044: The Journey to Becoming a Best-Selling Author: Insights from Paavan Kotini

Ever dreamt of penning a bestseller? Tune in as our latest guest, an Amazon chart-topper, spills the secrets on how they crafted a hit with their debut book and the incredible highs of authorship. Witness firsthand the trials and triumphs of a novice navigating the publishing labyrinth, and how the right guidance can turn a fledgling idea into a literary triumph. Learn how a change in title, a dive into concise writing, and strategic pre-order campaigns can make all the difference in captivating readers and climbing bestseller lists.

Our conversation takes an inspiring turn as we explore the unexpected perks of joining the author's league. From gaining instant credibility to attracting clientele, our guest reveals the profound professional impact of their literary journey. They share the buzz of bestseller success, the warmth of community support, and the anticipation of a long-term promotional odyssey. Whether you're an aspiring writer or a curious bookworm, this episode offers a rare glimpse behind the curtain of publishing success and the transformative power of the written word.

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:27

Come on. Thank you for taking the time to do this video and congratulations on achieving Amazon number one bestseller status. Congratulations on the new book. I believe correct me if I'm wrong, but this is your first book for a coming series and I just love to hear your thoughts, anything that you'd like to share, process results, insights, any outcome so far, or what you expect in the future, having gone through this process.

Speaker 2: 0:51

I got to tell you that this was an incredible journey and something that I've been wanting to do. Didn't know how to navigate, going through publication and all of that. Really appreciate what you guys have done in being able to organize and structure that in a way, and holding me accountable to that process as well too, which was so it's like project management for me, right Of me, maybe. That was great, also providing the best expertise, best practices in that space. So I remember initially I came to you guys I'm thinking my book should be called Swan Market, investing right. And then, as we went through the process, reviewing the information, we realized that for what we're trying to achieve with this book and whatnot, maybe a name change was required. Right, that was a fun exercise to be able to identify what the book name should be, but, moreover, I think just being able to put those thoughts down, get it into practice and then start to seeing things that actually happen, and just releasing it as well too, was phenomenal experience.

Speaker 2: 1:57

I'd have to say one thing that was really ingenious on your part and your team's part, paul, was. I remember when we were first talking, we had like over 45,000 words and your level of expertise saying that, pavan, they're not going to be able to read. Do you want people to buy it and just keep it on the bookshelf? Or you ask me, pavan, do you want people to actually read through the book? So then you introduced me to the short book format and that really helped narrow down the concepts and what we're trying to achieve and package it together that it's as concise as possible, easy to read. So that experience was great. And then publishing it out, it was like very thrilling. I know you and I were texting at like close to midnight, hey we hit the stars.

Speaker 2: 2:40

I think at some point it was like hey, we're at number three, we need to send out another email so we can bump it up to number two Number one, yeah, yeah, and so I think that was just a really fun experience of doing the pre-orders for people to be able to purchase the book, and the community was excited about it as well too.

Speaker 1: 2:57

Just to share a little bit on my side of your part of the Leap Resource Team. That's where we met and we're both part of this online school community related to them and so of course, we posted in there about the book and the updates and just the just the feedback and the support and all those things were really cool. Now I have to ask you very briefly I heard you on a call, I think in one of the Leap Resource Team calls, and you're giving some of your feedback and you had mentioned like people are like now reaching out to you Right now. We're in early days, right. We just published in past week or two, If there's a whole year of, I would say, promotion, but just at this very beginning stage, what are some of the unexpected results or benefits that you've got?

Speaker 2: 3:33

I didn't expect this at all. It's just a level of authority that people hold. When you've published a book, right. Then it's when you tell them that you've published a book, it's like this level of authority, whoa, that's pretty cool. And then we tell them that it's a number one bestseller, then it's like way up here.

Speaker 2: 3:49

I've had my website for about 12 years now or close to it. That's been a static page. Most of ours are individual interactions that we have so on. It's just a landing page. We never really used it for attracting clients for that. We've got spam here and there a few times, but this was the first time, after the same week as we published the book, that a few people reached out to put the request on the website. I'd like to talk to you and could you potentially look at finances from my family? This was very interesting. We've never had that happen before, right, and so I think that's an unintended consequence of just the publicity, the conversations, the dialogue and information and just the authority that this is putting on to people. You're really getting in front of people in a different way. It's great because I'm not a salesy person or I don't like to sell my services, right, but it's great when people that are in sync and in tune with what we do.

Speaker 1: 4:43

It's the ultimate filtration, because when you lead with the book one, just as you said, you get people interested and then if they take the time to read it which we strategically done within an hour, then they understand you, they get your messages and now it's like, when they show up, it's like they're excited, they're like hey, I want to work with you. I'm going to invite you back in six months or a year have you update this because just the impact is going to be really exciting. I know you have to go, so I appreciate your time. Thank you so much for everything.