wife while discussing Return to Real, she’s said,

But I bemoaned how much more time I’d have to spend on the computer to design my dream book.

Then it hit us. We could create it on paper first… Like paper, pen, pencil rulers, scribbles, caveman drawings.

Sketch out the pages, the ideas so we know what we want BEFORE turning to graphic tools and AI.

We stopped in at Office Depot in Cheyenne Wyoming yesterday and grabbed a few things and last night started figuring out the outline and testing out creating a few pages.

As I sat down to do my writing by hand the amount of fun I had cannot be understood.

But better than that my 13 year old wanted to help. He’s an artist so he tackled sketching images in seconds, that wouldn’t have been recognizable if I had done it.

I focused on what would go where, what book I was pulling text from etc.

Here is the opening section two pages. Yes there was even glue involved cutting pages and pasting it on graph paper.

My wife watched and gave input. My 17 year old came up with ideas and even my 6 year old was so excited about the idea of what we were doing he went and drew ‘geysers’ to make his own book. (He is so excited for me to read his book today showcasing 11 geysers)

While we often watch a movie at night, this night no one watched anything. We all drew had fun, laughed, until 10:30pm… together.

Introducing Mini Book Builder

The goal is a complete system to create your Mini Book Manuscript by hand completely free of the computer.

The book itself will guide you through the process of creating your category and book idea through actually writing the book INSIDE the landscape full page size book.

My goal is to finish it for Christmas gifts this year, but often my strongest trait is being naive on how long something takes, so lets just see if it actually gets done at some point.

I could of dumped it all into AI and spent weeks playing with this dumbing my brain down.

But I think this time making something rough draft by hand, so others can eventually make their book away from the screen, was the right call.

Either way it sure was a fun evening.

Is This Idea Something You Are interested In?

If you had a premium full color workbook that guided you through getting your first draft manuscript done off screen, would you be interested?

Let me know in the comments.

He built the framework the whole business world uses. Few know his name.

The same thing is happening to your idea right now.

The whole goal in being a category publisher, in creating your own category, is so you stand out, if not stand alone.

The world has too many books already. (there I said it, heresy I know)

But if you are just going to say the same thing everyone else says, why say it?

The way you stand out is by writing to 1 specific person, helping them solve 1 clear problem, with a unique POV. (Point of view)

1+1+1 = potential $$$

Using new language to do it makes you memorable and gives you a clear identity to stand on.

Category Language

Once you have a category name, nailing your category villain and problem is the next thing to identify.

Typically, your enemy is the typical way of doing things.

Whatever 90%+ of the world says is how you do something, fight that, punch at that idea.

Your unique POV, your life experiences typically has villain that your readers need defeated.

When I write for independent insurance adjusters my enemy was the “Adjuster Lottery.”

It characterized everything about the industry I hated.

But it was what EVERYONE said to do.

• Get a license

• Get some basic training

• Get on some companies

• Wait on a list with 10,000+ other people

• Wait for a hurricane to hit so you are needed

To me that was lottery level chances you’d actually make money so I referred to all that as the Adjuster Lottery.

It shaped my book, I used gambling metaphors, talked about casinos “The House Always Wins.”

I tell you all this, because this is why we do the work BEFORE we sit down to write. Everything I wrote and talked about became improving the odds of my readers.

When I write Mini Book Model I had to find an enemy.

The Big Book Lie is my categories enemy.

People know they need to write a book, but they get intimidated by having to,

• write 40,000 words

• bleed over the page for months if not years (the longer the better)

• spend thousands of dollars on cover designers, editors, formatters

• get 1000 beta readers before you launch your book

• be consumed in your life having to perform launch lunacy and do 100 podcast interviews to market your book

That’s all the old way of thinking.

That’s the Big Book Lie that publishers and high thinking “self publishers” say you HAVE to do.

It’s bull crap and it isn’t what you have to do.

You can write a 20,000 word or less Mini Book in a few days. Spend $500 or less to publish it. And it be released that same month.

This is what all the Mini Book series was fighting against, but I set it all up in Mini Book Model as the evil villain and each book is all of us fighting against it.

Category Publishers Villain

So as I push deeper into publicly developing the Category Publishing category, I’m spinning on the enemy.

The big thing I believe people have to fear is creating their category, creating a beautiful slide deck. Writing a great speech. Delivering a lightning strike moment to unveil the category and never actually claiming their category.

This is the Deck Delusion.

Just because you wrote and said it on social media (FYI Substack is social media) doesn’t mean you own a category or are the published author of something.

But this isn’t the main enemy.

People also bury their category it in Substack, X, and LinkedIn posts and someone else picks up the mantle and runs with it.

Because a post on Substack is NOT claim to a category. It’s content, which is helpful to flush it out, but does not actually put a real authoritative stake in the ground to say “This is the ground I’m standing on for the next few years.”

To have people take you seriously you have to write a category claiming book, not just a long newsletter.

Or worse that you never even figure out what their category actually is and someone else comes and claims it out from under their nose putting a name to what it was you were trying to do.

And thats when it hit me. Amidst all my ramblings to my wife and to AI trying to flush out what the big thing to fear was. The boogey man people didn’t even know if it existed I found an enemy.

Category Theft.

When someone takes the category you have worked on (knowingly or not) and claimed it as their own.

Just because you wrote the newsletter on it doesn’t mean your the authority on a category. (yes, a Mini Book on Substack is still just a long newsletter, it isn’t authorship as the world defines it)

To be the authority of a category you have to AUTHOR a book on it.

Until you do your just a guy or a gal on Substack.

The moment you publish your category… now you are a Category Publisher.

Category Theft in the Wild

Atomic Habits spent 5 years on the NY Time bestseller list… 5 FREAKING YEARS.

It has sold 30 million copies worldwide.

BJ Fogg, a Stanford behavior scientist, had been publishing research on small habits for decades before Atomic Habits came out.

He didn’t release his book until a year after James Clear defined the category. He wasn’t just 12 months late. He never defined it.

When his book finally came out it read as “oh, another book on atomic habits.” After DECADES of work.

He didn’t name the ground he was standing on, so somebody else did. With a book.

James Clear knowingly or not (he’s a smart guy pretty sure he knew he was defining a new category) created the category of Atomic Habits.

SWOT was developed over 60 years ago and there is NO CLEAR CREATOR of this way of business Analysis.

SWOT is an acronym that stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.

They can’t even agree if Stanford or Harvard first came up with it.. .because no one AUTHORED THE BOOK ON IT.

Albert S. Humphrey worked on the Stanford Research Institute planning project that produced SWOT, from 1960 to 1970. He watched Harvard and MIT get the credit for it.

So he wrote the correction. A paper saying he’d been told that those Universities claimed it, and that this is not so.

He wrote the claim on it and died before it got printed.
Six weeks later it ran on page seven of an alumni newsletter.

Sixty years later, every business school on earth teaches his framework and can’t tell you his name.

Category Theft.

Your category isn’t claimed, you aren’t the author of it, until you write and publish the book on it.

Your Turn to Find Your Enemy

I’ll walk you through how to find your enemy.

First you have to start with clearly identifying your problem. If you haven’t done that, you gotta go back.

Typically you nail down,

1. The person you are writing to

2. The problem they face

3. The unique POV you have that will help them solve this problem.

Once you have that you can begin working on your Category Name.

But look at the problem you are helping solve.

Here is my example of Category Publishing,

1. Person: someone who is trying to create a category for them and their company

2. Problem: they aren’t known as the leader of their category

3. POV: Writing a Mini Book and publishing it to Amazon is the quickest most definitive way to claim a category.

The villain that they don’t see that is wreaking havoc, that they aren’t even aware of until I name it is… Category Theft.

If you don’t solve the problem the boogie man will get you, someone will steal your category.

So what is the big evil thing lurking behind the problem you solve?

What will “get them” if they don’t eliminate this problem once and for all?

As I see it you can go two ways with this.

1. Name the normal way of thinking the enemy (Big Book Lie, Deck Delusion)

2. Name the thing that will get them if they don’t solve the problem (Category Theft)

I’ve created a prompt below for those who support this newsletter that’ll help you find your enemy name

Keep writing and claiming your life.

Chris Stanley

The Enemy Finder

There are 3 fields right at the top you have to write in your answers then paste this into the AI of your choice.

It’ll ask you question after question giving you new enemy names each time until you find a enemy worth fighting.

Read more

2016 I read a book that introduced me to a concept that changed my life forever.

Play Bigger explained how you could “design” a category and become the category king/queen of it.

I was in that season of life reading 2+ business books a week, dozens of podcasts, consume consume consume.

Play Bigger and this concept stopped me in my tracks… it made sense.

Purposefully designing a category for you to be the default option in.

When I started my company IA Path in October 2016 I vowed to implement Category Design in it.

I sucked at it.

I thought I was Online Auto Training, then it shifted to several other category names before falling on Virtual Adjuster Mentorships.

That’s when I wrote the Mini Book that changed everything.

Later I updated my category to “EXP Free Career Paths” and the Renewable Workforce is something I’m still building today. (finalized it as a part of Category Design Academy last year! I’m participating again in 2026 to help shape this very idea I’m revealing here)

What I’m Building Here

I’ve had a lot of people ask me of the past decade,
“How did you do it? How did you get IA Path to make money?”
”How did you take your expertise and turn it into a 6 figure up to a $750k/yr business?”
”How did you get a book to sell in a boring market like adjusting?”

1. It isn’t because I’m a genius

2. I don’t work harder than everyone else (although I do work hard)

3. I didn’t have stacks of cash or a long runway

What I did was frenetic movement. (which I don’t recommend)

I tested, not in a systematic A/B split testing way, but through crazy amounts of activity, that moved the needle.

But what worked was category design put into a Mini Book… that was the big unlock for my business.

When I slowed down and took count… that was the needle mover.

So I started writing about how short books can helped grow that company.

After having written 20+ books (over 30 now) people started hiring me to help them with the production, publishing, and even writing of their book.

People often call me the Mini Book guy, but I have a little beef with Mini Books as a format.

What worked for me in IA Path wasn’t Mini Books as some people use them.

It wasn’t,

• Monthly longform newsletters on Substack called a Mini Book

• A poorly put together 3k lead magnet

Both of which is what people are starting to think of when they say “Mini Book”.

What helped me was Claiming a Category with a Mini Book.

In fact, I’d argue most of my books between those were supporting the category, gave me something to launch, action creates attraction, but really didn’t move the needle.

So Mini Books in of themselves isn’t enough.

Last year I had a mentor, (author of Play Bigger) challenged me via text and said, “I think your thinking too small being the Mini Book guy. I think you need to think about your category more.”

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What Category Am I Building?

So I’ve been thinking and trying all sorts of ideas.

Smart Books
Smart Publishing
Flywheel Builders

shoves the pile of papers off the desk in frustration

But I kept pushing myself (and my wife honestly) with “what category am I building?”

I keep coming back to what I actually believe in.

I believe in the power of category design implemented through a book.

So when I wrote Mini Book Flywheel I did my own exercise.
(check out the excerpt below)

So I wrote it out.

“I help people write nonfiction books that claim a category.”

And I stopped, that isn’t Mini Books, so I wrote it again.

“I help people write Mini Books that claim a category.”

So I asked myself, what is that? What are my word choices?

I wrote out a ton of words, brainstormed for weeks. Two words seemed to do the work I was looking for.

Category - Absolutely had to be in the name because that is what I believed in.
Publishing - the act of not just writing books on Substack, but publishing a book.

Put it together and you get “Category Publishing”.

I opened up a business in that name, secured the domains for categorypublishing.com (the business) and for categorypublishers.com. (the newsletter)

That’s where this whole thing started.

I’ve spun out a few times since stumbling upon that category name, but now I want to open up about what I’m doing and why.

Claim It: The Weekly Log of Building a Category

I’ve been building in public for years, so I’m not embarrassed to trip and fall.

I’m not scared to try things, in fact I feel its one of the best ways to learn and teach. I really dislike sitting on a mountain acting like I have every jot and tittle figured out.

I don’t.

I share what works and tell you the pot holes I’ve hit and the traps I’ve fallen into.

Seeing the practice happening, to document it, to realize why something worked or didn’t is what I want to do with this newsletter.

Will I sometimes share polished content, not documentary style, yes!

But Each week I’ll share,

• What I’m doing and why

• The results of what I did

• Tell you how you can do it (or avoid it) in your claiming of a category

This edition is an example of the format in practice.

I shared how I came up with my category name, the struggles, the exercise and the result.

So now it is your turn.

Your Turn: Find a Category Name

Test your category name or create a new category using the exercises below. Even if you don’t “build a category” I bet it brings clarity to what you are doing.

Post your category story, category words, and finally category name in the comments. It may change over time, that’s fine, you’ll never stop searching.

Can’t wait to see what you come up with.

Until next time keep claiming your life.

Coach Chris

P.S. If you want help figuring out your category, book and business, check out Category Publishing Coaching.

Check Out Category Publishing Coaching

If you want to read the rest of Mini Book Flywheel, you can find it on Amazon.

Ever feel like you’re so busy doing ALL the things you aren’t doing the ONE thing that makes money?

I know some of you are thinking,

“Just tell me what to do and I’ll do it!”

That’s the thing. There are 3 stages to building a business around your books. (If you follow how I do things)

Stage 1: Claim Your Category by building your core assets.

Stage 2: LAZY Book Marketing System so you can sell books all year long.

Stage 3: Book to Business Flywheel to turn those leads into customers.

Within each stage are hundreds of potential sticking points.

So here’s how my week went talking to authors.

• One author has 40 books and can’t get customers. 🤯

• Another had written the book. Full of smart ideas, but nothing memorable and no category claimed.

• A DM from someone needing help launching.

• Another switching from a publisher to Amazon, not sure how to make sales work.

• One brilliant guy so smart he couldn’t see how his expertise could make money. Conferences, newsletters, pages published, but no first dollar.

All stuck at different spots. I knew I could help every one of them.

But none of my packages made sense for any of them.

They could hire me to do the production for $10k where my team and I create the cover, edit, and format it. Or they could hire me and my team to write and produce it for $20k.

But none of these people wanted me to do the work. They just needed to know what to do. They didn’t want to climb the mountain of building a book and a business alone.

My rate has been $500 a call for 2 years.

So someone would pay it, get unstuck, and hit a new wall three days later. Now the next question costs another $500, so they sit on it. Not deal with it, or they’d save up five questions for one call and we’d rush all five.

They’d implement 1 if they remembered.

And some of them didn’t know what they needed help with at all. They were just overwhelmed and needed someone to say do this next.

I tossed and turned all night Friday after these conversations feeling like I was missing an option I’d never thought of. Then in the morning, a whisper in the back of my mind.

“Flat rate coaching.”

I sat up.

“That’s it!”

No packages.
No session counts.
One price, ninety days, and you book a call whenever you’re stuck.

Doesn’t matter what it is, I’m there to help you get out of the rut and make progress.

Category Publishing Coaching

$3,000 for 90 days.

Six calls used to cost $3,000. Now $3,000 buys you ninety days.

90 days is long enough to accomplish something substantial in your business.
That’s what I want to see happen.

You could write your Mini Book, get it published on Amazon, and begin getting reviews.

You could build an entire marketing system that you can simply turn on whenever you want to hit Amazon bestseller before a conference, podcast, or launch of your new product.

You could create a webinar and sales pipeline that sells your own coaching package based on your book.

Book as many calls as you need.

One call at a time. Finish it, do the work, then book the next one if you get stuck.

Thirty to forty-five minutes. Long enough to get unstuck. Too short for small talk.

Bring anything.

Your title.
Your category.
The offer you can’t price.
The launch you’re avoiding.
The chapter that won’t work.
The business you’re trying to build on top of the book.

You don’t have to know what you’ll need help with.
That’s the point.

Every call ends the same way.
One thing to do next.

Not fourteen options. One thing, and it’s the right one.

Here’s what I think happens.

The guy with 40 books finally has a path to revenue.
The one with smart ideas rewrites the first quarter and takes a space in people’s minds.
The DM about launching turns into a launch that works.
The publisher switch stops being scary.
The brilliant guy gets his first dollar.

Then they hit the next problem. And we clear that one too.

All of them were doing plenty. None of them knew which one thing to do next.

If you saw yourself in any of that, this is for you.

Every engagement starts with a call so I can tell you honestly whether I can help. If I can’t, I’ll say so.

Book a Discovery Call

I'm taking a max of 10 people to start. When those are full, there's a waitlist.

Building a business with Mini Books changed my life and I know it can change yours. I can’t wait to help you with it.

I’m so glad to remove the $500 a question price and offer something that can help you break out of where you are stuck.

Keep spinning,
Coach Chris

I made two big mistakes with my first book, the Hail Adjuster’s Playbook.

1. The cover was terrible, hard to read.

2. I wrote a how-to book without a new point of view.

You might be thinking, ‘Wait a second Chris, I’m not supposed to write a how-to book?”

Write all the how-to books you want. Just not before giving people a new way to frame your instructions.

See I was wanting to set my business and myself up as something people would never forget. Problem was I didn’t give them anything to remember me as.

Adjuster training already existed. People already had beliefs about it. I showed up and taught them how to do a thing in a category and way they already believed in. I affirmed their point of view, I didn’t give them a new one.

I gave them some good information and it got me some kudos, good reviews, and attaboys, but not really many clients.

Then I wrote my second book, Independent Adjuster’s Playbook, and it all changed. People starting hiring me, the difference was nearly instant.

I had someone this week DM me on LinkedIn saying “Just started reading Mini Book Model, good stuff.”

They were a fellow author and I wanted to remark, “That isn’t my best book in that series, but everyone seems to like it best.”

So I thought about my IA Playbook. I thought about Mini Book Model, why they got most the love.

Then it hit me…

Both of them don’t just tell you how to do something, they make you believe something new.

How I ‘Accidentally’ Claimed a Spot in People’s Mind

I wrote my 2nd book, Independent Adjuster’s Playbook, and the thesis was,

“The way your trying to do this, is wrong. Here’s why and what you should do instead.”

The first quarter of the book was me breaking down the normal way of thinking in our industry and offering an alternative.

I offered a new way to see our industry, instead of getting work with houses= claims, get work with auto claims.

It was a simple switch, but it landed. People started calling me “the Auto Guy.”

They started asking for Virtual Adjuster Mentorships. (the category I set up with that book) Other companies started modeling my language and the way I did things. (which grew my category)

The book worked.

Why It Worked

What I didn’t realize at the time, was that I had created a new category in people’s minds, because of the first 25% of that book.

Now I don’t just mean the technical category name “Virtual Adjuster Mentorships”, I mean new real estate in their minds.

It’s where “the auto guy” term they all seemed to parrot comes from. They slotted me in this spot they didn’t know existed before.

So two nights ago just before bed I had an epiphany…

If the primary thing I’m selling, if my category is primarily built around intellectual property, I have to write a book that makes the case for taking up real estate in people’s minds.

Companies with physical categories like, Uber, just need to convince you to take 1 ride and you have the epiphany. Drive a Cyber Truck and you’ll get why its different.

The only way for me to get someone to test drive intellectual property is to let them read and experience thinkers high of a new way to see and solve a problem.

I can’t just tell them “how to do the thing.”

I have to make the case for my category, for my spot in their mind. If I choose a category or space in someone’s mind where other people already take up space it’s too competitive.

I’d then have to convince them to replace that person with me and that’s not a fight I want to have.

Same thing happened when I intentionally wrote the Mini Book Model.

I set out to become known as the “Mini Book guy” and to establish Mini Books as a legit type of book.

I argued for Mini Books and against the “big book lie” that you have to write a 30k word manuscript to have a ‘real’ book.

I wrote more books in the series that were straight how-to.

Mini Book Writing - how to write a Mini Book in 7 days
Mini Book Publishing - how to publish your book to Amazon
Mini Book Marketing - how to sell your first 1000 books
Mini Book Money - how to create products around your books

People ‘like’ those books, but they tell me they ‘love’ Mini Book Model.

Took me a while to understand that. Love and use are two different jobs. Mini Book Model changed what they thought was allowed. The other four they actually open when they sit down to work.

Both matter. Only one of them claimed the category.

People Want Their Minds Changed

A good friend and client of mine Stuart Corrigan sent me research yesterday that explains some of the why and validated a theory of mine.

The research shows that people want their minds changed.

I get this from the 2025 Edelman-LinkedIn B2B Thought Leadership Impact Report, survey was of 1,934 business executives in business from 1-1000+ employees.

What they found helps us realize how to make sales and get customers, especially in a B2B context. In B2B, which I often operate in, there are different types of decision makers.

Sure there is the guy your talking to trying to sell, but then there is the person(s) who actually make the decision behind the scenes. They call these the “hidden decision-makers.”

All that to set up the way the stats fall out.
The two most striking statistics are this,

86% of hidden decision-makers want fresh perspectives that challenge assumptions rather than validate their thinking.

91% of hidden decision-makers say a hallmark of quality is helping them uncover challenges or needs they hadn’t recognized, versus 81% of target decision-makers.

81%+ of decision makers are looking for thought leaders and people to help them see challenges or needs they didn’t know about.

They are begging for someone to create a category (a way of thinking) and present it to them!

Decision makers are wanting someone to do the hard thinking for them and present a new point of view… a new solution… a new category.

This is why books like Atomic Habits, Building a Storybrand, Play Bigger, The Existing Market Trap, do so good at creating a category.

They each present a new way of thinking, often to an existing obvious problem, but as a result the author and company behind the book gets known as the leader of the category.

They become a category king or a category of one.

How to Write a Book That Gets You Customers

Hopefully I’ve shown you that just writing a how-to book doesn’t guarantee you’ll get customers.

I’ve experienced it, both a book that moves the needle in business and one that provides royalties but doesn’t establish a category.

How to books have a place, they serve the category they belong to… but they don’t establish the category.

Only by publishing a book that names and frames your category, a new way of thinking, a new solution, can you claim a category with a book.

Then you can write how-to books inside that category. Otherwise you are writing and helping someone else’s category get bigger.

The intentional process of claiming your category with a book is Category Publishing.

Here are the steps I see when I break down my books that established a category and when I look at other famous books like Atomic Habits.

You can write “how-to”, but the first 25% must change how people think and give them a new frame for the “how-to” to sit inside.

The part that surprised me when I broke down the famous ones.

• Atomic Habits is mostly how-to.

• Building a StoryBrand is mostly how-to.

• The 5 Love Languages is mostly how-to.

James Clear spends three chapters on why goals fail and seventeen on what to do instead.

The teaching in my first books was never the problem.

The first 25% of a book decides whether the teaching belongs to you or to someone else and their category. that is where the problem takes hold.

So here are 5 things a Category defining book must have.

1. Does the first quarter of the Mini Book argue against something?
This is an argument against the status quo way of thinking. Remember the research, decision makers don’t want validation, they want problems they didn’t see, new ideas and solutions.

2. Is the framework named and owned?
Magic triangle. Storybrand Script. Five Love Languages. Category Kings. 13 Deadly Sins. If your framework and way of thinking has no name, you built a how-to. If someone can repeat your mechanism’s name at dinner, you built a framework that can be remembered.

3. Can someone use your framework without buying your idea?
Try lifting one tactic out of your book. Hand it to someone who never read it.
Anybody can use “lay your gym clothes out the night before.” Nobody can use “name, frame, and claim a category” without first agreeing with Play Bigger. Portable tactics grow other categories. Anchored tactics grow yours.

4. Does the reader get new language?
“I’m a words of affirmation person.” “I’m a systems guy.” “We’re a category king.” Readers should walk away with a name for something if they apply what they learned. If it can provide new language for them in their life and business your doing category publishing.

5. Does it name the enemy the reader is currently fighting?
An enemy must be named. The reader must choose to fight against this thing to apply your new way of thinking. If you wanted to be a Mini Book Author, you’d have to fight the Big Book Lie that says a book must be 30k+ words.

I wrote five how-to books after Mini Book Model. They sell every day inside a category I own.

I just happened to have written them in the right order that time. I want to make sure you do the same.

Keep spinning.

Coach Chris

P.S. If you need help with your book ask questions in the comments. Happy to help.

The number 1 way to get people to take you seriously is to write a book and have a lot of good reviews for it.

As Flywheel Builders our first job is simple, but hard, claim a category we belong to.

The easiest way is to,

1. Figure out who your person, problem, and POV is

2. Create a framework of how they work through that problem

3. Write a book about that framework

But once you have the book, if no one reads it, uses, or reviews it… it really doesn’t have the effect we hoped it would.

The moment someone checks out your book on Amazon and sees 2 reviews… they don’t want to buy it and they don’t believe you are really professional.

We lack credibility because we lack… social proof.

I faced this back in 2020.

I had written God is Like a Geyser. A Christian Observational about how I learned things about God by spending time in Yellowstone National Park.

I’d push people to the book and it had 20 reviews. My click rate was good on ads, but the take rate was abysmal. People wouldn’t spend $0.99 or even FREE due to lack of reviews.

So I vowed I’d do everything I could to get reviews for that book. (other than pay for people to leave fake reviews.)

I heard that the best way to get a lot of people to read your book and ultimately review it was to get a Bookbub promo. 1 million readers and often made authors careers.

I wanted it and I wanted it bad.

The problem?

You had to have around 100 reviews to get accepted. I had my first goal.

How I Got My First 100 Reviews of My Book

I set out to “crack the code” on getting reviews.

Do you know what I found the top two things I had to do to get people to leave reviews was?

1. Get a lot of people to download my book

2. Ask them to review it

It’s so stupidly simple it hurts.

BECAUSE ITS BORING.

That’s why so few people do it.

Here is how I got my first 100 reviews.

1. Price my book as FREE

2. Buy book promos for God is Like a Geyser every couple weeks.

3. Run Bookbub ads to similar audiences consistently

I did that for a year.

My reviews climbed to right around 100 and that’s when I shifted to phase 2 of my review pursuit.

How I Reached Over 300 Reviews

I noticed that as I hit around 100 reviews my ads converted better.

More people downloaded my book when I gave it away.

Success bred more success.

People like to read a good book, they don’t like to take a gamble.

But I wanted more reviews.

I’d heard about bookbub Promos from a book by David Gaughran about Bookbub. I knew that getting a book promo could lift me into a new standing as an author to a cold reader.

Bookbub Promos go out to hundreds of thousands of readers in your genre and category of book.

Readers select if they’d like special deals sent to their inbox on Non-fiction, biography, religion, sci-fi, etc. and each day they get a curated list of books that are discounted within that genre.

Authors can’t just buy their way into Bookbub, it is too desirable a book promo. You must apply and get approved. One of the requirements is around 100 reviews, rated well, and the rest is a mystery.

You can apply every month, there is no cost to the author if you aren’t selected.

I applied 3 months in a row before getting selected.

With my Bookbub date set I realized I wouldn’t be in signal when it went out.

I was sailing off the coast of Florida to the Dry Tortugas, about a days sail, for a week with my wife and kids. Just so happens it was the week of my Bookbub.

I went 4 days without knowing the results of the ad going out.

The moment I was back in signal I checked my KDP reports. 12,000 people had downloaded my book in a 2-day period.

12,000…

Over the next 3 months reviews came in, poured in by my standards. As the dust settled I was close to 300 reviews.

But how did that happen?

How You Get People to Leave a Review on Your Book

Just because 12,000 people download your free book, doesn’t mean they’ll review it.

Practically you have to think through what has to happen for someone to leave a review… and the task is daunting.

1. They must see your book

2. They must select your book (even if free)

3. They must see your book in their library

4. They must read your book

5. They must like your book enough to read to the end

6. They must read your urgent plea for a review

7. They must rate your book

8. They must click the link to leave a review

9. They must leave a review

WOW. What a chain of events that must occur.

There are a few things that stand out that we can control and some things we can’t control.

1. We must market our book (see #1 above why)

2. We must have a good book cover (see my articles on how to make a QUICK book cover if intimidated)

3. We must have a compelling topic/hook

4. We must have clear subtitles and book description

5. We must have a good book (imagine that!) so they make it past chapter 1

6. We must ask for the review and make it easy for them

7. You must remind them to leave a review

Feels like a never ending to do list, I get it.
Before I left out to sea I had to make sure I had some things in place in my business flywheel to take advantage of such a huge marketing opportunity as Bookbub.

Book
Before I could even apply for Bookbub I had to have my book written and published on Amazon and optionally other retailers like Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Google Play, Apple, etc.

I had to have my book description right, smart categories selected, good cover, get my book listed for free.

Inside the book there had to be a lead magnet to entice the reader to sign up for my email list.

Website

Next, I had to have a lead magnet actually functional and working on my website.

Even if it was just a lead page generated by kit, it had to work. The person who takes the lead magnet, I can then remind in 20 or 30 days that if they enjoyed the book to leave a review.

The majority of the reviews I got came from people who signed up from my newsletter on my website and I reminded them.

Newsletter

Once someone joins your newsletter through your books lead magnet a simple email series welcoming them, telling behind the scenes of the book, or even recapping is it great, but not required.

1 welcome email “Thanks for downloading [blank]. Hope you enjoy the book. Let me know what you thought.”

1 review request “A few weeks back you grabbed a copy of my book [insert name]. Let me know what you thought of the book.”

When they resond (and yes some will respond) you can say “Hey I’d love it if you shared that as a review on Amazon. Copy and paste it on Amazon at the link below.” and give them the link that actually goes straight to your book and the “Leave a Review” page loaded.

It’ll reduce friction ad increase your reviews.

Don’t ask for the review. Ask what they thought, then ask them to paste it.

Ads

Getting set up with Bookbub ads or signing up for other book promotions is really easy.

But like everything else it just felt like one more thing to learn. I wouldn’t have gotten to 100 reviews as fast if I didn’t take the time to learn. I might have never gotten to over a 100 reviews.

I set up a Trello board with dates for each promo I scheduled. A reminder date to buy it again 2 months out. And I’d run about $150-$200 a month in ads and promos a month.

TIP: The more book promos I did a month, the less effective they were. Many readers are on the same lists. If I scheduled and paid for 5 book promos in a 3 day period the last few were also less effective regardless of the company running the promotion.

Customers

Once the ads started running I’d have a 30 day delay between books downloaded and new reviews showing up.

This is likely because my book was a 30 day devotional, so it was designed to be read in a month. But, if you replicate this strategy give it time before you write it off and say ‘this doesn’t work.’

People don’t always read a book they download right away. By continuing to run ads I was showing up in their email reminding them about your book. People may even click it again to download it, see they already own it, and decide it is time to read it.

I had a couple people email me with stories like “I saw your book several times and finally I went to get it and I’d already owned it. So I started reading it. It is so good!”

They’d go on and tell me about their trip to Yellowstone or what they learned etc. and we’d form a connection.

My goal was to take them from being a book downloader to being your reader and ultimately to becoming a customer with a review.

They may not have purchased anything. I gave the book away for free most times, but it was me proving my book’s worth as an author. Seeing for myself if I wrote a good enough book to get good reviews.

That in turn built my Category of Christian Observationals and helped my series and audience grow.

When I would launch a new book in that series I no longer had to do promos or ads to hit bestseller, it just happened with an email out to my customers.

Run It In Your Own Flywheel

I’ve walked you through what I did with my God is Like series.

I did it for God is Like a Geyser, but I also did it for other books, including niche insurance books.

- 300+ reviews for God is Like a Geyser

- 100+ reviews for God is Like a Rocket Launch

- 100+ for the last book in the series God is Like a Box of Crayons

- 150+ for the Independent Adjuster’s Playbook

- 240+ for the Auto Adjuster’s Playbook

- 100+ for Mini Book Model

In each case getting reviews made it easier to sell more books, to earn trust, and to… get more reviews.

The difference between God is Like Series and the IA Playbook series is that Book promos don’t work for niche industries like insurance, plumbing etc. unless its directed at a broad audience like “How to fix your own leaky faucet” or “how to read your insurance policy and why you should”.

But books that help niche audiences that don’t apply to a broad group of people you need to work your way into the circles in that industry. Find where they hang out, answer questions, give away books, (in exchange for joining the email list) do content marketing on the proper social channel to give away the book.

If your book does have mass appeal then you can skip the content creation game on social and just do what I did for God is Like.

Here is the breakdown of this play that you can execute within your Flywheel.

The 100 Review Run

Objective: 100 reviews.

Parts touched: Book, Ads, Website, Customers.

Prerequisites: published book, lead magnet inside it, capture page live.

The moves: price it free, book promos on a rolling calendar, BookBub ads to comp audiences, remind your list at day 20-30. The ask is the mechanism, the reminder is where most reviews actually come from.

The fork, on the card: broad-appeal book runs promos; niche book works the circles where its readers gather.

Duration: months, honestly. This is the grind play.

Milestone: 100 reviews.

The BookBub Shot

Objective: the promo that moves thousands of downloads in 48 hours.

Prerequisite: 100 reviews — the Run’s milestone is this play’s entry ticket.

The moves: apply monthly until accepted (took me three tries, but I’ve had books rejected for years), stage the machine before the date: lead magnet working, list reminder sequence loaded, review ask in the back matter. Then let it fire.

Milestone: the download spike, and the review wave that rolls in over the next 90 days.

Ask any questions you have about getting book reviews in the comments.

Keep spinning.

Coach Chris

Today’s a little bit of a sad day. Mixed emotions for me, because I’m announcing that I’m killing the Revenue Writers Podcast.

Before we get too sappy, I’m not going anywhere. Lord willing. The plan is to sunset the name Revenue Writers in exchange for something else.

It’s tough on me because I really like the term, but I feel inside of me, and maybe some of you feel it too, that it’s caused a little bit of confusion.

Why the name stopped fitting

When I say Revenue Writers, what I imagined were people who want to write for a living and generate revenue. That’s accurate. That’s what I want to be. That’s mainly what I am.

But when I’m honest about how I’ve built my company, and how I passed my insurance adjuster training company before that, sure, writing is a large part of it. Yet some people, myself included, fight the other things that are needed to actually generate revenue because we want to be known as a writer.

While we’re revenue writers, we need to be much more than writers if we want to make money in our business.

I feel like I can teach you how to write a book, but that doesn’t necessarily teach you how to make money. Mini-books will always be a core part of what I teach. It’s one of the best formats to start generating revenue quickly and one of the best formats to transfer expertise to build your business. But both mini-books and revenue writing lock me into this concept of writing.

I’ve written thirty-one plus books and ghostwritten books for big companies, and that’s still not the whole picture.

What I saw when I stopped seeing my business as linear

Over the past decade of writing books and building businesses, I started to see a different picture.

The simple online business model is literally what I would have written down of how I run my business. But since I wrote Mini Book Flywheel this last year, I’ve started to pivot deeper.

Diving into the flywheel is how I get better at what I do as a CEO. I’m trying to understand what I’m actually doing at a more complex level that turns out to be less complex. There are lots of moving parts, things spinning and moving, but it really isn’t rocket science. It’s a few things we’ve got to do. They’re just things we don’t always want to do.

We want to just write. Go write another mini-book. That’s fun. But to build a business, you have to build a flywheel.

Once I stopped seeing my business as a linear thing, I suddenly felt a lot more peace and clarity about what I needed to do.

Flywheel is the glue that puts it all together. It gives me the liberty to talk about podcasts, books, and social media where applicable, all inside a framework that doesn’t feel sporadic. Mini-books are one of the core assets that the flywheel spins around.

The names I bought and buried

For the domain junkies out there like myself, I went through a few names over the last few weeks and bought a few I didn’t end up needing.

• Flywheel Publishing was the working title for a while. Already taken. There’s a publishing company by that name that teaches writing, and I didn’t want to cause confusion, so we’re not going with it.

• A few other names were too close to what other people are doing.

After a lot of research, I’m pushing the chips in. Moving forward, this podcast will be called the Flywheel Builders Podcast.

What Flywheel Builders is

This is where we’ll talk about how to build a flywheel and everything related to it. That’s everything in your business. We’ll focus primarily on spinning around your book.

If you’re a non-author, you technically could do this with your messaging. But the easiest way to get your messaging right is to write a mini-book, and then that’s your bible on your messaging.

Here’s what’s rolling out:

• The app, Flywheel Builder. I’m building it to run my own business actively, and I keep refining it until it’s ready for you. It’ll help you run your flywheel, see what’s working and what’s not, and create new things inside of it. I don’t know how soon it’ll see the light of day, but that’s the plan.

• The cohort, The Core. We’ll all build a flywheel together. I’ll build mine for my business, you’ll build yours for your business. It’s named The Core because at the center of your flywheel is the core.

• The newsletter, The Flywheel. You might have noticed it already updated. Consolidating down on this concept, going all in.

Stick around or don’t

I get really excited when I look at the flywheel and it starts to make sense how a business actually works.

It’s not linear, it isn’t a funnel. Funnels are inside the flywheel, a piece of it, but it’s not linear.

If you’re thinking, “I don’t know, you’re going crazy, Chris,” I get it. No problem. We’ll catch you on a different one.

But if you’re excited about building a business that spins around your books, where you don’t have to restart every Monday morning with a new concept, a new launch, a new funnel, then stick around. We’re going to build ecosystems, weather patterns that attract customers and keep them in orbit around us until they’re in position and ready to buy.

Till next episode, when it’ll be the Flywheel Builders Podcast, keep spinning.

Coach Chris

This newsletter edition was first recorded as a podcast and I used AI to turn it into newsletter form.

While AI was used to repurpose these are my words… I often write the newsletter first and then record a podcast but this is the reverse order to show you all how you can use AI to create while it still being YOUR ideas, YOUR content, YOUR words.

Enjoy,

The book that will grow your business

I get this question a lot.

“What book should I write? What should my book’s topic be? I want to write a book, but I don’t know how to figure out what to make it about.”

If you want to build a business around a book, the answer is very different than if you just want to write a book to pass on to your kids. I’ve done both, and I enjoy both. Today I want to talk about how I approach writing a book to start or grow your business.

It’s not the only way to do it. It’s how I approach it.

Why the book itself isn’t where the money shows up

You’re going to think you’re making money because of your books. It’s more of a catalyst.

Most people say, “I’m only selling 100 books a month,” or whatever it is.

I only make $400 or $500 a month usually on my 8 insurance books’ sales. That’s when it does okay. Most times it goes lower than that.

My business, IA Path, has done really well. It made up to $750,000 a year most years, and it’s mainly centered around my books. But the book sales don’t drive the business. And it’s not always leads driving it either.

The reason a book is so good at helping you grow your business is because you have to understand your topic to such a degree that it makes you truly an expert.

What actually makes someone an expert

I have to understand things to the stupidest degree possible. Otherwise I feel like I can’t talk about it or help other people with it.

Knowledge is useless.

Look at AI. It knows everything.
Knowledge is great, but it’s abundant, so your knowledge is not much of an advantage.

Your experience is part of your advantage.

What makes you truly an expert is if you can replicate the results you’ve had for yourself with other people. You put it together as a package to pass on to somebody,

“This is how I got the result. Here’s how you can do it, too.”

You make it to where someone else can understand it AND get the same result you did.

Now you’re an expert.

Books happen to be one way that’s done.

You can do it through courses, through presentations. But the most easily transferable form of media that exists is books. Because there’s no video, no audio, it’s text on a page. To make it make sense to somebody else, you have to boil it down to its fundamentals.

That’s the power of writing a book.

How to know what to write about

Once you know what you want to write about, that’s the topic and subject matter you’re going to become an expert in.

“But Chris, I can’t just pick random topics.”

No, of course not.

You have to start where you already have experience, because you can’t prove expertise until you can transfer it to somebody else.

Think of a restaurant. You don’t open a restaurant and ask what you want to cook. You ask what you’re already good at cooking. What have you made that was so good people wanted more of?

“My mother is Italian. I’ve made Italian food my whole life. My kids ask me to make lasagna every year on my birthday.”

That’s probably your category.

Wherever your experience lies, that should be one edge of your category.

The three things that form your category

Once you have your big broad topic, figure out three things:

1. The person you want to serve.

2. The problem that person has that you have experience solving.

3. Your point of view, gained from your experience, of how they should solve that problem.

Here’s how it worked for me.

I looked at my expertise,

“I’m an insurance adjuster by trade, so that’s my big broad topic. But I’m not the best at everything in insurance, so I should help new people. I’ve had friends who wanted to get in the industry and couldn’t because they didn’t know how. So my person is someone who wants to become an adjuster but doesn’t know how.”

The problem?
When someone wants to accomplish something, what is stopping them?

For my person, they found there were experience requirements. So the problem is they want to get in the industry, but there are experience requirements stopping them. They feel trapped in a maze.

Then the point of view.

Everyone was trying to become an adjuster a certain way, and I had a different way. My point of view was they should get started with auto claims. That’s the experience I had. Other people got started in property. My experience was different than a lot of people’s.

Your experience gives you the big category umbrella, and your person, problem, and POV give it its shape.

Turn your point of view into a framework

With your POV, make it very different from what most people do.

If it’s the same as everybody else, dig deeper, because a point of view has to be unique. If it’s the same as everybody else, they can get it with AI.

You might be thinking,

“Chris, I don’t have a unique point of view.”

You probably do. You just don’t realize it.

One, it’s unique because of your unique life experiences.
Two, to make it truly sound unique, turn that point of view into a framework.

Here’s how I do that. I come up with the steps of how I would solve the problem with my point of view. To become an independent adjuster based on my point of view, I interviewed 100 people, drew from my life experiences, and found there were seven steps everybody had to do to get work in this industry.

I wrote out the seven steps. That was my unique point of view.

No one else had ever said it that way.
No one else had ever made it that clear.
No one else had my life experiences.

Those steps of the framework became my book.

The whole process

If you want to build a business around a book, or use a book to grow or start one:

• Determine the big category you want to be adjacent to. For me it was insurance adjusting.

• Determine your person, your problem, and your point of view.

• Figure out the unique framework you want to teach people and pass on.

To make it transferable from a book, it has to be something that makes sense like a framework. That’s the book you should write. That’s where you should start.

Sure, there are other ways to do it. But you want my opinion, that’s what you do.

Now go do that process.

Spin it up.

Until next time, keep spinning.

Coach Chris

Someone tests social post after social post, month after month, maybe year after year. Not anchored to anything in particular. Just throwing things out there to see what sticks.

Then something hits.

They’re not even sure why.

Comments flooding in, DMs stacking up, strangers begging to give them money. And they’ve got nothing to send them.

No book.
No offer.
No product.

No core to catch all that attention and turn it into something real.
Just a lame “Follow me and be sure to hit the bell icon to get notified.”

They don’t have a business that spins around that post... so it dies off.

That’s what happens when you build backwards... you chase virality before you build the vehicle.

I want to talk about the map that proves it.

Over the past few months I’ve been somewhat obsessing about the concept of Flywheels.

Last year I wrote a book called Mini Book Flywheel and that is part of why my brain keeps thinking on it. Mini Book Flywheel was my first attempt at explaining how businesses are like Flywheels and how a Mini Book is one of the most powerful ways to spin it.

But like many of my books it was just as much exploration/revelation as it was explanation.

So I had much more I had to sift through.

Let’s dive into this map I keep seeing.

I call it the Company Flywheel.

Company Flywheel

A company flywheel is different from the “Content Flywheel“ I discussed last week.

Think of the two flywheels as different views.

Content Flywheel is for weekly content planning. While the Company Flywheel is more for big picture strategy for your company.

CORE - Category

Like all flywheel frameworks I can’t shake the reality that at the core is your Category.

If you are a Mexican gourmet chef so much of what is thought about you is pre-determined by the type of food you are cooking.

If someone walks into a “Mexican” restaurant we expect certain things... mainly margaritas on the menu and free chips and salsa.

You are boxed in, good and bad.

You change the category, “I am a pastry chef.” Well the category changed and everything changes.

The same goes for us as authors in our own business.

If you write about Sales Funnels... you are going to be lumped in to the Funnel Bro’s crowd and inevitably compared to Russell Brunson because he is the category king of funnels.

So our author business is VASTLY determined by what category of book/business we decide to write.

If you write about how to have great hair... might be a tough sell to sell baseball caps or accounting services.

Your category locks you in.

CORE ASSETS - Ring 1

Once you’ve decided on your category of business and book you have to now create your core assets.

1. Books

2. Products

3. Customers

Without those 3 things it becomes really tough to make your flywheel spin.

Books

The book is your category in tangible form.

It is your Bible... there is hardly a category of religion called Christianity without a Bible.

Your book does the same thing. It evangelizes your category. It spreads your vision and mission.

It puts you as a leader of the category simply by having written the ‘book on it’.

A book also happens to be one of the easiest to promote and transfer from person to person.

“Want to know how to save on Taxes? Here you go.” And you hand them your book. Instant answers if they want them.

A Substack post, a newsletter, a Youtube video is less permanent. It’s more like a newspaper article. Sure it gets catalogued and does last some time in history, but its nothing like the Bible or Homer’s Odyssey. Books that were passed on verbally then written down onto papyrus, paper, and eventually the printing press.

Your book is the greatest evangelizing asset at pulling people deeper into your core.

Products

Often I’ve had people read my book, Independent Adjuster’s Playbook, and throw down thousands of dollars to hire me as an adjusting mentor.

They go to my website click the product and buy.

But if I didn’t have the product I’d never get them to be a customer.

You have to have products beyond your book to have a business with a spinning flywheel.

I wrote extensively about the different ways Mini Book authors can do this in Mini Book Money, so I won’t beat the horse too much.

But my 3 favorite products are,

- Coaching (1 on 1)
- Cohorts (1 to some)
- Courses (1 to masses)

Typically you start with some form of coaching, whether its a done for you, done with you, or DIY advice.

It’s much easier to pull someone from a book into a 1 on 1 relationship than dump them into a digital product.

As AI makes creating digital easier and easier the human element of 1 on 1 human interaction will continue to be valued more and more.

So don’t snub your nose at 1 on 1.

Customers

Every thriving business flywheel must have raving superconsumers, AKA customers that love the product and company so much they’ll advocate for it.

You can go very far in business just based on word of mouth.

But you can’t get word of mouth without finding them and evangelizing them (usually with a book) and getting them to become paying customers through products.

I had someone reach out this week telling me “Someone came and looked at my wrecked car and I asked them how I could learn to do what they did. They referred me to you.”

Turns out someone who paid me $5k to have me mentor them then turned around told a potentially competitor in their market that I was the way to get started...

We have no referral program, no commission, just happy customers referring people who they think we can help over to us.

That’s the flywheel core spinning around the category you operate in.

CONVERSATIONS - Ring 2

Before someone reads a book or buys a product to become a customer they almost always encounter you and your category through a conversation.

I talked some about this last week when I dove into the Content Flywheel.

This ring is about engaging with people that have found your category and your content (Ring 3) and want to know more.

Typically we engage with them in 1 of 3 ways.

1. Sales (DM’s, Calls, Meetings, Webinar)

2. Newsletter (Email/Substack/etc.)
3. Podcast (audio/video)

These are the ways we get someone to raise their hand. This isn’t pieces of content, this is company tools to product content and opportunities to talk to people.

So yes some overlap from a “Podcast episode” that is spun up from a “newsletter article” but in a company CEO viewpoint we say, “How is the newsletter performing?” We aren’t asking about one issue, we are saying how is the company platform of the newsletter going.

What that really means is “How many people are we having actual conversations with?”

Whether its your newsletter, podcast, or sales conversations these platforms provide us ways to get people to “buy a book” to learn more.

Or to purchase product we introduce to them so they can become customers.

CONTENT - Ring 3

This is where most new business owners start, content.

Which makes sense. It is what we notice FIRST about a business. But starting with content before you have the category, your core, and your conversations figured out is just plain backwards.

Your content is purposeless, aimless, and often worthless if you don’t have a category you are pointing people towards.

What is it they are looking for? What are you helping them solve? What is your unique POV of how they can solve it?

All of these things are your category and content without a category is noise.

Social

Your social media channels are there to find new people to have conversations with.

Every post carries your category, your POV, your fingerprints on it. People who like what they hear want to engage more. They join your newsletter, listen to your podcast, DM your or sign up to get on a call.

This isn’t just about posting anything its about being strategic, knowing what the next steps you want an interested browser to do with your company.

Ads

Targeting people directly isn’t simply “social content” it is advertising.

Advertising can be effective at showing the masses your POV whether its your book, podcast, lead magnet for getting on your newsletter, or a direct outreach to DM, to try and get them to have a conversation with you.

But most times social and ads are ultimately directing them to a place that you own... your webpage.

Website

Your website hosts your lead magnet, a call scheduler or something that brings people into a conversation with you.

You’ve moved them from the rented land of social media into your domain. (literally) It is so important to have this as a bridge, even if it isn’t a massive wordpress site, but just a lead magnet page through your email provider. This is your way to know that someone has gone from the outer ring to enter into a conversation with you.

The Bridges

Here’s what I couldn’t unsee once I saw it.

Each ring has a bridge... the one asset that hands a person to the next ring inward.

Website bridges Content -> Conversations.

Sales bridges Conversations -> Core Assets.

Customers bridge your Core Assets -> Category through word of mouth.

Belief doesn’t leap from the outer edge to the core. It spirals inward, one bridge at a time.

We often focus on one piece, but don’t pay enough attention to if we have all the pieces in place and most importantly if someone can even walk across the bridge.

Hope that helps you map out your author business and how to improve it.

Keep spinning,

Coach Chris

Someone tests social post after social post, month after month, maybe year after year. Not anchored to anything in particular. Just throwing things out there to see what sticks.

Then something hits.

They’re not even sure why.

Comments flooding in, DMs stacking up, strangers begging to give them money. And they’ve got nothing to send them.

No book.
No offer.
No product.

No core to catch all that attention and turn it into something real.
Just a lame “Follow me and be sure to hit the bell icon to get notified.”

They don’t have a business that spins around that post... so it dies off.

That’s what happens when you build backwards... you chase virality before you build the vehicle.

I want to talk about the map that proves it.

Over the past few months I’ve been somewhat obsessing about the concept of Flywheels.

Last year I wrote a book called Mini Book Flywheel and that is part of why my brain keeps thinking on it. Mini Book Flywheel was my first attempt at explaining how businesses are like Flywheels and how a Mini Book is one of the most powerful ways to spin it.

But like many of my books it was just as much exploration/revelation as it was explanation.

So I had much more I had to sift through.

Let’s dive into this map I keep seeing.

I call it the Company Flywheel.

Company Flywheel

A company flywheel is different from the “Content Flywheel“ I discussed last week.

Think of the two flywheels as different views.

Content Flywheel is for weekly content planning. While the Company Flywheel is more for big picture strategy for your company.

CORE - Category

Like all flywheel frameworks I can’t shake the reality that at the core is your Category.

If you are a Mexican gourmet chef so much of what is thought about you is pre-determined by the type of food you are cooking.

If someone walks into a “Mexican” restaurant we expect certain things... mainly margaritas on the menu and free chips and salsa.

You are boxed in, good and bad.

You change the category, “I am a pastry chef.” Well the category changed and everything changes.

The same goes for us as authors in our own business.

If you write about Sales Funnels... you are going to be lumped in to the Funnel Bro’s crowd and inevitably compared to Russell Brunson because he is the category king of funnels.

So our author business is VASTLY determined by what category of book/business we decide to write.

If you write about how to have great hair... might be a tough sell to sell baseball caps or accounting services.

Your category locks you in.

CORE ASSETS - Ring 1

Once you’ve decided on your category of business and book you have to now create your core assets.

1. Books

2. Products

3. Customers

Without those 3 things it becomes really tough to make your flywheel spin.

Books

The book is your category in tangible form.

It is your Bible... there is hardly a category of religion called Christianity without a Bible.

Your book does the same thing. It evangelizes your category. It spreads your vision and mission.

It puts you as a leader of the category simply by having written the ‘book on it’.

A book also happens to be one of the easiest to promote and transfer from person to person.

“Want to know how to save on Taxes? Here you go.” And you hand them your book. Instant answers if they want them.

A Substack post, a newsletter, a Youtube video is less permanent. It’s more like a newspaper article. Sure it gets catalogued and does last some time in history, but its nothing like the Bible or Homer’s Odyssey. Books that were passed on verbally then written down onto papyrus, paper, and eventually the printing press.

Your book is the greatest evangelizing asset at pulling people deeper into your core.

Products

Often I’ve had people read my book, Independent Adjuster’s Playbook, and throw down thousands of dollars to hire me as an adjusting mentor.

They go to my website click the product and buy.

But if I didn’t have the product I’d never get them to be a customer.

You have to have products beyond your book to have a business with a spinning flywheel.

I wrote extensively about the different ways Mini Book authors can do this in Mini Book Money, so I won’t beat the horse too much.

But my 3 favorite products are,

- Coaching (1 on 1)
- Cohorts (1 to some)
- Courses (1 to masses)

Typically you start with some form of coaching, whether its a done for you, done with you, or DIY advice.

It’s much easier to pull someone from a book into a 1 on 1 relationship than dump them into a digital product.

As AI makes creating digital easier and easier the human element of 1 on 1 human interaction will continue to be valued more and more.

So don’t snub your nose at 1 on 1.

Customers

Every thriving business flywheel must have raving superconsumers, AKA customers that love the product and company so much they’ll advocate for it.

You can go very far in business just based on word of mouth.

But you can’t get word of mouth without finding them and evangelizing them (usually with a book) and getting them to become paying customers through products.

I had someone reach out this week telling me “Someone came and looked at my wrecked car and I asked them how I could learn to do what they did. They referred me to you.”

Turns out someone who paid me $5k to have me mentor them then turned around told a potentially competitor in their market that I was the way to get started...

We have no referral program, no commission, just happy customers referring people who they think we can help over to us.

That’s the flywheel core spinning around the category you operate in.

CONVERSATIONS - Ring 2

Before someone reads a book or buys a product to become a customer they almost always encounter you and your category through a conversation.

I talked some about this last week when I dove into the Content Flywheel.

This ring is about engaging with people that have found your category and your content (Ring 3) and want to know more.

Typically we engage with them in 1 of 3 ways.

1. Sales (DM’s, Calls, Meetings, Webinar)

2. Newsletter (Email/Substack/etc.)
3. Podcast (audio/video)

These are the ways we get someone to raise their hand. This isn’t pieces of content, this is company tools to product content and opportunities to talk to people.

So yes some overlap from a “Podcast episode” that is spun up from a “newsletter article” but in a company CEO viewpoint we say, “How is the newsletter performing?” We aren’t asking about one issue, we are saying how is the company platform of the newsletter going.

What that really means is “How many people are we having actual conversations with?”

Whether its your newsletter, podcast, or sales conversations these platforms provide us ways to get people to “buy a book” to learn more.

Or to purchase product we introduce to them so they can become customers.

CONTENT - Ring 3

This is where most new business owners start, content.

Which makes sense. It is what we notice FIRST about a business. But starting with content before you have the category, your core, and your conversations figured out is just plain backwards.

Your content is purposeless, aimless, and often worthless if you don’t have a category you are pointing people towards.

What is it they are looking for? What are you helping them solve? What is your unique POV of how they can solve it?

All of these things are your category and content without a category is noise.

Social

Your social media channels are there to find new people to have conversations with.

Every post carries your category, your POV, your fingerprints on it. People who like what they hear want to engage more. They join your newsletter, listen to your podcast, DM your or sign up to get on a call.

This isn’t just about posting anything its about being strategic, knowing what the next steps you want an interested browser to do with your company.

Ads

Targeting people directly isn’t simply “social content” it is advertising.

Advertising can be effective at showing the masses your POV whether its your book, podcast, lead magnet for getting on your newsletter, or a direct outreach to DM, to try and get them to have a conversation with you.

But most times social and ads are ultimately directing them to a place that you own... your webpage.

Website

Your website hosts your lead magnet, a call scheduler or something that brings people into a conversation with you.

You’ve moved them from the rented land of social media into your domain. (literally) It is so important to have this as a bridge, even if it isn’t a massive wordpress site, but just a lead magnet page through your email provider. This is your way to know that someone has gone from the outer ring to enter into a conversation with you.

The Bridges

Here’s what I couldn’t unsee once I saw it.

Each ring has a bridge... the one asset that hands a person to the next ring inward.

Website bridges Content -> Conversations.

Sales bridges Conversations -> Core Assets.

Customers bridge your Core Assets -> Category through word of mouth.

Belief doesn’t leap from the outer edge to the core. It spirals inward, one bridge at a time.

We often focus on one piece, but don’t pay enough attention to if we have all the pieces in place and most importantly if someone can even walk across the bridge.

Hope that helps you map out your author business and how to improve it.

Keep spinning,

Coach Chris

You can’t let AI say your point of view... only slice it.

Have you seen all the AI backlash? (or the latest Substack AI detection tool!?!?)

Wow, people spend billions convincing us to write with AI and now people are screaming they hate it.

People swear they can spot (sometimes smell) AI content a mile away.

So for those of us who bought into the vision of AI helping us run our content machines... what are we supposed to do?

I wrote a book a few years back called the Simple Online Business Model.

It was the basics of what it took to keep a online business going, even as a busy homeschool dad/CEO.

I’ve been refining my method for years but as I took time off from posting on social and away from writing newsletters I really tried to get a visual image of how I could run my business.

Then it hit me, like a box of rocks (and I’m as dumb as one sometimes), it all made so much sense.

So here is the formula I see and how I’m reapproaching content writing for both my businesses so I can “just keep spinning” content up without becoming AI slop.

I call it the Content Flywheel.

Content Flywheel

Using AI or my own well-worn brain, that still works most days, (didn’t fry it totally with Claude and GPT last year… thank God!) I find a topic.

The topic is the “Core Content” of my weekly content flywheel.

Then out from that topic spins all other content for the week.

1. Core Content (Ideas)

2. Conversations (Newsletter/Podcast/Video)

3. Clips (Posts/Shorts/Carousel/Soundbites)

And it piggybacks on the model I laid out for you a couple episodes back of the Business/Company Flywheel.

1. Core (category/book)

2. Conversations

3. Content

Someone tuning into your podcast each week is having a conversation with you in their ears. There is an existing relationship.

Same with newsletter or YouTube channel. But how does someone typically get into that inner band?

Through content.

No conversation (even one way) happens if they don’t know you exist.

So we use that outer band of the flywheel to pull people into the inner band.

Here is what that practically looks like.

Core

You come up with the idea.

Here is what a core idea looks like. (this is a topic I came up with for my adjuster audience)

“16,000 Tomorrow vs. 1 Maybe
16,000 daily US auto claims against the single predicted major hurricane.”

So you do the same for your audience. Come up with a topic idea and hook.

That one idea is my content flywheel for a week and its rooted in my own book the Independent Adjuster’s Playbook.

Bonus if you find an idea that you can circle that’s from your book you have written or one you are writing.

Conversation

Next I actually write my newsletter… like type it or talk it.... myself... without AI... back in the stone ages I know.

Whether you can chat into a mic with an outline or tip tap on your keyboard determines what works best for you.

I’ve done both, took an idea, recorded it, but most times I type it out.

Doesn’t matter how, point is YOU do it. This is a conversation you are having with your audience.

You can’t outsource this all out to AI. This is where we mess up. We mess up our most important content. The conversation piece to our audience, and we become AI slop.

Studies are showing that people pay more for stuff when a human actually makes it. Like “handmade” but for the digital age.

So take the time to actually write your content.

Now I’m not the only person saying to do this.

, author of the widely popular book Ask and his upcoming book, Return to Real, practices this same concept.

He writes his newsletter, reads it as a podcast, then his team posts content for the week using those as the ingredients.

He is championing the idea of “Return to Real” by actually writing your core newsletter and then and only then using AI to do some repurposing.

Both Ryan and I, and many others are advocating for humanity in our content.

We cannot lose our voice to our AI… so we have to do the hard work to write the Conversation pieces.

Once you have your thoughts, your human thoughts, you can use the leverage of AI to create other content truly in your own voice.

Clips

Once you have your 1000-2000 word Conversation Content (or however long you want to write it) you can use AI to slice and dice and everything nice and be actually reflective of your voice.

You did the thinking, you didn’t outsource that, so we can leverage AI like team members to make stuff.

• Image post

• Carousel

• Infographic

• Soundbite

• Video Clip
  

These pieces of content go out in the world looking for people that will be helped by or resonate with the content.

If they like what they see they’ll sign up for a newsletter (usually through a CTA lead magnet) or follow you on YouTube or subscribe to your podcast.

That’s when you’ve gotten them into your weekly conversations.

They’ll be way more likely to see your content in the future. The job of the conversation content is then to keep pulling them into your Business Flywheel core... to get them to make a purchase.

To become a part of the story of your business.

Because at the beating heart of every successful business are the people who are raving fans.

Your superconsumers.

I hope that helps you think about content in a new way.

Quit thinking about content in “what should I post on LinkedIn?”

The question is what is this weeks “Core Idea?” and “What’s going to help someone and as a result move them closer to a conversation with me?”

Write that newsletter, record that podcast, then what to post on LinkedIn, Substack, Instagram, or Facebook becomes a logical conclusion that has your fingerprints all over it... not Claude’s.

That’s the whole rule I live by now.

Let AI slice it. Never let AI say it.

The saying is the human part, the slicing is just packaging

Guard the line between the two like your voice depends on it... because it does.

Keep spinning.

- Coach Chris

If you want to learn more about the concept of flywheels and how to build a business with one, check out my book, Mini Book Flywheel: How to Design a Category That Makes Your Business Unforgettable.

P.S. Yes, if you were wondering about the screenshots, I’ve been developing a tool around the concept of flywheels… stay tuned... more to come in the coming weeks.

P.P.S. Ironic the week I post this I see this as I go to post it. An “AI tool that grades whether it was written by a human or AI”. Ironic. Substack is using AI to judge if it is human or not. But it proves my point! People care if you wrote it or not.