We were lucky to catch up with Ashley Shepard recently and have shared our conversation below.
Ashley, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s start with what makes profitability in your industry a challenge – what would you say is the biggest challenge?
Most authors only sell 250 books in their lifetime. This is due to not having a marketing plan in place, relying on friends and family to be their book buyers, and focusing on publishing for passion instead of profit. Of course, most people don’t become authors to make money, but in order to reach a broader audience and to increase your impact, making money from your books is key. Though that may not be the goal of self-published authors, waiting until your book is finished to think about marketing can leave you feeling as if your work was all for nothing. Having an amazing piece of work that nobody hears about means that your purpose never reaches who it was intended to touch. That’s why I teach my clients to focus on profits in order to be able to magnify their purpose.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
Becoming an author wasn’t something on my bucket list. But God and life had other plans. My first book was published at the height of the Covid 19 pandemic in September 2020, with a newborn, while working from home, and while writing another book. It’s a wild and crazy story, I know, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world. My first book, New Mom Thoughts: Real Questions for Moms with Real Feelings was written to help me process the roller coaster that is the life a first time mom. I couldn’t find the resources I needed, so after going through a journal challenge, I decided to write a guided journal myself. While my first book was written for people like me, my second one was written for others who needed guidance on their journey to complete the Daniel Fast, a faith based adjustment to eating habits paired with prayer. In a little over two years, I’ve sold almost 3000 books while working full time, with a toddler, and another business. Over time, this success led me to open my own author agency, Shep Publishing House where we help others publish profitably to be able to reach their audiences. Most of my authors are working moms, and I take pride in knowing that I can help them create additional streams of income for themselves and their families especially during in times of financial uncertainty. We offer done for you, done with you, and done by you services in order make the journey to becoming an author go a little more smoothly. These range from full service publishing and marketing, coaching, masterclasses, templates, and more.
Alright – let’s talk about marketing or sales – do you have any fun stories about a risk you’ve taken or something else exciting on the sales and marketing side?
Before Shep Publishing House came about, I was just a first time author trying to test my ideas out and figure out how I’d pay for publishing. My first book came out during a time of financial uncertainty for the world and for myself. In March 2020, when the world “shut down” God placed on my heart to write a book to help first time moms like myself to navigate motherhood. Throughout the process of writing my guided journal, I became the primary caregiver of my 6 month old and switched jobs to a new role at a new company. It felt like a time where no one knew what to expect next and writing became a place that centered me. At the same time, I knew that I needed to find a way to sell my book, but didn’t want to wait until it was finished to do so. I decided to sell the book in advance through pre-sales and book bundles. It’s a concept I tried before with masterclasses, but this would be my first time attempting with digital products. In a world where two day shipping reigns supreme and at a time where folks were uncertain about their jobs and overall health and safety, I was able to convince them to purchase a book bundle 3 months before the book was out. Presales are a wonderful way to validate an idea and to have people vote with their dollars. However, if you don’t set it up properly, it’s a recipe for disaster. There are a ton of aspects that can go wrong and a lot of moving parts to think through and test out. What if you can’t deliver at the time you promised? What if people don’t buy? Not to mention, shipping items during this time was super delayed with back ups with the post office and supply chain issues. To make matters worse, half of my books for my preorders got lost in the mail. This meant I wouldn’t be able to ship them out to customers at the estimated time frame. I could either panic or be open and honest with my audience about it. I chose the latter and through the power of email and social media marketing, not one person asked for a refund. They all were committed to waiting until the new books arrived. I’ve seen firsthand the benefits of building relationships with your audience. Thankfully the printing company gave me a refund for the missing books and expedited replacements. As a result of careful planning and following through, I was able to make $1400 in presales with my first book over the course of 6 weeks. This covered the cost of my publishing and I was able to make money on top of that. Then, three months later, I repeated the same process with my second book which has now sold almost 2000 copies to date.
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
Being authentic and sharing my journey has helped me to build rapport with other authors and develop trust. In the world where everything is online and folks aren’t always sure who they can trust, being yourself can be one of the simplest yet most challenging ways to position yourself in the market. There’s a concept called the “Know, Like, Trust” factor. People need to know you to get to like you and eventually trust you. This means trusting you with their time, attention, and eventually money. For me, giving the real deal when it comes to publishing books helps potential clients know that they don’t have to worry about the pitfalls that come with traditional publishing which is often full of scammers. Being authentic and real in an industry that sucks unassuming authors dry is refreshing. Plus, this makes people come to you with their questions, concerns, and their investment. Showing up as your real self in whatever platform that may be is exactly what your ideal customer is looking for.
Contact Info:
- Website: Www.ShepPublishingHouse.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/ShepPublishing
- Facebook: www.Facebook.com/ShepPublishing
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@ShepPublishing
Image Credits
Avant Noir Photo