A recent voicemail transcript from a “consultant” I got about my Villains books:
(Some details redacted to protect the guilty)
Hi, I’m leaving a message for Ben Settle, author of the book Supervillains Persuasion. Hi, Ben. My name is ___. I’m a senior consultant for ____, and I’m reaching out to you because your book has the potential to be more successful in the publishing world. And you have here already 3 books for success villains.
I’m wondering, what have you done so far for this?
You have here a very impressive, number of reviews from Amazon, wondering if this was being acquired already by a traditional publisher. I mean, you have from the book one you have already 286 rating.
So that’s really, that’s a really impressive already.
So I’m here right now more on focusing to your 3rd book then which is the lowest rating among these 3 books.
So I’m wondering what have you done so far for this?
And as well as what I’ve checked here right now for this book. It was independently published by you. So if you have any marketing strategy, we can help you to enhance it. If you don’t have one, we can talk about marketing and have it settle or have this, have your book being to maximize the exposure. I know that you know that we need a structure campaign for your book that will bridge the gap of your book’s unexplored potential. Because no matter how good the story of your book here, if people doesn’t know that your book exists, it’s totally useless.
So Ben, I would like to discuss more the opportunity for your books.
If you receive this message, give me a call at____ extension number 3149. Again, ____. Extension number 3149. And I’m available for Monday to Friday 8:00 am to 4:00 pm Pacific.
Thank you and have a nice day.
I get this sort of thing sometimes.
And I always wonder how many people are dumb enough to fall for it?
I will never know.
But in this case, it was a useful.
Because it made me realize just how low the bar is for selling books — especially high-ticket books, and other offers. Including books like fiction that aren’t even “how to”, and are just pure entertainment.
Example:
Last year, I got the idea to create an offer selling my Enoch Wars: Omega Edition (all 7 novels plus a bonus 8th novel, along with appendices, etc, under one cover) for a turkey-busting $10,000.00.
Yes, my little Who-ling, ten thousand dollars.
- For a book less than .000000000000000001% of the population has ever heard of.
- From a non-famous author with a modest-sized list.
- Selling something that brings no “value” whatsoever other than pure entertainment — and even that is dependent on the person reading it, as some people have outright hated the novels.
(The books ain’t exactly Shakespeare.)
At this point, it’s perfectly reasonable for someone to ask:
“Is it really possible to sell copies of a novel for $10k a pop in this case?”
My answer:
I cannot say for sure, as I haven’t done it yet.
And even though I am changing the above plan slightly since I am doing away with the Omega edition (the Omega edition is the first 7 books, plus a bonus 8th book…. but now that I have written a 9th book that 8th bonus book will soon sell on its own, making the Omega edition obsolete)… I believe it is not only possible, but very probable.
I doubt this will matter to many people reading this.
But it seems significant since I am talking about selling high ticket offers – which is one of many profitable things my email methods can help most businesses do.
Subscription info here:
Ben Settle
