After almost three years in pits as an indie author, Jen Talty, my business partner, and I have put together a book detailing all we’ve learned. 2011 was a year of learning for us and a break out one. In January 2011 I sold 347 eBooks. By the end of the year, I sold over 400,000 eBook, and building Who Dares Wins Publishing into a seven figure operation.
We’ve compiled all we’ve learned about the entire process into our latest release: The Shelfless Book: The Complete Digital Author (print) or eBook.
We did a lot of things wrong, we did a lot of things right. The good thing about being a small organization is that we are able adapt and change quickly. This book will give you the details on what we did.
Whether you have been published by a New York publisher, an independent press, an ePublisher, self-published or considering all of your options, this book contains all the information you need to make an informed decision about your career as an author in today’s fast moving digital world.
We start out with content and theory, giving you a feel for where the industry has been and where it is going. We cover the various types of publishing, goal setting and help you find where you fit in the 3 P’s (Product, Platform and Promotion). From there we go into the digital process and the nuts and bolts of covers, editing and uploading.
Finally we cover pre and post publication strategies. Everything from creating your own unique branding plan, social media and marketing, pricing, understanding the market, metadata and discoverability. All of which is your roadmap to being a successful author regardless of your path to publication.
Its a great time to be an author. Lead, follow or get the hell out of the way!
Here is an excerpt from the book:
The Ultimate Gatekeeper: You, the Author
In the past, we always thought of Agents and Editors as the gatekeepers between writers and their potential readers. These people decided which writers got read and which writers received standard rejection letters. They alone decided which authors would be presented to the buyers of bookstores and finally placed in the readers’ hands.
The rise of the Digital Author has given many writers the ability to connect directly with their readers. It is the Reader who decides if they are going to take a risk on a book and if they are going to buy another book from same author. It is the Reader who will make our careers. Without them, we don’t exist. However, is it the reader who is the keeper of the gate, or the writer?
Ultimately, the true gatekeepers in 21st century publishing are writers.
We hear the screams. What about Agents? Publishers? Bookstores? The aliens from Roswell? That single book buyer for Wal-Mart?
Let us explain.
For many years the choke point in publishing was distribution. That’s no longer true with the rise of eBooks and digital distribution. So the traditional route of writer—agent—editor—publisher—sales forces—book buyer -bookstore—reader has been broken. This is a good thing for the two people who matter most: the writer and the reader, because now there is a direct link between the producer and the consumer.
Readers are very smart people and they are capable of letting authors know what is good and what isn’t. We really don’t need editors and agents to tell us that. Actually, for the most part, editors and agents don’t tell us it’s not good, they tell us whether the publishers can distribute it. But who are the publisher’s customers? The bookstore. And where are the bookstores going?
Here’s the deal: writers create the product. The quality of the product is going to determine how readers react to it. The ability to promote/market the product is going to determine if readers even get a chance to react to it.
So it’s actually the writer who is going to determine his or her own success or failure. One thing to understand is that gaining national branding at the level of James Patterson is very difficult for the indie author; however, if we focus on our niche, our specific readers, we can create the necessary word of mouth that does sell books, and the bigger the word of mouth, the bigger we become.
99.5% of indie/self-published authors will be gone in two years. It’s just a hard truth we have to face. They will step away, for whatever reason, and another indie will take their place. And be gone in two years. The gatekeeper to a writer’s success is the writer and his or her own perseverance, talent, and willingness to learn and change. We have to keep producing quality books that our readers want to read and in turn will pass on to other readers. We have to continue to hone our craft. Learn from each other. We also have to continue to build our business and promote. Another mantra at Write It Forward is Content is King and Promotion is Queen: together they rule the publishing world. Today, you really can’t afford one without the other.
Astonishing stat about how many authors come and go. The book sounds like a great help. Can’t wait to read it.
I’ve got it on my Kindle, Bob and Jen, and can’t wait to dive in!!!
You nailed it right here:
“Ultimately, the true gatekeepers in 21st century publishing are writers.”
It’s all about that Writer-to-Reader Connection now…how exciting and full of opportunities is that?!
Rock On with Readers…that’s what it’s all about!!!
Thanks Bob for all the wonderful info – past and present. I will be downloading the book today – after all I need the deduction! The rides been great and the investment I made in me paid off and if I keep selling the way I am and with a future release in May I will have to have my day time employer to take out more taxes so I don’t get penalized at the end of the year. The accountant in me cringes at the implications but the writer in me is doing a happy dance.
Bob, I’d like to add a fourth P: persistence. DECADES was my first “big book,” published by Simon & Schuster & sold for serious money to NAL for mmpb. Overnight success? Hardly.
By then, I’d been writing for 10+ years. As a young editor & copywriter, I wrote blurbs for thousands of books—literally. I wrote hundreds of articles for men’s adventure & girlie magazines [yes, I'm sure some people bought them for the articles
]. I’d also written original paperbacks (mostly romantic suspense & mystery) under a number of pseudonyms & had written 2 comic novels that were “almost” published in hard cover.
Even tho I didn’t know it at time, I was learning my craft. I was also learning to deal with set-backs, rejection and “failure.” All essential lessons for writers to absorb!
Those stats are scary. I agree. The readers are the people who put us where we are today, by buying and reading our ebooks. I am definitely going to buy your ebook. Am currently reading Scott Nicholson’s Indie Journey. All v useful to me as a newbie eauthor.
I’m very excited about the release of this book. It puts into perspective all that we have accomplished. I particularly like this section because it shows how much we as authors do control in a business that we used to control very little. It doesn’t mean that its easy. Bob can tell you that nothing about traditional publishing is easy and together this books shows the hard work and dedication we’ve put into WDWPUB. I don’t think anything about careers are easy. And Ruth, you touched on a key element–Persistence. It pays off. In spades. I love Bob’s saying that the only difference between being Persistent and Obnoxious is the Persistent person has a good manuscript the Obnoxious one doesn’t.
Persistence is perhaps the #1 thing that will separate out those who are successful and those who aren’t.
Ha! Love the Persistent/Obnoxious dichotomy. Let’s hope we all fall in the “good book = persistence” category!
I’m going to go look for “The Shelfless Book” right now. Great title, BTW.
I do have a question, though. Where did you get the 99.5% stat? I suppose I like it… since I plan to be part of the (persistent not obnoxious) 0.5% who stick around and keep selling. But I wonder what you’ve based that on?
So something like the 99% versus the 1%, eh? We are the successful writers — the 0.5%? (But in a good way!)
Bob came up with the title.
It’s just anecdata based on several decades in publishing. Most people just simply aren’t willing to work as hard as it takes, especially when they receive very little validation or positive feedback.
Sounds fantastic, Jen and Bob. Congratulations — I can’t wait to download it!
Sold! You never lack for awesome when you put it out there, Bob. Love the mantras, too! Thanks!
I look forward to reading this book. I am a fairly tenacious gal and have been enjoying the success I’m having self-publishing. I’m in awe at the 400K books in one year. I’m six months in and have sold 22K. Although already published traditionally, I’ve relied on the generosity of blogs such as the WG2E to learn and am extremely grateful for it. I look forward to more posts!
Lisa Mondello
http://www.lisamondello.blogspot.com
22,000 is a lot of books!