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I wrote my eBook.

A detailed account of a Fastlane process...

Cyberdeth

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Hi all,

So I've been a part of this forum for a while and I'm really trying to get into the fastlane. So a few weeks back I got a ghostwriter to write a book for me, and I'm excited to say that I published the book on Amazon last night. I haven't got any sales yet, but I'm doing some promotions and ads to get my book noticed. I will have to update this thread in a week with my progress.

If anyone has any helpful hints on how to promote my book better, that would be much appreciated.
 
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The self-publishing ghostwriting model can be very lucrative if done correctly, but it's unlikely to bring any noticeable income with just one book out. Is it fiction or non-fiction?
 

Cyberdeth

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The self-publishing ghostwriting model can be very lucrative if done correctly, but it's unlikely to bring any noticeable income with just one book out. Is it fiction or non-fiction?
Non-fiction
 

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If you're willing to drop your price to $0.99, you can use book promo sites like Bargain Booksy to promote your discounted book. Another good way to promote your discounted book is through BookBub Ads (CPM ads, not featured deals). Some authors are using Facebook Ads as well, but it will be very hard to turn a profit if you have only one book out and if there's no funnel behind it. I don't recommend Amazon Ads anymore as they're too expensive now.

Generally speaking, non-fiction is tough if you don't sell products on the back end or if you don't have multiple books about the same topic (ideally a branded series).
 
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Virgman

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Hi all,

So I've been a part of this forum for a while and I'm really trying to get into the fastlane. So a few weeks back I got a ghostwriter to write a book for me, and I'm excited to say that I published the book on Amazon last night. I haven't got any sales yet, but I'm doing some promotions and ads to get my book noticed. I will have to update this thread in a week with my progress.

If anyone has any helpful hints on how to promote my book better, that would be much appreciated.

Congrats on your book. No matter what happens you completed a big project and hurdle in life. There's nothing stopping you from moving on to the next. Amazon rates all types of books according to demand and interest. If your going to undertake a second book look at the stats on what is selling the most and be in that category. Remember Ray Croc said luck is the culmination of hard work and sweat. The harder you work, the more you sweat, the luckier you get. Best of luck.
 

Cyberdeth

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If you're willing to drop your price to $0.99, you can use book promo sites like Bargain Booksy to promote your discounted book. Another good way to promote your discounted book is through BookBub Ads (CPM ads, not featured deals). Some authors are using Facebook Ads as well, but it will be very hard to turn a profit if you have only one book out and if there's no funnel behind it. I don't recommend Amazon Ads anymore as they're too expensive now.

Generally speaking, non-fiction is tough if you don't sell products on the back end or if you don't have multiple books about the same topic (ideally a branded series).

I’ve set the price for my ebook at 3.99 and for the paperback at 9.97. I’ve started some free book giveaway raffles and I’ve also signed up for a month long promotion plan at books butterfly which is similar to the bargain booksy site you mentioned. I’m also going to promote the free book raffle at the /r/freebooks reddit channel.
 

Cyberdeth

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Congrats on your book. No matter what happens you completed a big project and hurdle in life. There's nothing stopping you from moving on to the next. Amazon rates all types of books according to demand and interest. If your going to undertake a second book look at the stats on what is selling the most and be in that category. Remember Ray Croc said luck is the culmination of hard work and sweat. The harder you work, the more you sweat, the luckier you get. Best of luck.
Thanks @Virgman
 
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Olimac21

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What is your book about? I might help you and buy a copy if is related to any of my current challenges.

About book promotions I think Ryan Holiday has some good posts about how to apply marketing tactics for books, otherwise my common sense is to go to Goodreads and find people who would be interested in your niche, especially those who are active in the social network.
 

Cyberdeth

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What is your book about? I might help you and buy a copy if is related to any of my current challenges.

About book promotions I think Ryan Holiday has some good posts about how to apply marketing tactics for books, otherwise my common sense is to go to Goodreads and find people who would be interested in your niche, especially those who are active in the social network.

It's about freelancing. Amazon.com: A Freelancer's Guide to Freelancing: An Introduction On The Profitable Lifestyle Of Freelancing eBook: Francois Hensley: Kindle Store
 

Ing

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VigilantCMDR

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Could you help share the process you went through? Interested in publishing a book myself.
 

Dan_Cardone

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Make a list of bloggers who's audience would likely need/want your book.

Now ask them how much they would charge for you to make a guest post on their blog promoting your book or for them to do a book review on their blog talking about your book. Then ask how much for them to send an email blast to their email list also promoting your book.

Repeat this with every blogger you can afford.

You can then find forums where people who would have an interest in your book post, make a list of all the well respected posters, and offer to send them a free copy in exchange for them posting an honest review.

You can pretty much take this tactics and apply it to all influencers on social media.

This is how one of the guys in my coaching group promoted his book and he was happy with the results.
 

Cyberdeth

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Make a list of bloggers who's audience would likely need/want your book.

Now ask them how much they would charge for you to make a guest post on their blog promoting your book or for them to do a book review on their blog talking about your book. Then ask how much for them to send an email blast to their email list also promoting your book.

Repeat this with every blogger you can afford.

You can then find forums where people who would have an interest in your book post, make a list of all the well respected posters, and offer to send them a free copy in exchange for them posting an honest review.

You can pretty much take this tactics and apply it to all influencers on social media.

This is how one of the guys in my coaching group promoted his book and he was happy with the results.
Yeah I mean I know I won’t be making FU money with my first book. But if I can cover the costs and show a small profit, that would be a good start.
 
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Josephseal

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Congrats on Cyberdeth on your book, I checked it out on Amazon. I have a compilation of material on the restaurant industry that I've accumulated and one avenue to the entry of the market was to also publish an e-book to measure to test the waters of need before taking the next step. I have a couple of questions.

1. What the cost all in from pen to publish.

2. Where did you find the ghost-writer?

3. What was the cost of the ghost-writer?

4. What was the timeline once you handed over your material to the ghost-writer?

5. What can you say about your experience of working with a ghost-writer? any tips?

6. Can you walk us through the process, would love to hear more about the journey.
 

Cyberdeth

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Congrats on Cyberdeth on your book, I checked it out on Amazon. I have a compilation of material on the restaurant industry that I've accumulated and one avenue to the entry of the market was to also publish an e-book to measure to test the waters of need before taking the next step. I have a couple of questions.

1. What the cost all in from pen to publish.
It's approximately $750 all up

2. Where did you find the ghost-writer?
I found her on a freelancing site. Fiverr.com

3. What was the cost of the ghost-writer?
About $400 for 10000 words

4. What was the timeline once you handed over your material to the ghost-writer?
2 weeks

5. What can you say about your experience of working with a ghost-writer? any tips?
Try to find a ghost-writer who fits you're niche. Read reviews. Be as specific as possible with your requirements beforehand. Definitely get someone who is a native in the language that you want the book to be written in.

6. Can you walk us through the process, would love to hear more about the journey.
It's a bit long, but i'll try to be as succinct as possible:
  1. I posted a project to a freelancer with the requirements.
  2. After delivery, I did a proof read and I asked someone else to proof read it too and used open source software, openoffice, to edit the document.
  3. I followed the steps on this wikihow page: How to Publish a Book on Amazon
  4. I used Amazon software to convert the edited document to an amazon formatted file to upload to their system.
  5. I created the cover for the book through the amazon system too, and it was quite painless.
  6. I chose my price and royalty, and clicked on publish.

Afterwards, it's more about legwork about getting the name out for the book etc. You can follow steps 4-6 to create a publish-on-demand book to accompany the ebook. It just gives people an option to buy an ebook or a paperback.

Let me know if you need more information


EDITED by moderator to have questions quoted, and formatted a bit for readability.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Bertram

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Congratulations on your book! This is an accomplishment nothing will ever erase.

Here are some some book marketing steps for you.

1. First, who are your readers?
Business people? Artists? The unemployed? Stay-at-homers? Blue collar? Millennials? Aging tycoons?

2. What to they do? Where do they congregate? What do they worry about?
Building an empire? Business networking? Getting a job? Money problems? Time management? Slowlane values?

3. Here's the fun part. Brainstorm the agencies, clubs, and associations they belong to. What social groups do they belong to, regionally and online? An urban technology hub? Maker space? Writing groups? Self-development groups? YMCA? Go for 70-100 organizations.

4. That's it for the fun. Now find these organizations online. Regionally. That's the secret.

5. Contact them with the offer of blog content or do this really shrewd thing: offer them a special price for their members. This means the organization gets to market your book on your behalf and gets to promote the reduced rate as a benefit to members. Free book promotion.

That's a start.

6. Become an online presence in the popular and B2B forums through writing, media events, and by producing actual events, and always mention your book.

7. The further you go the more quickly you'll discover some shortcuts and stepping stones.

Please, stop giving away your book.
It is audacious to do it. Audacity is excellent for wellbeing and it makes the world a better place. But try this plan instead.

Giving away products without a rigorous, lean and focused marketing plan works against success.

What's the next book about?

Good luck!
 
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Cyberdeth

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Congratulations on your book! This is an accomplishment nothing will ever erase.

Here are some some book marketing steps for you.

1. First, who are your readers?
Business people? Artists? The unemployed? Stay-at-homers? Blue collar? Millennials? Aging tycoons?

It's geared towards anyone who is already in freelancing or thinking of getting into it.

2. What to they do? Where do they congregate? What do they worry about?
Building an empire? Business networking? Getting a job? Money problems? Time management? Slowlane values?

I'm guessing someone who is having money problems or looking at getting more money.

3. Here's the fun part. Brainstorm the agencies, clubs, and associations they belong to. What social groups do they belong to, regionally and online? An urban technology hub? Maker space? Writing groups? Self-development groups? YMCA? Go for 70-100 organizations.

Good suggestion! I have a few already in mind.

4. That's it for the fun. Now find these organizations online. Regionally. That's the secret.

Regionally? You mean per state? Per country?

5. Contact them with the offer of blog content or do this really shrewd thing: offer them a special price for their members. This means the organization gets to market your book on your behalf and gets to promote the reduced rate as a benefit to members. Free book promotion.

That's a start.

I've contacted one site and they've asked for a blog post :)

6. Become an online presence in the popular and B2B forums through writing, media events, and by producing actual events, and always mention your book.

Will try that.

7. The further you go the more quickly you'll discover some shortcuts and stepping stones.

Please, stop giving away your book.
It is audacious to do it. Audacity is excellent for wellbeing and it makes the world a better place. But try this plan instead.

Giving away products without a rigorous, lean and focused marketing plan works against success.

What's the next book about?

Good luck!

I'm not giving away too many books. Only 20. People have to enter into a raffle to win. I've had 2 sales since Monday so far, so not killing it, but at least I've got some money from sales. This with no reviews yet either. I'm in a bit of a catch-22 situation now. To sell more, I need more reviews, to get reviews I need to sell more or give away more. But I'm learning as I go. The next book will be better I reckon. Learned a lot in the last few weeks!!!
 

Bertram

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It's great when readers find you.
Prior to writing the next book, could you find buyers first and pre-sell the book?
 

Cyberdeth

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It's great when readers find you.
Prior to writing the next book, could you find buyers first and pre-sell the book?

Absolutely. This is one of the things I've learned from publishing my book. I actually didn't know that you can pre-sell your work with amazon. Now that I know that it's an option, i'm definitely going to do a pre-launch.
 
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Josephseal

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It's approximately $750 all up


I found her on a freelancing site. Fiverr.com


About $400 for 10000 words


2 weeks


Try to find a ghost-writer who fits you're niche. Read reviews. Be as specific as possible with your requirements beforehand. Definitely get someone who is a native in the language that you want the book to be written in.


It's a bit long, but i'll try to be as succinct as possible:
  1. I posted a project to a freelancer with the requirements.
  2. After delivery, I did a proof read and I asked someone else to proof read it too and used open source software, openoffice, to edit the document.
  3. I followed the steps on this wikihow page: How to Publish a Book on Amazon
  4. I used Amazon software to convert the edited document to an amazon formatted file to upload to their system.
  5. I created the cover for the book through the amazon system too, and it was quite painless.
  6. I chose my price and royalty, and clicked on publish.

Afterwards, it's more about legwork about getting the name out for the book etc. You can follow steps 4-6 to create a publish-on-demand book to accompany the ebook. It just gives people an option to buy an ebook or a paperback.

Let me know if you need more information


EDITED by moderator to have questions quoted, and formatted a bit for readability.
Thank you Cyberdeth, very useful contributions on the process, I feel a little less lost.
 

Josephseal

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It's approximately $750 all up


I found her on a freelancing site. Fiverr.com


About $400 for 10000 words


2 weeks


Try to find a ghost-writer who fits you're niche. Read reviews. Be as specific as possible with your requirements beforehand. Definitely get someone who is a native in the language that you want the book to be written in.


It's a bit long, but i'll try to be as succinct as possible:
  1. I posted a project to a freelancer with the requirements.
  2. After delivery, I did a proof read and I asked someone else to proof read it too and used open source software, openoffice, to edit the document.
  3. I followed the steps on this wikihow page: How to Publish a Book on Amazon
  4. I used Amazon software to convert the edited document to an amazon formatted file to upload to their system.
  5. I created the cover for the book through the amazon system too, and it was quite painless.
  6. I chose my price and royalty, and clicked on publish.

Afterwards, it's more about legwork about getting the name out for the book etc. You can follow steps 4-6 to create a publish-on-demand book to accompany the ebook. It just gives people an option to buy an ebook or a paperback.

Let me know if you need more information


EDITED by moderator to have questions quoted, and formatted a bit for readability.

I went to the site you used and have reached out to a couple of ghostwriters and more than a few are from Nigeria ?

Was yours from Nigeria?

Anytime I hear Nigeria, I think of money transfer scam.
 

softwareRules

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I'm checking out the book through Kindle Unlimited. It would be nice @Cyberdeth if you get any royalties or $$ from a complete read-through or even just how much analytics/stats you can see when a reader is reading your book through Kindle Unlimited. I'll make some progress over the week on it.

For example, it would be cool to know if readers just stopped reading at a certain point or were highlighting certain passages.
 
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steelandchrome

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I'm checking out the book through Kindle Unlimited. It would be nice @Cyberdeth if you get any royalties or $$ from a complete read-through or even just how much analytics/stats you can see when a reader is reading your book through Kindle Unlimited. I'll make some progress over the week on it.

For example, it would be cool to know if readers just stopped reading at a certain point or were highlighting certain passages.

I don't know of you can see what they read other than total pages read under kindle unlimited. I am averaging about 6 people reading my book a month on unlimited and earned about 30cents per person that read it so it's nice, but not exciting. If they highlighted that would be awesome to see but I don't see a way to track that
 

Cyberdeth

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I'm checking out the book through Kindle Unlimited. It would be nice @Cyberdeth if you get any royalties or $$ from a complete read-through or even just how much analytics/stats you can see when a reader is reading your book through Kindle Unlimited. I'll make some progress over the week on it.

For example, it would be cool to know if readers just stopped reading at a certain point or were highlighting certain passages.
Hi @softwareRules as @steelandchrome said, i think you get paid per page read, although it's only a tiny amount.
 

Cyberdeth

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I went to the site you used and have reached out to a couple of ghostwriters and more than a few are from Nigeria ?

Was yours from Nigeria?

Anytime I hear Nigeria, I think of money transfer scam.
@Josephseal, haha me too. however, you have the choice of whether you want to go with a nigerian or not. Plus you don't have to hire immediately, you can interview them beforehand and you pay the freelancer through the site and you only have to release the funds once you're happy with the work.
 
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Ka.La_

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The self-publishing ghostwriting model can be very lucrative if done correctly, but it's unlikely to bring any noticeable income with just one book out. Is it fiction or non-fiction?

I have some questions about writing Ebooks. Do you recommend to self publish your Ebook or use ghostwriter services?


And is it legal to copy another relationship coaches advices in Youtube to write your own Ebook?
 

MTF

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I have some questions about writing Ebooks. Do you recommend to self publish your Ebook or use ghostwriter services?

Unless you're very good at managing people and finding cheap quality writers (which is very hard to do) the outsourced books you'll publish will be probably of subpar quality and you'll never recoup your investment in them.

And is it legal to copy another relationship coaches advices in Youtube to write your own Ebook?

IMO if you don't have anything unique to share or don't have experience with the topic and plan to copy others you should find a different business model. There are too many shady marketers publishing low-quality non-fiction books on Amazon already. The way you phrased your question makes me think that you're looking for easy buck - sorry but that ship has sailed in this industry.
 

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It's geared towards anyone who is already in freelancing or thinking of getting into it.

First, I want to say congratulations on your e-book: that's amazing and good for you!

Second, I just wanted to give a small piece of advice. I would hone this in WAY more. That's an incredible broad audience to try targeting right out of the gate. I would narrow it down "niche down to blow up". By focusing on really serving one subset of freelancers or people wanting to freelance, you'll be able to better serve them initially which will inadvertently help you serve a larger subset.

For example, let's say you're a new mom who wants to earn extra incoming using her skillset to freelance. Are you gonna read "how to freelance" or are you gonna read "the busy mom's ultimate guide for building a home-based freelancing business"?

I'm not saying you should necessarily LIMIT yourself with one particular aspect, I would just say it may be really helpful to narrow your starting audience down.

Regardless, I hope it goes well! Keep up the good work.
 

Cyberdeth

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First, I want to say congratulations on your e-book: that's amazing and good for you!

Second, I just wanted to give a small piece of advice. I would hone this in WAY more. That's an incredible broad audience to try targeting right out of the gate. I would narrow it down "niche down to blow up". By focusing on really serving one subset of freelancers or people wanting to freelance, you'll be able to better serve them initially which will inadvertently help you serve a larger subset.

For example, let's say you're a new mom who wants to earn extra incoming using her skillset to freelance. Are you gonna read "how to freelance" or are you gonna read "the busy mom's ultimate guide for building a home-based freelancing business"?

I'm not saying you should necessarily LIMIT yourself with one particular aspect, I would just say it may be really helpful to narrow your starting audience down.

Regardless, I hope it goes well! Keep up the good work.
You're absolutely right @Boychamp. This was my toe-dipping experience with writing an ebook, and I still have a lot to learn and i can definitely see why nicheing down is the better route. I have gotten so much valuable information from this thread and i'll definitely use it on my next project.
 

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