When I last left you, I was involved in an over-excited discovery about how to create an online empire from a single year's worth of concentrated effort.
Then I kept going for three more days, sorting out all the questions I had.
These were all laid out as blog posts - and then I realized they were too wonky to podcast (would make a poor listen) and also, I resolved my own plan even more tightly as I went. So I pulled them together (along with the last post) to make a single PDF. This is available below for download as a free gift for you.
Today, I found "The Story Grid" which is a method to improve my non-fiction writing. I suppose that I'll never stop studying this area. (See my Flipboard magazine to keep up with what I find daily.)
But this blog and podcast are officially done.
Because I am going to be producing 50 books over the next year, one per week. (Wish me luck.) And that will include 10 collections of 5, 5 collections of 10, and an online course which anyone can sign up for - which sells all these books. Count those up and you'll get 65 books. Doesn't include peripherals like podcasts.
This is all a plan to promote livesensical.com - so people start learning to live and act better, and improve their lives meanwhile.
I'll be podcasting these books as I go, so that should keep you amused. Sign up there (or above, right) and I'll let you know when they're ready. (You get free access to my library when you do.)
I'll be podcasting these books as I go, so that should keep you amused. Sign up there (or above, right) and I'll let you know when they're ready. (You get free access to my library when you do.)
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How to Sum Up Steve Scott's Success
My actions resulted in these:
- I figured out how to get more done faster, resulting in 76 books in a single year.
- I worked out how to earn more income from books by getting out of Amazon's walled garden.
- I did a complete statistical analysis of Scott's finances – charts and everything.
- And then a few dozen pages of text which really got into how this could be done and how it would wreck your life without the many vacations Scott took (and other distractions he felt were necessary.)
- The final point is working out a realistic approach and backing off the concrete schedule in favor of giving the best value to your readers and list.
The two conflicting ideals in this were my earlier tests of simply pushing PD and PLR books up to everywhere I could. The odd success of these tended to reward that behavior, instead of the ideal of building an audience and then finding what that audience really needed and wanted in books and study material.
Scott started out from Affiliate Marketing and carried more than a few of these bad habits over into his book writing and publishing. I pointed out some of the errors with this review, which he mostly covered in his blog post comments – as I finally got to them.
By the end of this basically 26 months of publishing, he stepped back and started becoming a real author with longer, quality books. Of course by now, he could afford to. Owed mainly to Matt Stone of Archangel Ink, plus his own efforts in getting foreign translations, he now had doubled his properties from the 21 Kindle books he did complete, and has stabilized out at about $31K per month.
He could raise that by another third if he would just start publishing outside of Amazon as well, and get off their merry-go-round of declining author royalties. (KDP Select, and their Unlimited slow-motion train wreck.) As well, his audiobooks are all seem locked into ACX/Audible, so he's not able to get them published anywhere else.
My interest in this is working out how to leverage Amazon.
My resources are all the PD books I've already published, even if not all on Amazon.
The approach I would use is in creating special reports which align this to my specific clients, which would be business people in search of motivational and inspirational materials. These special reports all link to the Amazon version of the book (except for those published on other platforms, which link to that book's landing page.)
Then I start to promote these books within the Amazon forest to encourage cross-sells.
Otherwise, I start up promotions via LinkedIn, Slideshare, YouTube, and my own podcast(s) to drive traffic to Amazon and so increase their recommending my books.
The bottom-line idea is to, again, use ebooks as emissaries. The main object is to get list subscribers so that I can enroll them in a membership and give them more of what they want. Part of what will be required of them is to “juice” Amazon for the new book releases so that these books then become “overnight” bestsellers.
Those books then raise the sales of all books I have there, and income is leveraged remarkably.
Now, as I start this, my list is puny – and I haven't been maintaining it.
So the first actions are then to create (even before the first ebook is released) a useful standalone report they can use to improve their lives with. That link takes them to a landing page on my site where I track what they do – and I can A/B test.
I'll also send out a broadcast to all my list members, letting them know what's up and what's coming.
I'll also send out a broadcast to all my list members, letting them know what's up and what's coming.
Once they are in the membership, the dance continues as I give them more material and see what's interesting for them. Also, I then keep checking what they click on and give them more of that type of thing. Free ecourses are followed by paid full courses. Eventually, I also have a paid membership where I can pay closer attention to what they want and get some really valuable feedback – so I can again find and deliver the material they want.
Overall lessons learned
- When you can afford it (once you are making more than you need to live on) then invest most or all the excess into building a virtual team to help you with your workload.
- Always diversify as soon as possible. Of course, this is publishing everywhere at all times, but also into different formats and all possible distribution points.
- Leverage every product through re-purposing – and getting these all to either give you subscribers or income or both.
- Keep learning as you go – and this is by keeping your humility higher than your pride. Be transparent.
I'm going to keep this short – as we both have a lot to get back to.
My whole study is linked below as a PDF and also included as an enclosure for the podcast.
Do leave a comment on my blog or a rating on iTunes.
I also answer all my email personally, so feel free to sign up.
Oh – that includes going to livesensical.com and joining the membership there to get access to my complimentary library of goodies waiting for you there. (I'll be posting these new ebooks there and including special bundles of extras left on the "cutting room floor" as each book is created.)
So: get this download, sign up for my free library access, and have fun with all this.
Hope to see you all soon with this next installment.
So: get this download, sign up for my free library access, and have fun with all this.
Hope to see you all soon with this next installment.
Download link: "How to Publish 76 books in a single year - keep your sanity, and build a 6-figure passive income for life."
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