It’s Easy To Ask For A Click/Like/Pin, Hard To Make A Sale

With all the talk of building an audience, of growing a platform, I wanted to reflect on the leap it is to go from asking someone to “Like me on Facebook,” to “Please buy my book.” That making a purchase is a big commitment for most people, and a multistage process of pulling out your credit card, etc.

I was speaking with the owner of a small press the other day who told me about the wonderful publicity they had received around one of their books, that multiple large websites mentioned it. And that unfortunately, this didn’t translate into huge sales numbers for the book.

That there is a difference between asking someone to pin something on Pinterest, vs actually shelling out cash to buy it.

When I saw Kevin Smokler and Richard Nash each speak at a conference the other week, they both made the point of how big of a commitment it is to not just buy a book, but actually read it. Kevin calls it a “third date.”

So in this video, I discuss taking that leap, and being aware of the difference between a Like and a sale.
Thanks!
-Dan