Fastlane Opportunities for Writers

[Andy Black]

If you feel like you don't have anything important to share, just remember that they signed up to hear your take on whatever it is you're an expert on.

Bingo.

 

[StrikingViper69]

Free awesome SEO course:
SEO Writing Masterclass - SEO Writing Masterclass 2.0

The presenter is super fun and the information is very well explained without any of the shadiness of SEO.

Also, this will require a longer post but I just started playing with Surfer SEO and holy F*cking shit, it's MIND-BLOWING.

This looks awesome, can't wait to check it out tomorrow.

 

[DWX]

Free awesome SEO course:
SEO Writing Masterclass - SEO Writing Masterclass 2.0

The presenter is super fun and the information is very well explained without any of the shadiness of SEO.

Also, this will require a longer post but I just started playing with Surfer SEO and holy F*cking shit, it's MIND-BLOWING.

Curious, how are you finding Surfer SEO a couple of weeks on?

 

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[Metz]

Both. It's interesting to learn how people use their writing skills and it's possible it'll also give me some ideas.

I studied copywriting many years ago (read everything by Gary Halbert, a lot of old stuff he recommended and Jay Abraham as well) but in the end I couldn't find myself doing this.

Writing for others is too difficult for me. My writing usually sucks if I'm not invested in a project.

I hired writers for my businesses as well and while it was easy to judge who got the skills, I didn't enjoy the job of managing them. It felt literally like a job, not running a business. That's why I limit my options to solopreneurial ventures—I've learned that "standard" entrepreneurship doesn't work for me.

So are you still doing copywriting stuff for solopreneurs or how did you pivot? Feel free to link to other threads you might've made if you already answered this question elsewhere. I just enjoy learning how others adapt is all.

 

[sanzen]

I don't publish exclusively on Amazon and have multiple sources of income. Still, at least 80% comes from Amazon because it dominates the market. Non-fiction writers can possibly escape this by selling their own products, courses, etc. But fiction writers would have a hard time avoiding breaking the commandment of control.

No. That's the common thinking: 'self-publishing' = 'ebooks on retailer sites'. In fact, nearly every successful person I was speaking of (and have seen) does not do only this--they sell them on their own site, for example, or through several other methods. But more importantly, they have multiple streams of income and built a robust mailing list of potential customers. Those streams are interrelated and help power each other. Penn, for example, only makes about 50% of her income from books. To make it even simpler: they are entrepreneurs, not 'self published writers'.

Also: many of those entreprenurial writers never come near Amazon. I've seen this more often in the tech space, which I'm most familiar with. They're not throwing up $2.99 ebooks on Amazon; they're launching a $49 product on their site, often with more expensive package tiers. They do this by, again, building a mailing list and establishing themselves with an audience to sell into. This isn't an exotic scenario; it's happening out there daily.

As far as I know she's making at most $100k a year. It's hardly a hugely successful business considering how much recognition she has as a self-publishing expert.

She claims to make a mid-six-figure income. Based on what she's done, and the detail she's provided over many years, it sounds legitimate. If you have different information, I'd love to see it posted here.

My self-publishing business fuels my investments so I'm not really putting all my eggs in one basket. But I do understand what you're trying to say. Thank you.

You're putting most all your publishing business eggs in one basket--Amazon (you said 80%).

 

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[MTF]

So are you still doing copywriting stuff for solopreneurs or how did you pivot? Feel free to link to other threads you might've made if you already answered this question elsewhere. I just enjoy learning how others adapt is all.

I never really worked seriously as a copywriter. I'm in the self-publishing business, or more specifically I write non-fiction books (and have been doing it since 2014). I have a progress thread on the inside.

That's the common thinking: 'self-publishing' = 'ebooks on retailer sites'. In fact, nearly every successful person I was speaking of (and have seen) does not do only this--they sell them on their own site, for example, or through several other methods

Well we have different definitions. What you're saying is just Internet marketing, self-publishing is IMO publishing on retailer sites (and that's mostly what you'll find if you google the term). Not saying you aren't right as for selling elsewhere, just pointing out that my definition is different.

She claims to make a mid-six-figure income. Based on what she's done, and the detail she's provided over many years, it sounds legitimate. If you have different information, I'd love to see it posted here.

Unless her business somehow exploded in the last two years (as far as I know it hasn't) here are her numbers from 2019:

Author Earnings: My 2019 Breakdown Of Book Sales By Format, Genre, Vendor And Country | The Creative Penn

It's the time of year when I report on my book sales and reflect on what I could do better! I hope you find this article useful for your own author business, whatever stage you're at.

www.thecreativepenn.com

Quote:

My book sales income alone is around about 2.5x the UK national average salary and 7x the average author income reported in the recent All Party Writer's Group report.

The average author income as reported in this PDF was 10,500 GBP so she made about 73,500 GBP (roughly $100k USD). I consider it low when you take into account her high profile as a self-publishing expert. I know people who make way more than her yet nobody knows about them (well, usually the people only doing this stuff but not teaching it are the ones who are really killing it lol).

You're putting most all your publishing business eggs in one basket--Amazon (you said 80%).

True but that's what it is for most self-published authors, and particularly fiction writers.

I work with a mega best-selling author who's made millions selling books.

I appreciate you sharing this interesting example.

If you really want to do this long-term, I'd say find ways to build a really solid email list.

I have one and it never worked as well as promised by Internet gurus. I now have almost 30,000 people on my list. I emailed an offer yesterday for a product that cost $27. I made 5 sales. Granted, it's a product many of my subscribers already know about but still... The conversion rate is close to 0.

I send my subscribers tons of free stuff, respond to every email and in general try offer a lot of value. Even back in the day when I emailed my list regularly, it never had any real impact on my earnings (except for its impact on my Amazon earnings through helping me with reviews and initial traction).

In total, since I launched the product three years ago, I've made merely $10k on it. It was sold entirely through my list, is very relevant to my audience, and I consider it a very good value. As for ALL the products I sold to my list, I've made $30k since April 2016. So yeah, email marketing isn't always the solution to everything.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

His blog gained traction and he used it to build a list and a social media following. He then leveraged this into a book deal.

To write the book, he took ideas from his blog that really resonated with readers and went deep with them. So basically, the blog was his testing ground.

James Clear?

 

[BizyDad]

If you created a $97 guide and sold it via Clickbank, this is information marketing, not self-publishing according to this definition. I'm NOT arguing what you're proposing doesn't work. I'm merely saying it's another path

Not all blogs are magazines and not all magazines are blogs.

Nevertheless, certainly some blogs are effectively e-zines. And by the definition you shared, that is self-publishing.

And if I sell a $97 150 page guide, in e-form, a pdf, which proposes to teach people how to do something, how exactly is that different than a book?

Is it the fact that it's on clickbank? Would it become a book if I sold it on my own website?

You seem to be adamant about your own terms, but I read the definition you shared, and the lines are pretty blurry these days.

Written media published without the help of a publisher, is self-publishing. The definition even includes pamphlets.

Back in the day, professionals looked down on self-publishing. That's not "real" publishing. I suspect some of that sentiment was still around when you first got in this business.

But now you're kind of on a high horse about "real" self-publishing?

Publishers had to adapt. Maybe it's time self-publishers adapt.

Do you want to make money, or do you want to be right?

 

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[Kevin88660]

I think it is important to distinguish writing/communication as a mean vs an end.

I think fictional stories and youtube mini educational documentary style videos (a trend now) emphasize a lot on the delivery and a good reader experience. Writing or the way you present your material is a big part.

Personally I would care less if MJ put his stories in powerpoints or do it in a lecture style podcast without the beautiful deliveries, analogies and stories. I am not sure if it is the same for others. I am more looking at the knowledge and know hows.

Another famous writer I can think of is Benjamin Hardy. His writing on Medium is a funnel to his self help teaching packages.

I think for “writing a mean” the communication in itself is a marketing for your own products which is more education and info based in a niche. You focus on producing contents that are free to consume, as long as they are good enough to worth your audience’ time. The monetization comes after the traffic.

And if you are writing blogs or making videos on useful content in a niche, and you dont have products or lesson packages for sell, you end up doing promotion for products or services of others as a way of monetisation.

I could be wrong but for people who pay to read your writing purely for the reading experience like watching a movie, and paying money for that, it is a hard sell these days. Remember that young man from UK who made beautiful documentary on youtube on fake guru, it is free for his audience to watch them, and he gets paid through Ad Sense and other promotion partnerships. I think he is successful in the sense that he create beautiful content that almost could sell on its own (producing as an end), but I think producing it as a mean, and putting it out for free makes him more money.

 

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[MTF]

All of the stuff we currently have access to is the consumer available, limited API. I don't see why if you train these networks on great American authors, it couldn't easily reproduce amazing fiction stories.

That's actually pretty terrifying for a writer. Imagine that you feed it just 10% of the greatest fiction work from every genre. Once it learns how to write well, you can create a full-length well-structured novel with whatever elements you want in it. The job of a fiction writer disappears overnight.

Of course, there would still be people interested in reading human-written stories but most probably wouldn't care. Maybe they would even get themselves a copy of the AI software to tell stories to themselves without paying an author. Fascinating and scary possibilities at the same time.

 

[MTF]

So basically writing is going to be a mass-produced, ubiquitous commodity? That's a bit scary.

Check this out (scroll to See examples of blog posts written by customers with Jarvis):

Blog Posts Written With AI - Jasper

Are you spending too long staring at a blank page waiting for inspiration to hit? Learn how expert content writers are cranking out original content in minutes with artificial intelligence.

www.jarvis.ai

All these posts were written with AI (doesn't mean 100% by AI but AI-assisted).

They cover all kinds of topics and you'd never tell that most of the work was done by AI.

Also, there are entire BOOKS written with AI:

Books written with Jasper

Have you ever wanted to become a published author? Jasper can help you do it fast. Discover how over 15 authors went from blank page to published in 7 days using an AI copywriting assistant.

www.jarvis.ai

It is scary for sure.

 

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[LifeDeathTime]

I wouldn't worry much about AI. It will create great fiction, but it won't replace an author's individual creativity.

A problem with talking about AI is that it future-paces a reality that may be decades away, and may not come to pass at all.

Talking about AI takes you inside of your mind and directs attention away from the present.

Just like reading good fiction takes you into the story, imagining AI futures takes you there, and then it seems like "there" is here right now, even though your idea of "there" may only ever exist inside of your mind.

In any case, what's the point of worrying about something you can't control?

But even if AI does get creative, people will like what they like. I like Lana Del Rey, and even when I discovered Aurora and Marina, I didn't stop listening to Lana Del Rey. Just expanded my playlist a little.

Five years ago I thought AI would be pretty close to replacing copywriters by now. I was wrong.

@Lex DeVille I think you need to re-explore the tools now dude.

GPT-3 came out ~12 months ago. It's nothing like I've ever seen before.

I was of the exact same mindset as you and nothing until that is even close to being any good.

 

[MTF]

I know it is obviously dated, but in 2016, instead of publishing his usual yearly synopsis, he took a survey of 381 authors. See here - 2016 Novelist Income Survey Final Results and Data | Jim C. Hines

A couple take-aways:

• Average Income: $114,124
• Median Income: $17,000

Most people obviously don't make a living wage at it. The top 20% made at least $119k, the top 10% made at least $296k, the top 1% made at least $1.4 million.

And looking at the expenses (especially for the self published) it looks like most don't even spend $300/mo promoting themselves. Maybe that's the nature of the industry, and maybe that is why agented authors tend to make more than non. But I see that as opportunity.

The write up is chock full of interesting tidbits/stats about the industry (at least to a lay person like myself). And if you want to find hope, there's hope to be found in those numbers.

20% make a solid living, and 10% are demonstrably well off. That's actually better odds than most businesses.

Get to work @MTF. Certainly you can be a top ten percenter!

Unfortunately these numbers are irrelevant today. 2016 and 2017 were VERY different in self-publishing compared to today. There was less competition and Amazon promoted your books for you as long as you got some traction first (selling 500-1000 copies in the first week was enough to convince the algorithm to promote you heavily).

I'm pretty sure that if he surveyed the same authors today most of them would have much lower average incomes. The authors I know or recognize from bestseller charts who started several years ago are all making less money than they did in the past, if they're still publishing. Many stopped altogether.

 

[Bekit]

2020: I registered my publishing house as a limited company. Hired my first employee. Sales became steady. I identified a new opportunity in the market, pivoted, and invested in a strong team of freelancers.
2021: I hired 2 new employees, with another 2 joining us by the end of the year. We launched a new product and made $150,000 in sales in June. After years of shoe-string living while the business gained traction, I was finally able to pay myself a meaningful salary again (more than when I worked for the man).

Hey @Shamrox what's your take on fastlane opportunities for writers? Seems like you have figured something out. Major congrats!

 

[MTF]

Ana Huang on Instagram: "Including during a meeting with the king #forbiddenromance #royalromance #bodyguardromance #newadultromance #naromance #steamyromance #steamyreads #steamyread #spicyromance #spicybooks #romancebooks #romancebookstagram #rom

6,552 likes, 73 comments - authoranahuangJuly 23, 2021 on : "Including during a meeting with the king #forbiddenromance #royalromance #bodyguardromance #newadultromance #naromance #steamyroman..."

www.instagram.com

After seeing this I thought of you @MTF , the kind promotional power internet gives.

From your posts I assume you hate social media but ryan denial moran suggestions could work that is instead of building your social media /audience its better to partner up with the people who already have your audience.

Yes, that's definitely a good idea as long as you can figure out how to sell yourself to the influencers. I tried it with one of my non-fiction books but it didn't work well.

 

[MTF]

So what did you provide to start?

Just this?

Jeff and Samantha are dead broke. They hate their jobs and want to start a business but have no idea how to do it. To make matters worse, Samantha is pregnant and they have no idea how they're going to pay the bills.

Yep, nothing else. Then it generates various stories, making it up based on, I assume, thousands upon thousands of bestsellers it was fed, predicting which words and sentences go well together.

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

Yep, nothing else. Then it generates various stories, making it up based on, I assume, thousands upon thousands of bestsellers it was fed, predicting which words and sentences go well together.

And that was done freely without a subscription?

If so, it truly is pretty scary. Makes you wonder why you should waste 6 months writing something when it looks like it can just model something and spit it out in hours.

 

[AngryBird]

What are in your opinion the best Fastlane opportunities for writers? Which opportunities are exhausted and which ones may still have a bright future? Is writing still a lucrative skill or should writers consider it more of a supplemental skill?

I've been in the self-publishing industry for the past seven years. It's no longer such a gold mine as it was in the past. With no strong competition for Amazon on the horizon, it's becoming more and more of a business dependent on just one company, with thousands of competitors both corporate (traditional publishers) as well as individuals (who often flood the market with cheap, low quality ghostwritten books and manage to game the Amazon's system).

I'm wondering if writers today should still first consider going into book writing/publishing or perhaps try something else and stay away from books.

What are your thoughts on various business models for writers? How would you monetize your writing skill in the most Fastlane way possible?

The way I see it there are three main paths:

• book publishing - crowded, Amazon-dependent, you can sometimes spend months working on a book only for it to fail miserably (there's no easy way to test a product before creating it),
• copywriting - may become a career instead of a business, though some copywriters earn incredible amounts of money (like Jay Abraham who's technically more of a consultant),
• blogging/courses/other digital products not sold as books - this requires a personal brand and narrowing your expertise to one main topic. Also, writing seems to be more of a side skill here, with marketing experience and personal branding being the primary skills needed.

Any other thoughts you have, feel free to post them here. I'd like this thread to become a regular discussion for writers on the forum.

Tagging @ChickenHawk, @MJ DeMarco, @Bekit.

I've been published for more than ten years and this is not the way to go. I have great reviews and some hard core fans. But it doesn't matter. I don't make enough each month to pay the electric bill.

 

[MTF]

I've been published for more than ten years and this is not the way to go. I have great reviews and some hard core fans. But it doesn't matter. I don't make enough each month to pay the electric bill.

Traditionally or self-published? I assume it's a large niche with crazy competition or a very tiny one without much scale?

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Maybe I’ll invent a tool that serves freelance copywriters or agencies in some way as I’ll have familiarity with that industry and will be able to identify big problems in that target market. Kinda like MJ did when he figured out there was a huge opportunity/problem in the limo industry he used to work in

Seems like this is already happening in the marketplace with these AI tools and other copywriting assistants.

 

[FlorianR]

Seems like this is already happening in the marketplace with these AI tools and other copywriting assistants.

yeah I’ve seen some AI tools around. Like I said it’s just an idea. Or maybe I can do a business model/offer no one else is doing. Like you said, you don’t necessarily have to invent something, you can simply identify a problem current solutions don’t address and address it. I’d still have to determine what is even viable in that market by doing more research and testing it/ getting soft and hard evidence

 

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[MTF]

Pandemic Reading Habits Survey Results

We asked how the pandemic changed your reading habits, and more than 5,000 of you responded! Here's what we found out.

bookriot.com

58.4% of the respondents said they've been reading more since the start of the pandemic. Curiously, the winning genres that gained most interest are romance and non-fiction. And in non-fiction specifically, memoirs, investigative political works, and antiracism books so stuff that you can't really turn into a real business.

As for formats, audiobooks and ebooks gained more popularity.

Hardly a super conclusive survey but interesting nonetheless.

 

[Andy Black]

It has a feature called "Text Summarizer" and another called "Explain it to a child". Here's what I got by inputting the last text @MTF generated:

View attachment 39253

The article on the left looks like something created on textbroker. Lots of padding.

The sentences on the right look liked the AI removed that padding.

 

[MTF]

Follow your nose @MTF.

Well I've tried many different things over the past year and it all ended in a disaster and/or loss of interest. Even though this is a completely new area to me, it's likely it can end up the same way...

 

[Antifragile]

What do you use to check for plagiarism?

 

[Flint]

Should I read this in Tony Stark/Ironman's voice?

 

[LifeDeathTime]

Trade-ideas.com uses an AI called, Holly the AI, and it trades market cycles for you etc., Another app I use is Cryptohopper and they have an AI that studies the movements of crypto. So freaking cool.

Not trying to take this Writers' thread off topic- but how do these perform?

 

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[t15]

In case anyone's interested, the author of The Mom Test recently released a new title about writing useful non-fiction: Write Useful Books

I haven't read it but I'm a big fan of The Mom Test.

 

[Andy Black]

Apparently this guy is doing $2m ARR teaching writing stuff (I'm not sure what).

Podcast episode here (I've not listened... I just read a note about it in the Indie Hackers newsletter):

• Turning a Weak Skill into Your Best Asset with David Perell of Write of Passage

 

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[Andy Black]

I wouldn't want to teach others how to write. It feels dishonest to move into teaching if you can't make it as a writer.

I think you can teach people a lot, but teaching can be very different than doing.

 

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