Because You Will Likely Be In The 70% That FAIL!

I’m going to start this off by letting you know that I have written 35 books. Twelve of them are my own. The rest were ghosted for clients.

I have also spent the last few years helping over 1500 people market and sell their books.

Some of my clients come back again and again and again, with the same book, or different books. Others ask for my help setting up their author platforms or hire me to consultant.

Here are the cold, hard facts about writing a book.

The actual book is 10% of the equation. That’s right 10%.

Some authors seem to think their book has value. It really doesn’t. Yep, the 350 page novel you just finished is worth diddly-squat. Nothing. Bupkes.

UNTIL … you engage in the other 90% of the equation. Which is? Marketing and Sales.

Your book is worth zero until you start marketing and yes — the dirty word — selling it.

You should not write a book …

Because you believe the guru hucksters who promise you will make millions — maybe even overnight! You know, just like J.K. Rowling did.

Well over 50% of my customers never make over $100 with their Great American novel, or their information scraped non-fiction book. Their books are terrible and unsalable and deserve to die a quick death.

I know you have seen terrible, garbage books actually selling. Why? Because these “authors” are really good at the 90% — marketing and sales.

You should not write a book …

If you believe the people who say you can do it for nothing.

Yeah, you actually can upload a book for nothing. But — it will likely have a garbage-can cover, grammatical errors, poor formatting.and more. Many of my customers could have improved sales greatly by spending $5 on a book cover.

“You can do it for nothing,” also presumes your work is worth about $0.00 an hour.

You NEED money and time to publish and market a book.

Here’s a question for you … if someone told you that you could open a restaurant for nothing, would you believe them?

You should not write a book …

If you think all you have to do is upload it onto Kindle and hit the publish button.

I’ve seen many authors assume that their book will start selling without any effort on their part. They think Amazon will do it for them. Think again … Amazon only helps you IF you show that you are making an effort first. The more effort YOU put into it, the more they will help.

You actually might get a few initial sales or “falsely encouraging” free downloads, but after the first week your sales will plummet to nothing.

The biggest reason you should not write a book is …

The other 90% — — marketing and sales.

For some reason many people think sell, selling, sales are dirty words. And they not only THINK that, but they’re definitely not going to DO it.

Even more people — aka authors — have no idea what marketing is. Marketing is one of those slushy words that people use to cover hundreds of different actions. Ask the next three people you see what Marketing is … you will most likely get three totally different answers.

Here’s what Dictionary.com has to say:

The action or business of promoting and selling products or services, including market research and advertising.

If you want to get really clear on what marketing is, here is what the American Marketing Association has to say:

Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.

Hmmmm. Now you know exactly what to do … right? NO freaking wonder people are so confused.

90% of your self-publishing success depends on marketing and sales.

II you even “think” about writing a book, you should start building your marketing machine right away … before you start writing. If you already in the process of writing, start building your marketing machine NOW. Immediately!

If you start setting up your author platform (marketing) three to six months in advance of hitting the publish button for the first time you will be leaps and bounds in front of most of your competitors.

If you are not prepared to market, don’t bother to write and self-publish.

Marketing for self-publishers includes
(this is a short list, there is WAY more):

• building and maintaining a website
• building, growing, and feeding a list
• setting up and growing one or more social media accounts
• building a a team of book launch helpers — which involves your website, your list, your social media accounts.

The worst part of the entire marketing process is having to get reviews. According to what I see many authors have zero relatives, zero friends, zero office mates and zero acquaintances. They can’t get even ONE review!

Getting reviews is probably the hardest work you will ever do.

Writing your book is actually the EASY part.

Self-publishing a book means you are in BUSINESS. Even one book. You have to be prepared to invest time and money into your business.

Get clear on this — you can’t start a business without money.

I’ve run into authors who won’t even buy a $2.99 Kindle book which I highly recommend to them. I could swear I have dealt with authors who have never actually read a book!

ME? Oh I never READ … I simply absorb!

50% of all Kindle authors won’t make more than a $100.

40% will eventually understand that they have to market and sell. Some of these will start building their business. Others will quit because they are easily discouraged. They thought that they would have instant success and are shocked at the idea of having to do more work.

10% will go on to make their Millions. Just kidding! But yes they will establish a successful or a very successful book marketing business.

Some of the authors will be snapped up by mainstream publishers.

Some of them will successfully and stubbornly remain Indy Publishers and will thrive and keep building.

And yet others will add on to their book empire by selling other stuff — manuals, courses, consulting and services.

In a nutshell :

Don’t self-publish unless…

You are prepared to invest money in:

• your book package
• in learning how to get better as a writer, as a self-publisher and as a marketer
• in setting up an author platform and other marketing tactics

Don’t self-publish unless:

You are prepared for FULL involvement in the 90%

When SHOULD You Write and Self-publish a Book?