Self-Publishing Road To 4 Figures A Month

[Empire]

Hi all,

I have been lurking around this forum for a while now...in fact I joined under another username a few years back but I wasnt very active. Anyway, I wanted to start fresh and so here is my new username and first post.

I will just get started with the details about my life that I think are relative to this thread.
About 6 years ago I decided to learn how to make money online. I knew nothing about making money via the internet and so for the first two years I was in "Information Overload City!"

Yeh, those first few years were killers....and in that time I nearly quit many times....but my dream was too strong so I kept going. By the way my dream was to be able to earn a comfortable living online as passively as possible giving me free time to do the things I want to do.

Ok, so I did all the things most newbies do when learning how to make money online. I did the website thing, YouTube, Adsense, PPC, CPA.....you name it.....however, I just wasnt achieving my goal.

Back in 2012 I nearly succeeded with a bunch of Amazon review sites that brought in a regular passive income but then Google made their Panda/Penguin algo changes and overnight my income was dead.

This hurt me financially and at the time it was bad but looking back it was a blessing in disguise becuase if it didnt happen I never would have tried self-publishing.

I was so ticked off with Google that I didnt want anything to do with them anymore.....so I began to look into Kindle book creation.

It was a steep learning curve but by mid 2013 I had created around 10 non-fiction books. Due to just a handful of popular books I was seeing my monthly earnings increase each month......I was gonna make my goal!

Then some stuff went on in my personal life and my depression came back with a vengence, (I have suffered with depression all my life and for the past few years I have been able to control it...but sometimes it fights back and is just too strong to beat).

I found it hard to focus on creating anymore books and just lost interest in everything....as you do when you have a long bout of severe depression.

Not to bore you all to death,(if I havent already),I will fast forward to now.
I hadnt been on this forum for a while and decided to see what was new. I noticed there were a lot of threads on self-publishing and so spent a day reading through the "Gold" threads.

That got me really motivated!
People were making really good money with the publishing business model. Normal people like me...who may not even consider themselves writers or dont even enjoy writing are making a killing with Kindle!

So thats it...I decided I want to try again....I want to succeed in making that medium to high four figure sum each month via self-publishing.

Why only four figures? Because I want to take baby steps....first hit §1000/month then §2000/month and so on.

Since I started Kindle book creation three years ago my old books have always been earning me money each month, almost passively, although it has only been a few hundred bucks each month. So the way I see it.....all I need to do is get started creating more books to once agin try to build my book empire.

I already learned all the hard stuff from past experience so really all I need to do is find a bunch of good niches to work with and get started.

I am hoping that creating this thread makes me accountable for this goal and I also hope that I can keep my depression at bay by staying motivated with people who are also trying to follow a similar goal in publishing.

WOW...this thread is getting too long....sorry....I had better get some facts down:

My books up to date:
25 in non-fiction health and fitness niche.
16 in non-fiction kids books.
16 of all books are in print format.
Earnings= around §200/month, just from the digital books.

My goals:
I want to start creating fiction books via outsourcing.
I want to create more print books and maybe even some audio books.
I want to continue with kids books but also create kids fiction books.
I want to delve into a couple new niches and test the waters.
I want to outsource as much of this as possible so as I can focus on marketing and maybe even writing more of my own stuff.
By Christmas this year...if I put my head down, if I work hard AND smart, there is no reason why I should not hit a regular §2000/month income.

Truth is guys I am not going to give up.....I have had 6 years of beating myself up trying to make a living online....I have crossed the point of no return.... I will not let my old negative beliefs or my depressive thoughts drag me down.
This time.....I WILL SUCCEED!

Sorry for the long post...any feedback, advice, etc would be great!
Thanks guys.

 

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[EricZ]

Awesome! Let's take this journey together,
I just published 2 kids books and have the same goals as you.
I'm still learning but it's getting interesting indeed.
Check out my A-B testing book marketing methods thread:
https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/co...ng-ebook-marketing-methods.58358/#post-442153
I too have a few books on the back burner, and now they are also making money without me even trying! Not a lot of course, but I want to scale up, just like you.
I'm trying Reader Magnets by Nick Stephenson -you gotta try it! And his .pdf is free, seriously , building your email list is GOLD, it is a must now and most of all it makes you platform independent, so when goog decides to screw everyone - you don't care!
This was my single biggest lesson learned lately, Amazon blocked one of my books, and Goog is blocking -again- all adult content blogs - double whammy! All that doesn't matter if you have your own subscribers list.

I would be ridiculously honored if you would check out my journey here - www.zbooks.co and join me.
I post my results regularly here too (link above) - See you at the top!

 

[EricZ]

p.s.
http://noorosha.com/what-are-reader-magnets/
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00PCKIJ4C/?tag=tff-amazonparser-20

 

[Peakdesire]

Hey bud! Awesome thread.

I'm doing self-publishing also with the outsource model. Currently only have one book out and now I'm writing my first own book. I don't have any money at the moment so I can't publish any books.

I'm also going into non-fiction.

Let's stay connected!

 

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[Empire]

I just published 2 kids books and have the same goals as you.
I'm still learning but it's getting interesting indeed.

Yeh I have been using the perma-free technique for a while and also building lists. I am planning on hitting some fresh niches this year so I will decide which will be best to focus list building on.
I already have 2 niches where I have built foundations for.....all that is needed now is scaling.
The new niches will mean I have to build from scratch again creating one book at a time and gaining some followers. It is the nature of the business so I am ok with that.

If I look at it in another way, all the hard stuff is past me. All the learning, the formatting, the cover designing, etc.....I have gained some skills in those areas over the years so now all I need to worry about is choosing some new profitable niches.

 

[Empire]

Hey bud! Awesome thread.

I'm doing self-publishing also with the outsource model. Currently only have one book out and now I'm writing my first own book. I don't have any money at the moment so I can't publish any books.

I'm also going into non-fiction.

Let's stay connected!

Good stuff.
I also had to write my own non-fiction books at the start but as soon as they started making money I re-invested the money and used it to pay outsourcers.
This year I hope to have at least 50% or more of my book business outsourced.....the writing that is, not the other stuff. I design my own covers and do my own formatting to save on cash for now.

Keep us informed on your progress.

 

[Empire]

Morning y'all,

So it's the weekend but it's just gonna be another working day for me....as they say "No rest for the motivated.."
Today is going to be spent researching niches.
I already have books in health and fitness and the kids niche so I will be focusing on other areas....mainly fiction.

I will keep creating books in the couple of niches I mentioned above because even though they are pretty hard to break into they are super evergreen which means a trickle of regular earnings for me each month.

So, the focus for today will be first to find a market and then to drill down into a niche and then a sub-niche where there are many buyers but not so many that it would be too difficult for me to break into.

 

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[EricZ]

I like the "evergreen" approach too, do you care to give us a breakdown of the niches? -- Evergreen versus Serial?

 

[Empire]

I like the "evergreen" approach too, do you care to give us a breakdown of the niches? -- Evergreen versus Serial?

Hey!

I checked out your website....how are your "for kids" books doing? I don't see any on Amazon?
So far I have only focused on non-fiction. I always knew the big money was in fiction but I am by no means a good writer at all and outsourcing would just have cost me too much at the start of my biz.

Now though....I have some spare cash to invest in a writer to break into fiction.
My plan is to get a couple of outsourced fiction books submitted to Amazon to see how they go. In the meantime I will be continuing to create non-fiction books and even having a go at writing a bit of fiction.

The very end goal is to have enough non-fiction and fiction books that earn at least $2000 per month total, to begin with, as passively as possible. This will free up time for me to keep churning out more books and to create better quality works.

Evergreen vs serial? I want both and plan to have both.
The evergreens are great as a "foundation" to the business. They are the ones that will ALWAYS sell regardless of what is going on in the world around us, (unless there is a zombie apocalypse of course!).

So when I started I made sure to build up a bunch of evergreens and still plan on getting more out to keep my book biz foundations strong.
Then the serials, the fiction books are great for building a good list in a particular niche. These are the books that will eventually drop off the popular sales list.....unless I make it to Bestselling NYTimes author!!......of which I dont see happening anytime soon.

These serials will be my bread and butter for now...for my present. They will pay my bills and hopefully have enough left over to re-invest and spend on fun stuff.......like women.....LOL....just kidding......women can buy their own stuff thank you very much!

 

[EricZ]

@Empire
Here's one:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00U1DAHMM/?tag=tff-amazonparser-20
FREE for the next 2 days, go get it and tell me what you think! (please leave a review too of course!!!)

The other one got blocked in Amazon (jerks!) so I got it in Smashwords instead, it's my perma-free book according to Nick's LeadMagnets technique:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/515979
If you want a .mobi you'll have to go to my website and click on it - should work!
Smashwords is weird, they want you to upload a .doc, i.e. windows 2007 or format, wtf, and it doesn't work very well. So if you upload Epub it's fine but then that's the only format available.

And my other one for my authoring platform:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/513696

So how's it going? Well after the initial spike and first-day-first-page-boost-phenomena, they have petered out:


The first one, my cheatsheet yielded 14 subscribers, and the Navy book yielded a whopping 2 subscribers.
Considering they have been downloaded 100+ times, I think the results are dismal.

HOWEVER:
I am getting subscribers from my youtube channel for the Zbooks authoring platform and it is taking off! It's amazing fun helping people publish their first book! Check out the "members books+accomplishments" tab in my site, it's going to fill up in the next couple of days, and I'm learning more by the minute.

So now I gotta get on the NOT free books and complete the funnels. Gonna be interesting!
I post the results in this post here:
https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/posts/442153/
And mirror it somewhat in my website, but the MFL post above is more detailed and candid.
Pick-up all my free stuff - your feedback is gold!

 

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[EricZ]

P.S. As Nick said "Free works!"
Even without stellar results, I'm getting some really good reviews from people and valuable feedback, now the rest is up to me...

 

[ChickenHawk]

The first one, my cheatsheet yielded 14 subscribers, and the Navy book yielded a whopping 2 subscribers.
Considering they have been downloaded 100+ times, I think the results are dismal.

This shows an interesting mix of good and bad news. Looking at these numbers, it seems to me that your cover and description are doing their jobs. People are downloading samples and taking a look. This is a great sign. The problem, it seems, is that the sample download isn't making them actually hit the "buy" button. What does this mean? Maybe you're 2/3 of the way there: You've got (1) a good cover, (2) a compelling description, but you may be falling short on your excerpt. It might be worth revamping the opening pages of your books to make them more interesting or compelling.

In my experience, a good sample-to-buy ratio is 10%, meaning that if 123 people download the sample, you'd be getting around 12 sales.

 

[EricZ]

Thanks again Chickenhawk, once again your feedback is GOLD!
I was thinking that too, 10% seemed about right but wasn't sure. Yes I'm definitely doing some head scratching.
ALL of the subscribers were in the first week or 10 days!
Was thinking of revamping the books just like you said, but I am also maybe confusing things in cyberspace too.
I have a website and a youtube channel that link to each other, you ONLY get the templates/cheatsheets if you subscribe to the website. But I'm thinking that people don't subscribe anymore because if you watch the videos you don't need the templates and cheatsheets (leadmagnets).
But that only applies to my Authoring platform, with the Kidsbooks, I fear it reflects on the quality and content I am offering....back to the drawing board!

 

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[Empire]

Right...after a while researching Amazon I've decided on one of the niches I am going to work with. I think to start with I will be outsourcing for this particular niche or sub-niche.

So tomorrow I will be drawing up a plan of attack with the main focus being the outsourcing setup.
I will only be getting the writing outsourced for now as i can do all the other stuff. It will give me time to think up a good title, description and cover design.

 

[Tollyb]

I am interested in making money from my writing. I've made a lot of mistakes n my foray into self publishing and am interested in learning to do things right. I need a mentor as well as salient advice. Above all, I promise to pay it forward, i.e. what I learn/glean this site from people who teach me, I will help another with. Thanks a million!!!!

 

[GuestUser116]

Those outsourcing what's the price for 1k words to get quality stuff?

 

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[EricZ]

@Tollyb
Check out the tutorials I was talking about:
http://goo.gl/n5MXhp
A lot of feedback on the channel confirms that this method is the easiest - I would love to hear your feedback!

 

[Empire]

Update:

Yesterday I put up an ad in Elance to find myself a ghostwriter. So far the response has not been that great. I am guessing it may have something to do with my budget being too low.

The thing is, I don't want to be paying too much for a writer at this early stage because I am not sure whether any of these books will be a success or at least have a reasonable ROI. Of course, once I find a good writer I will pay them well but now I am just trying to find someone that i feel comfortable working with.

I am going to try a few other sites to find a writer. I am going to put an ad in Odesk and maybe a couple of others to see what comes up.

On another note I am also pushing myself to make a change physically.
Over the past year I have allowed myself to get overweight and I hate it. There is no excuse, I know what I did and understand why I let myself go.

Anyway, my plan is to gradually keep getting up earlier each week. i am a morning person but for the past year I have gotten lazy and sleep a little too much. I think 8 hours is too much for me. I want to be able to function well on no more than 6 hours of good rest. Also I have started my fitness routine again. Taking it day by day until it becomes a habit.

 

[Lex DeVille]

On Odesk you might try offering a low amount at first with an opportunity to increase later.

Make them submit samples before you choose one. Make sure it's up to your standard.

Work on hourly contracts so you have a safety net in case something goes wrong. (Set an hour limit up front.)

If you find one that has fair quality - offer to hire at a lower rate and train them.

Tell them you'll increase as their skills grow. Make them prove They're worth whatever they're charging.

How much is your budget?

 

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[Empire]

Hey SinisterLex,

That is great advice! I have never used the option to go to "hourly rate" before.....maybe I should start trying that out.
Over the years I have only used Elance but I think I need to try another source because the proposals tend to be higher.

I read one of your older threads about your kids book publishing. You really worked your butt off by doing everything yourself.
Just out of curiosity are you still using that model or have you switched to something else?

 

[Lex DeVille]

Elance & Odesk are the same company now. They merged, Odesk still has more individual freelancers whereas Elance has more agencies.

I switched my whole model. Built a publishing site like smashwords / draft2digital. More than 700 users.

I'm telling you because despite giving 80% royalties, free training, free resources, free publishing, and free promotion - less than 1% are actually working hard to get better. A few are repeat submitters, but they're not trying to learn at all. They just write and submit, hoping for a quick buck.

I get 10 - 20 stories a week, and have published around 200 since it started. So the question is, why does a single book I wrote last year outsell ALL of their books combined?

The Answer May Help in Your Search...

My best writers are getting better. They're learning, striving, and trying. They earn more each month. They ask questions, and post excerpts in our Facebook group. They're motivated by the process, and eventually it'll pay off. Eventually they will pass me.

The rest are only motivated by fast money. They think they'll submit 1,200 words and instantly be a huge success. They're motivated enough to try it out, but when they don't make money, they're gone.

So, I see it like this - Get them in the door (get them on Skype) by offering higher pay. Filter them for quality. Give them clear instructions about the genres you want them to write.

If they do it right, then offer more incentives to motivate. Could be higher pay. Could be a cut of total earnings. Could be a bonus. Could be more freedom etc.

If you learn to write first you'll know what to look for in good writers.​

Whatever you do, get them on Skype and talk to them like a person. Not like their boss. Build connections with them. I think most people freelance because they want freedom from restrictions.

Freelancers want to work with friends, not bosses.

Be their friend. If they like you, then the money won't be as important. If you motivate them, they'll try hard to grow. If you make them feel like they're part of something bigger, they'll strive more.

They can become valuable. But you have to give value first.

 

[Timbonitus]

I just read another progress thread about self publishing and I feel like I should dive in as well. It's really awesome to here about your success! Please keep us updated.

 

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[Empire]

I just read another progress thread about self publishing and I feel like I should dive in as well. It's really awesome to here about your success! Please keep us updated.

Hi there!

Yep...I understood, way back in 2012, that this was going to be as close as possible to a passive online income for me. I had more success back then and last year I was out of the picture for a bit but even so I STILL had sales coming in. This is why this year I am attacking this full throttle!

I am no where near having as much success as many of the other publishers here in this forum....but I do have the potential to scale up what I have to reach my goals for this year. Yes I will keep this thread updated with my progress...

 

[Empire]

Update:

So I have interviewed a bunch of freelancers to write for me and sifted through all the bad apples. I am now left with 5 writers I think would do a good job for me. The thing is, now I am considering hiring them all to test them out and see which of their writing stands out the most. Plus this gives me the chance to test out a bunch of different niches and genres.

If I can start this goal off by having 5 written books by the end of this month then I would be happy.....and even happier if I could make some good sales from them...

 

[Timbonitus]

Awesome, good work man. I think I asked this question on a different thread but nobody replied so I'll ask here: What's the average word count for these books and are you trying to dominate one niche or spread it out over a bunch? Just curious.

Oh, and if you need an extra writer, I could help out, I have been working a as a freelance writer for awhile now. I'll send you a link to my website.

 

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[Empire]

Awesome, good work man. I think I asked this question on a different thread but nobody replied so I'll ask here: What's the average word count for these books and are you trying to dominate one niche or spread it out over a bunch? Just curious.

Oh, and if you need an extra writer, I could help out, I have been working a as a freelance writer for awhile now. I'll send you a link to my website.

Well, fiction is totally new to me but I want to break into it to see whether I can scale things up in my book biz. Right now I have one freelancer working on a 7000 word story. That is actually not enough going by all the reviews in my chosen niche but at the moment it is all I am prepared to pay for. I just want to test things out.

It looks like I am going to have to knuckle down and do some writing of my own if I want to speed things up. Never written fiction before so not sure what to expect. Will I be able to handle it?......we shall see.

 

[Empire]

UPDATE:

It has been a while but my efforts did eventually pay off.
I got to work creating romance books, (using freelance writers) and I also wrote a few erotica books of my own.
Created two seperate pen names and got the books published.

I went from $250/month to $1500 in the first month.
Paid out around $500 for writers so made $1000 profit.

Same again on the next month but with more profit as I only paid for a couple books to be written.
Profit was around $1300.

Summer slump hit but I still managed to make around $1000 on the third month.
Then Amazon changed their rules to pay per page.

So far my earnings have dropped to just under $300 this month.
Devastated!
I was on my way to my planned $5000/month!!!

Now I am just numb.
I pulled most of my books out of KU now as I cannot accept a stupid payout of $0.005 per page.....NO WAY!!!

I guess I have to start putting my books wide and start all over again with a new strategy.
Sucks!

 

[shubham525]

Social sites allow you to post your link on a social page.
So why not use this tool and just post about your books on thousands of pages.
If anyone intrested i would love to do marketing of your book .I Can work long hour covering most pages.Plan is to practise marketing and after accumulating some capital outsource writers and market my own book.(m all ears) open for suggestions on profit sharing etc



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

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[Funke]

@Empire You pulled out before seeing how much actually they are going to pay.
What are your plans now?

 

[GiroudJD]

UPDATE:

Now I am just numb.
I pulled most of my books out of KU now as I cannot accept a stupid payout of $0.005 per page.....NO WAY!!!

I guess I have to start putting my books wide and start all over again with a new strategy.
Sucks!

KU2 is terrible. No way around it. The best thing you can do is go wide. Don't get discouraged. Going wide takes time. But it WILL be better in the long run. Don't forget audiobooks and createspace. And bundle, bundle, bundle!