PROGRESS THREAD: How I quit my Job to pursue a Self-publishing Fastlane Journey

[Cyberseraph]

Can you break down for me, where you advertised, for how much and then what pay off you got?
Just curious how you skipped to 2-3k a month from self publishing some 5k word books, usually you sell none... So tell me how you got from 0 to 2-3k.

Break down for you everything? Seriously? I am very busy and I will not do this.
If you believe that you can not make money from 5K books, it is not my job to "convince" you otherwise.

I said too much already in my previous posts and I will not disclose my numbers in the future anymore.
When I have reached my publishing goals and have more free time, maybe I will start an AMA thread in the Fastlane INSIDERS forum only. I'm back to work now.

 

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

[RogueInnovation]

Break down for you everything? Seriously?

Not everything, just curious what advertising you did.

If you feel that is disclosing too much, maybe something more like a nudge, like what kinds of advertising do you prefer?

 

[Cyberseraph]

Not everything, just curious what advertising you did.

If you feel that is disclosing too much, maybe something more like a nudge, like what kinds of advertising do you prefer?

Ok, I understand now. The truth is that I do not paid advertising at all.

I only do those 3 things when a new book is released:
- send e-mail newsletter to my list of subscribers
- short update on my author page blog
- post on my author facebook page the link to the new book

 

[Cyberseraph]

Quick Update: Goals for November 2014

1. Publish 10 new short books (3 part series, 3 part series, 4 part series)
2. Earn at least 4K by November 30th.

Action steps taken:
- placed a new add to hire new writers
- chosen topics and covers for the new book series

I placed the add yesterday and I have 2 applicants already. Now the real work starts to test them and find the good ones.

Next bigger update is coming on December 1st.

 

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

[RogueInnovation]

I only do those 3 things when a new book is released:
- send e-mail newsletter to my list of subscribers

Thanks for that Cyber!

Have you looked at your list size, versus how many convert to sales?
Are they all mostly interested buyers, or are you only converting a percentage between 2-15%
And if so, I'm wondering how you want to grow your list, or maybe you want to grow converstions? Or maybe you are keeping it organic, hoping both sort themselves out?

Its pretty interesting that you have steady growth, pretty awesome that you made it a growing biz too.

 

[Kaptain]

Hey Cyberseraph, just wondering how you decide what to pay your freelance ghostwriters. Do you give them a lump sum per book? Or a percentage of sales?

 

[Harry321]

Hey Cyberseraph, just wondering how you decide what to pay your freelance ghostwriters. Do you give them a lump sum per book? Or a percentage of sales?

I would also be very interested in the process behind ghostwriters. Do you give them a summary of a book you feel will sell and give them the choice of what they write? Or is it a little more specific? It seems that in an industry with such a low barrier to entry, hiring reliable workers would be difficult.

 

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

[Cyberseraph]

I would also be very interested in the process behind ghostwriters. Do you give them a summary of a book you feel will sell and give them the choice of what they write? Or is it a little more specific? It seems that in an industry with such a low barrier to entry, hiring reliable workers would be difficult.

Thanks for the Rep transfer Harry! To answer your and Kaptains questions:

- I only give them a lump sum per book, never a percentage of sales. It is a bigger investment at first but after some time the book is paying for the initial investment and is generating profit. The saying is true: It takes money to make money.

- the process behind ghostwriters is like this. I send them a list with my desired genres and ask them to pick one that they feel comfortable with. After this they are free to create their own story without my input. But I am very specific in how I want it to be written. 1st or 3rd person, past or present tense. I also tell them not what to write but how to write, to make the story exciting.

This is a crucial point. You can only outsource writing if you know how to write exciting fiction by yourself. Hiring reliable workers is difficult indeed. It takes time and money to test them with small jobs. Be prepared to lose money until you find good ghostwriters that you will want to keep.

 

[Cyberseraph]

Update: November 2014 Review

Hi everyone,
a very quick update about if I have achieved my goals for November or not.

Goal for November: €4K - EXCEEDED
Books sold in November: 2774
New books published: 1
(currently published: 31)

I was expecting to publish much more last month but there were challenges like my writers had unexpected problems and could not write the whole month. I realized that I relied to much on few good writers and I spent the whole month hiring new people and improving my process. My product is still good.

"Business success is about the three P's: People, Process and Product."

New Goal for December: €5K and 50 eBooks published in total

PS: I will be very busy in December, it might take several days or a week for forum replies.
PPS: If I meet my December goal, I will buy a MacBook Air 13" and book a flight to Thailand.

 

[Cyberseraph]

Numbers for December + Year-End Update for 2014

Hi Fastlaners,
those are my numbers for December:

Books sold in December: 4523
Borrows in December: 6693
New books published: 21
Royalties earned in December: 6K+

Total books published in 2014: 52

In December I also published my first full-length book and it is doing very well. Within a short time this book made it to the Top 100!

The year 2014 - What a wonderful year! After struggling for 6 years, I finally was able to quit my 9-5 job. Lived for several months in South East Asia. Built my first profitable business. Now I am earning in a week what I used to earn in my full time job in a month. I want to thank everyone who supported me this year. I thank especially MJ DeMarco for writing his book and creating this forum. This community has inspired me a lot.

I wish you all a great new year 2015!

 

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

[Lex DeVille]

Excellent!

 

[Kristi]

Numbers for December + Year-End Update for 2014

Hi Fastlaners,

In December I also published my first full-length book and it is doing very well. Within a short time this book made it to the Top 100!

I wish you all a great new year 2015!

Hi!

Congratulations on your book making it to the Top 100; I, however, have a question: Top 100 of what? Books in its genre?

I am going to have a great 2015, thanks, and it is inspiring to see the progress you've made, your achievement and I very much appreciate how you documented everything. It's like... proof sort of,

 

[Selfy]

Awesome Cyber!! You're on track to the 10k range.

Are you also finding margins increasing with more books out?

Great 2015 start!

 

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

[Cyberseraph]

Hi!

Congratulations on your book making it to the Top 100; I, however, have a question: Top 100 of what? Books in its genre?

Not books in its genre, but Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store (all Kindle books available).

 

[Cyberseraph]

Are you also finding margins increasing with more books out?

Yes, definitely. Margins startet to increase already after having 20+ books out. Now even more.

 

[Cyberseraph]

How to Kickstart 2015

If you need some inspiration, this is the way to go to kickstart 2015

 

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

[Yasai]

Thanks again, Cyberseraph, for keeping us updated
Frohes Neues btw

 

[Cyberseraph]

Quick and Short Update:

- Last month was my first 5 figure month
- I am living in South East Asia now, renting a decent condominium, eating out (healthy food) every day, going to the gym 4 times a week
- The cost of living is still much less than Europe or US. Great for making money, saving money and enjoying life at the same time

My biggest challenge this year is to build something meaningfull to share with others. Right now I love my publishing business but I am not talking about it with others (except this forum). I prefer to keep a low profile and stay under the radar. But at the same time I am thinking about finding out what message I can share with others, how I can inspire people and making a difference. It would be great to have a platform to do this. But I also know that most people are lazy, full of excuses and are not taking action. Therefore I am not sure if I will start a platform at all.

Anyway, I wish everyone good luck (that you create yourself) on your journey!

 

[DawnW]

Quick and Short Update:

- Last month was my first 5 figure month
- I am living in South East Asia now, renting a decent condominium, eating out (healthy food) every day, going to the gym 4 times a week
- The cost of living is still much less than Europe or US. Great for making money, saving money and enjoying life at the same time

My biggest challenge this year is to build something meaningfull to share with others. Right now I love my publishing business but I am not talking about it with others (except this forum). I prefer to keep a low profile and stay under the radar. But at the same time I am thinking about finding out what message I can share with others, how I can inspire people and making a difference. It would be great to have a platform to do this. But I also know that most people are lazy, full of excuses and are not taking action. Therefore I am not sure if I will start a platform at all.

Anyway, I wish everyone good luck (that you create yourself) on your journey!

Thanks for sharing your progress. And can totally understand keeping a low profile!

 

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

[monerap]

Hey Cyberseraph,

Your works are great insipirations. I have read all story, beginning from May 2014, you have "absolute hardwork" and you have DONE it.
I am a rookie, i have several questions :

1- Do you publish your books only in English? Or German and English?
2- Is it a must to have a company or can we publish as individuals?
3- You are not a native speaker of English, like me. How are you doing writing part? Do you write in German and then hire someone?
4- Do you publish only in erotica?
5- Finally, can i ask questions to you in private? I could not find PM in forum.

My mail is orefoz a gmail com

Thanks man!

 

[Cyberseraph]

I am a rookie, i have several questions :

1- Do you publish your books only in English? Or German and English?
2- Is it a must to have a company or can we publish as individuals?
3- You are not a native speaker of English, like me. How are you doing writing part? Do you write in German and then hire someone?
4- Do you publish only in erotica?
5- Finally, can i ask questions to you in private? I could not find PM in forum.

To answer your questions:
1. I publish in German only
2. I am publishing as individual however I am registered as self-employed.
3. My books are in German only, no translation needed.
4. I have several genres and will go into new genres this year
5. Sorry, I am a very busy man with lot of things going on. You can post questions here and I might answer some of them when I have time.

 

[monerap]

To answer your questions:
1. I publish in German only
2. I am publishing as individual however I am registered as self-employed.
3. My books are in German only, no translation needed.
4. I have several genres and will go into new genres this year
5. Sorry, I am a very busy man with lot of things going on. You can post questions here and I might answer some of them when I have time.

Thanks for answers. I am following this topic and it is a great example of dedication You will make MORE money i think Keep going friend!

 

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

[monerap]

Hi everyone,
Therefore I bought two books on Amazon, one about writing fiction in general and another one about writing fiction in the specific genre that I wanted to write.

Those books were great and had plenty of writing exercises. It took me several weeks to finish reading those books and to do all the exercises. But the invested time was worth it.

Can you share those books?

 

[Cyberseraph]

Short Update:
I am trying to hire my first English writers and tried Upwork.com (former Odesk.com). They have deleted my ad because adult content (also erotica writing) is prohibited.

Any suggestions for alternatives to hire writers are welcome

 

[Yasai]

Have you tried rephrasing your ad? Maybe utilizing euphemisms for "erotica" such as the classic "romance novel" or even something as vague as "fated/fateful encounter literature" haha.
Maybe using a second account could be beneficial since they may watch you more closely after they had to remove one of your ads. Not sure how they handle this stuff in general.

 

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

[KennyJA]

Short Update:
I am trying to hire my first English writers and tried Upwork.com (former Odesk.com). They have deleted my ad because adult content (also erotica writing) is prohibited.

Any suggestions for alternatives to hire writers are welcome

Firstly, I would like to say your thread was the very first I read here. Great work, I hope I can emulate it.

What I did on Upwork.com was say: "Creative Writing - Short Story - Fiction".

In the large details box, write the genre "Romance". You won't be banned from using that.

From there message the person you interview what you would like. I actually found someone that does erotica.

 

[Cyberseraph]

Firstly, I would like to say your thread was the very first I read here. Great work, I hope I can emulate it.
What I did on Upwork.com was say: "Creative Writing - Short Story - Fiction".
In the large details box, write the genre "Romance". You won't be banned from using that.
From there message the person you interview what you would like. I actually found someone that does erotica.

Thanks KennyJA, it actually worked! The word "Romance" works wonders, I am attracting the right authors and I am not getting banned anymore.

Anyway, I hired 4 English authors now but only one has delivered really good work. The other two are ok that I will keep and one is a no go.
Originally I wanted to use only one pen name and build it up but now I am worried because the writing quality difference is so big between those 3 authors. I could use one pen name for the best quality and one for ordinary one. But it would mean much more work and maintenance with author pages and email lists. I have already 4 German pen names and I'm slowly loosing the overview with those.

Any Self-Publishers here who are outsourcing with different authors and using only one pen name?

 

[Yasai]

But it would mean much more work and maintenance with author pages and email lists. I have already 4 German pen names and I'm slowly loosing the overview with those.

Outsourcing the "maintenance" aspects of your business could be beneficial. Maybe a personal assistant, secretary, etc.
If you can find someone who can handle all the "account juggling" for you, I'm sure you'll have much more time for other stuff and projects.

 

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

[mws87]

What are you doing promotion wise? Do you dabble with kindle direct or are you just throwing it up for purchase?

Yes, they will take you down for erotica, even though on Elance when I made my post, they had an erotica section... I had someone I've worked with before tell me she doesn't do erotica, she does romance and she attached a smiley. Just like real life, not sure if she's giving me code or if she's being serious. I over think. A lot.
Anyway, that's when I decided to just stick to writing on my own.

 

[Npl9]

When you hire writers do you give them a few sentences about what you want, a partial outline, a whole outline, or a semi-completed manuscript?