Naren Aryal is one of the most revolutionary voices in the world of hybrid publishing. This week on Playmakers, we benefit from his amazing perspective from decades of speaking, publishing, and innovation experience. Buckle up for an amazing ride.
There’s a Book Inside You (ft. Naren Aryal, CEO, Amplify Publishing Group)
Naren Aryal on publishing and profiting from your passions
OPENING QUOTE:
“I advocate for sharing as broadly and as widely as possible. When you do that, you get the benefit of their review, their response, and more importantly, there are questions that are going to challenge you.”
—Naren Aryal
GUEST BIO:
As CEO of Amplify Publishing Group, Naren Aryal advises industry experts and thought leaders on the opportunities and challenges that exist in the ever-evolving world of publishing. He launched a company with a single title in 2003 and guided it to become one of the fastest growing and most respected hybrid publishing companies in the world. Prior to entering the world of books, Naren worked as a lawyer, advising tech companies in the DC area, and is now a frequent speaker on all things publishing and author branding.
Show Links:
CORE TOPICS + DETAILS:
[20:13] - The Power of the One Pager
Where an idea begins its transformation into a book
Have an idea but don’t know how to turn it into a book? Naren advises starting with a one-pager. This is a single sheet of paper or Word document that contains:
This one pager can then be shown to people whose opinions you trust to receive feedback, guidance, and inspiration.
Now you have a launch pad for your book.
[24:44] - The Subtitle’s Essential Role
Your contract with your reader
Naren stresses the importance of a book’s subtitle, calling it “the contract you make with a potential reader where you tell the reader what the book is and the value it’s going to deliver.”
A subtitle should be clear, catchy, and attention-grabbing. It should answer, “What’s in it for me?” If your readers don’t believe that their life, business, or career is going to level up because they took the time to read your book, then you don’t stand a chance. As Paul says, “You’ve lost the game before kickoff.”
[32:42] - Framing Your Book
Understanding and communicating your big idea
Framing your book and its central idea is essential to differentiate it from the hundreds of leadership books written every year. Your unique take should follow the 80/20 rule— 80% of what you say should fit into what people generally already believe, with 20% encompassing the brand-new, innovative, transformative ideas that are unique to you. It’s the “spoonful of sugar” concept— give people something that will shake them out of their comfort zone by delivering it in concepts they’re already comfortable with accepting.
[40:44] - Feedback: The Lifeblood of New Authors
Don’t hide away in a basement until your book is done
Naren is an advocate for sharing your one-pager, early drafts, and book ideas as broadly and as widely as possible, particularly with people you respect. When you do, you get the benefit of their review, their feedback, and questions they can ask that will challenge you. This process is extremely revealing and is the major step in turning that one-pager into a 10-page outline, then a rough draft, and finally a completed manuscript.
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The WHY Institute
Are you ready to find your ‘why’? Our partners at the WHY Institute have created the single most high-impact assessment for finding your personal why in life and work. In just five minutes, discover more about who you are, how you think, and why you do what you do than any other personal assessment available.
The best part? It’s completely free for Playmakers listeners. Are you ready to find our WHY in just five minutes? Take your assessment now.
ABOUT THE HOST:
Paul Epstein may not be a hard charging running back on the actual football field, but his list of high-profile wins in the world of sports will have you thinking that he could be.
Paul has spent nearly 15 years as a pro sports executive for multiple NFL and NBA teams, a global sports agency, and the NFL league office. He’s transformed numerous NBA teams from the absolute bottom in league revenue to top-two in financial performance. He’s broken every premium revenue metric in Super Bowl history as the NFL’s sales leader. He opened a billion-dollar stadium, helped save the New Orleans NBA franchise, and founded the San Francisco 49ers Talent Academy.
He's since installed his leadership and high-performance playbook with Fortune 500 leaders, Founders and CEOs, MBAs, and professional athletes.
Now, as a global keynote speaker, #1 bestselling author, personal transformation expert, turned senior leader and advisor to PurposePoint and the Why Institute, and host of the Playmakers: On Purpose podcast, Paul explores how living and working with a focus on leadership, culture, and purpose can transform organizations and individuals anywhere to unleash their full potential.
Learn more about Paul at PaulEpsteinSpeaks.com
ABOUT PLAYMAKERS: ON PURPOSE:
The Playmakers: On Purpose podcast is an all-access pass to a purpose-centered tribe of leaders in business, sports, and life who are on a mission of meaning and impact. The show takes purpose from an out of reach North Star to a practical and tactical exploration of how we can step into each day, ON PURPOSE, where life no longer happens “to us”, it begins to happen “for us”.
From the Why Coach of the San Francisco 49ers to your coach, take a seat at the table with sports industry executive, #1 bestselling author, personal transformation expert, turned senior leader and advisor to PurposePoint and the Why Institute, Paul Epstein, in this inspiring, yet immediately actionable podcast.
From formative stories pre-purpose to personal and professional transformation’s post-purpose, each show will share a high-energy, prescriptive blueprint to ignite impact and drive inner success, fulfillment, and purpose no matter your starting point. It’s time to meet Paul at the 50 and get ready to live and lead ON PURPOSE.
Learn more at: PlaymakersPod.com
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As a nod to the past, Detroit Podcast Studios leverages modern versions of Motown’s processes to launch today’s most compelling podcasts. What Motown was to musical artists, Detroit Podcast Studios is to podcast artists today.
With over 75 combined years of experience in content development, audio production, music scoring, storytelling, and digital marketing, Detroit Podcast Studios provides full-service development, training, and production capabilities to take podcasts from messy ideas to finely tuned hits. Here’s to making (podcast) history together.
Learn more at: DetroitPodcastStudios.com
CREDITS:
Naren Aryal:
I advocate for sharing as broadly and as widely as possible. When you do that, you get the benefit of their review, their response, and more importantly, there are questions that are going to challenge you.
Paul Epstein:
Welcome to Playmakers. I'm your host, Paul Epstein, 15 year NFL and NBA business exec, widely known as the 49ers Why Coach. Now, your coach. Join me on this journey from why, to purpose, to impact. The key to it all, taking action. Prepare to get tactical as our guests share their daily playbook, where purpose no longer has to be a distant north star, it can become a 365 way of life. Let's go.
Playmakers, it's about that time to welcome Naren Aryal into the conversation. As CEO of Amplified Publishing Group, Naren advises industry experts and thought leaders on the opportunities and challenges that exist in the ever evolving world of publishing. He launched a company with a single title in 2003 and guided it to what it is today. One of the fastest growing and most respected hybrid publishing companies in the world. Prior to entering the world of books, Naren worked as a lawyer, advising tech companies in the DC area, and is now a frequent speaker on all things publishing and author branding, which is how we met. Many playmakers own a copy of my book, The Power of Playing Offense. Naren and Team Amplify are the publishing geniuses behind it all. Maybe there's a book inside of you. To find out, let's welcome Naren Aryal into into the Playmakers Podcast.
Naren, welcome to Playmakers. How we doing?
Naren Aryal:
We're great, Paul. Great to be on.
Paul Epstein:
Absolutely, man. I'm fired up. I feel like this has been years in the making. So for all playmakers listening in, you may or may not have read this, some would say, awesome and amazing book called The Power of Playing Offense. And if so, that was brought to you by Amplify Publishing, and Naren is the proud CEO of Amplify Publishing. So that is how we met. And since, it has become just an amazing friendship, and there's many more things to come in the future. So Naren, how'd I do for an intro? Is that okay?
Naren Aryal:
That's fantastic, Paul. The Power of Playing Offense was quite a journey, and it's a fantastic book. We're really proud of our work there.
Paul Epstein:
Absolutely. And what I'll give a massive shout out, and Naren, he always gives me some elbows on this one. He says that I took the designer to the grinder. So if The Power of Playing Offense looks like a work of art, Paul Epstein has nothing to do with that. All the credit and shout out to the wonderful team at Amplified.
And so with that, Naren, we are going to get into some more about books and publishing and thought leadership. And I really want to loop in all playmakers, because I think there's playmakers out there that might have a message inside of them. They might have a story that they want to share with the world. They that big idea, but maybe they don't know where to start. So we'll certainly get to that point. But for all playmakers, please be thinking if that is you, today's conversation should deliver tremendous value.
But Naren, talk to us about early stage life journey. Just where you were born, all that good stuff, and eventually we'll get into the early professional days.
Naren Aryal:
Sure. So I was born in Nepal, and I'm going to guess that I'm the first playmaker guest to have been born in Nepal. Is that a fair assumption?
Paul Epstein:
It's a fair assumption.
Naren Aryal:
Okay, great. So born in Nepal. My family immigrated to the States when I was young, four years old. And for the most part, I grew up in the west, in Colorado for my formative years, and then I moved to Virginia during high school, I ended up at Virginia Tech. I'm a proud Hokie. Go Hokies. And then I went back to Colorado for law school and that was 1.0 of my career as a lawyer. Yes, it is true. I was a lawyer.
Paul Epstein:
A lawyer. All right. So, a lawyer. And I happen to be married to one, and so I have a lot of inside jokes about lawyers, and they don't come from me. My wife tells me all the dirty secrets of being an attorney and all this. So let me ask you this, all right.
Naren Aryal:
Yep.
Paul Epstein:
New book, Better Decisions Faster, which you know well. We have this thing called green, yellow, and red lights. A green light is when you're heading hard or on board. A yellow is when only one of the two is on board. A red is when neither is on board. So clearly I'm not interviewing you today as a lawyer. That is a former chapter. So for you, at one point was it a green and did it change, or was it a yellow, red? But talk to me about that chapter.
Naren Aryal:
Yeah, that's a great question. So it was never actually, looking back, it was never actually a full green. It did start with a yellow. And going into the profession ... First of all, being a lawyer is a fantastic profession. It provides a good baseline and background for just about anything you might do afterwards. And you know there's plenty of lawyers that aren't practicing law. So I went into it with a yellow, because I wasn't really sure what I wanted to do with my life, and it was a way to get back into school, sort of delay adulthood while picking up some really valuable skills. So it was always a yellow, and it was a good way to send myself down a career that provided a good living for myself and my family. But I wasn't passionate about it, and so that's why I was never a green. And then as I went on practicing law for about seven years, that yellow eventually turned into a red, and it was just fortuitous for me because that's when the whole world of books started happening for me. So we can talk more about that as we go, but clearly never green, for me.
Paul Epstein:
Yeah. Okay. So let's hang out here for a bit, because there's probably a lot of playmakers out there that might currently be in a career state that they would describe as yellow, where either their head or their heart is not on board. I'm guessing from the way you describe the yellow, it was your head that was on board, but your heart was never in it. Is that a fair assumption?
Naren Aryal:
That is totally fair. Head on board. Heart, couldn't get there.
Paul Epstein:
Got it. So if I'm listening in and what if my head is on board for what I'm currently doing, and I know it's been years. My heart is just not into it. What advice or perspective would you have for somebody that's currently in that career state of mind?
Naren Aryal:
Well, I think there's a lot of people in that career state of mind. So this isn't a unique problem to me. And so my advice would be, look, life is short. You have to do something that you're passionate about. It's that simple. Change can occur today, in a week, a year, or three years. And so if you know that your heart isn't in something, you should be taking steps to extract yourself from that situation and move yourself into the direction that is has you pursuing your real passion.
Paul Epstein:
Yeah. And two things to share on that, Naren, and let me know how this lands with you, but a couple pieces. So there's a good yellow and a bad yellow. One of the yellows, I believe, it's worth staying in the fight. And then there's another that ... And frankly, the second one is the one that you described, which is how often is our heart really changing? Your mind can change overnight. There could be one conversation that totally flips the way you think about the world, and your life, and your career. So a head change is more possible. It's not easy, but it's more possible. How often is our heart changing day to day? Whether it's a bad relationship with a company or a person, you think things are going to be different on Tuesday than Monday, and different on Wednesday than ... So it's kind of one of those, and I'm just going to be very direct here. We're kind of lying to ourselves if we think that our heart is going to change overnight. So it's just that authenticity test of when are we going to step into that?So that's one piece. But then the opposite for a playmaker listening in, I run into folks that their heart is on board, but maybe their head is having some challenges. And one example, I just spoke to a young lady, she's working in the nonprofit space, she loves it. She is so mission driven, she is so impact focused, but she could barely pay the rent. And so the head is just presenting some financial stress, but her heart loves what she does. And so what we were talking about in a coaching convo was just how to stay in that fight. Because she tackled the more important of the two. It's hard to find what your heart is on board for. So I just wanted to share that perspective out with playmakers. And if you have a reaction to that Naren, on either side, would love to hear it.
Naren Aryal:
Yeah. There's no real right answer that's applicable across the board. And there's so many variables and so many considerations. And so sure, it's easy to say drop everything today and follow your heart. There are some practical considerations. This person you're talking about sounds like the perfect test case for that theory.
Paul Epstein:
Yeah, yeah. For sure. All right, so leaning in here. So you mentioned a point in life and point in professional career where books and publishing started to potentially emerge. But before we get into the professional side of publishing, is there an origin story of maybe where you fell in love with books? Some folks love the read, they love a good book. And it could be a professional context or a personal context, but is there an origin story for you on where that love came from?
Naren Aryal:
Yeah, so I love sharing the story of how I got into the world of books. So I was a lawyer. I worked at venture funded technology companies in Northern Virginia. I was with three different ones, had stock options. This was late '90s, early 2000s, and all three met a fiery demise. Such as the time, as the .com bubble. The first one. And so I was on the bench trying to figure out what I was going to do next. And my daughter, who was three at the time, wanted a children's book about my alma maters mascot.I mentioned I went to Virginia Tech, and so on a drive home from a football game, we drafted this little children's book, me and my wife called Hello Hokie Bird. Hokie Bird is the proud turkey mascot of the Virginia Tech Hokies, and so with simple illustrations, my daughter loved the book. She loved hearing about the simple story of the mascot going around campus, stopping at four or five landmarks on his way to the big game, where he of course cheers the team to victory. And so what we found was she loved it. I had some time on my hands, we decided we're going to get a license from the university, and we're going to prepare this book. And that's how we got our start. Hello Hokie Bird was title number one that we published.
Paul Epstein:
Oh my gosh, that's so cool. So then that's an amazing peak behind the curtain on the family side. How does that transform into a business?
Naren Aryal:
One day, and this feeling, Paul, I got 5000 books. Showed up in my driveway. Very happy day. It was a beautiful book. And then quickly turned into a very scary day because I didn't know anything about selling books, marketing books, or anything along those lines. But what we had is we had a connection to the target market, and so we went and got the book into all the right bookstores and fan shops, and we found an untapped niche market opportunity at the intersection of children's books and licensed sports products. And so within four months, one fall, we sold 5000 children's books. And that got me thinking, "Hey, my heart isn't in this lawyer thing." This seems to be a successful venture that we've just been through. Why not take this simple idea and do the same thing for other universities? And so that's what we did. In a year's time we had 45 other children's books on the market. Schools like Michigan, you might have heard of-
Paul Epstein:
Oh, go blue. Go blue. You don't even need to continue with the list. It's like mission ... Wait, please. USC.
Naren Aryal:
I was going to say USC. Hello Tommy Trojan. You might have that book. Do you have that book?
Paul Epstein:
Oh my god. Hello Tommy Trojan?
Naren Aryal:
Yeah. Hello Tommy Trojan.
Paul Epstein:
That's you?
Naren Aryal:
That's us.
Paul Epstein:
Oh gosh. All right.
Naren Aryal:
So we did the same thing for other universities, really taking what we learned in our first book and applying it to different markets, because the formula was the same, content that appeals to parents and grandparents wanting to share their love for their alma mater. And so we knew that worked at our school, and so we did the same thing at 45 other schools in a year's time. And then we got a license for Major League baseball, started working with NFL teams, and that's version 1.0 of our company. At the time, it was Mascot Books. We've now rebranded and renamed our company to Amplify Publishing Group. But that's how we got our start.
Paul Epstein:
I never knew. And so is that the reason for the name Mascot, because of the tie to the sports industry? I did not know that.
Naren Aryal:
That's it.
Paul Epstein:
Oh wow. Okay.
Naren Aryal:
It's all clicking now.
Paul Epstein:
Now it's all clicking. I thought I knew you, but apparently not. Okay. But to be clear, so when it went from one, you were still an attorney. That's what I gathered also from what you just said. So at some point in the growth between one and 45, at some point, that is where the leap of faith, if you will, from, "Okay, I'm no longer-"
Paul Epstein:
... the leap of faith, if you will from, "Okay, I'm no longer a practicing attorney into that space." Did it happen in that sprint?
Naren Aryal:
Yeah. What happened is we met success with our initial title, and so that would've been the fall of 2003. And then after that first season, I was counting the number of books we sold, and it was close to 5000. I thought, "Well, what if we did the same thing at 100 colleges?" And so obviously that was a good business plan.
Paul Epstein:
Very cool.
Naren Aryal:
And so at that point, we went all-in, got a mortgage on the house, maxed out the credit cards, and just went all-in chasing our green light.
Paul Epstein:
Entrepreneurial journey, I love it, man. So you mentioned NFL earlier, and just because of my background, NFL, NBA on the business side, there's a lot of sports, and sports business folks, frankly, that are in our Playmaker community. So talk to us about not only the work that you might have done in the professional sports world, but also fast forward, I do want to hear the earliest points of not only Mascot and growing into Amplify, but maybe some of the folks that you met along the way that are in the sports world and how you've had just the honor and pleasure of being able to partner with them on very special projects and books and other things. So just would love to get a sense of the stickiness to the sports industry.
Naren Aryal:
So given our origin story, we just have always had a tie to the world of sports. And one of the things that we did initially is we got celebrity authors to write our books for a specific market. So for example, we did a New York Yankees book, a guy named Yogi Berra authored called Let's Go, Yankees! In Boston, we had a gentleman named Jerry Remy, Rem Dawg, if you're a Boston guy, who authored our four or five Wally the Green Monster books. In Virginia Tech, we eventually worked with Frank Beamer, in Alabama, we worked with famous quarterback, now he's escaping me, Kenny Stabler. We try to partner with some legends in the local market. And so then we just really got to know a lot of folks in the world of sports and as we continued, we were just always seeing some really fantastic sports titles and that continues to this day.
Paul Epstein:
Very cool. So now zooming out, today what is known as Amplify Publishing, you still like Paul Epstein would be one small example of somebody that has a sports business background that you've partnered with, but you're much more.
Naren Aryal:
And you've also got a sports athletic background, Paul.
Paul Epstein:
Oh yes. At 5'9" and a buck 80, I can kick one hell of a field goal. Thank you so much.
Yeah, well look, you do a lot more than partner with folks in the sports world, ton in the business space, ton in the political space, and we can continue, but talk to us a bit about how Mascot eventually grew into Amplify Publishing. And then on the back end, would love to bring our listeners in to better understand the world of publishing. Because I had no freaking clue before I got in the journey. I just assumed that every publisher was a big dog in New York, and I now know that that is not the case. It is actually while big in brand and stature, small a number of outfits there. So just talk to us about how Mascot became Amplify and then also then just break it down for us the publishing state of the union, if you will.
Naren Aryal:
Okay, great. So as we continued, people started coming to us for help with their projects initially in the world of children's books because that's where we had our experts. And then gradually we started publishing other genres as well. We do fiction, we do cookbooks, we do obviously a lot of business and thought leadership books right now. We do political titles. And so we were really one of the pioneers in the hybrid publishing space, which just real quick here for those, some know, some don't, but the hybrid space is the publishing arena between self-publishing on one hand and traditional publishing on the other.
And so we were one of the first companies to play in that space and define that market. And so as time went on, we really got serious about genre diversification and we started doing the things that I enjoy most. And as a business person, I really enjoy business books, I enjoy thought leadership books. And so that became a real emphasis of ours maybe six or seven years ago to the point now where I would say our Amplify imprint, which houses the thought leadership books and your two fantastic books, is probably about 75% of the work we do. And we work with a lot of keynote speakers such as yourself, a lot of CXOs, a lot of people who are just at the top of their game, whatever their game may be.
Paul Epstein:
Love it, love it. So thought leadership, talk to us about... If I'm a Playmaker, and let me connect it to a brand that most folks are very familiar with, Ted. So a TED talk. The whole mission of Ted is what is your big idea worth sharing with the world or your big idea to spread to the world. So everybody wraps their mind around that. Now I can say, "Okay, if that's the spoken word, let's take it to the written word."
And they don't need to be mutually exclusive. In many ways, I think there's folks, I'm one of many folks in the thought leadership space that would say, "No, actually if you can double down on it," and that speech that you have inside of you now turns into a potential book. Where I'm trying to take this is where do I start? If I'm listening to this and I say, "I've always thought about writing a book, but I wouldn't even know where to start. I feel like there's a big idea that I'm passionate about and that's brewing inside of me. But again, I just don't know where to start." How would you advise that Playmaker if that's where they're at?
Naren Aryal:
Great question. So first of all, you have to, well, you don't have to, but you probably should start with what you know, what do you talk about, why people care about what you say. Paul, in your case, you're an expert in leadership and in teams and corporate culture. And so that's where you start because that is where people are going to be interested in what you have to say. So at highest level, that's my answer. But then tactically, what do you do? You got a book and you want to take that first step, which is always the hardest step. And I use this thing called a one pager. It's as simple as it sounds, you should get that idea of a book out of your brain, out of your head onto a single piece of paper or onto a Word document. And that one pager, what it contains simply or the following, a proposed title, a proposed subtitle, five or six sentences about what the book is, what is the big idea.
And then beyond that, you should have a few sentences about your target market. It's important to know who's going to care. And then finally, if you have a book or two what we call comps, you should list that as well. And so this simple one pager gets you started on the journey to create your content. What happens is you can take this one pager and give it to somebody like myself or somebody you trust in your inner circle and say, "Hey, I'm going to write a book. Here's what I'm thinking." And so what will happen is that person will be able to look at your ideas and offer suggestions, ask you questions to help you to take it from a one pager to a three-page outline, to a 12-page outline, to a document, a document that can help you write a manuscript and whether you need a writing coach or a ghost writer. But anyway, that one step, starting the one pager and working with somebody that can help you develop it further has been proven to work time and time again.
Paul Epstein:
Hi Playmakers, it's about that time to discover your why. It only takes five minutes. And on the other side, you will better understand who you are, how you think, and why you do what you do. Here's how you get the assessment. Text the word Y to 310-564-7857. Again, open up a text and send the word Y to 310-564-7857. For coaching after, DM me. For now, let's get back to the show. And just to validate what you just said, Naren, it's funny how years later I feel like I've picked up some seasoning in the space of thought leadership and becoming an author. But I specifically remember the very first phone call that you and I ever had, and I think I had already been talking to a couple folks on your team and then they said, "Hey, let's bring the big dog in, let's bring him in and you're going to meet Naren."And I said, "Game on." And I'm going to clean up the language a little bit. You weren't too bad. It was PG-13 niche rated R. But you basically challenged me because it took me probably five to 10 minutes to explain what would eventually become the power playing offense. So I was not at a one pager. I probably threw up my 10-pager to you. And so you jumped in and you said, "Hey, what's the big idea?" And then where I need to clean up the languages, and you said, "And why should anybody give up?" Yeah. You literally said that. You said, "What's your idea and why should anybody care?" Okay, Let's Go rated G. That's fine. But no, it's very consistent.
And I do want to recap the one pager for everybody because you were very succinct and simple about it. But I also just want to make sure for folks that are taking notes here. So Naren's perspective is if you were to put together a one pager, have a proposed both title and subtitle, about five to six sentences, we could call that the summary or an abstract, whatever you want to call it. It's a summary and-
Naren Aryal:
Can I say one thing about this title and subtitles? So you know this. We've talked title and subtitle so much over [inaudible 00:24:51]-
Paul Epstein:
Exhaustively
Naren Aryal:
Exhaustively, right? The subtitle is where I'm really focused. That's the contract you make with a potential reader where you tell the reader what the book is and the value it's going to deliver. The title need not be so clear, it can be a little catchy, something to just grab your attention. Those are the general rules. Sometimes people sort of stray from the rules, but generally speaking, that's what I say.
Paul Epstein:
Yeah, it's true. Look, the subtitle, it follows what everybody's favorite radio station is, which is, I learned this early in sales training. They said WIIFM, what's in it for me? The subtitle has to answer to the potential reader what's in it for me. Because if they're not convinced that their life or business or career or whatever is going to level up because they took the hours to invest in the read, then you don't have a chance. You lost the game before kickoff. The title, subtitle have to do it. And I know you're bigger on subtitle, something that a mutual friend of ours, Rory Vaden, who we both know in different contexts, but one perspective he gave me about the title is, there's a series of tests, but the one that really resonated with me the most is he calls it the "I Want" Test.
So fill in the blank. "I want..." blank. And so my new book Better Decisions Faster, I want to make better decisions faster. Boom, done. It passes the test. It doesn't mean you're going to buy, it just gets me to the next phase of consideration to somebody that's surfing around on Amazon or that came across my book in another way. Do I want whatever the title is, and then to your point, that subtitle is the contract with the reader about what's in it for you?
Naren Aryal:
Absolutely. And by the way, you got to go through the process to land on the right title and subtitle for your project. And Paul, you went through the process.
Paul Epstein:
Oh my gosh. Well folks, if you ever want to potentially, and look, it's Amplify, I think the batting percentage here, correct me if I'm wrong, you accept about 15%, one five, 15% of the proposals?
Naren Aryal:
Yeah. That's correct.
Paul Epstein:
Okay, So folks, if you were to take a swing with Amplify, not saying it's a guarantee, clearly 15% success rate, but if you ever do, and if you ever talk to this guy named Naren, you can do what I did and change the subtitle about 20 times, he will love you over and over. I think I was tough client.
Naren Aryal:
Wait, we get along still. We still get along.
Paul Epstein:
I know. It's all a bear hug and adult beverages get us through it. Okay, so getting back to the one pager, title, subtitle, a summary, which is about five to six sentences, who your target market is. And Naren said comps, the comparables. If there were two or three comparables that you would say, "Okay, in my genre, in my niche, who are the books that I would model this after? Those are just good ones to study?" Let me ask you a questionnaire and then we'll come back into unpacking more of what's in the one pager, because I think it's really fascinating.
Paul Epstein:
Unpacking more of what's in the one pager because I think it's really fascinating. All right. There's two avatars I'm thinking of that could be listening in. One has a day job, so they're thriving. You said a CXO, or it could just be, hey, a manager, a director, a vice president, somebody that is a career climber and they're doing well and they want to write a book versus there's others that are like me that go all in to the world of thought leadership. If you were talking to Paul at the 49ers, and I still had my day job, that would've been the first avatar. But now the Paul of today fits in the mold of the second one. If I'm listening in, do you have any perspective, I'm sure there's pros and cons, and we can always get into the exceptions, but as a general rule of thumb, just best practices, if you currently are in that day job, you're in that career climbing, you don't have a thought of becoming an entrepreneur, you're just going, but there's a message inside you versus if you were all in on thought leadership, and would you approach the process differently in those two avatars?
Naren Aryal:
Yeah. I think in the second approach, we'll say the current Paul approach, your content is everything, it's your livelihood, and so it's so important, it's so important to have a book as a part of your overall platform. I'm not saying the book should be the only part of your platform because that's not why we do a book. I'd say in your situation, it's critical and it lends a lot of credibility whereas the first situation, the old Paul who was with the 49ers, he still had some time. It wasn't as critical in terms of where you were in your thought leadership journey.
Paul Epstein:
Right. Now let's say that the old Paul would want to do it, somebody listening in that I'm not going to name a name, but let's say there's a executive with AT&T that I was introduced to through Amplify, and the plan is to ride the wave and stay AT&T for a period of time here till the end of a career. Why write a book?
Naren Aryal:
Yeah, let just offer a clarification. In your initial example, you said somebody who was in middle management. I'd say the rules are a little different if you're in the CXO level, because then-
Paul Epstein:
Okay.
Naren Aryal:
... because you've theoretically arrived to a certain level of success and have certain following and certain credentials that more people are going to want to know about your expertise and your pathway and your ascension to where you are today, so slightly different rules in example one. There's one in 1A in terms of where exactly you are in the corporate or entrepreneurial, where you are presently.
Paul Epstein:
Yeah. So happy you put that line in the sand. Just to be clear with everybody listening in, if you're a CXO at a Fortune 500 and you've achieved a certain level of success and the trophies and the accolades and all that good stuff that comes with it, your cred is going to be higher and so to Naren's point, there might be more folks that are tuning in to see what that piece of thought leadership is that you share. It doesn't mean you can't write a book as a mid-level manager or whatever the case is, even as a frontline contributor, it just means there might have to be a unique spin on it. Maybe here's a question I didn't plan on asking you Naren, but now it feels right. Do you have to write a book that is tied to what you do? Or if I was a manager, I'm a sales manager, I don't want to write a sales book. I don't want to write a management book. I want to write a book that's about something different. You mentioned a kid's book earlier. I'm a parent of three. Does it have to be tied to your profession or are there some examples that fall in a different space?
Naren Aryal:
Yeah, it doesn't necessarily have to be tied to your profession, but for potential readers, they're going to be most interested in you because of what you've done professionally, unless of course you've got this incredible personal story, which by definition isn't going to be tied to your profession, it's going to be about something that is interesting that happened to you over here as opposed to your work.
Paul Epstein:
Mm. All right. Well said, yeah. Couldn't have laid it out any simpler or better. All right. Getting back to the one pagers. Title, subtitle, we shared some practices there. As far as summary and really communicating the big idea, what's most important to get across there?
Naren Aryal:
Yeah, I think the key thing here is to be able to frame your book and big idea in a way that's differentiated from, if you're in leadership, the hundreds of leadership books that get written on an annual basis. You've got to have a unique take and that unique take is typically based on your personal experiences and a position that is just different than what's been out there to date. Now, some people will say, "Hey, everything's been written under the sun," which is true and not true, but it's also, if you're coming out with a book, you want to be able to differentiate what you're talking about with your own experiences.
Paul Epstein:
Here's a rule of thumb that a couple different coaches and mentors have actually impressed upon me that could be valuable for everyone listening in as far as original thought leadership. Actually there was one gentleman that coaches TED speakers specifically, and I remember what he said. He said, "You should follow the 80/20 rule," which is when you share your big idea, 80% of the market should say, "Yeah, I generally accept that. I generally buy that." It's not so radical that only 10% are going to say, "Okay, this person's sober." No, it's 80% are going to say, "Got it." But it's got to be 20% net new, 20% different. You're not just recycling or regurgitating what was already out there. Think about it in, and I'm not suggesting this 80/20 rule is the standard, I'm just giving a potential framework of thinking about it. Is your idea generally going to be accepted to say, "Yeah, I can buy that," but yet it's still new enough, different enough that it's going to be advancing the thought leadership that existed before you put this big idea out into the world? I don't know if you have any response to that, Naren, but it's just something that I was taught by a coach.
Naren Aryal:
Yeah, so I haven't thought of it in terms of percentages 80 and 20, that sounds reasonable to me. But understand somebody's going to be investing in you and your words and your book, there's got to be something in it for them and it can't just be rehashing or rephrasing. There's just got to be more if you want an effective book launch in a book.
Paul Epstein:
Last two pieces of the one pager, target market and comps. Target market. I struggled a little bit on this one. I think one book, as an example, first book business leadership, got it. That one was a little bit more streamlined. Book two, Better Decisions Faster. People ask me, "So what type of decisions are you helping people make?" and the reality is it was pretty wide and it was challenging for me to really hone in on how could I succinctly describe my primary avatar? Maybe that's a good way of thinking about it, is I now have clarity on a primary avatar for my second book, a secondary avatar, and a tertiary, a third and beyond avatar, but I wrote the book with one person in mind, and that person has an avatar that's in my primary bucket. I just think it's going to benefit other folks but clearly I had to write it in a way where it was targeted. I don't know if you have any thought ...
Naren Aryal:
I think the listeners would want to hear who your primary avatar is.
Paul Epstein:
Yeah, so the way that I boiled it down is it's a high stakes decision maker. I'll give a little context to it. The average adult in the US makes 35,000 decisions in a day. That shocked me when I originally found this research and it's been validated through multiple sources. Now, we all know that the majority of 35,000 are going to be in the mundane, common. Do I turn left in the driveway? Should I brush my teeth? The answer is yes, by the way, but they fall in this bucket. But then there's these forks in the road, these high stakes decisions, these decisions that have consequence, and that seemed to be the avatar that is making strategic decisions. They're making in a business setting personnel decisions. So strategy A or B, do I hire or fire, do I invest or not? Those types of decisions can have significant consequences, and we don't have a proven framework or system or process, and that's what led to the ideation. that was the head, heart, hands equation but I really had to focus on, yeah, sure, could the book help you make the common mundane decision? It could, but more importantly, is it going to de-stress you from those paralyzing forks in the road? I'm trying to solve the problem of paralysis and the worst decision of indecision. That's the problem that I'm trying to tackle.
Naren Aryal:
Excellent, excellent. You and I have had these conversations about your book specifically.
Paul Epstein:
Yeah.
Naren Aryal:
There are a lot of personal applications to your formula and so whether you stay in this relationship, you move to another city, these are all personal applications to a fantastic framework. But we also know that there are a lot of business applications. You and I talked about this and you're talking about how you got to your decision in terms of who the primary and secondary avatars are. But these are issues that a lot of authors struggle with. Is it a self-help-y thing or is it a clear business thing? I've had this discussion many, many times. We sort of landed, you sort of landed, we had many discussions about it, but we settled on these avatars, and that's a great way to look at it, primary and secondary.
Paul Epstein:
Yeah, and I think part of the factor for me personally, and maybe this'll resonate with folks listening in, is you've got to think about what your core form of impact is. For me, being a speaker is first and foremost, Well, 90% of my speeches are to business and corporate audiences or big associations and so naturally my message gears toward that. But here's the beauty, Naren, and here's what I want to share with everybody is, and I will say this in a speech almost every time. Today, what we talk about is going to genuinely drastically improve your business, however, it can even more significantly improve your life. I make that one two punch of, make no mistake, this is a business conversation, but I think that by the time that we give a bear hug at the end of today, you're going to realize that this can be implemented as a parent, as a spouse, in the community, in your recreation, in your hobbies, with your friends because a lot of what I talk about is very people-centered and so if it's going to help you with your team, if it's going to help you with your fellow C-suite members, it could probably help you with your partner as well. That's really the humanity that I try, that's my unique spin. I'm not saying that's what everybody should do, it just is authentic for me.
Naren Aryal:
That's so well said and also have to be mindful of who's hiring you.
Paul Epstein:
Exactly.
Naren Aryal:
Who's hiring you to deliver these speeches? It's corporations and so you can't get overly moved in that fact, but it's a consideration.
Paul Epstein:
Homestretch here. Couple other questions. I got my one pager dialed in if I'm a playmaker, title, subtitle, summary, target market, and some comps, some comparables, should I go at this alone? Should I seek outside support and if so, who should I be seeking support from? You touched on this lightly earlier, but would just love to know more from a, "Hey, am I locking myself in the basement until I finish my one page and that's where it lives or am I socializing this? Am I really extending it out?"
Naren Aryal:
I was talking to somebody earlier today, and he's also in the book industry, and we talked about how some authors are afraid to share their ideas because they're worried that somebody else is going to steal them. Every time you hear that, I just chuckle.
Paul Epstein:
Interesting.
Naren Aryal:
I just chuckle because I advocate for sharing as broadly and as widely as possible because when you do that, and particularly with people that you respect and who are in your tribe or people that have experience, when you do that, you get the benefit of their review, their response, and more importantly, their are questions that are going to challenge you. You take that one pager share with somebody. Paul, I would share with you because you've been through this process many, many times, and I think you've learned a few, well, many times as in twice now, and you've learned a few things so I'd share with somebody like you and say, "Hey Paul, what do you think?" I'm going to guess that you're going to read it and you're going to say, "Okay, I understand this. This makes sense, but I'm not really sure what you're talking about here." In that process, a lot can be fleshed out, a lot of back and forth like that to the point where that one pager, again, can turn into a 15 page outline. Don't go it alone is the final answer.
Paul Epstein:
Don't go it alone. Yeah, no, well said. Well said, and diversify-
Paul Epstein:
Yeah, no, well said. And diversify also who you're balancing it off of. And I also think this, that this doesn't just mean share it with the closest five relationships that you have. I would say even more so focus on A, who they are, B, what they've done, but also somebody that genuinely is going to care about the best outcome for you. And so they have this unique balance of they've got that professional enough cred to be able to give some concrete feedback that's substantive, but they also... They care about you. And so that there's no different agenda that's being put out there by the other person. So that would be something to consider.
Naren Aryal:
And also another point is anybody that says, "Hey, this is great. I love it. Good job, Paul." And that's it. Don't ask them for feedback the next time because it's sometimes difficult to deliver hard news and difficult news and Paul that, hey, you got a real problem with this one pager. And so I value getting that sort of feedback.
Paul Epstein:
Oh, I'll level that up one, how about this? If you're seriously going to go through the process of putting together this one pager, a prerequisite in your ask of somebody giving you feedback, they have to deliver a minimum of one piece of constructive feedback. Let them know you want some bad news, because guess what? It's not going to be perfect, I promise you that. And so therefore there will be something to have some radical candor with you about. Give them the free reins, give them the permission, encourage it. They don't need to beat you up. They can give you the positive. And then say, "And here's two things that I wasn't a fan of. Here's why. And here's some potential solutions on how you might want to go forward. Just food for thought." That's it.
Naren Aryal:
So true. So true.
Paul Epstein:
That's it.
Naren Aryal:
And then one other thing that I'd say is at a certain point before I just said that you should get as much feedback as possible, but as you go through the process, you're going to want to refine the number, just the sheer number of voices that you're actually listening to and making changes just because it can get to be too much as you get further down the line in the process.
Paul Epstein:
Totally. And using the head, heart, hands piece, maybe this will resonate out there. The whole mission for why you want to do the book is going to be a lot in your heart. As you're getting a lot of feedback, good, bad or indifferent, it's going to impact your head a lot. And so that whole analogy of too many cooks in the kitchen, just make sure whether they're giving you positive advice or they're giving you constructive feedback, just make sure that you're not changing that original thing so much that your heart is like... If it doesn't end up as a green light, why do it? You don't write books in the yellow. You certainly don't go through the years of the blood, sweat, and tears for a red. So that would be my message. It's just like, that's cool. Feedback is great. I think no feedback is a mistake, but understand this. I personally have over flexed too much.
Not for a book, but just for many other things, especially in business. And then it ends up being inauthentic to me because I just changed it entirely for the market. And I'm like, I don't even believe in this project anymore. And I think a lot of us have been there.
Naren Aryal:
Not much more to say about that. You're spot on.
Paul Epstein:
Biggest mistake that a first time author makes.
Naren Aryal:
Oh, boy. So let's just sort of keep this applicable to thought leaders and content generators. So do the simple things that aren't always that simple. Get a good editor. Get somebody that knows about cover design. Those are the two things that jump off in terms of mistakes that the first time authors make because what you're doing is you're undermining your own credibility. Everyone's heard of this notion of a book that looks self-published and what they mean by that is the cover is not professionally done or isn't of a certain caliber. And then if a book is riddled with mistakes and typos, that also undercuts what you're trying to do as a thought leader.
Paul Epstein:
Yeah, for sure. And I've heard you talk about on other conversations and podcasts, Naren, about this. Just real quick, simplest way of defining for our audience difference between self-publishing and hybrid publishing. Of course, big publishing, there's like the big four nowadays I believe, which are the big house in New York. Most first time authors that are not celebrities are not going to be in the big space. So usually, usually, not 100%, but most are going to fall in the self-publishing realm or the hybrid publishing realm. Can you quickly break that down for us?
Naren Aryal:
Yeah. So first of all, I'll say this, I'm a big fan of self-publishing. There are more and more authors that are successful than ever before. Amazon came on the scene and just really opened up the world of books. So self-publishing is when the author does all of those things that we just talked about. Rely on the author for the editing, rely on the author for graphic design, rely on the author for printing, warehousing, distribution, marketing. It is, you are the general contractor of your book. And so as long as you surround yourself with experts in all of these areas, self-publishing can work. But the problem becomes when you're super busy and you're running a company or you're running your own practice, sometimes it's desirable to work with a book general contractor in the form of a hybrid publishing company like Amplify.
Paul Epstein:
Yeah, no doubt. And so I think we've gone deep enough in this subject matter area for today. I just want to say for all Playmakers, one, you know where to find me if there's any more specific questions. If you're considering taking part in this journey, if there's a big idea brewing inside of you, and maybe now thanks to Naren you know where to start, but you still want to know maybe what the second and third steps going to look like. Just hit me up. Also, Naren, where can folks find you, follow you? What's the best way to stay in touch and engage with you as we go forward?
Naren Aryal:
Sure. So our website is amplifypublishinggroup.com. You can shoot me an email. Probably the best way, it's naren@amplifypublishinggroup.com. Or you can always get in touch with my good friend, Paul Epstein.
Paul Epstein:
Oh, there we go. All right. This is the grand finale here. So no pressure. You ready? You ready?
Naren Aryal:
I'm ready. Let's go. Speed round.
Paul Epstein:
Okay, man. Well, it's a speed round of one, but we are going to do this right. You've been so gracious with giving advice for a lot of folks in an area that may be kind of a deeper burning passion. So let's just zoom out. This isn't specific to writing a book. This isn't specific to the big idea, but just through all the life lessons and insights that you've learned, is there a closing piece of advice that either you would want to share or is there a number one piece of advice that you've received and now you just want to pay it forward?
Naren Aryal:
Wow, that is a big broad question. And so terms of-
Paul Epstein:
That is.
Naren Aryal:
In terms of sharing, I would say, again, and I'll keep it sort of limited to the world of books, it goes to this idea of spending a lot of time doing it the right way of putting a book together. While you're putting a book together, also keep an eye on how the book is going to be marketed, because some of the most successful projects I've seen, of course you got to have really good content, but you also have to be mindful of who's going to care. We talked about target market and how to most effectively market a book. And so we just haven't spent too much time talking about book marketing, but it's an area that we can spend another hour talking about. And I would just encourage folks to really keep an eye on the book marketing while the book is being put together.
Paul Epstein:
Yeah, absolutely. And I think that that alone and more, of course, could warn another conversation as we go forward on the podcast. And I know I said last question, but Naren, I'm just going to pop this one in for you, aside from the power of playing offense of course. Okay. So you don't even need to give that answer because it's a default. But I'm not going to ask you for your favorite book, because then I know you're going to give me the whole can. Like, oh, it's like choosing your favorite kid. I get it. I get it. How about this, what is a recent book that you really enjoyed reading and why?
Naren Aryal:
Okay, great. So I'm going to limit it to one of our books. I'm going to give you two. Okay. So we just did a book with a guy named Ben Lightle, who you may know. He's a futurist and he did a book called The Potential and it just launched last week and we debuted his book at number six on the Wall Street Journal. So very excited about this.
Paul Epstein:
Nice.
Naren Aryal:
And it's a great look into the future and he's got some wonderful theories about technology and what it means for human potential. I just really geek out when it comes to stuff like that.
Paul Epstein:
That's cool.
Naren Aryal:
So there's one for you, right? It's a new one.
Paul Epstein:
Cool. Well, good. Well, definitely we will pick that up. And just in general, Naren, from the bottom of our hearts, on behalf of all play makers, thank you, brother. You've been just a treasure trove of wisdom. Half the stuff you said is true. So even better, right? This is like you've set the bar, this is fantastic. But in all sincerity, man, just been an honor to get to know you. I hope Playmakers now feel connected with you, feel comfortable reaching out to you directly, or like I said, all Playmakers, just holler at me if we could support in you being a mission driven messenger yourself. With that, thank you so much for being on Playmakers, Naren.
Naren Aryal:
Hey, thank you, Paul. This was fantastic. Really appreciate you having me on.
Paul Epstein:
Another episode in the books. You know the drill, if it added value to your life, subscribe, share, leave a review and help grow our Playmaker community. For a keynote speaking and why coaching, visit paulepsteinspeaks.com. And last call. If you haven't already, take your Why Discovery now, pull out your phones and text the word why to 310-564-7857. Again, text the word why to 310-564-7857. Playmakers is proudly produced by Detroit Podcast Studios. Until the next time, dominate the day on purpose.