Udemy has the potential to add a lot of income to those who publish Non Fiction Books.
If you have a book on Amazon and other platforms that is permafree you can drive traffic to a Udemy course of your own (that you can create easily if you have video creation skills of can hire someone to do that) and upsell your readers to a higher priced product.
An example of how this would work...
Let's say you have a fitness book that is available free on Amazon and elsewhere.
That book could give readers a lot of good quality information and also encourage them people to check out your Udemy course to get video training on what they have learnt in your book.
You could have a free book on weight loss or weight gain and in the book upsell them to a video course to give them a higher level of training.
This could be highly effective for people with books on business of any kind, entrepreneurship, real estate selling, any selling etc etc.
There is a lot of potential if you think of how it can be used with your info business.
And as a side note, if you came to learn about Kindling through Internet Marketing then you could upload your current or past training product in Udemy to target a whole new market.
Here's the link for the training... $2k on Udemy in under 2 Months
If it's relevant for your current business model then I can say, I've checked it, it's good and it is a fast way to learn what you need to do.
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Too Busy to do Everything? Do This!
Sometimes there are just too many things to do and not enough time.
It can feel like that with publishing, where you're writing, editing, deciding on book covers, choosing categories, keywords, writing blurbs and more. And then you decide to do some Facebook advertising but you need to learn more first and on and on and on.
The bottom line is... eventually you KNOW that you must do all these things but you should also remember that you can't do all of these things at once.
They all have their place in the queue of your life.
You also know that if you only had one thing to do you would concentrate on that, and get it done fast, because that's all you would have to think about.
You would be focused and focused means fast.
So here's what you have to train yourself to do.
ONE Thing at a time.
ONE Thing with total focus.
ONE Thing where, when you're doing it, nothing else is on your mind.
You will do that ONE thing, only thinking about that and nothing else, and in doing so, you will get to start that SECOND thing sooner.
And you will get to knock off that second thing sooner and then proceed to the next thing.
That is the ONLY way to push through the hurdle of having too much to do.
If you focus on Just ONE Thing, you will get many things done sooner, easier, with less stress and better results.
Your mind can STEAL a lot of time.
It can STEAL a lot of energy.
It can STEAL a lot of enthusiasm.
It can STEAL hope and confidence.
When you focus on ONE thing - the thing you're working on... with your body AND your mind, it can't steal anything because you're moving closer to a goal and goals are steps to success.
Your mind might wander, but you should bring it back to that ONE thing and as you get ONE thing after another done, you will build your confidence to get the next piece of your business (busy ness) out of the way sooner and closer to your ultimate goal.
It can feel like that with publishing, where you're writing, editing, deciding on book covers, choosing categories, keywords, writing blurbs and more. And then you decide to do some Facebook advertising but you need to learn more first and on and on and on.
The bottom line is... eventually you KNOW that you must do all these things but you should also remember that you can't do all of these things at once.
They all have their place in the queue of your life.
You also know that if you only had one thing to do you would concentrate on that, and get it done fast, because that's all you would have to think about.
You would be focused and focused means fast.
So here's what you have to train yourself to do.
ONE Thing at a time.
ONE Thing with total focus.
ONE Thing where, when you're doing it, nothing else is on your mind.
You will do that ONE thing, only thinking about that and nothing else, and in doing so, you will get to start that SECOND thing sooner.
And you will get to knock off that second thing sooner and then proceed to the next thing.
That is the ONLY way to push through the hurdle of having too much to do.
If you focus on Just ONE Thing, you will get many things done sooner, easier, with less stress and better results.
Your mind can STEAL a lot of time.
It can STEAL a lot of energy.
It can STEAL a lot of enthusiasm.
It can STEAL hope and confidence.
When you focus on ONE thing - the thing you're working on... with your body AND your mind, it can't steal anything because you're moving closer to a goal and goals are steps to success.
Your mind might wander, but you should bring it back to that ONE thing and as you get ONE thing after another done, you will build your confidence to get the next piece of your business (busy ness) out of the way sooner and closer to your ultimate goal.
One Person's Book Cover Solution
I've mentioned elsewhere on this blog and also in my newsletter about Book Cover Templates that I recommended... KD Cover Kit Book Covers
These are Photoshop files and at the time I told people they would need Photoshop to use them - which is in fact what is needed.
What I didn't consider was how one Kindling member still used these to totally rebrand her business with eye popping covers.
She doesn't have Photoshop and doesn't know how to use Photoshop but she knows someone who does, so she bought the templates and chose the one she liked for her covers.
She sent that template to the person she knew who had Photoshop, gave that person the Book Title, Author name and other text she wanted on the cover and the image she wanted to replace the template cover.
She thought outside the square.
Not owning Photoshop and not knowing how to use Photoshop didn't stop her from seeing the value in owning the templates and simply telling someone who could make the changes what she wanted.
KD Cover Kit Book Covers
These are Photoshop files and at the time I told people they would need Photoshop to use them - which is in fact what is needed.
What I didn't consider was how one Kindling member still used these to totally rebrand her business with eye popping covers.
She doesn't have Photoshop and doesn't know how to use Photoshop but she knows someone who does, so she bought the templates and chose the one she liked for her covers.
She sent that template to the person she knew who had Photoshop, gave that person the Book Title, Author name and other text she wanted on the cover and the image she wanted to replace the template cover.
She thought outside the square.
Not owning Photoshop and not knowing how to use Photoshop didn't stop her from seeing the value in owning the templates and simply telling someone who could make the changes what she wanted.
KD Cover Kit Book Covers
What's ahead for you...
We're coming into the months where there will be a new influx of buyers wanting to read your books.
An email from a Kindling member today made me decide I need to, yet again, emphasize the importance of your Shop Front... your book covers.
From one month to the next while he hadn't completed any new books, he changed the covers of 3 of his current books and boosted his income TIMES 10
TIMES 10!
Just because his homemade covers were replaced with professional covers.
People buy stuff that looks good.
People buy stuff that looks professional.
If it looks professional the message they get is... It is professional.
You might think you can't afford a good cover but the reality is... you can't afford to not have a good cover.
It is an essential component in the saleability of your products - your books.
If you have to cut corners somewhere don't do it on your shop front.
You're probably thinking... 10 TIMES What?
If it was only $1 and he has now made $10 then that's no big deal.
The month prior he made $320.
The month after - 10 x $320
That puts into perspective the importance of investing money in your business.
The return can be significant.
It builds the whole brand.
And remember - this is a business that will feed you for a lifetime.
So that good investment will pay bigger and bigger dividends each day another sale is made.
The cost of that investment will be smaller and smaller as each sale is made.
THINK BUSINESS and you will make the right decisions.
That's it... I hope you had a great Thanksgiving if you celebrate it and if not, I hope you are thankful for the opportunity you have with this business of book publishing.
Each day you invest in your business... either time or money is an investment in your future.
And hurdles? Even the Berlin Wall came down in the end so keep chipping away at it just like the Beaver in the membership.
Have a great day
Geoff
A short story about 2 stories
As I write this post it is Sunday afternoon and over the course of the weekend I've talked to a number of people.
One young person told me a story.
It was funny, interesting and I was happy to listen to him.
One very old person told me a story.
It was funny, interesting and I was happy to listen to him.
Not once during either story did I keep a record of how many words were used.
I didn't sit there counting. I didn't record the stories so I could count later. I don't know how many words were used and I don't care.
Why?
Because it was all about the story.
It is always All About the Story.
One story was short - the young person's story.
One story was a lot longer - the old person's story.
They used different words... but they spoke the same language.
Not English, not French, not German, not Swahili.
They spoke the universal language of STORY.
Throughout the world for all time people of all dialects have told stories.
They have done so before we were born and they will do so long after we have moved on.
Both men had one thing in common...
They were telling their story to someone who was interested in what they had to tell.
I was a well targeted listener and because of that I enjoyed both stories.
One used words that the other wouldn't have understood.
One talked about things that the other would never have known about.
I learned things from both of them through their stories and I kept listening because both of them entertained me.
They added value to my life.
They made me feel emotions that empty words could never do.
This Sunday night as I sit back and relax I will think about those stories.
My world is a better place because of them.
I wrote this blog because of them.
Maybe your world has become better because someone told me stories.
It's not the number of words that matter... It's the STORY.
It's always the Story and there are people all over the world who want to hear yours.
If you're concerned about how many words you think you must have in your story, then you won't be writing the right story.
You won't be focused on The MOST Important Aspect of the Business of Publishing.
You will be writing something that fits into a set of parameters to the detriment of the story.
Don't get hung up on the wrong pages.
Write the stuff that matters and keeps your readers wanting to turn the next page.
Are there people you avoid at parties?
I know some and the reason is because they bore me.
They're not telling me the stories I'm interested in hearing... or they're telling me a short story in such a longwinded way that I feel the urge to escape.
Like a reader - I'm not coming back in a hurry.
WORDS: You get to choose how many to use.
You don't need permission to make that decision.
One young person told me a story.
It was funny, interesting and I was happy to listen to him.
One very old person told me a story.
It was funny, interesting and I was happy to listen to him.
Not once during either story did I keep a record of how many words were used.
I didn't sit there counting. I didn't record the stories so I could count later. I don't know how many words were used and I don't care.
Why?
Because it was all about the story.
It is always All About the Story.
One story was short - the young person's story.
One story was a lot longer - the old person's story.
They used different words... but they spoke the same language.
Not English, not French, not German, not Swahili.
They spoke the universal language of STORY.
Throughout the world for all time people of all dialects have told stories.
They have done so before we were born and they will do so long after we have moved on.
Both men had one thing in common...
They were telling their story to someone who was interested in what they had to tell.
I was a well targeted listener and because of that I enjoyed both stories.
One used words that the other wouldn't have understood.
One talked about things that the other would never have known about.
I learned things from both of them through their stories and I kept listening because both of them entertained me.
They added value to my life.
They made me feel emotions that empty words could never do.
This Sunday night as I sit back and relax I will think about those stories.
My world is a better place because of them.
I wrote this blog because of them.
Maybe your world has become better because someone told me stories.
It's not the number of words that matter... It's the STORY.
It's always the Story and there are people all over the world who want to hear yours.
If you're concerned about how many words you think you must have in your story, then you won't be writing the right story.
You won't be focused on The MOST Important Aspect of the Business of Publishing.
You will be writing something that fits into a set of parameters to the detriment of the story.
Don't get hung up on the wrong pages.
Write the stuff that matters and keeps your readers wanting to turn the next page.
Are there people you avoid at parties?
I know some and the reason is because they bore me.
They're not telling me the stories I'm interested in hearing... or they're telling me a short story in such a longwinded way that I feel the urge to escape.
Like a reader - I'm not coming back in a hurry.
WORDS: You get to choose how many to use.
You don't need permission to make that decision.
I asked a woman for a date
I was talking to a friend about her books and I know she has quite a collection now that are yet to be published.
I call her an Unpublisher (she doesn't like me calling her that but it's true)
Anyway I asked her when the first book was going to be published and she said tomorrow or the next day.
I asked, "Which one?"
She said, "Tomorrow."
I asked, "What's the date?"
She said, "You know what the date is."
I said, "I know what date tomorrow is but I want you to tell me the date you're going to publish the book."
She said, "Tomorrow."
I asked, "What's the date?"
It was about now that this normally pleasant person was starting to get a little bit annoyed with me but as you might guess... I didn't care about that.
I wanted a date.
Finally she gave me the date and I said thanks.
Why did I want a date?
Tomorrow is not a date.
Every day has a tomorrow - unless it's your last.
Every week has a next week.
Every month is followed by another.
Every year has another after it.
There is only ONE October 31st 2014.
That's a date.
That's a line in the sand.
That's a commitment.
That's why I wanted a date.
That why you need to make dates... And Stick to Them.
So I've asked you for a date too.
You don't have to tell me personally and you don't have to be a woman to accept my request for a date :)
Draw a line in the sand and cross that line because that's how you get to where you want to be.
I call her an Unpublisher (she doesn't like me calling her that but it's true)
Anyway I asked her when the first book was going to be published and she said tomorrow or the next day.
I asked, "Which one?"
She said, "Tomorrow."
I asked, "What's the date?"
She said, "You know what the date is."
I said, "I know what date tomorrow is but I want you to tell me the date you're going to publish the book."
She said, "Tomorrow."
I asked, "What's the date?"
It was about now that this normally pleasant person was starting to get a little bit annoyed with me but as you might guess... I didn't care about that.
I wanted a date.
Finally she gave me the date and I said thanks.
Why did I want a date?
Tomorrow is not a date.
Every day has a tomorrow - unless it's your last.
Every week has a next week.
Every month is followed by another.
Every year has another after it.
There is only ONE October 31st 2014.
That's a date.
That's a line in the sand.
That's a commitment.
That's why I wanted a date.
That why you need to make dates... And Stick to Them.
So I've asked you for a date too.
You don't have to tell me personally and you don't have to be a woman to accept my request for a date :)
Draw a line in the sand and cross that line because that's how you get to where you want to be.
The Panic Post
Occasionally I get an email or Facebook PM from a member who is panicking for one reason or another so this is the panic post :)
First - let me show you what Wikipedia says about Panic...
Panic is a sudden sensation of fear which is so strong as to dominate or prevent reason and logical thinking, replacing it with overwhelming feelings of anxiety and frantic agitation consistent with an animalistic fight-or-flight reaction.
The important parts of that are the prevention of reason and logical thinking.
When I get these emails/PM's I'm not looking at the problem from a viewpoint clouded by fear.
Because of that I get to see the problem with a clear mind and can see what needs to be done in a logical manner.
You can do the same even if it is your problem and you are in a state of PANIC.
All you need is Time Out.
Seriously - you just need to walk away from the thing that is dominating your thoughts for long enough to let 'normal reasoning' return.
In publishing that's quite simple - Write.
Write the book you're currently writing or start writing the next book... and focus on that story.
Take time out - walk in the park, smell the flowers. When you get 'TOO INTO Something' your vision becomes clouded and you can't see what matters.
You can't see what needs to be done to sort out this monster who is looking back at you every time you face your fear.
It's a mirror :)
If you're looking at a part of your publishing business and panicking because something isn't working, don't forget what is working. If you've written good books and they aren't selling, then the main core of your business is GOOD.
You've created Assets that you can profit from for years to come once they are released from the shackles that are holding them back.
Here are some examples of things that helped members remove shackles from their businesses. Maybe you will see what could be problem listed below...
First - let me show you what Wikipedia says about Panic...
Panic is a sudden sensation of fear which is so strong as to dominate or prevent reason and logical thinking, replacing it with overwhelming feelings of anxiety and frantic agitation consistent with an animalistic fight-or-flight reaction.
When I get these emails/PM's I'm not looking at the problem from a viewpoint clouded by fear.
Because of that I get to see the problem with a clear mind and can see what needs to be done in a logical manner.
You can do the same even if it is your problem and you are in a state of PANIC.
All you need is Time Out.
Seriously - you just need to walk away from the thing that is dominating your thoughts for long enough to let 'normal reasoning' return.
In publishing that's quite simple - Write.
Write the book you're currently writing or start writing the next book... and focus on that story.
Take time out - walk in the park, smell the flowers. When you get 'TOO INTO Something' your vision becomes clouded and you can't see what matters.
You can't see what needs to be done to sort out this monster who is looking back at you every time you face your fear.
It's a mirror :)
If you're looking at a part of your publishing business and panicking because something isn't working, don't forget what is working. If you've written good books and they aren't selling, then the main core of your business is GOOD.
You've created Assets that you can profit from for years to come once they are released from the shackles that are holding them back.
Here are some examples of things that helped members remove shackles from their businesses. Maybe you will see what could be problem listed below...
- The book needed a cliffhanger
- It needed a stronger cliffhanger
- It needed a better cover, blurb, title
- It needed a more targeted cover, blurb, title
- Your Facebook advertising was targeting the wrong people
- You needed to spend more on FB Ads to reach the point of profit
- Your ads weren't attracting attention
- The book needed editing
- You got a lot of downloads but they weren't targeted so they didn't convert [*]
[*] Recently I've had a few people show me their downloads that have been strong and then tapered off with few sales from them. I always ask "Was that from a FreeBooksy Ad?" and the answer is often - Yes.
Here's the problem... If you get a lot of downloads from places that aren't specifically targeted to your genre, they won't convert well into sales of the subsequent books. They give you a false sense of success when the real success is actually in the numbers before those un-targeted downloads happened. They need to be taken out of the equation to look at the true performance of your business.
So here's what made me decide to create this post.
I got a distress call from a Kindling member who thought she was in trouble until the real picture of her business was uncovered.
She ran a Freebooksy ad and got a lot of downloads... but as I've mentioned, a lot of them wouldn't have been very responsive to her chosen genre (It happens. People download stuff that they might never read)
Here's a summary...
- Her downloads were 20 books a day before Freebooksy
- When the ad was live it went to 200 a day and then dropped back rapidly
- The conversions to sales in that period weren't great (as expected - as mentioned above)
- When they fell back to 20 a day she started advertising on Facebook
- She was disappointed that this only gave her 97 downloads a day
- I pointed out that it was a 480% increase and her conversions were good
- Freebooksy is no Bookbub but they have now segmented mailing lists so that will help improve things (this post is not about Freebooksy or Bookbub - it's about the underlying positive aspects of a business the author thought wasn't good)
- She had a series of 3 books and had stopped working on book 4 because she had become despondent - BAD move - Your Books are your assets and they are what will make you the money
- Her conversions from the free book to the first paid book (99cents) were good.
- Her conversions from the first paid book to the second paid book ($2.99) were great so as I looked at what she was telling me, I knew she was on the right track building a great business that only had one problem... not enough people knew about her brand YET.
- What I looked at were the percentages, conversions, buyers after downloads... the statistics of her business because they are what really mattered.
- The numbers weren't large but the statistics of the numbers were very good.
The figures proved that she was building her business correctly but had yet to reach the point where she was satisfied with the direction she was headed.
Fortunately she had readers waiting for book 4 so there was something to refocus on, other than negative thoughts about a positive business she was building.
Here's what I think the problem is with many people...
- The mind works a whole lot faster than reality.
- What we want to happen doesn't always happen when we want it to happen.
- When we see others getting somewhere fast we think we're going slow.
- We don't always know the backstory of the overnight successes - often it's longer than what we know and they have been through the same self-doubt and dare I say envy that is clouding a person's current thinking.
- Success stories can be positive and negative at the same time... both inspiring and disheartening - but that is only because of your own self belief - If you view them as disheartening then you need to ask WHY and address that, because that could be what is holding you back as much as any of the mechanics of publishing.
More people fail at the last post than anywhere prior to that.
The reason - TIME
Things have just taken too long compared to our expectations.
Here's a reason why things can take too long.
Because of our expectations.
If you find you're not getting to where you want to be as fast as you want to be there - then that is taking your focus away from doing what you should be doing and that is wasting your TIME and pushing your goalposts further away.
- If your statistics are sound, even if they are based on very little action, then you're on the right road.
- If you're slow walking to the right place then you're on the right road.
- If you stop and watch everyone else running into the distance, then you've misstepped and that has cost you time and progress.
- If you're on the wrong road NOW is the best time to turnaround but make sure it is the Wrong Road before you turn and not simply a SLOW road that will speed up as you build momentum.
The Kindling member I'm talking about in this post is on the right road but she had let the wrong mindset cloud her judgement. I can see the diamond - she just needed a little time out before coming back to keep polishing the stone.
She's done that today with 6000 words of the next book.
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