SELF PUBLISHING SUCCESS =QUANTITY, NOT QUALITY?

[LifeTransformer]

The last few posts in this thread are seriously making me re-think my strategy.

Might go from a book a week, to 1 high quality book per month.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[EricZ]

The last few posts in this thread are seriously making me re-think my strategy.

Might go from a book a week, to 1 high quality book per month.

I just saw this on Quora:
https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-best-affiliaite-marketplace-to-sell-a-fitness-eBook

Like to think of it as "infopreneur" instead of book author.
Your book should be part of a larger product palette.
Nathan Barry is the master of this, join one of gumroad's SPL's - Small Product Lab, he mentors them!

 

[mws87]

The last few posts in this thread are seriously making me re-think my strategy.

Might go from a book a week, to 1 high quality book per month.

Well, keep in mind @EricZ and I are merely speculating the psychology of buyers right now. However, as he mentioned, his personal platform is doing better than Amazon.

Personally, I've done the 1 book a week thing (short stories). Although, that was about 8 hours of writing a day + editing, cover, etc.
The genre I was writing those books in didn't command a Lovecraftian (seriously, read his stuff; you will feel like a scholar once you finish) vocabulary or structure, but I was still able to get it done effectively and still get positive reviews and the books themselves still sell to this day, albeit in small amounts.

However - they could be doing better. Way better.

If you can get your point across as fast as possible. You win.
If you get your point across fast. You win.

You have the right idea, man. Remember, on Kindle we DO have a tool that actually can work in our favor, yet many people don't realize it-The "Look Inside" feature. If someone is HOOKED from the preview, they will likely buy it. So, while there's huge debate over whether or not short stories will deter customers away (and more often than not, they have been), that isn't essentially saying "It won't work, EVER."

For example: I present you with two books on the same or similar topic, one is about 100+ pages while the other is around 45 pages. Using the look inside feature, the 45 page book's preview has, right from the start, tons of value and keeps you hooked, whereas the 100+ page book has some decent stuff, yet seems a little fluffy and has some straying here and there. The point is, if you're doing shorter work, you'd want to make it straight to the point, no fluff and tons of takeaway. Because on the flipside, I have also read reviews of readers wishing books were shorter and only had the important things.

There are too many variables involved with this stuff to just declare one method. One person's approach won't work for everyone.

Based on what @EricZ and I have been discussing, I'm going to be doing some new approaches and see what works best with my next title. I'll report updates in my progress thread and will bookmark this thread to follow up.

It's all about finding what works best for you; if you're getting the same results from the same approach and aren't satisfied, try a different approach.

 

[Arty]

I'm glad I've started such an interesting discussion Keep it coming.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Boozoon]

Not sure if you guys have seen this, but a while ago there was a post about this guy ->
http://www.nickkolenda.com/psychological-pricing-strategies/

He basically did a shit ton of research on how you price stuff and there are very interesting things to pick from there. At the least, it might help with some of your thoughts or even make you something different. Good vibes in the self publishing sub-forum, keep it up people ^_^

 

[Remnant]

Quality is being the real deal like M.J., walking the journey, knowing the ins and outs of the process. I notice this in the middle of other authors and authorities. And not to say some Entrepreneurs aren't authentic with knowledge, but it comes down to your experience along with the knowledge.

You have people writing books that have the knowledge and not the experience. Authenticity! It's great to have a product and think you're all that, because you may have the answers, but no way of relating to the experience and backing it up. That's why some people will buy the product, but see you're just selling it, and not the real deal.

The authors I see successful in non-fiction and fiction that make any kind of money are connecting with the audience, interacting, building over time, and the other is outsourcing and short term gains. There's a difference with plastering a nice photo,saying you're an expert, having information, looking pretty, and going through the experience and knowledge.

Seven books a week outsourced may give you money short-term. It's a growing process and doesn't happen over night. And I think people who believe it's built over night and think it will last will find it will collapse at some point. You don't have a strong foundation, but chasing money.

I agree, the idea of mass producing semi- decent outsourced work just seems like a slow lane mindset -- are these books really serving a genuine need OR are they flooding the market with junk making it harder for those actually in the trenches who are providing quality content/ value? The quality guys are now that more less likely to be found because of this barrage of sub par garbage --- It's chasing money in my eyes- It won't be sustainable -- I don't see this as a long term solution.

 

[Mattie]

I agree, the idea of mass producing semi- decent outsourced work just seems like a slow lane mindset -- are these books really serving a genuine need OR are they flooding the market with junk making it harder for those actually in the trenches who are providing quality content/ value? The quality guys are now that more less likely to be found because of this barrage of sub par garbage --- It's chasing money in my eyes- It won't be sustainable -- I don't see this as a long term solution.

From my perspective as a writer, and what I've observed, people may feel they're serving a need in the sense they're writing erotica. It sells for one reason. Sex. The other is romance. That's escapism and entertainment for women. Fortunately, the biggest sellers gravitate towards the Hero's Journey.

The only way I can see it becoming fast lane, is if you've been through the Hero's Journey yourself. Whether non-fiction or non-fiction there is only one real story.

Why do you buy M.J.'s book? The Hero is M.J., he fights his way to becoming a millionaire, moves through adversity, get's through his fears, personally develop's, he faces the giants in his life that try to block his way or obstacles, and overcomes everything and becomes a success against all odds. Now his book was written well because he went through the process.

I've been working on a novel for a few years. This is a slow process. I watch people write as fast as they can. And sure they can do it. One thing I know today in 2015, my novel wasn't ready prior to now.

What I was trying to convey would have been wrong. In the sense before I entered the fast lane, my point of view was not fully developed of the upper class and entrepreneurs. The process of becoming one. And because I'm using the polarities of light and dark, changes in mindset and perspectives, you can't write about something you haven't experienced yet.

At this point I can write it now. That was a shift in mindset over a year on fast lane. I believe all the best sellers in the world, have been through the journey in some form or another. The psychology, the personality, the dialogue, the plot, sub-plots, and every sentence moving the story forward, this is all time consuming getting it down in each character. 3D Characters are what you need.

Fortunately, chasing money ends up with 1 dimensional characters and they don't become hits. I believe it's just like the entrepreneur road. You can be a wannabe, or you can actually do the work, go through the process, hone your skills, and go through similar steps. Don't let me fool you, I'm a prolific writer, but still have my moments of frustration, just like M.J. did writing a book.

When I worked with this guy on writing, the first thing he pointed out, I had vision mixed with my writing. Something most writers don't have today. I don't have any idea whether I will make it or not. I can tell you there's so much work in creating a good book, it's not just writing anything down in a week or month. It's not rushing the job.

I know there are lots of people who go to school to become writers and have the education. Still they lack the experience. I think it was an interesting aha moment a few years back, when you understand it's the Hero's Journey. When you recognize it in your own life, and all of it clicks. "OH! That's where it comes from in the movies, and fiction. You only have that aha movie if you've been through it personally. Even though I wasn't ready yet, I wrote it during the emotions, feeling, and experience. I can go back and revise it now, or re-write it, but still have the emotion and feeling captured. I suppose that was from listening to Eminem's interviews. He wrote everything down no matter where he was on anything. He keeps everything he writes down for the purpose of using it in the future.

I went to this work shop once, they were saying remember that feeling in the past. The remembering doesn't pull it out as much as the moment you feel it. I suppose I'm glad I wrote it all down in poetry and fiction to go back and pull it out again over and over again. Emotion and feelings is what sells.

I have to laugh because a good friend keeps reminding me, there's only one story. The Hero's journey. I know this is very true. You can try to change it all you want too, be creative, but people love that one plot more than anything. The one who is down and rises out of their circumstances. The question is, can you pull it out of you, write it over and over again, until you have it just right. I am personally sick of writing the book, but fortunately, I know it's part of the process, and it basically has to be torn apart, and re-wrote because I've learned to much in the last 12 months about writing.

What makes a good writer, is what you've experienced in life. The tragedy, the trauma, the pain and suffering, the grief, and the more the better, because you have something to draw from.

Chasing money is quite different. You're willing to skip the process and steps to get there. Sure you may make money for the moment, but it will end because you haven't done the work or gone through the process.

They always tell writers to write what you know. Fortunately, you can't write, what you don't know. In the growth of a being a writer and in the process, what you know today is very different than what you knew two months ago. If you follow any writer, you will see this in their blogs, books, and articles over time. You can only write as far as you've gone in life.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[Rainy_TX]

-In which I question the volume produced by many self-publishers

So I've been lurking on the self-publishing section of the forums, and I've started to notice a trend.
Every single self publisher that is at least moderately successful is going about things in much the same way.

First they intensively research the market, to see what is currently selling the best, and what would sell best in the future, perhaps.
Then, they write many, many, many, MANY books, often on a variety of topics. Numbering in the thousands, in a few cases.
Now, I can't attest to the quality of these books; I haven't read them, nor do I presume to be an expert on this. I'm genuinely interested, as I myself want to delve down into avenue of self-publishing.
Are these books actually GOOD? Or are these writers just mass-publishing book after book after book, using clever marketing and clever book titles to get sales?
How good can a book really be if took under a week to write?

Hey Arty - I am published in the romance/erotica niche and to stay on top of everything in the market, I do a lot of reading. However, I don't read books in my genre by other authors, I read a lot of 'how to's' about my market. The most recent book I read was written by a very successful erotica author and she was explaining how to make more money as an erotica author in the age of KU. To be brief, her points were:

• Write 5-8k word serials
• Write at least one per week
• Quickly as you can, hit the 'sweet spot' number of 30 published stories/books

Her reason for 5-8k word 'stories'? With KU, a reader has to read the first 10% of your book before you get paid for their download. A reader will surpass the 10% mark a lot faster with a novelette that was written in a week than a full-length novel that may have taken a month or several to write.

Just my two cents on the thread.

 

[MTF]

Her reason for 5-8k word 'stories'? With KU, a reader has to read the first 10% of your book before you get paid for their download. A reader will surpass the 10% mark a lot faster with a novelette that was written in a week than a full-length novel that may have taken a month or several to write.

That's no longer the case for a few months. Beginning July 1st, 2015, you get paid per page read (10% mark is irrelevant) and the advice to write short serials is no longer sensible.

 

[Rainy_TX]

and the advice to write short serials is no longer sensible.

That depends who you ask. For example, I bet this author would strongly disagree... http://www.amazon.com/Hannah-Ford/e/B00TEMQK54/ref=dp_byline_cont_ebooks_1 As well as this author, who's Diamond Club 5 part series were 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5 on the 45 minute reads best seller's list for over a month. http://www.amazon.com/Ellie-Danes/e/B00TQT7EPU/ref=dp_byline_cont_ebooks_1 (For reference, #1 was ranked about 198 in the paid kindle store, but most of them were 250-350 during their reign.)

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[MTF]

I should have specified it's no longer as sensible as it was when you got paid per borrow. Serials will always sell, but these changes have made writing short serials less profitable than before.

 

[Mattie]

• Write 5-8k word serials
• Write at least one per week
• Quickly as you can, hit the 'sweet spot' number of 30 published stories/books

Her reason for 5-8k word 'stories'? With KU, a reader has to read the first 10% of your book before you get paid for their download. A reader will surpass the 10% mark a lot faster with a novelette that was written in a week than a full-length novel that may have taken a month or several to write.

I think this is outdated information. I base that on having short reads myself with 8- 10 k words. They're reading the whole book and not getting paid crap on the blue line. lol and Thinking about making them pay regular price. Since the changes were made in July, the blue line is just a waste of my time.