Everett O’Keefe shares the origin story of Ignite Press, from a chance reconnection to a publishing powerhouse. His leadership was tested early when co-founder John tragically passed away, forcing Everett to carry the vision forward alone. Instead of folding, he doubled down. That decision sparked the launch of nearly 200 bestselling books and reshaped how thought leaders share their message.

In this episode, Everett unpacks the power of books as a leadership tool—helping entrepreneurs build credibility, refine their message, and amplify their impact. He also offers a practical roadmap through the complex publishing landscape, covering ghostwriting, hybrid models, and the importance of editorial integrity.

His message is clear: authorship is leadership. A book is more than a marketing tool—it’s a durable asset that outlives trends, outlasts platforms, and outperforms expectations. For Everett, real leadership means using your voice to unlock someone else’s potential.

Want to learn more about Everett O’Keefe's work? Check out their website at https://IgnitePress.us.

Connect with Everett O’Keefe on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/everettokeefe/.

Get a complimentary copy of The Power of the Published: https://mypodcastperk.com/

Key Points & Timestamps

• 01:04 – Introducing Everett O’Keefe and Ignite Press
  
  

• 02:46 – Founding story: friendship, faith, and starting a business

• 04:18 – First book strategy: from idea to Amazon bestseller in 30 days

• 05:14 – Losing a co-founder and finding support through community

• 08:02 – Making publishing the core focus of the business

• 09:17 – Why leaders must write: impact, credibility, and legacy

• 10:30 – Writing clarifies thinking—Everett on the “refining process”

• 13:03 – Why AI shouldn’t write your book

• 17:40 – Leadership through message ownership: who are you to withhold it?

• 21:05 – The FAQ-SAQ method for writing business books

• 23:02 – Ideal book length and reader impact

• 25:03 – Publishing models: traditional, self, and hybrid

• 30:02 – Role of editors and refining content for clarity

• 32:05 – Print-on-demand: why it’s a game-changer for authors

• 34:45 – Where to connect and get Everett’s book free

Transcript

00;00;00;00 - 00;00;30;20
Craig Andrews
I was in a coma for six weeks while the doctors told my wife I was going to die. When I woke up, she told me the most fantastic story. My team kept running the business without me. Freelancers reached out to my team and said, we will do whatever it takes. As long as Craig's in the hospital. I consider that the greatest accomplishment in my career.

00;00;30;23 - 00;00;51;10
Craig Andrews
My name is Craig Andrews and this is the Leaders and Legacies podcast where we talk to leaders creating an impact beyond themselves. At the end of today's interview, I'll tell you how you can be the next leader featured on this show.

00;00;51;12 - 00;00;57;11
Craig Andrews
Today I want to welcome Everett O'Keefe. He is the founder of Ignite Press.

00;00;57;11 - 00;01;04;06
Craig Andrews
They have the goal to help others share their message and their mission to better the world and their own business.

00;01;04;06 - 00;01;14;23
Craig Andrews
He is a Wall Street Journal and USA today bestselling author. He power, published the power of the published how rapidly?

00;01;14;23 - 00;01;19;20
Craig Andrews
Authoring a book can ignite your business and your life.

00;01;19;22 - 00;01;20;20
Craig Andrews
He's helped,

00;01;20;20 - 00;01;39;03
Craig Andrews
100 bestselling book launches. And he empowers entrepreneurs and thought leaders to build authority through publishing. His work transforms ideas and impact, helping clients grow influence credibility with the power of what powerful book strategy. Geez. Ever. Welcome.

00;01;39;06 - 00;01;41;14
Everett O'Keefe
Hey, Craig. Thanks for having me on here.

00;01;41;16 - 00;01;42;14
Craig Andrews
You know, we,

00;01;42;14 - 00;01;59;24
Craig Andrews
we've been chatting and, you know, the normal day, I usually spend about ten, sometimes 15 minutes in the green room chatting with the guests. And you've been such a delight. We're like, just 30 minutes into this, and we probably should hit record a few minutes ago.

00;01;59;26 - 00;02;03;26
Everett O'Keefe
And it's easy, easy to have a great conversation with you, Craig.

00;02;03;28 - 00;02;06;08
Craig Andrews
Well, thanks. That's that's coming. I just,

00;02;06;08 - 00;02;16;12
Craig Andrews
you know, I, I brought you on because I think, I think there's a lot of fears around writing, a lot of,

00;02;16;12 - 00;02;36;14
Craig Andrews
a lot of uncertainty, a lot of imposter syndrome. We'll get to that in a couple minutes. But that's. I think that's one thing I want people to walk away with is I wanted to write a book for years, and it was just kind of I kind of like, you know, stumbled onto something and tripped and then,

00;02;36;14 - 00;02;42;02
Craig Andrews
made a huge mistake, decided to publish two books at once, which I don't recommend.

00;02;42;05 - 00;02;45;18
Everett O'Keefe
I had is off to you. That's a one is enough.

00;02;45;21 - 00;02;46;06
Craig Andrews
But,

00;02;46;06 - 00;02;50;00
Craig Andrews
tell me about how you started ignite. Press.

00;02;50;03 - 00;02;50;18
Everett O'Keefe
Yeah. My,

00;02;50;18 - 00;02;57;14
Everett O'Keefe
there was, I had a good friend named John writing, who was my Young Life leader when I was in high school.

00;02;57;17 - 00;02;59;14
Craig Andrews
Yeah. And hang on, what's what's young life?

00;02;59;20 - 00;03;02;27
Everett O'Keefe
Yeah, young life is a Christian youth organization.

00;03;02;27 - 00;03;03;21
Everett O'Keefe
And he was,

00;03;03;21 - 00;03;05;21
Everett O'Keefe
he was young life leader. And health helped.

00;03;05;21 - 00;03;09;05
Everett O'Keefe
I helped me on my journey to find Christ, quite honestly.

00;03;09;05 - 00;03;09;20
Everett O'Keefe
And,

00;03;09;20 - 00;03;12;17
Everett O'Keefe
and we, you know, after high school,

00;03;12;17 - 00;03;16;17
Everett O'Keefe
I hadn't I didn't see him again for, like, 20 years. And then,

00;03;16;17 - 00;03;19;01
Everett O'Keefe
20 years later, we reconnected,

00;03;19;01 - 00;03;21;15
Everett O'Keefe
over a game night, of all things.

00;03;21;17 - 00;03;36;14
Everett O'Keefe
So a friend of the head of invited him to a game night, and we had a great time, but we started talking, and we ultimately decided to found a business together. We founded a marketing company called The Solution Machine. The whole idea was, you have a problem, we have a solution.

00;03;36;14 - 00;03;38;24
Everett O'Keefe
And you are very familiar with marketing.

00;03;38;24 - 00;03;42;10
Everett O'Keefe
Craig. And we were focused on Main Street marketing.

00;03;42;10 - 00;04;04;16
Everett O'Keefe
Text message marketing, mini websites, things like that. And, I attended a conference down in Southern California, and I was driving back on a Sunday, and I called John and said, hey, John, we're going to write a book tomorrow. He said, what? What about? I said, I don't know, I'll meet you in the conference room.

00;04;04;16 - 00;04;18;27
Everett O'Keefe
We'll figure it out. And we decided to write a book. And the main reason was, honestly to test a strategy, to rapidly write a book and launch a book and make it an Amazon bestseller.

00;04;18;27 - 00;04;23;15
Everett O'Keefe
And do that within a short period of time. So we chose the topic of video marketing,

00;04;23;15 - 00;04;26;18
Everett O'Keefe
with a book called The Video Tractor Beam.

00;04;26;20 - 00;04;34;04
Everett O'Keefe
And 30 days later, I was staring at that book at Amazon and we were beating John Maxwell, Malcolm Gladwell.

00;04;34;04 - 00;04;44;27
Everett O'Keefe
A bunch of other authors that I really Revere and then ultimately became a number one bestseller and small business marketing. Wow. And that's when John and I both went,

00;04;44;27 - 00;04;47;11
Everett O'Keefe
maybe there's something here. Maybe we can help,

00;04;47;11 - 00;04;57;06
Everett O'Keefe
help our clients, help business owners and executives become bestselling authors and leverage the incredible power of books so that,

00;04;57;06 - 00;04;58;08
Everett O'Keefe
that was the journey.

00;04;58;08 - 00;05;00;05
Everett O'Keefe
That was book number one.

00;05;00;05 - 00;05;04;26
Everett O'Keefe
And we're now knocking, actually, on the door of book number 200,

00;05;04;26 - 00;05;05;12
Everett O'Keefe
for,

00;05;05;12 - 00;05;06;25
Everett O'Keefe
for the company.

00;05;06;28 - 00;05;11;06
Craig Andrews
Wow. Is is John still with you?

00;05;11;08 - 00;05;12;03
Everett O'Keefe
He's not.

00;05;12;03 - 00;05;14;19
Everett O'Keefe
The about a year into this,

00;05;14;19 - 00;05;28;00
Everett O'Keefe
sadly, I was in San Diego again at a conference from the with the kind of the same series of conferences, and I got a phone call from my from my wife to tell me that John had passed away.

00;05;28;00 - 00;05;29;22
Everett O'Keefe
He was playing volleyball and,

00;05;29;22 - 00;05;33;24
Everett O'Keefe
in the middle of a game after church and just collapsed.

00;05;33;26 - 00;05;34;09
Everett O'Keefe
He was,

00;05;34;09 - 00;05;36;16
Everett O'Keefe
54, left behind his wife,

00;05;36;16 - 00;05;37;28
Everett O'Keefe
three children.

00;05;37;28 - 00;05;39;00
Everett O'Keefe
And,

00;05;39;00 - 00;05;40;12
Everett O'Keefe
I found myself,

00;05;40;12 - 00;05;44;13
Everett O'Keefe
having to pick up and move forward. This business,

00;05;44;13 - 00;06;07;07
Everett O'Keefe
without my best friend and my business partner. And it was it was an incredibly trying time. But, Craig, I have to say, there's part of your story that resonated with me because you went into the hospital and you had, employees and subcontractors reaching out to help you.

00;06;07;09 - 00;06;18;01
Everett O'Keefe
They are. They came to your rescue. I had a similar experience. We had a network of mastermind group of other publishers and marketers, and they were saying, hey,

00;06;18;01 - 00;06;24;19
Everett O'Keefe
can we help you? You need some video editing done. You need artwork done. Like, what can we do to help? And,

00;06;24;19 - 00;06;26;13
Everett O'Keefe
and it was it was incredible.

00;06;26;13 - 00;06;36;04
Everett O'Keefe
And quite honestly, it resulted in the most difficult and also the most rewarding time of my life going through that.

00;06;36;07 - 00;06;52;24
Craig Andrews
And it amazing it it's and I still get choked up about when I think about it when meant to me, I imagine it means the same to you, where you just see the best of people. Yeah.

00;06;52;26 - 00;07;02;29
Everett O'Keefe
Yeah. They just. And when you, you encounter people, it's really incredible generosity and kindness. Yeah. That, that you might not encounter if we're just going around

00;07;02;29 - 00;07;14;11
Everett O'Keefe
just the, our day to day stuff, you know, business is going great and whatever, you know, we're not going to see necessarily that opportunity for those people to, to come around and support.

00;07;14;13 - 00;07;16;15
Everett O'Keefe
And those people are, you know, this is,

00;07;16;15 - 00;07;32;24
Everett O'Keefe
that's that was 2014. And we know here we are, it still continues to this day. Yeah. Those people are still close friends and would drop anything to help. Yeah. So yeah, I was reading when I was reading part of your story. It made me think of that moment

00;07;32;24 - 00;07;34;07
Everett O'Keefe
in my time.

00;07;34;10 - 00;07;38;29
Craig Andrews
Well, and the thing that hit me when you say was 54, that's how old I was.

00;07;38;29 - 00;07;43;07
Craig Andrews
When I almost died that time. I've. I've had a few brushes with death.

00;07;43;07 - 00;07;52;23
Craig Andrews
But that one was the closest, most credible, most certain. And, yeah, that's a young age to die and leaves behind a a family.

00;07;52;26 - 00;08;02;16
Everett O'Keefe
That so much left undone and, you know, and with young, you know, young children, I mean, it's hard to leave them at any time, but yeah. Yeah.

00;08;02;16 - 00;08;12;28
Everett O'Keefe
So and, anyway, we, we just, you know, I decided I was going to continue on with the publishing side of the business. In fact, we doubled down and made that the only thing that we do.

00;08;13;01 - 00;08;16;12
Everett O'Keefe
And I just look back and I go home, and John would be having so

00;08;16;12 - 00;08;18;26
Everett O'Keefe
much fun with this right now, but,

00;08;18;26 - 00;08;20;24
Everett O'Keefe
Yeah. So that was,

00;08;20;24 - 00;08;37;11
Everett O'Keefe
obviously a very trying, very trying time, but also foundational for the formation of our business because John's heart and soul still lives in what we do, because it was his passion to carry other people's messages out to the world through books and the most incredible medium.

00;08;37;13 - 00;08;40;10
Everett O'Keefe
And, you know, created.

00;08;40;12 - 00;08;55;18
Craig Andrews
You know, so I've, you know, for years and years and years, I looked at people who published books and I just thought, oh, my goodness, that's I'd love to be one of those people, but I don't think I'm one of those people.

00;08;55;21 - 00;09;08;24
Everett O'Keefe
Yeah. You know, and the stats say all the I've heard crazy studies that say supposedly 90% of people, you know, want to write a book someday. And it's like, okay, that can't really be true, can it? But we know

00;09;08;24 - 00;09;17;11
Everett O'Keefe
we know a lot of people desire to. More importantly, if you're in business, you should like you. Rather, you desire to or not.

00;09;17;11 - 00;09;21;29
Everett O'Keefe
And you probably do, but you should. You you. I mean, you've seen the impact of,

00;09;21;29 - 00;09;25;29
Everett O'Keefe
of what a book can do in a business in your own. Yeah. And,

00;09;25;29 - 00;09;35;29
Everett O'Keefe
I, you know, it's still, it's it's the most incredible marketing tool ever created, if that is the purpose for creating it, it's the only tool you're going to create now that will outlive you.

00;09;36;01 - 00;09;38;21
Everett O'Keefe
You know, talk about a durable piece of, of,

00;09;38;21 - 00;09;57;15
Everett O'Keefe
a durable tool. Whereas most anything else that we might create to help market our business, a website or a video or whatever other piece of content probably is, I mean, maybe outdated. I mean, it becomes stale and useless weeks to months from now, you know,

00;09;57;15 - 00;10;03;03
Everett O'Keefe
probably won't be useful a year from now, whereas the book will continue to be useful, you know, ongoing.

00;10;03;06 - 00;10;10;26
Craig Andrews
You know, one of the things you know, and for those that don't know, one of my books is a business book. One is a personal book.

00;10;10;26 - 00;10;20;21
Craig Andrews
Very different messages, but interestingly enough, they were written very close to each other. And so there's there's a lot of overlap in, in some of the illustrations.

00;10;20;21 - 00;10;30;24
Craig Andrews
But one of the things I found very, very helpful in writing the make sales magical was it's about a process that we use called First Time Offers.

00;10;30;24 - 00;10;36;28
Craig Andrews
It's a low ticket front end offer that leads to your high ticket core offer. As I was writing it,

00;10;36;28 - 00;10;48;10
Craig Andrews
I ended up having to go back in the editorial process because and fix some things, because it refine my thinking about what I do.

00;10;48;12 - 00;10;49;21
Everett O'Keefe
Yeah. You had, in fact,

00;10;49;21 - 00;10;51;28
Everett O'Keefe
referencing one of your prior episodes with,

00;10;51;28 - 00;11;06;15
Everett O'Keefe
Aurora from same page publishing. She described it great. She was like, you had a pile of mud with, like, some gold and silver in it and stuff. And as you're writing your book, you are washing away the mud to reveal the gold in the silver.

00;11;06;15 - 00;11;34;20
Everett O'Keefe
And it is a refining. It truly is a refining process. And it's one of the benefits of authorship that nobody talks about, that nobody thinks of when they go to publish a book is that their thinking will be clarified, their message will be clarified. The way they interact and deal with clients in the future will be clarified, because suddenly you're having to look at everything you know and the things you want to talk about in a more objective manner.

00;11;34;23 - 00;11;38;14
Everett O'Keefe
It's really it's really one it's a really powerful benefit.

00;11;38;16 - 00;11;50;03
Craig Andrews
You know? Yeah. And I mean, I, I'm definitely better at what I do because I work down what I do.

00;11;50;05 - 00;11;53;29
Everett O'Keefe
There you go. Yeah. You know.

00;11;54;02 - 00;12;05;20
Craig Andrews
So now I'm, I'm one I don't know, maybe I'm weird. Maybe I'm not I, I wanted to write my books. I didn't want them ghostwritten. And,

00;12;05;20 - 00;12;08;01
Craig Andrews
I wanted them to be my words.

00;12;08;01 - 00;12;13;21
Craig Andrews
Because that's, you know, I'm in. I'm in the business of words. And it's something that I was very picky about.

00;12;13;21 - 00;12;15;18
Craig Andrews
What are the different publishing models?

00;12;15;18 - 00;12;19;03
Craig Andrews
What is what should people expect?

00;12;19;06 - 00;12;23;14
Everett O'Keefe
Yeah. So there's writing models and there's publishing models, and those are those are

00;12;23;14 - 00;12;32;05
Everett O'Keefe
different animals from each other. Like for instance, on the writing side, some people may employ a ghost writer. Most of our authors are writing their books themselves.

00;12;32;05 - 00;12;35;12
Everett O'Keefe
You know, nowadays there's tools like ChatGPT and,

00;12;35;12 - 00;12;39;08
Everett O'Keefe
Claude and other tools out there there really help people with writing.

00;12;39;10 - 00;12;48;21
Everett O'Keefe
I'm still not a fan of using AI to completely craft the book, but it can be really useful for helping organize the book and organize your thinking.

00;12;48;23 - 00;12;52;24
Craig Andrews
Let me dig into that. Why? Why shouldn't I write your book?

00;12;52;26 - 00;13;03;13
Everett O'Keefe
Yeah, I mean, it's just what's the point? I mean, if that's the way it's going to be, I feel like pretty soon we're going to have my AI. My AI is going to be reading your ice book. You know,

00;13;03;13 - 00;13;09;02
Everett O'Keefe
that type of thing. It's got to have you in it. And I can be kind of soulless if you're not really careful.

00;13;09;04 - 00;13;39;05
Everett O'Keefe
But where it's fantastic and I fully endorse is helping your brainstorm ideas and, and perhaps clarify and craft those ideas as long as you're in there. Right. Because I'm not interested. If I want ChatGPT opinion about how to do marketing, I can just go ask ChatGPT. I don't have to get Craig's take on it, but I really want Craig's take because he's an expert and he's been in the trenches and,

00;13;39;05 - 00;13;46;25
Everett O'Keefe
and Craig can understand me and my needs and that type of thing rather than just using ChatGPT.

00;13;46;27 - 00;13;57;08
Everett O'Keefe
That being said, there are formats coming out. I knew I book formats coming out where I will be able to interview you. Craig, in your book,

00;13;57;08 - 00;14;03;26
Everett O'Keefe
I'll be able to ask you questions directly and have the AI version of you answering for me.

00;14;03;26 - 00;14;06;26
Everett O'Keefe
There are there are lots of new things on the on the horizon.

00;14;06;26 - 00;14;20;27
Craig Andrews
Wow. Yeah. And I mean, as an example, to reinforce what you're saying. I mean, I was doing some writing this morning and I was doing kind of a, you know, the Brits call it a cheeky,

00;14;20;27 - 00;14;22;25
Craig Andrews
letter that,

00;14;22;25 - 00;14;32;29
Craig Andrews
was making some prehistoric references. And, and so I would ask ChatGPT, what are three, you know, give me a list of funny ways of saying this.

00;14;33;01 - 00;14;35;26
Craig Andrews
You know, like, what are some funny ways of saying gossip?

00;14;35;26 - 00;14;39;20
Craig Andrews
But making references to prehistoric times.

00;14;39;23 - 00;14;42;25
Everett O'Keefe
That's cool. What'd you come up with?

00;14;42;27 - 00;14;43;16
Craig Andrews
It was,

00;14;43;16 - 00;14;44;19
Craig Andrews
it was something about,

00;14;44;19 - 00;14;48;13
Craig Andrews
the fire fire circle chat. You know.

00;14;48;16 - 00;14;52;01
Everett O'Keefe
There's circle chat. Yeah. Yeah.

00;14;52;04 - 00;15;02;00
Craig Andrews
And so it's good for that, but one, I have two objections to having I write your book.

00;15;02;00 - 00;15;19;00
Craig Andrews
The first is I goes out and finds what's already been said. And if you want, you know, hopefully you have something new to say. You have some unique insight. And if you're relying when I, you're just regurgitating what's already out there.

00;15;19;03 - 00;15;45;07
Craig Andrews
Right. The second one, the second reason is I believe AI is not, skilled at human connection. And actually have a proof point. It's a salacious proof. Points a little. Well it's a little saucy here but I believe if I was good at human connection then only fans would not be a viable business model.

00;15;45;09 - 00;15;49;06
Everett O'Keefe
Oh that's interesting. That's interesting.

00;15;49;08 - 00;15;54;07
Craig Andrews
I mean, think about the vocabulary. They're not reciting Shakespeare.

00;15;54;09 - 00;15;57;14
Everett O'Keefe
It's a good case for a good, good. Case in point.

00;15;57;16 - 00;16;14;19
Craig Andrews
I mean, there's something there's something that humans bring to the table that's essential. And I hasn't replaced that. Now. I don't I don't fully understand what it is, but I can look at that. And I know that industry would replace humans in a second.

00;16;14;19 - 00;16;19;12
Craig Andrews
Because, you know, if they could. But they still need humans.

00;16;19;15 - 00;16;30;26
Everett O'Keefe
Yeah, yeah. That's right. Yeah. And no, and I like I definitely has its uses and obviously it's going to change some things going forward. But

00;16;30;26 - 00;16;36;16
Everett O'Keefe
you're, it does it does lack the human connection and the human element. You said something also though,

00;16;36;16 - 00;16;44;05
Everett O'Keefe
about unique about uniqueness. You know, you mentioned imposter syndrome earlier, and a lot of people feel like, why should I write a book?

00;16;44;05 - 00;16;46;25
Everett O'Keefe
Well, do I have anything unique to say?

00;16;46;25 - 00;16;59;28
Everett O'Keefe
You know, and one of the things that we know is that it's it's not just what you're saying, but also how you're saying it and whether your reader is attuned to hear it from you.

00;16;59;28 - 00;17;17;23
Everett O'Keefe
I think of the, the, the analogy of, you know, the penguins in Antarctica, where there's like a million penguins in some rookery or whatever, and the mama penguin and the baby penguin somehow recognize their calls over all of that and find each other.

00;17;17;25 - 00;17;21;08
Everett O'Keefe
And I think when it comes to the reader,

00;17;21;08 - 00;17;40;05
Everett O'Keefe
and the writer, that there are readers out there that will never without you, they will never hear and implement the message you have to share. They may never hear the message. And there's something about the way you're going. You're going to say it that they're attuned to hear. So when people ask themselves, you know, who am I to write this book?

00;17;40;05 - 00;17;48;02
Everett O'Keefe
Sometimes the real question is, who are you to withhold it? Yeah, because if you if you don't share it, how will they hear it?

00;17;48;04 - 00;18;01;13
Craig Andrews
Yeah. So let's talk about the writing process. You know, so you you wisely divided into two things. There's different writing models and then there's different publishing models.

00;18;01;19 - 00;18;02;01
Everett O'Keefe
Correct.

00;18;02;01 - 00;18;04;18
Craig Andrews
What what what are the writing models.

00;18;04;20 - 00;18;22;24
Everett O'Keefe
Yeah. I mean, you know, there's the old fashioned way of, you know, writing a book organically, which is probably how you wrote your two books. You had those stories in your head. Your experience is and you probably were able to power through on both of those because you some clarity and passion, I'm guessing on on both of those.

00;18;22;29 - 00;18;33;03
Everett O'Keefe
Amazing. You did it both side by side. You know, a lot of people, though will benefit from a book coach, a book coach that can help them,

00;18;33;03 - 00;18;49;12
Everett O'Keefe
craft their, you know, organize their thoughts and move forward and also be a level, a point of accountability because a lot of people start books and never finish. I can't, you know, I I'd cringe to find out how many books are on hard drives or flash drives somewhere.

00;18;49;12 - 00;18;55;24
Everett O'Keefe
You know, at this point that will never see the light of day because they didn't have any accountability. So,

00;18;55;24 - 00;19;05;19
Everett O'Keefe
I'm a huge fan of book coaches and and we refer to them quite often. Of course, ghostwriters are there and I don't think of that as a negative thing at all.

00;19;05;19 - 00;19;09;01
Everett O'Keefe
A ghostwriter is going to interview content out of you,

00;19;09;01 - 00;19;15;17
Everett O'Keefe
to, get to the essence of what you're trying to say, and then a good one's going to write it in your voice,

00;19;15;17 - 00;19;17;06
Everett O'Keefe
as they go.

00;19;17;09 - 00;19;17;17
Everett O'Keefe
One.

00;19;17;17 - 00;19;20;01
Craig Andrews
Of the best books I read was,

00;19;20;01 - 00;19;21;01
Craig Andrews
Oh. What,

00;19;21;01 - 00;19;24;14
Craig Andrews
what was the title of? It was, Ross Perot's or not? Ross Perot's,

00;19;24;14 - 00;19;27;20
Craig Andrews
Sam Walton's.

00;19;27;23 - 00;19;29;12
Everett O'Keefe
Book biography.

00;19;29;14 - 00;19;46;13
Craig Andrews
Yeah. And it was definitely ghostwritten. I think he had already he was had already contracted cancer. And somebody said, you need to get a book out. And, you know, and so he had somebody write it. But I felt like I was listening to Sam Walton. And it's just,

00;19;46;13 - 00;19;48;28
Craig Andrews
Made in America. That's the name of the book Made in America.

00;19;49;04 - 00;20;09;04
Craig Andrews
It's a brilliant, brilliant book that I'd recommend. Name by read. It's super well-written, and it reminded me of Walmart, of Days Past when you go in there and it was clean and the employees were happy to be there, and they and the aisles were wide open. And then,

00;20;09;04 - 00;20;12;09
Craig Andrews
but just talked about that. It was a brilliant book.

00;20;12;09 - 00;20;16;24
Craig Andrews
I felt like I was sitting in the room with Sam Walton, but I know it was written by somebody else.

00;20;16;26 - 00;20;18;03
Everett O'Keefe
No.

00;20;18;03 - 00;20;21;06
Everett O'Keefe
I and then there are other writing models as well. So,

00;20;21;06 - 00;20;25;12
Everett O'Keefe
you had a prior guest talking about interviewing the book out of you.

00;20;25;12 - 00;20;37;06
Everett O'Keefe
Not so much as a ghostwriter, but more maybe you know where it's a more transcript based book. It's based on the transcript of that interview, and maybe it's been written through to clean it up some,

00;20;37;06 - 00;20;38;00
Everett O'Keefe
I'm a huge fan.

00;20;38;00 - 00;20;59;25
Everett O'Keefe
There's another model called the FAQ skew model. This is where you and this is a perfect business book. You think of the frequently asked questions of your industry, the things people ask you all the time that you could just rattle off and answer in a heartbeat. Write down the frequently asked questions of your business, then write down the should have asked questions.

00;20;59;25 - 00;21;05;18
Everett O'Keefe
These are the questions. If people really knew what they were doing, they would ask you to go deeper,

00;21;05;18 - 00;21;12;28
Everett O'Keefe
and grab your phone and dictate for 5 or 10 minutes on each one of those questions.

00;21;12;28 - 00;21;20;03
Everett O'Keefe
That and using that method, you can create the core content for your book in a couple hours.

00;21;20;03 - 00;21;22;10
Everett O'Keefe
And get that, have that transcribed.

00;21;22;10 - 00;21;25;04
Everett O'Keefe
You've got apps that'll do that for you. Now,

00;21;25;04 - 00;21;28;09
Everett O'Keefe
that can be the foundation. That is the way we wrote,

00;21;28;09 - 00;21;40;21
Everett O'Keefe
our first book. We wrote the video tractor beam around the frequently asked questions of video marketing, and it did everything we wanted it to do became a bestselling book. It attracted our first five digit clients.

00;21;40;21 - 00;21;45;27
Everett O'Keefe
It really stepped up our game and gave us access where that we wouldn't have otherwise had.

00;21;46;00 - 00;21;53;09
Everett O'Keefe
And that was just on the back of that. That model that, frequently asked question should have asked questions model.

00;21;53;09 - 00;22;04;02
Everett O'Keefe
And then let's not leave aside repurpose content. So many people already have a keynote speech that they've been doing. They have

00;22;04;02 - 00;22;16;12
Everett O'Keefe
blogs that they've been writing. They have training videos. It can be transcribed that is low hanging fruit and can make a fantastic book in a short period of time.

00;22;16;15 - 00;22;47;08
Craig Andrews
So when I was working on both books, so I didn't write them simultaneously, I wrote Hope that one die basically over Christmas of 2021. And then I wrote may make sales magical in like July August of 22. But one of the things one of my mentors said I had, I had to hope that one day up to like 45,000,

00;22;47;08 - 00;22;47;27
Craig Andrews
words.

00;22;47;27 - 00;22;58;05
Craig Andrews
And he said, Craig, 20,000. Like, really? And he was like delaying by to read your book. 20,000.

00;22;58;07 - 00;23;02;00
Everett O'Keefe
Great advice. Yeah, great. Great advice.

00;23;02;00 - 00;23;05;21
Everett O'Keefe
Our target market, we like to see 25 to 40,000 words.

00;23;05;21 - 00;23;20;01
Everett O'Keefe
And that should be a great relief to most authors out there. You do not. This book does not need to be your opus. Your first book is not, you know, not the big legacy piece, though your legacy is in it.

00;23;20;03 - 00;23;24;02
Everett O'Keefe
There may be time to write your big legacy piece later,

00;23;24;02 - 00;23;32;24
Everett O'Keefe
but 25 to 40,000 words. So it is long enough to get your point across, bring about the results that you're looking for, for your reader.

00;23;32;24 - 00;23;33;12
Everett O'Keefe
It is,

00;23;33;12 - 00;23;38;13
Everett O'Keefe
thick enough to be an actual book, and it is short enough to read on a cross-country flight.

00;23;38;13 - 00;23;41;18
Everett O'Keefe
Now that we're back to doing such things.

00;23;41;20 - 00;23;53;15
Craig Andrews
Yeah, and somebody who read makes sales magical. So I didn't get down to 20,000. I think one's at 21,000, the others at 22,000. I just I had trouble chopping anything more. But that's also the.

00;23;53;21 - 00;23;55;23
Everett O'Keefe
Writing is always harder than adding.

00;23;55;25 - 00;24;02;13
Craig Andrews
Yeah, but that's also the refining process. You figure out what the most important things to say are, right?

00;24;02;15 - 00;24;09;19
Everett O'Keefe
Right. Yeah. And also that you don't have to put everything in there. Right. The you know, they can come to you for more,

00;24;09;19 - 00;24;13;10
Everett O'Keefe
like what, a P.T. Barnum, you know, always leave them wanting more. Is that who said that?

00;24;13;10 - 00;24;14;12
Craig Andrews
That's who said that. Yeah.

00;24;14;13 - 00;24;15;07
Everett O'Keefe
Yeah.

00;24;15;10 - 00;24;15;28
Craig Andrews
Well, I had,

00;24;15;28 - 00;24;25;00
Craig Andrews
somebody had read make Sales magical. He boarded a flight in Philly, and by the time he had landed in Houston, he had read the entire book and had notes on it.

00;24;25;03 - 00;24;28;15
Everett O'Keefe
There you go. That's perfect. You knew it was the right length then.

00;24;28;18 - 00;24;46;23
Craig Andrews
Yeah. So now let's talk about publishing models. So once, once it's written, then I'll just be honest. You know, people ask me, Craig, did you self-publish? I'm like, not really. I don't know what to call it. I, I, I own all the content. I'm,

00;24;46;23 - 00;24;55;13
Craig Andrews
you know, I'm now in one book. I make $0.67 per sale. But that's just because a bad decision made by the publisher on color photos.

00;24;55;15 - 00;24;59;18
Craig Andrews
But basically, I get all the royalties on my book.

00;24;59;22 - 00;25;03;08
Everett O'Keefe
Yeah. And. Yeah. And so let's run through this,

00;25;03;08 - 00;25;07;17
Everett O'Keefe
first traditional publishing is not what people think it is.

00;25;07;17 - 00;25;10;00
Everett O'Keefe
They think that traditional publishing means,

00;25;10;00 - 00;25;15;22
Everett O'Keefe
book tours, going on TV, getting all this media attention and,

00;25;15;22 - 00;25;18;02
Everett O'Keefe
and getting a big fat advance,

00;25;18;02 - 00;25;18;14
Everett O'Keefe
you know,

00;25;18;14 - 00;25;27;05
Everett O'Keefe
before the truth of traditional publishing is that first, they don't want you unless you have a huge following already.

00;25;27;05 - 00;25;37;28
Everett O'Keefe
You need to have 25,050 thousand followers are really established track record, huge email list, things like that. Or they just don't want to take a chance with you.

00;25;37;28 - 00;25;49;18
Everett O'Keefe
When you do go that way and this is a big deal, you're selling your intellectual property to them, they own your intellectual property, and you're going to be limited in how you use that in the future.

00;25;49;20 - 00;26;01;19
Everett O'Keefe
Plus the plus that publishing contract is probably going to give the publisher first rights of refusal on any sequel or derivative works. And that can be a real challenge,

00;26;01;19 - 00;26;03;00
Everett O'Keefe
down the road.

00;26;03;00 - 00;26;07;29
Everett O'Keefe
Also with traditional publishing, you know, you're getting paid too little for your own book.

00;26;07;29 - 00;26;10;08
Everett O'Keefe
You know, very often pennies.

00;26;10;08 - 00;26;10;21
Everett O'Keefe
Certainly,

00;26;10;21 - 00;26;13;07
Everett O'Keefe
almost certainly less than a dollar per book.

00;26;13;10 - 00;26;15;11
Everett O'Keefe
And you are,

00;26;15;11 - 00;26;17;11
Everett O'Keefe
paying too much for your own book.

00;26;17;11 - 00;26;36;10
Everett O'Keefe
You know, we see lots of authors paying their book for, you know, half to two thirds of the retail price, when really realistically, you could probably have it for 20% of the retail price, depending on on the math of things. The real kicker for those in the business world,

00;26;36;10 - 00;26;40;29
Everett O'Keefe
and those people who just want to see their books, see the light of day, is time,

00;26;40;29 - 00;26;49;02
Everett O'Keefe
going the traditional publishing route, even from the point at which the publisher takes it on, can be 18 to 36 months before it.

00;26;49;05 - 00;26;55;24
Everett O'Keefe
A life. And for any of us in the world of business, that is just an eternity.

00;26;55;24 - 00;27;10;03
Everett O'Keefe
And I can't imagine spending all that time to create something so amazing for my business. But wait a couple of years for it to actually be published. And what's going to change in those couple of years? Right. You know, with AI and all of that?

00;27;10;05 - 00;27;25;22
Everett O'Keefe
Now, so traditional publishing definitely has its challenges self-publishing. I'm a huge fan of self-publishing because you have complete creative control. You own everything. All royalties flow to you. Your,

00;27;25;22 - 00;27;30;04
Everett O'Keefe
you get your books at cost, but you also have to do everything.

00;27;30;04 - 00;27;34;03
Everett O'Keefe
And if you do any one thing wrong, then the whole thing can be,

00;27;34;03 - 00;27;36;19
Everett O'Keefe
a disappointment, get a bad title.

00;27;36;19 - 00;27;39;26
Everett O'Keefe
Yeah. Get a or a great title, but a bad cover,

00;27;39;26 - 00;27;52;13
Everett O'Keefe
you know, write the most incredible, insightful thing in the world. But if your book layout is, is poor, people may not read it. There's just so many different ways to make mistakes.

00;27;52;13 - 00;28;00;05
Everett O'Keefe
In between is something called hybrid publishing and hybrid publishing we like to think of as the best of both worlds.

00;28;00;08 - 00;28;02;25
Everett O'Keefe
But even in hybrid, there's different kinds.

00;28;02;25 - 00;28;09;24
Everett O'Keefe
One kind of hybrid publishing. Craig has the author pay a premium so that they get their books cheaper,

00;28;09;24 - 00;28;11;03
Everett O'Keefe
or they,

00;28;11;03 - 00;28;13;03
Everett O'Keefe
get a higher royalty rate. But the,

00;28;13;03 - 00;28;21;09
Everett O'Keefe
but the hybrid publisher still owns the IP, owns the content the way we do it and perhaps the way you had it done,

00;28;21;09 - 00;28;27;10
Everett O'Keefe
as well, is we do this where we just set up everything up and everything up in accounts our clients own.

00;28;27;13 - 00;28;38;15
Everett O'Keefe
So it's super clear. They own everything. Our royalties flow to them. They get their books at cost, which could which could be as low as, like $2.50 per book.

00;28;38;15 - 00;28;42;21
Everett O'Keefe
Royalties could be as high as 8 or $9 per book.

00;28;42;21 - 00;28;48;10
Everett O'Keefe
And they have complete freedom as to how to use those books, you know, whether they want to,

00;28;48;10 - 00;28;55;19
Everett O'Keefe
sell them back of room when they're speaking, give them to clients, put one on every seat if they're speaking at an event.

00;28;55;22 - 00;28;59;14
Everett O'Keefe
There really are better options out there,

00;28;59;14 - 00;29;11;09
Everett O'Keefe
for, you know, for people I. And again, I'm still a huge fan of all the options. They all have a place. But for most of us who are writing books to further our business,

00;29;11;09 - 00;29;15;00
Everett O'Keefe
you know, to share our mission and message, perhaps,

00;29;15;00 - 00;29;19;08
Everett O'Keefe
this this hybrid model can work very, very effectively.

00;29;19;10 - 00;29;25;28
Craig Andrews
Yeah. And one of the things that I've found beneficial in the process was,

00;29;25;28 - 00;29;50;01
Craig Andrews
working with experienced editors that had a few books under their under their belt, and they were able to point out little things that made a huge difference. And they I think one of the things, and this is always, always a problem when you're presenting your own content, you know, everything and you assume everybody knows what you know.

00;29;50;04 - 00;30;02;03
Craig Andrews
And so you make some jumps, you say something there like, and the editor came back to me on a couple points, Craig, we need to connect. They actually knew what I was saying, but they said we need to connect the dots for the reader.

00;30;02;05 - 00;30;14;18
Everett O'Keefe
Right. Excellent. Yeah. Yeah. That is that is excellent. And yeah, there's and there's also just incredible value of have eyeballs besides your own going through the content.

00;30;14;18 - 00;30;22;12
Everett O'Keefe
Nobody should ever edit their own content. No. Nobody should ever lay out their own content.

00;30;22;12 - 00;30;34;13
Everett O'Keefe
The you need to have professionals doing those. Like, because if you do a substandard job in any one part of that process, then the whole thing will be perceived substandard.

00;30;34;15 - 00;30;38;22
Everett O'Keefe
And that's just the opposite of what any of us want, right? Just. Yeah. Well.

00;30;38;24 - 00;30;40;16
Craig Andrews
Well, I mean, just as an example,

00;30;40;16 - 00;30;41;29
Craig Andrews
somebody who used to work for me,

00;30;41;29 - 00;30;46;06
Craig Andrews
lady named Libby, who actually ran my business when I was in the hospital.

00;30;46;06 - 00;31;05;03
Craig Andrews
She's by far the best editor I've ever worked with. I mean, just amazing. But I couldn't have her author or anything because she was also the editor. And I saw the times where she would write something and send it to me and say, Craig, this is ready to go.

00;31;05;03 - 00;31;20;27
Craig Andrews
And I'd find things in it. Yeah. And we're talking about the best editor I've ever worked with. I mean, I referenced there was one thing where I referenced, Jeffrey Immelt and she comes back with the edits and she said,

00;31;20;27 - 00;31;27;01
Craig Andrews
it looks like he usually goes by Jeff. I mean, she would look up things like that and say, don't call him Jeffrey.

00;31;27;01 - 00;31;33;11
Craig Andrews
He goes by Jeff most of the time, former GE CEO, you know, for those who don't know. And,

00;31;33;11 - 00;31;38;11
Craig Andrews
but yeah, she she couldn't edit her own work.

00;31;38;14 - 00;31;39;20
Everett O'Keefe
And nobody ever should,

00;31;39;20 - 00;31;41;27
Everett O'Keefe
you know, the best ghostwriters,

00;31;41;27 - 00;31;47;14
Everett O'Keefe
need editors and what you just pointed out, the best editors need editors to. Yeah, yeah.

00;31;47;14 - 00;31;52;07
Everett O'Keefe
They're super important. Now, one of the things that people probably aren't familiar with,

00;31;52;07 - 00;31;55;05
Everett O'Keefe
is print on demand publishing, and I'm,

00;31;55;05 - 00;31;57;12
Everett O'Keefe
Yeah, it's okay if we can cover that real quick.

00;31;57;18 - 00;31;58;20
Craig Andrews
Yeah, yeah. Let's,

00;31;58;20 - 00;32;05;10
Craig Andrews
Yeah, let's. Yeah, let's close with that, because I think that's a really good that was a surprise to me. So what does print on demand publishing.

00;32;05;17 - 00;32;07;09
Everett O'Keefe
Yeah. I mean for people out there,

00;32;07;09 - 00;32;25;23
Everett O'Keefe
you know, print on demand means simply that Amazon doesn't house an inventory of your books. They house the files for your books. And when someone orders your book tomorrow morning, Amazon prints and ships that one copy of the book. It is a modern day miracle. And they even do it with hardcover.

00;32;25;25 - 00;32;30;13
Everett O'Keefe
You know, it's really incredible. And they do it very affordably.

00;32;30;13 - 00;32;35;16
Everett O'Keefe
I call Print on Demand the author's best friend because,

00;32;35;16 - 00;32;37;23
Everett O'Keefe
my book, The Power of the publisher, for instance, it's,

00;32;37;23 - 00;32;48;02
Everett O'Keefe
180 some pages. Okay, 40,000 words. My author copy costs for this with print on demand publishing is about $3.10.

00;32;48;02 - 00;32;48;28
Everett O'Keefe
And,

00;32;48;28 - 00;32;52;06
Everett O'Keefe
with print on demand, you can order one copy.

00;32;52;06 - 00;32;56;14
Everett O'Keefe
Your minimum order is one. It's not a case. It's not a pallet.

00;32;56;14 - 00;33;16;00
Everett O'Keefe
And you can do anything you want. Give it away, sell it. You know, at any price. Do whatever you like with it. And for those people who are speakers, it's huge because, you know, they can have the book just drop ship to meet them at their speaking destination instead of having to stuff it in a suitcase or the trunk of a car.

00;33;16;02 - 00;33;33;14
Everett O'Keefe
It it also means that it's possible to make special editions of a book if you are speaking for, you know, for a key client and you want a special edition that can be done if you need to update the book because something changed next year, it can be updated,

00;33;33;14 - 00;33;40;16
Everett O'Keefe
and ultimately gone are the days where you had to buy a pallet of books to get your books at a reasonable price.

00;33;40;18 - 00;33;51;14
Everett O'Keefe
And, and I won't visit your house ten years from now and go out to your garage and find you still have half a pallet of. Yeah, still sitting there. So this is why I call Print on Demand your best friend.

00;33;51;16 - 00;33;58;18
Craig Andrews
It it was one of the biggest surprises and made me realize it really democratized authorship.

00;33;58;20 - 00;33;59;29
Everett O'Keefe
Yes.

00;34;00;04 - 00;34;13;20
Craig Andrews
It's all of a sudden today, anybody can be an author. And if you sell ten copies or you sell 10,000 copies, it's it doesn't matter. You have the tools to do it.

00;34;13;22 - 00;34;22;27
Everett O'Keefe
Yeah. And to benefit from authorship and all its incredible, incredible ways it can help you, you personally and your business.

00;34;23;00 - 00;34;45;17
Craig Andrews
You know, I, I we got wrap up but I that would be a great another discussion because I know you mentioned you've had clients go from publishing a book to speaking on the world stage. We'll cover that in the next episode. But for those that want to be it's now world stage, but be, you know, harness the power of publishing.

00;34;45;17 - 00;34;47;20
Craig Andrews
How do they reach you?

00;34;47;22 - 00;34;57;09
Everett O'Keefe
Super easy. Just go to ignite, press us, ignite. Press us. And there's a button there to schedule a consultation directly with me.

00;34;57;09 - 00;34;58;11
Everett O'Keefe
And then I also put a,

00;34;58;11 - 00;35;09;12
Everett O'Keefe
a link together for your listeners. It's at my podcast, perk.com, my podcast Percom, where they can get a free copy of The Power of the published. Oh, that's incredible.

00;35;09;12 - 00;35;10;13
Everett O'Keefe
Cover a lot of this.

00;35;10;20 - 00;35;13;06
Craig Andrews
Oh my goodness. Thank you. Thanks for providing that.

00;35;13;09 - 00;35;16;05
Everett O'Keefe
Yeah. My pleasure. And thanks for having me Craig.

00;35;16;08 - 00;35;24;12
Craig Andrews
Well, this has been great discussion. We went way over but I, I could keep going. But we should wrap up. Thanks for coming on Leaders and Legacies.

00;35;24;14 - 00;35;27;27
Everett O'Keefe
My honor.

00;35;27;27 - 00;35;54;21
Craig Andrews
This is Craig Andrews. I want to thank you for listening to the Leaders and Legacies podcast. We're looking for leaders to share how they're making the impact beyond themselves. If that's you, please go to Ally's for me.com/guest and sign up there. If you got something out of this interview, we would love you to share this

00;35;54;21 - 00;35;56;16
Craig Andrews
episode on social media.

00;35;56;18 - 00;36;20;00
Craig Andrews
Just do a quick screenshot with your phone and text it to a friend, or posted on the socials. If you know someone who would be a great guest. Tag them on social media and let them know about the show, including the hashtag leaders and legacies. I love seeing your posts and suggestions. We are regularly putting out new episodes and content to make sure you don't miss anything.

00;36;20;02 - 00;36;28;07
Craig Andrews
Please go ahead and subscribe. Your thumbs up. Ratings and reviews go a long way to help promote the show. It means a lot to me.

00;36;28;07 - 00;38;30;12
Craig Andrews
It means a lot to my team. If you want to know more, please go to Ally's for me.com. Or follow me on LinkedIn. Thanks for listening. We'll see you next time.