What’s in this Episode?

In this episode of the Church Tips podcast, Jonathan Hardy, author of Arrow Striker, is sharing tips that you can apply in order to get the book you write into people’s hands.

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Read the Transcript

Jonathan Hardy 0:00
When you write a book, the book doesn’t just jump off the shelves, there’s certain things you have to do in order to get the book in people’s hands. And in today’s episode, we’re going to be sharing with you tips to get the book out there. Here we go.

Jonathan Hardy 0:16
All right, we wanna welcome you today to the Church Tips podcast and we are so excited to have you joining us. And we’re going to be talking about tips that you can apply in order to get the book that you want to write into people’s hands. Because as we’ve been talking about this week, if you haven’t listened to the previous episodes, you want to be sure to go back and do that.

Jonathan Hardy 0:34
But what we’ve been talking about is we’ve got these book ideas, we want to get it out there. God’s maybe given us a message that we want to share. And, so now we’re trying to figure out okay, how do we how do we actually get that out there? And it’s one thing to print a book, like we talked about in episode 107. But how do you actually get it in people’s hands? Because as you mentioned, before, you know, the books don’t just jump off the shelves, because there’s strategic things we have to do in order to get the books sold. And so we’re going to be talking about that today.

Dick Hardy 1:01
We are going to talk about that. And I really would encourage you to go back and look at episodes 104, 5, 6 and 7. Jonathan reference 107, but all of those really help you in the journey of getting that book out of you onto paper, onto your keyboard, and then how do you pay for all the pieces involved there. But really, this is going to be a great episode for you to think in terms of marketing the book.

Jonathan Hardy 1:29
Yeah

Dick Hardy 1:29
So, are you going to tell us a little bit about how you got your book to sell?

Jonathan Hardy 1:31
Well, I just wanted to mention again, this is in conjunction with my book that we just released this week on Tuesday, the book released, Arrow Striker, live with purpose and leave an eternal impact every single day. And really excited about the book, it’s been it’s been tremendous hearing people’s feedback on it. And certainly, if you have not had a chance to purchase the book yet, I would encourage you to do so.

Jonathan Hardy 1:51
This is a great book, not just for you personally, but for the people in your sphere of influence. So it’s written toward Christians in general, and is going to be very helpful. In fact, I’ve already had numerous different groupings of people not connected to each other, telling me about how they’re actually going to do a little small group study based on the book. So I’m excited about that, because I think it’s really going to motivate people, it is motivating people to step into all God has for them and their life.

Dick Hardy 2:16
And you’ve got a six part video series coming up here shortly that will be released, so you can stay tuned, watch for that. And you can get the book in ebook, audiobook, or paperback. So, and when you do, don’t forget to jump in, put your name into the Ozark Mountains Getaway that we are doing for the lucky winner, we’re going to do a drawing for that. And it’s gonna be a wonderful trip to southwest Missouri to Branson, and all that Branson has to offer. Silver Dollar City and shows, coffee with Jonathan and Ashley, a great dinner. You’re just going to have a wonderful time here. So fill out the form. After you purchase the book, there’s a little spot for you to put your receipt into validate the purchase, and that will be entered.

Jonathan Hardy 3:03
And that happens at arrowstriker.com/giveaway. So, arrowstriker.com/giveaway, that’s where you go to enter the details after you’ve purchased the book, and we’ll be happy to get you in the drawing. And maybe you’ll be the winner. That’d be awesome.

Dick Hardy 3:17
So here’s the drill on this particular episode, we’re going to talk about you marketing the book, You are the number one marketer of the book, even if you use a traditional publisher, it’s a fallacy to think that they’re going to be the number one marketer. They’re not, you are.

Dick Hardy 3:33
Now if you have an aggressive (Jonathan and I are a perfect example of this) I have what would be called an aggressive big mouth personality. So I don’t have a problem promoting myself, I don’t have a problem. I’ve written two books, I don’t have a problem, you know, spouting off about my books. Jonathan’s personality is more reserved, more level, and so I’d like to have him, because he’s the new author of this book, talk about the journey. You know, you aggressive people, you’re not having trouble with this. But the more reserved people, talk to them about how do you actually market and begin to self promote, which is not part of your nature.

Jonathan Hardy 4:12
Yeah, that’s, that’s something we should dive into quickly here, before we talked about some of the other things. I think you just have to, for me, I’ve had to come to grips with the reality that the book, as great as it is, is going to stay on the shelf, if I’m not out there helping to get it out there.

Dick Hardy 4:30
Yep

Jonathan Hardy 4:31
So I’m the number one promoter more than anyone else. And I can have a lot of other people who liked the book, who’ve read the book, and their word, their message, their sharing on social media, all that stuff is great, and you need that. But even still, I’m the one who’s having to help coordinate all that. I’m the one who is.

Jonathan Hardy 4:49
And so, you have to get to that point where if you truly believe you have a message from God, then it doesn’t matter what your disposition is, and that’s just what I’ve had to come to reality with. It doesn’t matter what your disposition is, you have to get the word out. And because if God’s given you a message, then you want to do all you can to get this message out to as many people as you can.

Dick Hardy 5:09
And that’s exactly what the Lord did in speaking to his heart, in this book. There’s a message here about striking your arrows. And so we’re going to talk about, and he’s talking about it. So you absolutely have to do this. You’ve got to sell, you gotta be the number one salesperson, even if you have a traditional publisher.

Jonathan Hardy 5:30
Yeah, in fact, I’ll mention that we’ve kind of talked about in the last episode about the traditional publishing route, where a publisher is the one that picks the book up. And if you haven’t listened to that episode, be sure to hop back over to Episode 107. But in that, we talked about how, despite them publishing it, and doing all the legwork, when it comes down to it, they’ll give you a little push, promotional push, at the beginning, but that’s about it. So then, you as the author are really the one responsible for getting the word out. And so you have to make sure to just do all you can to keeping that message before people.

Dick Hardy 6:06
So Jonathn, what do you do when when you you wanted to begin to get friends and family involved? How did you go through that process?

Jonathan Hardy 6:14
Well, I you know, I started just talking to people. I mean, you obviously helped me in talking to people, and we just started building kind of a team of people that we were, you know, friends, family, people we knew close, that you know, we were text messaging people, we were messaging them on Facebook, and just straight up asking them, Hey, would you be willing to share a couple of social media posts? Would you be willing to write a review of the book? And, you know, we would coordinate all that ahead of time. So that way we could come out of the gate strong in the moment.

Dick Hardy 6:46
Well, I’ll tell you, I was with a group of honorable about a dozen discipleship people at church yesterday. And, at the time of this recording, and two of the people were just talking about the book, two of the people said, well, I’ll do that. I would never have thought of them to do it. So, you’d be amazed, the more you start talking about it, Well I’ll do that, I’ll help you. People want you to be, particularly you’re only a first time author once, and people want to help first time authors. I don’t know how many people, you know that we’ve talked to a boatload of people, we had we had two or three maybe say they wouldn’t. And, it was only because they were in the middle of writing a dissertation.

Jonathan Hardy 7:28
Yeah, yeah, a lot going on.

Dick Hardy 7:29
Nobody said, No, I don’t like that idea. Nobody said that.

Jonathan Hardy 7:32
Right. Yeah. And so you know, if you are a first time author, there’s only one chance you have to ask for favors as a first time author. And, and ask them, ask for the favors. This is your this is your one chance.

Dick Hardy 7:45
Yep, exactly. So so what you know, one of the things I recommend, and Jonathan would concur with this, is if you’re a pastor, you have some natural network of people. Now, you know, hopefully it’s large. Might not be, but you know if you’re part of a denomination, maybe you’re part of a district, you’re part of a region, you’re part of a grouping of pastors, you want to be able to tap into those friendships, to sell the book. Now, again, if you’re a more reserved person, you say, Well, I don’t want to be asking for favors. You have to ask for favors, you have to ask for favors.

Dick Hardy 8:24
Now. If you’re on the front end and you haven’t written your book yet, and if you really have not cultivating the relationships in those networks, you need to start doing that now. Well, that seems disingenuous. Listen, you’ve got to build friendships and, and have friendships built on more than just your book. But, you’ve got to be doing this ahead of time. You’ve got some time now, invest in those friendships. And that will help you and Facebook, Jonathan.

Jonathan Hardy 8:49
Well, just like in terms of groups?

Dick Hardy 8:51
Yeah

Dick Hardy 8:51
Yeah, you know, Facebook groups, you know if you’re part of Pastor groups, if you are connected with different just segments of people in the pastor world, those are great ways to help. Just, you know, leverage that, because everyone wants I mean, hopefully everyone wants the kingdom to win. And so if there’s ways we can help with our friendship groups and Pastor groups that you’re a part of, then, you know, do that. Now, I will say that it’s helpful when other people are also involved in the promotion of that for you. So it’s not just you trying to hustle it all on your own. And I think if you can leverage others who are willing to be a part of this group to validate you or the book or whatever, then that’s always helpful.

Dick Hardy 9:39
I can tell you one of the major things, Jonathan, at the time of this recording, Jonathan has a recording he’s doing in about 15 minutes. And one thing he’s going to be talking about is this byline, live with purpose and leave an eternal impact every single day. That message is important. The Lord put that in His heart. And if the Lord puts something in your heart, it’s important for you to spread the word.

Jonathan Hardy 10:06
Yeah

Dick Hardy 10:06
It’s important for you to ask your friends and family to help you spread the word. You’re not just writing a book just to write a book. You’ve got something that is of value that the Lord’s put in your heart, and you’ve got to capitalize on your networks to get that word out.

Jonathan Hardy 10:21
Well, and I want to comment on that. Someone the other day said that they felt like they were supposed to write a book. And then they made this comment which I had made before. And it was, well, I’m just going to be obedient, because I feel like the Lord told me to do it. And even if one person reads it and helps them, then I feel like I’ve done my job. And I used to think that until I had a change of mindset to say, no, if God’s given me a message, then I want to get it to as many people as I can, because this is a message that I feel like the Lord has placed in my heart. And so I got to blitz this thing to get this out.

Dick Hardy 10:53
Exactly. Certainly, there are speaking opportunities to come along with the book.

Jonathan Hardy 10:57
Yeah, absolutely. And if you have a speaking engagement, or if you get invited to go to another church, or another organizational event, or whatever it might be, that’s a great place to be able to get your books out. Make sure to have a table with your books, and get a little sign there, and maybe try to have someone come and help, you know, take payment and all that for you.

Jonathan Hardy 11:15
And what I did at a church recently, was I, when I was selling them pre-release, actually, it was out at a speaking engagement, but we had the inventory already. So I went and took them out, and went out to the lobby after the service, and someone was taking payment, and I was able to just interact with the people and signed everyone’s book for them. And, and that’s just a great little, you know, personal touch point that you can give to people. And it’s certainly a good idea.

Dick Hardy 11:40
Well, there are things you can do that make that book signing something different than just going back to a six foot table and standing there signing books. You can do something where you can create an image, you know, this costs a little bit of money, but you wouldn’t break the bank.

Dick Hardy 11:54
We’re gonna have one that says Arrow Striker, where people can get their pictures taken with the book, because you want to create excitement, and then you want to encourage these people to post. And people love doing that. We got one, from a friend of Jonathan’s or really just an acquaintance of Jonathan’s here, in the last day or so, and the guy just he just went nuts in holding up his book and showing the deal. You’ll get people get enthusiastic about your book. And and it all starts with you. So any parting comments, Jonathan?

Jonathan Hardy 12:27
Well, I think the moral of the story is, if you want to get the book out, that you’ve got to make sure you do all that you can to get the book out. And that’s going to really help you get that message out that you feel like you need to articulate. And so we hope that that’s helpful for you. Hope you have a great day. We’ll look forward to seeing you next time. Until then, be blessed.

Show Notes
Enter the giveaway by:
1) Purchasing Arrow Striker.
2) Filling out the form using the link below.

Ozark Mountain Giveaway:

Arrow Striker Giveaway

Learn more about Arrow Striker:

Arrow Striker

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