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Passive Income Here I GO

Tete

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So first of all I would like to say hi! This is my first post here but I've been lurking for a while.

I've always liked to write and I've decided that right now Kindle/CreateSpace are the way to go in order to generate some $$.

A Bit About Me
Nutritionist by trade, jack of all trades by choice. English is not my first language but I much prefer to write in English than in Spanish.
I was reading the warrior forum WSOs subforum and realized that various people were selling guides on how to make money with Kindle. Fiction and nonfiction I bought them all. The last one I read was the Kindle Money Mastery and it was the one that really got me pumped to start writing.

What Kind Of Books Do I Write?
I write non-fiction books/guides on different topics. I've always loved to read so it is easy for me to learn about a lot of stuff (in theory) and write about it.

My Plan And Goals
Right now I plan on writing 20 non-fiction books. 3-4 books under the same pen name and then link to each other and/or sell them as a bundle.
After I'm done writing those 20 books I will try to write some fiction. Depending on where it goes from there I will choose between fiction and non-fiction
My immediate goal is to make $1 per day. My short term goal is to make $1000 per month and my long term goal is to make $10k per month

Where am I now?
I published my first book on August 29th and I've made 6 sales and 1 borrow so far. I'm writing 4 more books as of now (switching between books provides me with the "break" I need without actually wasting time)

Wish me luck
 
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Berliner030

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Great thread. I also started with -kindle money mastery- and published 10 non fiction books (~3000€/month). My plan is to reach 5k/month at the end of this year and 10k/month in summer next year.

If your native language is Spanish I would also publish Spanish versions of your books. The Spanish market is not saturated like the English market. If you place your Spanish books good you will have success when the market is growing (it is just a question of time when the Spanish market explodes). That's my personal opinion because the same happened with the German market. So I would give it a try. You have nothing to lose.

Wish you everything best
 
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Tete

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So after a talk with my dad I've decided that it'd be better to put non-fiction on a pause and test the waters with fiction short stories.

His question was "what sells the most?"

Me "Fiction"

Him "There you go"

So I will do the same experiment but I will write the 20 fiction shorts stories first. If I find that my fiction stories sell I will keep writing those and outsource my non-fiction books.

Great thread. I also started with -kindle money mastery- and published 10 non fiction books (~3000€/month). My plan is to reach 5k/month at the end of this year and 10k/month in summer next year.

If your native language is Spanish I would also publish Spanish versions of your books. The Spanish market is not saturated like the English market. If you place your Spanish books good you will have success when the market is growing (it is just a question of time when the Spanish market explodes). That's my personal opinion because the same happened with the German market. So I would give it a try. You have nothing to lose.

Wish you everything best

I was thinking about publishing in both languages but wasn't really sure if it'd be worth my time. I might give it a go depending on how well the English version sells.

Thank you for your kind words
 

Tete

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Ha! So writing fiction has proved harder than I thought. The stories are well and nice in my head but when I write them I need to constantly go back and re-write to make them better. This will not keep me from finishing my stories though.

I've been also reading and learning a lot about giving people what they want (ala Held For Ransom) and I have to say it is nice to see the same message in different words. It's what takes you from "ok I think I got it" to "ahhhh THAT'S what you mean!" So please, read as much as you can until you fully understand what it is you are doing.

One another note my first published book has gone from 95K to 390k in the sales rank. Sad, but it really helped me with the process of it all
 
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Tete

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My stories seem to be a little bit short on words but I cannot (and will not) write more just to make a longer book. My first story will be done tomorrow but I will publish it in 3 days (I need to outsource the cover).

Ideally I would have 7 stories and publish one each day to see which days is better for publishing but that's ok. I''ll just keep on writing stories and keeping a log on the days I published them
 

Tete

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Taking a 15 minute break for now. I am finding that it is absolutely easier to write without having rules in mind (except spelling, grammar and narration pov). I've also noticed that the more dialogue I use the better. It makes the story flow more naturally or at least that's what I think so far. Another thing I've noticed as I type my story is that this character will have other "adventures" that make a lot of sense for someone like him so I'm writing those ideas down. I will then sell each story by itself and finally I will bundle it.

almost 2000 words so far and I think it might be a finished story at the 5-6k word count.
 

Tete

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Small update:

Mi first story is almost done. I think I will be able to publish it tomorrow night If I get the cover on time. I was struggling with the name until I realized that anything would do. I'm really excited and I really hope to get some sales. Whatever the case I'll start with the next story tomorrow.

Btw this has been the first time since I published my first book that I've had 1 sale 2 days in a row.
 
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Tete

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Update

I am 5-6 hours away from publishing my first short story. I'm just finishing the final details and waiting for the cover. Next time I will order the cover before I start writing the story. That way I'll save some money (I won't have to pay extra to get it the next day). I've already noticed what's wrong with what I've written but I will not go back and fix anything other than the grammar/spelling.

I'll let you know when I click on "Publish".

Feeling kind of pumped actually xD
 
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Tete

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Update
I'm kinda bummed out. I just got my cover and the design is amazing BUT she blew it with the main character.

I asked for a 28 year old guy and I got a dude that looks 82. I hope she fixes it soon because I've worked with her before and I've been pleased with the results.
 

Tete

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Update
I've just hit publish for my first short story. I priced it at $0.99. Now I'll wait about 12H before it is finally published.

Yesterday I changed the price of my non fiction book from $0.99 to $3.99 and today I made a sell. Can't say I'm not happy with that.

I'll start my second story tonight. I might be able to publish it in 3-4 days.
 

Tete

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Update

My story is live. I will give it away for free tomorrow so hopefully I'll get some downloads+ reviews.

The 3.99 price seems to have increased the popularity of my non-fiction book as it has made yet another sale. Really really happy about it
 
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Tete

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Update

My first short story did horribly with the free downloads but I will continue experimenting with keywords and such. I still have 3 more free days to use so we'll see.

My other book, the non-fiction one just landed in the top 60k books which has me really happy. Previously its best rank had been in the 95k range.
 
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Blhhi

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It's awesome to see you moving so fast. Do you use a website like fiverr to get your covers done, or do you work with a specific artist? Also, how are you promoting your books? I understand if you don't want to be too specific about your process.
 
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Tete

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It's awesome to see you moving so fast. Do you use a website like fiverr to get your covers done, or do you work with a specific artist? Also, how are you promoting your books? I understand if you don't want to be too specific about your process.

I use fiverr for covers and I don't do much in promotion. I just find a niche+key words that I believe I can rank for. Not really sure what I am doing with just 2 books published though
 
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SeanKelly

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I actually made my first 100k by selling ebooks. It allowed me to fund my new business and really reach new heights
 

Tete

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Update
My third book is coming out tomorrow. It is non-fiction and connected to my first one. I know I said I was going to publish fiction-only for now but I had the idea for this book in my head messing with everything so I decided to write it so I could focus on my stories next.

On my first month I did not reach my goal of making $1 per day (or $30 in one month) but I was close. I'm beginning to understand what it is I need to do and how to do it. I didn't make a lot of money but I have learned a lot. I will post my October goals tomorrow (maybe I have OCD but it feels to weird to post next months goals in September. Do excuse my crazyness)
 
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Tete

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Update
So I had some internet problems yesterday and I wasn't able to publish my book (which I did today).
We'll see how it goes.

OCTOBER GOALS
$1 per day (I really think I'll be able to do it this time)
4 New Books. Writing fiction isn't really THAT hard but sometimes I just get stuck. I believe 4 book can (and will) be achieved without burning out

I'm loving this business and everything I've learned so far. I will keep you all posted
 

Tete

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Why not post a link to your books on here? You may get some good feedback and some sales.

Honestly? Because I don't want to leave an online footprint of my pen names. Completely paranoid perhaps but I'm sure you can understand.

I do thank you for trying to help me though.
 

KLaw

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Honestly? Because I don't want to leave an online footprint of my pen names. Completely paranoid perhaps but I'm sure you can understand.

I do thank you for trying to help me though.
Why? Who cares about a footprint for pen names? What would be the potential damage / risk? I know absolutely nothing about publishing but just curious why a lot of folks trip out about pen names. Im an avid reader and could care less about a pen name. If the shit is good I'm gonna read it - repeatedly. Know what I mean? Thanks and congrats.
 

Tete

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Why? Who cares about a footprint for pen names? What would be the potential damage / risk? I know absolutely nothing about publishing but just curious why a lot of folks trip out about pen names. Im an avid reader and could care less about a pen name. If the shit is good I'm gonna read it - repeatedly. Know what I mean? Thanks and congrats.

The way I see it my first pen names are for practice. So I don't really feel like showing them just yet. Maybe after a while I can show my 1st story and how it compares to the latest just to show how I progressed (if I even did lol).

Update
Got my 2nd review on my first book. 1 star. Ouch. The reviewer does seem to leave a lot of 1 star reviews behind so I really don't care too much about it. We'll see how that affects my book
 
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Tete

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Update

That 1 star review did nothing to my 1st book. Sold 1 more copy yesterday and 1 today. The other review, the 4 stars review, has a verified purchase stamp so maybe people trust that one more? The newest book sold it's 1st copy today (so 2 sales in a day for me yeah!).

ABOUT THE FICTION STORIES
I'm proud of being able to summarize ideas and give the same message without using a lot of words. For non-fiction that seem to be very good because I could be writing a lot of books really fast (without dropping the quality) but for fiction that same "ability" seems to hinder my progress.
Does anyone have any tips on how to increase the length while actually telling something? I don't want to fill my books with words just because.

I'm also finding it difficult to use keywords on the description. It seems un-natural. How do you describe your books so that people find them?

Thanks
 

jockinbox

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hey @Tete

I've been reading this & I think you have great execution!

I'm currently reading How to Fail at everything and still win big

In the book he suggest that you setup a system instead of a goal

Your goal seems extremely low but perhaps switching from a ($xx a month) mentality to a system mentality will get you where you want to go

Also if you get bad reviews you probably aren't doing enough research in non-fiction. You can learn 6 months worth of information in about 6 days with a good system.

When you publish non fiction make sure you label it correctly (Absolute Beginners Guide to: xxx) that will prevent you getting bad reviews

Reviews are king, make sure to only put out quality material. Once you are making GOOD material then try advertising with Amazon.

Good luck, keep up the execution
 
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Tete

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Maybe "Snowflake method" could help?

Yeah, I might give a look to that method

hey @Tete

I've been reading this & I think you have great execution!

I'm currently reading How to Fail at everything and still win big

In the book he suggest that you setup a system instead of a goal

Your goal seems extremely low but perhaps switching from a ($xx a month) mentality to a system mentality will get you where you want to go

Also if you get bad reviews you probably aren't doing enough research in non-fiction. You can learn 6 months worth of information in about 6 days with a good system.

When you publish non fiction make sure you label it correctly (Absolute Beginners Guide to: xxx) that will prevent you getting bad reviews

Reviews are king, make sure to only put out quality material. Once you are making GOOD material then try advertising with Amazon.

Good luck, keep up the execution

Hi and thank you.

I like the idea of a system mentality and I will look for the book you just mentioned.

As for the reviews it reads as if he didn't even read my book. "This book sucks just like others in the same niche" and it doesn't have a "verified purchase stamp". Maybe from a competitor?

My books are properly labeled so I don't think that's it. It's only been out for a month and some days so I still have to wait for some more reviews.

Again thanks for ideas!
 

Tete

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Update

Just wanted to post my progress so far.

This adventure started on the 29 of August. Still got a looooong way to go but it's nice to see some color on the salesboard (I unclicked the free downloads as to show only sales and borrows)

SQ1etLl.png
 

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