Dr Henry Cloud, a psychologist, business consultant, and bestselling author of over 45 books. His most recent book is The Power of the Other - offering powerful insights into how relationships shape our success. Listen in to hear about Dr Henry’s enormous experience in writing and publishing, why you need an agent, and exactly what the “power of the other” means for your business.

Famous 5:

Favorite Book? – Steve Jobs
What CEO do you follow? — Elon Musk
Favorite online tool? — OneNote

Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— No
If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? — I wish I’d known what’s in this book: that I need other people to get me through life and turn me into my best self

Time Stamped Show Notes:

01:20 – Nathan’s introduction
02:07 – Welcoming Dr Henry to the show
03:10 – Why does Dr Henry write so much?
03:35 – “The books come from the work...when I see an issue that multiple people are having, I write a book”
04:50 – Dr Henry’s latest book is The Power of The Other
05:05 – “People only get past the current limit of their performance when they build relationships that take them to that higher level of performance”
06:50 – The last book that Dr Henry published was Boundaries For Leaders
07:30 – Even the highest performers tend to lose control of their lives
08:09 – “If everything’s important, then nothing is”
08:40 – Published by Harper Collins
09:25 – “The publisher doesn’t sell the book - the author and their platform sell the book”
10:55 – What was the path that Dr Henry took with his publisher?
12:40 – Why it’s important to have an agent
13:15 – Agents have specialist knowledge about the business side of books
15:15 – “Ask yourself one question: why am I writing this book?”
16:09 – A book is a way of getting your message out
16:45 – It’s a product line, a way of spreading your message, and a calling card
17:00 – When you’re just starting out, royalties are probably the wrong reason to write a book
18:50 – Beginning authors will be offered lower royalty percentages than established authors - around 10% would be normal
20:17 – An advance is roughly the royalty percentage for a first year of sales
21:12 – How did Dr Henry sell copies of his first book?
21:50 – Dr Henry sold copies of Changes That Heal at speaking events
23:25 – He got a $10k advance on that first book
24:35 – He took around 12% of the $20 sale price in royalties
25:55 – Publishers are more likely to pay for ideas where they see a market
26:44 – Dr Henry sold around 40-50k copies of his first book before he was offered another deal
27:20 – Self-publishing works well for some people - but if you don’t want publishing to be your day job, then it’s worth looking at other options
29:02 – Connect with Dr Henry at Power of The Other

32:00 – The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

The publisher doesn’t sell the book: the author and their platform sell the book
Other people, and the relationships you form, are absolutely vital to bringing out your best performance
Want to write a book? Understand why you want to write it.

Resources Mentioned:

Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible.
Freshbooks - The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts.
Leadpages – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+
Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books.

Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

EP 337: How'd he Sell 12,000,000 Books and What About "The Other"?

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