WEB/DIGITAL The "Luck Struck" Progress Thread

[PEERless]

Thank you! I am so happy with it. Hopefully, this will be the start of my Fastlane success story! A few of you are quoted directly, and all you Fastlaners are acknowledged! This project NEVER would have happened without the encouragement I have received here. You know who you are, and I'll rep+ you all as appropriate, but thanks to these folks especially:

Russ H, andviv, SteveO, Runum, mtnman, carlhuber, yveskleinsky, AroundTheWorld, RichKid, australianinvestor, PhxMJ, Justin, JScott, fanocks2003, Merkin Man, ZenSatori, marktech101, v4playa, ^eagle^, laughedat, ZDS, lightning... et al! I know I'm forgetting people, but you know who you are and how you've helped.

For a review of the way this project took shape from a stupid eBook to a book of which I can be proud (in 9 months and 2 days), check out these great threads:

1. Writing a Stupid eBook
2. Should I take Pre-Orders on my eBook?
3. Critique my eBook Sales Page
4. Vote on the Best eBook "Cover"
5. When Do I Release My Book?
6. Luck-Struck Manuscript Finished!
7. Free EBook to the First 10 Responders!

I will keep you posed on sales stats and the expansion of the Luck-Struck brand. Hopefully this will become a great success story. How lucky!

Luck-Struck: How to Take Control & Create Your Own Luck
By Skyler Reep
ISBN: 978-0-615-26126-3
LCCN: 2009901431

Order Now for $17.77

 

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[kimberland]

re: The "Luck Struck" Progress Thread

Congrats!
That is a HUGE accomplishment.
You must be so proud!

 

[bflbob]

re: The "Luck Struck" Progress Thread

Congrats PEERless!

Great work and follow-through!

 

[marktech101]

re: The "Luck Struck" Progress Thread

Congratulations! I knew you could pull this off!

 

[PEERless]

re: The "Luck Struck" Progress Thread

Seven sold in the first 24 hours! Good, but not great. Time to feed the viral promotion flames.

 

[PEERless]

re: The "Luck Struck" Progress Thread

Update:
Submitted about a dozen press releases.
Web-traffic spiked by almost 800% with the release yesterday.

 

[Bilgefisher]

re: The "Luck Struck" Progress Thread

Update:
Submitted about a dozen press releases.
Web-traffic spiked by almost 800% with the release yesterday.

If its not to much to ask, could you keep us up to date on how this goes down the road? I really enjoy watching something like this grow and do well.

 

[PEERless]

re: The "Luck Struck" Progress Thread

If its not to much to ask, could you keep us up to date on how this goes down the road?

Too much to ask? Hell no! I'll keep everyone in the loop.

 

[CardinalsFan]

re: The "Luck Struck" Progress Thread

congrats peerless!

 

[Luke12321]

re: The "Luck Struck" Progress Thread

Way to go! Keep us update on the methods you are using to promote the website and also the results from the marketing tatics you use.

 

[Redshft]

re: The "Luck Struck" Progress Thread

This is AWESOME bro! Congratulations!

 

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[australianinvestor]

re: The "Luck Struck" Progress Thread

Nice work! Now market the hell out of it!

If you get any press exposure, post it here for everyone to see

 

[PEERless]

ONE WEEK UPDATE: $107
Sales: $107
Paperback: 10
eBook: 1

The book is only available on Lulu right now, so I don't have the ubiquitous exposure I need yet. In five to six weeks, Amazon and B&N will upload it, and I should have more movement. Press releases have met with requests for books to review, but no interviews or articles yet.

My Facebook group of 230+ "fans" is slow to buy, and I blame it on the fact that Lulu is not familiar.

I have agreements with three mom'n'pop bookstores in town to carry my book and one to do a book signing. Considering arranging that for next Friday, the 13th.

Set up ClickBank, but after setting up my listing I admit that I am stumped on how to actually get affiliates.

 

[santiago]

re: The "Luck Struck" Progress Thread

Congratulations! Action + Plan = Success ...

Curious - are you in contact with B&N and Amazon or is that something done by your publisher? And, does that mean you'll get put in the bricks and mortar stores of B&N if the book is successful online?

Forgive me if this is mentioned elsewhere - I'm planning on digging thru your threads..

 

[PEERless]

re: The "Luck Struck" Progress Thread

are you in contact with B&N and Amazon or is that something done by your publisher? And, does that mean you'll get put in the bricks and mortar stores of B&N if the book is successful online?

Lulu has submitted my ISBN to the next batch of content updates to online retailers. The big ones add new content quarterly. I am also pursuing library listings and purchases through the Library of Congress. Brick-and-mortar stores are definitely harder to enter as a self-published author, but a measure of online success can certainly be convincing when submitting your book to the buyers' consideration. I will attack this project once I have some press, reviews, and sales.

 

[AroundTheWorld]

re: The "Luck Struck" Progress Thread

I thought I had read somewhere that amazon will not list your book unless you go with their publishing service. Maybe I got that wrong ??

Have you been happy with Lulu?
If you could do it over, would you go with Lulu again?
Why / Why not?

 

[PEERless]

re: The "Luck Struck" Progress Thread

I thought I had read somewhere that amazon will not list your book unless you go with their publishing service. Maybe I got that wrong ??

Have you been happy with Lulu?
If you could do it over, would you go with Lulu again?
Why / Why not?

We shall see in a few weeks, but from what I understand, Lulu is compatible with both B&N and Amazon. I am happy with Lulu, though I cannot fairly compare it to others. It's easy as hell, and they do offer tons of services (both free and premium) from editing to cover design and press releases. I would use them again on my next book, unless I learn something new.

 

[PEERless]

TWO WEEK UPDATE: $129
Sales: $22
eBook: 1

Still available only on Lulu. I did have two interviews spawned from my press releases. One for an online magazine, and one for the student newspaper at my alma mater.

I'm still working in attracting Clickbank Affliates. If you have an account, you're welcome to make some dough promoting the eBook by clicking here.

 

[PEERless]

re: The "Luck Struck" Progress Thread

Asmara Amyan wrote Grad Shows How Luck is Controllable for the Whitworthian. A pretty good article, but she called PEER a "billion-dollar" company. (I think she was thinking of ourbilliondollarcompany.com) Anyway, check out the comments. Should I worry about damage control or just let the memes fall where they may?

 

[LightHouse]

re: The "Luck Struck" Progress Thread

what damage control? thats your feedback. I would not try any "damage" control rather than move on or if you deem it good opinions take them into consideration. i would get the billion dollar company thing corrected however. That might lead to bad credibility.

 

[santiago]

re: The "Luck Struck" Progress Thread

I'd probably put a comment on the site disputing the billion-dollar comment, without discrediting the author or you (not sure how you'd do that!?)

Regarding the person's review - seems like jealously to me. As an author, you'll get critics and praise and I'm not sure it'd be fruitful to try to respond to the comment. What I would do, is encourage others who have read and like the book to post a comment, "drowning out" the negative, so to speak. It seems their comments are ordered most recent first..

Also, if you haven't already - I'd ask if you could reprint a copy of this article on your website as "press coverage".

 

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[PEERless]

THREE WEEK UPDATE: $129
(No Change)

The "billion-dollar" line in the Whitworthian article was corrected.

Google Book Search got sued, so authors have had to individually resubmit their books.

I registered my final copyrights along with ISBN and LCCN.

I ordered a few thousand postcards to do some local direct-mailing. Check 'em out.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Skyler,

Thanks for keeping us posted with these updates. I enjoy reading them.

(Thread title changed too!)

~ MJ

 

[PEERless]

FOUR WEEK UPDATE: $187
Sales: $58
Paperback Wholesale: 10

1. Entered a retail agreement with a local giftshop.
2. Opened an online store full of Luck-Struck merchandise.
3. Submitted my ISBN to Half.com.
4. Was accepted to Google Book Search.
5. Still awaiting Amazon listing (≈2 weeks left).
6. That article in the newspaper of my alma mater is causing quite a stir. Not only am I a bad writer of a "trashy" book, but I'm not "bringing honor to God, following Christ, and serving humanity."

 

[PEERless]

FOUR WEEK UPDATE: $187
(No Change)

1. Finally listed on [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Luck-Struck-Take-Control-Create-Your/dp/0615261264/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1237561355&sr=8-1"]Amazon[/ame], but without a cover graphic(!)
2. Formatted for sale on the [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Luck-Struck-Take-Control-Create-Your/dp/B001XCWR7S/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1237561355&sr=8-2"]Kindle eBook reader[/ame].
3. Getting tons of Clickbank traffic, but no purchases yet. May need to re-optimize my sales page.
4. Still trying to decide whether having my website redone by an eLance pro is worth putting $1,110 on my credit card.

 

[Icy]

FOUR WEEK UPDATE: $187
(No Change)

1. Finally listed on Amazon, but without a cover graphic(!)
2. Formatted for sale on the Kindle eBook reader.
3. Getting tons of Clickbank traffic, but no purchases yet. May need to re-optimize my sales page.
4. Still trying to decide whether having my website redone by an eLance pro is worth putting $1,110 on my credit card.

I think you could reformat it yourself to help sell better without paying someone else.

I may sound like a jerk for this but usually when I see websites like the one you have I tend not even bother reading (actually just like I did). All of the random highlighting in it and all of it centered instantly makes my mind go into 'not worth reading' mode simply best most of the websites selling like that aren't.

Surely your book is different than that and you should diverge from that type of layout. I have a feeling that those who have used the internet for quite a while are instantly turned off by the book because the website looks like that. I could give more information if you would like.

Again, I'm sorry for sounding like a jerk but frankly, I feel like it would have been even worse to not mention this. This is my opinion on it but truly feel others might view it the same way.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

I have to agree, the sales page might need some retooling ... when I hit it, my first perception was "Wow, that's a lot of words" (And really, its not a lot of words, it just "looks" like a lot of words) ... if people see a lot of words, they think "work" ... it'll take work to read this ... if they think work, they will choose to not read and leave.

 

[PEERless]

I'm sorry for sounding like a jerk

LOL! You don't sound like a jerk. Honest feedback is valued on the Fastlane. Rep+.

Anyway, I totally agree that my sales landing pages should be different from my home page. Maybe I'll get to work on that today and save a few bucks on outsourcing.

 

[mtnman]

I have been telling you that for months skyler! MOve your a$$!

 

[PEERless]

Move your a$$!

LOL! OK. I'm working on it!

OK. Completely redid my site. I kept the landing pages for affiliates and such, but the homepage is pared down and a lot more homey. (See attached. Top photo is old. Bottom screenshot is new.)