In this episode of the Social Media Podcast, Michael Stelzner interviews Lewis Howes, founder of The School of Greatness podcast (a top 100 podcast in iTunes) and author of a new book on The School of Greatness. (Note the podcast audio is no longer available)
Michael started the podcast with a discussion of the impact of a member of his website team, Cindy King, who died last week.
He then asked: What are you doing to make a difference in people’s lives?
Michael’s discovery of the week: It’s the small things that make a difference. It’s the small things people remember.
The interview with Lewis Howes on How to Turn Your Podcast into a Money-Making Book begins at the 8-minute mark. Here is a summary of the key points made during the interview.
His key question: Where do you get most of your traffic from? And his friends told him: podcasts.
Several months into doing his podcast, he got an email from iTunes saying they wanted to feature him on their home page. That opened up a whole new audience for him.
You have to have a niche to build an audience.
But his School of Greatness podcast is much more wide open, because he didn’t want to get stuck in a niche.
It started as an interview show but now it features interviews and his thoughts in solo podcasts.
His filter on how he selects guests: Are they inspiring me in a big way? Are they good human beings? Are they helping people to change?
He started out doing one podcast a week. He then did two a week to meet demand. Now he does Monday and Wednesday podcasts along with a 5-minute Friday inspiration.
When he had Tony Robbins on his podcasts, activity went from 300,000 downloads a month to 650,000 downloads per month.
3 keys to podcast growth: Get the right guest. Get featured on iTunes. And have your guests share the podcast via their website and social media.
Listen to the podcast above to learn more about building a successful podcast.
To create and syndicate podcasts yourself, check out these Podcasting Tools: https://bookmarketingbestsellers.com/podcasting-tools.
Getting an Agent, Selling Your Book
He discovered his book agent, Stephen Hanselman, via Tim Ferriss and a blog post. He reached out to Steve and soon Steve was telling him, “I think it’s time we do a book together.”
They worked together to write a great book proposal. And his agent booked meetings based on that proposal.
He and his agent then went to New York and took eight meetings over three days.
As he was boarding his flight back to Los Angeles, his agent called to say he had an offer from Rodale.
Now, here’s a key tip: Lewis told Steve to add $50,000 to the offer and guarantee a few other things. Within 30 minutes, Rodale came back with a firm offer.
You have to be clear how the book will serve you, serve your purpose, and serve others. How will it serve you over the long term?
Lewis’s secret sauce: Building relationships. Serving others.
The School of Greatness podcast is the way he creates more relationships. And now he can ask them to help him promote his new book.
Listen to the podcast above to learn more about selling rights to your book and marketing it.
The School of Greatness
The School of Greatness include 8 principles showcased by four sections;
Each chapter starts with a grounding for what’s to come.
The chapter then includes stories of people who have demonstrated the principle in action. Lewis also intertwines stories from his own life.
Then he includes a list of actionable exercises.
He ends with a coaching tip on how to put the principle into action.
To create and syndicate podcasts yourself, check out these Podcasting Tools: https://bookmarketingbestsellers.com/podcasting-tools.
About John Kremer
John Kremer is author of 1001 Ways to Market Your Books, the Relationships Matter Marketing program, and many other books and reports on book marketing, Internet marketing, social media, and book publicity. -- John Kremer on Book Marketing.