My career began in radio advertising, as I worked with local small businesses to air radio spots that brought customers in the door. Next I worked in the radio department of a nonprofit organization that ministered to marriages and families.
After a decade at the nonprofit, I left to start a marketing consulting firm.
Soon after that, I wrote my first book out of desperation.
Although I had studied marketing for years, nobody wanted to hire my consulting firm because they saw me as a “ministry guy” and not a “marketing guy.” I got tired of explaining how I’d spent years studying the books of Dan Kennedy and Roy H. Williams. So I decided to write my own book full of marketing strategies for small business owners.
It took me 9 months working nights and weekends to write and self-publish my book, On Marketing. But it was totally worth it. Once I became an author, I mailed my book to prospective clients before our meeting, along with a note:
"Here's a copy of my book. We’ll discuss it when we meet next week."
When I walked into the prospect’s office, my book was sitting on their desk: dog-eared, highlighted, and underlined. The business owner took my credibility for granted and jumped straight to implementation: "You say such-and-such in your book. How can you help me do that?"
People hired me because they saw me as a credible expert. After all, I had a book—and experts have books.
For a few months I enjoyed the cycle of "mail book ahead of time -> prospect reads book -> gain new client." Then I started wondering: "If a book is such a powerful marketing tool, why doesn’t everyone do it?" It didn’t take me long to realize the answer:
Writing a book is hard!
Say you wake up tomorrow and decide to write a book. You must single-handedly:
That only gets you an outline. Next you need to:
And that doesn’t even get into designing the cover, formatting the inside pages, acquiring an ISBN and barcode, exporting print-ready files, converting to Kindle, publishing to Amazon, and managing print-on-demand.
Writing a book yourself is a pain!
If you’re like most small business owners I encounter, you have a book inside you. You’re an expert at what you do. When prospects ask you questions, you have answers ready. You have deep expertise from years of diligent work.
But all that genius is locked inside your head. You don’t know how to get it out, let alone get it published. And if you never get help you will never write that book.
I listed every step to write and publish a book. Then I checked off each step that I could handle on the business owner’s behalf.
Guess what? I could do 90% of the work and 100% of the drudgery. The entrepreneur’s valuable contribution was just one thing: the content.
Even so, most founders and owners are too busy running their business to sit down and write 150 pages of content. You hate the idea of staring at a blank Word document, your cursor flashing underneath the headline “MY BOOK.”
What’s the alternative? Structured interviews.
I sat down across from a business owner, turned on the recording, and asked: “The opening chapter is about the myths that lead people astray. What’s the first common myth you encounter?” From there it was a simple series of conversations.
I transcribed the interviews and hired a professional writer to transform the spoken word into a polished manuscript. I presented the draft to the business owner, and we were off to the races.
My clients became authors in just a few months, in less than 24 total hours of their time. All they had to do was speak.
Of course, the next question I heard was, “Michael, what should I do with this book? How can I use it to grow my business?” My answer was simple:
Whatever you’re doing in marketing now, a book will make it better.
Have a website? Prospects will opt in if you offer a valuable lead magnet, like a digital excerpt of your book’s opening chapters.
Running ads on TV or radio? “Call to request a free copy of my book” is a way better call-to-action than “call this number so we can send you a brochure.”
Trying to get more referrals? Hand out 2 copies of your book to every satisfied client: one for them, and one to pass along to a friend. People don’t like to say “here’s a business card” because it feels icky. People love to give valuable gifts like “here’s this great book my guy wrote.”
Gaining more clients with a book isn’t complicated. Whatever is working for you right now, a book will take it to the next level. Plus a book opens up new marketing opportunities—like hosting a book signing at a local bookstore, or appearing on local TV to talk about your book.
Over time, I developed a series of Credibility Playbooks: step-by-step marketing systems for how to grow your business with your book. Before a client’s book is published, I meet with them to discuss their current marketing, diagnose where a book can supercharge their efforts, and deliver the handful of playbooks that they can implement to get quick results.
Michael DeLon will treat you and your organization better than they have ever been treated. He will help you write and MAKE MONEY from your book.
— Steve Sapato,
Steve Sapato Seminars
You won’t make money as an author by selling copies of your book. You’ll make money as an author by getting your book in the hands of prospects who will then trust you enough to do business with you. Handing out free copies of your book means giving up $5 royalties—but you can gain multi-thousand-dollar clients.
Publishing a book is such a reliable way to gain more clients and grow your business that I decided to introduce a Two-Year Double Your Money Guarantee. When you publish and market your book with us, I guarantee that you will double your investment within two years.
All you have to do is work with us to create your book, then follow the step-by-step systems we deliver and ask for help when necessary. You’ll double your investment in two years or less—likely much less.
The current ROI record is 31 days. A financial advisor emailed her dormant list of 800 prospects: “I just published a book. Who wants a free copy?” 80 people replied. 10 set appointments. She closed enough business to more than pay for her book, all within a month of publication. As she told me, “Everything after that is gravy.”
Michael is a true expert at helping professionals get their stories told.
— Steve Fretzin, Fretzin Inc.
I work from home and get to eat every meal with my wife and daughters. (Our grown sons are married and out of the house.) I work from my basement home office or our balcony, depending on my mood. I never work more than 40 hours a week, because leadership means delegating and empowering our team to serve clients better than I could by doing everything myself.
Paperback Expert is based in Little Rock, Arkansas. Our amazing team produces stellar books from cover to cover, which frees me to focus with our clients on how to use their book to grow their revenue. To be specific…
view from Pinnacle Mountain in Little Rock, AR
Now that Paperback Expert has been publishing books for a decade, I have a strong team to guide our clients through the book-writing process. My eldest son Caleb is our COO and manages day-to-day operations. Our Managing Editor, Judy, has been with us for 8 years; she oversees the talented writers, editors, and proofreaders on our team. They’re all much better at catching typos than I am.
Nowadays I focus on the two parts of our process that people tell me I’m unusually gifted at: Uncovering the messages that business owners aren’t telling, and designing unconventional marketing plans that get results. Let me explain…
I am continually astonished by how many business owners have amazing stories that they simply aren’t telling.
For example: A Florida lawyer named William hired us to turn his expertise into a book. During our Book Blueprint meeting, I asked, “How come you live in Florida?” William replied, “I attended the University of Florida on a baseball scholarship. But I threw out my arm, which killed my shot at the Major League. I switched to law and became a personal injury attorney.”
“Have you ever mentioned that story in your marketing?” I asked. “No,” he replied, “should I?”
“You should absolutely tell that story, William! Your giant law firm competitors are spending a million dollars on marketing every year. You can’t match that. But they can’t match your story: When life throws you a curveball… choose the attorney who’s been there too. That’s the core message of your book!”
A few months later we published William’s book When Life Throws You a Curveball: What to Do After You’ve Been in a Serious Accident. With that clear message, William outmaneuvers the giant law firms in his market by making a personal connection with prospects. As he explains, “My book allows me to differentiate myself by using my baseball background to connect to the sports teams in my community. It was easy to create and will have a positive ROI for the rest of my career."
Uncovering your compelling message is so important that I spend the first month of every book project working one-on-one with you to develop your Crystal Clear Message.
The other time I work one-on-one with you is at the very end of the process, shortly before your book goes to print. That’s when we develop your Credibility Game Plan. The purpose of this plan is simple: Get you meaningful and rapid results with minimal effort.
Earning an ROI on your book isn’t complicated. You’ll experience the power of authorship with a few quick wins.
When’s the last time you emailed prospects who were interested months ago but never purchased? For most business owners the answer is “never.” Publishing a book is a great excuse to get back in touch with a high-value offer: “Want a free copy of my book? Just tell me where to mail it!” Call a few days later to see how they liked the book; ask if they’re interested in meeting to learn more. Voilá, sales appointments from prospects gone cold.
Do your happy clients send you referrals? Your answer is probably “some, but I could use more.” Most clients who could refer you never will, because they don’t know how. Handing them a script helps. Handing them 3 copies of your book helps more: “Give those extra copies to your friends. And if you need more, just let me know.”
What does your website ask prospects to do? If their choice is “Contact Us for an Appointment” or leave, lots of them are leaving, because you’re trying to move too fast. Add in an offer that’s too good to refuse: “Enter your email to get a free excerpt from my book.” You get their contact information, they get to learn more. Now you can follow up with these warm leads and invite them to meet with you.
Wouldn’t you like your prospects to be excited to work with you as soon as the meeting begins? That’s the power of preconditioning. Mail your book to prospects ahead of time. (Or even just leave a copy in your waiting area.) They’ll read it, or at least skim it. By the time the meeting begins they’ll already see you as the expert they want to work with.
Each Credibility Game Plan is a custom assortment of marketing strategies like that. Most of them take only a few hours to implement and can be run by your team or a VA. I’ll give you step-by-step instructions on how to use your book to get opt-ins on your website, referrals in your door, and profits on your bottom line.
"Michael is not only an expert about publishing and book marketing, he's a great guy. He has a great sense of humor and is easy to work with. He has a solid reputation and integrity is one of his highest values."
- Ted Prodromou,
America's LinkedIn Coach
"If you are thinking about writing a book to build your credibility and expertise in your industry, you owe it to yourself to talk with Michael first."
- Tim Fitzpatrick,
Rialto Marketing
"Michael is an amazing marketing expert. Michael is THE authority on credibility marketing."
- Ryan Kimler,
Net Profit CFO
Paperback Expert pretends to be a publishing company. But we’re really a marketing company that uses books to help business owners gain more clients and grow their revenue. You can sum up our approach in two words: Credibility Marketing.
Credibility Marketing means setting yourself apart from the competition by positioning yourself as the expert. It means ignoring the marketing fads and resisting “shiny object syndrome.” It means relying on tried-and-true marketing strategies that have been proven over decades.
The cornerstone of Credibility Marketing is having a book. As a small business owner, this is your most powerful strategy to pierce through the noise of an overcrowded market.
But you shouldn’t write just any book. You should write a profitable book. And I wrote The Profitable Book Formula to tell you how in just 12 pages.
Wow, what an amazing experience. The team Michael has put together is world-class. From the writing staff to the editing, graphics, and layout teams, to the office and implementation team, absolutely one of the best organizations I've ever dealt with.
— Tim Wood,
Safe Money Retirement
The Paperback Expert team consists of employees and freelancers, primarily based in the United States. Paperback Expert started out as a family business; as we've grown, we still treat all our team members like family.
Founder and CEO
founded January 1, 2013
COO
team member since 2014
Managing Editor
team member since 2016
Executive Assistant to the COO
team member since 2022
Bookkeeper/Accounting Lead
team member since 2013
Publishing Manager
team member since 2016
11 team members
located in the USA
4 team members
located in the USA and Canada
3 team members
located in the USA and Hungary
"Michael and his team at Paperback Expert helped me organize my thoughts in a way that I could put them in a book, and in a relatively short amount of time."
- David Lukas,
David Lukas Financial
"I'm really happy with the finished product. Michael and the team did a phenomenal job. And I couldn't recommend them highly enough."
- Derek Colton,
Corner Stone Capital Management
"The process of working with Michael and the team was absolutely masterful. I didn't know that I had the story in me until we started working together."
- Eric Nehring,
Minnesota School of Music
"Michael and the team made the process pleasant, delightful, fun, something to look forward to. They took all the difficulty out of it."
- Istvan Zsako,
Beyond Inspections Service
"I always thought the process would be more difficult. Michael and the Paperback Expert Team took care of everything. They simplified the entire process."
- Tony Smith,
Arkansas K-9 Academy
"Michael DeLon and his team have the system to make creating your book as easy as speaking—and in fact, that's what you do."
- Mike Davidson,
Parkway Automotive
©2024 Paperback Expert
(501) 404-8690
Based in Lexington, KY
