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Self publishing / writing an E-Book

Started by grewal88, September 13, 2018, 04:26:38 PM

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grewal88

I really liked your book Sam, regarding How to Engineer Your Layoff. I am also writing a concise, easy to read personal finance book for young professionals after reading over 50 others. Curious as to any advice for pursing a publisher or the how the process was for self-publishing an e-book?

Any and all advice from the community is appreciated! :)

Sam

#1
 It's good to establish yourself as an expert in the topic you're writing about.  Have a good amount of posts revolving around the topic for search purposes and for credibility.

Making money through an electronic book is difficult, but you've got to start somewhere. Overtime you can continue to update the book and make it better and better.

Think about your brand and building your brand as well.  Think about your brand and building your brand as well. This is very important that allows you to go up the price point and scale.
Regards,

Sam

defomcduff

Agreed on the points from Sam.

Also, I'm going through the process right now using CreateSpace.com.  I highly recommend it for self-publishing.  Without an active audience, it's tough to make any money — from what I've read.  But it's a chicken and egg problem, where you've got to have good content to get an audience, and then an audience to derive any income to build more content.

Either way, I applaud you for just getting started.  I'm by no means an expert, or even successful, at this, but I have had luck and recommendations on CreateSpace.  Good luck and keep us posted!!

Quote from: grewal88 on September 13, 2018, 04:26:38 PM
I really liked your book Sam, regarding How to Engineer Your Layoff. I am also writing a concise, easy to read personal finance book for young professionals after reading over 50 others. Curious as to any advice for pursing a publisher or the how the process was for self-publishing an e-book?

Any and all advice from the community is appreciated! :)
DeForest
Boston, Massachusetts

grewal88

Thanks for the feedback! I will check out CreateSpace

One of the challenges is because I am a CFP on salary at a firm, I am limited to posting articles, running a blog, or otherwise appearing to distribute financial advice. Ideally I would like to get published by a startup type publishing house. Do you know of any or have any thoughts about self-publishing on Amazon?


defomcduff

Quote from: grewal88 on September 14, 2018, 03:28:40 PM
Thanks for the feedback! I will check out CreateSpace

One of the challenges is because I am a CFP on salary at a firm, I am limited to posting articles, running a blog, or otherwise appearing to distribute financial advice. Ideally I would like to get published by a startup type publishing house. Do you know of any or have any thoughts about self-publishing on Amazon?

I'm really no expert in this.  Others are more experienced.  But CreateSpace is a means of self-publishing a book on Amazon.  I'm currently going down that route and it seems promising.  Getting a book deal with a publishing house is out of my pay grade for now.  Maybe one day!   :P
DeForest
Boston, Massachusetts

whitetail

I self-published a book a number of years back for a niche audience. It made 4 figures on day one, which isn't blowing me away now, but was a nice win at the time.

I'd highly recommend checking out Nathan Berry's book Authority for some great advice on building authority and a platform for ebook sales.

wanderlust

I've self-published a book that became an "Amazon bestseller" in various categories. I highly recommend self-publishing, and using the Amazon platform as others have posted above for a variety of reasons:

1. You don't have to find a publisher and then give 30%+ of the royalties to them
2. Much faster process - the same self published book out the door in 6 months would take over a year with a publisher
3. Publishers don't add much anymore. They won't really promote you unless you're a well known person. You as the author will still have to do most of the legwork and marketing.
4. More control. You can up the versions and republish on Amazon within 24 hrs with an updated version, etc.

Sam

Quote from: wanderlust on March 21, 2019, 07:52:10 AM
I've self-published a book that became an "Amazon bestseller" in various categories. I highly recommend self-publishing, and using the Amazon platform as others have posted above for a variety of reasons:

1. You don't have to find a publisher and then give 30%+ of the royalties to them
2. Much faster process - the same self published book out the door in 6 months would take over a year with a publisher
3. Publishers don't add much anymore. They won't really promote you unless you're a well known person. You as the author will still have to do most of the legwork and marketing.
4. More control. You can up the versions and republish on Amazon within 24 hrs with an updated version, etc.

Very cool! How much can one make as an Amazon bestseller and is there a price point limit one can list?

I remember trying to get on Kindle or whatever to list my How To Engineer Your Layoff book, but I think there was a $9.99 limit or something, so I decided not to use that distribution channel and just use FS.

I'll be building out my affiliate program once the third edition is launched for my book this summer.
Regards,

Sam

Koidragon

New to the forum.  Came across this one and even though I get a "Warning..." that this topic has not had any posts for at least 120 days, thought I'd chance a reply ... perhaps it might be of interest to someone, perhaps it might be helpful.

I am a self published author on Amazon .. wrote and self published 6 books, co-authored 2 and published as many for someone near and dear.


QuoteI remember trying to get on Kindle or whatever to list my How To Engineer Your Layoff book, but I think there was a $9.99 limit or something, so I decided not to use that distribution channel and just use FS.

So several things:

1.  Sam.  There is no price limit - only suggested pricing.  With Kindle (eBooks published with Amazon's KDP), the pricing and commission is as follows:

Royalty for ebooks priced under US$2.99 and above $9.99 = 35%
Royalty for ebooks priced US$2.99 to US$9.99 = 70%

Paperback - (KDP Print_ = 60% of list price minus printing costs. Amazon provides a print cost calculator so you can see what you will get paid per sale. Several colleagues sell theirs in the $18.00/$50.00

Audio is catching fire ... I haven't published any in audio, so can't speak from experience, but the word is "speak or perish" ...

Unless your name is James Patterson  (and company) writing & publishing books is not the holy grail to banking big.  My books' purpose is primarily that of being a qualified lean gen.

Hope someone sees this ... and hope it helps  8)



Sam

Quote from: Koidragon on December 30, 2019, 12:57:45 PM
New to the forum.  Came across this one and even though I get a "Warning..." that this topic has not had any posts for at least 120 days, thought I'd chance a reply ... perhaps it might be of interest to someone, perhaps it might be helpful.

I am a self published author on Amazon .. wrote and self published 6 books, co-authored 2 and published as many for someone near and dear.


QuoteI remember trying to get on Kindle or whatever to list my How To Engineer Your Layoff book, but I think there was a $9.99 limit or something, so I decided not to use that distribution channel and just use FS.

So several things:

1.  Sam.  There is no price limit - only suggested pricing.  With Kindle (eBooks published with Amazon's KDP), the pricing and commission is as follows:

Royalty for ebooks priced under US$2.99 and above $9.99 = 35%
Royalty for ebooks priced US$2.99 to US$9.99 = 70%

Paperback - (KDP Print_ = 60% of list price minus printing costs. Amazon provides a print cost calculator so you can see what you will get paid per sale. Several colleagues sell theirs in the $18.00/$50.00

Audio is catching fire ... I haven't published any in audio, so can't speak from experience, but the word is "speak or perish" ...

Unless your name is James Patterson  (and company) writing & publishing books is not the holy grail to banking big.  My books' purpose is primarily that of being a qualified lean gen.

Hope someone sees this ... and hope it helps  8)
m
Cool. Gotta sell a lot to get rich! :)

I got approached by an acquisitions editor from Penguin Random House to write a book. Portfolio imprint, so one of the best. Worth going this route?

Seems like a lot of work and selling without a lot of reward.
Regards,

Sam

Koidragon

Hey Sam!

It's true!  Unless your name is James Patterson, the likelihood of a money truck arriving at your front door with sackfuls of that green stuff from the sales of your book(s) are slim to none, and yet like schmucks stuck to our stubborn ways, authors peck away at their keyboards, write, and publish away.  Below are some of the reasons that authors prevail:

1.  Improve online exposure
2.  Expand market reach
3.  Gain authority status in your field of expertise
4.  Position yourself as a thought leader in your industry
5.  Become a sought after keynote speaker at conferences
6.  Get paid gigs to lead seminars / workshops
7.  Powerful lead generation system that delivers qualified prospects for your services/products
8.  Professionals write/publish high end books and use them as a bonus to attract new clients
9.  One of my clients began to receive paid invites to teach haiku (not exactly a high in demand profession) at wellness retreats.  She's over the moon - just before the year end got THE call from TO (we are Canadian - Toronto is our Big Apple) to speak at a major conference on mindfulness. YESSSS!

There is more, but I thought nine would be a number to show that when it comes to make bank with books, there are more than nine ways to skin that lil' kitty.

The beauty of it all is that much of this happens on auto-pilot!

Sam

Quote from: Koidragon on January 03, 2020, 04:20:20 PM
Hey Sam!

It's true!  Unless your name is James Patterson, the likelihood of a money truck arriving at your front door with sackfuls of that green stuff from the sales of your book(s) are slim to none, and yet like schmucks stuck to our stubborn ways, authors peck away at their keyboards, write, and publish away.  Below are some of the reasons that authors prevail:

1.  Improve online exposure
2.  Expand market reach
3.  Gain authority status in your field of expertise
4.  Position yourself as a thought leader in your industry
5.  Become a sought after keynote speaker at conferences
6.  Get paid gigs to lead seminars / workshops
7.  Powerful lead generation system that delivers qualified prospects for your services/products
8.  Professionals write/publish high end books and use them as a bonus to attract new clients
9.  One of my clients began to receive paid invites to teach haiku (not exactly a high in demand profession) at wellness retreats.  She's over the moon - just before the year end got THE call from TO (we are Canadian - Toronto is our Big Apple) to speak at a major conference on mindfulness. YESSSS!

There is more, but I thought nine would be a number to show that when it comes to make bank with books, there are more than nine ways to skin that lil' kitty.

The beauty of it all is that much of this happens on auto-pilot!

Those are definitely some great benefits. I guess my issue is that I don't like to market myself and I really have nothing to sell. It's always nice to get more traffic to FS as there is a revenue component, but that's about it. I have no desire to do paid speaking gigs or go on TV and stuff.

Btw, does a publisher matter? I've been contacted by Portfolio imprint at Penguin Random House.
Regards,

Sam

Sam

FYI, looks like I'll be getting a book deal offer sometime soon (by end of January). Will let you know more of my thoughts once I see both sides, since I've only self-published.
Regards,

Sam

Koidragon

Cool! 
The good thing with a book deal from a heavy weight publishing house is that they have huge resources and can be the tipping point to becoming a best seller.  A lot of course depends on what the offer includes in terms of market support.
Would love to know more  ;D