Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: RSS
In this episode, Dr. Hales and Suzy discuss:
- Itty Bitty Books’ 30-page concept and success
- Writing a book for business success and media
- Self-promotion and media outreach tips for authors
Key Takeaways:
“A book is a gateway to your business’s success. You can give it to your clients, sell it to them, send it to the media, or distribute it through newsletters. I mean, every single media outlet.” – Suzy Prudden.
Connect with Suzy Prudden:
Website: http://suzyprudden.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/suzy-prudden-a12a7810/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SuzyPrudden/
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Suzy-Prudden/author/B001HPRPR8
Connect with Barbara Hales:
Twitter: @DrBarbaraHales
Facebook: facebook.com/theMedicalStrategist
Business website: www.TheMedicalStrategist.com
Show website: www.MarketingTipsForDoctors.com
Email: info@TheMedicalStrategist.com
YouTube: TheMedicalStrategist
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/barbarahales
Books:
Content Copy Made Easy
14 Tactics to Triple Sales
Power to the Patient: The Medical Strategist
TRANSCRIPTION (179)
Dr. Barbara Hales: Welcome to another episode of Marketing Tips for Doctors. I’m your host, Dr. Barbara Hales. Today, we have with us a very lovely speaker by the name of Suzy Prudden. Suzy is an internationally acclaimed speaker, seminar leader, and New York Times best-selling author. And what I didn’t know is that she is a former clinician to the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports. I had no idea! Fitness expert, body-mind therapist, hypnotherapist, and empowerment and accountability coach—that’s a lot.
Suzy Prudden: I’ve done a lot, yes.
Dr. Barbara Hales: Always at the forefront of her field, she was a leading pioneer in the fitness industry in the 1960s and ’70s, the body-mind industry in the early ’80s and ’90s, and is now pioneering the power of mindset and action in creating success in business. A serial entrepreneur, she has owned and operated several multi-million dollar businesses and is now the owner and CEO—excuse me—of Itty Bitty Publishing. You’ve seen Susie on Oprah, Good Morning America, and The Today Show. She’s done well over 2,000 interviews on radio and television. At one point, she even hosted her own show in the 1970s on WNBC in New York City, as well as their syndicated networks around the country, and was the on-camera fitness reporter for The Today Show. The New York Times says, “If Susie is talking about it today, the rest of the country will be talking about it tomorrow.” Welcome to the show, Suzy.
Suzy Prudden: Thank you, Barbara. I’m very, very happy to be here.
The Concept and Success of Itty Bitty Books
Dr. Barbara Hales: Well, you know, when you started your Itty Bitty Publishing business, it was so unique and out-of-the-box—it was destined for success.
Suzy Prudden: And it’s been remarkable how it has grown and how it has helped coaches, doctors, health professionals—anybody who is an expert in their field literally needs an Itty Bitty book because, seriously, people don’t read anymore, and Itty Bitty books are just that—they’re small; they’re easy.
Dr. Barbara Hales: How many pages is it?
Suzy Prudden: 30 pages? It’s 15 chapters, two pages each chapter. So it’s a 30-page book written in numbered sentences and paragraphs, so that the reader—it’s like the Cliff Notes for dummies. Dummies books are 350 pages. You have to read with the yellow highlighter, and Itty Bitty books are the yellow highlights.
Dr. Barbara Hales: How did you even come to think about that?
Suzy Prudden: It was an accident. It was a wonderful accident. My sister—as you know, I’ve written a lot of books with big houses in New York and California—and my sister and I made an attempt to do a self-published book in 2006. Our coach at the time said, “Do a small book.” So my sister and I went… I was in the weight loss industry at the time, and I ran a business. My sister ran it with me, but she wrote the book while I was running the business, and we put it out there. We didn’t know anything, and it didn’t do anything. It was, you know, we spent $2,000—actually more than that. We got the 2,000 copies to sell, etc. I think we have 1,800 left in my garage. How many years ago? Long time ago. And so, nothing happened. We had a brilliant failure.
Then, in 2014, I asked her if she could check because I thought, this is a good book. Let’s do something with it. So I said, “Can you change the cover and make it smaller?” And she did. She came, visited me that year at Christmas, and showed me the book. Instead of saying, Susie Pruden, Itty Bitty Weight Loss Book, it said, You’re Amazing! Itty Bitty Weight Loss Book. It made all the difference. Well, at first, I had an ego moment. I was like, “You want to take my name off?” because my name’s been on everything since the ’60s. She said, “I don’t care.” And as I’m looking at this book, I say, “Well, actually, this is a million-dollar idea, and we don’t have to write the books.” We were in business. Yeah, it was that fast. So we were in business three days later. We had our first signed author two weeks later and our first published book six weeks later. Now, we have probably 600 authors, 138 bestsellers, and we’ve done 138 campaigns. We have books coming out every few weeks. It’s very exciting.
People ask, How do you get on television? How do you get on radio? How do you get newspaper articles? Write a book, and it doesn’t have to be—and it shouldn’t be—a tome. People don’t read. Pardon me—
Dr. Barbara Hales: Nobody wants a tome.
Suzy Prudden: They don’t want to read it anymore. We’re working in sound bites that are so fast. So a book is a gateway to your business’s success. You can give it to your clients, sell it to your clients, send it to the media, send it to newsletters. I mean, every single media outlet—which every business owner wants to be on—is looking for stories.
Growth and Impact
Dr. Barbara Hales: Absolutely. Do you remember who the first one was that you published?
Suzy Prudden: Yep, yes, it’s a book on travel. That was the first book on travel. I mean, we’ve had books by accountants, by real estate agents, by doctors, by coaches—I mean, if you’re an expert in a field, that’s a book.
Marketing and Promotion Strategies
Dr. Barbara Hales: When you help people, because you give templates, so it’s basically where they can just fill it in, which makes it even easier. So once that process is done and they now have a book, do you help them market it?
Suzy Prudden: We don’t do the marketing, but I have connections with a lot of people who do marketing and PR. And, you know, it’s interesting. The problem with people doing their own marketing is they don’t like to. That’s it. It’s not hard. You know, I did television in New York. I did a lot of TV in New York. I became the go-to person for fitness, and I would call up a producer at Good Morning New York or AM New York and say, “Hi, this is Susie. Are you interested in doing a story on fitness this week?” Sometimes they said yes, and sometimes they said, “Not this week, but I’ll call you next week.” So it was the same in AM San Francisco, AM Chicago. It’s like they are looking for you, and you have to put yourself out there. They don’t know who you are until you tell them. Yeah, I mean, it’s that simple.
And people go, Yes, but… and the other thing—it’s so interesting, Barbara—people think that media is doing you a favor. No, you are doing the media a favor because they’ve got to fill in their time slots. But nobody looks at it that way.
Dr. Barbara Hales: I know.
Suzy Prudden: So I’m telling your viewers, look at it that way. They’re looking for you. If you’ve got one tiny thing that’s unique in your practice, that’s a story. And everybody’s got their own take on everything. So if you’re a doctor, what is the unique thing that you give your patients?
Dr. Barbara Hales: Yeah, absolutely. I first met you on Author 101, do you remember when that would have been?
Suzy Prudden: 2019 or 2018? I thought I was trying to think about it this morning. Where do I know her from? Author 101—my goodness, yeah, that was a… and that was the last one that they did.
Dr. Barbara Hales: Oh, they had done many. I think I was one of the earlier summits that they had.
Suzy Prudden: Oh, yeah, they were going for a long, long time. I got in there at the last minute, sort of when they were just beginning to fade out. That was a great conference.
Suzy’s Journey and Insights
Dr. Barbara Hales: When you were just before you started out, when you were younger, and you were saying, “What am I going to do with my life?” Did you ever envision, you know, coming into this or, like, never? How did this happen?
Suzy Prudden: Well, it was the accident that occurred when my sister—my sister—handed me the book without my name on it. I’ve written a lot of books. I have 11 books with the big houses in New York, the traditional houses, and I have a bunch of… well, I have one Itty Bitty book and then a bunch of chapters and books and stuff. But I… I was a, I was a… I was the… on camera. I was the widget. Always in the fitness industry. Right now, I’m producing widgets, so to speak.
Dr. Barbara Hales: Okay, so you were well known. You were on TV for physical fitness. You were the guru for getting your life on track, right? How did you then say, “You know what? That was fun, but now I’m going to become a publisher.” How did that happen?
Suzy Prudden: Well, it was just a good idea, and we threw it out there, and it stuck. You know, I am an idea person. I come up with all kinds of ideas, and I don’t wait to see if they’re going to happen. I put them out there and make them happen. And if it’s a struggle, I don’t do it. But this was easy. I put it out there and boom, we were publishing books literally six weeks after. I remember because it was the day before Valentine’s Day. And that was the day we—six weeks—that February 14th, we started the company. Literally, January 1st. And because it’s a good idea, people gravitated to it. And then what we do with our authors, which is so exciting, is every Tuesday night, we have a call with experts that come to talk to my authors. The authors get on a Zoom call, and it’s no cost, and it’s really about, Okay, this is what you do to market. This is what you do to get PR. This is what you do to do this. And so we’re teaching, teaching. And you’re right, with the actual manuscript, we don’t expect you to go home and write 300 pages. We literally send you a template, which is 30 pages, and you fill it in. And we have a workshop—a two-day workshop—Write Your Book in the Weekend. And there’s one coming up in December on the 14th, and it’s literally—you come at 9 o’clock Saturday morning to 5, and 9 o’clock Sunday morning to 5. And I teach you how to write your book.
Dr. Barbara Hales: Is this virtual alone, or is it in person as well?
Suzy Prudden: Virtual alone right now. I will be doing in-person retreats soon. I just have a lot on my plate right now, so I have to find a date.
Future Plans and Upcoming Events
Dr. Barbara Hales: Tell us about this cruise. Are you doing cruises now, or is that in the future?
Suzy Prudden: I did the marketers’ cruise for the last two years, and I’m planning to Write Your Book on a Cruise Trip for probably 2026.
Dr. Barbara Hales: Well, that sounds like a lot of fun. Tell us about that.
Suzy Prudden: Well, you know, on a cruise, you’ve got a bazillion things to do. And there’s also—you need time for a writer. You need time to write, and you need time to get away—literally, away from everything else. So there will be writing sessions where everybody comes and brings their computer, and we sit and write for two hours. Then you go off swimming or hot-tubbing or whatever you choose to do on the cruise. And then, of course, when you go on a cruise, you have day events where you go explore whatever island—probably in the Caribbean. Whatever island you take a day trip to. So usually, it’s three days of writing your book and three or four days writing your book, and then three days of excursions. So, and it’s a write-off because you’re working on a book that you’re going to sell. So that’s going to be—it’s a write-off. So you’re taking a tax-free vacation, writing your book, and having a good time.
Branding and Memorability
Dr. Barbara Hales: Well, it sounds like loads of fun. Is your—are your glasses, the red glasses, part of your branding?
Suzy Prudden: Yes, yes. These are—this is my brand. It’s red, and the glasses are definitely, you know, people—it’s so funny because people remember my glasses, which is why I wear them.
Dr. Barbara Hales: Well, you want to be remembered. After all…
Suzy Prudden: Absolutely. When I’m speaking, I’m wearing regular glasses. I mean, they’re not prescription here; they’re prescription. And I got the idea because I started wearing these on Zoom, and people kept telling me how good they looked. I thought, Well, why don’t I just take it to the stage?
Dr. Barbara Hales: So Sally Jessy Raphael had nothing to do with it?
Suzy Prudden: Well, she didn’t, but as soon as someone mentioned it, I remembered her.
Dr. Barbara Hales: No, this is great. It’s great for branding. It does make you stand out, and it makes you memorable, for sure.
Suzy Prudden: Thank you. So I do have, if anybody wants to come, I do have a four-hour workshop. I’ll find it and put it in the chat. It’s at no cost if somebody wants to come and basically, it’s four hours on Zoom where people can come and learn how to write a book. So I just have to find it now, because I…
Dr. Barbara Hales: No worries, because you could email that to me and it will wind up on the show notes. So here today, if you go to the show notes, you will get the links for all the appropriate information.
Suzy Prudden: Great. That’s perfect. Thank you.
Practical Tips for Success
Dr. Barbara Hales: At this point, I like to ask my guests to give two tips that people could implement right away that would be helpful for them with what you do.
Suzy Prudden: So if you want to get known, this is—it’s going to rhyme—if you want to get known, pick up the phone. There are editors at newspapers who are looking for you. There are producers at TV shows and podcasts who are looking for you, and there are news shows that are looking for you. There are magazines that are looking for you, and if it costs you to go into the magazines, pay the cost, because once you’re in print, you’re there. PR companies charge you $3,000—well, now they’re more—$5,000+ a month for a hit or miss, with no guarantee. There’s no guarantee. I was on the cover of Forbes in their online magazine. It cost me $2,000, but now I have quotes from Forbes, and I would always say, “I’ve been on Forbes.” Yes, as seen on or in. Send out press releases. There are agencies where you send in a press release, and for like $300, they’ll send them to all the outlets. Again, there’s no guarantee you’ll get 30—not necessarily big ones, but you can still say, as seen on or in.
Dr. Barbara Hales: I think that’s great advice.
Suzy Prudden: Well, it works. Bottom line, it works. And write a book. I mean, seriously, books changed my life. When I was a fitness expert in New York, they got me radio, television, they got me clients, they got—I became a celebrity because of it. So you—and I’m talking to you, the audience, those of you listening and watching—you have a uniqueness, but nobody knows about it unless you tell them. Be your own horn! Absolutely. I mean, you’re important right now, but if nobody knows, they don’t know to contact you. Contact them. Be top of mind. If something’s going on in the news that you’re affiliated with, story-wise, let the networks know. Let the newspapers know. Let the podcasters know. Again, nobody knows who you are until you tell them.
Dr. Barbara Hales: Yep, that’s great advice.
Suzy Prudden: What else did you want to know?
Dr. Barbara Hales: Oh, well, you mentioned the two tips, which is what I asked you for.
Suzy Prudden: Okay, good, yeah.
Dr. Barbara Hales: So I think at this point I can honestly say, since we’re not doing books that are tomes, and we’re not doing—we’re not doing stories and shows that are tomes, so we have been able to entertain and educate our audience today. This has been another episode of Marketing Tips for Doctors. I’m your host, Dr. Barbara Hales, with Suzy Prudden. Till next time!
