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We talk a ton about self-publishing your fiction on this podcast, but we know a lot of you are into publishing nonfiction and/or using platforms like Kindle e-publishing to promote your business. We all want to make money, but the nonfiction route is arguably more direct. That’s mostly what we talk about in this episode.
But first, we talked about a few other loose ends.
I’m loving writing to music
I read in what could be called this podcast’s bible — On Writing — that Stephen King writes while listening to loud music like Metallica and AC/DC. This always seemed strange to me because I need total silence to concentrate. But what he says is that the music is “just another way of closing the door,” and you need a closed door in order to write.
But, prior to these past two weeks, I’ve only had two hours a day to write (6-8am), and they’re fitful hours at best because although the house is at its quietest then, I’m still constantly interrupted. And if I sleep in, I’m fucked. I can’t write that day. That sucks. I figured if I could learn to write to music, I could write whenever I wanted… and so I made myself try.
It’s amazing. I recommend anyone who is unable to find distraction-free time give it a shot… and if you think you’ll be distracted by the lyrics, I thought that too. It took a bit of getting used to, but now the door is fully shut, and I can write whenever.
In case you’re wondering, I’m currently writing to Eminem’s Recovery album and Rob Zombie’s Past, Present & Future. I’ve also tried Rancid, Bad Religion, Green Day, Social Distortion, and a few others. Social Distortion’s White Light White Heat White Trash is probably my favorite to write to so far.
NOTE: I think a key to making this work is getting a good set of comfortable, “cans” style headphones. This is the pair I use, and they’re AMAZING. Check ‘em out.
Self-publishing for nonfiction and business strategy
Then we got on to the main topic. But first…
DISCLAIMER: We say toward the end of this episode that the Kindle Marketplace is not some kind of a spam playground, or at least that it shouldn’t be. Don’t think “make money by publishing on Kindle.” Think “promote using e-publishing as one intelligent strategy” or “sell a lot of good, solid books on a topic people care about.” There’s too much get-rich-quick thinking in this area, and it WILL come back to bite get-rich-quickers in the ass. An intelligent business strategy is a much better investment of your time and energy.
With that out of the way, we talk about how to:
- How to target and organize your nonfiction book
- When to use which strategies — breaking your book into nuggets vs. using a single, larger book
• How to use a nonfiction book as a call to action for another part of your business
• How to use nonfiction as lead generation.
This is what I’m doing. I have a book, The Universe Doesn’t Give a Flying Fuck About You, that was simply a repurposed post from my blog that I put up on Amazon so it could reach people that my blog couldn’t. What surprised me was that it sold very well on Amazon at 99 cents, probably due to its title. So, I recently made it permanently free and it now “sells” around 80-100 copies per day.
I’m using this to get new leads for my business. I have a manifesto called How To Be Legendary that is very much in the same style as the “Universe” post/e-book that I’ll be releasing shortly, and when this funnel is complete and the manifesto posted, it’ll work like this:
1. The “Universe” post sells for free on Amazon, and thousands of people get it each month.
2. There’s a call to action at the end of that e-book, telling people about How to Be Legendary
3. People go to my site and get the manifesto. In doing so, they’re joining my email list.
4. They’ll get a series of emails about the same topic.
5. Those emails end in a pitch for a new “legendary” (and very inexpensive) membership program I’m developing.
Sean and I also talk about a zillion other ideas to try, while Dave groans about us in the background.
Better Off Undead update
Last week, Sean, Dave, and I — who are all either published horror writers (them) or working on zombie books (me) — launched our new podcast, “Better Off Undead”, as a vehicle to talk about the things we like to write about and to begin connecting with people who might enjoy reading our stuff. It’s our first serious, intensive effort to “get into the world of our readers,” and the effort is off to a great start. Despite the fact that the show is brand, brand new, over 200 people have downloaded our first episode reviewing the horribly hilariously good/bad movie Birdemic: Shock and Terror and the feedback has been fantastic.
Our second episode, about fast zombies vs. slow zombies and about a billion other things, is available now. We’re also having insane amounts of fun recording the show.
So we’d call this an early success, but we’ll keep you updated here on how it works as a promotional tool.
To view the video version of this episode, go to: Self Publishing Podcast #16 – Using Kindle and Self Publishing to Build Your Business
You guys just totally blew up my whole world. I just this very day started outlining my nonfiction book, and now I’m despairing! Do I have four books here? What about folks like Danielle LaPorte and her FSS book – did she cock that up (cos it seems to’ve done super well)? Is writing handbook-style books just the worst possible idea I could have?
I think you just have to know your endgame… check our point/counterpoint on this. Remember too that only part of it is the book itself. The rest is the marketing and the platform you build to support it. Because unless you’re very luck, it won’t be a case of “if you build it, they will come” regardless of whether it’s one book or four.
Also remember that this is the age of e-publishing. If you do it “wrong” and decide to change it later, you CAN. Nothing is set in stone.
Hi guys,
Just on the music thing, I listen to an album of rain and thunderstorms on repeat when I’m writing. It cuts out the background noise and it also does some kind of brain wave thing that puts me in a meditative state. It’s also a kind of ritual (re your next episode) so when the rain comes down, I write fiction.
Happy times
I’m clearly commenting as I listen
but on the non-fiction stuff, I think it’s critical to point out that non-fiction sells so much less than fiction. I have a number of non-fiction books I could be putting out for lead gen purposes for my speaking & online courses business BUT/ in doing the numbers in the last 12 months, fiction out-sells the rest of my work – so why would I spend the time doing those non-fiction books when I could be writing stories that sell thousands of times more?
Thanks guys.
True, and imagine I’ll be there one day too… but I’ll bet it’s in large part because you’re an indie fiction author who has devoted a ton of time and effort to your fiction and its marketing and has gained a nice following. I can see three main audiences for whom it would differ:
1. People who have gunned harder on nonfiction and/or are playing the SEO/links game and/or finding a profitable niche with good titles, etc., or
2. People who aren’t good at or interested in fiction (that’s who I was thinking of when I pitched this one, since a lot of my list are nonfiction/business types), and
3. People who may want to use their nonfiction as a marketing vehicle rather than to just “sell more copies,” kind of like what I’m doing with my “Universe” post.
I figure it all depends on your endgame… but I do want to get to where you are eventually, and I’m sure Sean and Dave would agree now.
I would agree 100%. The Digital Writer is the least profitable thing I do, and by least profitable, it’s an expensive hobby. I’d make more money if I did zero nonfiction.
Yes, but selling to writers isn’t the same as selling to others. Business authors might feel differently. And what if you want it as a portfolio piece or a bit of social proof?
Don’t get me wrong; I WANT to believe that fiction is the way to go. But for me, it’s not yet.
There are a lot of reasons to write nonfiction. My only client is doing it for lead gen, and I think that’s smart. And as a portfolio piece, absolutely. But for me, hours not spent writing fiction is money directly out of my pocket.
Hi Guy,
Thanks for a good podcast again and to me it was super to hear some of your thoughts on nonfiction.
I have a question to Sean – becasue he say in the podcast that he wouldn’t start a blog again, but go directly and publish an ebook. I follow the idea, but my question is. How would you ensure yourself that your work – the ebook – is pick up by your target audiance? Will you go social or do you still have a personal blog?
Hey Steen,
It totally depends on the book. I would market it differently depending on the reader base. Some generes or niches need social, others would benefit from a blog. But I think if we’re talking non fiction, then I would set up a simple blog that curated my appearances everywhere else, and that I’d initiate an aggressive guest post campaign – AIMED ONLY AT THOSE SITES SPECIFICALLY WITHIN MY NICHE.
I’ve heard you refer to “permanently free” a couple of times, but I though the lower limit was 99 cents except on KDP free days. How do you swing permanently free?
Thanks,
Roland
Permanently free is something that can be done through Amazon’s price match. You make it free everywhere else (Apple, BN, etc.) through Smashwords, then hope Amazon matches the price. It’s not easy to do, is by no means guaranteed, and is getting more difficult all the time.
I know this was torture for Dave (is torture such a bad thing to Dave?), but this was some of the best content marketing information I have imbibed in quite some time. Truth be told, I have begun to tune out some of the stuff from the long-standing leaders in the content marketing/blogging world…it’s just starting to feel stale, with many of the same tired ideas being regurgitated over and over.
I came away from this hour with more new ideas than the last 100 content marketing blog posts I have since filed away in the “been there, done that” file.
Thanks Guys.
Cheers,
Mike
Ha, thanks Mike. I totally agree with that.
Had I read the title, I might have skipped this episode, since I’m focused on fiction right now.
But I’m glad I didn’t notice it, since I can absolutely relate to the guilt/music/etc thoughts Sean and Johnny shared. I work and write from home, and do a ton with my two young sons. For my business, the work is all analytical, and pays right away, so I can actually do it while listening to any kind of music, kids TV, kids talking and playing, or lately… your podcasts and now hangouts. I actually work at the dining table in the same room as everyone else is doing their stuff, and love to be around and accessible. I only need to pause my listening when I’m composing a client e-mail.
Similarly, for my fiction writing, that doesn’t work at all. I have to go into a room away from everyone and put on music with no lyrics. For me its mostly epic soundtracks or zen-type stuff like Joanna mentioned. I keep meaning to break down my playlists into different types of moods to match with the type of scene I’m writing, but I just skip tracks when it doesn’t match. But even that can break the flow. So all that adds up to really fighting to carve out enough writing time.
Especially when I’ve been watching Battlestar Galactica for the first time in some of the spare time away from the kids…