Leadership In Law Podcast

08 The Magic of Short Books - Shooks with Mike Capuzzi

• Marilyn Jenkins • Season 1 • Episode 8

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Unlock the secrets of effective client attraction with Mike Capuzzi, a distinguished publisher, author, and book publishing coach. In our latest episode of Leadership in Law, Mike introduces us to his revolutionary concept of short, helpful books, or shooks, and their unparalleled potential as marketing tools for attorneys and business owners. You’ll gain insights into Mike’s meticulous approach to crafting these impactful books that not only establish you as an authority but also serve as powerful lead magnets to elevate your professional practice.

Discover how to create clear pathways for reader engagement with actionable strategies shared by Mike. Learn why placing active calls to action at the beginning of your book and offering hidden resource pages packed with valuable content can significantly boost client interaction. We also delve into innovative tactics like incorporating QR codes and URLs to provide readers with easy access to additional resources. This episode is packed with success stories from attorneys who have harnessed these methods to differentiate themselves and secure speaking engagements.

Finally, unlock the full potential of lead generation through book funnels. Hear firsthand accounts of attorneys who have transformed their client acquisition strategies by offering free books or charging only for shipping, leading to high-quality client lists and significant financial gains. We also discuss the importance of keeping book costs low and strategic distribution through local bookstores and partnerships. Don’t miss out on our closing thoughts, where we extend our gratitude to our listeners, encourage you to subscribe, and invite you to visit lawmarketingzone.com for more resources to keep growing your law firms.

Mike Capuzzi is an Amazon bestselling author, publisher and coach for business owners and sharp, aggressive entrepreneurs looking to get to the next level in their business. Throughout his 27 years in marketing and 24 years as a consultant, Mike’s diligent and innovative use of High Impact Marketing has consistently surpassed the expectations and outcomes of traditional “corporate” marketing concepts and business strategies for his clients. 

This expertise has led him to be a guest speaker on the stages of some of the world’s most foremost experts on marketing, including Dan Kennedy, Bill Glazer, Rory Fatt, Ed Rush, and Julie Steinbacher. To date, Mike has helped thousands of business owners create more profitable marketing.

In 2019, Mike launched Bite Sized Books, a new publishing venture founded on his proven formula for creating short, helpful books (known as shooks) for business owners, entrepreneurs and CEOs

https://bytesizedbooks.com

https://mikecapuzzi.com 


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Speaker 1:

Welcome to the Leadership in Law podcast with host Marilyn Jenkins. Cut through the noise, get actionable insights and inspiring stories delivered straight to your ears your ultimate podcast for navigating the ever-changing world of law firm ownership. In each episode, we dive deep into the critical topics that matter most to you, from unlocking explosive growth to building a thriving team. We connect you with successful firm leaders and industry experts who share their proven strategies and hard-won wisdom. So, whether you're a seasoned leader or just starting your journey as a law firm owner, the Leadership in Law podcast is here to equip you with the knowledge and tools you need to build a successful and fulfilling legal practice.

Speaker 2:

Welcome to another episode of the Leadership in Law podcast. I'm your host, marilyn Jenkins. Please join me in welcoming my guest, mike Capuzzi, to the show today. Mike is a publisher, author and book publishing coach and has been helping clients create exceptional marketing results. He is an author of 20 books, including two Amazon number one bestsellers the 100-Page Book and the Magic of Short Books. His publishing company, bite Size Books, helps business owners, entrepreneurs and corporate leaders publish short, business-boosting books to elevate their authority and distinguish them in their respective field. Get ready for an insightful conversation packed with actionable marketing strategies and publishing insight. I am excited to have you here, mike Welcome.

Speaker 3:

Marilyn, thank you very much. Because of your skillset, we're going to bring you on to a special session you're going to do for one of my key audiences. So, yeah, I really I'm looking forward to now talking to you about what we do.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely. I mean it's. You know, writing a book can be such a big project that you just can't move forward with because it just feels so pushing a stone uphill, but you're I love that you've coined the phrase shook. Can you tell me that you know, explain what you're doing? What are the top three reasons that a business owner would want to consider publishing a book? And then you know how would they go about it? Let's, let's start with why, and that sort of thing.

Speaker 3:

All right, I actually I going to go back to 1989 for a second, if you don't mind, because it was a year after I graduated college with an engineering degree from Penn State. So in 1989, I was actually working in an engineering company and I only bring that up, marilyn, because I think like an engineer, even though I migrated from engineering and technical to marketing in an engineering software company eventually, and then on to my own marketing company, I still, even all these years later, I have this analytical brain and one of the skill sets I have is being able to deconstruct things and making complex ideas a lot simpler. It's just something I've really been known for over the years, and I've done that with writing a nonfiction book. So we're talking nonfiction books, typically business focused, so something to promote either yourself as a business owner, entrepreneur, corporate leader or on a business topic. So that's what we're focusing and really have developed a very unique formula. I'm also have Italian in me, so I like to cook. So I'd rather say I developed a really good recipe for a short, helpful book which is a shook, right? So our brand is a shook. It's a term I coined to differentiate ourself from everyone else who does this, and it stands for short, helpful book. And these are short, nonfiction, business focused books that take about an hour for a typical person to read. So they're not little pamphlets, they are real books, right, and they're very specific. Marilyn, from front cover to back cover and this is one of our lawyer clients for helping people solve IRS problems here in the States and from the front cover to the back cover and everything in between, marilyn, I have a recommended suggested recipe for what goes where and why it goes there over. We've done now, oh, she's well over 250 clients, including my own 20 shooks plus my own 20 shooks. That really works well. These are lead generation, lead magnet type books.

Speaker 3:

But now to your specific question of why should a business owner or an entrepreneur, an attorney, a firm, et cetera, consider this? Well, I mean, you and I both know you are a multi-book author. You know the power of being a published book author when it comes to differentiating yourself, when it comes to attracting better clients, when it comes to attracting speaking engagements, podcasting, it's just. You know, I always say, if there's two, let's just use lawyers for a moment. If there's two lawyers, let's see I'm going to pick out. All right, here's one, here's one of our attorneys. He wrote a little shook on trademark. You know how to do trademark for online businesses. If you're investigating two attorneys to help you with trademarks and one is a published book author and one isn't, and everything else is the same for all intents and purposes, odds for all intents and purposes, odds are the expert that has written a book is more likely to get your business If everything else remains the same. So that's the power. It's really about differentiating yourself as a published book author.

Speaker 3:

Books have been used for well over a hundred years for business owners and businesses to differentiate themselves. So I'll shut up here in a sec. But it's you know again. Books don't get thrown away. Business cards get thrown away, right? I always say, like you know, it's the one marketing media that will never get thrown away. It'll maybe get put on a bookshelf, it may be sitting on your desk, may get passed on to somebody, but unlike brochures, pamphlets, all the typical marketing media, printed marketing media they typically don't get thrown away. So I just dumped on you a lot. But that's sort of why I think lawyers in particular make very good shook offers.

Speaker 2:

Well, I think you're right. We're all looking for a good lead magnet that actually will stand the test of time. And as a local business, you know you've got a local audience. You want to make sure you're right. Nobody's going to throw a book away. They may pass it on or put it on a bookshelf. You got really good points there. So it's like around 100 page book can be read in about an hour. So how long would it take on average to write that book? I mean, you've got your processes. I love the step-by-step, so you're leading them through how to do it and about how much time does that project take?

Speaker 3:

It is a great question. As a matter of fact, one of our lawyer clients she has the record, she holds the record she was speaking at an event, a legal event she's an elder law attorney and she was a keynote speaker and she said listen, I got this great opportunity. I'm on stage Now. She has published a bunch of with us for her clients on Alzheimer's disease, you know, Alzheimer's, dementia, et cetera, but that's for the end user client. She is now speaking to a bunch of other attorneys and she had this idea for a shook that she could talk about and give away at that event. And from the idea of our first conversation to literally printed copies being sent to her at the event was 23 days Now that's a record.

Speaker 3:

We just had another non-lawyer client do two shooks in about a month and a half, but she was pretty far down the process when she came to us. On average, marilyn, it's about an 8 to 12-week process. I have this again that engineer brain, a very methodical process to walk our clients through this process. They work directly with me and in about 8 to 12 weeks it can be quicker. Unfortunately, it can also be longer if you attend a delay delay but that eight to 12 week process and these are real books this is again. This is not AI generated content that you can flip out in a weekend Not that that's a bad thing, but that's not what we're talking about here. This is really about putting your thoughts into a book that's going to be published, and whether it's available on Amazon or you're just giving it away in your law firm, that would be up to you.

Speaker 2:

Okay, and so what would be your special sauce? Is that going to be your process that you put together? What is the special sauce to help write that?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, so it's two things Again, great question. So the special sauce for us and that's something that we always work with our clients on to articulate in their shook. So their shook, you know, describes why they do what they do and why it's different from the competition and why it's unique and why it's beneficial to the reader. So in our case, for my company, bite Size Books, it's not only the process of doing it, how we do it, but really it's about the format of the book, of the shook, to create engagement from readers, to get readers from reading the shook, going through it, to then, let's say, use you if you were an attorney that wrote a shook, to reaching out to you. And one of the unique things, marilyn, that we do in our shooks is we have two pathways and this is even going to be beneficial to you as a book author. So if your books are going to be on Amazon, for example, or online, you know someone's selling them that you don't know about Amazon, barnes and Noble, whatever you'll never find out who gets your book right.

Speaker 3:

They'll buy it they'll get it on Kindle. You don't know that. So you need to embed things in the book to try to get those readers to opt into your email list. In our world we call that the passive call to action. So that's ways for people who are reading your book, who want more information. So you're going to make an exchange, you're going to offer them additional value, but in return for name and email. So now you're building an email list from your book.

Speaker 3:

The active call to action that's the primary thing are in household product injury. You know they help people that have been injured by household products. And their active call to action, which is the main thing they want interested readers to do, which is not typically a small percentage because not everybody is ready to move on is. I don't know if you can see that there, but it says have a consultation with the authors. So they're they are using their book to say listen, if you want to discuss your potential case, let's get on and have a meeting. So again, remember I said front cover, very first page. It's also it's also the very last page of the book and it's done very intentionally and it's also sprinkled in the book.

Speaker 3:

But there's reasons we do that. I won't go in here now, but there's reasons we do it that way. But, yes, the active thing is okay. I want them to call me, set up a meeting. If you're a retail business, come into my store, whatever it might be. That's the number one thing. The passive thing is hey, am I ready to do that just yet? And I'm speaking as a reader, but I want more information from Marilyn, and I'm speaking as a reader, but I want more information from Marilyn.

Speaker 2:

Okay, so now I've downloaded or read marketing books in the past, just thinking about business books, and a lot of times they'll have a resources portion or link that you can go to the website, opt in to get more resources. That, of course, would be one of your passive calls to action, right? Okay, great, so do you in your processes, your engineering process to write the book. Is that one of the options, if it's something that could be more detailed, that you encourage?

Speaker 3:

Yes and yes, absolutely. And you know it's interesting, marilyn. It's still one of the biggest mistakes I see, even today, in 2024. That now you're a smart marketer, so you know it. You probably use it in your books, but still a lot of nonfiction book authors do not create pathways for readers who want more from you. They don't make, they don't create these clear pathways. They just sort of leave it up to the reader to go, maybe Google and find more information. If someone's interested in you as a book author and your content, it's your responsibility as the book author to provide those pathways. Hey, you ready to? You want to have a meeting with me right now? Go here. Hey, you just want some more information from me? Go here, but don't just leave it. You know, just. You know yes, at minimum. Hey, here's my Facebook or LinkedIn. That's fine, but you want to be intentional with these things. A SHOOK is a very intentional marketing and sales tool, very intentional, everything we do in it. So it's designed to again create that response and obviously results.

Speaker 2:

Well, I like the idea of you having the active call to action in the front of the book. I typically put that in the middle and at the end, so wherever it makes sense to say by the way, book some time with me. But I like the opening because some people it's like the easy button, some people really don't want to read the book but they want to know what can you do for me. And it just goes straight to booking a call. And it's one of the things I've put on even on my webinars, that a straight call to action before they even enter it yep, yep, and and the reason we typically do it there's again.

Speaker 3:

There's some other reasons relative to like amazon and these online things where you can get a sample of the book and just sort of see it, so at least you're seeing, you know someone online might grab it but and opt into your list. But also, typically these beginning pages are typically blank.

Speaker 3:

Right, so it's just, it's not some wham bam, you know it's. It's like. You know he said here if you want, if you're invited, it's very, very thoughtful language. Again, very intentional language. I have tested many, many, many different passive calls to action over the years for myself and the number one that's working for me for and I haven't even changed that, which is very unlikely I haven't even changed it in probably a year or two. Now, marilyn, this is my show, the magic of short books.

Speaker 1:

And again I'm showing on screen.

Speaker 3:

As for those who could see, so you can see, I have a QR code, I have the URL. Make sure you have both. But I have found that a hidden resource page that's on my website. It's behind an opt-in but it's hidden. The only people that are finding that or knowing about it are my Shook readers, and I have a ton of valuable content that makes you know the small price of the book just a no-brainer for all the additional benefits they get. And again, everything I put on that resource page is very intentional because my goal, just like attorneys would be, is to get clients from my shooks.

Speaker 2:

Right, right. So that's fantastic. I'm loving all of this. You just make it feel so easy to have happen. Tell us a couple of success stories. I know that you and I have spoken in the past and you've shown us some examples. What are you seeing as a success story that's happening with the books?

Speaker 3:

So typically, I mean again as marketers. There's in my world there's like maybe three criteria for success stories. Right, so we've worked with well over 100 attorneys and different attorneys have different goals, right, so it could be speaking from the stage or getting on podcasts and using that book, that short, helpful book as a way to differentiate yourself, to be on there. So differentiate yourself as a speaker, a person with something to say. That's one. A second is lead generation. We have created multiple book funnels for our attorney clients where they're giving away a book typically a paperback version it's a little cheaper than hardcover, not just digital and using that as a beginning step for consumers to say, hey, listen, it's a free book, maybe it's a free book, they just pay shipping, it all depends. And they're using that to build a list. And then they're using follow-up marketing, automated follow-up marketing, crm type stuff to try to get those folks to. You know, whatever the active call to action is, they're advertising that on Facebook, google, whatever. And then the third criteria so lead gen building a list. And then the third thing is giving clients. So I mentioned the attorney, for example, and she's done five or six shooks over the years, literally. Marilyn and I have. I've interviewed her in one of my shooks.

Speaker 3:

She says the reason she publishes books for consumers. Right, the reason she published them for the public is because she has found that her best clients tend to come from a book. They've read one of her books and, for whatever reason, whether they spend more money or they're more educated, whatever it might be, she has shared that with us. But how results for her elder law practice, where she offers services with people and families with dementia and Alzheimer's, literally measured into hundreds of thousands of dollars, where person, the family, the daughter, the son, the husband, the wife, whatever started by grabbing one of her shucks.

Speaker 3:

Actually, here's one. There's her dementia one. You're living with dementia. She's written a whole series so they all kind of look alike living with dementia. And she wrote she's written a whole series so they all kind of look alike. But rather than having one big book on dementia, she's broken it out. Dementia, alzheimer's, alzheimer's, caregivers, she it's. You know that way it's. She can market differently for each audience, but also someone doesn't have to wade through a 300 page book. I think it's better to have three 100 page books.

Speaker 2:

I think it's better to have three 100-page books than one 300-page book. Well, that makes sense because practically every attorney could break out their practice by focus points.

Speaker 3:

I guess you could say Absolutely, absolutely, you got it.

Speaker 2:

Okay, that's excellent. So how would one make money with a SHUK? I mean, okay, we're doing, hopefully're doing, you know, hopefully, lead generation. We're not doing it to sell it.

Speaker 3:

It's not something we're going to put out for to make it a best seller. I mean, if you want to go that, listen, these kinds of books will never become New York times bestseller. That's not, again, not the intention, right, that's not the intent. Yes, they're short and they're helpful, but they're not, they're not intended to be that kind of book. Now, if you want to go for an Amazon bestseller yeah, we've had clients do that.

Speaker 3:

I think the thing I want to stress and you already mentioned it as a nonfiction book author and if you're trying to use them for lead generation and client attraction and client generation, the last thing you want to worry about is making money by selling a book. So I still have seen people create these books, pricing them at $20, $30, $40 because they're valuable. I get that, but most consumers are not going to spend that kind of money on a book. So the idea is to keep the cost low. Paperback is nice. They're very inexpensive on Amazon or if you print them yourself, you know, and don't worry about making a buck or two selling. It's about it's always about that long tail of trying to get readers to become clients. That's where you make your money on the back end.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and I think another good idea is if you're in the local market and there is a local moment bookshop, they normally have a section for local authors. That's a great place to put it out there and you never know what potential new client is going to pick that up.

Speaker 3:

It's a brilliant strategy. It's one we I have discussed for years. It's one of our proven strategies, especially for local, what I call Main Street business owners, is developing a strategic partner network. Can I share a quick story? Sure, absolutely, definitely one. As a matter of fact, I wrote a book it's on Amazon called the Magic of Free Books. So it goes to the idea of don't worry about selling the book, give it away. And that's one of the strategies, them very unique type of practice.

Speaker 3:

And what he did and he was in a pretty, not a major city, but a pretty large city in the in the United States and once his shook was done, marilyn, it was for people who are very holistic with their approach to health, very natural approach to health. So he was a very holistic type of dentist. He went out to yoga studios, chiropractors, places where people who believe and have the same philosophy would be hanging out, and he asked he knew many of the owners of these businesses but regardless, he asked if he could just display his shook and it was a little sign. I have it right over here. You know, free book, take one if you'd like.

Speaker 3:

Year. You know, free book, take one if you'd like. And he was letting these places where his potential patients would be found, but using other people's customers as a lead gen source. And within the first I think it was the first forget now because it's been a few years, I think it was the first 30 days he got three new patients that worked at the chiropractor or at the natural food store, grabbed his shook and said, hey, I need a dentist like this. So to your point of getting it out there in the local, whether it's a local bookstore, which is another resource, or what I call strategic partners, very smart strategy.

Speaker 2:

Wow, Fantastic. So this has been incredibly enlightening about writing a book and getting it out there and just being known as a, as a published author and for lead generation. What I know that you have some gifts for our listeners. What are they and how can they get them for me?

Speaker 3:

Thank you. It's actually three shucks. Now I'm not going to send you the paperback, but literally from 20 seconds of hearing this, you could be reading these. We also do these little things. So here's a shuck. Right, it's a little smaller in size. We also use a little mini shucks, so I wrote a little show called the magic of gratitude.

Speaker 3:

It's a little gift book, by the way. I know we've we've had attorneys. I this one. I typically license or include it as a bonus for our clients and they can put their name on it. It's just a collection of gratitude inspired quotations. Nice little gift book. Attorneys love this little thing, like they include it as a new client gift or if they're in a trade, you know, in an event. So the magic gratitude you get a copy of that. You get a copy of a digital copy of the magic of working together. And then one of my Amazon bestsellers, the magic of short books, which was the very first shook I wrote about shook. My entire formula is there. The entire, from front cover to back cover, is laid out there. You would never have to work with me, but if you wanted to, there's opportunities to work with me and our team in that shook. So to get we call that our magic kit To get that magic kit, marilyn, you go to mikecapuzzicom forward, slash magic.

Speaker 2:

Wow, okay, I'll definitely include that in the show notes. That's excellent. I'm excited about this. Like I said, your process makes the idea of becoming a published author so much easier than you know. It's one of those tasks you just never get to because it feels so big, and I love that your process makes it feel attainable and it can happen in just a few weeks. So that's been really enlightening, thank you, and thank you for sharing some of those examples. That's really full. I know my listeners are going to want to keep up with you and maybe connect with you. Where can we connect and learn more about you?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, so mikecapuzzicom, no-transcript members.

Speaker 2:

Very exciting. Well, this has been fantastic. I'm looking forward to checking out your magic package and I'd love to see that. I like the idea that the gift book as well. You know we think about using it as lead generation, but having that gift book in your welcome package, which many attorneys have a welcome package, and that's a great add-on for that. Mike, thank you so much. This has been a great opportunity to chat with you further and learn about how to get my own shook published and how clients can do that and be more known as a thought leader in their area.

Speaker 3:

Well, Marilyn, I appreciate it, and just keep on fighting the good fight and doing all the good great you know great work you're doing.

Speaker 2:

Thank you All. Right, everybody. Thank you so much for listening today. Thanks for joining me today for this episode. As we wrap up, I'd love for you to do two things. First, subscribe to this podcast so you don't miss an episode, and if you find value here, I'd love it if you would rate it and review it. That really does make a difference in helping other people to discover this podcast. Second, you can connect with me on LinkedIn to keep up with what I'm currently learning and thinking about. And if you're ready to take the next step with a digital strategist to help you grow your law firm, I'd be honored to help you. Just go to lawmarketingzonecom to book a call with me. Stay tuned for our next episode next week. Until then, as always, thanks for listening to Leadership in Law podcast and be sure to subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts so you don't miss the next episode.

Speaker 1:

Thanks for joining us on another episode of the Leadership in Law podcast. Remember you're not alone on this journey. There's a whole community of law firm owners out there facing similar challenges and striving for the same success. Head over to our website at lawmarketingzonecom. From there, connect with other listeners, access valuable resources and stay up to date on the latest episodes. Don't forget to subscribe and leave us a review on your favorite podcast platform. Until next time, keep leading with vision and keep growing your firm.