The essential course for launching your author business
IS CURRENTLY CLOSED
HELLO, I’M JAMES BLATCH
I’m the man behind Vinci Books, and you might also recognise me from the Self Publishing Show podcast and the SPS Live conference – the biggest indie author event in Europe.
A few years ago, I was asked for help by Robert Storey’s parents. Following Robert’s unfortunate death, his books – all of which were well-reviewed and had sold well in the past – were plummeting down the charts. They knew he’d want new readers to find the series, but they didn’t know how to market them properly on their own.
As someone who has always advocated authors self-publishing their work, I was hesitant to become a publisher of someone else’s books! But it seemed the only way to give Robert’s Ancient Origins series a much-needed sales injection. I had their covers redone by a professional, rewrote the blurbs to be snappier, and started running Facebook ads.
The results were incredible. I quickly grew the income from those six books from a few hundred dollars a month to five figures – all of the profit being split evenly between Robert’s parents and myself.
I repeated the process with other authors whose series had hit a slump, again with great success. I didn’t have a secret behind my sales, however – I was just following the lessons in the Self Publishing Launchpad course.
With this course,
you'll learn:
How to build an online author platform - your website, your mailing list and social media channels.
What you need to have ready pre-publication - from beautiful formatting to writing a killer blurb, mastering metadata and setting up an effective automation sequence (and much, much more).
The benefits of going exclusive with Amazon or publishing wide.
How to generate organic and paid traffic to build your mailing list and supercharge sales of your books.
How to grow an advance team who will boost your launches and get you reviews.
How to navigate all of the major eBook stores, website builders, mailing list providers and formatting services in our extensive Tech Library.
What's in Self Publishing
Launchpad?
MODULE #1
BUILD YOUR PLATFORM
We'll look at the essentials: website, mailing list, social media and how to communicate with readers.
MODULE #2
PRE-PUBLICATION
We'll show you what you need - and don't need - in the front and back of your book - and we'll show you how to format your book for all of the relevant platforms.
MODULE #3
AMAZON - OR EVERYWHERE?
We'll lay out the pros and cons of exclusivity and tell you what I would do if I was starting again.
MODULE #4
AMAZON EXCLUSIVE
We'll show you how to use the tools that Amazon makes available in exchange for exclusivity and we'll share some thoughts that will help you to optimize your book for the retailer's powerful algorithm.
MODULE #5
GOING WIDE
We'll look at a powerful model that you can deploy if you have (or will shortly have) more than one book ready to sell. And we'll look at the merchandising opportunities available at the other retailers.
MODULE #6
GENERATING TRAFFIC
We'll show you tried and tested methods of driving traffic to your page and the best tools you can deploy to turn readers into buyers and add subscribers to your mailing list.
MODULE #7
READY TO LAUNCH?
Learn launch strategies with timings and email copy for you to run with. we'll also show you how to establish an advance team - the superfans who will provide you with advice, reviews and motivation.
MODULE #8
GETTING REVIEWS
"How can I get reviews if I can't get sales? How can I get sales if I don't have reviews?" It's the ultimate chicken and egg question, and we'll show you how I answer it.
BUT THERE'S MORE!
LIBRARY
WANT A TRUSTED GUIDE?
SPECIAL AUTHOR-FOCUSED GUIDES ON:
In this section, you'll be able to find expert help on:
-
website creation using popular platforms such as Wix & Squarespace.
-
book distribution with BookFunnel.
-
setting up email marketing clients such as
MailerLite and MailChimp. -
crafting landing pages with LeadPages
and plenty more!
YOUTUBE
FACEBOOK LIVE
plus full access to SPF University with insightful and useful webinars on all things self-publishing with fresh content added on a regular basis.
What some of our students
(and bestselling authors) have to say about the course:
Maria Luiz
Romance
Launchpad has given me pretty much my entire career. It's given me my foundation. It's given me the tools I need to succeed. For me the course has been a constant helping hand. I applied every single thing that I learned and less than six months later I had tripled my salary that I made in my old job
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JM Dalgliesh
Thrillers
You cannot over-emphasise how positive Launchpad has been for me; it was an eye-opening experience. The barrier to self-publishing just disappeared overnight. After publishing my first book, I turned over $100,000 in nine months.
Imogen Clark
Literary fiction
With this course I was learning how to do all the things I knew I should be doing but couldn't do. Within six weeks of finishing my book, Amazon contacted me to offer me a 3-book deal which was a dream come true. I made that happen because of the Self Publishing Launchpad course.