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Sample ChapterOn September 1st 2004, I released my second book, The Well-Fed Writer: Back For Seconds. For the first month, it was only available on my web site. It wasn’t yet available in the bookstores or on Amazon (Writer’s Digest Book Club had copies, but that just helped the overall promotional efforts). I had been promoting the book’s upcoming release to my monthly ezine subscribers for a good six to eight months, building the buzz and anticipation. Given that direct purchases from me netted far and away the most profit, I wanted to grab as many of those sales as possible. Well, things went pretty well… That first day, I sold $2,000 worth of books, and ended up with over $11,000 in sales for the first two months, of which roughly 80% was clear profit. These results were the culmination of a marketing strategy launched over four years earlier. Not always precise, well orchestrated, or even planned much in advance in many cases, but substantial enough for long enough to make good results downright inevitable. A Full-Time Income… That’s what we’re talking about here. Not struggling as a self-publisher, or even just making some nice “mad money” on the side. I’m talking about the potential of a full-time living. Which is why I’ve extended the “Well-Fed” brand to this book: self-publishing has absolutely been a “well-fed” venture for me. Yes, I still took on some commercial writing jobs (the field that was the subject of my first two books) to stay in the flow, but I didn’t need the work to make ends meet. Now we’re not talking “picking-out-chateaux-in-the-South-of-France” kind of money, but the book paid all my bills (including a couple of print runs each year), allowed me to stay the course in funding my retirement account, stay completely out of debt, and take a few nice vacations each year. Would that work for you? …With Part-Time Effort And we’re talking about the best kind of income stream – a passive one. You get nice checks every month, even though you’re not working nearly as hard as you did at the outset. Increased income gives us options, and passive income truly offers up the potential of a quality of life you likely can’t imagine right now. But trust me, it’s nice. Time for a Life? Yet, this wonderfully tantalizing discussion doesn’t even touch on the deep sense of satisfaction and accomplishment one gets from building something real and substantive out of nothing more than an idea. Not to mention touching thousands of lives and perhaps making a profound difference in those lives. All of which transcends the money (but hey, we’ll take that, too…) Understand this: Success as a self-publisher is far more a function of a process than an aptitude. It’s far less about some way you have to be than it is about a bunch of things you have to do. And when we’re talking about actions, we’re talking about something you have total control over. Fact or Fiction? “The only reason to self-publish is because you can’t land a publisher.” Every time I hear that, I’ve gotta smile. The unspoken implication being: the preferred route is to land a publisher. Well, call me crazy, but I disagree. For me, self-publishing is the first choice. I actually did not explore the conventional publishing route with anything more than half-hearted zeal. Yet, given the subsequent success of my books, especially the first, I have zero doubt that I could have attracted any number of conventional publishers had I decided to go that route. But I knew pretty early on in the process that I wanted to keep control over the project and process, keep the rights to my work, and most importantly, keep most of the profits. Self-Publishing: The Perception All of which raises a key point: this book pre-supposes that your goal is commercial success. Not just, “I’d like it to be a commercial success.” Everyone wants that. If you’re just interested in writing a book as the proverbial labor of love, with no concern whatsoever about whether a dime ever flows your way, great. And, this book won’t be for you. If that is your situation, you’d be better off publishing conventionally or via print-on-demand (POD), – see Chapter Twelve – where your upfront financial obligations are lower or maybe non-existent. As will be, in all likelihood, your profits. This book isn’t about how to write a book; there are plenty of books out there on that subject (Hint: the secret is turning off the TV, working on it a little bit every day, and stringing enough of those days together. Voila! A book. There. I just saved you heavens-knows how much money and time on books and seminars that’d tell you the same thing). My Goal: Your Success I’ll show you how to create a book indistinguishable in quality from one produced by a reputable publishing company; how to do a far better job of marketing and promoting that book than a publisher ever could; and how to make far more money than you ever would with that publisher. And by doing it all yourself, you control the timetable (potentially shaving 12 to 18 months off production). Plus, you retain all the rights, allowing you to leverage the brand you’ve created into a host of profitable “spinoff” businesses – each with its own income stream. This book is for those who want to turn their passionate creative efforts into real “pay-the-mortgage” money. I can’t absolutely guarantee it will happen with your book, because I don’t know anything about you: how driven you are, the genre of your book, your relative level of marketing savvy, business experience, etc. But what I can do is show you what’s worked for me. I mention genre because, obviously, my self-publishing experience is in the non-fiction realm. While many of the ideas, strategies, and tips can apply to a book in any genre, arguably, a non-fiction how-to book (like mine) is the genre best suited for self-publishing. Why? For starters, the buying public has an insatiable appetite for information, and if you can provide the how-to content people want, package it in a compelling way, and are creative and aggressive about getting the word out, you’ll do well. Secondly, in terms of the “getting-the-word-out” process, with non-fiction how-to, it’s relatively easy to identify and pursue specific target audiences, a subject to which we’ll devote plenty of real estate in this book. Though it’s also quite possible with fiction, as we’ll explore in the next chapter.
There are some real classics out there on self-publishing (see Appendix A, especially the first four listings under Books, all of which you should read as well). What does mine offer that the others don’t? Plenty – in perspective, approach, content, and style. And I’m saving the best for last. For starters… 1) Sales & Marketing Coaching Okay, so I probably won’t turn you into phenomenal marketing wizzes in the course of one book (not necessary to succeed here). But I promise to demystify some intimidating concepts so you can maximize your ability to market your book successfully – minus any irrational fears of the process. What qualifies me to make these claims? I bring two invaluable perspectives – and close to three decades of experience – to the table. I was a professional sales and marketing person for 15 years, and I’ve been a full-time professional freelance marketing copywriter for close to the same period (overlapping with self-publishing since the late 90s). Everything I’ve learned in those two fields absolutely applies in a BIG way to self-publishing. Like it or not, it’s all about marketing. It’s all about being persuasive, about putting your best foot forward, determining what sets a company and its products apart (in our case, our books), and how to showcase that in all our written marketing materials. That means book titles, press releases, book sales sheets, online promo copy, email marketing pitches, and about a gajillion other things. It’s about making personal contacts. About identifying an “audience” and crafting the right message to reach a particular audience – whether it’s readers, reviewers, media folks, bookstores, wholesalers, distributors, or any other group you need to persuade along the way. It’s about speaking to what your audience values, not talking about yourself and your book. It’s about figuring out what your book does better than others and letting the world know (like I’m doing here…). It’s about the power of simple, repeatable systems to virtually automate a marketing process. About developing the confidence to not put big-name industry players on a pedestal, and to know that you have every right to be in the game, too. It’s about teaming up with others to move a project forward. It’s about realizing that it’s a numbers game and that you need to make the law of averages work for you, not against you. It’s about using a web site as the linchpin of a marketing campaign. All of which we’ll discuss. 2) One Big “Real World” Case Study More importantly, that approach often feels theoretical. Given that there’s no way one author could possibly do anywhere near everything listed in those books, it bears little resemblance to a real-world scenario (NOTE: John Kremer, author of 1001 Ways to Market Your Books, makes it clear that one person can only realistically do five or ten of the 1001 well, and that you just need to find those best suited to you and your book). By contrast, this book concentrates on the things you need to do, and more specifically, the things I did do to achieve the success I had. And by the way, Appendix C contains a time line, starting from before you begin writing your book right through to after the final version has been printed. It’ll tell you exactly what you need to do and when, so you stay on track throughout the whole process. Rest assured, I’ll offer plenty of ideas beyond the basics, while getting into a level of detail not found in other books. As I learned from my first two titles, readers want you to spell things out. Don’t tell me I need to have a press release. Show me how to create a good one. Don’t just mention buying shipping envelopes for my books. Tell me what kind, the company, the model number, and how to reach them. Don’t just talk about the value of putting an ezine together. Give me some tips, dos and don’ts, and resources. Speaking of that, whenever you see this icon (icon) throughout the book, it means that the item just discussed appears in my separate ebook, The Well-Fed SP Biz-in-a-Box, an exhaustive __ page compilation of virtually every piece of written marketing material I crafted in the course of my successful book marketing campaign. It’s available as a separate purchase (and for a ridiculously reasonable price). See Appendix B for full details. 3) Focus on Profit AND Process 4) A Fun Book 5) A Radical Strategy By contrast, I asserted that the writer who simply set a goal of making, say, 50 calls a day, would have a far less stressful day on the job. Why? Because he has total control over the action of making 50 calls, with nary a thought spent on the results of those calls. Once he makes 50, he’s done for the day. Goal accomplished. The clincher, of course, was that focusing on action (assuming a pretty high volume of action, which lets the Law of Averages work for you) would absolutely guarantee the results. Knock on enough doors, you’ll get the business. Well, same goes for the self-publisher. Thanks to some brilliant 11th hour facilitation by my editor, Geoff Whyte, it occurred to me that, as a self-publisher, I’d essentially taken the same actions approach. There were three parts to this: a) ONE Job: Early on, I realized that, as a self-publisher, once you physically produce a book, you have one job and one job only: Build the Demand for Your Book. You want to farm out everything that doesn’t have to do with marketing, promotion, and publicity (i.e., warehousing, fulfillment, shipping, web site, etc.), and perhaps even a few that do. All of which we’ll explore later. b) Targeted Audience: I realized early on that, with a “niche” book, pursuing mainstream media attention (the standard book promotion strategy and far better suited to books with broad appeal) would be, by and large, a waste of my finite time. Instead, I determined that, by identifying my target audiences and pursuing the gatekeepers (to those most-likely buyers) in order to land reviews, blurbs, mentions, interviews, radio shows, green lights to write articles, etc. – the “demand-building” activities that drive people to my site, bookstores, and Amazon – I’d maximize the results of any given contact. As we’ll explore later, this can be a more effective strategy even if you do have a mainstream book. c) Massive Action: I approached this undertaking with a simple hypothesis: if I reached enough of the right people (as described above) with my story, and got enough review copies out there, I’d build that demand, and book sales would fall into place. Which is how it worked out. What was my definition of enough? I thought in big numbers: 350-400+ review copies. Yes, that sounds daunting, but keep in mind two things: 1) we’re talking three-plus years here, and 2) if you’re hitting it hard at the outset, you can easily get one-third to one-half of that number out in the first few months. I say it was a pretty potent trifecta. I knew what my one job was, zeroed in on the “key influencers” most likely to welcome my overtures, and did a massive amount of it. It reduced a self-publisher’s responsibility to One Big Targeted Job, not a whole laundry list of energy- and focus-diffusing tasks. Just as importantly, it all added up to a situation where I was in control of enough things to ensure my success. That’s in contrast to, say, someone who’s trying to handle all aspects of the SP process, not doing enough promotion (likely because they’re trying to do it all), and hitting up fickle mainstream media who, more often than not, couldn’t care less about us little guys. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the story of so many SP’ers out there. Lots of frustration, little control, and littler success. (Note: Succeeding financially with the above formula presupposes that you’ve produced your book cost-effectively enough that you can make money after all expenses, discounts to wholesale/distribution entities, shipping, etc. But that’s easy enough to do if you follow the rules. More on this in Chapter Three). Think BIG Since I began my SP adventure in 1999, I’ve read or heard countless accounts of self-publisher “success” in publishing newsletters and in writer’s group meetings and conferences. Often, this “coup” was something like getting a local independent bookstore to carry a few copies of their book. Or perhaps convincing a local library to stock a few free books. Or sharing their excitement over one review in some mid-profile publication. Nothing wrong with any of that. The very act of celebrating every minor triumph, in my humble opinion, affirms some fundamental belief that you don’t really belong there – that you’ve pulled off this coup thanks to a bit of rare generosity from the larger world that saw fit to throw you a bone. Lose that mindset, and realize you have every right to be there. More importantly, per the earlier discussion about keeping in control of the process, this “small” mindset shifts that control back into the hands of others and away from yourself. Which just perpetuates the idea that you’re at the mercy of forces beyond your control. NOT so. I say, keep your eyes on your #1 job, choose the avenues where you’re most likely to be welcomed, take a LOT of action, put the blinders on, and keep at it. You’ll be amazed at how far you can go. Of course, I also suspect there’s a perceived payoff to the struggle: that suffering for the sake of art (pearls before swine?) is a noble, romantic calling. Not for this boy. I approached this adventure with success in mind. But, know this: I didn’t set some ambitious goal for book sales, and had no grand strategic plan when I started. That said, I did feel that any outcome was possible, and focused on getting the highest return from my actions, given the limited 24-hour day and other commitments I had. Laser-Focused Activity Friends on Your Side You’ll find a wealth of resources, cooperative marketing programs, helpful articles, tips on promotional vehicles, and much more in their monthly newsletters. Each organization holds an annual self-publishing “college” – two to three days of seminars with experts (again, PMA’s version is much bigger). PMA also sponsors the highly prestigious annual Benjamin Franklin Awards, which recognize excellence in independent publishing. I’m Just Like You If you’re reading this book, I’d say chances are we’re more alike than different. I’m a typical human being. I’ve got a healthy lazy streak and don’t like to work any harder than I have to. I’m sporadic in my marketing efforts. I don’t always follow up when I should. I don’t always get it right, and don’t have it all figured out by any stretch of the imagination. I’m still pretty inefficient in the way I do some things, and I’m still doing too many things myself. I continue to feel my way through the process, and have a long way to go until this machine is running like a Swiss watch. Yet, despite all these imperfections, I’ve built something that paid all my bills for a long time. Which means I’ve done a lot of things right. And which also means that you don’t have to do everything right to be successful.
The notation “SP” is used throughout to refer to self-publishing. The terms “self-publishing” and “independent publishing” are used interchangeably throughout the book. |
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