The Truth About Publishing: Why Authors Must Market Their Own Books

Summary

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The Amazing Authorities Podcast

Episode: The Truth About Publishing: Why Authors Must Market Their Own Books

Host: Mitch Carson
Guest: Terry Whelan
Date: November 10, 2025

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Episode Overview

This episode explores the often-misunderstood realities of book publishing and author success, busting the myth that publishers drive sales and revealing why authors must take control of their own marketing. Mitch Carson speaks with veteran author, editor, and publisher Terry Whelan about his prolific career, pivotal publishing lessons, and the actionable strategies every aspiring author needs.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Power and Purpose of Books

• Books change lives: Both Mitch and Terry underscore their passion for the life-changing potential of books.
  • “[Books] change people's lives.” — Terry Whelan [01:26]
• A discussion on how even in today’s world, a mere fraction of purchased books are read fully, but their impact remains significant.

2. Terry Whelan’s Publishing Journey

• Career highlights:
  • Over 60 books written for traditional publishers.
  • Secured multiple six-figure advances.
  • Several books sold over 100,000 copies. [02:38]
• Currently an editor at Morgan James Publishing—21 years in business, 20 million+ books sold, 6,000+ titles published. [03:06]

3. The Book That Changed a Life

• Formative experience: Terry shares the story of reading “Jesus the Revolutionary,” which altered his career trajectory from journalism to Bible translation and authorship.
  • Personal story of translating the New Testament into a Mayan language (Southwest Kachikal, Guatemala), including developing a written alphabet for the language. [05:12]

4. The Value of Travel and Cross-Cultural Experience

• Both reflect on the value of travel in broadening perspective and deepening empathy, especially as it relates to storytelling and understanding readers. [05:55 - 07:57]

5. Terry’s First Foray into Publishing

• Debut book: Originated from a children’s editor’s challenge; leveraged hybrid picture/cartoon style to inspire global awareness in children.
  • Title: “When I Grow Up, I Can Go Anywhere For Jesus,” focusing on real-world occupations. [09:20–11:01]

6. Nonfiction Focus and Building Authority

• All of Terry’s books have been nonfiction; developed a reputation for reliability and expertise within the industry.
  • Connection to Mark Victor Hansen and the realization at Mega Book Marketing University of the need to personally market his books. [11:24–12:56]

7. The Marketing Epiphany: Authors Must Promote Their Own Books

• Inspired by Jack Canfield (Chicken Soup for the Soul) and the “Success Principles”:
  • "I will take 100% responsibility for my own success." — Jack Canfield, cited by Terry Whelan [12:35]
• Terry started a weekly blog, “The Writing Life,” which positioned him as a top content producer.
  • Over 1,700 blog entries since 2004. [14:04]

8. Tactical Steps: The Rule of Five

• Adopted the “Rule of Five”: Do five things every day to promote your book (e.g., blog posts, podcasts, articles, social media).
  • “Every day, they did five different things to be telling people about their book…” [15:37–16:53]
• Grew strong social media followings: 175k+ on X/Twitter, nearly 20k on LinkedIn.

9. Exploring and Choosing Promotional Platforms

• Terry’s approach has been organic: newsletters, print publications, physical marketing materials, rather than paid prestige platforms or heavy focus on YouTube or Substack.
• Practical advice: Find and double down on what works for you rather than try everything at once. [17:30–18:20]

10. The Value of Reviews and Giving Back

• Highly values both gathering and writing reviews for books.
  • Has written 1,000+ Amazon and 900+ Goodreads reviews.
  • "They're important for you to gather them, but also for you as a writer to do them, to encourage other people…" [18:30]

11. Co-Authoring and Ghostwriting as a Strategic Path

• Some of Terry's biggest advances came from co-authoring or ghostwriting for celebrities.
  • Strategy: “Get hooked up with a higher profile person” to gain access to larger advances and bigger opportunities. [19:08–20:31]
  • However, co-authors rarely receive the same recognition as lead authors.

12. Relationship-Building in Publishing

• Importance of building ongoing relationships with industry figures.
  • “Keep building those relationships and connections because you never know when it's going to be an important one in your own life.” — Terry Whelan [21:28]

13. The Truth About Publishing Myth-Busting

• Discusses his current book: “10 Publishing Myths: Inside Secrets Every Author Needs to Succeed.”
  • Many authors have dangerously unrealistic expectations, such as assuming, “My publisher will market and sell my book.” [23:54]
  • Key insight: Publishers provide resources, but authors must be the driving force in promotion.
  • Each chapter ends with a "Myth Buster Action"—a practical step for authors.

14. “Rented” vs. Owned Platforms

• Warns against over-relying on social networks—accounts can be shut down at any time.
  • Advocates building a platform on assets you control: personal website, blog, and email lists. [24:49]

15. Direct Sales and Unusual Tactics

• Promotion of his publishing myth-buster book via PublishingOffer.com, offering $200+ in bonuses with purchase.
  • Example bonus: Audio interview with an author who systematically sold thousands of books directly to libraries by calling them daily. [25:43]
  • Discussion of another author who spent over $200,000 sending copies to every U.S. library, boosting New York Times rankings (albeit at great cost). [26:47]
  • Terry confirms that organic strategies can still lead to national bestseller status with the right tactics and persistence. [28:39–29:24]

16. The “Oprah Myth”

• Offers an 11th bonus chapter: “If I send my book to Oprah Winfrey, she’ll book me on her show”—debunking the fantasy of quick, magic-bullet media exposure.
  • “If that's where you want your book to be, fine. But I think there's some more effective things that you can do…” [30:53]

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Memorable Quotes

• Terry Whelan: "Books change people's lives." [01:26]
• Terry Whelan: "I will take 100% responsibility for my own success." (Citing Jack Canfield) [12:35]
• Terry Whelan: "The tactical steps that I did is something, again, I gained from Jack. Jack talks about following the rule of five … every day, they did five different things to be telling people about their book." [15:37]
• Terry Whelan: "Reviews are very important … They're important for you to gather them, but also for you as a writer to do them, to encourage other people…" [18:30]
• Terry Whelan: “Keep building those relationships and connections because you never know when it's going to be an important one in your own life.” [21:28]
• Terry Whelan: "Myth: My publisher will market and sell my book ... what they're going to be able to do is much divided than you're going to be able to do as the author." [23:55]
• Terry Whelan: “In the business, we call those 'rented platforms' because I don't control those platforms. ... you're better off as an author building your platform on your own website, your own blog, your own newsletter..." [24:49]
• Terry Whelan: “If that's where you want your book to be, fine. But I think there's some more effective things that you can do than mailing a book to Oprah Winfrey.” [30:53]

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Important Timestamps

• 01:26 – Books change people's lives.
• 02:38–03:06 – Terry's publishing statistics and role at Morgan James.
• 03:37–05:11 – How a book changed Terry’s entire life course.
• 09:20–11:01 – Genesis and process of Terry’s first published book.
• 11:24–12:56 – Realization at Mega Book Marketing University about author marketing.
• 12:35–14:04 – Adopting the “Success Principles,” launching and maintaining a top industry blog.
• 15:37–16:53 – Implementing the Rule of Five for continuous book marketing.
• 18:30–18:53 – On the necessity of book reviews.
• 19:08–20:31 – Strategy behind co-authoring/ghostwriting for celebrities.
• 21:28 – Relationship-building as a career strategy.
• 23:54–25:43 – Top publishing myths and practical “myth buster” actions.
• 26:47–29:24 – Library sales tactics and organic bestseller strategy.
• 30:53 – The Oprah Winfrey “myth” and bonus chapter offer.

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Resources and Offers

• Book: “10 Publishing Myths: Inside Secrets Every Author Needs to Succeed”
  • Special offer: $10 with $200+ in bonuses at publishingoffer.com.
• Bonus Chapter: "The 11th Myth (Oprah's Book Club)"—free at terrylinks.com/11thmyth.

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Tone and Style

• Upbeat, conversational, and practical.
• Terry is candid and humility-driven, infusing seasoned wisdom and actionable takeaways.
• Mitch is enthusiastic, seasoned, and keeps the focus on real-world, implementable advice for aspiring authors.

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For New Listeners

If you haven’t listened, this episode is a clear-eyed, jargon-free guide to what it really takes to succeed as an author in today’s publishing world—directly from a veteran who’s done it all, and who generously shares what works, what doesn’t, and what you can start doing now.

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Transcript

[Mitch Carson]

Welcome to the Amazing Authorities podcast where game changers, visionaries and category leaders share how they built their brands, platforms and global influence. Your host is Mitch Carson, international speaker, media strategist and creator of the Instant Authority system. If you're ready to learn from those who've done it and want to become the go to expert in your space, you're in the right place.

[Podcast Host (possibly Mitch Carson or Co-host)]

I was born ready and I think our guest today, Terry Whelan, was born ready because he's here enthusiastically as I am. We're both gentlemen that are in the 50 plus club. I won't even add any more digits than that. And we're here together sharing a passion about books and publishing and we have very similar educational backgrounds and then some differences that I want to bring up for you. Terry. Welcome to the Amazing Authorities podcast today.

[Terry Whelan]

Mitch, it's incredible to be here with you. Thank you. Yeah.

[Podcast Host (possibly Mitch Carson or Co-host)]

And you said something in our pre interview before the formal interview, and I hit the record button that I think is a golden nugget and it summarizes everything when it comes to books. Do you recall the statement you said books, blank, blank.

[Terry Whelan]

Yeah. Books change people's lives. And all right, this one published. That's why I've been publishing books.

[Podcast Host (possibly Mitch Carson or Co-host)]

Books change lives. Yeah, I think that was. Those are the three words, but you added the people's part. That's good because I think it doesn't change dogs lives, but it does change people's lives. And we're of the same ilk, same mindset when it comes to that because it is something. You get a big smile from readers who actually consume your information, which is rare these days. If they actually read your book. I think the statistic is 5% of the books sold actually get consumed cover to cover. Isn't it something like that. You would know better than me. You've got this deep, deep publishing background. Is that a fair statistic, do you think?

[Terry Whelan]

I think that's fair. People, people buy a lot of books that they never read, which comes with a territory. But books, books are very important and they're still, still out there and still, still changing people's lives and all that. That's why I do this stuff every day. So. Yeah.

[Podcast Host (possibly Mitch Carson or Co-host)]

And you're, you've written how many books? I. I want people to hear the.

[Terry Whelan]

I've written. I've written over 60 books for traditional publishers. Two of the books that I wrote, Mitch, received six figure advances, actually, and six. Several of my books, several of my books have sold over a hundred thousand copies that I've written. So, okay.

[Podcast Host (possibly Mitch Carson or Co-host)]

Yeah. Wow. Wow, that's amazing. And today you work for a hybrid publisher called Morgan James, which I'm familiar with. Dave Hancock.

[Terry Whelan]

Yeah, they are, they are one of the top independent publishers in the country. We've, we've been around 21 years. We've sold over 20 million books, published over 6,000 titles. So, yeah, there's, there's a lot going on at the publishing house, that's for sure.

[Podcast Host (possibly Mitch Carson or Co-host)]

And you said one particular book you read when you were young changed your life and the trajectory of your life. What was that book?

[Terry Whelan]

Yeah, Mitch, that was a book that I read called Jesus the Revolutionary. I went to Indiana University, studied journalism. I joined the college newspaper, sat there shoulder to shoulder with somebody else, cranking out a story on an old royal typewriter. Oh, yeah, I couldn't get my fingers on the right keys. And I kept muttering to myself, jesus Christ, Jesus Christ. And this little blonde haired girl that was sitting next to me, she said, oh, Terry, don't say that, because one of these days when you really need Jesus, you'll call out for him and he won't be there. And I thought, what is this? I'm a Christian. I go to church when I'm at home. I read the Bible in church when I'm at home. She sent me down to this little bookstore a couple blocks off the Indiana campus. They had pretty cards and posters. And I bought this book called Jesus the Revolutionary. I thought, how in the world could Jesus be a revolutionary? And I took that book back to my room. I read that book, and it showed me a different side of Jesus than I'd ever seen before. About that time, somebody invited me, this Jesus people gathering in downtown Bloomington. They were sitting on little scraps of carpets and little candles lit. Those people had something that I didn't have. And so I got a Bible. And I've been going the Jesus trail with my life ever since. Instead of becoming a big newspaper reporter, that's what I thought I was going to do. I joined Wycliffe Bible translators. I spent 17 years with those guys. And that's why I have a New Testament in the Southwest Kachikal language from Guatemala on my shelf that I worked on back then.

[Podcast Host (possibly Mitch Carson or Co-host)]

And you wrote that?

[Terry Whelan]

I didn't write it, but I worked with the nationals that ultimately did the translation work. It's in Di, it's in Spanish, and in Southwest Kachikao Ketchika, which is a.

[Podcast Host (possibly Mitch Carson or Co-host)]

Totally different language of the natives.

[Terry Whelan]

It's one of the Mayan, one of the Mayan languages in Guatemala. Yes.

[Podcast Host (possibly Mitch Carson or Co-host)]

Geez, that's so cool. And I mean to experience that because I share with people. I've lived in seven different countries in my life, traveled to 63, I believe, and this is a strong assertion, the most interesting people are the most well traveled because you have a lot more to talk about, a lot more experiences to share and to raise humanity.

[Terry Whelan]

I agree, I agree. I think that travel experience gives you something very different in to. To talk with other people about, for sure.

[Podcast Host (possibly Mitch Carson or Co-host)]

Well, it also creates a sense of understanding. I live in Thailand. I'm calling in from Thailand. You're in the US And I mean, that's the beauty of technology today. But when I first came here in 2010, 15 years ago, oh, my word. We couldn't have been from different countries. We were from different worlds. The culture is so vastly different than the Western way. I'm from Los Angeles, and that in itself has its own culture. You're from Indiana. That in itself has its own culture. Not that different than L A per say, same language, same religion, etcetera, but culturally slightly different. How Indiana people handle themselves versus L. A. It happens because of geography. But when you go way overseas, and I mean, on an airplane more than, you know, a few hours, man, that's a big change. And then when you had to embrace a different language entirely, two different, I mean, let's say two languages removed, how did you, how did you bridge that gap and then to be able to write about it?

[Terry Whelan]

Well, yeah, it was, it was a great experience. And, you know, I had to. I had to learn Spanish first, and then, then Kachikal, which is a whole different language. But it was, it was a great experience to be able to do that.

[Podcast Host (possibly Mitch Carson or Co-host)]

Kind of thing now was Catchy cow. One of these languages that was only verbal, or did it also have a written language?

[Terry Whelan]

It did not have a written language back then. Okay. So we, we developed the Alphabet, worked with them to develop the Alphabet, all the basic reading materials, all that, all that kind of thing to. To get the. Get the New Testament into. Into their language.

[Podcast Host (possibly Mitch Carson or Co-host)]

Wow, that's great.

[Terry Whelan]

28 minority languages in. In Guatemala. So yeah.

[Podcast Host (possibly Mitch Carson or Co-host)]

Oh, my word. But the national language is Spanish, which they all Spanish. Okay. They all communicate in that. And then there are the tribal. I know I spent time in the Philippines a year and a half total. And the national language is Tagalog. And then there are all those tribal languages which differ tremendously. People who speak Tagalog only from Manila have no clue what people are saying in Cebu.

[Terry Whelan]

Right?

[Podcast Host (possibly Mitch Carson or Co-host)]

Yeah, Right. And it's. Yeah, It's a. It's a whole different language. And I'm looking at them like, what? They don't understand any more than I do. So, yeah, kind of. It's very interesting. So what do you. What have you found writing your first. How old were you when you wrote your first book?

[Terry Whelan]

Oh, I don't know. It was. It was in 1992, so, you know, 40 years ago, so.

[Podcast Host (possibly Mitch Carson or Co-host)]

Okay, all right. I wasn't trying to ask how old you were. I was trying to find out. Yeah, so you wrote it. So a long time ago. You wrote your.

[Terry Whelan]

30 years ago. 30 years ago, yeah.

[Podcast Host (possibly Mitch Carson or Co-host)]

Okay, 30 years ago. And so that.

[Terry Whelan]

That.

[Podcast Host (possibly Mitch Carson or Co-host)]

Yeah, 30 years ago. My math is bad.

[Terry Whelan]

I was in my 40s back then.

[Podcast Host (possibly Mitch Carson or Co-host)]

Yeah. Yeah. So you wrote this first book, and what was that topic?

[Terry Whelan]

It was a little children's book that I did. I was at a writers conference, Mitch, and. And I. I went out to walk with a. With an editor there, and she. She told me she had a problem. And so I always listen when these editors tell me they have a problem. She said, terry, I have all these children's books that we're publishing at David C. Cook, and our mission as a company is to challenge people and tell children that there's a whole world out there where they need to go. We don't have a single book that talks about that topic. What kind of ideas do you have? And back then, my kids were little, and so I was reading a lot of children's books to them, and I knew that Steven Lawhead, who writes fantasy, had this series of children's books that he'd done for lion called Howard Had a Hot Air Balloon. Howard Had a spaceship that combined real pictures with a little cartoon character to show kids, to help them imagine it. And so I said, what if we used our real pictures from Wycliffe and combine them with a little cartoon character to help kids with their imagination? She said, oh, that's a good idea. Write that up and send that to me. And so I went. I went home and wrote it up, and I sent it to her. And, I mean, we went back and forth quite a bit. But that ultimately became my first little book that was published in 1992, A Little Children's book that I did called When I Grow Up, I Can Go Anywhere For Jesus. And I covered five different occupations. Like the pilot, for example. He said, we fly everything from pigs to presidents, is what he said.

[Podcast Host (possibly Mitch Carson or Co-host)]

Wow.

[Terry Whelan]

And so that's. That's what started me on this. This whole book thing that I've been Doing here? It's great.

[Podcast Host (possibly Mitch Carson or Co-host)]

And so you wrote a fictional book to start. Have you written non fiction or what? Did you start fiction and stay.

[Terry Whelan]

Oh, well, no, I, that, that book was really a non. Non fiction book because it was about non fiction occupations. It was a children's book, though.

[Podcast Host (possibly Mitch Carson or Co-host)]

Okay. Children's book.

[Terry Whelan]

All my, all my books have been nonfiction and I've written about 50 books for traditional publishers. Mitch and I had a little litter agency in Arizona and Mark Victor Hansen, the co author for Chicken Soup for the Soul, invited me to come out to Los Angeles. He was having this big event called Mega Book Marketing University.

[Podcast Host (possibly Mitch Carson or Co-host)]

I was there.

[Terry Whelan]

You were there. Well, I was there, too.

[Podcast Host (possibly Mitch Carson or Co-host)]

Yeah, I was there. I spoke at Mega Marketing also.

[Terry Whelan]

Oh, you were there. Wow.

[Podcast Host (possibly Mitch Carson or Co-host)]

Yes. Yeah, I spoke there years ago.

[Terry Whelan]

So in 1999, in, in, in, in 2007, I was out there and I. There were 400 people that were there and I was getting my royalty statements on these books that I'd written and they were all in the minus category that none of them were making any money. And so I thought I must be doing something wrong here. And so I listened to all the speakers and one of the speakers was Jack Canfield.

[Podcast Host (possibly Mitch Carson or Co-host)]

I know Jack.

[Terry Whelan]

Jack's written this book called the Success.

[Podcast Host (possibly Mitch Carson or Co-host)]

Principles with Janet Spitzer. Yes.

[Terry Whelan]

Yeah. Yeah. And the very first Success principle says that I will take 100% responsibility for my own success.

[Podcast Host (possibly Mitch Carson or Co-host)]

Yep.

[Terry Whelan]

Well, Well, I. It's almost like I woke up during that conference because I realized how little I was doing to promote my own books. I mean, sure, I had a terry whalen.com website, but I, I wasn't doing anything else. And so publishers were making pretty books. They were getting them in the bookstores, but I wasn't doing my part to be telling people about my books. So I said, I'm going to change. I'm going to do something different. And so I started back then I started blogging. And, you know, I'm still blogging, Mitch. I started, I started my blog in, I think 2004, and I've written over 1700 entries in my blog. And so I found an article about my. That listed about a year ago, listed the top 27 content producers. I mean, it says there's over 600 million blogs out there and I was one of the top 27. And it's not that I do anything magical here. I just, I blog every week and I've been doing it for years. And that builds up this huge amount of content out there. So people, people know about me. They know about That I have this blog called the Writing Life that I do every week.

[Podcast Host (possibly Mitch Carson or Co-host)]

And you still write for it?

[Terry Whelan]

I still write for it every week. Yeah. I had.

[Podcast Host (possibly Mitch Carson or Co-host)]

Well, that in itself. Today that in itself could be a compilation of books in a series. Yeah, I tell people that. And I, you know, one of the things that. One of the topics that I'm going to write about with my podcast, which is essentially a different variety of blog, is a compilation of stories, maybe a synopsis of each of the interviews that I've done, which is now over 120, as is a. A series of books about the gems from Terry Whalen, the gems from Mark Victor Hansen, who haven't interviewed yet, but Mark's an old friend because I, you know, his platforms, he's spoken on mine, and. And so on and so forth. Authors could be one volume. I mean, for you, I don't know if you interviewed people or commented about others in your blog itself. Oh, I'm sure those could be. Those are books waiting to be published.

[Terry Whelan]

They could be. They sure could be. Yes.

[Podcast Host (possibly Mitch Carson or Co-host)]

And. And then you've had. So what did you do fundamentally? I know that the mindset, not mindset shift happened from what was in Jack's book along with Janet Schweitzer. I mean, she was the major writer of that book, right?

[Terry Whelan]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host (possibly Mitch Carson or Co-host)]

And I know Janet personally very well and smart woman and a great writer, prolific. And she had some great principles in there. Jack had some great principles. After the mental shift, what were the tactical steps?

[Terry Whelan]

The tactical steps that I did is something, again, I gained from Jack. Jack talks about following the rule of five that they did with the Chicken Soup for the Soul books. They got up every day and they did five things to be telling people about their book. And it took them, it took them a year and a half to sell the first million copies of Chicken for the Soul. And. But every. Every day, they did five different things. And to be telling people about their book, they did a blog post, podcast, radio show, a newspaper article, something. There's dozens of things you can do. And so that's what I learned, is that I, I have to be doing something all the time to be telling people about my book, like on this podcast or on a radio show or social media. There's all kinds of things. So when social media came along, I joined that. That's why I have 175,000 followers on X Twitter. I have 19,500 connections on LinkedIn. I mean, those things really matter. People read that stuff out there.

[Podcast Host (possibly Mitch Carson or Co-host)]

They certainly do.

[Terry Whelan]

We should be involved in that it doesn't have to consume your life and take gobs of time to do that. But I'm certainly active on those different platforms.

[Podcast Host (possibly Mitch Carson or Co-host)]

Have you leveraged any of the platforms like Entrepreneur Press, being involved as a paid writer for those like they have a, it's called eln Entrepreneurial Leadership Network. And then their. Forbes has a council where you pay, but you have that, you leverage that prestige of those. And I've seen some writers do that effectively to get their name out. Okay.

[Terry Whelan]

Now I haven't, I haven't done that, done that kind of thing. No, my, my thing has barely been more, more organic and more using newsletters and things like that that I've done.

[Podcast Host (possibly Mitch Carson or Co-host)]

How about substack?

[Terry Whelan]

I've tried Substack, but I didn't get much, much traction on it per se. So maybe I didn't give, give it enough time. But you know, all of us are limited the, the number of things that we can do. So we just have to figure out which, which is the right one for us out there.

[Podcast Host (possibly Mitch Carson or Co-host)]

Yeah. And YouTube. Do you, you leverage YouTube at all?

[Terry Whelan]

Not much. Not much. I've, I've leveraged print, print magazines and a lot of those kinds of things have worked for me. I've done all kinds of things. Postcards, bookmarks, all kinds of things.

[Podcast Host (possibly Mitch Carson or Co-host)]

Okay. Or booksprout. Have you used that for books?

[Terry Whelan]

No, I've not.

[Podcast Host (possibly Mitch Carson or Co-host)]

Not for reviews. Well, how important are reviews for books?

[Terry Whelan]

Reviews are very important and that's why I've, I've written over a thousand reviews on Amazon, 900 reviews on Goodreads. Yeah, they're, they're important. They're important for you to gather them, but also for you as a writer to do them, to encourage other people and to get those out there.

[Podcast Host (possibly Mitch Carson or Co-host)]

And you've had some tremendous success with some of your books. Like you said, you had a couple six figure advances. That's unheard of unless you are a major, major name for somebody that's newer. How did you get to that point?

[Terry Whelan]

Part of what happens with that are the, the co authors that I, that I hooked up with, I was actually the writer for these, these higher profile people that, that garnered the six figure advance. So that's, that's another strategy that if you, if you want to get something like that, that's, that's something that any of us as writers can do. Just, just get hooked up with a higher profile person that can actually get that, that type of advance.

[Podcast Host (possibly Mitch Carson or Co-host)]

So somebody has a big following. Let's just go, let's just talk. Mel Robbins as an example, she's one of the very big books right now. Or James Clear. I think he sold 20 million copies of his book Atomic Habits. You would go to somebody like him if he didn't have the ability to write per se, if he just had a, if he was, had a great following as a speaker or as a celebrity. And you went to this person and said, let me ghostwriter, let me co write your book for you. And is that how you participate?

[Terry Whelan]

That's how, that's how you would, that's how you would participate? Yes, as either a ghost writer or a co author. People, people don't really remember you if you're the co author is what I, what I found. You know, they only remember the person whose primary name is on the book at the end of the day.

[Podcast Host (possibly Mitch Carson or Co-host)]

So you're, you're, you were not mentioned in these books.

[Terry Whelan]

My name was on the COVID of these books. But, but people don't really recall that I did it because it's, the book is focused on that, that celebrity and that other person.

[Podcast Host (possibly Mitch Carson or Co-host)]

Got it. Got it. Now I know Janet, as I mentioned, she's written several New York Times best selling books. I mean her branding is I write New York Times best selling books, not I ghost write, I write New York Times bestselling books. That's her positioning and that's why she gets huge advances to write these books. And it's a matter of her positioning. She positioned herself as a Tiffany box. Obviously you're of that caliber because you've received some major advances to, to write books on the behalf of these celebrities. And what was the roadmap to get there? Did they find you or did you seek them out?

[Terry Whelan]

I actually sought them out back then and formed those relationships. And so I, I encourage people, no matter where they are in the, in the whole writing spectrum to just keep, keep building those, those relationships and those connections because you never know when it's going to be an important one in your own life.

[Podcast Host (possibly Mitch Carson or Co-host)]

And I think Carvey McKay wrote a book, dig your well before you're thirsty. Probably one of the best titles of a book I recall. It's like, okay, pay your dues, get your connection solid, because at some point you may need help. And as humans, it's just smart people management.

[Terry Whelan]

It is, it is Harvey's. Harvey's very skilled at such things like that. That's great. Yeah.

[Podcast Host (possibly Mitch Carson or Co-host)]

Oh yeah, I've, I've read his books. I mean, I, I don't even know if he's around anymore, but he wrote.

[Terry Whelan]

Some, he still Is he still. Is. He said he's in his 90s, but yes, he's still. He's still got a newspaper column that goes out all over the United States every. Every week, so.

[Podcast Host (possibly Mitch Carson or Co-host)]

Oh, does. He's still syndicated?

[Terry Whelan]

Still syndicated, yes.

[Podcast Host (possibly Mitch Carson or Co-host)]

Wow. Good for him. Newspapers, my gosh, that sounds like an antique word. But I grew up with.

[Terry Whelan]

People are still reading them, you know, they're still around. So he's. He's still doing it.

[Podcast Host (possibly Mitch Carson or Co-host)]

It's great for him. Now tell us about your current book.

[Terry Whelan]

Yeah, my current book is called 10 Publishing Myths Inside Secrets. Every author needs to succeed. And I really wrote this book, Mitch, because I deal with authors all the time at Morgan James, and I find many of them have completely unrealistic expectations about what's going to happen with their book. Because I've been in publishing for so long, I understand that there's so much of the process that's outside of our control as authors. So, like, I can't make a bookstore buy your book, for example. All I can do is tell that bookstore about the book and that it's. That it's available out there. So what I really tried to do in this. In this book is I hear these. These unrealistic expectations all the time. So I picked 10 of them and I wrote chapters about them. Like, my book will make a lot of money or my publisher will market and sell my book.

[Podcast Host (possibly Mitch Carson or Co-host)]

Right?

[Terry Whelan]

Yeah, your publisher is invested in your book, don't get me wrong. But what they're going to be able to do is much divided than you're going to be able to do as the author. And so I encourage each. In each chapter, I really encourage authors to take practical actions that they can do. And at the end of each chapter, I have an mba. I call it a myth buster action that they can take to actually do something practical. So, like, I mean, I have authors that tell me, well, my. My platform is over on Facebook or my platform is over on LinkedIn or YouTube. Well, those are great, but in the business, we call those rented platforms because I don't control those platforms.

[Podcast Host (possibly Mitch Carson or Co-host)]

And they can cut you off anytime.

[Terry Whelan]

They choose in a heartbeat. And so instead, you're better off as an author building your platform on your own website, your own blog, your own newsletter, some things that you can control. And so I really want people to be able to get this book, Mitch. So I set up a website. If they go to publishing offer.com publishing offer.com they can get this book for only $10, including the shipping, along with over $200 worth of free bonuses that they get from me. Now these aren't just rinky dink bonuses. For example, I, I have an audio interview in these bonuses of an author that sold thousands of copies of his book to public libraries. People don't even think about libraries. Libraries have money to buy books.

[Podcast Host (possibly Mitch Carson or Co-host)]

Yes.

[Terry Whelan]

So what, what this author did, he found a list of libraries and then he took an hour or two every day and he called these librarians and pitched him, pitched his book and told them about the benefits of them. And they said, that's a great book. I'll take one or I'll take five or however many they take it. So he would, he would package them up with a little invoice and send them off every day.

[Podcast Host (possibly Mitch Carson or Co-host)]

Was this recent or was this a while back?

[Terry Whelan]

This is a while back, but still any of us could do that kind of thing today. It's hard work, but if you do the work, it'll come back to you. And so that's what this author did.

[Podcast Host (possibly Mitch Carson or Co-host)]

Well, I love the idea of libraries because I interviewed a man. Oh gosh, a few weeks ago, and he had a New York Times, two New York Times bestselling books. Now this man was very well healed financially. He sent two copies of his books, had a team send out two copies of his books to every library in America.

[Terry Whelan]

Wow.

[Podcast Host (possibly Mitch Carson or Co-host)]

And that cost him $220,000, I think was the investment. I think it was more. But he was shy to even share it because New York Times obviously is the Harvard of publishing. Once you get there, you've, you've arrived. I mean, that's a, that's an incredible badge. That's like going to Harvard for us as educated. But he did that to every. So I love the library angle. And that pushed the algorithm of sales. Nobody knows exactly from what I've heard about the New York Times bestseller list, except it's at least 8,000 copies in a week is what I've heard over and over again. Do you, what do you think of that strategy?

[Terry Whelan]

Well, expensive. It's expensive. And I don't, I don't know how it, how it would really work in some ways. You know, would, would the light. Would the librarians add those to their, to their stacks or would they, would, or would they put them out in the, the free book? Free books that people give, give libraries all the time.

[Podcast Host (possibly Mitch Carson or Co-host)]

So he said a combination of both. Because this was recent. This wasn't too long ago, this was recent. And he said in some cases they put it on the shelf because they felt guilty and it Was nice. It was hardcover and then in some cases they put it out free. But it forced consumption because then people would talk about it created virality because the topic was so hot and the book cover was great. And he tested it, did his research in advance and forced himself. New York Times, he did it twice. Two New York Times best only books that he was, he had a buyout, a nine figure buyout of one of his tech companies. So money was no object. Him, he wanted the recognition and he paid for it. And last question, New York Times bestseller. What's a different route than the one I mentioned?

[Terry Whelan]

You know, it can happen organically even to, to get on the New York Times list or the least the USA Today Wall Street Journal bestseller. Our books at Morgan James was actually number 66 last week on the USA Today bestseller list. And I understand from David Hancock that is organic. In other words, they, they just had, you know, they started talking about the book early. They worked on pre sales, they have a new, they had a newsletter, all those kinds of things to encourage people to buy the book. And so can be organic. You don't have to pay a lot of money in order to be able to do that at the end of the day.

[Podcast Host (possibly Mitch Carson or Co-host)]

Okay, so it can be organic. But there are tactics that need to be in play in order to achieve that. Pinnacle definitely, definitely are.

[Terry Whelan]

Let me tell you about one more giveaway I have for your listeners here. Mitch. When I put this book, 10 publishing myths together, Alice Kreider, who was an acquisitions editor who endorsed my book, she wrote me and said, terry, you're missing the 11th myth. I'm like, okay, I'll bite. Alice, what's the 11th myth? She said, well, the 11th myth should be that if I send my book to Oprah Winfrey, she'll book me on her show. And I thought that's a pretty big myth. So what I decided to do is I decided to write that chapter and then because, you know, I mean, Oprah Winfrey has this warehouse in Chicago where people give her stuff and she organizes it all and then gives it away a couple times a year. So if that's where you want your book to be, fine. But I think there's some more effective things that you can do than mailing a book to Oprah Winfrey. So I give that chapter away to people if they go to Terry, terrylinks.com forward slash, 11th myth 11th myth. If you put your first name and email address in there, you get that chapter completely free for me for 10 publishing myths here.

[Podcast Host (possibly Mitch Carson or Co-host)]

So Oprah's show is no longer though.

[Terry Whelan]

Well, she's, she's still talking about books though. She's still interviewing people. She's still got the, the Sunday Soul and all the online things that she does. So she's, she's still doing things. People still, I'm sure, send her books for her for the O magazine and all that kind of stuff.

[Podcast Host (possibly Mitch Carson or Co-host)]

Well, that's an interesting tactic and, or, or myth, but that interesting story. Well, Terry, you've been a fantastic guest. I know your time is valuable. You've got publishing offer.com which is where people can pick up your book for $10 and all the bonuses. I'm going to take action on this because I know that oftentimes the bonuses are even more valuable than the intended product. And some of these, yeah, so you know the info, I was in the infomercial business, so I know that from my past is say, yeah, some of these bonuses drive the sales more than the actual product that's being demoed. So I'm going to embrace it. Everybody else can embrace it. I would love to have you back as a guest because the wealth of information that you have been able to accumulate over these years begets a second interview. And I would love to extend that formally to you on the air for next time.

[Terry Whelan]

That's fantastic, Mitch. I'd love to, I'd love to do that.

[Podcast Host (possibly Mitch Carson or Co-host)]

All right. Thank you for your time today, Terry.

[Terry Whelan]

Thank you.

[Mitch Carson]

Thanks for tuning in to the Amazing Authorities podcast. If today's episode inspired you, take a moment to subscribe, rate and leave a review. It helps more experts like you rise to the top for behind the scenes access and free resources to boost your authority. Head to MitchCarson.com until next time. Stay amazing.