Summary: If you cannot see the audio controls, listen/download the audio file here In the days before lighthouses, bonfires would be lit on the heights near a port to guide merchant ships safely to the harbor. If you stood on a high cliff with a flame in your hand, you couldn't be seen - and ships would stay away from your port, no matter how great it was built. Our job became building a series of bonfires instead of single series Of course, we started out this case study with the greatest intentions: This series was a personal, bliss-evoking set of books which forwards a later income production model.I have always been fascinated with this subject, as it's personally rewarding.There are a great series of books in this area which are still popular, yet are poorly marketed. This meant it made sense to do this - that it was emotionally and rationally the best thing to do. I was sold - and I acted. On the face of it, we were faced with two obstacles: The spreadsheet developed into a very long sequence of actions. The total list of books kept growing and is now a total of fourteen - mission creep is always a factor, as there are just so many great books out there which cry out for decent marketing. So those two factors might have been the final straw. Each could have been overcome independently or together (I've done bigger batches than this, but never with the intention of fully marketing them) - but that wasn't it. We are again stopping just short of fully marketing per the "Multiple Eyeballs" theorem - because I've found something which is so vital, it makes everything else seem irrelevant. I've found a way to beat back the darkness by building bonfires rather than starting up a handful of matches. The Shadow over Self-PublishingIt's a shadow that has grown longer as ebooks became more popular, and as the idea of a digital "book" became less defined as we ported it to more and more platforms and formats. That shadow is actually over the whole of the book publishing industry, and is forcing them to evolve rapidly. For the traditional publisher, my news sources tell me that this is really hitting them in the pocketbook, but they have been shifting their losses to the individual author who has gotten hurt most. Authors, however, are evolving as well. Smart ones are only giving up their print rights to the publishers - and for shorter time periods. They are keeping the ebook rights. Authors are also realizing that merchandising and peripheral products can be more valuable than a book in print or any single media. You've seen hints of this where I say that your book-as-a-content-envelope can be ported to audio, video, PDF, and various combinations of digital files in a bundle. You can sell print versions in hardback or paperback. You can create CD's or DVD's with your audio, video, or combinations of the two. Even add in other digital material in those discs. There are at least three major Print-on-Demand publishing firms out there which can get your book distributed internationally for no additional cost to you beyond buying a proof copy. Your CD or DVD can be POD as well, through Kunaki. Meanwhile, you can sell these books directly from your own site and keep 90% of the royalties or more - while not having to keep up the backend. Even embed Kunaki's sales link on your site and have them ship directly to that customer. As a writer, you are freed to do only the amount of marketing you want to - and have all the backend sales, production, and delivery done on your behalf for between five and ten percent of your self-determined price. (And many of these offer a pay-what-you-want choice - so the client can give you a tip...) The Audience Shadow EmergesI started out with the very old-school approach that quality books, with good covers and descriptions sold the books. And that worked out to be true. I got financial freedom by jumping on the public domain bandwagon (a bit late, it's true) but also unseated several others who went before me
