So I decided to start a self pubslishing company too.

[DAYLEGALLAGHER96]

Hello everyone. So I've been lurking on this forum for quite a few months now, and decided it was about time I stuck to one business idea and see it through to the end. Been reading a few threads about self publishing and really like the idea of it. So what's the best way to learn, get stuck in and start one I think.

I like the idea of hiring ghost-writers to do the writing for me, rather than do it myself. What do you guys think about this. Is it better to do it yourself instead?

When it comes to hiring people from up work, I post the job and start a chapter of a story of my liking.
And then I tell the people who are applying to finish another chapter off for me using there imagination.
I then pick the best chapter that has been sent to me, and hire that person to write a novel for me.

Doing it like this has worked great so far, it really cuts out alot of the crap writers and the lazy people on upwork. Those being the ones who can't be bothered to send me a chapter that they've written themselves, and still want me to hire them.

Also it allows me to see what applicants have the best writing style that I'm looking for. And doing it like this, Iv'e managed to hire a great writer who's writing style is brilliant, and she really has an interest in the topic of novel Iv'e chosen.

I plan on releasing two novels a month, each being 15,000 words long and eventually increasing the amount of novels I write when I have more funds. Also any sequels to my novels I plan on making a couple thousand words longer.

I don't expect to get rich from this. But I just want to do it too add some funds to my saving for when I travel Canada in 10 months time. Also I'm not expecting it to be an easy ride, I'm sure there's a lot for me to learn.
But I'm sure doing something rather than saying I'll do it is the best way for me to learn.

Oh and another Question I've got too ask. What price range do you recommended I use for a 15,000 word novel, thanks.

 

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[jon.a]

Someone should be along shortly with a step by step plan for you.
Hang on.

 

[DAYLEGALLAGHER96]

Someone should be along shortly with a step by step plan for you.
Hang on.

Oh I love your sarcasm, But no where do I ask anybody to show me what to do. I'm asking for advice from other people who know about self publishing and do it themselves.

 

[RHL]

Someone should be along shortly with a step by step plan for you.

I saw my bat signal in the sky.

Anyway, saying "I want to make books that are 15,000 words long" is like saying "I want to make it in the women's handbag industry. I'm going to do it by designing hand bags that are about .65 cubic feet in volume because that's most cost effective!" or "I'm going to make it as a sculptor. I'm going to make statues that use around 200 lbs worth of marble because any more than that might make production too onerous or expensive."

Lots of people, in the world and on FLF, have started writing this way. It is 100% slow-lane (even if you hire others) because, invariably, if you create 'art,' which is what a novel is, only to meet a word count and an income level, it will be trash with minimal longevity. You're throwing away millions to save minutes. Sure, Dan Brown or JK Rowling might work 50 times longer on their book than your guys will, but they'll make 50 times more *in the first day* than your book will from the time it's published until the end of the universe.

Churning out forgettable crap and needing a constant stream of new material to keep earning even a living wage is slow lane. It might even be sidewalk; I sat down with a high school friend who is self-publishing, and figured out that she makes less than $7/hr for the time she invests in her stories.

Sure, maybe you'll get a very modest hit, and your income that year will be $180K or something, but then you'll be back to the grind immediately afterwards. And that's best-case scenario.

An actual fastlane could have you earning that much every single year.

There are two roads: 1. Do it right once, take your time, and sell that success for years as you coast and relax, and dream up your next mega-hit. Or, 2. Do it shittily a thousand times, waste tons of money and hours, and run on a treadmill until you die.

I can't believe this keeps needing to be delineated on a forum run by a guy who used model 1 for his book.

 

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[DAYLEGALLAGHER96]

I saw my bat signal in the sky.

Anyway, saying "I want to make books that are 15,000 words long" is like saying "I want to make it in the women's handbag industry. I'm going to do it by designing hand bags that are about .65 cubic feet in volume because that's most cost effective!" or "I'm going to make it as a sculptor. I'm going to make statues that use around 200 lbs worth of marble because any more than that might make production too onerous or expensive."

Lots of people, in the world and on FLF, have started writing this way. It is 100% slow-lane (even if you hire others) because, invariably, if you create 'art,' which is what a novel is, only to meet a word count and an income level, it will be trash with minimal longevity. You're throwing away millions to save minutes. Sure, Dan Brown or JK Rowling might work 50 times longer on their book than your guys will, but they'll make 50 times more *in the first day* than your book will from the time it's published until the end of the universe.

Churning out forgettable crap and needing a constant stream of new material to keep earning even a living wage is slow lane. It might even be sidewalk; I sat down with a high school friend who is self-publishing, and figured out that she makes less than $7/hr for the time she invests in her stories.

Sure, maybe you'll get a very modest hit, and your income that year will be $180K or something, but then you'll be back to the grind immediately afterwards. And that's best-case scenario.

An actual fastlane could have you earning that much every single year.

There are two roads: 1. Do it right once, take your time, and sell that success for years as you coast and relax, and dream up your next mega-hit. Or, 2. Do it shittily a thousand times, waste tons of money and hours, and run on a treadmill until you die.

I can't believe this keeps needing to be delineated on a forum run by a guy who used model 1 for his book.

I appreciate you replying to my thread. And you do make some good points. And I agree it kind of is slowlane, but not slowlane as a 9-5 job.
Yes I will have to constantly churn out new books month after month, but with more books should come more money. I know it wont be a completely hands free business, but I'm outsourcing the most time consuming bit, which is writing. yes I'll have to spend time on cover design, promotion, running ad campaigns and managing people. But you cant deny that people on this forum have had success with self publishing on Amazon and outsourcing writing. Surely doing this and making more money would then allow me to invest in other 'real' fastlane business models.

 

[The Grind]

I came with your step by step plan.

Shit... wait I need someone to make the step by step plan for me so I can give it to you.

Hold on... I'll find it somewhere.

Afterwards, we can decide on Red or Blue.

 

[jon.a]

well done!

I saw my bat signal in the sky.

Anyway, saying "I want to make books that are 15,000 words long" is like saying "I want to make it in the women's handbag industry. I'm going to do it by designing hand bags that are about .65 cubic feet in volume because that's most cost effective!" or "I'm going to make it as a sculptor. I'm going to make statues that use around 200 lbs worth of marble because any more than that might make production too onerous or expensive."

Lots of people, in the world and on FLF, have started writing this way. It is 100% slow-lane (even if you hire others) because, invariably, if you create 'art,' which is what a novel is, only to meet a word count and an income level, it will be trash with minimal longevity. You're throwing away millions to save minutes. Sure, Dan Brown or JK Rowling might work 50 times longer on their book than your guys will, but they'll make 50 times more *in the first day* than your book will from the time it's published until the end of the universe.

Churning out forgettable crap and needing a constant stream of new material to keep earning even a living wage is slow lane. It might even be sidewalk; I sat down with a high school friend who is self-publishing, and figured out that she makes less than $7/hr for the time she invests in her stories.

Sure, maybe you'll get a very modest hit, and your income that year will be $180K or something, but then you'll be back to the grind immediately afterwards. And that's best-case scenario.

An actual fastlane could have you earning that much every single year.

There are two roads: 1. Do it right once, take your time, and sell that success for years as you coast and relax, and dream up your next mega-hit. Or, 2. Do it shittily a thousand times, waste tons of money and hours, and run on a treadmill until you die.

I can't believe this keeps needing to be delineated on a forum run by a guy who used model 1 for his book.

 

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[AndrewNC]

Hello everyone. So I've been lurking on this forum for quite a few months now, and decided it was about time I stuck to one business idea and see it through to the end. Been reading a few threads about self publishing and really like the idea of it. So what's the best way to learn, get stuck in and start one I think.

I like the idea of hiring ghost-writers to do the writing for me, rather than do it myself. What do you guys think about this. Is it better to do it yourself instead?

When it comes to hiring people from up work, I post the job and start a chapter of a story of my liking.
And then I tell the people who are applying to finish another chapter off for me using there imagination.
I then pick the best chapter that has been sent to me, and hire that person to write a novel for me.

Doing it like this has worked great so far, it really cuts out alot of the crap writers and the lazy people on upwork. Those being the ones who can't be bothered to send me a chapter that they've written themselves, and still want me to hire them.

Also it allows me to see what applicants have the best writing style that I'm looking for. And doing it like this, Iv'e managed to hire a great writer who's writing style is brilliant, and she really has an interest in the topic of novel Iv'e chosen.

I plan on releasing two novels a month, each being 15,000 words long and eventually increasing the amount of novels I write when I have more funds. Also any sequels to my novels I plan on making a couple thousand words longer.

I don't expect to get rich from this. But I just want to do it too add some funds to my saving for when I travel Canada in 10 months time. Also I'm not expecting it to be an easy ride, I'm sure there's a lot for me to learn.
But I'm sure doing something rather than saying I'll do it is the best way for me to learn.

Oh and another Question I've got too ask. What price range do you recommended I use for a 15,000 word novel, thanks.

What do the readers want?

 

[ChickenHawk]

I see the appeal of the path you're considering. In theory, it sounds easy. Heck, during Kindle Unlimited 1.0, you might've been able to make some money at it, because this was the only point in the history of the world where very short books could make decent money, regardless of quality.

(If you're unfamiliar with Kindle Unlimited 1.0, this was Amazon's deeply flawed book-borrow system that paid "writers" approximately $1.40 whenever a customer read approximately 10% of their book, even if the "book" was only 10 pages. Those days are long-gone.)

Here are just some of the flaws with your plan:
1. At 15,000 words, your books aren't novels. Technically, they're not even novellas. They're short stories, which don't have much of a market, unless they're really raunchy. And if you write raunchy stuff, you run into a host of other problems, such as decreased visibility in the Amazon store due to their treatment of adult content. (Basically, they hide a lot of it in the searches.)
2. Even with a team of excellent ghost-writers, your quality will be inconsistent, which will lead to unhappy customers who are unlikely to become fans. (See Good Fiction Is Like Good Beer.)
3. Price-competition. IMO, unless you're a big name, extremely talented, or write some seriously killer porn, the highest price you'll be able to charge for a 15,000-word "book" is 99 cents. These days, even some big, big names charge 99 cents for their full-length novels, which means your competition will be fierce, which will also hurt your visibility.

I like the idea of hiring ghost-writers to do the writing for me, rather than do it myself. What do you guys think about this. Is it better to do it yourself instead?

It's easy to see why you'd like this. Heck, I wish I could do this. It would make my life a ton easier. But alas, the road to riches is seldom easy. Remember, easier and better are two completely different things. Lots of times, it's the harder stuff that really pays off.

A final note: Even if you choose to write your own books, that's no guarantee of success. There was a time, maybe two or three years ago, when it was pretty easy to make money. Today, you'd have to write better, make smarter decisions, and do a lot more marketing.

Hope this helps!

 

[TJH]

I thought self publishing means you publish what you write, and not what other people people write. Before you decide to "self publish" other people's writings bi-weekly, why not put something together and test the market first, then decide on pursuing this? If you publish bi-weekly, you don't have books, you have a magazine or a blog... a subscription would make more sense, if you have great content.

 

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[Hai]

There are some people on the inside, which have a successful self-publishing company. They are committed to it.
However, I want to ask you if you want to commit to it for the next 2 years? Or you just want to do it because others "seem" to have success with it. If you love books, then go on. Everything else is moneychasing Otherwise do something with some long-term growth, something you can be proud of. Cheers!

 

[csalvato]

However, I want to ask you if you want to commit to it for the next 2 years?

agree with the rest of your post but a tiny detail in here makes a huge difference....

"commit to it" + "2 years" = ???

commitment means at least half a decade ... more likely, it's best to go in ready to commit the rest of your life.

 

[Raoul Duke]

Hello everyone. So I've been lurking on this forum for quite a few months now, and decided it was about time I stuck to one business idea and see it through to the end. Been reading a few threads about self publishing and really like the idea of it. So what's the best way to learn, get stuck in and start one I think.

I like the idea of hiring ghost-writers to do the writing for me, rather than do it myself. What do you guys think about this. Is it better to do it yourself instead?

When it comes to hiring people from up work, I post the job and start a chapter of a story of my liking.
And then I tell the people who are applying to finish another chapter off for me using there imagination.
I then pick the best chapter that has been sent to me, and hire that person to write a novel for me.

Doing it like this has worked great so far, it really cuts out alot of the crap writers and the lazy people on upwork. Those being the ones who can't be bothered to send me a chapter that they've written themselves, and still want me to hire them.

Also it allows me to see what applicants have the best writing style that I'm looking for. And doing it like this, Iv'e managed to hire a great writer who's writing style is brilliant, and she really has an interest in the topic of novel Iv'e chosen.

I plan on releasing two novels a month, each being 15,000 words long and eventually increasing the amount of novels I write when I have more funds. Also any sequels to my novels I plan on making a couple thousand words longer.

I don't expect to get rich from this. But I just want to do it too add some funds to my saving for when I travel Canada in 10 months time. Also I'm not expecting it to be an easy ride, I'm sure there's a lot for me to learn.
But I'm sure doing something rather than saying I'll do it is the best way for me to learn.

Oh and another Question I've got too ask. What price range do you recommended I use for a 15,000 word novel, thanks.

https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/co...-to-do-it-the-easy-way-or-the-hard-way.64808/
https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/threads/whats-the-current-gold-rush.57713/
https://thefastlaneforum.com/commun...ovels-always-a-better-idea.57938/#post-520525

 

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