The Author Revolution® Podcast

Break Through the Noise: Crafting an Uncopyable Author Experience with Daniel Den

• Carissa Andrews • Season 1 • Episode 266

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In a world where indie authors face endless competition, how do you stand out and become uncopyable? In this episode, I’m chatting with marketing disruptor Daniel Den, creator of the Ideas That Influence Book Box Experience. Daniel shares his innovative X Factor Effect methodology, exploring how authors can differentiate themselves, engage readers through unique experiences, and build unforgettable connections with their audiences. From boosting book consumption rates to leveraging personalization in marketing, this episode is packed with actionable strategies for authors who are ready to break through the noise.

Plus, we discuss the power of experiences, Daniel’s wildly successful interactive book box (get yours at BigIdeasBox.com), and how thinking differently can elevate your author business. Don’t forget to check out my conversation with Roy Osing on standing out in the market (Be Different or Be Dead - Episode 241).

As we wind down the Author Revolution Podcast, I also share a sneak peek into what’s coming next—The Neurodivergent Manifestor and my brand-new show, Manifest Differently Podcast, launching January 1st. Don't miss it! 

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The Author Revolution Podcast is evolving! Starting January 1st, join me on the Manifest Differently Podcast—a space for neurodivergent thinkers to embrace manifestation in ways that align with how we’re wired. If you’re ready to manifest on your terms, visit ManifestDifferently.com or tune in to Episode 1 at manifestdifferently.com/1.

Exciting news, authors! My upcoming book, Write Your Reality, is kicking off soon on Kickstarter! This isn’t just a book—it’s a high-vibe journey into Quantum Manifestation and mindset mastery crafted for authors ready to transform their careers. Join the waitlist at authorrevolution.org/kickstarter and be the first to know when it launches. Get ready to manifest your dream author life!

Are you an author at a crossroads, feeling stuck & unfulfilled in your author career? Do you know deep down it's time for a change, but you’re unsure of the next step?

The High Vibe Author is the only transformational membership designed specifically for authors like you—those who are ready to break free from limitations & step into the abundant life they deserve. Click here to learn more.

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Go forth and start your author revolution!

Speaker 1:

Welcome to the Author Revolution podcast, where change is not just embraced, it's celebrated. I'm Carissa Andrews, international bestselling author, indie author coach and your navigator through the ever-evolving landscape of authorship. Are you ready to harness the power of your mind and the latest innovations in technology for your writing journey? If you're passionate about manifesting your dreams and pioneering new writing frontiers, then you're in the perfect place. Here we merge the mystical woo of writing with the exciting advancements of the modern world. We dive into the realms of mindset, manifestation and the transformative magic that occurs when you believe in the impossible. We also venture into the world of futuristic technologies and strategies, preparing you for the next chapter in your author career. Every week, we explore new ways to revolutionize your writing and publishing experience, from AI to breakthrough thinking. This podcast is your gateway to a world where creativity meets innovation. Whether you're penning your first novel or expanding your literary empire, whether you're a devotee of the pen or a digital storyteller, this podcast is where your author revolution gains momentum. So join me in this journey to continue growth and transformation. It's time to redefine what it means to be an author in today's dynamic world. This is the Author Revolution Podcast, and your author revolution starts now Welcome back to the Author Revolution Podcast.

Speaker 1:

I'm so excited to bring you today's guest, daniel Den. If you're ready to break out of the marketing box and become uncopyable in your author journey, you're in for a treat. Daniel is box and become uncopyable in your author journey. You're in for a treat. Daniel is the mastermind behind the X Factor Effect methodology. He's helping authors and business owners differentiate in a way that truly breaks through the noise. He's going to share some incredible insights about creating experiences around your books, becoming a unicorn in your niche and stacking your differences that make a difference.

Speaker 1:

We're talking innovation, disruption and how to stand out in this crowded publishing world. Plus, you're going to hear about Daniel's epic interactive book box experience. It's next level brilliant. Trust me. I've gone through the box, I've gone through the book. It is super fun and includes so many aha moments that you're just you're going to want to race out and get it right away. So buckle up, because this episode is packed with actionable advice that you're going to want to implement right away. So let's dive in Well. Hi Daniel, welcome to the Author Revolution podcast. I'm excited to speak with you today. I'm so ready to break out of my marketing box and you have some very cool stuff here to be able to talk about. For those who are listening, I'm pointing to the box behind me, literally. But before we get into all that, do you want to describe to my audience who you are, what you do, all the fun things that you are involved with?

Speaker 2:

Carissa Andrews, thank you so much. I was so excited to be here with all the other indie publishers on the Author Revolution podcast, and this is the place for the disruptors in the industry, so I'm excited to help with the disruption. Let's disrupt together. Let's break through the noise together. The very quick story is for the past 12 years, I have been able to help over 20,000 students and clients. We started that with my business partner down in Brazil, so a lot of them came out of Brazil and then across the world, and then now, with our newer stuff, we're helping a lot of people in the English speaking market as well.

Speaker 2:

But the whole basis of everything we do, it's all about disrupting. It's all about our X factor effect methodology, and I found the need to differentiate and do things differently when I had a website right around 2009 where, like I was planning my retirement, carissa, like so 2009, daniel, daniel, and so, to give you an idea, 2009, I was what? 27 years old, so young, ignorant, like all right, I'm going to, I'm going to retire off of this website type thing. And for six months, like I was just raking in the dough and I had multiple days where I was making like a thousand dollars profit off of this website, which in 2009 dollars is like I don't know. That's like $5,000 a day today, right, I agree.

Speaker 2:

It was like whoa, this is amazing. Eventually, after about six months, I had somebody completely rip the website off, like they copied the entire website. Oh my gosh, and that copycat competitor turned into three, then turned into five. After about a year it probably surpassed right around 50 competitors. Some people create their own versions of the site with their own graphics, and some people would create their own copy, modified off of the copy that I had written, and then some people would just completely rip off my website. Uh, images and oh my gosh. That's Just the whole thing.

Speaker 2:

Just like when, all of a sudden done, I probably had a hundred, maybe a bit more than a hundred, copycat competitors and I realized this need for figuring out how to become uncopyable, differentiating to the point where you're breaking through the noise yes, and then stacking your differences that make a difference. And then so for the past 12 years, with our X factor effect methodology, that's what my business partner, pedro so Perky, and I helped so many people do is we help them do things differently, but different in a way where they became such a unicorn inside of their niche that they kind of became like untouchable Right, and that's where we got a lot of people to go from struggling and being copied to becoming market leaders and category Kings and category Queens, and some of those people are authors as well. So there we go. Awesome, I love that so much Okay.

Speaker 1:

So you've talked about the X factor methodology, so let's go back to that and do you want to describe a little bit about what that is and how people can apply it?

Speaker 2:

of Be Different or Be Dead. Roy Osing, he was just on and you guys had an amazing conversation, and so the cool thing is is Roy has his methodology for being different, and his methodology for being different is different, right right Than my methodology for being different.

Speaker 1:

Go figure on that. Working out like that, that's so strange. We knew working out like that, that's so strange.

Speaker 2:

We knew that like so, for example, when it comes to authorship, right. So some of us indie authors that are listening today, carissa, some of the fans of the revolution may have read like the blue ocean strategy. Okay, the blue ocean strategy is one strategy for differentiation, right, go after the blue oceans technically. Um, when I started working with pedro down in brazil, I went I I'm, I was born in the united states, portuguese is my second language. I went after a blue ocean opportunity because ped Pedro and I were starting to do things differently with our marketing and with our sales and everything, and we saw this need for differentiation and nobody was talking about it. So it was an absolute blue ocean for us, what we did and that's why we were able to grow so, so big. But we eventually learned, as we helped more and more people differentiate, that the blue ocean strategy is amazing as it is is only one way to break through the noise, and there's actually a lot of need to break through the noise in red oceans. So, most of us as authors on the revolution, the author revolution podcast, but your listeners, harissa, we are in red oceans and so, yes, blue ocean is good, but how do we differentiate in red oceans and so our methodology encompasses hey, sure, you can go after a blue ocean, you can go after red ocean, you can follow that strategy.

Speaker 2:

But our methodology we're different in the way that we are different, because we teach you how to stack your differences that make a difference. So we have nine main pillars of differentiation can be applied to small business, can be applied to authors, writing books, creating content in general, growing a following on social media. But we have nine main pillars and inside of those nine main pillars we teach you how to stack your differences that make a difference. And you don't have to follow all nine pillars, but once you've followed like three or four and you're different in like those three or four or five different pillars that you followed, you become such a unicorn that you kind of, just like Roy was talking about, you have you know your oneness about you in a big way, not a oneness where it's just like, oh, like I've got like a, like a guarantee or something that nobody else has right, like unicorn, like unicorn level of being different I love it.

Speaker 1:

Can you describe a couple of the pillars so that my audience knows what they kind of look like, what they would be?

Speaker 2:

yeah, yeah so so we'll use carissa, and the author of the podcast as an example, because Carissa is doing an amazing job at following a lot of the pillars. So one of the things that we do is we teach you to start to build that tribe and through the revolution, the author revolution, we've got a lot of indie authors that are part of carissa's tribe and, um, people say like, oh, you got to build a tribe eventually, but like it's work. Parisa knows how much work it is. It's not to lead you indie authors, uh, it's like herding cats.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it's not easy to be like, hey, let's, you know, let's jump on a training together, let's do a, let's, let's meet up, let's do a meetup at an event. You know it's not easy to do that, but once you have that, once you start to build that as a differentiator, people love community, and with too many brands and products and services in 2024, there is no identity, there is no community, there is no prestige in buying that product or service because it's been overlooked, and so that's one of the great pillars that Carissa has been able to apply. On top of that, we say all right, other than lead your tribe. We say join the age of experience. Ah, this is a good one, because in 2024, if we're being honest with ourselves, we all have too much stuff. We all have access to as much stuff as we want, thanks to the mass production that happens in China.

Speaker 2:

Things are just mass produced. And then Amazon, walmart. They just made it too easy for us to fill our homes with as much stuff as possible, as much stuff as possible. So lots of us, we, including myself and my wife we started to adopt like more of a minimalistic lifestyle, where we still buy things, but we only we buy certain things, and in that category of certain things that we buy, they usually include a great experience, because we're all quick, we're all sick of stuff, but we're not sick of amazing experiences. And so we say join the age of experience, realize that one of the biggest differences that you can do inside of your business or as an author is bring people an experience that they can only get through you Right. So that's two of the nine pillars.

Speaker 1:

That's amazing Is that where your idea came for. The idea is that influence your actual box. I mean, you have the book that goes with it, right yeah? Which is amazing.

Speaker 1:

Same amazing, same title, right um yeah but the experience then, like someone could take technically, take a look at this book and be like they did with your website, copy the book, but you've created an experience in the box that you know. How would they, without the exception of you, know? Maybe they buy it from you and then try to mimic it, but that's just silly, because it's just amazing All the different little pieces and components that you put together. I mean there's so many different cute little things in here that I can't wait to dig into. So do you want to explain where that came from, the idea came from and all the good things about it?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and this is impactful for authors. Now, to create an experience around your book, you don't have to do it to the level that I've done it. So when people buy from my websites, they're getting a deal, so you're getting this entire box experience. And, yes, the whole purpose of it was so. I wrote this amazing book called Ideas that Influence, and it's all about coming up with big, bold, wildly successful marketing ideas that break through the noise, which is one of the pillars for the X Factor effect is your messaging. You need messaging that breaks through the noise, messaging that grabs the attention of your dream customers and says this is what you're looking for. So that's what ideas that influences the book.

Speaker 2:

And I wrote it and it was in the editing process and I and I self-published it. But editor, amazing editor, she was helping me. Her name's Lori Lynn and I was like getting ready, all geared up to launch it. And, um, I was like getting ready, all geared up to launch it and I was like, really, daniel, as amazing as this book is, am I going to launch my book? We're the X factor effect guys. Right, we teach how to disrupt.

Speaker 2:

Am I going to launch my book just like everybody else, right? Right, I said, of course not. I, of course I'm not going to launch it like everybody else. Right, right, of course not, of course I'm not going to launch it like everybody else. So I was hanging out with some friends in a mastermind in Mexico and the idea came to me that I needed to turn this entire book into an experience and instead of launching another business book that was a free plus shipping business book, I needed to launch the very first free plus shipping interactive book box experience. And that's what I've done different envelopes and you get presents and tools and surprises that facilitate you following the advice in the book, so that you can have killer messaging as well for your books or for your businesses, and wildly successful marketing ideas as well, so that when you go to market your book or your business, then once again you are the person that is capturing the attention of your dream customers.

Speaker 1:

So yes answer was that's so genius.

Speaker 2:

I had to do things differently.

Speaker 1:

That's so genius, though, and one of the things that's cool about that is it keeps them engaged, right. Keeps them engaged in the book, keeps them reading to the next part, where they can open the next present or the next envelope or the next thing, and then it gives them that dopamine hit too right. It makes them go woohoo, what's happening now. It's like checking your messages, or checking all the things that happen when you're on a call. When you come back to your phone and, all of a sudden, you're like yes, this is so amazing, that's such a great idea. Like where did that, where did that whole concept come from? Was it literally downloaded in your brain at that mastermind, or were you kind?

Speaker 2:

of fleshing it out before. Yeah, I would say. I would say, you know, it came from somewhere up there in the clouds there was a pill, there was definitely a pillar of inspiration. I don't know how metaphysical it was or if it was by association, because I was sitting next to so at that table I was sitting next to Mark Stern and he owns Custom Box Agency and he is amazing at helping people.

Speaker 2:

So if any of you indie authors want to go down this route now, it's not cheap. You need to have the mathematics. If you're going to do it to the level that we've done it, then you need to have the math in your business make sense. You need to have usually like a back end inside of the business that make things profitable, or you just need to charge more on the front end. So, just so that we don't dissuade people.

Speaker 2:

So I did buy a book from Michelle Cunningham and she did a very simplified version with an experience with her book and I forget the name of the book, but it's, I think it's called do it anyway, girl or something. So, yeah, I, I, yes, daniel didn't bought. Let me look it up. Um, well, matt, uh, michelle Cunningham book is do it anyway, girl. Hey, I said it right, there we go, job, I bought it off of her website and, um, and it comes in this like neon sparkly pink package. I should have kept it so I could have shown it to you. Oh, but here's the book, I have the book right here. So this book, do it anyway, girl.

Speaker 2:

So it came to me in the mail and this neon pink, sparkly package, just you know, and I get it, and I didn't get it out of my mailbox. My 11-year-old daughter, she got it and she runs up to me and she's like what is this? What is this? What is it? And you know, just, she's like can I? I, whatever's inside, like open it, open it. And and then she's like can I keep the packaging? Like she wanted to keep the packaging. Anyway, I open it. It's got a special thank you note from Michelle and it was like, yeah, just an experience, but a much simpler experience, an impactful experience. And what these experiences do for our books is that, above all, it helps increase our consumption rates, because, at the end of the day, with as many books as you have sold, carissa, what we don't like is when people buy our book and then don't read it.

Speaker 1:

Right. Why would you do that? That's blasphemy.

Speaker 2:

Now you have, let's see so, one of your books. Let's see it's. Let me get back to my notes. It has a thousand. I just looked it up today. I don't even know if you know this number. So midlife wolf bite, you have a thousand 52 reviews on Amazon. Incredible, incredible, which means it's a fun book. People are having a great experience with that. But what we, what we now do? I don't know what type of analytics you have with the ebook version, but do you know what the finish rate is, more or less?

Speaker 2:

uh, I do not, I don't think I do no, I think, I think we can kind of get those numbers and, uh, if we I think within kindle, uh like it depends on how, how people are reading it.

Speaker 1:

So if it was in Kindle unlimited, you'd be able to see, because you get paid by page reads. But I'm I'm no longer in KU, uh, so everybody has to purchase the book, and so well, not just a physical copy, they have to purchase the ebook, literally purchase it, instead of going through the Kindle unlimited subscription. So with, so with KU, you can see how many page reads are coming through and kind of get an idea of how many people would have finished it. But yeah, I don't know, I don't know that there's any way to be able to tell otherwise.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, well, this is kind of what I've heard. Just having lots of conversations with incredible people like you, carissa. Heard just having lots of conversations with incredible people like you, carissa. Lots of times we're not getting a consumption rate more than 20%. Okay, so if a thousand people bought my book, then I should not expect more than 20 people to have actually read them which is really bad.

Speaker 1:

Right, You're like why?

Speaker 2:

which is really bad. Right, you're like, why, why, why? Um, now it, those numbers differ from fiction to non-fiction, but, uh, it doesn't matter what the actual number is. I wish we actually knew, but this is just like kind of what I've heard and this is to set expectations for all of us in the authors. So if it's 20% fiction or nonfiction, the numbers are, from what I understand, lower for nonfiction. So my type of book, generally speaking, like so, this is a business book. Like you get people that buy hundreds and hundreds of business books and then maybe they'll read 10% of the books that they have on their shelf.

Speaker 1:

Right, which, yeah, it just happens. So you got to make it really cool looking so that they want to open it and to see what's going on, right?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, exactly this is where we're getting into the experiential aspect. So what Michelle was able to do was she was able to like hype people up in very simple, cheap ways through the experience with the book. And what that does is it increases consumption. And with my book it because I put even more experience into it it dramatically increases consumption. I have people that just because, like like the box comes with like sticky notes, like they're showing me like I finished the book, it's amazing. And then they're like showing all the box comes with like sticky notes, like they're showing me like I finished the book, it's amazing. And then they're like showing all the sticky notes. I have sticky notes all through it and I'm like, yes, people are actually reading my book. This is so cool.

Speaker 1:

And taking action too. That's even cooler.

Speaker 2:

Exactly, exactly. So what? What I can share is this and this is helpful for all of us as authors Out of the first buyers, I tracked my first buyers and one out of three of my first buyers. Now some of these were bigger, like some of my bigger fans, so just that's the caveat, right? But without me asking them to. One out of three of my first buyers were posting about the book and the box experience on social media without me asking them to.

Speaker 1:

They bought it and they posted.

Speaker 2:

They were commenting, posting, doing unboxing videos, which, for an author, those types of numbers, are absolutely incredible. Like you, just don't see those types of numbers in 2024.

Speaker 1:

That's so amazing too, and it makes you feel good because you're like, yes, I've done something right and they're so excited about it.

Speaker 2:

Exactly Now. So since we're trying we're all trying to get as many readers as possible, which you know, we've got big, we all have really big goals. The whole point of me sharing that number is this those fans sharing about their experience generates more fans, more sales, more consumption all around. Because if I posted on boxing video for whatever I receive and then I don't consume the content, I'm kind of being a little hypocritical consume the content.

Speaker 2:

I'm kind of being a little hypocritical, right, a lot of hypocritical, and so I have. I have just um, I have seen I don't know what the consumption rate is because I've gone so indie that like I'm anti like. So I want people to get the experience and I don't even have the option for people to buy this on Amazon yet. So, okay, so that's, I'm trying to get people to buy from my website and buy the box experience and go through my sales, honestly that makes the most amount of sense anyway.

Speaker 1:

I mean as an indie who's been in this industry for 12 fish, 13, I don't even I've lost track of years. I've lost track of years too many years, 2014 years.

Speaker 1:

It's been a long time so, but I've seen it go from you know where everyone was like all in with Amazon. And then all of a sudden they're like, oh, they're kind of deciding Amazon's not the be all end all. We're going to go wide. Instead, we're going to go on all the retailers to like even last year, the big shift was going direct and having your own direct store. Because we're realizing that in order for us to truly tap into our entrepreneurship and put that hat on and earn what we should be earning from our books, we have to do it from our own stores. And so I think I mean you doing it the way you have and then maybe eventually putting on Amazon, that makes total sense because you're creating the experience you want, you're building your, your, you know your community, your readership and everything's coming through you. It just makes more sense, especially looking back from my perspective. Going that makes perfect sense.

Speaker 2:

As to why you would do that. Well, thank you, like. So some people tell you I'm crazy, like dang it. This is so cool. You're crazy for not putting it on Amazon yet. Calm down, calm down, eventually, eventually. But I got to start by being different, yeah.

Speaker 1:

So I'm doing things differently.

Speaker 2:

I need the math, I need, like, as much customer information as I can get, because I'm myself going back to the X Factor effect. I am building a tribe around people who they want to do things differently, they want to do their marketing differently. They're looking to break through the noise and it's a lot easier for me to do that when I'm controlling the sales process and when I'm controlling everything that happens.

Speaker 1:

So, yeah, well, yeah, cause then you can even like nudge people on, you can help them to remember to go back to do it. I mean, there's so many benefits to that process where it's like now you've, you've got your, you know your touch points to be able to pull them back into that world and help them to remember that this is an important piece that's going to help them elevate to the next level Because, like you said, if the readership is so low, especially with nonfiction, it having that opportunity to lift them up and to remind them that it's there is so important From a fiction author, mostly fiction author I even enjoy that myself. I've seen, you know, my sales go up because of the sales funnels I have on the back end of my Shopify store and just saying, hey, how did you like that book? Did you read book two? Yet in book two, here's what's going to happen. You get all excited if you haven't you know what I mean.

Speaker 1:

So it's like that makes total sense to me.

Speaker 2:

Yep, 100%, and you can do fun stuff. So, like I get phone number, I get email, I get the shipping address, like I can send them additional stuff, like I've got all. I've got all their information. So one of one of my favorite things, a very X factor thing to do, is if you've ever heard of the tool called Bonjaro uh, it's. Uh, have you heard of that one yet?

Speaker 1:

I haven't no.

Speaker 2:

All right. So it allows you to, um, you, you hook it up and you get notifications, like you can get you know. You can put some automations in there so that you can kind of get notified every single time you make a sale, um, which you're gonna, you're probably, you probably are all already paying attention to your sales anyway. But the app, uh, bonjuro, it says, hey, you got somebody else, uh, you know, send them a, uh, uh, thank you video, and it's, of course, I can shoot a video on my phone and I can like text somebody from the number that they supplied or send them a like, a, an email, but it's a very automated, simple way to do it. So I'd say you're probably, through their automation, doing things about three times faster, and then you can have templates and calls to action with those personalized video messages.

Speaker 2:

And so my next phase of everything that I'm doing to build upon this experience because we're in the age of experience in 2024, is to incorporate Monjuro. And right now I'm on my website. I'm getting about three to four orders every single day and I'm going to start videoing like thank you, hey, every single day, hey, thanks so much. And here's a reminder that here's your welcome video and you know, if you're ever interested, here's a reminder that we have our X Factor Strategy Group and then that's the first video in a sequence and the whole point of this is, hey, we're building the experience, we're building the tribe, we are increasing consumption rates and we are increasing the possibility that people are going to say amazing things about us because we're blowing them away, that the author is sending them a quick thank you video.

Speaker 1:

How great is that? I've seen authors do that before the age of having your own website, really, and selling direct from from your store became popular. But I've seen like at the end of a book, for instance, and it's probably nowhere near as effective as what you're doing, but like at the end of a book saying thank you, like where it's like click here for a thank you video from the author in the back of the book, kind of thing. That's. That's phenomenal, yeah.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so good If you want, if you want to double your everything right. Then you got the next level.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, you, you, you want to do stuff like this like people. So I I've done it before with some of my other courses and people are like oh Holy smokes, like can't believe it. And then the watch rate for those personalized videos and the open rate. You'll get some of the biggest email open rates because you can have it emailed to them. Hey, daniel Din just sent you a video. It just the open rate's phenomenal, like okay, they just bought from you. And then it says Daniel Din just sent you a personalized video. So the open rates are like I mean, it's like 50% a lot of times, which, for email, is just like what.

Speaker 1:

Right, right, I can completely understand that. Yeah, it seems like oh, the emails just pile up. Oh, it gets crazy. I totally understand. And how cool is that? Though, because it's a personalized video, it makes sense why they want to go over and be like what, what is he sending me? What, what's happening here?

Speaker 2:

yeah, that's really cool. But yeah, for interested in that, it's b-o-n-j-o-r-o. Bonjour, like, okay, kind of sounding french, but not not quite almost french. Yeah, bonjour, but bonjour. Yeah, anyway. So video messaging and yeah, that you can. There's even a free version of it. Yeah, I think you don't have to pay, like until you get, like, I think, past, like I don't know, like 50 messages or something like that.

Speaker 1:

So that's really cool. Wow, nice, going to have to take a look at that myself. Okay, so I'm curious. Obviously you've been doing this for a while. Do you know of any like common marketing mistakes that authors are doing that maybe they could avoid or could switch up by utilizing ideas that influence?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so one of my favorite examples in the book comes from the nonfiction which I know you're helping a lot more nonfiction authors nowadays, so it all works, but this can, this can be applied to all of it, right? So so let's see what's his name again oh yeah that's right, John Gray.

Speaker 2:

So the example in the book is from John Gray and so John Gray, he is the author of the book. Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus. Now, if you go on Amazon right now and you look at how many different relationship books there are, there are like too many.

Speaker 1:

It's like if it's not in the millions, I know, it's in the hundreds of thousands, it's.

Speaker 2:

if it's not in the millions, I know it's in the hundreds of thousands. Ok, right. So so, statistically, if you're going to be in the top one percent of those books, you're still not making enough sales to make a living Like. You need to be in the top like half a percent for relation. There's just too many relationship books like every single day, like just more and more and more are being published, and so it's not about being in the top 1%, it's being in the top 0.5% for you to like really have an impact. But John, with his book he had at one point, the best selling nonfiction, non-fiction book of all time. Okay, so this is, this is like really good, like, wow, like how did he do that in such a competitive niche?

Speaker 1:

I was working at the bookstore when, when that was all going down too, I I was working as a retail bookstore bookseller at the time and and it was like it was mental.

Speaker 2:

That's a cool story. Wait, so that was that was. What year was that?

Speaker 1:

Oh gosh, I have no idea anymore. Been in the nineties somewhere. Yeah yeah, that's what I was thinking. I was like that's in the 90s.

Speaker 2:

I want to say 97 maybe 96, I don't know, somewhere in there, there you go.

Speaker 1:

It might have been earlier than that, even I'm, I'm not sure. Yeah, I was working at a little tiny, one little tiny bookstore in in my city. Yeah, a little mom and pop one that's continue.

Speaker 2:

Uh, before, well, yeah, we had, we had books a million in the 90s and, and, uh, and then Barnes Noble popped up anyway. Um, now we're. Now we're getting off track. But the whole point is what, like John Gray, he kicks everybody's butt and he gets the top selling, you know, bestselling book, nonfiction book, at least at the time of all time.

Speaker 2:

So the question is why? When it comes to the lens of the X factor effect and the lens of breaking through the noise, why did he do things differently? Well, if you read the book, his relationship advice is very similar to everything else that is out there, but the difference is that he has the analogy that men are from Mars and women are from Venus. He has a very sticky concept and his whole methodology is based off of this analogy that men are from Mars and women are from Venus. And people say, wow, that is different. That is interesting. I'm not forgetting the name of this book. I wonder what he has to say stickiness of the analogy and the fact that he used relationship, evergreen relationship, principles as the base.

Speaker 2:

Which all relationship books today, in 2024, that work. They're based off of the same principles that many other authors have written about. It's all the same stuff. That's the point. It is the same. The principles don't change, but the methodologies, the stories, the examples, the analogies, they can change. So I love to give the example of all of us as authors. We are given the same set of ingredients the inspiration that we get from the universe. We all have access to it, we all have our you know MacBooks or you know whatever. Right?

Speaker 1:

Right right.

Speaker 2:

We all have our access to the AI tools. We have our access to all of the other books in our niche that could give us inspiration. We have access to all the stories that we could use as examples. And then we have our own personal stories and the stories of our friends and family, et cetera. Those are different, but they're going to be very similar stories to the others that are out there would be incredible and delicious, and my cake would be just normal chocolate cake with white icing, because that's what I do every single time all right, that's, that's what.

Speaker 2:

That's what I'm good at a chocolate cake with white icing and it's good. It's good, but it's not as good as Carissa's cake.

Speaker 1:

It's not my keto cake.

Speaker 2:

Sorry, say that again my keto cake, and that's already different. Your keto cake Cause mine's full of not good stuff.

Speaker 2:

It's cake ever really good, it's just tasty. There you go. So when, in 2024, we're all struggling because we're all getting caught up in the sea of sameness, but we have these examples of people who stick out in very unique, different ways, and what we want is we want those X factors and we want to stack those X factors inside of whatever we're doing in a way that we really stick out. We're memorable, we're creating those experiences, what we're doing is enjoyable. It's different in a way that our dream customers love when it comes to writing. So we're all in red oceans. Now, in 2024, there are very few blue oceans.

Speaker 1:

We're all writing, especially in indie publishing.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, exactly. So the question is what makes you different? And think outside of the book, right, think outside of that. So, parisa, she has an entire community as you're going to write and publish your newest book, which is let's see, it's the. I have it written right here. Don't say it. Don't say it. Don't say it. Okay, say it. Write your reality. Yeah, there you go. I was like the second.

Speaker 1:

I said it, it was right at the same time I had it right there.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, write your reality. So you have, you already have a differentiator, you already have multiple X factors around the launch of your new book. Right, your reality? Why? Because you've got the podcast, you've got the community, you've got people that you've been helping to reach their million dollar ambitions as authors, and so you already have X factors, you already have authority behind it, and then who knows what else you're going to come up with when you go to finally launch your reality. That, in addition to that, enhances the experience and enhances the fact that, yes, it's a book just like everybody else. Red Ocean, we're selling books, right, but here are the 10 reasons why this is way more than a book right, right.

Speaker 1:

Well, I'm going to do a Kickstarter for starters. I don't know what it's going to look like yet or what's going to go into it, but it's going to have more than just the book.

Speaker 2:

That's a differentiator as well, and that's marketing and that's planning, you know. And then the messaging behind it. So, like, how are we going to message? What's the messaging? It's going to be different than everybody else, right, right?

Speaker 1:

So that's so good. When, what would you? Give to those people Like, obviously you gave me a little bit of clues into what's going on with my stuff, but if there's an author who's just kind of starting the marketing process of their next book or their first book, what advice would you give them to get that started? Other than, like, obviously, get moving on doing all the exercises and things inside your, your box.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so I unfortunately have been in the funnel world for too long.

Speaker 1:

Unfortunate though.

Speaker 2:

Well, it's great. It's great, I love it. I love it. I love it. So too many people.

Speaker 2:

So, when it comes to math, if you can afford ads, you're going to sell a lot more books. As long as your books break Sorry, as long as your ads break through the noise and really captivate the attention of your dream customers. To be able to to market and scale ads so like we all know that we're supposed to be jumping on podcasts and talking about our books and then we're supposed to be talking about it with all of our friends and family and communities, and you know there's lots of ways to advertise. But if we can get into ads as well, then it makes it like light years faster how many books you can get out. That's the whole point.

Speaker 2:

But in 2024, everybody and their dog can set up an ad account, which means that is more expensive than we'd like it to be. So I got I got really got started with the Internet in 2007. Ads were cheap in 2007. Right, Way, way, way, way cheap compared to 2024. And so the only way to be able to get into the world of math and testing your messaging faster and faster with ads is you need to add stuff to the back end, to add stuff to the backend. So it can be as simple as we have this group that we meet with, you know, twice a month for the fans of the series, whatever it is, oh yeah.

Speaker 2:

Most people. They just get into their own heads and there's like, well, I'm not going to try that. What's the worst that can happen? You get one person to sign up and then you're like, well, we tried it, it didn't work, so now we're going to try something else, right, right, right. Well, what's the best that could happen? Oh, we've got. Now. We have 500 women that are paying $9.95 a month as part of our book club. Wow, that's a lot of money. Now that I have to be, that's $5,000 that I can reinvest back into ads so that I can sell more books, so that I can grow the community. That's pretty cool, right.

Speaker 1:

Right, right when some people like I know a lot of people who are like you know pay for a book club but that that seems to be a trend that's going on these days where it's like, yeah, if you want access into this world and you're dealing with the author and you're talking about the things, come in and and pay it. But it's just so nominal and I'm like that would never have occurred to me until just this year it was the first time, I agree, interesting, uh, down in brazil.

Speaker 2:

Um. So my pedro was like I want to do this book club and I'm like all right, I know we're gonna sell, but like really it's a book club, like we're gonna meet once a month and talk about a different business book or whatever. We sold a lot of people in that book club.

Speaker 1:

Yeah Right, it's like they want that accountability and those people to have that experience of discussing it with. It's really interesting.

Speaker 2:

Correctly, it was like it was like 900 people. Now we had a big following and everything but 900 people like, but, like and and but. What was the catalyst that allowed us to do that? Well, once again, we we had set up everything on the back end of what we were doing so that we could afford to do ads.

Speaker 2:

And so it's math I will not be able to afford ads selling my book to you for $10, because it costs For nonfiction business owner clicks on Facebook and Instagram, like lots of times you're spending like $3 per click. So the math doesn't math, right, right, fiction books, that's completely different and it's not like you can get clicks, you know, as low as you know, 25 cents sometimes, because it's more niched and you're going after specific people that you know it's just cheaper, it's a it's a cheaper audience to target, but still those 25 cent clicks can add up. And because they add up anything that we do to, you know, bring people together to give them more whatever, then it all adds upon itself so that it allows us to do much bigger and cooler things and provide people with amazing experiences inside of our tribes.

Speaker 1:

So so what would your advice then be to? To be coming at it Like if you're a new author, author in your, or you're marketing a new book or a new series. Would it be to be looking at, then, like the entire system before you you launch anything, just to make sure that you are incorporating more of an experience, incorporating more of that um x factor to help them to tap into something bigger, because I feel like a lot of authors will just write the book, throw it out there, hope the ads are going to help them make it work if they're doing ads, or hope that some magic thing is going to take the book and have a go, someone is going to do a TikTok for them or something else. Is that what I'm hearing? That you're like no, look at the entire kind of solar system around your book to try to figure out what's going to happen here solar system around your book to try to figure out what's going to happen here.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, two of the X factor pillars that we didn't mention yet are enter the offer matrix, which is all about creating offers that other people don't. So create amazing, desirable offerings in addition to your book that others just they. Nobody else in your red ocean is doing it, and there are, there are. So when you get those let's just be frank here so when we get the boomers that are that are absolute fans of midlife wolf bite, a lot of them have so much money set aside that they don't have anything else that they can spend their money on.

Speaker 1:

Okay, sure, because they have their house, they have their kids, they have all the things. Yeah, that makes sense, yeah.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, like. It's like when I go to buy stuff from from my mom and dad for their birthday and mother's day, there's literally nothing I can buy them.

Speaker 1:

Except for an experience, right yeah?

Speaker 2:

Like, sometimes they will ask me to not buy them more things because, well, they're sick of stuff as well, and that's when you have to get into the experiential and all that. So, anyway, but the whole point is these boomers, like my parents, they have money, it's burning a hole in their pocket. They don't know what to do with it. And so when the 10% of our dream readers are those people that they're looking to be entertained, they're waiting for the next book to come out in your series and they're looking for more like, you will be absolutely shocked at the take rate from some of these people, even if it's like this you're offering something that costs five hundred dollars on on the backend, or a thousand dollars, like, sometimes, take break is just it'll blow you away. You're like, how did this happen and why haven't I been doing this the whole time?

Speaker 2:

And so two of the pillars that you know there are nine, I don't know how many we mentioned so far, but we mentioned at least three. So two of them are enter the offer matrix, which is all about creating offers that we just mentioned there, and then sexy up your sales process. Sexing up your sales process, that is all about having more than just by the book, by the book plus by the experience, plus by the, by the group, and then you're offering all of it to them, right, right. You still don't know who's going to take what, right. So, yes, it's about reverse engineering it and doing math and doing and saying, okay, if, if I do have this really really cool thing on the backend of my fiction book series and, let's say, the most expensive thing is $297, but it's really cool and people are going to absolutely love it and then you reverse engineer it and you're like what?

Speaker 2:

if 10% of people took this, well, they're paying $9.95 on the front end. Everybody's paying that for the book. And then if 10% of people take the $297 offer, that gives me $30 dollars per buyer that I get in order to build the community, do more marketing and sell more books. And then you start to go from the author, who has sold 50 copies, to the author that every single day you're selling an additional 5, 10, 15 copies, and then that over time it's like, oh, before we know it, we blink and we've sold thousands of copies of our book. And that puts us where, in the top 1%, right Now we're becoming known and now people are saying when's the next book coming out? And then things start to get really exciting. And it's because we were very strategic and we built experiences, we built a tribe around our books and we built we built a really sexy sales process that gives us the math to scale our book business.

Speaker 1:

One thing I like about books, too, is that evergreen factor too, because if we are so like for me anyway head down doing the thing, writing the books, listening to our readers, and we're only focused on the publishing side of things, and now all of a sudden they're like stumbling on you, daniel, and they're like, oh my God, I wish I would have done this. The cool thing is they're evergreen. You can always have that brainstorm session and build the processes around what you've already created. You know what I mean? Yeah, and it's like the hard part was done. You, you did the book. Now, like, make the experience around it and make it work. It's that reverse engineering thing was like so, so key. Yeah, that's really interesting.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, and sometimes we're just not dreaming big enough. I mean, I agree, we're downloading really cool ideas from the universe and then sometimes it's only part of the message.

Speaker 1:

Wait a second.

Speaker 2:

Wait a second, wait a second. I'm downloading these ideas that are just massively like, just wildly cool and exciting and then not even realizing that, like we're thinking small right, right yeah, but you're downloading these amazing ideas like what the heck like? Think bigger, right? Why just think?

Speaker 1:

it's like you, like we were talking about I can't remember if it's before we started or not there's like only so much space and time and memory that we can hold things, and so we have to do things kind of one at a time and so, right, I think. I think sometimes we're given the information we need at that particular moment and then eventually, all of a sudden it shifts and you're like, oh, that's what I was building this whole time.

Speaker 2:

Okay, now, now I get what I was.

Speaker 1:

Now we can start linking this all up together.

Speaker 2:

Well and then. But like, if we are, if we have the passion, like Carissa has, to like, really get our books out into the world, we have to realize that the like we are shooting for the top 1%, like. So out of you listening to the podcast today, there are 99 other people that you are competing against. Okay, and one of you is going to create the tribe and the experience, and the other 99 are not right. One of you is going to figure out the math and figure out the messaging and be different in a way that breaks through the noise, and the other 99 are not. They're just going to use ai to help them write another story. That just is more of the same. We've got our vampires, and then there's the vampire, and then there's the love part.

Speaker 1:

And then we'll include all the things. Someone gets pregnant. With a magical baby.

Speaker 2:

Magical baby Right.

Speaker 1:

And I wrote Twilight. I did it, I've done it, oh, but dang, twilight already exists. So there we go, right. Right, that's funny. Well, daniel, we've talked about a lot of things and I absolutely am enamored with this whole experience thing. I'm going to be digging into it myself. This, like basically this coming week, is what my goals are. We talked about the, the fact that things have kind of shaken up for me, and so I'm just all in. I can't wait to experience it, to go through it. I'll probably start talking about that in the intro or the outro of this particular podcast once it airs. I can talk about my experience using it. But thank you so much for being here, for sharing your knowledge and wisdom and giving my audience that nudge to think differently, because I think it's so, so powerful. So thank you for being here.

Speaker 2:

Yeah. And then this episode, along with Roy's episode just like hey, yeah, like hey, differentiate or die.

Speaker 1:

Like heck, yes, where can, where can my audience go to find you too, like, where did they go to get this box? And like start working on this right now.

Speaker 2:

Perfect. So, yeah, this is cool, like so this box, this book experience that's gonna help you come up with these wildly successful ideas. And we have actually a few different author examples inside of the book as well, because the book, at the end of the day, it's about your marketing messaging and your marketing messaging when you're an author, it like it's unavoidable that it's part of what you're actually writing in your own book. So we have lots of book examples in the book, along with other marketing examples and examples of amazing marketing from billion dollar companies, and then examples of our students, uh, as well, and so book examples, a couple of one book example from one of our students anyway um, lots of cool stuff.

Speaker 2:

Lots of cool stuff, um, but the whole book is, and the book and the, the box experience is free plus shipping, meaning you're gonna get this amazing box experience shipped to you just by paying shipping and handling If you're in the United States. Currently, as of this recording, it's just $19.95 shipping and handling, which actually is how much it costs us in shipping to send you the whole thing out. So, anyway, and then, and then, as you go through the, the, you know the funnel, then you'll see like, oh, okay, so, so that's how Daniel's doing it. He has these other things that you can tack on to your order, which makes it so that the average person is spending more, so that I can afford to give, give away this amazing experience. And so, yeah, if you go to bigideasboxcom, then you get the whole thing shipped to you for free plus shipping. So there, you go.

Speaker 1:

That is so awesome.

Speaker 2:

Bigideasboxcom.

Speaker 1:

Trust me, guys, you're going to want to dig into this. It is absolutely phenomenal and so much fun Like it's. Whoever was your designer did a great job, by the way. It's just so cool. I love it. I love it. I love the little idea button with, like, when you have a cool idea, you push the button to light up the light bulb. I mean, what great ideas. It was so ingenious. It was great.

Speaker 2:

It's got a light bulb hey this is why everybody should buy it, cause the box comes with a light bulb. There you go, right, that was the only reason. That's it. No, that that was. That was easier said than done. We had to make sure that we didn't like cause a fire hazard, or whatever, but we did it Good Well.

Speaker 1:

Daniel, thank you so much for being here, for being such a fun guest to talk to. I will definitely have to bring you back because you have so much knowledge.

Speaker 2:

Thank you, my pleasure. Carissa, you're amazing. The other indie authors that are listening, you all are amazing, and let's disrupt together. Let's make the world a really cool place with our unique ideas that break through the noise.

Speaker 1:

What an incredible conversation. Did I tell you? It's going to be great. Daniel's perspective on creating experiences and thinking outside the book is actually what we need as authors to rise above the noise. So if you want to grab Daniel's ideas that influence interactive book box experience, make sure you head over to bigideasboxcom and start tapping into those wildly successful marketing strategies. Now I will include it, obviously, in the show notes, but before we wrap up, I want to take a moment to share once again something very important with you.

Speaker 1:

This episode is the second to the last of the author revolution podcast for a while, as you know. If you've been listening to me, you know that I'm shifting gears and I'm stepping into a new chapter that feels deeply aligned. So, starting January 1st, I'll be launching the Manifest Differently podcast under the banner of my new venture, the Neurodivergent Manifestor. So it's going to be all about manifesting your creative dreams in ways that honor who you are and how you're wired, something I know many of us actually need. So mark your calendars and keep an eye out for Manifest Differently. It's going to be amazing and if you consider yourself to be a neurodivergent thinker, neurodivergent manifester, I hope that you'll follow me over to the new podcast. Of course, I'm not going anywhere when it comes to teaching authors as well. It's still going to be a thing for me.

Speaker 1:

This podcast will have episodes coming out from time to time. I'm just not committing right now to when, but of course, keep an eye on it. Keep an eye on the space. You never know. I might just pop up in your thing like a specter out of the blue. And, of course, if you want to get more information, the links to Daniel and all the things that we've been talking about in this episode, head over to authorrevolutionorg. Forward slash 266. It will all be there for you. Guys, thank you so much for being a part of this journey. I can't wait to see you again soon on the Manifest Differently podcast, but we've got one more episode left. It's my Christmas present to you, so hang tight and until then, go forth and start your author revolution. Thank you.

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Carissa Andrews

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