Alessandra Torre is a Bestselling author who’s written twenty-three novels, including multiple New York Times bestsellers. Her first book, “Blindfolded Innocence,” was a hit, rising to the top of the eBook charts on Amazon. It attracted the interest of major publishing houses, landing Alessandra her first print deal with Harlequin HQN.
In 2017, her New York Times bestseller “Hollywood Dirt,” was released as a full-length film by PassionFlix. Torre is also the founder of Inkers Con, an annual authors’ conference. In 2019, Alessandra co-founded Authors A.I., a company that uses artificial intelligence to help authors with their development and editing process.
In this episode of Mitlin Money Mindset™, Alessandra shares some great takeaways about getting your book noticed and read. She also shares why she’s passionate about helping new and aspiring authors.
You will want to hear this episode if you are interested in…
- How Alessandra became a NY Times best-selling author [3:38]
- The impact E.L. James has had on the industry [6:13]
- The importance of a book’s description [8:08]
- What motivated Alessandra to become a hybrid author [11:49]
- What are the benefits of self-publishing? [14:27]
- Why Alessandra used a pen name for some of her books [16:46]
- The best piece of advice that Alessandra can give new authors [19:15]
- What prompted Alessandra to provide free resources for authors [15:13]
- InkersCon: The conference for self-published fiction authors [26:56]
- Learn how Alessandra’s book “Hollywood Dirt” became a movie [29:30]
- What Alessandra did today that put her in the mindset for success [33:58]
How Alessandra became a NY Times best-selling author
10 years ago, Alessandra was in-between jobs. Self-publishing was in its infancy. She had just read an article about E.L. James, who made $1 million a day by selling her book, “50 Shades of Gray.” Allesandra had been a bookworm her entire life—why not write a book?
So she wrote and self-published a novel. She sold 3–5 copies a day, netting around $20. She figured if she could write another 9–10 books, each making $20 a day, it could become her job.
But then her book exploded and shot up the charts. She started selling thousands of copies a day. Agents and publishers were reaching out. Suddenly, she had a six-figure print deal. Now, 10 years later, she’s written almost 30 books, either self-published or traditionally published.
The importance of a book’s description
When you sell a book or product on Amazon it’s accompanied by a book cover and a description. The book cover catches attention and causes someone to click on the book. The description is what persuades someone to purchase and read.
Alessandra’s first book, “Blindfolded Innocence,” had a click-worthy cover. It was very scandalous. But something about her description didn’t appeal to readers, which is why she wasn’t seeing sales. Then, on a whim, she rewrote her description and put it on Amazon. Hours later, she’d sold 100 copies. By the time she went to bed, she’d sold 400 copies.
One change launched her entire career. That’s why she tells new authors that there might be one piece of the puzzle that isn’t fitting right. Typically, it’s either the cover or the description.
Inkers Con: The conference for self-published fiction authors
Alessandra has built her own resources and courses for authors. But she had exhausted everything she knew. She wanted to share what the best of the best had learned while learning from them herself. She started to pull experts from other industries to share business and marketing principles. That’s how Inkers Con was born.
It launched in 2019 as an in-person and online conference. So when Covid hit, they were already doing virtual conferences. Her digital audience has always been 10x larger. It’s an actively involved online conference and has been a huge success.
Learn how Alessandra’s book “Hollywood Dirt” became a movie
“Hollywood Dirt” was a book that Alessandra self-published that became a New York Times best-seller. She wanted it to become a movie, but she wasn’t getting any interest from Hollywood. She points out that if you want your book to become a movie, you have to find a film agent.
She got an email from a group of women, one of which was Elon Musk’s sister. They were starting a new studio, Passionflix. Their goal was to make their movies exactly like the book, with the author 100% involved (which is rare in Hollywood).
So Alessandra sold them the rights to her book and thought nothing would happen. They sent her the screenplay for her book and asked for her input. She still thought nothing was going to happen. Then they sent her audition tapes. They kept her involved in every step of the process.
It wasn’t until she was standing on set on the first day of filming that she admitted it was actually happening. Now, Hollywood Dirt is available on Passionflix and for rent on Amazon.
Connect with Alessandra Torre
Bio
Alessandra Torre is New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal Bestselling Author. Alessandra has written twenty-three novels, including multiple New York Times bestsellers.
Her first book, “Blindfolded Innocence,” was a breakout hit, rising to the top of the eBook charts on Amazon where it attracted the interest of major publishing houses and garnered Torre her first print deal with Harlequin HQN. Less than twelve months later, Torre signed a second six-figure print deal, this time with Redhook (Hachette) for the Deanna Madden series, an erotic suspense trilogy.
In 2017, her New York Times bestseller HOLLYWOOD DIRT, was released as a full-length film by PassionFlix. Torre’s novels have been translated in eighteen languages and are distributed in over thirty countries.
Torre is the creator of Alessandra Torre Ink – an authors community and online school with over 20,000 members. She is also the founder of INKERS CON, an annual authors conference. As a self-publishing advocate, Alessandra speaks frequently to universities, conventions and author groups.
She has been featured in such publications as Elle and Elle UK, as well as guest-blogged for the Huffington Post and RT Book Reviews. She is also the Bedroom Blogger for Cosmopolitan.com.
In 2019, Alessandra co-founded Authors A.I., a company that uses artificial intelligence to help authors with their development and editing process. In November of 2020, Authors A.I. launched BingeBooks, an online community that helps readers discover their next great novel.
Listen in for some great takeaways about how Allessandra has seen such great success as an author and how she’s helping authors everywhere.
Guests on the Mitlin Money Mindset Show are not affiliated with CWM, LLC, and opinions expressed herein may not be representative of CWM, LLC. CWM, LLC is not responsible for the guest’s content linked on this site.
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