From Bronze Nuggets to Gold

[Greyson F]

Hello everyone!

For those of you who do not know me, I have been a member here for a little over 6 months! I read MJ's book and have chosen that with my youth and creativity, that self-publication is the path that I wish to take to become fast lane. This will be my official progress thread for both the first book that I have recently published, and the progress of the coming books that I am writing, along with a little talk of tracking sales, my adventure with SEO, and how "fun" promoting your book is.

As for the thread name...

The entire point to this thread is my adventure to reach not only FINANCIAL heights, but INTELLECTUAL heights as well. Through my writing, I may or may not make career changing sales, but what will ALWAYS REMAIN CONSTANT is the fact that through every project that I endure, I will gain knowledge and experience that will help me down the next road.

I will be updating this progress thread as I have time. I really encourage questions and discussions on here, not only for the new and learning authors on this forum, but also for me, so we can all learn and better ourselves as entrepreneurs in the self-publishing industry.

18,000 words into book 2 as of post numero uno.

I leave you with a quote:

"There is a difference between interest and commitment. When you're interested in doing something, you do it only when it's convenient. When you're committed to something, you accept no excuses; only results."
-Kenneth Blanchard


Back to writing!

Greyson

 

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[AustinGator44]

Good luck look forward to seeing your progress

 

[Greyson F]

I've spent this entire week doing a lot of writing on my second book, and setting up a Facebook page for my book to begin getting a following of my work. I've gotten past the (temporary) failure of my first book to move on to bigger and better things. First tip as a writer: keep writing like you've never written anything prior.

One thing I've noticed about my book publicity is that the free book promotions offered by KDP make a significant jump in the amount of people that download my ebook, and yet the change never stays once the free promotion ends. I sold over 400 "free" copies of my book, and yet it did not affect my book sales afterward at all. Is there any advice I could get on that from experienced authors?

I've discovered along the way that every writer has strengths and weaknesses that are found in any book they write. I was told mine by my editor, which is my unique ability to vividly describe battle scenes and heavy action. This is due to what he called my "cinematic" form of writing. I think this really helped me sprout my abilities in the second book because I am concentrating more on bettering what I wasn't good at in book one, while really emphasizing the strengths that I had. As a writer, you should be concentrating on writer development just as much as writing a good, sell-able niche story IMO, because you're wasting a niche EVERY TIME when your writing isn't top notch for that industry. Just like MJ's speech about an idea being worthless, but the desire to compete and improve above the competition making the difference, so too does Amazon's book market work like that. If you think about it, most every idea out there has been taken in some form or another, but the writers who have written the best, marketed the most, taken the best avenues of opportunity, those writers have gotten to the top. Why? Not because of an original idea.

But because of an unoriginal plan for that idea.

Keep writing as I do, gents.

Greyson

 

[gregarious18]

I've spent this entire week doing a lot of writing on my second book, and setting up a Facebook page for my book to begin getting a following of my work. I've gotten past the (temporary) failure of my first book to move on to bigger and better things. First tip as a writer: keep writing like you've never written anything prior.

One thing I've noticed about my book publicity is that the free book promotions offered by KDP make a significant jump in the amount of people that download my ebook, and yet the change never stays once the free promotion ends. I sold over 400 "free" copies of my book, and yet it did not affect my book sales afterward at all. Is there any advice I could get on that from experienced authors?

I've discovered along the way that every writer has strengths and weaknesses that are found in any book they write. I was told mine by my editor, which is my unique ability to vividly describe battle scenes and heavy action. This is due to what he called my "cinematic" form of writing. I think this really helped me sprout my abilities in the second book because I am concentrating more on bettering what I wasn't good at in book one, while really emphasizing the strengths that I had. As a writer, you should be concentrating on writer development just as much as writing a good, sell-able niche story IMO, because you're wasting a niche EVERY TIME when your writing isn't top notch for that industry. Just like MJ's speech about an idea being worthless, but the desire to compete and improve above the competition making the difference, so too does Amazon's book market work like that. If you think about it, most every idea out there has been taken in some form or another, but the writers who have written the best, marketed the most, taken the best avenues of opportunity, those writers have gotten to the top. Why? Not because of an original idea.

But because of an unoriginal plan for that idea.

Keep writing as I do, gents.

Greyson

You have to funnel freebies to your other paid books. Free downloads don't bump you up much when the book goes back to paid. Free days are pointless if you don't have other content to sell. You may get a few reveiws or mailing list opt-ins, but that's about it. You will see more sales when book one is back to free and you have bk two or bk three out.

 

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[Greyson F]

You have to funnel freebies to your other paid books. Free downloads don't bump you up much when the book goes back to paid. Free days are pointless if you don't have other content to sell. You may get a few reveiws or mailing list opt-ins, but that's about it. You will see more sales when book one is back to free and you have bk two or bk three out.

How many well-written books does it take to really start making freebies bump your other books. And also, do you think every book published by you will help each other in sales, or is it only between genres or its series.

 

[gregarious18]

How many well-written books does it take to really start making freebies bump your other books. And also, do you think every book published by you will help each other in sales, or is it only between genres or its series.

It depends. It takes just one paid book to be linked in the back matter of your free book. If they like the freebie (the writing, the plot, the cover, and etc.), readers are more likely to check out the next book if you let them know by way of back matter, promotion, or newsletter. Freebies work best with series (book #1 is the loss leader for the rest of the series) or books in the same genre. I think the more you write, you will have more visibility.

There is no magic number to see a big bump in sales, I've read people say 3-7 books out, but some people take longer or their first hit is their first book out. Every Genre has its own trends and sales patterns. Personally, just keep pushing, experimenting, writing, track your own progress, and pivot when needed.

 

[Greyson F]

With college coming to and end, I finally have the free time to spend on my book trilogy to really get my passive income rolling. I've been so eager to begin writing again, and I can't wait to see how my sales change once I have three books in the market and I have a stronger fan base to manipulate with Online Marketing decisions.

Now, before you doubt the brakes that college has put on my writing, understand that writing is not my ultimate goal as an entrepreneur! It is a substantial mine of experience, knowledge, and self-motivating skills that have really driven me to dive into deeper projects and expand my ability to roll into the Fastlane. While I have been in college, I have gathered the resources and the people to delve into a project that I feel I really feel passionate about solving.

Ladies and gentlemen, this young, worthless rookie wannabe entrepreneur has finally understood what it means to "find a niche", and I am going to work my a$$ off until I can take the words "young, worthless rookie wannabe" out of my description.

Although I don't want to dive into the industry itself, I'd like to update everyone on how I really develop the product I've created, and how I take it to the markets, the mistakes I've made, the decisions I am confused about. I am really excited to see how me, such an insignificant person in a world of millions, can use my intuition and my creativity to solve a problem in the world for a profit.

I'm open to comments, I'm ready for this happen, and I'll make sure to keep everyone updated on the project.

So far, today was the first day that my colleague and I officially met and began discussing and drawing blueprints. So far, we have this established as a team:

1. The invention is not only useful, but it is POSSIBLE!
2. Our prototype can be created before the starting of next semester
3. BOTH my partner and I share a drive, and this makes us dangerous

To success, or if not success, knowledge

Greyson

 

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[Greyson F]

Prototype is measured and entered into the CAS blueprinting software. Everything adds up. Starting Monday, the production of our first product is beginning. Currently working at oDesk to gather the funds to expand the production. It isn't easy, and the money is hard to come by, but I'm making this product work.

Goals for the next month:

1) Finish the prototype, and land an investment/loan
2) Optimize the best manufacturing outsource
3) Make a sale already

This month's focus is making the product a reality. As young as my partner is, and with little knowledge of the philosophy of the fast lane, he is wavering in his hope in our determination. Give it a month, and he'll be 100% on board.

 

[Greyson F]

The prototype is finished! We are making a second prototype now and adjusting on measurements to make it better/safer/more efficient. It took my partner and I quite some time to really construct the board, because we were using methods in the invention that even his father had not known of before (his father is the head of the workshop at our community college). This means that we really had to engage ourselves and figure something out on our own to solve the problems we had in mind.

So goal one of the month is completed. We have a rough prototype of our product. Next up is to talk with the SBA coordinator at the college that I attend, and discuss methods of patenting. I attended several seminars last semester on my own time to get a feel for the patenting laws, and the process of getting an item patented. So now all that is left is discussing with the coordinator when the best time should be for me to do it, and which patent attorney to go to in my town.

My second task is to find a good place to manufacture our product once the design gets set in stone. We have not decided yet whether or not we want to patent our invention and sell to wholesale retailers, or to manufacture and distribute the products to our target market through an LLC. It is a difficult decision, and both paths require completely different stages of planning, connections, and stages of development for the product we have in mind.

For now, we are going to have these prototypes improving, and once we have the final product, I'm selling one. Period. There is no excuse not to be making some money and getting an active costumer base going. All this needs to start happening now, because I'm ready to stop being a wannabe. I'm building my plane on the way down, lets see how it flies.

I'll update more whenever I get the time, but for now, leave any questions or comments, and I'll be glad to answer or take advice whenever I check the thread.

Greyson

 

[Greyson F]

One problem that I am finding is where to take the product that we are buying. When you invent something, or create a product, you have like many different ways you can go about making money with it. Should I take @Vigilante 's advice pursue doing some sort of licensing with companies in the product's industry, sell the patent to a distributor or retailer, start my own company to bran and distribute the product, ect. ect. I feel like I am in a pool of sharks and there is one way out of the water, and the rest of the ways will leave me sore and sad.

If anybody has any experience with this, what are the pros and cons of going through different paths with a product that you are wanting in the world?

 

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[Vigilante]

There's no one answer to your question. There are a myriad of paths. Nobody will be able to articulately and clearly answer your question. You have to blaze your own path.

 

[Greyson F]

Thank you, Vig! I think it is pretty powerful feeling that power, that every project I take on is a new entity in the world that I have to mold and create. With me being so young, I'm pissing myself with excitement.

While I'm on here, I wanted to spill a little bit about my emotions during this past week. I'm turning 19 in 5 days. 5 DAYS! I haven't created a business in this past year, but I've learned a long list of things over the past year that have drastically helped me. I've read MJ's book for a second time, and really committed alot of it to memory, and many things surfaced that didn't before. Here's what I've learned in a year of wantrepreneuring.

1) Do not pretend what you love solves a need! The very beginning of this thread began with my adventures for writing fiction ebooks. I had been a writer for most of my life, and I made the silly assumption that people would want my writing. I WAS WRONG. People don't give a shit, what they need is value. @JasonR 's thread proved to be the most valuable lesson I could have learned all year, and that is being agnostic towards products and markets.

2) Excuses Kill. "I'm too young", "I don't know", and "I won't make it" have been plaguing my plans for the Fastlane ever since I started. I continued to search for ways to stop the symptoms of these problems, but like MJ says in his book, stopping the symptoms doesnt solve the problem. I felt too young because I haven't done anything yet. I didn't know because I wasn't scouring google for knowledge. I didn't think I would make it because I was interested, not committed. I've done a lot of reflection over the 18th year of my life, and my gears have been switched around a lot to pursue the problems, not the symptoms.

3) Fear is a great arguer! Everytime that I've come to the point where I have an idea, and I've developed the idea, of course the next steps is to start your operations and make sales. I froze. I froze almost everytime, and immediately doubt would fill my head. Instead of solving problems, I let the problems in my head pile up. It became so burdensome that I'd let go of the idea because "I won't make it". For my 19th year, I want to do something. I am looking for a failure, and I hope it burns, because I want to get my feet in the water somehow.

4) Ice Cream or Celery? Making the right choices every single day becomes very hard. Especially in college, where more opportunities fly at you faster than you can think about them. It gets really hard to go against that headwind of society and push towards what you know needs to be done. That ice cream is tasty, but its bad in the long run, and let me tell you, Ice cream is everywhere. I've learned this year that I need to move move move. Every moment that I spend lounging, or stalling on my business system, someone else could just as easily swoop down and take it.

5) STOP Plan Hopping!! Ladies and gentlemen, my #1 flaw for the 2014-2015 year of my life. It was pathetic. I expected myself to be invincible, and I was trying to create 3 different websites for 3 different products in 3 different industries, all while writing ebooks for passive income, inventing the next wheel (twice) and trying to start a magazine company at my college town. I juggled 5-10 different projects around, bouncing back and forth between them, hoping one of them would show promising results. It wasn't the projects, IT WAS ME! As soon as I began reading MJ's book again, I stopped all of the projects, and I decided to focus on one. This is my goal for this year. Pursue one and either hit it big or fail. But pursue one.

I'm learning a lot again through this forum and MJ's book. I'm also reading a couple of other books to try to really get my head in gear. I'm researching how to license and I'm learning how to do a sales funnel (whatever that is). I've got so much more to learn, but I'm not giving up until something happens.

Thanks for this community!

 

[EmperorPear]

Ladies and gentlemen, this young, worthless rookie wannabe entrepreneur has finally understood what it means to "find a niche", and I am going to work my a$$ off until I can take the words "young, worthless rookie wannabe" out of my description.

Can you go in-depth about the "finding a niche" part? I see it getting tossed around a lot, but I have never fully grasped the term.

 

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[Greyson F]

I see it getting tossed around a lot, but I have never fully grasped the term.

A niche is just a particular tweak or improvement that you can find in a market. If I'm looking at the desk chair market, and I see that "Hey, why does this chair not do this?" or "This chair is causing this problem, I wish I could fix it," then you may have just found a niche.

Be careful not to assume something is a niche because YOU found a problem with it. Check with other people around you, and find your "niche" from other people. Validate it. Validate it. Validate it. The product I'm currently making is a niche I've found from many different opinions. One day someone brought it up to me, I thought about it, and expanded from there to find the nice.

 

[EmperorPear]

A niche is just a particular tweak or improvement that you can find in a market. If I'm looking at the desk chair market, and I see that "Hey, why does this chair not do this?" or "This chair is causing this problem, I wish I could fix it," then you may have just found a niche.

Be careful not to assume something is a niche because YOU found a problem with it. Check with other people around you, and find your "niche" from other people. Validate it. Validate it. Validate it. The product I'm currently making is a niche I've found from many different opinions. One day someone brought it up to me, I thought about it, and expanded from there to find the nice.

Thanks, man. Best of luck on your endeavour!

 

[Greyson F]

Never stop reading MJ's book. This is a lesson I've learned over the course of the new year. You forget. You mold. You forget more. That headwind that MJ discusses is true, and it does more than hold you down and keep you from going Fastlane. Each and every day that you live surrounded by people that are slowlane, you will naturally slide (ever so slowly) into being more comfortable with the Slowlane mindset. The moment you decide to think Fastlane is like living on the other side of the planet. The time zone is different, and while you sleep at 10pm in your time, people are starting their mornings, because its 10 am. In a world where the majority is doing the opposite, you have to keep fighting against the urge to conform with what everyone else is doing.

I've lost a lot of friends this new year. I didn't burn bridges, but I made the decision that I needed to spend less time on people and more time on me. I have been studying and doing personal research on something every single day. I'm reading new books. I'm expanding my resources. I am officially tired of not moving.

Along with friends that I've lost, I've also disconnected myself massively from my family, because for some reason it is family that is the strongest headwind. Once again, I'm not burning bridges here, but I am keeping my choice to be Fastlane completely secret from my family from now on. They have never supported me, and they don't need to, because I am going against their beliefs and that's okay.

I'm setting a goal for myself to read one book every month. I'm not as fast of a reader as most people, so that goal is actually quite lofty for me. I also learn something new EVERY SINGLE DAY. Whether it be big or small, I'm learning about e-commerce, about licensing, about writing, copywriting, making relations, I'm going from friend to friend, and person to person and asking their honest opinion about problems they see in the world. Heck, I just got off of the phone with someone who is a salesman for the commercial trucking industry, and I was learning more about their operations and how they buy their trucks from Navistar. Regardless of what I learn, I want to open my eyes to something interesting every day.

Something I've found to be extremely difficult is what to do when you are in the limbo stages of a project. As I mentioned earlier, my colleague and I have been designing and working on a prototype for a product that we intend to patent and manufacture to sell, but as of now the prototype is still being created and we currently don't have solid blueprints. Its still in the stages of solving problems and finding solutions to get the blueprints set in stone. I feel like I'm waiting, I'm helplessly waiting. I know there is something I could be doing to help this project along even without a prototype or blueprints, but I'm at a loss for what to do. So instead, I've been learning about new industries, and finding different things to work on in this downtime.

Any criticism would be appreciated, or tips to get me to stop feeling so helpless right now. I'm ready to get started, but there are so many different paths, I feel like I don't know where to start.

Good luck and lets drive!

Greyson

 

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