Before The Bestseller

We are welcoming back John Strelecky who is actually our first return guest and with good reason. His episode is one of our most popular, and the man has sold over 8 million copies of his books. Originally, we talked about The Cafe On The Edge Of The World, and this time John is back to discuss another remarkable book. On this episode, we talk about The Big Five For Life, a life-changing book about leadership and a wealth of insight into our daily lives. This book continues to inspire so many people and led to its selling of over a million copies and spent an astonishing three hundred and fifty weeks as Europe's #1 Best Selling Personal Development and Leadership book. Get to know more about the book here.

My guest today is the 8th bestselling author in the world at the time of this recording.His name is Bessel van der Kolk M.D. and his book is The Body Keeps the Score.Odds are that you may have heard of this book.Originally released in September of 2014 - that’s over 7 years ago. Each year the book sells more and more and has become a global sensation, gaining fandom in eastern and western societies.The Book, The Body Keeps The Score is a defining moment for healing trauma in our society and explores the science behind the movement away from prescriptions used to  cover up symptoms, to truly resolving the trauma which plagues us.The funny thing is that the book was never meant for such a wide audience. Bessel wrote it to move the study of trauma forward within his field but it accidentally found its way into the hands of people like you and I, who are using it to see and understand trauma in a new light.A special thanks to Licia Sky who was behind the scenes in making this episode possible.For those of you listening on the day this airs, the book club launches this Friday on the 21st, for those of you interested.You can join here: https://traumaresearchfoundation.org/lp/trf-book-club/

Amy Lyle is the bestselling author of The Book of Failures and We’re All a Mess, It's Okay. Her story is completely unique from anyone else's we’ve had on the show, from how she marketed her books, to the reasons for writing them.Her book launch cost as much as a wedding, where she had over 300 people physically show up. She also isn’t afraid of getting down and dirty with optimizing the backend of her book and nailed it with her keywords & ads to keep the book selling well beyond the launch. This all kept her book #1 in the huge amazon category of humor and entertainment for over a year.She marries traditional book marketing and modern digital marketing so well and so I found her to be an incredible resource for fellow authors.We also talk about how she gets speaking engagements, TV appearances, and some mistakes she made that you can avoid.She’s also a stand up comic which makes for a very fun episode.Amy’s bookAmy’s websiteAmy’s Podcast: In the Burbs

Ed Rush is a 5 X bestselling author who knows what it’s like to have a book in the top 20 books on all of Amazon. His books have sold 10s of thousands of copies and he’s the master of converting readers into followers. But he’s not just an authorEd flew in his combat career as a decorated F-18 pilot, which included over 50 combat missions and 2 tours to Iraq. While in the Marines, Ed served as the one of the country’s leading instructors on aerial dog fighting and recently worked as a key player in the development of the new F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.He says he’s done all this despite possessing a below average intelligence and, which whether or not that’s true, everything he talks about is so actionable and accessible.With His book, The 21 Day Miracle, he knows what it takes to make Amazon happy from backend keywords to product optimization. He woke up to hundreds of organic sales from Amazon promoting his book and if I hand’t seen the sales with my own eyes I probably wouldn’t believe it so I had to ask him how he pulled that off.Ed is an implementer and has such a unique approach to getting things done. We talk about how he changes anything in 21 days. From fasting for 21 days to how he wrote the 21 day Miracle (in 21 days) its my absolute pleasure to talk with Ed Rush.Ed's Website: https://edrush.com/ The 21 Day Miracle for 99¢ 

Today's guest wrote The First 90 Days, which since its release in November of 2003, has sold    over 1.5 million copies. Mention The First 90 Days to anyone in a leadership, management, or HR role and they'll nod while saying,  “I’ve read it and annotated it with highlights, writing in the margins, and my copies filled with sticky notes.”It was on the Business Week's best-seller list for 15 months.The author, Michael Watkins, went from teaching Corporate Diplomacy at HBS to confounding a leadership development company, Genesis Advisers, where he's worked with hundreds of leaders, including those at many Fortune 200 organizations to help accelerate leadership transitions within their organization.Look on Amazon today and the book is consistently labeled a bestseller in some of the top Amazon categories, has almost 5,000 reviews, and even just a few days ago, was ranked in the top 700 books. The book's been selling for over a decade and continues to do just that.The First 90 Days has also been translated into 29+ languages, named top 100 best business books of all time by 800-CEO-Read, named the "onboarding bible" by The Economist, and was listed among Amazon’s Top Business Books to Read in a Lifetime.I'm excited to chat with Michael about how he was able to craft, not just a timely message that resonated with so many people, but one that’s lived on for going on two decades. Connect with Michael hereGet on the Genesis Advisors Newsletter hereJoin IMD's The First 90 Days Program here

Today’s guest needs no introduction but I’ll give you one anyway.Here's the hint: He’s Mr. Kindlepreneur. Not just by his own naming but by Amazon - which actually calls him that themselves.While overseas in the military, he started building websites. One of his sites, Kindlepreneur, eventually took off with hundreds of thousands of visitors each month.After hearing about the struggles of authors and reflecting on his own experiences, he built publisher rocket - a tool used by almost every self-published author and major publisher out there.If fact, I speak from experience, Publisher Rocket is integral to my own business.Dave and I talk about how he built what he did, his advice for authors in marketing a book in today’s world, and even going from solo-preneur to leading a whole team.Along the way we  also talk about his latest innovation, Atticus, which is an all-in-one writing and book formatting software.Here’s Dave Chesson of Kindlepreneur.Kindlepreneur: https://kindlepreneur.com/ Publisher Rocket: https://alexstrathdee--rocket.thrivecart.com/publisher-rocket/Atticus: https://www.atticus.io/FREE Amazon Ads Course: https://www.advancedamazonads.com/

Craig Ballantyne has written five books, including “The Perfect Day Formula: How to Own the Day and Control Your Life,” which has sold over 25,000 copies and has over 400 reviews on Amazon. His book, Unstoppable, is a WSJ bestselling book. His videos have been watched over 7 million times on YouTube.He’s built five 7-figure businesses in five different industries, including a $5.5 million/year Turbulence Training business.I wanted to ask him how he wrote books that still sell today, despite being launched years ago along with asking him about how he does so much with the same time we all have. He’s got some amazing systems that I’ve even started to apply to my own life.Get more of him on Instagram @RealCraigBallantyneGet his app on Winningstreak.io using code VXFLG2Get his books for free: https://www.craigballantyne.com/books/FREE Amazon Ads Course: www.advancedamazonads.com

Bryan is one of the most prolific writers I know. His site, https://becomeawritertoday.com/ has turned from a side passion to a full time business where his team blogs about various time management, reader-tech, and writer topics along with many helpful courses.He's written many books including the power of creativity which has over 400 reviews on Amazon.He’s also contributed to publications like Forbes, Lifehacker and Fast Company which we get into talking about how he did that.His story is one of creating something from nothing which we can all relate to and in this episode we get his exact blueprint for doing so. Bryan's podcast: https://podcast.becomeawritertoday.com/FREE Amazon Ads Course: www.advancedamazonads.com

Anna David is an all-around bada$$!She's a NYT bestselling author of 8 books (both fiction and nonfiction), a publisher, a TEDxer, a TV personality,  podcaster, and much, much more.She’s been published by the likes of Harper Collins and Simon & Schuster.She’s been on Good Morning America, written for Time Magazine, The Huffington Post, US Weekly and many others.Her podcast is one of my favorite shows. She lands $50K clients from her Instagram and in our episode we cover all of this and why your email subject lines should sound like something you’d send your mom.Anna's Podcast: https://www.legacylaunchpadpub.com/podcastInstagram Cheat Sheet & Email Sequence Templates: https://www.legacylaunchpadpub.com/alex-downloadFREE Amazon Ads Course: www.advancedamazonads.com/beforethebestseller

When you hear Chronicles of Narnia or Harry Potter, you think of the top .001% of fiction books. These are often cited as the pinnacles of success for fiction authors who build something bigger than a book, go on to become major blockbusters, and bring in billions of dollars.Today’s author is very much on his way to becoming the next Chronicles of Narnia and I could not be more excited to share his story with you.Chad's got an incredible marketing mind and has committed to his fiction series in a big way.In our chat we cover everything from how he’s increased the news-worthiness of his series by adding an educational component to it, how he literally emailed every middle school teacher across the country to speak in classrooms, and how he plans on turning the book into a major blockbuster.This episode honestly feels like a degree in book marketing. I will warn you it’s a bit of a longer episode but there was so much gold throughout it that I couldn’t help but keep it all.C. R. Stewart's Book: Britfield and the Lost CrownFREE AMAZON ADS COURSE

Hayden Crabtree is the author of Skip The Flip which, in just a year, has racked up 600+ reviews on Amazon. He’s sold thousands of copies as a first time author and uses the book to grow his 7-figure real estate business - all at the age of 25. I wanted to bring him on to talk about how he has such a high engagement rate with his readers, his omnipresence approach to online marketing, and even talk about how he’s now used his platform to launch his software company.I loved how incredibly actionable his episode was as we to talk with him about his book launch and the marketing around it.Hayden's Book: Skip The FlipHayden's Software: MyPropertyStats.comFREE AMAZON ADS COURSE

With The Bezos Letters, Steve Anderson went from being a small time entrepreneur just outside of Nashville to becoming an International bestselling author, hitting the WSJ list. Steve was just looking to put together a lead magnet to offer prospects but in doing so realized he had something much bigger on his hands. After reviewing shareholder letters from Jeff Bezos since the company went public, he uncovered in plain sight what Jeff Bezos had been planning all along and what we’ve come to know today as Amazon.It's a fantastic deep dive into how Amazon has managed to continuously take calculated risks over and over that have paid off in a big way.With such a big launch, he poured a good amount of marketing budget into it so whether you’ve got zero budget or a lot, he gives us some things to avoid spending money on when launching.It just hit 400 reviews.Steve's Book: The Bezos LettersSteve's Website: The Bezos Letters FREE AMAZON ADS COURSE

A Radical Approach to the Akashic Records has racked up over 1,000 reviews on Amazon. It’s been a bestseller on amazon for years, not just for a day or two during the launch. It was written by our guest in this chat, Melissa Feick. She breaks down the exact blueprint she used to write and market her bestselling book as a no-name self-published author. Although Melissa calls it out herself that some people find what she says to be controversial as it relates to the spiritual world, you can’t help but get to the end of the show and realize that Melissa is also a marketing genius and the results show for themselves.From her book she’s built multiple 6-figure businesses and has added thousands of subscribers to her email list directly from her book.She’s got one of the best book funnels I’ve ever seen and here she goes into the details of exactly what her book funnel looks like.Aside from business, you also can’t help but see that Melissa is incredibly purpose driven in her work and how she’s been able to take decades of experience changing the lives of her clients to create scalable products.Let’s dive in.Melissa's Book: A Radical Approach To The Akashic RecordsMelissa's Website: The Spiritual Expansion AcademyFREE AMAZON ADS COURSE

Ryan holiday and others have made their living taking what's old and making it new.A lot of time, what is old is new again. Take bell bottom jeans or bomber jackets. I love listening to how things were done 10 years ago because you’ll often find things that no ones doing now.That’s why I wanted to bring on WSJ bestselling author Jon Spoelstra. Who’s got a long history of being a successful author not just 20 years ago but now as well.Jon worked as a National Basketball Association executive for:->Buffalo Braves->Portland Trail Blazers->Denver Nuggets->New Jersey NetsWhile at the Nets he became famous for a stunt he pulled where he sent physical rubber chickens to fans to get them to renew their season tickets.Mark Cuban wrote the forward to this book which we get into how that came about.He also happens to be the father of Erik Spoelstra, head coach of the Miami heatLet’s jump into it with Jon.Jon's Book: Marketing OutrageouslyFREE AMAZON ADS COURSE

Jesse is a younger version of Richard Branson. He's also built and sold a record company along with a dozen other entrepreneurial pursuits. He comes across as one of the most low-key guys but he also speaks mandarin, was a bestseller in Asia, with his publishing company he’s behind some of the biggest book launches and now he’s just launched a software company that could rival Amazon and completely change how self publishing is done.In our chat we talk about his own journey as a bestselleling author, we talk details on exactly what he did to produce some of the biggest book launches, and then we go on to talk about how he’s completely changing how self-publishing is done, allowing authors to make money virtually through the resale of their own digital-copy books.Jesse's NFT PlatformJesse's Book: Lifestyle EntrepreneurJesse's publishing company: Lifestyle Entrepreneurs PressFREE AMAZON ADS COURSE

Today’s guest is one of my favorite people in self-publishing. He’s a great friend and mentor of mine and is one of the most innovative people I know when it comes to implementing new strategies and technologies.Brian went from living below the poverty line to being a 6-figure author of both fiction and nonfiction books.After making it as a fiction author, he then went on to teach and write non-fiction books to help fellow authors make money from their work.His books all have hundreds of reviews on Amazon. He’s got a Mastering Amazon Ads Facebook group with over 10,000 membersIn our episode he talks about how he found his fiction niche and grew his audience in a way that you can replicate, we talk about how he’s become the master of copy and how he got my book to convert at 1 sale for every 6 clicks. We also talk about how he’s build one of the most loyal followings of authors in self publishing.Stay tuned to the end where Brian talks about how he was table to rank is book in the top 500 of all of amazon for 10 days straight, 5 years after he launched it.Brian's Book: Mastering Amazon DescriptionsFREE AMAZON ADS COURSE

Today, we’ve got a very special guest. I feel so fortunate to know him because he just gives, gives, and gives. Money aside, I think he runs one of the most integral businesses and just really leads with compassion and thoughtfulness for the people he works with.He’s helped thousands of business owners around the world create better marketing.In 2019, Mike launched Bite Sized Books, a publishing venture founded on his proven formula for creating short, helpful books (known as shooks) for Main Street business owners.Mike recently published, The 100-Page Book, which shows how to author, publish and leverage a shook in their business which is consistently labeled a bestseller on Amazon.He also founded software company Copy Doodles, which comes recommended by the likes of Dan Kennedy, Russel Brunson and Bill Glazer.I’m excited to chat with him because for the busy entrepreneur, who’s told they need to write a book, it’s hard for them to find the time. Mike provides a step-by-step breakdown of how an author can get that book done and the catch is that it’s less than a 100 pages. This also plays into the positive psychology of a reader who actually finishes the book.He actually walks the walk and writes them himself and sells them by the hundreds every month, years-on from his book launches. He’s got an amazing CTA strategy which is also one of the highest converting ones that I’ve seen.It’s my pleasure to introduce you to Mike Capuzzi, let’s bring him on.Mike's Podcast: The Main Street Author PodcastMike's Book: The 100-Page BookFREE AMAZON ADS COURSE

Krista Mashore has been in the top 1 % of realtors nationwide for 20 years. Krista is the author of four best selling books focusing on digital marketing and has been named Yahoo Finance’s #1 digital marketer to watch in 2021! She has been featured in Forbes, Inman News, The Wall Street Journal, NBC, Fox, and many more!  Krista recently took her new coaching business from zero to 18 million dollars in just under four years with a projection of 20 million+ by the end of this year. She is the recipient of seven Two Comma-Club Awards, and one Two Comma Club X Award. Through her coaching, teaching, speaking and training, Krista is revolutionizing the way entrepreneurs and professionals market themselves online. She offers an innovative step-by-step approach on how entrepreneurs can gain a massive digital footprint.She is one of the most creative people in how she’s leveraged her book to grow her business.Besides all the accolades Krista is one of the hardest working people I know and I’m so excited to have her on to talk about all things book marketing, her funnels do millions, she has amazing tips for entrepreneurs to stay focused over the long term, and so much more.Krista's Podcast: F.I.R.E.D. UPKrista's Client Avatar SheetKrista's Bestselling Book: Sell 100+ Homes A YearFREE Amazon Advertising Course

Today we’ve got one of the most humble entrepreneurs/authors I know. After selling 2 million-dollar tech companies early on, he spent all his money and ended up broke. From there, he’s built incredibly strong values which have built him back into the Mike Michalowicz we all know today.Mike started off his author career as The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur, who after buying 20K copies of his book personally and selling none of them - realized he needed to find another way.He finally started selling copies when the moms of the students he was speaking in front of, started to take to the book. The rest is history.He’s now gone on to write 7 bestselling books. You might have heard of Profit first which has over 5,000 reviews on Amazon and he just released Get Different, which has already sold thousands of copies so we’ll also talk about that as well.There’s so many takeaways in this show, from finding your core niche, to things to avoid spending your time on, and at the end, Mike also gives us 5 80/20 book launching tactics.Let's dive into our chat with Mike.Mike's new book: Get Different Mike's podcast: Mike Up In Your Business FREE Amazon Advertising Course

Welcome to the Before The Bestseller PodcastThis show is for book lovers and creators who want to go behind the scenes with their favorite authors to hear about how they were able to not just write a book but create a movement. How did this author write a story that would resonate with thousands of people?How did they launch their book to the top of the Amazon, WSJ, and NYT charts?Did they have a following before the book or did they build it with the book?How did they get their readers to go one step further with them, to hire them as a coach, join their masterclass, or even just subscribe to their email list?What did they do that others should not waste their time on?How were they able to bring something so passionate to life when so many of us struggle to even find our passion?How can we take what they taught us, and apply it to our own journey towards a purposeful life?These are just some of the questions you’ll be hearing from me as we dive into books like:Profit First by Mike MichalowiczThe First 90 Days with Michael WatkinsDave Chesson on how he started writing books, became the go to person on amazon book optimization, and then launched a 7/8 figure software business from itMelissa Feick who built multiple 6-figure businesses onto the back of her bookHayden Crabtree who had no following  but was financially free by the time he left college via real estate. He then built his following with his book, Skip the FlipBrian Meeks, who made 6-figures as a fiction author writing in the woodworking/guinea pig niche and is now working with another guest...Jesse Krieger who’s building powerfan.io, an NFT creation platform for creators to monetize their work and show us the next generation of publishingJon Spoelstra - sports marketing legend who had his forward written by MarK Cuban and now writes fiction booksChad Stewart who emailed every middle school teacher in the US to do a classroom visit and then also created an institute around his book to make it newsworthy. He’s just signed a movie deal.Steve Anderson who wrote The Bezos Letters, a WSJ bestselling book, that started off as just a lead magnetMike Capuzzi who coined the term shook, a genius way for business owners to have a bookKrista Mashore who’s a 2 comma award recipient from ClickFunnelsI’m only bringing on authors who've successfully published books themselves and actually make money from their publishing whether from the books or the backend so we can walk away with the exact blueprints on how they got to where they are now.One thing you’ll notice about all of these authors is that they’re hitting their potential. That’s why I do what I do, it’s why you’re listening to this, and we get to learn about how these top authors were able to build their dream life, having real impact, providing us with the exact blueprint for how they did it.This is a new show so feedback will be critical, give it to me, the good, the bad, the ugly how can I make this an even more enjoyable experience for you? How can I make it more worth your time? I know there’s a ton of places your attention could be right now so I want to make sure you know you can always count on me to give you exactly what you need, when you need it. Let me know who you’d like me to have on, let me know what questions you want me to be asking.So hit subscribe leave a review and let’s reach our full potential together. My biggest fear in life is getting to the end of my life, whenever that may be and having regret. It’s whaat makes old people grumpy, why they yell at kids making noise and having fun, I don’t want to be that old person, I don’t want you to be that old person, let’s do this. Let’s go Before The Bestseller.