300 million active credit cards waiting for us!

[jesusvallenilla]

Yes, amazon.com has 300 million credit cards ready to be used.

I recently came across, again on a podcast, these guys who claim to be making a killing publishing on the Kiddle platform. What I found interesting was that they are not writers so what they do is they hire , first time I hear that term "ghost writers" then they teak and change some stuff, reword and that's it the have a new book.

what you guys heard about this?

 

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[Vigilante]

I don't even understand what the hell you are talking about.

 

[jesusvallenilla]

mmm, how to explain better. These guys publish digital content. The message they want to get across is that you don't need to be a writer, they were encouraging people to publish cause the barriers of entry are so low right now. Apparently uploading a book on amazon is very easy.

Off course, they warn you. Do not expect to become the next Fifty Shades of Gray, cause that success is just odd. Look for where the eyeballs are, they mention as an example how they have published about vampires because Twilight type of stories are popular.

let me know what you guys think!

 

[The-J]

50 Shades is undoubtedly a horrible book. It's truly a slap in the face to the name of authorship. The actual 'scenes' couldn't turn on a light switch and the writing is repetitive and completely lacking in engagement.

But it's a lesson in great marketing. It has a USP: raunchy, dirty, and no holds barred about it. And yet, it's mainstream. It's something that 'everyone talks about'. You HAVE to see how awful it really is! You HAVE to see how offensive it is! You HAVE to read it, because it's the first porn book most women have read.

Sex sells, no bout a doubt it.

 

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[Likwid24]

The message they want to get across is that you don't need to be a writer, they were encouraging people to publish cause the barriers of entry are so low right now. Apparently uploading a book on amazon is very easy.

:rtfm:

 

[jesusvallenilla]

sorry? what is that little angry icon? I am new to the forum, so my apologies if I said something wrong?

 

[wade1mil]

Easy barrier to entry is anti-Fastlane.

RTMF = Read The Millionaire Fastlane . There's an entire chapter (or five) on why that isn't a good idea.

 

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[oddball]

Easy barrier to entry is anti-Fastlane.

RTMF = Read The Millionaire Fastlane . There's an entire chapter (or five) on why that isn't a good idea.

The icon says RTFM which I believe means "read the F*cking manual"

 

[jesusvallenilla]

yes, I read the book and you are right! however just uploading the book is easy. But there this a process. I am not talking about just the event.

Still, thanks for your comments

 

[socaldude]

yes, I read the book and you are right! however just uploading the book is easy. But there this a process. I am not talking about just the event.

Still, thanks for your comments

Are you asking if there is any worthwhile opportunity in ebooks?

 

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[wade1mil]

The icon says RTFM which I believe means "read the F*cking manual"

TMF is the manual. I think the person who made that smiley face just messed up

 

[jesusvallenilla]

basically yes!

 

[mottdog]

I'm sure this podcast had a sponsor who coaches a kindle riches class? Total BS. You really need good content and to be in the proper niche along with awesome marketing to make it in publishing.
To answer your question, it's super easy to upload a book to the Amazon platform. Just write the content, get a cover designed and content formatted from a Fiverr worker. Done.

 

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[socaldude]

In order to succeed in market saturated easy entry businesses you have to be phenomenal.

I would not deal with Ebooks unless you really had something of value/need that people would rave about, give good reviews and search for easily on Amazon. Thats why most ebooks are 50 page trash authored by money chasers.

 

[The-J]

I wouldn't move into info products unless you are a marketing whiz. If you know your way around the Internet and know the ins and outs of SEO, affiliate networks (for those who wanna go the 75% commissions route), advertising, and Internet brand building, AND you know how to sell anything under the sun, then info products can make you quite a lot of money with relatively little work.

If you're a newbie, stay away from info products. You'll waste your time. Truth be told, you'd probably do better in eCommerce, selling physical products.

This is simply the Commandment of Entry talking.

 

[DennisD]

Yes, amazon.com has 300 million credit cards ready to be used.

I recently came across, again on a podcast, these guys who claim to be making a killing publishing on the Kiddle platform. What I found interesting was that they are not writers so what they do is they hire , first time I hear that term "ghost writers" then they teak and change some stuff, reword and that's it the have a new book.

what you guys heard about this?

I think you might be quoting Pat Flynn's podcast from the beginning of the month?

SPI 042 : Killer Kindle Publishing Tips with Jonny Andrews

the interview was with Johnny Andrews and Hollis, and I didn't detect much pitch-iness or insincerity from either of them. I believe they're the guys who are forming: Writing A Book | Selling Books | Book Publishing | Publishing News -

I think you're misquoting a few things there. Kindle ebook publishing is great to get into if you know what you're doing. If you already have a platform and an audience, if you know how to market the thing from scratch, if you're solving a massive problem with an excellent product, if you're persistent enough to build up a dedicated fanbase through 10 failed books... then yes you should get into it.

I've used the technique talked about in that specific SPI podcast where you hire a ghostwriter to lay down the base content of a nonfiction book, and then rewrite everything and add personal tips and content so it's in your voice. Makes writing go a lot smoother for me, but remember that it's not a shortcut... it's a technique.

If anybody's interested in publishing for the kindle I recommend having a listen to the podcast, even if while commuting, playing videogames, workingout, eating, or whatever other "downtime" you have.

 

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[BeingChewsie]

50 Shades is undoubtedly a horrible book. It's truly a slap in the face to the name of authorship. The actual 'scenes' couldn't turn on a light switch and the writing is repetitive and completely lacking in engagement.

But it's a lesson in great marketing. It has a USP: raunchy, dirty, and no holds barred about it. And yet, it's mainstream. It's something that 'everyone talks about'. You HAVE to see how awful it really is! You HAVE to see how offensive it is! You HAVE to read it, because it's the first porn book most women have read.

Sex sells, no bout a doubt it.

Amen. I just recently got around to reading all three of the books (I read the 3 books in 2 nights). It is real simple they sold because they had the golden rules....women love bad boys they can fix and change. Women love when a man is a doing lots of women and just stops and becomes completely monogamous to them. Women love the whole billionaire who is completely and totally focused on their every living breathing move. The main character was a brunette, most women are brunettes, her main "enemy" Elena was a blonde. There is so much cliche stuff in these books as to be surreal. Most of the people I have spoken to found the sex repetitive and incredibly vanilla, that isn't the hook in the book, it is nice frosting, but the book ticks off lots of boxes for many, many women, even if they lie and say "Oh I'm not like that". Having read all 3 books it easy for me to see that they were designed to do exactly what they have done.

There is a lesson there in writing not what you feel or what you want to write about, but writing completely what your target audience wants to read. Most people write books about what they want to write about, not want their target wants to read.

Sue

 

[ChickenHawk]

Getting rich from Kindle books? I'm sure it's possible, but it's a real long-shot. As others have said, you have to be really, really good, and then market the snot out of it. The way I see it, there are two big reasons for this.

LOW BARRIERS TO ENTRY. When it comes to writing books, barriers to entry are waaaaay down, and not just because of e-publishing and the ease of getting books onto the Kindle. The truth is, writing a book used to be a big pain in the butt. In Jane Austin's time, authors had to write (and rewrite) their books by hand. Even just twenty years ago, authors had to pull out their typewriter, type their little hearts out, and every single revision meant they had to mark up their copies by hand, and then retype the darn thing all over again. Authors had to be organized, efficient, and hard-working just to actually produce a book. Today, personal computers have made it a ton easier. You can write on the fly, revise multipe times, and organize your thoughts as you go. This is a good thing, but it has also meant that everyone who thinks they can write can go ahead and produce a book, or two, or ten.

Plus...

THERE'S MORE COMPETITION FOR FEWER EYEBALLS: People don't read like they used to, partly because there are so many other ways to entertain yourself these days. In addition to TV and movies, the primary competition twenty years ago, there's also video games, cable TV, and the internet. Meanwhile, thanks to the low barriers to entry, more and more books are getting published. This greatly lowers the odds of any single book breaking through the clutter, and making any money.

Sure, it can happen. But very few authors are getting rich these days.

 

[PopEmersen]

sooooo what happened with the credit cards??? lol

 

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[theDarkness]

You can upload junk ebooks all day, but writing or acquiring a book people actually want to put their eyeballs on is the real entry to barrier.

You can either be a marketing ace and slop together something that hits the right buttons for people, or you can go the "Hemingway route," and your USP will be that you flat-out do this writing thing better than 99.9999% of the people.

Both will take an incredible amount of work.

Don't go into authorship unless you can afford to fail, whether that be financially or mentally. Most writers are the types that would be writing books even if no one ever read them, because it gets their rocks off. Because most manuscripts will get locked in a drawer. I have a buddy who has shopped and shelved six novels now (although it sounds like he may have a publishing deal lined up now). That's a lot of work and a lot of pain, if these things aren't something you immensely enjoy for their own sake.

Even MJ has said here recently that writing his book wasn't exactly pure fastlane. It can work out very well, but the nature of the beast is that you shouldn't count on it.

Books have a long incubation time, and you will be making $0 during all that time (unless you pitched an outline), and that could easily stretch to several years. For me, that means you either have to be financially independent, or it has to be a "love" or a "hobby" so that the time spent has some intrinsic value to you.

In most cases authorship is hard like becoming a pro athlete is hard: you can hit it big, but there's a huge upfront expenditure of time for which you get paid nothing at all. And you have to have exceptional talent. You don't really need talent to sell pineapples, or whatever. . .

edit - also, ghostwriters: wouldn't it be easier to set up your own publishing house and put out a call for submissions? Instead of paying other people to write potentially shitty vampire novels, they submit them to you for free. They've already done the years of work, and you just sift through them to find the one that suits your marketing needs. What is the advantage of the ghostwriter route?