Author Spotlight interview with Ashley Wong and Alan Walton
I was recently asked to give a talk on marketing, which I named 'Beyond the Book'. Because my best piece of advice is to start marketing your book from the moment you start writing it. If not before!
When you start to talk about your book and do your research in the early stages, you will find out what your readers want to see in it (otherwise, you risk writing a book that no one wants to buy or read).
Two people who embraced this advice were Ashley Wong and Alan Walton, authors of Choose the Right Letting Agent: A Property Investor’s Guide who recently completed the Smart Author System programme.
Sheryl Andrews interviewed Alan and Ashley for our Author Spotlight series to chat about their book writing journey. You can watch it here or click to listen to the audio.
Here are some of the biggest insights.
Engage with your readers early on, whether this is through a survey or other research. Ashley and Alan came up with a list of questions that helped them to build up the contents of their book. They identified the problems that their ideal readers were facing so that they knew to solve them in their book.
In the book there are case studies that show how what they share works in practice. They also involved their readers when choosing the cover, and people voted for their favourites. Another great marketing tool!
By working together, they identified the processes that they each had. This, coupled with the research, formed the solid framework for the book.
In the interview, Ashley and Alan shared their experience of writing a book together, bearing in mind that they have different styles. As someone who assisted them during the developmental stages of their book, as well as supporting them with the Smart Author System, they merged very well, and they had a unique voice by the time they’d finished writing it.
They have created a really great guide for anyone who wants to let out their property and want to find the best letting agent to manage it for them, so they have no hassle or stress.
You can get a copy of Ashley and Alan’s book, available now on Kindle here.