Hello my friend!

I've been exploring the world of book writing over the last several months on the podcast. We've talked to:

• Derek Sivers
• Daniel Pink
• Tori Dunlap
• David Moldawer
• Nir Eyal

...but, with the exception of Derek Sivers, our conversations have really focused on traditional publishing. Dan Pink, Tori Dunlap, and Nir Eyal are best-sellers with traditional publishers and David Moldwawer's background is in the traditional world as well.

So I was very excited to speak with today's guest, April Dunford, who is a strong advocate of self-publishing.

April Dunford is the author of Obviously Awesome, How to Nail Product Positioning so Customers Get It, Buy It, and Love It.

That book has become a best-seller on its own – selling 80,000 copies since 2019.

And April actually had a publishing deal – but quickly pulled out of it.

I learned a lot from this conversation, including April's marketing strategy for the book. She planned over a year of marketing in advance (as a former VP of Marketing would).

Here's the overview:

• Prelaunch: Tease the book release
• Prelaunch: Launch preorders of the book
• Launch: Press release + big announcement
• 2 months post-launch: "Success announcement" showcasing reviews
• 6 months post-launch: Audiobook release
• 8 months post-launch: Release templates from the book
• 10 months post-launch: Release new templates for the book
• 12 months post-launch: Run the first discounted purchase

That's just a taste – we cover a lot of ground.

So in this episode, you'll learn:

• How she built her consulting business
• How she attracts high-caliber clients
• The process she uses to qualify them
• And April's experience self-publishing her first book

Listen to this episode in your favorite podcast player (links below). And if you want to really binge our episodes with authors, check out our Authors & Books Playlist.

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NEW EPISODE #176: April Dunford How self-publishing a book exploded her client service business. April Dunford is the author of Obviously Awesome, How to Nail Product Positioning so Customers Get It, Buy It, and Love It. April spent the first 25 years of her career as a startup executive running marketing, product, and sales teams. During that journey, April positioned, repositioned, and launched 16 different products. Today, April is a business owner. She's an independent consultant, and she's worked with more than 100 early and growth-stage startups to help them position their products. This episode is available in audio only. New to the show? Start with a curated playlist.

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I recently pulled together a 7-day Professional Creator Crash Course. It's an email-based course that I'll send once per day for the next week.

If you're not earning a living from your content, I think it will help you to identify some problem areas and make the necessary changes to put you on the path.

Interested? Just click the pretty blue button and it'll send right away.

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Cheers,
Jay

PS: You haven't told me much about your creator business yet. If you have 30 seconds, I can tailor my writing to you. Just answer a couple of questions (and you may even get a special surprise offer)!