October 15, 2025 • 24 mins
It’s skeletons-on-the-lawn season, but we’re talking holiday sales—because nothing is scarier than hitting December with “vibes + a coupon code.” In this episode, I break down why an AI-assisted plan is your unfair advantage this year and what actually goes into a calm, zero-chaos strategy you can stick to. (The step-by-step how happens live in my upcoming masterclass—details below.)
You’ll learn:
- Why books are still the cozy, affordable gift (even when the economy is wonky AF)
- The 6-rung Holiday Ladder: Spark → Launch → Amplify → Ship → Digital Pivot → New-Year Reset
- How to pick one seasonal win and a giftable hero offer readers actually want
- Why a real ship-by date saves your sanity—and how to pivot to all-digital after
- The only 3 KPIs worth watching (no spreadsheet monsters)
- A quick on-air prompt to craft your 20-word “perfect gift” hook in ChatGPT
Want the HOW with me as your copilot?
- AI Holiday Sales Blueprint for Authors (w/ Launch Lab GPT) — Live on Zoom
Friday, Oct 24 @ 1 PM CT, 60 minutes + replay • $37
Save your seat: https://www.authorrevolution.org/offers/2bViFmDL/checkout - Prefer all-access? Masterclass Membership — $25/mo (every class + all replays).
Join here: https://www.authorrevolution.org/offers/GFFvDBh4/checkout
Grab cocoa, open ChatGPT, and let’s sleigh your season. 🎁✨
Thank you for tuning into the Author Revolution Podcast! If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review on your favorite podcast platform. For more insights and inspiration, visit Author Revolution. Don't forget to follow us on social media for updates and exclusive content:
Go forth and start your author revolution!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:05):
Welcome to the Author Revolution Podcast.
I'm Carissa Andrews, author andyour host.
Here to help any authors likeyou master mindset, harness
manifestation, and embracecutting-edge innovation to
elevate your career.
Let's dive in.
Hey there guys, and welcome backto the Author Revolution
(00:27):
Podcast, the place wherestrategy and a dash of AI will
help you as an indie author worksmarter.
Now today we're talking aboutsomething wildly unsexy that
becomes very, very sexy when itworks.
A clear, calm, Chat GPT-assistedholiday plan for your books.
Yeah, I know, it's still spookyseason.
Skeletons are on the lawn, butthe only thing scarier than a
(00:50):
haunted house is getting toDecember with nothing but vibes
and a coupon code.
We're not doing that this year.
We're doing calm, intentional,author-CEO energy.
So here's the promise for thisepisode.
By the end, you're gonna knowwhy an AI-assisted plan is your
unfair advantage this season andwhat actually goes into one so
(01:12):
that you can stop guessing andstart showing up in a way that
feels good, works with yourbrain, and sells your books.
If you want the step-by-stephow, that's what my upcoming
masterclass is for, and I'lltell you a little bit more about
that at the end of this episode.
So why now?
Let's let's dig into thiselephant in the room, right?
The economy is wonky AF.
(01:34):
Prices are up, attention isshredded, and everyone's inbox
is a crowded party where no oneknows the host.
But the good news is books arestill the cozy, affordable gift.
They're meaningful, they'requick to wrap, and they don't
require guessing someone's shirtsize.
But here's the catch.
The authors who win are notgonna be the loudest.
(01:56):
They're the ones who show upconsistently with a clear,
giftable offer and a simpleplan.
That's it.
Not 47 moving parts, not ananxiety spreadsheet that needs
its own therapist.
It's a clear plan.
And this is where ChatGPT comesin.
If you know me, you know thatChatGPT has been instrumental in
so much that I do.
(02:17):
And the thing is here though,it's not your magic wand, but it
is an incredible thinkingpartner and copy generator that
collapses the friction between Idon't know what I should do or
say into wow, I actually havethe words.
And it helps you get unstucksuper fast.
So here's a quick story, perhapsa cautionary tale.
A couple of years ago, an indieauthor, definitely not me, okay,
(02:41):
maybe it was me, decided to wingBlack Friday, right?
There was a 99 cent sale thatwent out.
It went out the wrong days orthe wrong times.
There was a Canva graphic thatcompletely went wonky.
I don't even know what happenedthere.
As a graphic designer, you wouldthink that I would understand,
you know, the basics of how todo the graphic design, but
(03:02):
things shifted and I didn't takea close enough look at it, and
everything just was wild.
It was it was wild, right?
There was so much that didn'twork in that particular campaign
because I was frantic.
I was doing a lot of last-minutedigital pivoting, a lot of
last-minute uh get things outthe door and hope that someone
sees my books.
(03:22):
I was running ads and the adsweren't converting.
All the stuff was just not good,right?
Now I learned two things.
Number one, winging it is not apersonality trait.
It's a tax.
It makes things work in a waythat just feels like complete
disruption and dysregulation toyour nervous system during a
(03:43):
time frame when you're supposedto be enjoying your time, right?
You're supposed to be enjoyingthe holidays, you're supposed to
be enjoying your friends andfamily and not worrying about
like all the different thingsyou're trying to do to get your
book seen and out the door.
And number two, templateswithout strategy basically
equates to burnout with betterfonts because we just don't
(04:05):
understand how much goes intothese things, and we're not even
sure what's converting, what'sworking, why is it working,
what's going on at thisparticular holiday season versus
what's happening in the past,right?
So we're not gonna do that tofuture you.
We're gonna create somethinginstead that is going to help
you have a calm holiday planthat actually includes what to
(04:29):
do.
So that everything that kind ofcomes up throughout the holidays
is step-by-step plan oriented,but yet also created in a way
that makes you feel good.
So think of your plan like asimple holiday ladder.
Yeah?
It's six rungs, easy to climb.
So rung one is one seasonal win.
(04:49):
I want you to think aboutpicking a single win that you
can measure units, revenue, orlist growth, just one thing,
because clarity is kindness.
And when you pick one thing,your brain knows exactly what to
optimize and what to look for.
If you followed me in the past,we've talked about the reticular
activating system.
Well, that's its job during thiswhole thing.
We're looking for the evidenceof that one seasonal win.
(05:14):
So that we're not spreadingourselves out across all the
different things thathypothetically you could be
doing throughout a campaign andinstead focusing on one win that
can help us feel good about whatwe've accomplished.
Rung two then would be to createa giftable hero offer.
Not 10 offers, just one offerthat readers actually want.
So it could be a signed bundle,a digital box set, an audio
(05:38):
treat, um a gift the series to afriend sort of thing with a
printable card.
I don't know.
If you sell physical books,consider maybe a small upgrade,
like a bookmark or sticker ormini print thing that goes along
with it to make it feel likeit's already gift ready during
the holiday season.
Rung three would then becreating a six-week map.
(06:01):
You know how much I love thesix-week situations when it
comes to rapid releasing andgetting your books written out.
But here's how it kind of worksin the realms of like a
promotion aspect for the holidayseason.
You're gonna have the arc thatstarts with spark, launch,
amplify, ship, pivot to digital,and then the new year reset.
(06:25):
So let me explain what I mean bythese six steps, right?
The six different aspects of thearc.
So, spark, you're gonna warm upyour audience, you're gonna
tease the vibe and collect theirwish lists, okay?
Two, you're gonna launch.
You're gonna launch your mainoffer window, usually around the
Black Friday Cyber Mondaytimeframe.
(06:46):
So that's why we're gonna belooking at six weeks, right?
You don't, it could be just alittle bit before Black Friday,
Cyber Monday, could be just alittle after or right during.
But just think about like yourmain offer window that you're
gonna be really pushing outduring that time frame.
Amplify is gonna be all aboutthe social proof, reader picks,
uh, you know, saying stuff likeperfect for fans of, that type
(07:08):
of thing.
Then you're gonna ship.
So if you're doing physicalcopies, you've got to have a
last ship date, front andcenter, where it says, you know,
order by.
Not only does it help them knowthat they can still get their
books in time, but it's alsogonna save your sanity as well,
right?
Once that time frame is passed,then you have to pivot to
(07:28):
digital, okay?
So once those shipping datesclose, we swing into audiobooks,
box sets that are digital, giftcards, pre-orders for new books,
zero postage, zero panic.
It's all about making sure thatthey know, you know, what other
things can they actually accessand how do they gift it to
someone else or gift it tothemselves.
Then the new year reset.
(07:50):
This is a gentle refresh, justsaying something like start your
year with X.
So you're not a confettihangover come January 1st.
You're wanting it to be more oflike, hey, you have money from
the holidays, it's time to startsomething brand new, get into a
cool new vibe, here you go.
Now, rung four is having thatreal ship by date.
(08:11):
So, in order to make everythingwe just said work, you have to
know exactly when this is comingout.
So, this is not about vibes, notwhen Mercury chills.
It's a date when you canactually meet within the margin
and make sure that they get iton time.
So you want to make sure thatyou say it everywhere on your
website, on your uh email list,uh, everything, newsletters, all
(08:34):
the things that are going out,you want to make sure it's front
and center.
Now, rung five of the ladder isthat digital only plan.
Shipping closes, no problem.
You you pivot to that digitalaudio sets or the digital um box
sets, gift cards, pre-orders, orlike even a seven-day New Year,
New World uh backlist push.
You're you're not done.
(08:54):
You're just switching tracks,right?
And then rung six would be threeKPIs max.
So these are your keyperformance metrics, right?
You're the things that you'regonna be looking for that really
help you know whether or not youare accomplishing what you want.
So you're gonna pick three.
So maybe it's orders like numberof orders or number of books
(09:14):
moved.
It could be click-through rates,it could be revenue per send if
you're if you're still doingads, right?
That's enough to know whatworked without building a
spreadsheet monster that's gonnaeat your week.
Now, that's the what.
Notice I didn't say post on 14platforms or build a 90-page
funnel.
We're simplifying to win, okay?
(09:36):
So here's why ChatGPT gives youan AI edge.
What derails most authors duringthis timeframe is it's not about
strategy, it's about copy.
So you know your offer, right?
Finding three subject lines and10 post angles can feel like
waiting through molasses,especially when you're trying to
do a lot of other things.
(09:56):
If you have books going on, ifyou're in nanoRIMO, whatever is
happening during this timeframe, um, perhaps you're going
to Author Nation, there'sthere's a lot that can be going
on.
And so when you're doing that,ChatGPT can turn all of this
work into a five-minute sprint.
It doesn't need to be some crazything that you have to figure
out, you know, the copywritingangle for it.
(10:17):
So if you need like a 20-wordgift hook for your website
banner, ChatGPT.
Need three uh Black Friday CyberMonday emails that don't sound
like a RoboMall, Chat GPT.
Need 10 social starters thatdon't make you yawn, chat GPT.
Need alt wording for the samemessage across all channels,
ChatGBT.
And now if you happen to haveaccess to my Launch Lab GPT from
(10:41):
July's masterclass, it bakes inthe strategy so that you can
paste one kickoff, you know,like your books and dates, and
it guides the build in a veryclean order.
So if you don't have it, noworries.
That this holiday prompt packmirrors the same flow that I'm
gonna be teaching in thismasterclass this month.
And it's gonna mirror the sameflow in regular Chat GPT.
(11:02):
So that way we can do this freeplan friendly and not worry
about having to, you know,relearn something new.
But if you have taken the LaunchLab Masterclass, the custom GPT
that I built for you here isgonna really help you to dig a
little bit deeper, especially ifyou've been playing around with
it and understands your booksand everything that you're
trying to do, right?
(11:22):
Here's what I want I want you todo right now.
We're gonna do a quick on-airexercise.
So take a second, pause thisrecording, grab a pen and a
piece of paper.
Okay?
And when you're ready, I wantyou to come back.
This is how we're gonna makethis real for you, so that you
can understand what I'm talkingabout.
If you can pause me for 60seconds after you hear this, I
(11:43):
want you to jot down youranswers.
What is your seasonal win?
What will it look like?
Write it down.
What is your hero offer gonna doduring this time frame?
Write it down.
What is your ship by date?
Like when is your last ship datefor any physical copies of
anything?
(12:03):
Figure that one out.
Okay.
Now that you have that, openChat GPT and try this.
I want you to write this promptword for word.
Write one punchy sentence thatmakes whatever your book name is
or series name is the perfectgift for fans of.
And then you write out your compauthor or your genre that you're
(12:23):
kinda trying to keep it all in,right?
Keep it under 20 words and endwith a clear benefit.
Give me five options.
Chat GPT is gonna go ahead andcreate this whole thing for you,
and then you're gonna pick yourfavorite line, and that's your
seasonal hook, okay?
Pin it on your site, your socialbanner, and on the top of your
email.
(12:44):
Because even that tiny actionlifts clarity so that your
readers know exactly what to beexpecting from you this holiday
season.
So if you've gotten to thispoint and you're like, okay, uh,
this gives me a little bit ofanxiety.
I don't know if this is theright vibe for me.
I don't know if I'm gonna beable to manage the whole holiday
(13:05):
season and not lose my mind.
I have a few myths that I wantto kind of walk through because
I think all of us have at somepoint or another gone through
this kind of thing with ourbooks, with what we're trying to
accomplish, right?
So myth number one here is Idon't have time.
You don't have time not to,okay?
A one-hour plan saves you 10hours of flailing.
(13:28):
And when you access ChatGPT,what used to take hours,
sometimes days, to figure outcan literally take minutes.
So when you're looking at yourbooks and getting out there and
having a plan to get yourreadership engaged, you know, I
don't have time really isn't thevibe.
The vibe is how can I do this bymaximizing my time and still
(13:52):
have time for myself and myfamily?
Now I get it.
Like I want my own time too.
I want to be able to chill out,I want to be able to enjoy, you
know, wrapping presents andChristmas caroling and Christmas
lights and visiting family.
That's cool.
And so that's why Chat GPT makesit so much easier for us to
handle, get it out the door, andeven schedule it and forget it,
(14:13):
to be perfectly honest.
Okay, now myth number two.
I'm bad at marketing, so this isnot gonna work for me.
You might be bad at doing italone.
That's the truth, right?
But with a simple framework andChatGPT, you're just answering
questions and picking favorites.
That's not marketing, that'sdecision making.
And ChatGPT is gonna help youdiscover and uncover the right
(14:38):
plan from start to finish.
There are so many times when I'mlearned something new about the
marketing spectrum for my booksthat even I wasn't thinking of,
especially when I've askedChatGPT for help, thinking
outside the box when it comes toindie author marketing.
And as some of you know, ifyou've been listening for a
while, you know that I'm notrunning ads because reasons, and
(14:59):
I'm not gonna, I'm not gonnajoin on that bad way again just
because it's the holidays.
So I have to look at thingsoutside of that kind of norm and
see how can I lift my own booksin a way that is more organic,
but yet does the job, right?
There's a lot of things that wesay that we're bad at when and
(15:20):
honestly, when we implement thetools and the strategies and the
tips and tricks from ChatGBT,that's just an excuse because
chat can help you do just aboutanything.
Myth number three is that mylist is small, so it won't
matter.
Look, I get that too.
Small lists respond beautifully,though, to clear offers from a
(15:41):
human that they already like.
So a plan like this multipliesyour consistency and consistency
compounds.
So when you have the plan mappedout, when you know what you're
supposed to be talking about,how you're gonna make it clear,
how you can communicate to yourreaders in whatever platform you
are sharing this informationwith, not only is it gonna be
(16:02):
easy for them to say yes, butit's also going to be easy for
you to just go ahead andimplement the strategies that
need to be done.
And now, myth number four is Idon't ship paperbacks.
Great, that's perfectly fine.
Digital only can be your wholestrategy.
So audio bundles, those digitalbox sets, gift cards,
(16:24):
pre-orders, all that stuff isperfect because there's no
postage and no panic.
You can even create simpledigital assets, you know, to
really kind of amp it up thatyour readers can get.
It can be part of your umautomation onboarding strategy
where they get some otherbonuses for doing it during the
holiday season.
(16:45):
Super fun stuff that you can dothat they don't get at any other
time of the year.
Okay, so in my masterclasscoming up on Friday, the 24th of
October, it's called AI HolidaySales Blueprint for Authors with
Launch Lab GPT.
We're gonna be picking that oneseasonal win that you can
actually measure.
We're gonna lock in thatgiftable hero offer that we were
(17:07):
talking about earlier so thatyou know your readers are gonna
want it.
It's gonna be awesome.
We'll map your six-week ladderwith daily themes that you can
actually stick to.
We will set a real ship by dateand your digital pivot.
Or if you're just gonna bedigital, that's perfectly fine
too.
We'll decide on that.
And then with ChatGPT, we'llgenerate paste ready words, your
(17:28):
Black Friday, Cyber Monday,email, trio, and a bank of
social starters to get yougoing.
You're gonna have two tracks tobe able to choose from.
So if you have Launch Lab GPT,we'll be running the holiday
kickoff inside it for speed andfor clarity because the Launch
Lab GPT understands the strategythat I've built around launching
(17:49):
in general.
And so it's gonna understandlike how to do this for us.
And if not, then the holidayprompt pack that is gonna be
going along with it.
It's PDF that has all thisstuff, um, it's gonna mirror the
exact workflow in regular ChatGPT.
What you're gonna be doing isleaving with clarity, dates, and
copy that you can start to wrapyour head around, really get
(18:10):
your mindset on board.
Because remember, this isn'tabout just ideas, it's about
assets.
And when you're committed tosomething, when you've created
the strategy and the plan andyou're committed to it, it
becomes a hell of a lot easierto actually create the thing
that you want and take action.
And when you look at it from abroader perspective, right?
(18:32):
Even if your holiday plandoesn't go like gangbusters,
like the way that most of usreally want, doing something is
still better than doing nothingbecause it, number one, it keeps
you in top of mind to yourreaders.
So maybe they won't get anythingduring the holiday season, but
they do once they have moneyafter they get their presence.
Like there's all sorts of waysthat your touch points are going
(18:54):
to impact your readers and bringyou back to top of mind.
So it's it's about creating thebuzz, creating the awareness,
and allowing your readers tomake decisions when they're
ready.
So here's a couple of questionsthat I want to answer before we
end this podcast episode becauseI think it's going to be helpful
for those who are new to ChatGPT and those who are maybe
(19:17):
struggling with the idea ofpromoing your backlist or your
books during the holiday seasonbecause maybe it hasn't worked
out in the past, or maybe youhaven't done anything in the
past and you're not sure whereto start.
So the first uh frequently askedquestion that I get is like,
what if I'm brand new toChatGPT?
That's totally perfect.
I teach prompts like trainingwheels.
(19:38):
Then we take them off.
We start to learn how to askquestions of ChatGPT in a way
where it understands us andwe're able to communicate, you
know, exactly what we're lookingfor.
And so don't worry about that.
I will help you out in every waypossible.
Another question I get is I'mneurodivergent and I burn out
easily.
So same.
(19:58):
We work in short, batchablechunks.
That's why ChatGPT is sohelpful.
We're here to create those dailythemes, reduce decision fatigue,
and know exactly what we have todo in order to maintain the
clarity that our readers need.
So if burning out is somethingthat you're concerned about,
that's the whole reason whywe're gonna create this to be as
easy for us as possible.
(20:19):
And we can even build that intothe strategy as we build on our
um prompts and the things thatwe're gonna be doing in the
masterclass so that it knows howto develop and create the plan
so that we don't burn out.
Okay.
What if I can't attend live?
That's another question I get alot.
The replays are always included.
So you can watch with Coco andpause as needed, go back and
(20:43):
re-watch something if it didn'tmake sense.
It's all gonna be available andas well as the PDF with all of
the prompt information as well,will always be included.
And if you're a part of myAuthor Revolution masterclass
membership, that always goes upin the same place as well.
So just keep in mind that mysingle masterclasses have to be
hosted on YouTube becauseKajabi, my course place, it
(21:06):
doesn't allow me to do single uhmasterclasses right there.
So that always gets hosted overon YouTube and you get your PDF
through email where over at themasterclass membership, you get
everything inside of Kajabi.
It's all hosted in one spot andit's easy to find.
Okay, so is this just for newreleases?
Nope.
Backlists love the holidays.
(21:27):
So think gift the series bundlesor audio bundles or digital
boxes.
Like think about ways that youcan gift it or make it more
special.
And it's perfect because you'vedone the hard work, you've done
the heavy lifting of creatingthe series.
You're gonna know the vibe andyou're gonna be able to, you
know, bundle it up in a way thatreally hits home and makes it
(21:48):
more exciting.
Will I need to pay for ads?
Like I already mentioned, no.
We're gonna be focusing on yourlist and organic channels.
If you do ads, that's fine.
This plan gives them somethingsolid to point at.
And you can always use ChatGPTor the Launch Lab GPT to be able
to help you develop your adstrategy as well.
(22:10):
So here's that micro plan fortoday.
I want you to do these threethings if you haven't paused the
episode and done them already.
I want you to pick that firstwin, right?
Pick your one win, whether it'sunits sold, books sold, um,
sales sold, whatever, uh revenuegrowth, or list growth.
Number two, I want you to pickyour offer, and then number
(22:33):
three, I want you to decide yourship by date so that we can meet
within the margin.
And that's it.
You're already ahead of 90% ofauthors who will try to vibe
their way through November.
Now, if you want thestep-by-step how, with me as
your co-pilot and of courseChatGPT as your co-pilot, come
to the live masterclass.
So AI holiday sales blueprintfor authors is gonna be
(22:57):
happening on Friday, October24th at 1 p.m.
Central Time on Zoom.
It is$37.
Replay is included, and all youhave to do is head over to
authorevolution.org.
It's gonna be right there on thehomepage.
Check it out.
If you prefer all access toeverything, grab the masterclass
membership for just$25 a month.
(23:18):
It's the only container whereevery masterclass, like I said,
lives in one cozy portal.
You can find that by headingover to authorevolution.org
forward slash store, and youcan, you know, access everything
that I'm doing right there.
So let's make this the seasonyou sell with ease, not
adrenaline.
Books are still, even in thiseconomy, the most magical,
(23:39):
affordable gift.
With a simple plan and a littlehelp from ChatGPT, you can show
up like the pro you are, with aclear offer, steady presence,
cozy energy, and zero chaos.
I'll bring the framework, youbring the cocoa.
Now go forth and start yourauthor revolution.
Welcome to the Author Revolution Podcast.
I'm Carissa Andrews, author andyour host.
Here to help any authors likeyou master mindset, harness
manifestation, and embracecutting-edge innovation to
elevate your career.
Let's dive in.
Hey there guys, and welcome backto the Author Revolution
(00:27):
Podcast, the place wherestrategy and a dash of AI will
help you as an indie author worksmarter.
Now today we're talking aboutsomething wildly unsexy that
becomes very, very sexy when itworks.
A clear, calm, Chat GPT-assistedholiday plan for your books.
Yeah, I know, it's still spookyseason.
Skeletons are on the lawn, butthe only thing scarier than a
(00:50):
haunted house is getting toDecember with nothing but vibes
and a coupon code.
We're not doing that this year.
We're doing calm, intentional,author-CEO energy.
So here's the promise for thisepisode.
By the end, you're gonna knowwhy an AI-assisted plan is your
unfair advantage this season andwhat actually goes into one so
(01:12):
that you can stop guessing andstart showing up in a way that
feels good, works with yourbrain, and sells your books.
If you want the step-by-stephow, that's what my upcoming
masterclass is for, and I'lltell you a little bit more about
that at the end of this episode.
So why now?
Let's let's dig into thiselephant in the room, right?
The economy is wonky AF.
(01:34):
Prices are up, attention isshredded, and everyone's inbox
is a crowded party where no oneknows the host.
But the good news is books arestill the cozy, affordable gift.
They're meaningful, they'requick to wrap, and they don't
require guessing someone's shirtsize.
But here's the catch.
The authors who win are notgonna be the loudest.
(01:56):
They're the ones who show upconsistently with a clear,
giftable offer and a simpleplan.
That's it.
Not 47 moving parts, not ananxiety spreadsheet that needs
its own therapist.
It's a clear plan.
And this is where ChatGPT comesin.
If you know me, you know thatChatGPT has been instrumental in
so much that I do.
(02:17):
And the thing is here though,it's not your magic wand, but it
is an incredible thinkingpartner and copy generator that
collapses the friction between Idon't know what I should do or
say into wow, I actually havethe words.
And it helps you get unstucksuper fast.
So here's a quick story, perhapsa cautionary tale.
A couple of years ago, an indieauthor, definitely not me, okay,
(02:41):
maybe it was me, decided to wingBlack Friday, right?
There was a 99 cent sale thatwent out.
It went out the wrong days orthe wrong times.
There was a Canva graphic thatcompletely went wonky.
I don't even know what happenedthere.
As a graphic designer, you wouldthink that I would understand,
you know, the basics of how todo the graphic design, but
(03:02):
things shifted and I didn't takea close enough look at it, and
everything just was wild.
It was it was wild, right?
There was so much that didn'twork in that particular campaign
because I was frantic.
I was doing a lot of last-minutedigital pivoting, a lot of
last-minute uh get things outthe door and hope that someone
sees my books.
(03:22):
I was running ads and the adsweren't converting.
All the stuff was just not good,right?
Now I learned two things.
Number one, winging it is not apersonality trait.
It's a tax.
It makes things work in a waythat just feels like complete
disruption and dysregulation toyour nervous system during a
(03:43):
time frame when you're supposedto be enjoying your time, right?
You're supposed to be enjoyingthe holidays, you're supposed to
be enjoying your friends andfamily and not worrying about
like all the different thingsyou're trying to do to get your
book seen and out the door.
And number two, templateswithout strategy basically
equates to burnout with betterfonts because we just don't
(04:05):
understand how much goes intothese things, and we're not even
sure what's converting, what'sworking, why is it working,
what's going on at thisparticular holiday season versus
what's happening in the past,right?
So we're not gonna do that tofuture you.
We're gonna create somethinginstead that is going to help
you have a calm holiday planthat actually includes what to
(04:29):
do.
So that everything that kind ofcomes up throughout the holidays
is step-by-step plan oriented,but yet also created in a way
that makes you feel good.
So think of your plan like asimple holiday ladder.
Yeah?
It's six rungs, easy to climb.
So rung one is one seasonal win.
(04:49):
I want you to think aboutpicking a single win that you
can measure units, revenue, orlist growth, just one thing,
because clarity is kindness.
And when you pick one thing,your brain knows exactly what to
optimize and what to look for.
If you followed me in the past,we've talked about the reticular
activating system.
Well, that's its job during thiswhole thing.
We're looking for the evidenceof that one seasonal win.
(05:14):
So that we're not spreadingourselves out across all the
different things thathypothetically you could be
doing throughout a campaign andinstead focusing on one win that
can help us feel good about whatwe've accomplished.
Rung two then would be to createa giftable hero offer.
Not 10 offers, just one offerthat readers actually want.
So it could be a signed bundle,a digital box set, an audio
(05:38):
treat, um a gift the series to afriend sort of thing with a
printable card.
I don't know.
If you sell physical books,consider maybe a small upgrade,
like a bookmark or sticker ormini print thing that goes along
with it to make it feel likeit's already gift ready during
the holiday season.
Rung three would then becreating a six-week map.
(06:01):
You know how much I love thesix-week situations when it
comes to rapid releasing andgetting your books written out.
But here's how it kind of worksin the realms of like a
promotion aspect for the holidayseason.
You're gonna have the arc thatstarts with spark, launch,
amplify, ship, pivot to digital,and then the new year reset.
(06:25):
So let me explain what I mean bythese six steps, right?
The six different aspects of thearc.
So, spark, you're gonna warm upyour audience, you're gonna
tease the vibe and collect theirwish lists, okay?
Two, you're gonna launch.
You're gonna launch your mainoffer window, usually around the
Black Friday Cyber Mondaytimeframe.
(06:46):
So that's why we're gonna belooking at six weeks, right?
You don't, it could be just alittle bit before Black Friday,
Cyber Monday, could be just alittle after or right during.
But just think about like yourmain offer window that you're
gonna be really pushing outduring that time frame.
Amplify is gonna be all aboutthe social proof, reader picks,
uh, you know, saying stuff likeperfect for fans of, that type
(07:08):
of thing.
Then you're gonna ship.
So if you're doing physicalcopies, you've got to have a
last ship date, front andcenter, where it says, you know,
order by.
Not only does it help them knowthat they can still get their
books in time, but it's alsogonna save your sanity as well,
right?
Once that time frame is passed,then you have to pivot to
(07:28):
digital, okay?
So once those shipping datesclose, we swing into audiobooks,
box sets that are digital, giftcards, pre-orders for new books,
zero postage, zero panic.
It's all about making sure thatthey know, you know, what other
things can they actually accessand how do they gift it to
someone else or gift it tothemselves.
Then the new year reset.
(07:50):
This is a gentle refresh, justsaying something like start your
year with X.
So you're not a confettihangover come January 1st.
You're wanting it to be more oflike, hey, you have money from
the holidays, it's time to startsomething brand new, get into a
cool new vibe, here you go.
Now, rung four is having thatreal ship by date.
(08:11):
So, in order to make everythingwe just said work, you have to
know exactly when this is comingout.
So, this is not about vibes, notwhen Mercury chills.
It's a date when you canactually meet within the margin
and make sure that they get iton time.
So you want to make sure thatyou say it everywhere on your
website, on your uh email list,uh, everything, newsletters, all
(08:34):
the things that are going out,you want to make sure it's front
and center.
Now, rung five of the ladder isthat digital only plan.
Shipping closes, no problem.
You you pivot to that digitalaudio sets or the digital um box
sets, gift cards, pre-orders, orlike even a seven-day New Year,
New World uh backlist push.
You're you're not done.
(08:54):
You're just switching tracks,right?
And then rung six would be threeKPIs max.
So these are your keyperformance metrics, right?
You're the things that you'regonna be looking for that really
help you know whether or not youare accomplishing what you want.
So you're gonna pick three.
So maybe it's orders like numberof orders or number of books
(09:14):
moved.
It could be click-through rates,it could be revenue per send if
you're if you're still doingads, right?
That's enough to know whatworked without building a
spreadsheet monster that's gonnaeat your week.
Now, that's the what.
Notice I didn't say post on 14platforms or build a 90-page
funnel.
We're simplifying to win, okay?
(09:36):
So here's why ChatGPT gives youan AI edge.
What derails most authors duringthis timeframe is it's not about
strategy, it's about copy.
So you know your offer, right?
Finding three subject lines and10 post angles can feel like
waiting through molasses,especially when you're trying to
do a lot of other things.
(09:56):
If you have books going on, ifyou're in nanoRIMO, whatever is
happening during this timeframe, um, perhaps you're going
to Author Nation, there'sthere's a lot that can be going
on.
And so when you're doing that,ChatGPT can turn all of this
work into a five-minute sprint.
It doesn't need to be some crazything that you have to figure
out, you know, the copywritingangle for it.
(10:17):
So if you need like a 20-wordgift hook for your website
banner, ChatGPT.
Need three uh Black Friday CyberMonday emails that don't sound
like a RoboMall, Chat GPT.
Need 10 social starters thatdon't make you yawn, chat GPT.
Need alt wording for the samemessage across all channels,
ChatGBT.
And now if you happen to haveaccess to my Launch Lab GPT from
(10:41):
July's masterclass, it bakes inthe strategy so that you can
paste one kickoff, you know,like your books and dates, and
it guides the build in a veryclean order.
So if you don't have it, noworries.
That this holiday prompt packmirrors the same flow that I'm
gonna be teaching in thismasterclass this month.
And it's gonna mirror the sameflow in regular Chat GPT.
(11:02):
So that way we can do this freeplan friendly and not worry
about having to, you know,relearn something new.
But if you have taken the LaunchLab Masterclass, the custom GPT
that I built for you here isgonna really help you to dig a
little bit deeper, especially ifyou've been playing around with
it and understands your booksand everything that you're
trying to do, right?
(11:22):
Here's what I want I want you todo right now.
We're gonna do a quick on-airexercise.
So take a second, pause thisrecording, grab a pen and a
piece of paper.
Okay?
And when you're ready, I wantyou to come back.
This is how we're gonna makethis real for you, so that you
can understand what I'm talkingabout.
If you can pause me for 60seconds after you hear this, I
(11:43):
want you to jot down youranswers.
What is your seasonal win?
What will it look like?
Write it down.
What is your hero offer gonna doduring this time frame?
Write it down.
What is your ship by date?
Like when is your last ship datefor any physical copies of
anything?
(12:03):
Figure that one out.
Okay.
Now that you have that, openChat GPT and try this.
I want you to write this promptword for word.
Write one punchy sentence thatmakes whatever your book name is
or series name is the perfectgift for fans of.
And then you write out your compauthor or your genre that you're
(12:23):
kinda trying to keep it all in,right?
Keep it under 20 words and endwith a clear benefit.
Give me five options.
Chat GPT is gonna go ahead andcreate this whole thing for you,
and then you're gonna pick yourfavorite line, and that's your
seasonal hook, okay?
Pin it on your site, your socialbanner, and on the top of your
email.
(12:44):
Because even that tiny actionlifts clarity so that your
readers know exactly what to beexpecting from you this holiday
season.
So if you've gotten to thispoint and you're like, okay, uh,
this gives me a little bit ofanxiety.
I don't know if this is theright vibe for me.
I don't know if I'm gonna beable to manage the whole holiday
(13:05):
season and not lose my mind.
I have a few myths that I wantto kind of walk through because
I think all of us have at somepoint or another gone through
this kind of thing with ourbooks, with what we're trying to
accomplish, right?
So myth number one here is Idon't have time.
You don't have time not to,okay?
A one-hour plan saves you 10hours of flailing.
(13:28):
And when you access ChatGPT,what used to take hours,
sometimes days, to figure outcan literally take minutes.
So when you're looking at yourbooks and getting out there and
having a plan to get yourreadership engaged, you know, I
don't have time really isn't thevibe.
The vibe is how can I do this bymaximizing my time and still
(13:52):
have time for myself and myfamily?
Now I get it.
Like I want my own time too.
I want to be able to chill out,I want to be able to enjoy, you
know, wrapping presents andChristmas caroling and Christmas
lights and visiting family.
That's cool.
And so that's why Chat GPT makesit so much easier for us to
handle, get it out the door, andeven schedule it and forget it,
(14:13):
to be perfectly honest.
Okay, now myth number two.
I'm bad at marketing, so this isnot gonna work for me.
You might be bad at doing italone.
That's the truth, right?
But with a simple framework andChatGPT, you're just answering
questions and picking favorites.
That's not marketing, that'sdecision making.
And ChatGPT is gonna help youdiscover and uncover the right
(14:38):
plan from start to finish.
There are so many times when I'mlearned something new about the
marketing spectrum for my booksthat even I wasn't thinking of,
especially when I've askedChatGPT for help, thinking
outside the box when it comes toindie author marketing.
And as some of you know, ifyou've been listening for a
while, you know that I'm notrunning ads because reasons, and
(14:59):
I'm not gonna, I'm not gonnajoin on that bad way again just
because it's the holidays.
So I have to look at thingsoutside of that kind of norm and
see how can I lift my own booksin a way that is more organic,
but yet does the job, right?
There's a lot of things that wesay that we're bad at when and
(15:20):
honestly, when we implement thetools and the strategies and the
tips and tricks from ChatGBT,that's just an excuse because
chat can help you do just aboutanything.
Myth number three is that mylist is small, so it won't
matter.
Look, I get that too.
Small lists respond beautifully,though, to clear offers from a
(15:41):
human that they already like.
So a plan like this multipliesyour consistency and consistency
compounds.
So when you have the plan mappedout, when you know what you're
supposed to be talking about,how you're gonna make it clear,
how you can communicate to yourreaders in whatever platform you
are sharing this informationwith, not only is it gonna be
(16:02):
easy for them to say yes, butit's also going to be easy for
you to just go ahead andimplement the strategies that
need to be done.
And now, myth number four is Idon't ship paperbacks.
Great, that's perfectly fine.
Digital only can be your wholestrategy.
So audio bundles, those digitalbox sets, gift cards,
(16:24):
pre-orders, all that stuff isperfect because there's no
postage and no panic.
You can even create simpledigital assets, you know, to
really kind of amp it up thatyour readers can get.
It can be part of your umautomation onboarding strategy
where they get some otherbonuses for doing it during the
holiday season.
(16:45):
Super fun stuff that you can dothat they don't get at any other
time of the year.
Okay, so in my masterclasscoming up on Friday, the 24th of
October, it's called AI HolidaySales Blueprint for Authors with
Launch Lab GPT.
We're gonna be picking that oneseasonal win that you can
actually measure.
We're gonna lock in thatgiftable hero offer that we were
(17:07):
talking about earlier so thatyou know your readers are gonna
want it.
It's gonna be awesome.
We'll map your six-week ladderwith daily themes that you can
actually stick to.
We will set a real ship by dateand your digital pivot.
Or if you're just gonna bedigital, that's perfectly fine
too.
We'll decide on that.
And then with ChatGPT, we'llgenerate paste ready words, your
(17:28):
Black Friday, Cyber Monday,email, trio, and a bank of
social starters to get yougoing.
You're gonna have two tracks tobe able to choose from.
So if you have Launch Lab GPT,we'll be running the holiday
kickoff inside it for speed andfor clarity because the Launch
Lab GPT understands the strategythat I've built around launching
(17:49):
in general.
And so it's gonna understandlike how to do this for us.
And if not, then the holidayprompt pack that is gonna be
going along with it.
It's PDF that has all thisstuff, um, it's gonna mirror the
exact workflow in regular ChatGPT.
What you're gonna be doing isleaving with clarity, dates, and
copy that you can start to wrapyour head around, really get
(18:10):
your mindset on board.
Because remember, this isn'tabout just ideas, it's about
assets.
And when you're committed tosomething, when you've created
the strategy and the plan andyou're committed to it, it
becomes a hell of a lot easierto actually create the thing
that you want and take action.
And when you look at it from abroader perspective, right?
(18:32):
Even if your holiday plandoesn't go like gangbusters,
like the way that most of usreally want, doing something is
still better than doing nothingbecause it, number one, it keeps
you in top of mind to yourreaders.
So maybe they won't get anythingduring the holiday season, but
they do once they have moneyafter they get their presence.
Like there's all sorts of waysthat your touch points are going
(18:54):
to impact your readers and bringyou back to top of mind.
So it's it's about creating thebuzz, creating the awareness,
and allowing your readers tomake decisions when they're
ready.
So here's a couple of questionsthat I want to answer before we
end this podcast episode becauseI think it's going to be helpful
for those who are new to ChatGPT and those who are maybe
(19:17):
struggling with the idea ofpromoing your backlist or your
books during the holiday seasonbecause maybe it hasn't worked
out in the past, or maybe youhaven't done anything in the
past and you're not sure whereto start.
So the first uh frequently askedquestion that I get is like,
what if I'm brand new toChatGPT?
That's totally perfect.
I teach prompts like trainingwheels.
(19:38):
Then we take them off.
We start to learn how to askquestions of ChatGPT in a way
where it understands us andwe're able to communicate, you
know, exactly what we're lookingfor.
And so don't worry about that.
I will help you out in every waypossible.
Another question I get is I'mneurodivergent and I burn out
easily.
So same.
(19:58):
We work in short, batchablechunks.
That's why ChatGPT is sohelpful.
We're here to create those dailythemes, reduce decision fatigue,
and know exactly what we have todo in order to maintain the
clarity that our readers need.
So if burning out is somethingthat you're concerned about,
that's the whole reason whywe're gonna create this to be as
easy for us as possible.
(20:19):
And we can even build that intothe strategy as we build on our
um prompts and the things thatwe're gonna be doing in the
masterclass so that it knows howto develop and create the plan
so that we don't burn out.
Okay.
What if I can't attend live?
That's another question I get alot.
The replays are always included.
So you can watch with Coco andpause as needed, go back and
(20:43):
re-watch something if it didn'tmake sense.
It's all gonna be available andas well as the PDF with all of
the prompt information as well,will always be included.
And if you're a part of myAuthor Revolution masterclass
membership, that always goes upin the same place as well.
So just keep in mind that mysingle masterclasses have to be
hosted on YouTube becauseKajabi, my course place, it
(21:06):
doesn't allow me to do single uhmasterclasses right there.
So that always gets hosted overon YouTube and you get your PDF
through email where over at themasterclass membership, you get
everything inside of Kajabi.
It's all hosted in one spot andit's easy to find.
Okay, so is this just for newreleases?
Nope.
Backlists love the holidays.
(21:27):
So think gift the series bundlesor audio bundles or digital
boxes.
Like think about ways that youcan gift it or make it more
special.
And it's perfect because you'vedone the hard work, you've done
the heavy lifting of creatingthe series.
You're gonna know the vibe andyou're gonna be able to, you
know, bundle it up in a way thatreally hits home and makes it
(21:48):
more exciting.
Will I need to pay for ads?
Like I already mentioned, no.
We're gonna be focusing on yourlist and organic channels.
If you do ads, that's fine.
This plan gives them somethingsolid to point at.
And you can always use ChatGPTor the Launch Lab GPT to be able
to help you develop your adstrategy as well.
(22:10):
So here's that micro plan fortoday.
I want you to do these threethings if you haven't paused the
episode and done them already.
I want you to pick that firstwin, right?
Pick your one win, whether it'sunits sold, books sold, um,
sales sold, whatever, uh revenuegrowth, or list growth.
Number two, I want you to pickyour offer, and then number
(22:33):
three, I want you to decide yourship by date so that we can meet
within the margin.
And that's it.
You're already ahead of 90% ofauthors who will try to vibe
their way through November.
Now, if you want thestep-by-step how, with me as
your co-pilot and of courseChatGPT as your co-pilot, come
to the live masterclass.
So AI holiday sales blueprintfor authors is gonna be
(22:57):
happening on Friday, October24th at 1 p.m.
Central Time on Zoom.
It is$37.
Replay is included, and all youhave to do is head over to
authorevolution.org.
It's gonna be right there on thehomepage.
Check it out.
If you prefer all access toeverything, grab the masterclass
membership for just$25 a month.
(23:18):
It's the only container whereevery masterclass, like I said,
lives in one cozy portal.
You can find that by headingover to authorevolution.org
forward slash store, and youcan, you know, access everything
that I'm doing right there.
So let's make this the seasonyou sell with ease, not
adrenaline.
Books are still, even in thiseconomy, the most magical,
(23:39):
affordable gift.
With a simple plan and a littlehelp from ChatGPT, you can show
up like the pro you are, with aclear offer, steady presence,
cozy energy, and zero chaos.
I'll bring the framework, youbring the cocoa.
Now go forth and start yourauthor revolution.
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