Thrive Suite is loaded with features that make it the perfect WordPress ecosystem for Authors. If you're self-publishing your own book(s) and want to become an Authorpreneur ... Writer-preneur? ... Book marketing machine? Then Thrive Suite has what you need.
Let's dive into some areas and examples where Thrive Suite really shines.
Tools you need:
- Thrive Suite (for all of the tools uses mentioned below)
Thrive Theme Builder Theme for Author: Bookwise
Thrive Themes released a new companion theme for Theme Builder called Bookwise. I often refer to these are "starter themes" because they aren't actually a 'theme', rather they're a set of designs, blocks, templates, etc., that you can use to get a head start with your design.
Everything you see in Bookwise can be created using any of the Thrive Theme Builder starter themes, but if you like the general aesthetic of Bookwise then I highly recommend it. Bookwise is definitely their most thought-through and fleshed out Theme Builder Theme yet. It serves a specific purpose very well.
I want to go through a couple of the specific features (I suppose you can call them that?) in Bookwise that make it appealing as a great starting point.
Watch My Video Preview of Bookwise
Book Renders for Beautiful, Easy Implementation
Thrive designers have done a great job creating renders and mockups built right in Thrive Architect. You simply swap your images for their and you books come alive on the page in physical and tablet formats.
They've achieved this by creating editable content boxes that use shadows and background sections.
While pretty complicated to make on your own, it's super easy to edit. Just click on the content box and go into the background style section to swap your images in.
Lists for Events and Videos
When I build websites for my author clients, a common theme is just how many different types of events and promotion opportunities authors can incorporate into their marketing.
In Bookwise, there are several different 'list' blocks that are premade for you. Two of my favorites are the Events and Interviews lists.
Authors are regularly touring, getting interviewed on podcasts, doing book signings, making presentations, and want to showcase all of those things on their website.
The Events block is a really clean premade block that emphasizes the date and the type of event. They've incorporated one of the newest features into this list called the Post List Filter (I have a whole video you can check out here).
If you're into video, for any of the aforementioned activities, there's a video block that you can use to trigger video lightboxes/modals from a button click. It's a super clean and elegant way of putting dozens of videos on a page without looking like an ugly video gallery.
Author Theming and Subtle Design Nuances
Through Bookwise you'll find nice little touches. The Thrive Theme designers did a great job with this one. For example, there's a general paper-like aesthetic throughout and a use of a quill ghosted behind some of the sections.
I noticed throughout the design it's even more subtle. Several block sections feel like you're in the page of a book with the use of lines and sectioning areas off with text below lines like you'd find in a document with a footer and page number. It creates a consistent experience for the visitor.
It may not be your personal visual style, as it is a little old-timey, but you can borrow from the ideas and make it your own.
Customizable Theme Builder Template Areas
In Theme Builder there are areas of the templates that are reusable such as the top and bottom sections of a page and list template. I like the use of the bottom section in particular to give you a place for promoting mobile and ebook versions.
How Authors Engage Their Audience with Thrive Apprentice
Thrive Apprentice is is a powerful course platform, but it's capable of so much more right out of the box. It's a content management tool with the ability to be an email list growing tool and an engagement tool because it allows you to register users get them into your own ecosystem and platform.
I have a few ideas that I've implemented in the paste for clients that I think make Thrive Apprentice a really appealing option for authors to use in the marketing stack.
Offer Chapters for Free
When building up to the launch of a new book or looking to grow an email list, offering free chapters is a common practice. Thrive Apprentice lessons can be locked and dripped to only allow so much content to be consumed at a time.
For one client, we built a system with five free chapters. Each chapter was a lesson in Thrive Apprentice and it dripped out on a schedule for everyone to unlock as the time got closer to the launch of the book.
I even have an author client who self published and put their entire book in Thrive Apprentice, formatting with chapters and lessons. Unlocking content after the free lessons works beautifully in this setup.
Create Companion Guides and Content for Books
I worked with a business author who created video guides and worksheets to go along with her book. We used Thrive Apprentice to aggregate all of that companion information and provide it to readers who were able to sign up for access after purchasing the book.
Not only way this a super neat way for readers to get additional materials, but it was also a fantastic tool for the author to generate clients for their business. In this case, the book itself was a form of a lead magnet and the Thrive Apprentice content was like the tripwire that upsold them into more engagement with the author. It was a great way to identify who was engaged with the material.
Offer Audio Read-Throughs
Some authors release audio books, but some would prefer a less formal method of reading the book to audience. Thrive Apprentice's audio lesson templates allow you to host your audio files and share them securely with people who have signed up (free or paid) to listen.
Audio read-alongs are another great form of companion content for the reader who just wants to engage more with their favorite author.
Compendiums for Lore and Additional Supporting Content
One particular author client I worked with is in the fantasy genre. His books are full of characters and locations and all sorts of lore that his readers got a taste of in the books but wanted so much more. Using Thrive Apprentice, we created collections in place of courses.
For example, instead of a course we had a location compendium. We used modules for the continents, chapters for the regions, and lessons for specific areas to dive in deeper where we could embed videos.
There was a character compendium where each 'course' was instead a focus on a Race like elves or dwarves. Modules were a breakdown of their culture and customs, heroes and lore.
His readers could go in and engage with the material and each other in the comments.
Webinar and Event Funnels with Thrive Ultimatum
Thrive Ultimatum is a powerful scarcity marketing tool. It's capable of evergreen countdown timers, real-time event countdowns, and locking down pages to create a legitimate reason for your readers to take action.
In Thrive Ultimatum you can integrate your countdowns in what's called a "lockdown campaign". This means you can protect a page to show only to someone who has been given access via an opt-in.
Creating a webinar funnel is a great way to give something away while getting something else in return. Sometimes webinars are free events like a public reading of your book. Another great webinar idea for authors with a book that teaches something is to offers a webinar where you teach a portion of what's in the book, then make an offer to the attendees for the remaining portion.
If you're interested in learning more about webinar funnels, I have a course available to Convology Pro members and a free tutorial that I'm going to embed below.
Lead-Gen Quizzes in Thrive Quiz Builder
One of my clients needed to grow an email list and didn't know what they could offer since their book was fiction and didn't offer something to "teach" or to "get" as a lead magnet. So we deployed a quiz using Thrive Quiz Builder that allowed readers to identify which character they were most like. We created several quizzes to connect readers to the characters and places in the book.
I teach how to create these types of quizzes in my course called "ConvertQuiz Funnels".
Thrive Leads for Growing Your Email List
The simplest way to get someone to join your email list is to ask! Thrive Leads is an opt-in tool that lets you create forms to pop in, slide in, and embed on your site. You can simply ask your readers to join your mailing list. You can also create lead magnets or offerings to entice people to give you their email in exchange for something in return.
One of my clients combined BookFunnel with Thrive Leads to generate 2,000 emails in just 60 days for the launch of his new book.
If you'd like to read more about using Thrive Leads, I have an article specifically geared towards authors that you should check out.
Community for Digital Entrepreneurs
Authors have a really neat advantage: There are so many opportunities to use some pretty cool tools to market what you do... but it can also get complicated.
If you need additional resources, I encourage you to check out the Convology Community Membership or Convology Pro. Both are packed full of resources for small business owners looking to jumpstart their digital marketing.