EPISODE 21: HOW TO FORM A SUCCESSFUL AUTHOR/AGENT PARTNERSHIP WITH CURTIS YATES Part 2

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Live Date: October 13, 2021

 

Show Description: In part two of Heather’s conversation with Curtis Yates, they continue to discuss what is winning right now in the book publishing landscape, what should be avoided. He also gives us his industry insider info for every aspiring author. The pair walks through promotional tactics that are working both for book sales and engagement with audiences right now. And Curtis shares his number one piece of advice for someone who has that burning desire to get their story out into this world. He also shares the number one book he thinks everybody should read. You are not going to want to miss that. And at the very end of the conversation, he’s offering a free gift.

Free Gift from Curtis Yates:

Link to Full Episode

 This Episode Will Teach You:

  • What promotional and sales tactics are successful in a book launch 

  • How to utilize both trending promotional outlets like podcasts as well as traditional practices like email lists

  • Behind the scenes, industry insider information that is critical for an aspiring author to know and be aware of

Biggest Takeaways:

  • Heather and Curtis talk through some of the behind-the-scenes knowledge they’ve garnered over their careers. Whether that’s which media outlets to pursue or how to gain confidence as an author, they are sharing insider information on how to distinguish yourself as an author 

  • The pair discuss what promotional tactics are really working for authors right now. Heather shares the trends she’s been observing on the publicity side, from podcasts to email lists. 

  • Curtis and Heather delve into the value of knowing when and how to pivot a sales and promotional plan around a book. Whether it’s because of

About the Guest: Curtis Yates is a hugely successful literary agent, attorney, husband and father. He began practicing law and serving authors as their literary agent in 2000, an avid book reader and baseball enthusiast, he is a graduate of Westmont College in Economics and Pepperdine Law School (Law Review). Curtis has launched more than 40 New York times best sellers through his partnership at the Yates and Yates agency; they have garnered more than $130 million in publishing contracts in the last 17 years, working with major publishing houses across the industry.

Quotables:

  • “What I am hearing and what we are seeing with our clients is the most important access that you have to that audience is the email address. It’s your email list as opposed to how many followers you have on Instagram or TikTok or Snapchat or Facebook or whatever, how many people are following you on YouTube. It’s how many people have opted in for content from you. Like they have given you their email.” – Heather Adams, 3:29

  • You want the people who are bought in and rabid and are invested in you. And if you can cultivate those kinds of relationships. Yes, that’s what publishers want, strong email subscriber lists with people who are fully engaged.” – Curtis Yates, 7:43

  • “There are so many disruptions these days that you never know where the next one’s coming from and you have to build your mindset. You have to build your author career in a way that you can be resilient no matter what curve balls get thrown at you.” -Curtis Yates, 9:22

  • “You go in anticipating that things are never going to go according to plan. And you need to build your plan in such a way that you can be nimble.” – Curtis Yates, 11:19

  • “With the world in the state that it is, there are constant disruptions. It could be a natural disaster. It could be the political climate. It could be a pandemic. It could be a whole host of things. But if you think that you’re finally laid plans, are going to be perfectly executed flawlessly with no hiccups then you are sorely mistaken. So the ability to pivot, which I think was the word of 2020, it cannot be understated.” – Heather Adams, 14:01

  • “I think you have got to have people who are your champions and cheerleaders who know the industry and know where to push buttons and know when there are things that are Hills to die on and know when people are blowing smoke and know when there’s a crisis that needs to be addressed, how to do it because it’s not the first time they’ve ever had to deal with it.” – Heather Adams, 16:04

  • “​​What we’re seeing right now is selling more books than anything else we’re doing in media is podcast interviews.” – Heather Adams, 21:05

  • “As long as your team can keep getting you podcast interviews, you need to keep doing them. And one of the reasons for that is because you have to do reps like the more times you get on a podcast and talk about your book, the better you get at it. And so it’s the later podcasts actually typically end up being better interviews because you found your rhythm, you figured out how to talk about it. You figured out which phrasings work better.” – Curtis Yates, 30:27

  • “Start right now. Get in motion, get going. Get started today. The internet provides so many opportunities and tools that didn’t exist for so many of your forebears who just didn’t have the opportunity. They can go journal. They could go and get out of the typewriter and type away or whatever, and they can practice their writing on their own. But you have the ability to not only do all of those things, but you also have the ability to test your ideas out in the world because of the internet.” – Curtis Yates, 32:20

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October 13, 2021

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