Learnings from Alex Hormozi's Book Launch
Learnings from Alex Hormozi's Book Launch
Welcome to our newsletter, Karat Weekly. In this edition: 1) Hormozi’s book launch, YouTube comeback, landing more deals, 2) Quick link highlight: How to stay interesting as a creator, and 3) Creator Studio: A lawyer’s tips for starting a business with a partner
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Learnings from Hormozi’s Book Launch
Alex Hormozi (investor, entrepreneur, author, and creator) just launched a new book, $100M Money Models. He sold over 2.9 million copies in 24 hours, landing him the Guinness World Record for Fastest-Selling Non-Fiction Book.
This wasn’t an ordinary book launch, and there’s a lot we can learn from it.
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The Gist of the Launch
Hormozi hosted a live book launch via YouTube, a marathon stream lasting over 10 hours. During the stream, he pushed people to “the most insane offer” on his site. (summary here)
For $5,998, people could purchase an offer that contained:
• Physical copies of his 12 playbooks
• Live implementation workshop
• Lifetime access to $100M AI
• 1 hardback cover of the $100M Money Models book
• 199 physical copies of the $100M Money Models book to “donate”
Why does one person need 200 copies of the same book?
To give away the 199 books, people had to promote their giveaways on social media. This got Hormozi a ton of reach (for free) and got these individuals a ton of new leads for their businesses.
There were several upsells on the backend as well, generating him over $81 million in a single day.
What We Can Learn from This
1. Affiliate Marketing Can Work → Reframing the affiliate program as a “donation” worked because people desire to be generous.
2. Social Proof Matters → Seeing everyone post about the book made more people want to buy. The FOMO was real.
3. Scarcity and Urgency Matter → There was a set deadline for the offer, which eliminated procrastination. If you want to buy, you HAVE to buy now.
4. Offers You Can’t Refuse → The value of the $6k package was so high, it became an offer many felt silly refusing. Make your offer a no-brainer to buy.
Is YouTube Making a Comeback?
YouTube is one of the few platforms that’s stood the test of time. But lately, there’s been a surge in viewers looking for new long-form creators to watch.
One creator, Justine, called this out.
Hundreds of people joined the conversation in the comments, saying things like:
• Girl you don't even understand how much I've been searching for good YouTube videos
• I NEED MORE VLOGMAS YOUTUBERS !!!
• No literally where are all the YouTube girlies 😭
Other creators have echoed this sentiment, saying they’re finding more loyal, engaged audiences on YouTube over short-form platforms.
Is this a sign to start posting on YouTube? 👀
Tips for Influencers and UGC Creators
This creator Kari is also the COO at a $2m social media agency that matches brands with creators for influencer and UGC content.
She shared two recent videos with valuable tips to help creators look more attractive to brands. Let’s break them down ⤵️
1️⃣ 3 things they look for when pitching a creator to a brand (activewear brand example):
1. Audience alignment: Your followers need to already be working out or want to workout. They should also be in the target demographic (age, gender).
2. Matching aesthetic: The aesthetic of your content needs to match the brand’s aesthetic. Do your latest posts feature activewear in some way?
3. Past partnerships: When you’re posting partnership content, what do the comments look like? Does it show your audience trusts you?
Actionable insights:
1. Think about the kinds of brands you’d want to work with. (Seriously, make a list.)
2. Look at their content. What’s the aesthetic like? Who are they partnering with already? How are they showcasing the product?
3. Tweak your content to align with the aesthetic of the brand’s content.
4. Spend time connecting with your audience (e.g., DMing your followers, doing question stickers on IG, etc.) so they begin to trust you more and engage with your content more consistently.
2️⃣ There are 3 things brands ask them to avoid when finding creators:
1. Fake engagement and followers: Kari said you’d be surprised how often creators’ accounts have bot followers and engagement.
2. Consistently cussing/profanity: While some brands don’t care, 99% of brands don’t like a vulgar presence online, Kari says.
3. Communication issues: Brands will ask if the creator has ever ghosted the agency in the past. If so, the brands are less likely to work with you because it demonstrates a lack of reliability.
Actionable insights:
1. Don’t purchase bot followers. If you have, remove them.
2. If you want to work with brands that have a more family-friendly online presence, consider keeping your content cuss word-free.
3. Set aside time to respond to emails so you don’t ghost brands and agencies.
Quick Links
💡 How to stay interesting as a creator.
📚 How to make a viral “my story” video.
🧒 New tool for building your personal brand on LinkedIn.
This Week in Creator Studio
This is especially important for content creators who may face potential legal risks related to copyright infringement, defamation, or other intellectual property claims.
Are There Disadvantages of S Corps for Creators?
Designating yourself as an S corps can save you thousands of dollars in taxes—but there are a few tradeoffs to be aware of:
- An S corp typically costs more money to set up compared to a regular LLC
- You’ll have to fill out a good amount of paperwork to designate your S corp
- Since you’ll be receiving a salary, you have to set up and run payroll (or have a professional service manage payroll for you)
- S corps require you to file a separate business tax return (Form 1120-S)
Overall, the tax savings from electing S corp status outweigh the extra paperwork, especially if you work with a tax professional who can take some of that paperwork off your plate.
S Corp Eligibility Requirements