This is an experiment.
I am writing this book in public.
Warts and all.
It is unedited.
Most likely grammatically incorrect.
A draft zero.
Don’t expect linearity.
Don’t expect normal.
Don’t expect same same.
I play this game very differently.
I run a six-figure-a-year self-publishing business.
At some point I will prove that to you.
So don’t just take my word for it.
Trust needs to be earned.
I will earn your trust.
Eventually.
But first I have to prove that I am not full of shit.
That I sport the war wounds from fighting in the self-publishing trenches.
In this game, competitors either become friends, or enemies.
Love your friends.
Ignore your enemies.
Only when cornered should you annihilate them.
This is where I write about my journey as an indie author who sells directly to his audience.
What I share with you comes from running a self-publishing business for over 30 years.
The front end is my books. They are how I pull the right people into my world.
On the backed (if you don’t know what that is, I will explain later on) I sell audio and video online courses.
As well as tickets to my in-person teaching events.
By the end of this book you will have decided to create some of these.
And at minimum, will at least have considered creating some of them.
I’ve been selling direct since 1993.
In 2000 I moved my publishing business completely online.
I sold print and PDF ebooks.
That was seven years before Kindle became someone’s wet dream.
I wrote under a pseudonym back then and in the personal security niche.
Wannabe James Bond tradecraft.
It got me in a lot of trouble with the US government.
I got silenced.
Yeah, I know, don’t ask.
I learned a lot from that experience.
What not to publish.
How to avoid upsetting the feds.
We need to be on the same page for this adventure to make sense to you.
I need to define something.
What I mean when I say ‘how-to’.
- How-to is non-fiction.
- How-to is anything that teaches someone something.
Whether that’s how to crochet bunnies, develop productive habits, learn yoga, cook recipes, channel angels, and everything in between.
Or as I do, teach people how to forage wild edible plants.
This is a space where I can speak freely about self-publishing.
As well as call out the tidal wave of BS I see in so many self-publishing courses and Facebook author groups.
I make no claims to know everything.
I speak from experience and hard data, not theory.
Action trumps theory.
80% of the author coaches out there have not made it in the game.
They teach what I call: ‘Sounds good in theory.‘
So I am transparent about my own business.
I show you the evidence.
What’s worked and works for me.
What hasn’t and doesn’t.
I don’t try and hoodwink you into believing that self publishing is all sweet and light.
Automated get rich quick pipe dreams.
It is not.
It’s fucking hard.
It takes balls.
Serious grit.
Nerves of steel.
I don’t mince my words.
To victory.