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Self-Publishing for Authority & Income Acceleration with Jenny Hansen Lane
Episode 355 • 5th November 2024 • Course Building Secrets® Podcast • Tara Bryan
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In this episode, Tara Bryan welcomes Jenny Hansen Lane, a self-publishing expert who has transformed her business and personal brand by leveraging Amazon's KDP platform. Together, they explore how self-publishing can be a powerful tool for establishing authority, creating new revenue streams, and accelerating business growth. Jenny shares her journey from digital marketer to self-published author, highlighting the immense potential of print-on-demand for coaches, content creators, and business owners looking to expand their reach. Whether you're just starting out or are ready to scale, Jenny’s insights and strategies can help you tap into Amazon's huge built-in-buyers platform and supercharge your impact.

Key Topics Discussed:

Why Self-Publishing?

  • Jenny's journey to self-publishing and how it helped her transition from course creator to self-publishing authority.
  • The potential of Amazon's platform as a revenue and credibility booster.

Starting with Simple Steps:

  • Jenny’s advice on how to get started, even if you’re not ready to write a full book.
  • How journals, planners, and other "bookish" products can serve as entry points.

The A-to-B Approach in Self-Publishing:

  • Jenny’s strategy to simplify content for targeted outcomes and cater to specific customer needs.
  • Using Amazon's search data to identify profitable topics and validate demand.

Leveraging Amazon for Lead Generation and Authority:

  • The advantages of using Amazon’s platform to establish authority and draw in potential clients.
  • How Jenny has used self-publishing to gain visibility, even generating leads for her coaching business.
  1. Upcoming Masterclass: Self-Publishing Authority & Income Accelerator
  • Join Tara and Jenny for a deep dive into self-publishing strategies that accelerate authority and income.
  • Learn how to uncover profitable niches, publish effectively, and harness Amazon’s market power to grow your business.

Action Steps:

  • Set up your Amazon KDP account to start exploring self-publishing opportunities.
  • Begin with a simple product, like a journal or planner, to get familiar with the platform.
  • Research customer needs on Amazon to find high-demand topics in your niche.

Resources Mentioned:

Ready to Start Self-Publishing?

Discover how self-publishing can take your authority and income to the next level. Listen now for actionable tips and insights to get started today!

About Me:

Hey, it’s your host, Tara Bryan. And I am on a mission to help more business owners learn to infinitely scale their businesses by leveraging the power of online without sacrificing the customer experience or results. 

I like to geek out on all things business strategy, marketing, interactive digital and user experience. This podcast is all about what is working, lessons learned and actionable tips to create and grow a thriving online business. 

Join us each week as we dive into different strategies, tactics and tips you can apply immediately to your business.

To learn more:

Find us at https://www.taralbryan.com

Here are two ways we can help you create, grow and scale your business:

1. Want to package or pivot your business? Download our free Step-by-Step guide to get the exact steps you need to create and grow an online business.

Step-By-Step Guide

2. ALREADY HAVE AN ONLINE BUSINESS & READY TO INFINITELY SCALE?

Download our free 50 Ways to Engage Your Customers guide or Schedule a 30 minute call with Tara to talk about our offers that will help you master the game.

Thanks for listening!

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Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below!

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Mentioned in this episode:

https://taralbryan.com/step/15-learn-to-scale-call

Transcripts

Speaker:

Tara L Bryan: Hey everybody, it's

Tara Bryan and you are listening to

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the Course Building Secrets Podcast.

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Whether you're a coach or a CEO,

the success of your team and clients

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is based on your ability to deliver

a consistent experience and guide

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them on the fastest path to results.

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This podcast will give you practical

real life tips that you can use today

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to build your online experiences that

get results and create raving fans.

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Why?

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So you can monetize your expertise

and serve more people without adding

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more time or team to your business.

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If you're looking to uncover your million

dollar framework, package it and use

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it to scale, you're in the right place.

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Let's dive in.

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Hey everybody, welcome to this

week's episode of the Course

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Building Secrets Podcast.

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I am so thrilled that

you are all here today.

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I want to introduce you

to Jenny Hansen Lane.

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I am so excited, Jenny, that

you are on the podcast today.

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It is going to be an awesome

conversation, so welcome.

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Tell us a little bit about yourself, just

a little bit about your story, because I

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think it's so fascinating for people to

hear, like, how, how you went from where

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you have been to where you are today.

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So give us a little bit of a shout

out in terms of your background.

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Jenny Hansen Lane: Thank you Tara.

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First of all, you have like a radio voice

and I never really noticed it and it's

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maybe 'cause I met you in person, so I

saw, you know, the face with the name.

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So I love that.

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I'm so excited to be here

and meet your people.

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We both have that love of course

building, and so I know all of

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our listeners will really love

kind of how this happened for me.

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I was in digital marketing, building

courses, and my little sister, she went to

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Guatemala and she wrote a book and I was

like, wait, I've always wanted to do that.

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And I kind of talked to her about it.

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And then I thought like, what if I took

my course and turned it into a book?

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And so I got on YouTube and I just

started Googling like, There wasn't

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a lot of resources for it, but what I

found is that people were taking pieces

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of their content and putting it in book

form and then putting it on Amazon.

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And so I kind of tested that out.

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And it's print on demand books and

it's the same department that people

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would do like Kindle books, but

I wasn't actually writing books.

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I started with like journals and planners.

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And my first month I got

a royalty of like $19.18.

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And I was shocked because I

didn't have to answer an email.

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I love my email list.

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I didn't have to get on a zoom call.

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I love getting on zoom calls.

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It was just a different type of income.

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And that was kind of my permission of

like, let's go all in and figure this out.

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And that was two and a half, two and a

half years ago since then I've crossed

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six figures for this income stream.

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And that is my main course.

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Now is teaching people That they

don't need permission or they

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don't need to spend a lot of money

to establish authority on Amazon.

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Tara L Bryan: Okay, so there's so

many things, like I'm so excited to

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talk to you about this and have our

listeners listen to this because

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there's so many awesome things.

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So first of all, you, you sort

of like jumped into this and

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figured it out, which I love.

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One of the things I love about you

is that you're like, you know what?

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I'm just gonna go try it.

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I'm gonna go see what's gonna happen.

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I'm gonna get some success.

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And then now you've been

able to share that with other

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people, which is so powerful.

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But the concept of like,

I want to write a book.

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I think so many people have that of like,

well, how do I take my expertise and turn

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it into not only an online business, not

only sort of online courses and coaching

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to be able to help people, but then how do

you do it in a different delivery method?

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One of the things we talk about in the

INFINITE SCALE Method is like, Once you

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have your signature framework, you can

deliver it in a million different ways.

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And so part of that is a book, but, but

like the thing that's so cool, I think

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about what you're doing is yes, a book is

important and a book is cool and something

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that you can put on Amazon, but you're

like, I didn't even stress about that.

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I just grabbed like a part of what I was

doing, a planner, a journal, a workbook

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or whatever, started with that and then

saw that it was possible to do that.

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And how many of you who are listening

already have something that's probably

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in your Google Drive or Dropbox sitting

there and nobody's looking at it, right?

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Like, so Jenny helps take that

and put it somewhere, right?

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So I love, I love the fact that

you're doing that and that you've

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gone on this journey and transition

to like a different income source.

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So so tell us a little bit about like,

did you just like put it out there?

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Like looking at trying to figure it

out online and actually executing

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are two totally different things.

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So how did you get from, kind of that

concept or trying to figure it out, you

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know, watching videos to actually doing

it and seeing that there were, that there

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was actually an income stream to this.

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Jenny Hansen Lane: Okay.

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I love that question.

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So as you were talking, I was thinking

about all the course creators that

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press play on that video, their

students go through it and they hear

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things from people like us that say,

okay, now get a pencil and paper

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out, get a pen and a notebook out.

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There is, there's absolutely no reason why

we can't be the ones supplying that book

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for people when they go through a course.

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So when I started taking my content

and putting it on Amazon, I had to

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really think about like the end goal

because I wasn't actively promoting

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that course because I was like,

once I saw there was income, I was

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like, well, what else is there?

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I didn't have any backend

offers or anything like that.

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So that was kind of my test.

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And I might have it around here

somewhere where it was, it was

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a How To Be Authentic Online.

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It was, you know, four years of prompts.

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And so it was a book that

someone could go through.

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and fill out as they're

using social media.

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But what I learned is that

Amazon has 300 million buyers

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and 90 million monthly buyers.

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And so it was like, okay.

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And for those of you that don't

know, Tara and I love, like,

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helping people get through courses.

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That's originally how we connected

of like how to create transformation.

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And so at the time that we met in 2021

or:

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And that's almost like, for those of

you that are new to that word, it's the

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emotional motivation to get results.

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It's kind of like, we're plumbers and

we're making sure the course doesn't

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have any leaks, but the water is leads.

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And if there's no water in the pipes, it

doesn't matter how good the pipes are.

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And so Amazon is actually the water, like.

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There's so many people.

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I'm one of them.

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You're probably one of them too that buy

things on Amazon for overnight shipping.

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And so on Amazon, because it is a buyer's

platform, the audience is already there.

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And so what I like to tell people is

like, it's a, it's a supply and demand.

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And so I started learning that if you went

to the search bar on Amazon and you went

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under the category of books, just drop

down and you started to type in words.

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Then suggestions would come up and what

I learned is those are actually called

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customer search terms or keywords.

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And Amazon is only suggesting them

if other people are typing them in.

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So that was like a little form

of validation to, to see like,

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oh, this is actually in demand.

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And so you can click on those keywords

and it will take you to an entire

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category of what's available there.

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So then I realized, okay, this is an SEO

game in a way where I can look things up

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and see if there's any market gaps for me.

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And I'm a multi passionate person.

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So at this time I, I told myself I'm

not going to limit it to a course.

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That I'm not even really promoting.

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I'm going to just lean

into the Amazon traffic.

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And I found some niches that I

knew wouldn't fit under my personal

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name as a digital marketer.

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And so I made up secret pen

names and I put those books

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out and they started selling.

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I started doing it with my little kids.

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We did like coloring books and that's

really what I started to see the power

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of is like, I could use this for my

business or I could use it for, just

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something that I was passionate about.

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And so where I'm at kind of now

is two weeks ago, I had someone

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purchase my self paced program

and they found me from Amazon.

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So it was like so bizarre that I was

on a webinar and she was like, you

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actually outranked me with your book.

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And it's the book that we're anthology

you can see it behind Tara on the

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screen if you're watching this on video.

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Tara L Bryan: Yes this is the book that

Jenny had all of us write, so that's,

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we'll talk about that too at some point.

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Jenny Hansen Lane: So it was really

powerful to see like, Oh, did I

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just siphon a lead from Amazon?

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So now I'm really like, I've started

to take my webinar and I think I'm

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going to put it in a book form and

put it on Amazon just because the

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traffic's there and it can't hurt.

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It can't hurt to just establish authority.

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And I will tell you when I first published

my first book and I ranked, I was able to

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rank at number one, a lot of people in the

industry started treating me different.

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And that was like a thing I didn't

think was real, but it really is real.

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Taking that next step.

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Like something about a

book is very authoritative.

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It's more than a course.

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And so for those of you that are

like just chronic course creators,

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like there's probably a place

for you to put that on Amazon.

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Tara L Bryan: Yeah and I think

that that is so powerful, right?

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Because it's like, again, we have...

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if you are able to build a business

based on your expertise, your

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intellectual capital, there's like,

this is a whole other dimension outside

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of coaching, outside of, you know,

courses or programs or, you know,

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kind of packaging your expertise.

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And, and I think that in the

past it was like, well, it

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needed to be this big ordeal.

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You needed to have a publisher,

you need to go through, you know,

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14 million you know, iterations

of edits and all of the things.

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And so for me personally,

even it just felt so daunting.

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Like, I'm like, I have

content, All over the place.

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If I were just to put it into one,

you know, format of something somebody

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could consume like in book format.

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I mean, I have 350 some

episodes of the podcast, right?

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Like even just putting that into

a compilation that could go into

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a book that people can consume it

in a different way is so powerful.

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And so I feel like you're bringing that

to light that it doesn't have to be.

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You know, this big, this big ordeal,

it's just something that you can, you

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can package just the same way as you

package the other things that, You know,

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you've already packaged in your business.

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And and so I love that.

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And I do think that there's also, I agree

that there's also sort of an elevated

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authority when you say you have a book

or you have a best selling book or, you

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know, whatever it is that you're doing.

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And, and so I think that's super powerful.

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And, and, one of the things that I love

about the way that you're teaching this

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is that it's not so difficult, right?

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Like it's possible.

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And it's just like, if you just take

the time and put it all together.

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And format it easily in a tool that we

already have and start to get momentum

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on Amazon, then it starts to snowball,

which I think is what you've proved

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with it's going from 19 to now six

figures in totally passive income.

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You've built it one time and now

you're able to to sell it over

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and over again is such a powerful

lesson for people so I love that.

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So when you are When you're helping

people or when you're teaching people

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about this process, what do you think

one of the biggest stumbling blocks

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that people have around this is?

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Is it the mechanics?

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Is it the the authority?

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What is it?

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Jenny Hansen Lane: I think a lot of

times people think, okay, Jenny made

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$19, I'm going to go do that immediately.

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And I always make people publish one

blank notebook first, just a journal

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with lines, because it's not the

same as uploading a video to YouTube.

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It's not the same as posting on Facebook,

but once you do it, there's something in

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your brain that like switches and you see

like, oh, I put a book out, even if I used

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a secret pen name, like it's out there.

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And so I think that's the very, most

important thing that took me a couple of

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weeks to figure out when I started taking

people through my program was like, why

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aren't they just like diving in like I do?

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I'm like, well, they're not me.

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They're not like, just

take action like crazy.

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So having the 72 hour publisher like

challenge is a great way for people

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just to be like, okay, I did the thing.

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What's next?

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The second part to that is because

we have our own false ideas or

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not false old ideas about books.

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We think we need to shove A to Z in

there, but because Amazon is a platform

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where people are searching for solutions,

it's almost more powerful to focus

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on how do I get someone from A to B?

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And I like to explain that almost like

I believe a masterclass is like A to B.

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And so when we're looking to

provide a solution for someone,

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we can keep it very simple.

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And when we keep it very simple, we can

keep the book not ginormous, but then

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we have room to provide more results.

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And so that one book that is a like a

prompted journal has made me 40 grand.

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I started to see what else

could the customer want.

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And I started publishing similar books

with a little bit different angle under

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the same pen name because Amazon now

has what's called Amazon followers.

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And so if you build a following

on Amazon, Amazon will email your

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customer every time you launch a book.

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So it's what?

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Like Amazon is our super affiliate.

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It's really powerful.

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Tara L Bryan: Okay, that

is just like fascinating.

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It's so fun.

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Every time I talk to him, I'm like,

Oh, I'm going to sit down and do this.

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And then, of course, I get

distracted and I don't do it.

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But but I'm working on it.

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Like, I've got some stuff in the works.

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So if you're listening, it's coming.

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There's stuff coming.

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But I love the idea of just like, you

know, something super simple that you get

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started with just to get sort of the, get

through the, the mechanics of it, right?

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Like just the, sort of the mind

block of, Oh, it's going to be hard

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or it's going to, you know, all

the, all the crap and the details.

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So that's awesome.

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So what, what do you say, like what's

your advice to someone who wants to get

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started and and just as like overwhelmed

by thinking about the process, or, or

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doesn't even believe that, that they

have what it takes to jump into it?

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Jenny Hansen Lane: So when you are, I

mean, I think there's like 97% of people,

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or like to have a book.

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So it's actually something that really

unifies us and brings us together.

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Need traditional publishers to

tell us that idea is good, right?

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We've heard about J.

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K.

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Rowling getting, you know,

rejected a bunch of times,

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Stephen King, like over 27 times.

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And, you know, a lot of people throw

rocks at Amazon but I think I call

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him Beth Jezos instead of Jeff Bezos.

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But like, he actually kind

of opened the door for a lot

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of growth for so many of us.

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And he started with public domain books.

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himself.

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That's why he built the platform.

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And so he just wanted to make

that more accessible for people.

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And he thought in the nineties,

like what's something that's

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never going to go away.

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And it was books.

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And so if you're at that place

where you're just like, yeah,

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this really is speaking to me

that I want to do more with books.

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It really is in your best interest

just to learn how to set up

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an account and get a book out.

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Because I've met so many people that

have spent 10, 20, $30,000 to have a

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book, and it didn't really get them

the results that they wanted, or they

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couldn't really justify the investment.

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Again, when you learn the skillset,

it creates an additional layer of

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security in your business because

you don't have to ask for permission.

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And it actually kind of allows you to

pivot and move around if you'd like to,

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because you can have unlimited pen names.

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And something that I've noticed

is that, you know, if you have a

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business, you have a domain, you can

actually name that as your pen name.

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And Amazon is one of

the giants with Google.

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So they're going to try to

rank those keywords on Google.

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So for a long time, when you typed

in my name, Amazon was the first

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link that came up and that really

established authority for me.

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And, and now I've, you know,

published over 600 YouTube videos.

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So Google's trying to rank

that a little bit more.

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But if you, if you, if you feel like,

Oh, I have an idea, it is worth just,

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Setting up an account because it's free

and we actually are going to be talking

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about a masterclass that we're offering.

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And in that masterclass, I'm

going to give everybody the

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interior that I first uploaded.

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So it's like, oh, after that, you can

just go like practice and, and then get

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an idea of like, what is that thing?

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And there's probably so many

people listening that like,

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oh, I'm known for this.

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I can help people get

this result very quickly.

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That's your A to B.

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The shortest amount of pages that

you need to put on Amazon is 42.

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Tara L Bryan: 42, I was actually

going to ask you that, 42 pages.

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Jenny Hansen Lane: It's like, if you

have a workbook, that's 80 pages, you

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know, maybe you put your framework in it.

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It, It's enough.

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It's enough for you to just start

telling your audience about it,

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building a following there and just

start kind of owning more of your

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journey in an authoritative way.

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Tara L Bryan: I love it.

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:

Well and it also, I mean, it puts

you in a position where you're sort

319

:

of forced to focus your message

as well, which is actually a

320

:

great byproduct in and of itself.

321

:

Outside of, you know, all the things

that we're talking about is when you

322

:

are forced to put it into a container,

whether it be a course, whether it be a

323

:

program, whether it be a book, whether

it be whatever it is that it helps

324

:

you focus in on your message, which

is a key part of the whole game of you

325

:

know, being an online business owner.

326

:

So awesome.

327

:

Okay.

328

:

So one of the things I, I also just love,

and then I want to transition to Dear

329

:

Female Digital Entrepreneur, but One of

the things I love is when you are like,

330

:

first of all, it's self-publishing.

331

:

So you don't have to go

out and get a publisher.

332

:

You're not paying thousands and

thousands of dollars to, to like get

333

:

someone else to publish your book.

334

:

So it's self-publishing.

335

:

And then I think the other thing that I

just want to like say out loud is you're

336

:

not necessarily just talking about books.

337

:

You are talking about journals

and planners and workbooks

338

:

and like bookish things.

339

:

So it doesn't even have

to be a traditional book.

340

:

It could, and that's really where you've

made most of your money, right, is in

341

:

planners and journals and other things.

342

:

And so, that, just even when you're

saying like a planner is mostly

343

:

just lines, like it's not, you're

not cramming it full of stuff.

344

:

And so that should also simplify

the process for everyone.

345

:

Is it, it's not like it doesn't

need to be a body of work.

346

:

It doesn't need to be this big,

complicated, you know, thing or whatever.

347

:

It could just really be so simple

as, again, something you already have

348

:

that you're giving to your students

that one, they can go and buy on

349

:

Amazon as part of your program.

350

:

And it could be just a super nice

complimentary piece where you're not...

351

:

one of the things I always talk about

is I had a friend back in, you're

352

:

right, it was back probably in the

nineties, but like she wrote a book.

353

:

And then her entire

garage was full of books.

354

:

And she's like, I can't sell these books.

355

:

What, how do I sell these books?

356

:

I have no idea, but she had boxes

and boxes and boxes in her garage.

357

:

And like when we have workbooks

and we send them out, when somebody

358

:

buys, we send them out manually

or, you know, something like that.

359

:

Amazon's print on demand.

360

:

So somebody buys and then they get it.

361

:

You're not involved in any of that.

362

:

You don't have books in your garage.

363

:

You don't have all of that weird

stuff that we used to have back

364

:

in the day and how powerful that

is just in, in, in and of itself.

365

:

So even if it's not like mass market

strategy on Amazon, use it with your

366

:

customers, like send your customers there.

367

:

Jenny Hansen Lane: And It's people don't

even really realize and because you

368

:

don't pay Amazon anything, they just

take a cut for the printing, shipping,

369

:

and just mailing it to your customer.

370

:

So for those of you that are watching

on video, I just launched a new course

371

:

and I just took people through how

I made this notebook and it just

372

:

has a little, like just my little

logo on it and it's just lined.

373

:

I got it in the mail and

I just showed people.

374

:

So it's like even thinking about like

if branding is important to you and

375

:

your business, just branding some

assets where it's like, This is just

376

:

another thing where people, your

customers can remember you by and

377

:

they can just go get it from Amazon.

378

:

And you're correct when you say like

when someone buys your book, that is the

379

:

only time that Amazon, like they store

your digital file for free and they

380

:

just take a cut and you set the price.

381

:

So like the most expensive, if

you want it to take your best

382

:

course, you could put it on Amazon.

383

:

The most pages you, you can have

on Amazon is 830, which is huge.

384

:

And the most, the highest

price you can put it at is 250.

385

:

So I was on TikTok two months

ago and there was a guy talking

386

:

about health and wellness and he

was selling a little tiny course.

387

:

He was selling his entire

course into a book on Amazon.

388

:

It's tiny.

389

:

It's color.

390

:

He made it in Canva.

391

:

This book was $150 and I bought

it because I was like, it's

392

:

his entire course in book form.

393

:

And so it really unlocked my ideas

more because I'd already published

394

:

300 books by the time I saw this, but

it really just showed me of like, he

395

:

did that because he's not in a place

to sit down with clients over zoom.

396

:

He's traveling the world.

397

:

So it's like having the skillset is

so great because you never know when

398

:

it's like, oh, I actually want to

just kind of focus on passive income.

399

:

Also when we retire a course, right?

400

:

Like if it's in demand on Amazon, there

isn't any reason why we shouldn't just put

401

:

it out there to establish that authority.

402

:

Tara L Bryan: Okay, I just like every

time I talk to you, I get excited.

403

:

I'm like, okay, I'm just gonna...

404

:

No, I, I, I'm, this is why

we're doing this masterclass.

405

:

And we're gonna talk

about that in a minute.

406

:

But the reason we're doing this is so

I can be like the number one student

407

:

and, and like, take all the notes.

408

:

So that I can show you

how Jenny's system works.

409

:

And and I can take some

of the stuff that I have.

410

:

In fact, it's funny because I just

was showing her the other day.

411

:

Like I have a digital planner where

I help, you know, it's like a, it's

412

:

like a written planner where you can

map out your whole digital program.

413

:

I have 50 ways guide and I have my

workbook that I take people through.

414

:

And I'm like, Jenny's like,

why are those not on Amazon?

415

:

I'm like, I don't know.

416

:

I have them published somewhere else.

417

:

So those are going on Amazon and that's

what we're going to, Jenny's going to help

418

:

me do as a result of this masterclass.

419

:

So again, we're going to

talk about that in a minute.

420

:

Before we do that though, I want to

dive into the Digital Female Digital

421

:

Entrepreneur, book because that was

such a fun project that we did, Jenny.

422

:

So tell us, like, how did you, come

up with that idea, first of all, and

423

:

then tell us a little bit about how

it worked and what's happening with

424

:

it today, because it's, it wasn't just

like a project that you did with a

425

:

bunch of people, but, but we were able

to get to the, the bestseller status.

426

:

So talk to us a little bit about that.

427

:

Cause I think it's fascinating.

428

:

Jenny Hansen Lane: Yeah.

429

:

So as, as those of you know, online

can be kind of lonely, you know, as

430

:

solopreneurs or we have small teams.

431

:

And I knew about anthologies because

I participated in one many years

432

:

ago and there were 75 people in it.

433

:

And the guy in charge just like slapped

his face on the front and it wasn't as

434

:

fun to promote because I'm like, what?

435

:

You know, anyways, it took way too long.

436

:

And just the feedback, I was

like, I didn't even have any

437

:

control over what was inside.

438

:

The book is live.

439

:

It's attached to my name now, but I

don't even teach what I put in there.

440

:

And if I had been the one to do it, I

could update the chapter if I needed to.

441

:

So I was just thinking of like,

I know how to hit number one.

442

:

I've done it multiple times.

443

:

I want to work with women that

I've met over time to help

444

:

them establish that authority.

445

:

And I just thought, what, you know,

maybe A to Z is the way to do it.

446

:

And so I made my list of important aspects

of being a digital entrepreneur online.

447

:

And then I reached out to each woman

individually, and I also kind of felt

448

:

this resurgence with like the Barbie movie

and different things that were going on

449

:

that like women do better when they're

not alone, like supporting each other.

450

:

And so that's, that's kind of where

the origin story came, where we had 26

451

:

women, all different topics sharing.

452

:

And I knew that there was a

market gap for that on Amazon.

453

:

And so I knew that I could reach

number one, but then also collectively.

454

:

We could have something

that we did together.

455

:

Tara L Bryan: There's my chapter.

456

:

And so that's awesome.

457

:

And, but, and then you've got

everyone together to do their chapter.

458

:

You didn't, did you write a chapter in

there or did you write the introduction...

459

:

Jenny Hansen Lane: I just did the

intro and my little, my little sister

460

:

said like, why didn't you write more?

461

:

But I was like, I just

want other people to shine.

462

:

And so like maybe in the future, I kind

of want to do a volume two of that book

463

:

because it did well and it's so cute

and I love the women in it, but I'm also

464

:

like it was okay for me to take a step

back and let people, I mean, 26 is a lot.

465

:

I think that experience, I'll go back

to nine so we can hit deadlines better.

466

:

But like, no one was mad.

467

:

It was a passion project

of mine, so it was fun.

468

:

Tara L Bryan: Yeah, yeah, that's awesome.

469

:

And so, and because you know how

to do all the things, you were able

470

:

to sort of just walk us through

the steps of like, just go do this,

471

:

and then do this, and then do this.

472

:

So it's super simple.

473

:

But I think it was really fun for all of

us to go through the process of, you know,

474

:

one, writing it, but two, I mean, we had,

I felt like we all had a great time with

475

:

hitting number one on the bestseller list.

476

:

And it was, it was it was

sort of a collective group

477

:

celebration, really, of that.

478

:

And so, and then it just becomes an asset

underneath your library then, right?

479

:

And so you're able to continue to grow,

reach on it, and and have it be something

480

:

that's in your, in your collection.

481

:

Jenny Hansen Lane: Yeah.

482

:

And we've even had people, we've had

authors inside the book, reach out to

483

:

others and do collaborations together.

484

:

And so it's been really neat because

these were like my selection of women,

485

:

but not everyone knew each other.

486

:

And so it's a great way

to bring people together.

487

:

I've been thinking about another one.

488

:

And some of the women are like, we need

to make it a summit on the back of a book.

489

:

And I'm like, oh my gosh, that's so

much work, but it could be so much fun.

490

:

So there really is just like so much

you can use for that, especially

491

:

because we hit number one, we could

absolutely in volume two, do more

492

:

where we focus on the lead generation

of getting more customers from Amazon.

493

:

And truly, like you

said, it's a book asset.

494

:

It goes in your library and you

can't like, my little sister was

495

:

like, Oh, that chapter was so fun.

496

:

I think I'm going to

write a full book now.

497

:

And so it kind of inspires you to

think of like, okay, 3,000 words.

498

:

That was nothing.

499

:

I could do that 10 more times.

500

:

And that's a book.

501

:

Tara L Bryan: Yep.

502

:

Yep.

503

:

Yeah.

504

:

I mean, for sure.

505

:

When I was like, Oh, I

could just keep going.

506

:

Like, there's a lot more.

507

:

I got a lot more to say.

508

:

I could just keep on going.

509

:

So yeah, no, that was great.

510

:

It was a great experience.

511

:

All right.

512

:

So if you could give my audience one

sort of piece of advice that they can

513

:

take action on, what would that be?

514

:

Jenny Hansen Lane: Literally just

setting up a, The account it's free.

515

:

It's kdp.amazon.com Just setting

up the account is a big win to

516

:

say, like, I'm committed to this

idea that I've had for a long time.

517

:

And you know, once I got in this

world, I've met people that actually

518

:

build passive income streams with

books just to sell the account.

519

:

And so there's this whole world

of like, there's a guy, he

520

:

sold his account for $800,000.

521

:

Another girl in Spain that sold hers for

120 and they sign a non-compete not to

522

:

publish in those niches again, but they

open new accounts and they just go again.

523

:

So there's really like

great opportunities.

524

:

And also I would just remind

the course builder here, that

525

:

there are customers that you have

that do prefer tactile things.

526

:

And I think in the digital minutiae

and mess, we can forget about that.

527

:

But like, I'm one of those people, I

have a physical planner and I have a

528

:

Google calendar and I do better when I

write things down and it's synced up.

529

:

And so books aren't going to go away.

530

:

So you might as well like lean into it on

biggest buyer's platform and just play.

531

:

That's kind of what I feel like.

532

:

It's just playing.

533

:

Tara L Bryan: Yeah, no, and that's

such great advice because I do think

534

:

that so often in this new digital

world or this digital world, I guess

535

:

in the early new, that we forget that,

that there's still just, there's just

536

:

nothing like going and, and, you know,

either having a physical planner or

537

:

having something physical in front of

us and people are still buying books.

538

:

All day long.

539

:

So yeah, so that's awesome.

540

:

Okay, cool.

541

:

And then what, what's like your

favorite either digital marketing or

542

:

online business book that you love

that you couldn't live without that's

543

:

helped you so much in your business?

544

:

Jenny Hansen Lane: That is a very

loaded question, so I'm going

545

:

to give two answers , I'm going

to share the most recent book that I

546

:

just read, 'cause it's really, no one

even knows about it, I'm like "why

547

:

isn't everyone talking about it".

548

:

It's called Microscripts.

549

:

And if you just type in Microscripts

on Amazon, it's right there.

550

:

This gentleman has been, he worked

at the original Madman Advertising,

551

:

like the TV based off of, and

he talks about Microscripts.

552

:

They're kind of like keywords or

phrases that win over audiences.

553

:

And so the book covers like, you know, not

to be political, but we're releasing this,

554

:

you know, right around the election time.

555

:

Just he gave examples of like

the Republican party does really

556

:

good with microscripts, like

"Make America Great Again".

557

:

Like whether you love it or

hate it, you cannot forget it.

558

:

And so Microscripts, like, I'm loving it.

559

:

McDonald's, they're, they, they can be

slogans, but if Microscripts is about

560

:

the conversion piece of it, and so I

really had to lean into that because

561

:

I'm not a traditional publisher.

562

:

I've had to lean in having

to kind of explain to people,

563

:

we're not writing books.

564

:

And like the best way to describe it

is kind of bookish because it creates

565

:

that curiosity and allows people to

think like, is she obsessed with books?

566

:

Yes.

567

:

But like, what is the book thing about?

568

:

And I read the book like in

a day and I marked it up.

569

:

And so that is probably my, like it's

a highlight for me this year, but my

570

:

all time favorite marketing book would

be Dot Com Secrets by Russell Brunson.

571

:

And the reason why I go back to

that one is because there's so

572

:

many principles about serving other

people and how much you can grow

573

:

by serving other people and having

values that you, that you launch with.

574

:

And so that is probably the core to a lot

of my success is just understanding that.

575

:

Selling is a form of service too.

576

:

Because when I first launched my

program, I told my husband, some

577

:

of my fears, I'm like, I am just

the help button on Amazon KDP.

578

:

That's all my course is.

579

:

And he was like, no one that put

that course, no one on Amazon help

580

:

button has published 500 books.

581

:

No one on Amazon understands

Amazon ads like you, no one

582

:

has the marketing background.

583

:

And I was like, you know, it's true.

584

:

And so that really has been a foundation

for me to understand that, like,

585

:

for those of you listening, you are

unique enough to do whatever you want.

586

:

Like, you have experiences and

you come with a different angle

587

:

that makes it your own thing.

588

:

And I think that's really powerful.

589

:

Tara L Bryan: Yeah, that's awesome.

590

:

I love that.

591

:

All right, cool, cool, cool.

592

:

All right.

593

:

So let's get into what

are we doing together?

594

:

Because I'm super excited about this in,

in terms of like, how, how do we match

595

:

the, the sort of two worlds together?

596

:

And and so Jenny, tell us a

little bit about what, what

597

:

we're going to be working on.

598

:

Jenny Hansen Lane: We're going to launch,

we're going to actually host a live

599

:

masterclass and we will take you through

like the things we've talked about.

600

:

So this is for you if you feel like you

have a skill set inside of your course

601

:

and you're like, it needs to breathe more.

602

:

This is for you if you've ever

wanted to establish more authority.

603

:

I was talking to a friend that lost a

trademark lawsuit because the person she

604

:

was fighting against used the title of the

framework and she had it inside of a book.

605

:

Anyways, there was so much that

I learned of like protecting your

606

:

brand by having it in a book asset.

607

:

That's the only reason

that she lost in court.

608

:

So just like thinking of your brand.

609

:

And giving it a little bit

more leg to be protected.

610

:

So in our masterclass, we're going to kind

of talk about what I call the ABC method.

611

:

So you've heard me say

customer search terms.

612

:

I want you to come to this class

with your skillset and I'm going

613

:

to do over the shoulder and we're

going to look at things in demand.

614

:

We're going to see how

much books are making.

615

:

And then we're going to talk about

the second part of the masterclass

616

:

is like, what is the format for you?

617

:

Is it just to start with a

blank journal with your brand?

618

:

Or is it like, I have a dusty

PDF I'm going to publish.

619

:

And then the third part of the

masterclass, we're going to just

620

:

talk about the positioning of like

getting it on Amazon and then the

621

:

marketing that you can do around that.

622

:

So we're only doing this.

623

:

This is the only thing planned and

it's a live and it's 60 minutes.

624

:

So we haven't like limited

seats, but we really want people

625

:

that are excited to repurpose.

626

:

And people that want to not

pay $10,000 to publish a book.

627

:

Tara L Bryan: For sure, for sure.

628

:

So this is going to be an amazing session.

629

:

And all of the information for it

will be down in the show notes,

630

:

so you can go ahead and register.

631

:

It is on November 21st.

632

:

So if you are listening to this after

November 21st, you're out of luck.

633

:

No, we, we will put put something for

you in the show notes if you're listening

634

:

to this after November 21st, 2024.

635

:

But get excited because this is going

to be that, that next piece that you

636

:

need in growing your online business.

637

:

And just imagine getting to that point.

638

:

And like I said, I'm going to be in like

the front row taking notes about what

639

:

Jenny has to say, because it matches

so well to what, where we're growing.

640

:

And I've got all those dusty PDFs.

641

:

And so I want to.

642

:

Start putting them out there.

643

:

And so I'm excited about that.

644

:

So take the journey with me with

Jenny at the helm and and show up on

645

:

the 21st and and we'll see you there.

646

:

Cause I think it's going to be

a super nice transition into

647

:

like, what's, what's next?

648

:

Like you, you've worked on your

framework, you've worked on kind

649

:

of building your body of work.

650

:

How do, how do we start to spread that?

651

:

out further.

652

:

And I think that, Jenny, the, the

timing of this, I think is great.

653

:

What happens, like, is there anything

that happens during the holidays?

654

:

Like, do people buy more during the

holidays, especially journals and

655

:

planners and things like it, you

know, if it's time based or whatever

656

:

else, like, is there anything around

that, that, that you can speak to?

657

:

Jenny Hansen Lane: Yeah, so right now

the data is that 2.1 million books are

658

:

sold every day online and Amazon holds

like 70 percent of that market space.

659

:

And so during Christmas

people buy books as gifts.

660

:

And when I talk about that ABC

method, where we go to the search

661

:

bar, you can type in books as gifts

and it is a legitimate keyword.

662

:

And so my first December on Amazon Kindle

Direct Publishing, I brought in eight

663

:

grand and that was like a game changer.

664

:

And when you lean into January, like

everyone's like new me, new planner, like

665

:

I did $11,000 because that was in demand.

666

:

So if you are an expert in a field

and there's some, that's a great

667

:

thing, most of us do evergreen things.

668

:

But if you are like a fitness

coach or you have something that

669

:

is really niche for a holiday, you

can see the spike of sales too.

670

:

And so it is a great time to attend

this masterclass and set up an account

671

:

and get some assets out on Amazon.

672

:

So then you're ready.

673

:

And I always think about, like, when

TikTok blew up, you know, people that

674

:

really leaned into that did really well.

675

:

And your competition is

probably not on Amazon.

676

:

So if you can start establishing your

authority now and just learn, you'll

677

:

be light years ahead versus, you

know, that's kind of also, I started

678

:

seeing other people become bestsellers

and I was like, oh, I want that too.

679

:

And now it's like, oh, I can do

that on demand because I know how.

680

:

I will say too, like, There are a

lot of people that do this process

681

:

that don't have an email list.

682

:

And so there's one thing about Amazon

audiences and then our own traffic.

683

:

And so you can make passive income if the

categories you're publishing in are not

684

:

in demand, because you have an email list.

685

:

It's just like, I feel bad for all

the self-publishers that arent, uh,

686

:

business owners like us, because once

we master this, we can go in and we

687

:

can hit number one, because we have

an email list that wants our product.

688

:

Tara L Bryan: That wants a product.

689

:

Yeah, that's awesome.

690

:

Okay, you heard it from Jenny, the pro.

691

:

Show up on the 21st.

692

:

But Jenny, thank you so much for

being our guest today on the podcast.

693

:

All the things that you shared

were amazing, and I can't

694

:

wait to actually dive in.

695

:

And I have a KDP account.

696

:

I just haven't filled it with anything

yet, so I'm going to go and do that today.

697

:

So I'll, I'll do a, we'll have

to do a follow up, actually.

698

:

to the podcast audience, when, when like

you're able to get me starting to get

699

:

some traction and and then we'll, we'll

keep on running forward with this, but

700

:

I love I love just being able to add

this dimension to our online businesses

701

:

and and, you know, you're rocking it.

702

:

You're knocking it out of the park.

703

:

So it's fun to to hear your story

and how that's, that's gone.

704

:

So, all right, everybody.

705

:

Thanks for joining us today.

706

:

You can find Jenny on

707

:

Jenny Hansen Lane: Just Jenny Hanson

Lane, every social media platform.

708

:

Tara L Bryan: Jenny Hansen Lane.

709

:

There you go.

710

:

You heard it from her.

711

:

It will be in the show notes.

712

:

Also have all of the resources

that she mentioned there.

713

:

And of course, a way to register

for that November 21st session.

714

:

All right.

715

:

Thanks everybody.

716

:

Have a great day.

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