Summary: If you cannot see the audio controls, listen/download the audio file here And this happens more than I care to admit. I was wrong, wrong, wrong. Again, it's conventional wisdom that I swallowed years ago and has been an unshakeable, concrete, locked-down, Gospel truth in book publishing. And it was wrong, wrong, wrong. What was that wrong datum?You write the book from your inspiration, edit an hone it, get a fantastic cover done up, write and hone a fascinating description - and then either get a publisher to print it and distribute it, or self-publish and self-distribute it. And hope for the best. Meanwhile, then just get back to your writing until you have the next 3-5 books in that series ready - and run them through. Once you have a series of books on sale (the first one perennially at .99 or free) then they all start taking off. (Then you start the next series.) What is the correct datum?While you're researching your bliss to see how you can help people improve their lives with the value you know you can provide, you build your audience and get their input on what should be in that book. You write some of it and get a few trusted individuals to weigh in on it. Then you correct that section or part, get their and other's feedback, correct it, rinse, repeat. Then you write the next chapter, section or part and do that whole sequence again. Finally, you self-publish it and self-distribute it - announcing pre-release and low first week pricing, etc. to that audience.Then you start the next book and run it through as above. What's the difference?The second wins because you are asking the audience about their concerns and they are helping you write the book. They are vested in that book and every book after that point. And every following book continues to build your audience.The first idea loses, because you remain anonymous to your audience and have to hope you got it right as far as what they want. Do you get this?I hope so. You build your audience first and get them into a membership (doesn't have to be paid.) This allows you to interact with them and get them to help you write that book, and the next, and the next, and so on. That first, wrong approach is built on statistics. Those statistics are built on the 97/3 rule - which states most people (97%) would rather lemming their way through life instead of finding what really works. 3% will question everything that comes across their plate until they find the underlying system which makes the whole scene make sense. Then they act on what they find. That workable system they just found might be such a paradigm shift that they then change huge parts of their lives - or, if they've been frugal and lean, they've been putting the smaller changes in place as they find them and it won't be such a major shift. What I'm saying here......is that the entire publishing world-view is upside down. Books are not print-only, and they aren't print-plus-ebook, plus-maybe-audiobook. Books are simply containers for a set of ideas. Those ideas might be best communicated as movies (some books wind up on the big screen or straight to DVD.) Some books are best verbally produced and wind up podcast. Some books are sung in multiple tracks on a Long-Play album, or as short singles. Some books are never more than presentations and live speeches. Many books can and should be all of the above. But all books start out with an audience. In fact, the audience-experience inspires the books, nurtures the book, and finally brings the book to life. In some instances, such as religious or inspirational/philosophical texts - people actually live the book. And we all use stories to understand our lives, by finding other's stories and comparing our own life story through theirs. That is how marketing works, and actually is the only effective way to market that doesn't leave money on the table (and piss off about 80-90 percent of everyone who didn't buy.) Your book is a performance. It's a story that people s
