Dear Pennies & Pens,
First off, I cannot believe this day has come. It’s officially been one year since ISLP released my book, #MakeUrPenLOUD: How To Be A Lifestyle Blogger! It seems like just yesterday that my agency, 8515, hosted Flavor’s Night Out.
We officially launched of ISLP and JBC at Flavor’s Night Out so it was a fabulous event! Flavor’s Night Out attendees were able to be the first to purchase #MakeUrPenLOUD as well as JBC pieces.
Since releasing #MakeUrPenLOUD and launching ISLP, life has been kinda weird. When I was writing #MakeUrPenLOUD, I thought I would gain immediate notoriety once the book was published. I also thought that the book’s profits would be enough to live off of.
However, that hasn’t happened. I’m not saying that to burst your bubble or devalue the sales I have made, I am just making it clear that being an independent author/entrepreneur is no easy task. Y’all know I will always keep it real with you.
That said, I wanted to share a few lessons I’ve learned. Maybe the lessons I’ve learned with help you or maybe not. Either way, I figured I would share them. Please see below.
Lesson 1: Having a high quality book cover is CRUCIAL. If people don’t like the way your book cover looks, you can forget about sales. In essence, if you are considering publishing a book, invest in hiring a designer or photographer who can help you create a beautiful book cover.
Lesson 2: People buy you not your company or product. If people like you, they’ll buy anything you’re selling. I’ve had people who don’t have blogs or have any real interest in blogging buy my book simply because they liked my energy, outfit, the book’s cover, etc. Cray, right?! In essence, people bought my book because they liked me not because of the quality of the book.
Lesson 3: The blogging market is completely over saturated. There are simply too many bloggers. It’s a trendy field/thing to do which makes it next to impossible to stand out.
Lesson 4: Everyone thinks they’re a blogging expert especially people who don’t blog. The amount of people who’ve told me that blogging is easy or that anyone can do it makes me want to scream and never stop. For example, I was told that blogging was easy by an engineer and doctor…like what?!
Lesson 5: People always want something for free. I’ve had people buy my book and then expect me to give them free advice afterwards…like what?! Ummm sorry dear purchasing my book doesn’t mean I am indebted to you for the rest of my life. #GetItTogether. If you want advice, hire me for a consultation.
Lesson 6: Bloggers can be shady. I’ve given my book to several different bloggers in hopes that they will write about it or post about it on social media. I’m still waiting on those posts. #ShadeThrown. But seriously, because many bloggers don’t sell original products they don’t understand the costs associated with producing, marketing, and shipping a product.
In essence, when they receive a complimentary product, they don’t understand that the business owner had to spend money to give them that product. That said, when a blogger doesn’t feature the product, it’s a complete waste of time and money. But because bloggers don’t see that side, it happens time and time again.
Lesson 7: My book has become a great sales tool to attract clients for bigger projects. In addition to being CEO of ISLP and Author of #MakeUrPenLOUD, I am also of Co-Founder of 8515, a lifestyle marketing and public relations agency. That said, I’ve had several clients purchase my book and then hire 8515 for a marketing project. In essence, my book gives people insight on what I do which makes them see me as an expert that they want to hire.
Lesson 8: Social media followers and likes do NOT equal sales. Just because people constantly like your posts or you have a certain amount of followers doesn’t mean that your product will sell. Too many people value businesses based on followers/likes and not on sales. This is totally backwards, if you are a business, you should be chasing sales not followers. That leads me to the next lesson…
Lesson 9: Focus on your conversion rate. To be clear a conversion rate is the amount of people who go from following you on social media to buying your product or service. The reason is you want to have a high conversion rate is because you want $1000 in the bank not a 1000 Instagram followers. Instagram can’t pay your rent, boo. If you have a business, what matters is the number of people who will actually buy what you’re selling.
Lesson 10: People have so much advice to give…less than 50% of these people actually know what the fuck they are talking about. Listen to what people have to say but take that shit with a grain of salt.
Pennies and Pens, do you have your own business? What are some of the lessons that you’ve learned along the way? Please share in the comments! P.S. Check out #MakeUrPenLOUD on Amazon here.
And there it is. de la Pen…All Pen Everything. With us, keeping it real never goes wrong.
