JT McCormick. He’s an American businessman, author and speaker. Most recently, he served as President of Technology company HeadSpring before his current role as president & CEO at Book in a Box.

Famous Five:

Favorite Book? – Cyrus the Great
What CEO do you follow? – Jeff Bezos
Favorite online tool? — Slack
How many hours of sleep do you get?— 4.5
If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – It’s not about the high school diploma. It’s about the work ethic and the sacrifice you’re willing to put in to achieve greatness

Time Stamped Show Notes:

01:47 – Nathan introduces JT to the show
02:08 – It is possible to buy a bestseller from Book in a Box
- 02:23 – The cost will depend on many factors
02:40 – One of Nathan’s friends spent almost $250K on Book in a Box because he wanted to put out a book and increase his speaking fee
- 03:15 – There are many people who paid more than $250K to get a book out
03:21 – Nathan read his friend’s book and thought it was trash, but his friend’s speaking fee increased
- 03:33 – It’s still a positive ROI
04:02 – Book in a Box specializes in ensuring the books are filled with valuable and meaningful content
05:11 – Book in a Box has made it possible for authors to publish their book
05:27 – JT just met a professional speaker who has been in the business for 22 years, but never had a book
- 05:34 – He never got the time to write a book
- 05:41 – Book in a Box will just interview him and write the book for him
- 05:52 – “Your book written in your tone, your voice”
06:09 – Nathan shares how Book in a Box makes you spill the beans
06:41 – Cost is $25K which is $5K a month for five months
06:58 – The quality of the books are the same as the ones from Barnes and Noble
07:13 – Nathan got a deal from Portfolio Random House
07:37 – Book in a Box provides proposals and manuscripts for their clients to bring to publishing houses
08:00 – Book in a Box has worked with a total of 500 authors
08:31 – Book in a Box launched in 2015
09:00 – Book in a Box is one of the unicorn companies in the startup world
09:13 – “We, as Book in a Box, have no debt, no private equity, no VC money and we are extremely profitable”
09:27 – Book in a Box has changed pricing a couple of times
- 09:38 – When JT met Tucker and Zach, the co-founders, he was actually looking for someone to write his book
- 10:14 – Tucker offered JT three pricing models, $10K, $18K and $30K and JT chose the latter because he wanted a high-quality book
- 10:51 – JT explained how the pricing turned out to be just one pricing model which is $25K
11:33 – Total revenue since 2015 is $11.3M
12:07 – Book in a Box currently averages 25-30 books a month which has continuously grown to 50-75 a month
12:29 – Team size is 30 full-timers with over 100 freelancers
13:13 – “We’re a relationship company”
14:17 – Book in a Box treats their freelancers with respect and pays them on time
15:05 – Book in a Box helps with marketing and book sales
- 15:14 – Customers go to Book in a Box for one of three reasons; credibility, thought leadership or lead generation
- 15:48 – Book in a Box created Thought Leader Media
  - 16:01 – Pricing starts at $15K to up to $75K yearly
  - 16:17 – The pricing varies depending on the author needs
  - 16:51 – Thought Leader Media just rolled out in Q1
  - 16:58 – 35 out of 250 published books are in Thought Leader Media
- 17:10 – Total book sales from Book in a Box authors
- 18:50 – The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

Those who want to have a book written, but can’t manage to start can simply utilize companies such as Book in a Box.
Pricing is crucial in every business—it’s either you make it big or lose everything.
Respect and an excellent work ethic are keys to success.

Resources Mentioned:

Simplero – The easiest way to launch your own membership course like the big influencers do but at 1/10th the cost.
The Top Inbox – The site Nathan uses to schedule emails to be sent later, set reminders in inbox, track opens, and follow-up with email sequences
GetLatka - Database of all B2B SaaS companies who have been on my show including their revenue, CAC, churn, ARPU and more
Klipfolio – Track your business performance across all departments for FREE
Hotjar – Nathan uses Hotjar to track what you’re doing on this site. He gets a video of each user visit like where they clicked and scrolled to make the site a better experience
Acuity Scheduling – Nathan uses Acuity to schedule his podcast interviews and appointments
Host Gator– The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for the cheapest price possible
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

790: Book in a Box Passes $11.3m in Revenue, 500+ Authors

SaaS Interviews with CEOs, Startups, Founders

790: Book in a Box Passes $11.3m in Revenue, 500+ Authors