Self-Publishing Scaling

[Greyson F]

Writing books has been something that I have adopted as a way to create a content system for myself. As MJ says, your work is timeless and will continue to produce revenue regardless of when it is after you've written it. My journey through finding my fastlane path has been narrowed down to a few things and most of my time has been committed to writing my first full length novel.

In helping my fastlane writing career, a state-wide publisher of a genre called "Pulp Fiction" came to our highschool about three months ago and talked to us about the entire process of the world of an author after the book has been written and published. His second visit at our school came today, and after the end of the meeting, he told us that int he three day eight hour period he has been teaching us knowledge of the market and finding audiences, and the different tips we know about finding and pitching publishers, he assured us that we knew more about the book publishing business than most of the writers in America do.

I'd like to share some of that information with you to help any of you in your journeys to finding success as a writer, and I hope to make a progress thread soon to share my story as an aspiring writer of 17 years old. First things first, lets get to the generalization of the market.

US BOOK MARKET IS CHANGING! Why, you ask? It is simple. Back in the days of old (well beyond my time) the book writing process was one of absolute slowlane potential. Write a book. Send it in. Write for newspapers. Write a book. Send it in. Write for Magazines. Write a book. Send it in. All the while hoping that one day one of the "Big Whig" publishing companies will be willing to take your book under their wing so that you can share in the glory of profits. Fortunately, for us as writers, that process has nearly become obsolete to all except a select few.

With the up and coming technology of the internet, the leverage offered to book writers has become more powerful than ever. Millions of people can be influenced by your literature with a push of a button, without the need of sending it in to big publishing companies and without the need to pay big bucks to get your books out to the world. Now first let me say this: PUBLISHING THROUGH A COMPANY IS NOT BAD. Depending on what type of company it is (we'll get to that in a minute) certain publishing companies can actually help you form your fan base so you can delve into self-publishing easier. What I am saying is with the technology we have now, putting money into an editor and investing in a marketing agency to sell our self-published books can now be a way to become fastlane with a book or novel that will stand the test of time and will have the potential to impact millions of people (which means big $$$).

The first step is always writing the book. If you haven't written the book, there is nothing more for you to do then set up ways to channel your fans to your up and coming book early. This can be done via blogs, forums, advertisements, personal websites, social media, posters, ect. The cool thing about being a self-published author, is that you control where your sales go and you control how your audience portrays you. Touring the south east coast can lead to a rise in sales just from visiting the locaL Starbucks' in the area of setting up meet and greets at book stores. The SCALE of your product is left in your hands instead of in the 40% less royalty stealing hands of publishers.

Our publisher who gave us the workshop suggested Three different things that I can go into detail at a later post if someone would like to know the details:

1. You need a biography of yourself that is no more than five sentences that describes you as a person, as an author (genre) and gives them a taste for what makes you different
2. For every book you write, you need a five part "pitch" that will self-market customers to your book. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT
3. Research in your market and in your audience is VERY crucial, because if you write the latest and greatest Fifty Shades of Porn and market it to a group of celibate nuns, your sales are going to be zilch and your reputation as a writer is going to go stagnant.

Remember that the key in the first couple of your books are meant to create publicity and get you noticed. Unfortunately, for most of us, we can't get a best selling book like MJ and impact that many people when we first come out of a cave screaming "I am the greatest writer ever" to the world. The markets don't work like that. You have to establish yourself as a writer that takes a certain niche (aka genre, book writing has niches just like any industry) and then becomes popular to that niche. This is where publishing companies come in. Engaging interest with publishing companies who already have the resources and the networks to get your work exposure will help you create a fan base a lot faster than if you were to walk door to door with your next great self-published novel. BUT there is a problem that our publisher told us about.

DO NOT EVER PAY TO BE PUBLISHED This is something that our publishing speaker emphasized over and over. This isn't a completely accurate quote from him, but it is the general idea,

"Any publisher who is good and has a good reputation will take on your book as an investment. You should not have to pay for editing, you should not have to pay for marketing, you should not have to pay any front up fees or any after publishing fees. Any publishing company that expects you to pay for them to publish you will not take your book as something they expect to perform well in the market."

This is as true as it gets. The publisher that talked to us suggested either being self-published or finding a legitimate publishing company, local or national, to publish your books. Once again, DO NOT EVER EVER EVER PAY TO BE PUBLISHED. He gave us a story of how crooked the publishing market has gotten in America. The company by the name of Publish America is a crooked "publishing company" that takes people's books, promises absolute free publishing process, makes them sign a contract *hint hint* and then they do everything needed to get the book ready for production. Of course, right before publication, the company asks for a fee to do this that or blah blah. Their contract includes a section that includes "a fee outside of the listed price for publication" and now the author is in a bind. He can choose to give them $1000, or take them to court over his rights to the work, which, by the way, they have the right to do anything with his work until the author gets the rights back.

The world is crooked by people who are money driven instead of people who are purpose driven to succeed through solving problems. But its something that can be avoided. DON'T EVER PAY TO BE PUBLISHED. READ YOUR CONTRACTS.

This is all I'm going to include from the publishing gurus advice on being an author, but feel free to ask any questions and leave any comments to help make this post better. Self-publishing IS possible and me as well as the people on here will soon be the proof to the revolutionary change that we are making in the book market. Check out this post on my website blog at Neotericwriting.webs.com!

Greyson F.

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

For every book you write, you need a five part "pitch" that will self-market customers to your book.

Can you elaborate on those 5 parts?

The publisher that talked to us suggested either being self-published

Self-publishing is by far the most profitable but I don't think many authors realize what it entails. It IS a business first and foremost.

US BOOK MARKET IS CHANGING!

I was just thinking about this the other day. What a wonderful change it is. In the past you have to sit on your a$$ and twiddle your thumbs waiting for some publishing gatekeeper to open the doors to readers. Send manuscript after manuscript to publisher after publisher.. and then wait. And wait. And hope. And hope some more.

F*ck that.

If you write good shit, get it out there as fast as possible. Expose it to the market and ask permission from no one. If your stuff is good and resonates with your audience, you will hear about it. The internet has given undiscovered talent an avenue to exposure, officially transferring power from the gatekeepers to YOU. This dynamic is very important to me because, well, if I had chosen to go about TMF the "old way" (send manuscripts to publishers and "wait") I doubt TMF would even exist. And this forum wouldn't exist.

If you *think* you have an undiscovered talent, do yourself, and the world a favor: Get it out there and see what happens. You just might be surprised.

 

[snowbank]

Touring the south east coast can lead to a rise in sales just from visiting the locaL Starbucks' in the area of setting up meet and greets at book stores.

I wouldn't take marketing advice from the person that was speaking.

Remember that the key in the first couple of your books are meant to create publicity and get you noticed.

This often isn't the case. This is the case for someone who doesn't know marketing and depends on a publisher to get them in front of any readers they're going to get in front of. However, that's flawed in itself because publishers do less and less to promote authors. A big reason publishers bring on an author is if the author has their own platform.

 

[zeroone]

Though I couldn't agree more that self-publishing is the best route to TMF in the publishing arena, you must understand that there's more to it. a lot actually. I may have missed the genre that you were trying to get involved but if you're into writing novels (romance/mystery), I'm afraid it could become an uphill battle. Not only that you have to create a fanbase, convincing those people to become and remain fans is just as hard. By now you should already have your own blog and is starting to gather your audience. I don't mean to burst your bubble.

MJ indeed wrote a very good shit but I didn't notice him until his website came up when I searched for terms: "how to make millions". I've read a lot of business books but put them down half way because most were spun versions. His book was the only one that actually left a mark. And his book sells well because of word of mouth. It's free marketing. Until you have that reputation, you have to work hard. Really hard.

My point is writing is just about 30% of the work. The rest is getting exposed and putting the word out. This is where you'll push the envelope. Keep us posted, very interesting thread!

 

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[Rainy_TX]

Not only that you have to create a fanbase, convincing those people to become and remain fans is just as hard. By now you should already have your own blog and is starting to gather your audience. I don't mean to burst your bubble.

You might want to check out ChickenHawk's thread... she didn't have a blog, a mailing list or anything when she published her first new adult romance... and the first month it was out (January 2014) she sold over 12k copies.

Basically:
*Write a good story in a genre with a deep pool of buyers.
*Have the story combed through by an editor so there aren't any grammatical/spelling errors.
*Put a email capture link at the end of the story.
*Design or purchase a professional, eye-catching cover.
*Write a tantalizing description.
*Publish.
*Move on to the next story.

 

[Greyson F]

This often isn't the case. This is the case for someone who doesn't know marketing and depends on a publisher to get them in front of any readers they're going to get in front of.

It's for being self-published. The whole point of publishing a book in general, is that fact that it is absolutely your job to promote/sponsor/market/publicize your book. A publisher can only do so much to advertise your book out of the 150 they get, it is your job to create the fan base and make yourself known as an author. The going to local starbucks was just an example to explain the fact that self-published authors have more control over marketing their book. Exposure is actually absolutely what you're aiming for during your first couple of publishes, otherwise newly published authors would be charging $15 for their book. Why is Amazon KDP's lending library so popular? Because it allows EXPOSURE for people to see your work and create publicity and a self-marketing foundation that can word of mouth your book into a best seller, even though its giving your book away for free for 3 days.

My point is writing is just about 30% of the work. The rest is getting exposed and putting the word out. This is where you'll push the envelope. Keep us posted, very interesting thread!

I agree, that's why the entire post was about the marketing and preparation process for the book.

Can you elaborate on those 5 parts?

A pitch for a book is something you'd entirely expect, but has a lot of do's and dont's in how it should be made:

Sentence #1- A hook that immediately gets the attention
Sentence #2 - "setting the hook", which is basically an extension of the hook with more goodies for the reader to know
Sentence #3&4- Informational sentences that actually describe the main points of plot in the book
Sentence #5 - "Reel em in" which is where you usually tie everything into an impacting generalization that leaves a cliffhanger

Of course there is alot of guidelines, tips, advice, "not to do's" that he gave us in writing both your author biography and your pitch. I'd be happy to share it with you as I continue to journey through this progress thread.

Basically:
*Write a good story in a genre with a deep pool of buyers.
*Have the story combed through by an editor so there aren't any grammatical/spelling errors.
*Put a email capture link at the end of the story.
*Design or purchase a professional, eye-catching cover.
*Write a tantalizing description.
*Publish.
*Move on to the next story.

You just described like 25% of the process. It is by extravagant luck that your story will be found in the pool of 12 million other novels. Marketing and exposure of your novel is most of the battle. Thats why the publisher who came to talk to us spent 10% of his time practicing our writing skills and 90% of the time teaching us how to perfect our audience's perception of us as an author, a person, and how they see our books. Just like MJ says in TMF , with the commandment of entry being extremely low for this kind of business, you have to show the world why you and your book goes above the other 12 million.

UPDATE: I've set a goal for myself last week to begin writing 2,000 words a day on my book, and I've jumped to doubling the work on the novel from Sunday to today. I'm definitely excited to get started and this will be my third publication once it has been edited. Feel free to comment and ask any more questions about marketing; I've got a notebook full of notes and asides from the publishing speaker!

 

[Greyson F]

F*ck that.
If you write good shit, get it out there as fast as possible. Expose it to the market and ask permission from no one.

^ This is why I enjoy your books. Blunt as hell and a great point.

 

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[zeroone]

You might want to check out ChickenHawk's thread... she didn't have a blog, a mailing list or anything when she published her first new adult romance... and the first month it was out (January 2014) she sold over 12k copies.

Basically:
*Write a good story in a genre with a deep pool of buyers.
*Have the story combed through by an editor so there aren't any grammatical/spelling errors.
*Put a email capture link at the end of the story.
*Design or purchase a professional, eye-catching cover.
*Write a tantalizing description.
*Publish.
*Move on to the next story.

interesting thread, haven't come across that one. a must read i'm sure. however, given her background, i'm sure she has an upper-hand and knowledge that she was able to use to her advantage. doesn't matter what one used to make it work, as long as it works.

 

[Greyson F]

UPDATE:

After taking a long look through the various self publishing progress threads and stories here on the forum, I've definitely decided that to make something that can scale easily and add more leverage, a book series would allow more revenue to pull through. I've made major changes this weekend to the plot and how things can wrap around to a second and third book! I'm over halfway through with my novel, and have a post-marked "GET THE SHIT DONE" date of April 20th! I'm definitely determined to keep myself honest about that and making a GTSD date definitely helps get rid of laziness and lack of motivation.

REMEMBER: To be a writer, and ESPECIALLY a fastlane writer, writing EVERYDAY is part of the job. You've got to get ahead, and unless you are outsourcing your writing, you've got to work diligently to get ahead of the game and show the market that you want it more! If you guys have any questions or comments I'm always here on the forum, and thanks for the support!

 

[Greyson F]

UPDATE: My novel is nearly four fifths of the way complete, with the wrap around resolution coming through pretty smoothly. The book as a whole is going to end out at between 80,000 and 95,000 words, depending on how much I put into these cliff hanging scense and epilogues leading into the next book of the series.

Although I have a very great idea for what genre my book is in (Fantasy Fiction), I'm not quite sure which methods to take towards research or any information in that niche that can help me in the editing process. I have a pretty firm grasp of MJ's philosophy on using the niche to your advantage by adding something to your product that your competitors don't have, however in the world of self-publishing that seems much harder for me to perform without reading 200 books from the top sell rankings and analyzing each one of them O_O.

My goal for myself before I head to college at the University of Mississippi in August is almost enough for any person to stress over:

MY GOALS FOR THE YEAR:

• Furnish the first book of the series well enough into the niche that it reaches a minimum of 5,000 sales between now (March 14th) and when I start my freshman year of college (August-ish)
• Have the second book of the series outlined and fully written before October of 2014
• Pursue the niche I have been stagnant about this year while I've been writing. I'd like to at least make $1,000 from this niche that the barrier of entry is nearly null, and yet the sub niches of this niche make it interesting and very opportune for broke kids like me
• Self-Publish my first non-fiction book concerning a certain niche that I find interesting (Although more research needs to be done than me finding it interesting)
• OVERALL: Through these business systems, my goal for this year is to make enough money through my own means to have enough funds to open the doors to more Fastlane business systems (i.e. Real Estate, Higher Cost Products, Higher Cost Research, Outsourcing my writing, Advertising my books to increase passive income)

With these goals gives me a heavy plate for the year. I have never done any of this before, as this is the first book I've ever written, edited and published through my own authority, as well as the first venture I have had in searching and researching niches to find a place to create a business system. This is all very new to me, but one thing I have that most Fastlaners don't have is youth and an extreme desire and necessity to free my life from the bondage of the slowlane and have the ability to freely use my time to live life. My determination will pick up the slack that my inexperience has, and with the help of this forum, I believe that the goals above are more than just possible, they are likely to happen.

That's my update for the month of March. The book's first draft will be finished by April 20th, with the editing process being about 3-4 weeks to get out the kinks before publishing. This is it. This is my stepping onto the road of life and I'm lunging left with my blinker on and my eyes focused on the road. No time to think about who is behind me and who is to my side. My goal right now is to get into the Fastlane, and give every bit of my ability and effort to make it happen!

 

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[Greyson F]

!!!!MAJOR UPDATE!!!!: There are exactly four chapters left in my book to write, everyone. I am at 77,000 words and I have already been planning up an idea for the book cover!
(PRO TIP: DO NOT be an idiot like me! Many marketing experts recommend working on the book cover and having that as an image to promote your book BEFORE you even start writing the book. PLEASE PLEASE learn form my mistake and begin promoting your book with a book cover immediately!)

The book is ready and I've already got an outline for the second book in the series which I will start by the end of the month. YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO SUCCEED WHEN YOU BEAT YOUR GTSD (Get The Shit Done) Date by almost THIRTY DAYS!!! It has been a breathtaking experience watching myself create my book a lot faster than what I believed I could do. Don't be discouraged about writing because if you keep at it you will eventually be as excited as me

A great website that I found to help in the AFTER writing process (designing/publishing/marketing) is Author Marketing Club, a great website I've found for little tips and resources to really vamp up the PROMOTION and IMPROVEMENT of your book and your sales. It is FREE to join, but you can get a membership there for even more cool resources and video tutorials for bettering your sales. Unfortunately, I am a broke teenager until this book takes off so I must bide my time and know that the money will come.

INSPIRATIONAL GARB: I am 18 years old, and before reading TMF and joining this forum, writing my own novel was IMPOSSIBLE IN MY MIND. Let this truly be proof that you have the ability to do anything you can put your mind to and spend the time executing the correct PROCESS. MJ, you are the man!

My book will be published near the end of May, and I will keep everyone updated on the sales of the book once it is published. If you have any questions about writing or have any advice for me that I can use in bettering myself, feel free to ask and feel free to give . Hard work and diligence is showing me a process that I've never seen myself partake in before. I know in my heart if my book creates me revenue, it was with a persistent process.

HAPPY WRITING! DON'T EVER STOP! POST YOUR STORIES OF WRITING ADVENTURES ON HERE!

Greyson

 

[Greyson F]

UPDATE: My book has been done for the past month now, and I'm getting an editor and book cover designer set up to have my book published within the next month! It's been a long journey but there is never a time to quit, and I am already on my way to writing the second book of the series that I want to have published by the end of August! Some of the major problems I've run into though while writing is finding the niches in my market and placing them into the book of my story while still keeping it consistent.

This is definitely something I need to work on, because researching your market or genre is what makes you successful. I need tips on how to get better research, what to research and how to research. That way I can better manipulate my market to enjoy my books while still keeping the story original to my creativity! It's so exciting knowing that I am about to be a published author and I urge anyone who have interests in writing to do it. It opens doors to things that I could never have imagined beforehand.

Keep writing gents,

Greyson

 

[Thriftypreneur]

I need tips on how to get better research, what to research and how to research.

Read and study top-sellers in your genre. Find common themes, break their stories down into scene progression charts and beat sheets, find the gems that make the stories resonate with your genre audience. Having an intimate understanding of a particular fiction genre really just boils down to reading a LOT in that genre, imo.

 

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[Greyson F]

That makes a lot of sense to me. Are there any signs or key points that you look for when you read them? Or is it just truly finding a rough correlation of what makes them similar?

 

[Thriftypreneur]

That makes a lot of sense to me. Are there any signs or key points that you look for when you read them? Or is it just truly finding a rough correlation of what makes them similar?

You do it to find what your genre seems to want and expect. No two books are exactly alike, but you can get a really good feel for stories that your genre will embrace vs stories that they won't. A very crude example: Using magic in a sci-fi book, or not putting any effort into explaining any of the science behind (blank) in your sci-fi book. These types of things are generally frowned upon in the sci-fi genre, but not set in stone.

For me, personally, when I'm reading a book for genre study, I break it down into scenes and a beat sheet, and ultimately write a little book report about it. What elements I thought stood out, what separates it from the herd in its genre, what I liked/didn't like, what reviewers of the book seemed to like/didn't like, etc, etc, etc, etc.

Do this with 10, 20, 30 books in your genre and you'll have a very good idea of what elements to infuse into your story to meet your genre's wants and expectations.

 

[Greyson F]

That's really helpful information. Could you give me an example of what a beat sheet is? I'm not quite sure I understand the reference. The first book of the series that I created and will have published next month was using almost no research in its genre, but this second book I'm going to manipulate it towards the research.

 

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[Thriftypreneur]

That's really helpful information. Could you give me an example of what a beat sheet is? I'm not quite sure I understand the reference. The first book of the series that I created and will have published next month was using almost no research in its genre, but this second book I'm going to manipulate it towards the research.

http://jamigold.com/for-writers/worksheets-for-writers/ - several links to quite a few beat sheets.

 

[Rem]

(PRO TIP: DO NOT be an idiot like me! Many marketing experts recommend working on the book cover and having that as an image to promote your book BEFORE you even start writing the book. PLEASE PLEASE learn form my mistake and begin promoting your book with a book cover immediately!)

It's interesting you mention this. I had wanted to do this, but almost 100% of the people I personally talked to told me I needed to finish the book first. I asked why. They asked me what if I didn't finish the book? I said then I didn't finish book but it would also motivate me to finish. It would also help get the word out there early and build a little suspense. Only one person I know told me I should create a website, FB page, Twitter account, etc... develop a cover... Bullet some key points to the book and begin drawing attention and gathering a fanbase.

Everyone else told me it was a bad idea. Since that was the outcome, I want to zig where others zag. So I probably won't take their advice and begin early. Do some pre-marketing!!!

 

[Greyson F]

UPDATE: It has been a long time since I have been on here, and for good reason! I finished my first book back in the middle of March, and since then I have been delving into deep discoveries of the marketing world and the publishing world! MJ doesn't lie when he says education BEGINS AFTER HIGHSCHOOL. I have gained more knowledge than I ever have before in these past two months of various SEO projects, Amazon Research, and niche modification than ever before!

The book will published soon, and with planning, writing, and editing, the entire project will have ran from the end of December to this coming June. That is almost 7 MONTHS of tireless effort and constant work to polishing my skills. This stuff doesn't come easy, but it comes with the promise that you will learn and you will get better every time.

I am already writing my second book, and now that I have learned many ropes about the publishing and marketing world, I'm hoping to optimize my second book to under 4 or 5 months for the book to be produced and published. I'm going to work really hard at streamlining the editing process and see what I can do about doing more than one component of the book at once, instead of taking things one at a time. The advice I can give you today from my experiences so far, is that if you truly want your book to succeed PUT RESEARCH INTO EVERYTHING. No one wants to buy a product that someone just puts out there because it was their invention. Just as MJ says, you have to give them a reason, serve some purpose, put some addition to the lives of the people who read your book. There are many decisions I've had to make in editing/plot/title just to increase my intrinsic value to the people who will be impacted by my writing.

If you have any questions, I'd be glad to answer them and tell you about my experiences as being a first time self-published author, and I will update everyone on the progress of my first book on a week-to-week basis after it is published. Until then, keep writing and show the world that you can drive in the fastlane.

Greyson

 

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[Greyson F]

UPDATE:

The book has been published for almost 3 weeks now, and I have to say that you really learn the most about your preparation as a publisher once it is published. I am now in the process of defining my book for my audience to ensure that my sales can be optimal. I have learned more about myself and my business skills on this journey than I ever have doing anything else. But there is more...

BOOK 2!!! I have already been deep into writing the second book. A Fastlaner never finishes until his Bugatti is bought . So just as quickly as I ended the main adventure for my first book, so too starts my next project to continue the cash flow and grow my skills and experiences as a Fastlaner.

If you guys have any questions, I would love to answer you and help with any book authors looking for discussion! I am no master of the art by any means, but I sure did get my a$$ kicked by this project, and always have a lot to share.

Food for thought,

Greyson

 

[Selfy]

Did you get the level of sales that you wanted with your first book? If so, can you give figures and genre (if you dont mind)

 

[Greyson F]

It's interesting you said that @Selfy ! That has been one of my biggest (And most thankful) challenges to over come since I published the book.

Drum roll please...

NO!

It's an incredible eye opener to truly humble yourself to what your book will really do. In my first week, I made about 3 sales, only one of them being a stranger (The other two were my family). I saw this and was utterly disappointed about the entire project. Things started popping in my head: "What did I do wrong?", "What is missing?", "Did I just waste my time?". They filled my head and for the first week or two I truly was thinking about giving up on novel #2.

The point to the story is that I've learned along the way that:

1) One book is not going to become the next George R.R. Martin HBO series. It truly takes time and more books to compete with such heavy sales.

2) Every book has to begin somewhere. There is a very very very small percentage you become an overnight best seller.

3) It will get better. This has been my best piece of knowledge. I've been watching my sales grow slowly (but steadily) toward a better position, and it keeps me going knowing that my efforts will be shown out in small increments at a time. What is important is focusing on book #2 and keeping my head forward!

It was hard to stomach for me at first, but it was humbling and taught me that my work isn't an instant best seller any more than anyone elses. It takes SEO, it takes promotion, and it takes the ability to keep on chugging just like @ChickenHawk and many other authors on here have done.

Any more questions? Feel free to ask

Back to writing!

Greyson

 

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