The Rise of Self Publishing and The Independent Author

by | Entrepreneur, Self-Publish

In the year 2008 Amazon disrupted the traditional book publishing  (Trades) industry with its release of a technological triptych that would revolutionize the world of publishing: the e-reader Kindle, the Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) and a new payment process that offered commission on sales instead of traditional royalties and advancements.

For the first time authors were able to take full control of their work.  No longer subject to rigorous vetting, fledgling authors liked the independence that Amazon offered, took a chance, tossed their hats into the newly opened opportunity, wrote, uploaded the manuscript to KDP, pressed the publish button and held their breath.

If the publish button was pressed with mixed feelings of skepticism that was soon dissipated when the eBook was published, copies sold, and the first check arrived.

Aah!  The sweet smell of success.

How did Amazon’s technological triptych fuel this success? Brilliantly staged, strategically positioned, each TYCH was a springboard to the next and together the three created a publishing phenomenon not seen in modern times.

1.  The launch of Kindle, a digital e-reader and app.

Amazon was not the first to invent the e-reader, in fact there is reference that the very notion of one goes back decades even before the first one:

“ The idea for a device similar to the kindle was first described in a 1930 manifesto, such a device was first described in a 1930 manifesto written by Bob Brown titled The Readies, which describes “a simple reading machine which I can carry or move around, attach to any old electric light plug and read hundred-thousand-word novels in 10 minutes” … Wikipedia

Sometimes ideas come before their time.

The first e-reader, the Rocketbook was developed and pitched to Jeff Bezos of Amazon in 1997. Bezos was intrigued, understood the value of the technology but took a pass because the device needed to be plugged into a computer to download the digital books. That seemed cumbersome.

The idea though, never left Bezos’ mind.  He put a team together to develop an e-reader that was easy to read, portable, could download eBooks from the Amazon book store in seconds, and build up its own library list that could be accessed from anywhere. Three and a half years from startup, the Kindle was launched.

This time the software was user friendly and the timing was right. By 2007/ 2008 there was a decent inventory of digital books that customers could buy and download. The price of an eBook was significantly lower than either hardcover or paper book versions making it an attractive option for price conscious customers who loved to read.

2. Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP)

In order for the Kindle e-reader to succeed, Bezos saw the need for a massive inventory of digital books. eBooks are typically priced between $0.99 and $9.99. At this rate it would take a long time to recoup the investment in the Kindle e-reader. The question was what could be done to vastly increase the number of digital books in the shortest time possible. What incentives could be put in place to attract authors?

The solution was Kindle Direct Publish (KDP).  That was the carrot on the stick that Bezos and his team came up.  In essence, it removed all barriers for book publishing; gave authors full control of content, covers, editing, marketing and promotion; and let them keep copyright privileges. No vetting, no gatekeeping, no anything.  Book goes up for sale on Amazon.  Let the market decide whether to buy or not.

3, The coup de grace that sealed the deal

Amazon offered self-published authors a new payment process with commissions on sales of books instead of traditional royalties and advancements. Authors received 70% on eBooks selling between $2.99 and $9.99, and 35% on eBooks selling between $0.01 and $2.98.

Buoyed by their initial success, authors flocked to KDP like bees to honey. Their ranks swelled.The massive inventory of digital books that Bezos needed, swelled.  Revenues swelled.

Bezos was happy.

Amazon shareholders were happy.

Authors were happy.

Some authors hit best seller lists, banked big bucks for their efforts, got press and publicity. The storied 50 Shades of Grey was the first self published book to hit the $1million dollar mark in sales.

The once lowly Indie toyed with celebratory status, became a force to be reckoned with and some even wooed by the Trades.Their new readers brought excitement to the world of books, but more importantly, a sizable cash flow increase. 

The Indie, self published played a key role  in propping up self publishing’s reputation from tarnished to legitimate.  

Next week:  Publishing and Indie Shades of Gray.

The Art of Self-Publishing: Why Authors Choose to Self-Publish

by | Entrepreneur, Self-Publish

The art of self publishing is alive and well and flourishing on the internet.  Traditional publishing houses such as Penguin Random House and Hachette are facing fierce competition from none other than the lowly independent author.

Once dismissed as upstarts and wannabe authors that couldn’t pass the muster with the established publishing hoi polloi, indie authors are crushing it on the internet and pocketing a fair bit of change in the process.

John Locke was the first indie author to sell over a million eBooks on Amazon … in 5 months no less!

Darcie Chan, author of The Mill River Recluse, was repeatedly rejected by publishers and agents, decided to self-publish as an eBook and went on to sell 650,000n copies.

Sensational E.L. James’ 50 Shades of Gray trilogy sold over 70 million copies worldwide.  She used a small company to self-publish in eBook format as well as print on demand.

While fiction clearly rules, an increasing number of nonfiction authors are joining the six-figure annual income club.  Notable amongst them is Steve Scott who polished off some 40 books before hitting the big time with his Habit Stacking book.

Brief History of self-publishing

There was a time when writing a book meant years of writing and re-writing, submitting your manuscript to editors and publishing houses, just to be rejected time and time again.  With the advent of technology and the internet all that has changed.

Amazon was first up to the gate as an online outlet for publishing houses to sell their books.  That was back in 1994 when the whole internet thing was still in its infancy. Business was brisk as Amazon’s sales and revenues grew year on year.  But it still meant that would-be authors were shackled by the traditional book publishing process and many a talent died on receipt of yet another rejection slip.

Round about the same time Justin Hall created a site called links.net.  which is generally recognized as the first blog.  That little site launched another online phenomenon, the blogger.  For the first time people were able to publish short articles on platforms such as Google’s Blogger and eventually WordPress.  Authors took to blogging like ducks to water writing on areas of their expertise.  Success stories began to emerge as bloggers gained traffic and readers, often at the expense of traditional magazines.  Businesses began to pay for ads on blogs that were in their niche.

But it was still uphill for anyone who wanted to write a book and have decent sales.

Enter Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing

Unlike other forms of media, book publishing has had a relatively smooth transition into digital, particularly after Amazon introduced Kindle Direct Publishing along with Kindle.  Authors could now self publish books on Amazon, both in digital format and print on demand. The growth has been stunning.  Digital books, commonly referred to as eBooks, are now outpacing print books.  According to Amazon, 40% of eBooks sold are self-published.

Popularity of eBooks

EBooks populate all genres of literature, from romance, history, memoirs to short nonfiction “How To” books.  Personally if I am buying a book that is three or four hundred pages long, I prefer to hold it in my hands, make notes, highlight paragraphs and eventually add it to my library, but I may be a member of an endangered species.

When it comes to reading  nonfiction books that are relevant to my digital business, I prefer the digital versions.  My reasons are not exhaustive but I suspect that many eBook buyers share some of the same reasons for their preference of eBooks over print.

Affordability:
Although there are eBooks that sell at double digit price tags, most are somewhere between $2.99 and $9.99 while as paper backs range anywhere from $15 to $30 (and more if you want a hardcover).  If your book budget is $99, you could get as many as 30 eBooks vs six to as few as three in print.  This makes a big difference to me as I like to bunch up purchases in market niches/categories that interest me.  These are typically short books (usually under 60 pages) that give me in-depth information on trends or new developments within niche markets that I am interested in.

Convenience:
Ease of access to your books make the eBook a popular choice over its printed cousin.  With just one digital reading device you can easily access your library whether at home, the beach or on a train commute to and from work.  Conveniently stored in the cloud, they do not take up space on your bookshelf nor clutter the coffee table.

Portability:
Free apps are available for all reading devices.  Whether you tuck your tablet, iPad, Kindle or smartphone into your handbag or back pocket, your reading material is always with you.

Eco friendly.
Speaks for itself.  Save the forests.

Appeals to the younger set.
Digital is the choice of millennials’ and their younger siblings for buying, playing and reading.

If you have always wanted to write, but have been held hostage by the notion that writing and publishing meant countless hours of writes and re-writes, submissions to publishers, and a vision of rejection slips collecting dust in your drawer, I’m here to tell you that all that is just a bunch of BS. I have my own story of how one day I bought a course and published six books. I was thrilled when the first royalty deposits showed up in my bank account.  Then I turned my attention to my main business, put the books on a set-it-and-leave-it mode and went about tending to earning my bread and butter.  That was several years ago.

A funny thing happened.  Every month on or about the 29th, Amazon continued to deposit royalty checks from every country in which my books sold.  These are books I did absolutely NOTHING with to promote their sales.  One day, as I logged into my bank account and saw yet once again, 4 deposits from the four countries where my books sold, I decided it was time to look further into this self-publishing thing, I love writing.  I will never be a John Locke or a Darcie Chan as I’m not good at fiction, by hey, maybe I could boogey on up and join Steve Scott in the six-figure club.  How about you?

Valentina

You Don’t Have to Get it Right, You Just Have to Get it Going

by | Entrepreneur, Personal Development

“You don’t have to get it right, you just have to get it going” Mike Litman, Conversations with Millionaires.

Mike Litman was my first internet marketing mentor. Under his guidance I launched my first internet business – a blog about dogs.  The image above is a screenshot of the header image and an excerpt I picked up on the internet.

I liked Mike’s story.  As a teenager he and a buddy, Jason Oman, set up a local radio station and broadcast live interviews with millionaires. The show did not last but now Mike and Jason had those recorded interviews.   Years later they transcribed them and published Conversations with Millionaires which became a New York Times best seller.

The rabbit trail between my reading that book and my buying an online course from Mike is somewhat sketchy … it was some ten years ago. At the time I was looking at a way to market a consumer direct business.  I had achieved a major benchmark and was looking for ways to advance to a higher level.  The internet seemed like a good place.

I began by downloading all kinds of free info on how to create an internet business.  My idea was to digest all the info, create a system and market the opportunity or product.  Several things happened.

One:  I became a freebie information junkie.  I swear to this day that I have the largest virtual library of free content. There are others who lay claim to that fame too.  But, smart as I thought I was, I wasn’t smart enough to come up with a system that generated leads or cash for me.

Two:  What I did though was start a blog.  That initial step connected me to other bloggers.  We learned from each other and I began to make some money with Google’s Adsense.  It wasn’t a lot of money, but enough to get me hooked on internet marketing.

Three: Somehow I got on Mike Litman’s list and received an email from him.  He had a course that would teach me how to create an online business and would help me set up an online store. I jumped at the chance.  The short of the long of it was that I had a website that sold natural doggie treats that were baked by someone in Indiana and were shipped to visitors that came to my site and bought the treats. It took me months before I had all the bells and whistles in place.  I was often frustrated, discouraged even.  I just could not seem to get it right. And to this day I will never forget Mike Litman’s reply:

“You don’t have to get it right, you just have to get it going.”

One day I was ready to throw in the towel and ditch this internet thing.  But something inside of me stopped me.   Something urged me  to give it one more chance.

I gave up trying to get it right, I just got going.

The site was Sit Booboo Sit. I put up a blog on the site. Boo Barkley became the editor.  I created an online dog personality based on my own dog and wrote in the voice of a dog.  The blogs were about dog products, toys and services.  Boo wrote about visits to the dog spa, the groomer, doggie boutiques, and even about the road trips he went on with his “mommie.”  Every blog had a review of the places “we” visited, gave tips on how to choose toys for your dog, what to look for when buying pet health insurance and more.

Traffic began to grow. Boo opened a Barkery and began selling healthy doggie treats made with natural ingredients. I found a woman in Indiana who was baking these treats for her own bricks and mortar store and began to sell them online. We struck a deal. Within a week we had our first online purchase from someone in New York.  Two pounds of our signature treat.  Two weeks later a reorder, this time for more.  Little by little we gained more customers.  Customers paid me, I paid my Indiana connection and the treats were drop shipped directly to the customer’s door.

How good was that?  All I had to do was market.

The business never became a blockbuster.  My own dog, Darby, went to doggie heaven.  Writing in the voice of my dog became painful and I just lost the motivation.  I shut the fledgling online enterprise down. It was fun while it lasted. I got a taste of online success. I learned that indeed, you don’t have to get it right, you just have to get it going.

That has been my mantra as I continued to navigate my way on the internet to where I am now an owner of a boutique digital media marketing agency. It’s a different online business model. Months back I set to thinking about Boo Barkley, about all the online knowledge and experience I have collected over the last ten years.  I thought it time to start another online business, teaching people how they can create their own digital business built around their knowledge, experiences and expertise. It was time to create a course.

To get this off the ground properly, I bought a course … yes, I am now a firm believer that if you want to start something the best way is to buy a course that guides you through the process.

My mentor, Yaro Starak suggested that I create such a course with actual, live, students and create a pre-beta course.  Three of my clients jumped on board.   What a learning curve!  You know, I didn’t learn anything that I did not know, but knowing and doing are two different things.  Lots of blood, sweat and tears and now I had a responsibility to my students who paid me good money so as to be able to work one on one with me.  They knew that the process was one where it was a win win and good naturedly christened themselves the genius pigs!

Each student was in a different field but all three agreed that they wanted to publish a book or two about their specialties.  As a published author with Amazon I was on familiar ground, in an area I loved.  And that is how, iPublish Books got started.

The bridge between Sit Boo Boo Sit and iPublish Books spans many years, years of experience and knowledge gained.  The site is up, It’s not quite right, but I got it going and,  … and yes, there is a course in the works!  Stay tuned.

In the meantime, hop on over to my FaceBook Page

Writefully Yours

Valentina

PS… The image above this blog is one I cut and pasted together for this post.   The header with the dog was designed for my website by a member Mike Litman’s team.  The text below I found online in the WayBack Machine.  I put the two together to create the image.  As you can see I am not a graphic designer and the outcome is a testament that I still adhere to “You don’t have to get get it right, you just have to get it going.