# The Ultimate Book Marketing Formula: A Career + Habit Blueprint



## Nicholas Erik (Sep 22, 2015)

*As of 9/12, all five parts are complete - find them linked below*

With the New Year approaching, I figured it was high time to get off my ass and finish my guide to marketing books. This is technically part 1, but they don't need to be read in order.

A couple folks have asked for an eBook version. I will release that once all 5 parts are complete; it will be available as a free PDF download.

Master list of guides:

> Part I: The Ultimate Book Marketing Formula | thread (you are here)
> Part II: Market Research 
> Part III: Getting Traffic
> Part IV: The Ultimate Guide to Covers, Blurbs, Keywords and Pricing | Thread
> Part V: How to Get Your First 1,000 Mailing List Subscribers in 30 Days | Thread
> Recap: Putting It All Together

Blurb/cover PDF cheat sheet, including helpful formulas/checklists (download) and 1-page Marketing PDF cheat sheet (download)

I've linked to the guides on my site. I've changed them so often that I can't keep the KBoards posts updated; where applicable, I've included a link to the original thread.

> A Mini Guide to Launches and Launch Promo Services (Sites You Can Use With No Reviews)
> A Mini Guide to Getting Amazon Reviews
> A Curated List of the Top 15 Promo Sites
> Daily Routines of Writers: Using the Power of Habits and Triggers to Write Every Day (if you like the concept of habits)

My aim with this series (and the mini guides) is to be more comprehensive than paid courses, while also being simple/flexible enough to actually implement. Hence the grandiose title, which we may or may not live up to. For the record, it's very important to deal with one problem at a time. If you're having problems with your covers, marketing efforts, reviews, newsletter and organization, *pick your biggest problem area and start applying the tips within*. Fixing everything at once is overwhelming and a recipe for analysis paralysis.

To anyone who frequents the board, I'm sure you'll spot the footprints and fingerprints of many generous and successful members all over the guide. I make no claim to being the originator of these ideas; instead, I'm more of a curator and distiller, trying to assemble the best advice into a single resource.

*In that spirit, feedback for improvement or unanswered questions is encouraged.* I'm hoping this will be iterative; my goal is accuracy, so if something is wrong, please post below.

Obviously the standard disclaimers apply: YMMV based on genre/writing ability/whether you're a magical elf who can create bestsellers in Santa's factory. But this information seems solid, since I've now published 50+ titles/sold 35,000+ books [ETA: as of September 2017, 70,000+) in about every genre besides romance, and it's also generally supported by authors who have more experience and more success than me.

Unfortunately they're busy writing books and counting their sacks of money, so you get me instead.

Let's begin.

*Prelude*​
I promise not to just throw a bunch of tactics (or a bunch of folksy feel-good stories) at you, since I'm sure you have plenty collecting dust already. This is a marketing system derived from personal experience and studying successful independent authors. *Systems are valuable because they standardize everything and take pressure off our imperfect memories. Instead of remembering what to do, we can focus on execution.*

As Atul Gawande so eloquently states, "The reason [for medical error]...is not usually laziness or unwillingness. The reason is more often that the necessary knowledge has not been translated into a simple, usable and systematic form."

If systems work for doctors, it will probably work for you, humble indie author.

*The Foundational Marketing Formula*​
This guide was primarily written for independently published authors looking to make a part/full-time living, by regularly publishing (1) genre fiction series (2) novels of 150+ pages/60,000+ words (3). Genre fiction books are those that have clear tropes and expectations; they make up the bulk of novels sold. Think romance, thrillers, cozy mysteries, urban fantasy, military sci-fi and so forth.

Which gives us our foundational marketing formula: *publish a 60,000+ word genre novel in a series every three months (to make a living) or publish a 60,000+ word genre novel every two months (to make six figures). Give or take, this is a yearly output of 250,000 to 400,000 words.*

You need to do other things (which we'll cover) but get this right, and you're on the way there. Yes, this is remarkably simple: *it involves writing ~1,000 words a day and understanding the expectations of your target genre*. Most authors fail to do either of these things (including myself, often enough), meaning you have an immediate and massive headstart if you're simply consistent and learn what your readers want.

*The Internet Marketing Formula*​
Effective marketing involves just three steps, adapted from Perry Marshall's excellent 80/20 Sales & Marketing:

1. *Traffic*: you direct potential readers to your book page via paid ads, your mailing list, social media, Amazon's algorithms and so forth. Traffic is often referred to as generating "visibility." This is covered in Part 2.
2. *Conversion*: you convince your readers to buy the book via a stellar blurb and cover, competitive price, professional first few pages and so forth. Later, you convert them into fans by pointing them to the next book or offering them something of value to sign-up for the mailing list. Covered in this guide. 
3. *Assessing ROI (return on investment)*: did you make money? If you sold 1,000 books @ $3.99, but it cost you $10,000 in production and ad costs, your business isn't long for this world. Assess what methods aren't working, what series aren't hitting it off with readers and then go back to Step #1 and tighten things up on the next go round. This doesn't get its own chapter, because it's fairly obvious and can be boiled down to the following: *double down on things that make you money and immediately stop doing things that don't.*

That's it: you need to get people to your book's page, and then you need to convince them to buy it; and you need to do all of this inexpensively enough where you can generate a profit so you can repeat the cycle again and again.

Simple. Not easy.

*The Ultimate 80/20 Book Marketing Formula*​
Can we get more overhyped? Probably not.

But I swear, this actually delivers. I've seen it over and over again from authors in just about every genre out there. It's about the most consistent damn thing I've found in a business filled with more twists and turns than the actual books.

Ready? Here it is (we're basically combining formulas one and two):

*Genre research + three targeted traffic sources + newsletter + good covers/blurbs + consistent new novel releases (4+ per year) = full-time author*​
As far as I can tell, this deviates from standard KBoards advice in only two ways: it makes sure you don't forget about research (you did, didn't you?) and also reduces the traffic options from "everything you can possibly do" to "choose three and absolutely avoid everything else like the plague."

Let me elaborate on that last one: find traffic sources that fit your current budget and personality. This may take some trial and error if you're just starting out, which means you might want to go broader, then reel things back in based on your success/lack thereof with various mediums. If you're more experienced, you should immediately start cutting things out that give you a marginal to no boost and redouble your resources on those that do.

What these will be, I cannot say. In general, newsletter services (BookBub et al) are a staple of basically every author's marketing portfolio, since they're simple to use and generate good ROI (a list of recommended promo sites can be found here). After that, things tend to branch off: some authors swear by PPC, which is good if you have deep pockets. For others, it's a money pit.

For me, currently, I do the following: 1) PPC, 2) promo sites and 3) author cross promos. That means everything else gets zero attention.

By the way, I consider each social media site a separate traffic source; Twitter and Facebook and Pinterest and Instagram have about as many similarities between them as dogs and cats and zebras and antelopes. Which is to say that they all have fur and are mammals, but they operate in vastly different ways. Getting good at one is vastly superior to sucking at them all, which is the choice most authors make.

Which is a good rule of thumb, in general: being a marketing beast at one thing will be far, far more beneficial than spreading your efforts around twelve different areas.

Oh, and that little word targeted? Basically it means find your target audience and use them to train Amazon's algorithms. In essence, 50 urban fantasy fans who buy your UF book will cause Amazon to send out a bunch of recommendations to their wide variety of customers who fit a similar data profile. These people are very likely to buy the book, thus strengthening Amazon's data set + encouraging them to send it out to more folks like that. 200 random book fans might result in recommendations, but they'll convert poorly since most of these folks won't be UF fans, upon which Amazon will decide people don't like your book, and they'll stop recommending it to people.

I have a further explanation in Part 2, coming soon, but honestly Chris Fox explains this much better in Six Figure Author, which is $4 and an excellent read.

And don't forget about that newsletter. It's the most powerful traffic source in your arsenal, which is why it gets a separate entry into the formula. It's not optional, and the whole formula basically falls apart without it. *Add quality subscribers to your newsletter any way you can*.

To be clear, there are ten thousand more things you can do other than what's outlined in this formula. A few of them are important (and the details, which are covered in other parts of this guide, as well as throughout KBoards are helpful, too), and can increase your earnings. *But if you execute the above five things at a 85 - 90%+ level, you'll make it. *How can that be, you say? Don't you have to create landing pages, split-test everything, release six books a week, write six million words a minute and write massively to trend to succeed?

No. You just need to execute the fundamentals well.

And that requires consistency.

*On Goals + Consistency (Or, Why Habits Win)*​
In the spirit of New Year's, I'll write a little about goals. I used to set a lot of goals. I am starting to think that is a bad idea. Here's why.

Look around at all the goals threads, the what am I doing wrong threads, the resolutions threads. Compare that to what happens - most authors don't hit their production schedule. They don't do the fundamental things above, or do them only occasionally. Which is not to throw stones, since I have experienced the effects of this first-hand. I think the failure rate for New Year's Resolutions is an astounding 92%.

*Being consistent through sheer willpower is insanely difficult*. Big goals and dreams generally rely on grit-your-teeth sacrifice and willpower; *good habits don't*. Put another way: goals are temporary, habits are permanent. Good systems produce good habits, because they demand that you perform the same vital tasks over and over in the same way until the skills are imprinted in your neural pathways. *In essence, habits rewire your brain and change who you are in a way that goals do not*. Most large, complex undertakings (which publishing a book is) require consistent action - not a three month challenge or a 21 day writing cleanse - which generally means gritting your teeth isn't an option unless you like the sweet, sweet taste of failure once willpower abandons you like a spooked horse. (Sidenote: if epic goalz are working for you, keep it up; although one has to wonder, if they're so effective, why do people keep buying self-help books?)

*How to build good habits*: write consistently, market consistently, build your newsletter consistently. Map out a consistent schedule - five days a week, seven days a week - and work on these skills. Try to improve a little bit every day, even if it's a quarter inch. *Work on these skills consistently, however small you need to at first (5 minutes of marketing, 200 words), but DO THEM WELL BY GIVING THEM 100% FOCUS* (no sandbagging by spending half the time on KBoards). Instead of larger goals - like have 10,000 Cylons buy my latest sci-fi novel by 6/30/2017 - have one aim with your habits: *get better*.

You get better by keeping records on key metrics. Here are the ones I recommend:

Writing: words that day/words that month/books published
Marketing: ROI (return on investment - note, if you're using things that take time, but not money, like social media, you might want to convert that to an hourly wage - e.g. 66 sales from Twitter sounds great, but if your time is worth $25/hr and it took you 15 hours, then that's effectively $375)
Newsletter: subscribers added over the month (maybe the week)

*Keep showing up for many, many days*. 66 days is the number you hear that will solidify your habits forever; sadly, it's also BS. It might take a month. It might take closer to a year. At some point, things will click. This does not mean writing will be effortless or you'll never feel like sandbagging. It will just mean that you'll feel weird when you don't do it. Not guilty, but weird, and maybe a little annoyed. Like a dog who gets shafted on his post-walk biscuit.

If habits sound a lot like mini-goals on a daily basis, I suppose they could be considered that. Then again, I don't think anyone considers brushing their teeth a goal; it's just kind of something we do _automatically_, without Instagram inspirational quotes about #toothbrushhustle and Facebook blasts about how 2017 is going to be the year of toothbrushing. I'd say the difference is subtle, but it really isn't: habits fundamentally change who you are, since who you are is based on your actions. Goals are what you want to be...and maybe even are, for a little while or something, until the inevitable chocolate cake appears.

If you follow your little schedule and keep doing your daily tasks, little by little, you'll build three habits/skills: two macro-habits/skills - discipline (or focus, if you prefer) + quality - which are really the bedrock of everything. The third will be the actual habit/skill itself (writing/marketing/newsletter building/elephant riding). In that way, we use the micro-skill as a way to teach ourselves macro-skills (discipline/quality/focus etc.) applicable to pretty much everything.

Scaling up to 2,000 words or 5,000 is really only a matter of time and pushing a little outside your comfort zone (favorite: current ability + 10% - if you write 500 words with no problem, aim for 550/day; bump it up so long as you're remaining consistent/not burning yourself out). We all have limits, but I think anyone can reach 1,000 - 2,000 quality words per day after a couple years of consistent writing.

Finally, focus on one ball at a time: begin by writing consistently. Then add marketing into the mix. Then add the newsletter building. And so forth. Don't do it all at once. You don't have to wait until one is an ironclad habit. But get a little momentum generated in one area, and the success you experience will spillover and have you convinced you can improve the others as well.

*Habit Triggers: Your Secret Weapon*​
Of course there's a secret. Not really; it's pretty basic and obvious once someone points it out. You probably haven't bothered to notice it, since it's so damn boring. Basically, the secret to habit formation is this: perform your new habit at the same time each day or after a common action - this is known as a "trigger" or "antecedent." If you consistently write after you shower, the shower will automatically trigger writing mode without you having to think about it. *The best triggers for new habits are previous habits you already do every day (like shower, hopefully). *

Most of us use these repeated habits as triggers for terrible habits. E.g. we wake up and immediately check email. Or we shower and then watch TV. You can wake up and then write 100 words instead. This sounds insane, but after a few days it becomes less so. *Think about things you do every day, preferably multiple times a day, and then think of how you can use these as consistent triggers to write/market/practice directly after. *

*One "trick" I highly recommend is "stealing time." *This means, every time I think "I'm going to [expletive] around on the internet," (the trigger) instead I flip to my WIP and write a few words (it's always open - this is KEY to getting better. Reduce friction to ZERO. I.e. lay out your workout clothes the night before, put your guitar next to your desk instead of in the closet and so forth - that extra 10 seconds seems like nothing, but it will murder your dreams).

Stealing time does three things: it builds the habit much faster and massively increases our production (since we all [expletive] around on the internet like twenty times a day). More importantly, it also turns a useless trigger (the YouTube rabbit hole) into something productive. In short, we didn't have to give up anything we wanted/liked; like temporal alchemists, we literally just turned [crap] into gold. Don't underestimate this technique; momentum is super-powerful. Start writing ten words and you'll write five hundred more by accident. Momentum is usually only witnessed in bad situations (aforementioned YouTube rabbit holes), but it works equally well in building good habits.

To whit: this section wasn't in the original guide, but I got excited, and here I am instead of watching Netflix, which I was going to do three hours ago.

*The Real Downfall of Goals*​
There's one thing not often mentioned about goals: the toll they take on your psychology. More specifically, what consistent failure does. Goals induce stress (usually chronic stress, since most of them are long-term). In addition, they're binary. Either you succeed or fail. That's trumpeted as a great benefit, but really it's brutal psychologically. Even when you progress, a lot of the time you fail. For example, I almost doubled my word count this year (300,000 to 550,000). I published more books (7 vs. 5) than ever. I generated more revenue and sold more books than almost all previous years combined.

*This felt like a complete failure, because my goals were much higher*. So badly that, as I looked at the numbers this week, it made me want to quit. This is insane; Ernest Hemingway published 7 novels _in his life_ (obviously they were all classics; mine are not - the general point is about how absurd goals can warp your sense of productivity). I often see mentions or allusions to depression or anxiety on these forums. I think these are common amongst writers (and creative types in general). It might be where the ideas come from. But as a warning, if you're prone to these ailments, goals are ruthlessly soul-crushing. You live in a constant state of failure: your goal is non-completed for every moment except for the one where you cross the finish line. It hovers over every waking moment of your day.

I know, I know: we're taught feelings don't matter. Feelings aren't real. Power through. Want it more. This is all [bullcrap]. *Feelings drive almost everything in the human experience.* Have you watched a stock market crash? Generated by fear. Seen a dumb argument about sports escalate into a brawl? Anger. Witnessed someone totally melt down during a public speech? None of this behavior is remotely rational or logical. Yet we see these activities play out on repeat across the human population, ad naseum. It's all emotional.

*Goals are too susceptible to emotions and feelings.* You need something more robust, more automated. Even when you're wasted, I'd say you brush your teeth 50%+ of the time. I'd suspect that the number of us who write 50% of the days on this forum is shockingly low. When you're feeling great, everything's great. When you're feeling terrible, we turtle and the words cease for days or weeks. If you're hopelessly far away as the deadline looms, usually you say [expletive] it and don't write at all.

And, at the end, if you succeed (despite the deck being stacked against you) you usually feel like you only met expectations. Did what you were supposed to do: there is no celebration. No reward. Which all leads to an inevitable conclusion: why the hell was it worth it? Instead of continuing - even when you succeed, which is rare (based on the big goals I've set, using EVERY SCIENCE TRICK IN THE BOOK TO AMPLIFY MY ODDS, I hit 3/24 of my quarterly goals over the past two years; this is not a joke), you quit.

*I want to be very clear: yes, there are ways to get goals to work.* No, they don't involve setting SMARTer ones or making step-by-step plans. *99.9% of the goal-setting successes you see come from two things: accountability (e.g. hiring a trainer or making a bet with your friend) and hard deadlines (putting a book up for pre-order on Amazon).* These work. I've written 16,000 words in a day to meet deadlines. Corporate America, school and everything else relies on a system of deadlines and accountability.

Considering you probably became a writer to escape these things, *I would suggest goals are not the way forward to life satisfaction and overall happiness*. Relying on deadlines will torch your energy reserves, leading quickly to burnout and frustration. *Goals are not a consistent, reliable system for getting better*. I think it's a remarkably effective system for creating chronic stress where none needs to exist. This is the point where I intervene to say that, if ambitious goals are working for you, keep going (additionally, deadlines are useful in moderation, particularly soft deadlines like projected release dates; less useful, however, when every second week is the equivalent of cramming for finals). However, I believe more often is the case that ambitious goals are NOT working at all, yet we stick with them because we're in a productivity echo chamber. I have massive amounts of data on myself clearly indicating beyond any reasonable doubt that this was not the way forward.

And yet, maybe if I try a little harder, or want it more...

I have read a ridiculous amount on goals and have seven plus years of notebooks on them. This is my scientific conclusion for writers:










I offer no clever GIF for the habits. Just work on developing them. *Make each day a small win. A bunch of small wins compound into big wins over months and years*.

Also, lest you are unconvinced, I'll leave you with Aristotle: _We are what we repeatedly do. Greatness then, is not an act, but a habit_.

Of course, Aristotle also believed the heavens were made of the element Aether, so there's that.

But yeah, habits. Get good ones.

*And Now, Back to Marketing: What About Craft?*​
Authors frequently talk about the importance of writing good books. Do that. *But good books are not a reader acquisition strategy*. No one can tell if your book is good from the cover or blurb (and no, most people don't read samples). At best, they can only assume your words are entertaining if you pull these elements off correctly. It is not until they are deep within the book some hours later that the final verdict is known. Thus, writing good books - particularly strong, satisfying endings - is a *reader retention strategy *. Ultimately, all business is built on repeat business (for us, readers who become fans).

Thus, without compelling books, you will never have a career. But publishing a good book will do nothing by itself, either (with rare exceptions that I can assure you are not you), _until you make it visible to the world_.

*Genre Research*​
Understand your genre and who your audience is. Understand what they're currently buying (just look at Amazon's Kindle bestseller charts). Understand where you fit into all that.

Also understand whether you can compete. Certain genres demand expensive, hand-illustrated covers. Others are so difficult to break into that you'll likely need to spend a good chunk of change on marketing to get visible and break in. Others will be poor fits with your writing style; a snarky voice (likely) meshes poorly with sweet romance. Finally, there are certain genres that you may "get" more than others: you'll have a pulse on what readers want, and be able to deliver it.

This may not be the genre you prefer to write or grew up reading. Keep your eyes open.

*Summary*​ *Genre is the most critical part of marketing. Choose yours wisely. If you [expletive] up your book's genre/sub-genre (and, to a lesser extent, its concept), there is no return. Period.*
*The Foundational Marketing Formula*: publish a high-quality genre novel in a series of 60,000+ words every 3 months (to make a living) or every 2 months (to make six figures). This comes out to around 250,000 - 400,000 words per year.
> Devise a publishing schedule that realistically matches your current production capabilities.
* The Internet Marketing Formula*: generate traffic to your Amazon page (via paid ads, mailing list, PPC and so forth), convert the browsers into buyers by having compelling covers/blurbs; later convert them from buyers into fans by having a compelling mailing list offer, and then evaluate the economics by doubling down on things that make you money and immediately stopping activities that don't. Many more details in this guide. 
*The Ultimate Book Marketing Formula*: genre research + three targeted traffic sources + newsletter + good cover/blurb + consistent new novel releases (4+/year)
> A new release is the ultimate marketing strategy once you have the other elements in place. Until then, publishing a good, new book is not a reader acquisition strategy; it is a reader retention strategy. To get readers in the first place, you need to generate traffic + have compelling covers/blurbs.
*6 Key principles*:
Think critically of all advice; most of it is wrong or [bullcrap]
*Evolution*: try new + different things to evolve and grow; ruthlessly cut things that hold you back
*Compound interest*: consistent, small improvement is key to success, so be patient and keep showing up
*80/20*: a few actions have much more impact on your results than anything else
No marketing can save a book that fails to meet reader expectations.
Implement things one-by-one. Attack your main problem step-by-step, then go to the next one. Rinse, repeat.

*Habit formula*: do a skill every day (works best) or on a consistent basis. Make the task small enough that you can do it every day without significant annoyance. Give it your complete focus for that period - whether that's two minutes or two hours - and make sure there are no distractions. Keep records of your progress with simple, unbiased metrics. Make adjustments based on this feedback; try to push yourself slightly - your current abilities + 10% is a good rule-of-thumb. Then just do this over and over and over. The aim is to literally rewire your brain, not to be a complete beast right out of the gate.

>Make things frictionless: keep your WIP open and reduce the number of steps/time it takes to get started with an activity 
>Stealing time: take a common "trigger" (e.g. heading over to YouTube/checking Facebook) and instead immediately open your WIP and write like twenty words. You'll often keep writing, thus avoiding a useless rabbit hole, while also building your habit much faster (and replacing a crappy habit with a good one).

*Action Steps*​
1. Sketch out a rough, 5-minute production schedule/release plan. It doesn't have to be comprehensive, and it's not set in stone. Just make it as realistic as possible and try to determine what resources you currently have and what you can realistically publish based on your *available time/money/current habits + skills*. E.g., if you have to learn how to use Facebook Ads, that's going to take some time - time that cannot be used writing. If you have little money for covers, you might have to trade your editing skills or work extra shifts, which take time. And so forth. 
2. Research your genre on the Amazon bestseller charts.
> Write down the ranks of the #1, #5, #10, #20 and #50 book in two genres that fit your series.
> Write down five indie authors and ten traditionally published authors who represent your target market (e.g. authors who can realistically complete the statement, my book is for fans of [Author X]). Write down these names. You can also write down character names (e.g. the Travis McGee series) if the character is more recognizable than the author. You'll use these for PPC ad targeting, the blurb, cover inspiration and so forth down the line, so save the list. 
3. choose one small, relatively simple habit you'd like to instill (writing/marketing/newsletter). Scale this to your current skill level; obviously if you can consistently write 1000 words a day, it makes no sense to aim for 200. Set up a basic schedule for the next week. Check off each time you do it. Sample habits are below.
>write whenever I check YouTube
>write 100 words when I wake up
>write 200 words a day
>do five minutes of marketing a day (this will be more task-based on a day-to-day basis: set up an Amazon ad, book two email promos, schedule two tweets etc.)
>work on my email list for five minutes a day (this will be more task-based on a day-to-day basis e.g. schedule an InstaFreebie cross promo, set up one Facebook ad, sign-up for MailChimp)

The full Part 1 guide is available here. I delve more into things like writing to market + principles, which may or may not interest you; there are a number of things in the KBoards post that aren't mentioned in the blog post, mainly on goals + consistency.

Nick


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## dorihoxa (Feb 12, 2016)

I get so excited when I see you've started a thread  and ^ is the reason. Thanks a lot, Nick. This is great.


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## SidK (Jul 7, 2015)

Wonderful. Bookmarking for future study.


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## BlouBryant (Jun 18, 2016)

Very nicely done, thank you.

BB


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## KelliWolfe (Oct 14, 2014)

You just shot to the top of my "must read topics by" list on kboards.


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## Mara B. (Jul 6, 2015)

This is awesome, thank you! Your trick of always keeping the WIP open on the computer is genius. So simple, yet may be really helpful for me.


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## AliceS (Dec 28, 2014)

I was just thinking that there were no "rules" in self-publishing and here they are. Once my series started selling I started panicking - what am I supposed to do now? I felt as if there was some sort of secret path that I didn't know existed and was missing. Third book in a series was magic for me, but when the sales slowed I scrambled in six different directions because I wasn't sure what should be next. My floundering wasted time and money and made me panic even more.

I will be sure to read all of this. Thank you so much. This all makes perfect sense to my brain.


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## TaraCrescent (Mar 21, 2015)

This is great. Thank you!


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## Andie (Jan 24, 2014)

Great resource and reminder. Thank you for taking the time to write this up!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Eric T Knight (Feb 23, 2015)

Thanks! This looks really helpful.


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## Sonya Bateman (Feb 3, 2013)

I love this, and I love you.  Thank you, Nick!


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## S.L. (Jun 6, 2016)

Great advice, as always.


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## Mari Oliver (Feb 12, 2016)

Holy cow- bookmarking this for reading tonight. This is super awesome of you to share. Thank you.


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## SA_Soule (Sep 8, 2011)

Amazing advice and info. Thanks so much for sharing.


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## Jennifer Joy (Sep 23, 2014)

Wow! Thank you so much for putting this together and sharing.


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## dragontucker (Jul 18, 2014)

This is a great post. I needed to read this. Thank you.


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## Fel Beasley (Apr 1, 2014)

I love this post. *throws panties at post*. I want to marry this post.

It's funny. I was just talking to my husband in the car about our health goals this year. He has X amount of pounds to lose (cuz his doc told him to). My goal is just to get healthy. Instead of a weight goal, I have habit goals like eat a protein heavy breakfast everyday, attend karate three times a week, etc. This seemed brilliant to me and your post confirmed my brilliance. 

And yet, I look at my goals for writing in 2017 and it's simple. Publish X amount of books on these days. See my problem? I mean, I do have deadlines I have to meet, but I'm a procrastinator. More likely than not I will stress myself out and have to write 10-12k words a day just to hit the deadline (ask me how I know). But changing my goals to habits, well that just spells stress relief.

So thank you. I needed this kick to the head. (And that's just the goals section. The rest of the post was also gold!)

Thanks.


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## Nicholas Erik (Sep 22, 2015)

Felicia Beasley said:


> And yet, I look at my goals for writing in 2017 and it's simple. Publish X amount of books on these days. See my problem? I mean, I do have deadlines I have to meet, but I'm a procrastinator. More likely than not I will stress myself out and have to write 10-12k words a day just to hit the deadline (ask me how I know). But changing my goals to habits, well that just spells stress relief.


I think this is where it's useful to keep accurate records. Our minds are notoriously bad at remembering what _actually_ transpired. A written log allows us to see what's working and what isn't. If goals are effective, and you're hitting them, good. If they're not, try something else.

As noted above, I set quarterly goals in a number of disciplines for the past 2 years. I hit 3/24 of them (12.5%). I only had one goal per discipline (e.g. health - weigh 162 lbs, publishing - write 300,000 words). Broke them down into monthly/weekly/daily sub-goals. With all the best practices checked, my success percentage was still atrocious. Interestingly, that 12.5% success # is about on par with the success rate for resolutions (8%). In addition, I started setting deadlines for my books in July of this year. I hit 1/13 of these (7.7%).

I have literally dozens of more anecdotes like that. The plural of anecdote is not data, and, as always N = 1. But for those struggling with goals/deadlines, the solution is not "better goals and better deadlines and better plans." *It's try something else immediately.* The data is very clear: goals are not getting me where I want to go. Further, they've created massive stress and unhappiness. YMMV, which is why records are critical.

Ultimately, if you can't adhere to a path - no matter how efficient/alluring it appears on paper - then it's useless and you need to find an alternative more suited to your abilities.

Since I'm quoting dead philosophers, here's a pertinent one from Nietzsche: *"Many people are obstinate about the path once it is taken, few people about the destination."*

Or, less eloquently: test lots of [crap].

The One True Path (TM) is this: set audacious, massive goals. Grind until your teeth bleed. Show everyone what a hustling boss you are. This is very American. We wear this hustle like a badge of honor. But really, our _real_ destination isn't to be a workaholic, word cranking beast. For most of us, I would suspect our goals are more along the lines of having freedom, creative control, and control over our schedule while enjoying financial stability.

If you can't watch a movie in the middle of the day without your business imploding (or feeling guilty), you haven't built a business or career. You've built a jail. This runs contrary to every productivity book in the world, which tells you to GET OFF NETFLIX YOU PIECE OF [crap] YOU'RE WASTING YOUR LIFE. But no one stops to answer this: What kind of life do you have if you're chained to your writing desk like an oarman in a Greek war galley?

In short, I think it's important to have a broad understanding of where you want to go (e.g. I want to be a professional fiction writer instead of a lion tamer). *Ask yourself: What kind of life do I want to live/what do I want my day-to-day to look like?* The latter question is more important: if you're building a career, you're building systems, habits and skills for the long haul. Your days are your life; so if 99% of them suck, then your life is going to suck, too. Once you have answers to these questions, you'll find that most of the variables (the paths) are highly negotiable. You can find these paths simply by asking, *what are the necessary steps to I attain my ideal?*

Nick


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## Jenny Schwartz (Mar 4, 2011)

Yes! especially "targeted traffic sources" which is a really useful label for the concept


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## Fel Beasley (Apr 1, 2014)

Nick

I really wish I'd read this post before I made all those deadlines!  

But seriously, goals and deadlines have never really worked for me but I do it over and over again because "that's what you're supposed to do. If you don't have goals, you won't accomplish anything." 

I keep very good records. Looking over them for the past few years, I've been a binge writer. I can get a very high word count for a few days to hit a deadline and then nothing. Flatline. Of course, I get very stressed out in the process. And I don't always accomplish that deadline. There's a reason I've been banned from preorders for 2 years.  

But I haven't changed. (I must be insane). This post may just have saved my career (or sanity at least). Thank you again.


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## JaclynDolamore (Nov 5, 2015)

Excellent post, as always! It took me years to form productive habits and more years to increase my speed. When I was in traditional publishing I knew I was unlikely to sell more than one book a year anyway so I tended to be pokey and I thought that was just how I WAS. Now I can write a book in 3 months pretty easily. Would love to bump that up a bit this year...2.5 months? A lot of it has been learning how to outline better and which scenes I get hung up on and not to plan them into the book in the first place. Well, this is getting into a tangent, but in short, I love this post because it talks more about habits and finding a process that works for you than just setting goals that most of us will inevitably fail...


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## James Worlock (Mar 24, 2016)

Wow, what a quality post! Thank you. I need some time to really digest this one I think, haha!

Just a quick question, if you'd be so kind? What role do you think book promotion sites (for example, the sites found here https://kindlepreneur.com/list-sites-promote-free-amazon-books/) have to play in a book marketing strategy?

I've heard such mixed things about this type of site. Some people say they are great, and that you have nothing to lose by using the free sites. Others say they've had their day, and even the best of the bunch like Book Bub doesn't really have much to offer anymore.

Anyone have an opinion on this? I was thinking of making book promotion sites a big part of my 2017 marketing efforts, but I'm really not sure at this stage.


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## FFJ (Feb 8, 2016)

Thank you! I've been avoiding a lot of the info 'out there' so as not to clutter my brain and confuse me on the approach I'm developing for this year, but was happy to open this thread as I've enjoyed others from you.

Continued success!


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## Philip Gibson (Nov 18, 2013)

Such sage, actionable advice.  Thanks a lot!

I have occasionally opened my WIP soon after switching on my computer.  Now I will make it a habit to ALWAYS open the WIP as soon as the laptop boots up, even if I do then go off to check email, etc.  Just having it open, easily accessible and waiting I know will be a big help.

Philip


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## Nicholas Erik (Sep 22, 2015)

Felicia Beasley said:


> Nick
> 
> I really wish I'd read this post before I made all those deadlines!
> 
> ...


I enjoyed a nice six or seven month stretch where I wasn't banned from pre-orders. We all knew that couldn't last.

Of course - and hopefully I'm not muddying the waters by contradicting myself - if deadlines work, then you could organize your writing schedule around them. Instead of trying to write every day, one could, in theory, do no writing for 25/31 days, and then write their novel in 6 days. The key is to allow yourself to not feel guilty/like you "should" be writing when you're not writing - acknowledge that those 25 days are an integral part of your working process. This could be effective, because unlike other skills involving muscle memory (e.g. instruments), writing doesn't rapidly deteriorate when left on the back burner. Ergo daily consistency isn't 100% necessary to improve writing craft.

The ultimate key, I think, is avoiding chronic stress - where you're in a situation where you're super-guilty for 25 days, then add the stress of writing the novel on top. I find myself so torched after such experiences that I have no option but to not write for a couple weeks after, just to recuperate. Occasional stressors aren't bad, evolutionary speaking; they encourage us to improve and get better. Chronic stress, which seems to be an invention of modern civilization, is the opposite and leads to mental illness, burnout, disease, misery and often an early grave.



James Worlock said:


> Wow, what a quality post! Thank you. I need some time to really digest this one I think, haha!
> 
> Just a quick question, if you'd be so kind? What role do you think book promotion sites (for example, the sites found here https://kindlepreneur.com/list-sites-promote-free-amazon-books/) have to play in a book marketing strategy?
> 
> ...


Most authors use book promotion sites. I'm going to cover this more in-depth in Part 2. But I'll answer the question a little bit more briefly here.

Although his list is up-to-date, I recommend against using comprehensive lists for two reasons:

1) They put all the sites on equal footing, without any sort of ranking. Most promo sites are terrible and a waste of money. Worst, they waste your time. End result: bad ROI.
2) The complete deluge of information results in inaction. When you see 50+ promo sites, your immediate reaction is _submit to them all_. Then you do one, and you realize it's going to take you five hours, so that's pretty much that. End result: pretty much no results.

Instead, by submitting to three to five sites you can get 95% of the results in about ten minutes. End result: success!

I think the reason people say they suck is _because_ of lists like that, which are created with good intentions but ultimately lead to discouraging results. Assuming you make even minimum wage, submitting to the free sites manually is a complete waste of time. There are a variety of services on Fiverr that will do this for you for $5, or things like ReadingDeals' submission tool or eBookBooster, which do the same thing but are just way more expensive. Even using these services, you're not going to get a lot of movement from free sites, unless something like ENT (Ereadernewstoday) runs you for free. Which is pretty rare these days.

BookBub is amazing and well worth the money. Reports of its demise are dramatically overstated. I would gladly pay them every day to run one of my books. Sadly, I cannot.

There are two problems with promo sites:

1) they screw with Amazon's recommendation engine. In short, most newsletters are broken out by genre - fantasy, romance etc. - but not by sub-genre. However, urban fantasy readers aren't the same as epic fantasy; there's less crossover than one might expect. As such, when you book these services, it tends to mess with Amazon's internal data and can throw off your also-boughts. They're more targeted than just getting two hundred friends or random folks to buy the book, but they're not as targeted as we'd like.

The also-bought/recommendations getting screwed up happens more frequently with free runs than paid ones, particularly if you use certain sites like BKNights on Fiverr.

2) price. Most of them just aren't worth it. Past the top three to five options, efficacy plummets fairly quick. Beyond the top fifteen, it's basically a wasteland. Subsequently, based on my data, I've chopped the list of promo sites down substantially, and will continue to do so.

As for whether you should make them a big part of your 2017 strategy, I think most authors can benefit. They're simple to use and learn, and the good ones do move the needle. You just need to focus on the good ones. Long-term, I think learning how to use PPC is the way to go; it's both a transferable skill (meaning you can use it for other disciplines if writing doesn't work out) and scalable. If you have $3000/mo to play with, you're going to run out of good promo sites way before you even hit $300 - plus, they can't be scheduled monthly, anyway. But Facebook/AMS et al. can handle that type of spend easily.

Anyway, I created a curated list of promo sites that breaks the fifteen or so best sites into clear tiers. Each one has been tested, and I boot ones off that suck.

Nick


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## AliceS (Dec 28, 2014)

Thanks for your curated list! I've got printouts and spreadsheets and slips of paper with lists all over. It's easy to drown in recommendations and the testing is so tedious. I've spent hours trying to vet sites thru reviews and forum posts...ugh. You are my hero.


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## AmpersandBookInteriors (Feb 10, 2012)

What world do you come from, and why are you so positive, inspirational, and intelligent all at once? 

Absolutely wonderful, man. I've already done the steps you lined out at the end of the post. It's only day one of the new year and I'm already light years more organized with publishing than I was in 2016.


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## Usedtoposthere (Nov 19, 2013)

Lynn is a pseud--uh said:


> Well, your comments about goals made me take a hard look at my success (or not) over the past 4 years or so where I'd spent a lot of time stressed out and unhappy with myself because I kept failing to meet the goals I set. I have a record of every day's word count since 2012. I found that my word counts have actually gone down over time instead of up and I've now scratched any plans I had to try to use goals to direct my next year.
> 
> For me, they don't work. I'm the unhappiest I've ever been with writing, and I just barely managed to keep this from being the lowest word count year I've had since 2012.
> 
> I'm going back to basics: write as much as I can, whenever I can, and forget the rest.


Just wanted to say--not trying to knock goals and systems, and this has been a great elucidation of them, but this is me also.

When I started, I just had fun. I wrote at about the same pace I do now from the beginning (100k words = 6 weeks), but it was purely fun. Seven days a week pure fun, can't-sleep-because-it's-too-cool. Then, a year after I published and somehow, miraculously, sold, I started talking to other writers for the first time and got messed up.

It just froze me up. The worst came when I started thinking I had to go faster. I got into a really bad spot trying to go faster. Trying to think up plots ahead of time. Telling people which book I'd write next. Trying to plan. Trying to think about "what sells" and whether I should write more like that.

Basically, writing novels comes out of the messy back of my brain. My subconscious knows what to do. My conscious mind doesn't. Flat doesn't.


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## Hope (Nov 28, 2014)

I can't thank you enough for this post.  The goals section hit home.  I tell myself I'll write 6,000 words then get stressed about getting started and spend nine hours on facebook and youtube.  I struggle with long-standing chronic depression and anxiety and just the thought of writing gives me anxiety.  Once I get started, I'm fine though.  But I battle my brain on a daily basis and setting unrealistic goals makes things worse.  I'm going to read and reread this post and let it sink in.  I want to enjoy writing again.  I'm a fairly fast writer once I get started, so I don't think it's unrealistic for me to write 4-6 books a year if I can get past the anxiety created by unrealistic expectations.


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## TheLemontree (Sep 12, 2015)

Brilliant post, Nick. Thank you so very much!


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## EC Sheedy (Feb 24, 2011)

Nick, thank you! 

So much to learn and review before taking that first writing step into 2017. You are wise--and helpful.


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## PearlEarringLady (Feb 28, 2014)

Completely awesome post - a thousand thank yous! I think I'm going to print this out and set a reminder to reread it at the start of every month just to make sure I'm not veering too far off course.


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## thesmallprint (May 25, 2012)

Nick, that's a wonderfully kind and generous post which must have taken a long time to put together. Thank you.


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## Fel Beasley (Apr 1, 2014)

PaulineMRoss said:


> Completely awesome post - a thousand thank yous! I think I'm going to print this out and set a reminder to reread it at the start of every month just to make sure I'm not veering too far off course.


This is a great idea!


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## Craig Andrews (Apr 14, 2013)

This is an amazing post, but there is one point I'm a little confused with. There's been a lot of talk lately about how promots like ENT, Robin Reads, Book Barbarian, etc. mess up our also boughts and have a negative effect on our long term sales, but you mention its still a go-to strategy for you. Do you foresee that still being a go-to strategy in 2017, or are you expecting to replace that with additional PPC ads?


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## Nicholas Erik (Sep 22, 2015)

Craig Andrews said:


> This is an amazing post, but there is one point I'm a little confused with. There's been a lot of talk lately about how promots like ENT, Robin Reads, Book Barbarian, etc. mess up our also boughts and have a negative effect on our long term sales, but you mention its still a go-to strategy for you. Do you foresee that still being a go-to strategy in 2017, or are you expecting to replace that with additional PPC ads?


I still plan to use them quite a bit, but I've dramatically decreased my ad spend for promo sites over the last few months. I'd say that's going to continue. At some point, I was trying to hit the top 15 - 20 sites for most of my promos. But the ROI was terrible, unless you're trying to do something like hit the USAT list. I've scaled down, but there are still two problems:

1) sell-through issues from free to paid books. I have no idea what the problem here is, other than it seems to be affecting a ton of authors. This strikes me as a potential algorithm or UI change on Amazon's end; in any event, it makes massive stacks less viable than before.

1a) the free runs seem to mess up the also-boughts most of all. Likely because people who subscribe to those emails just download everything - from cookbooks to memoirs to fantasy - to load up their Kindles with free stuff. On the other hand, messing up the recommendations is less of a concern, since typically you only do a free run when a book's initial sales taper off. Ergo, by that point it's not being recommended organically by Amazon that much, if at all, so there's really nothing but upside.

2) competition for the best sites. Obviously we know BookBub is difficult to get into, but I've noticed increased difficulty getting accepted for ENT/Robin Reads and other sites that have good returns. Robin Reads is booked for like 6 weeks in a lot of genres.

You have to weigh messing up the also-boughts/super-targeted recommendations against the visibility you get through the pop charts/bestseller lists/getting any recommendations at all, even if they aren't sent to the absolutely most optimized people. I don't claim to completely understand the optimal mix, and it's something I'm playing with at the moment. However, I think Amazon's recommendations are still most heavily influenced by a super basic factor - that being "a lot of people have bought this particular book, so we'll recommend it to others."

So my basic hypothesis is that sales/downloads are king, but you can amplify the effectiveness (both long and short term) substantially by improving the targeting of those sales. Fuzzy math: a sale to a reader might be equal to one sale, but a sale of a UF book to a UF reader might effectively be worth 2.5 sales or 3 sales (note: not in Amazon's official calculations for stuff like rank - I'm just saying the overall halo effect it might have, visibility wise). I'm not sure how much untargeted sales "hurt" you; it's difficult to say.

For example:

I've seen a number of books launch at free and then go on to do really, really well. Free tends to result in a much broader customer base picking up your book, which should - according to the targeting hypothesis - doom you to poorly targeted also-boughts/recommendations and nerf any chance of being sticky. But the overall numbers for some of these books are fantastic.

There's something to be said about pure volume and eyeballs: get enough people to see it, push enough downloads, and Amazon will at least give it a shot. Or you get some word of mouth going or something. The exact mechanisms are difficult to suss out, because there are so many potential factors at play.

Or, a different example:

The usefulness of something like GenreCrave's $300 Book Blast, which last year launched a number of top selling UF books. The actual numbers weren't particularly special, given the price (70 sales or so), but the makeup of GenreCrave's list/social media is all rabid UF/paranormal fans. Tons of these books got sticky beyond what one would expect relative to the absolute volume of sales. I had a book that was post-apocalyptic, garnered ~50 - 70 sales, and dropped like a stone. A different UF book got sticky around 7k, then jumped up to 3 - 4k when I did a free run a few weeks later.

The thing with GC is that it's got enough volume to catch Amazon's eye + the right group of readers to train the data monster correctly/super quickly.

I'm edging more toward #2, where targeting is critical, but scenario #1 is still compelling - and, I think, overlooked. Like 100 untargeted sales might not move the needle, but 8000 untargeted free downloads at launch seems to really grab Amazon's attention. Just pure volume instead of efficiency.

Further muddying the waters, the algorithms function differently around launch vs. a book that's a year old. All of this makes things complicated. Ultimately, more of my money will go to PPC because the ROI will be better and I can run them more frequently, without gatekeepers - competition is rising for the best sites, and the remaining ones just aren't worth it. Given that PPC offers better targeting + better returns than many promo sites + more scalability (e.g. I can spend $100 or $10,000 a month), I think shifting over makes the most sense. But I'll still be booking the good sites when I can.

Nick


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## Craig Andrews (Apr 14, 2013)

Wow, Nick. There aren't words that can describe how appreciative I am that you took so much time to give me such a thorough explanation. I really, truly appreciate it.


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## dragontucker (Jul 18, 2014)

Nicholas Erik said:


> I still plan to use them quite a bit, but I've dramatically decreased my ad spend for promo sites over the last few months. I'd say that's going to continue. At some point, I was trying to hit the top 15 - 20 sites for most of my promos. But the ROI was terrible, unless you're trying to do something like hit the USAT list. I've scaled down, but there are still two problems:
> 
> 1) sell-through issues from free to paid books. I have no idea what the problem here is, other than it seems to be affecting a ton of authors. This strikes me as a potential algorithm or UI change on Amazon's end; in any event, it makes massive stacks less viable than before.
> 
> ...


Great post Nicholas. Thank you for this! How about having a permafree as the lead in book? I am guessing that is a totally different situation? The also bought bots can be skewed a bit but it doesn't effect the next paid books in the series as far as I am aware. Also, if you don't mind, I had a quick question about "writing to market." If most readers don't read the sample, how do they know that a book is "written to market" before buying it? Sure, I know the cover and blurb are important. But, how do readers know when a book hits the certain tropes they are looking for etc? Is it word of mouth that later happens? I have always been curious about this. How does "writing to market" get a book going early on when readers have not read the entire book or sample? I hope my question makes sense lol. Thanks


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## mmandolin (Oct 16, 2014)

Good stuff as always, Nick.  

Honestly, I think it WOULD be helpful if you made all this into an e-book. 

I'd certainly shell out a buck or three to have this info all in one more digestible/succinct place than this great (but long) thread. Cheers.


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## Chris Fox (Oct 3, 2014)

This is probably the best post I've ever read on Kboards. Thanks, Nick. I loved what you had to say about goals versus habits.


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## Wolfpack (Jun 20, 2013)

Thank you, Sir. Your timing is perfect as this is the time of year that I always tell myself to go back to basics.


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## David J Normoyle (Jun 22, 2012)

As everyone else has said, fantastic post.

Before 2016, I never consistently wrote despite lots of free time, resulting in about one short novel a year over 5/6 years. Last year, I started going to a coffee shop every morning for 2 cups of coffee and a croissant and 3 to 4 hours of writing time (I never turned on wifi once). I completed 4 novels in 2016 (I'm a slow writer compared to many). In the afternoons and evenings, I only really got non-writing stuff done. This year, I'm going to continue the coffee shop routine and add one coffee at home in the spare bedroom with my writing tablet and hopefully another 2 hours of writing and restrict my non-writing work/internet surfing to the evenings.

I never drank any coffee before last year. Stephen King in On Writing spoke of having a trigger for writing, and he recommends not using anything addictive as beer was his trigger for a while and he became an alcoholic. Cold turkey became doubly difficult for him because he also had to rewire his brain to get it to write without the trigger of beer. Last year, often I'd wake up and despise the thought of writing, but I'd manage to get myself to the coffee shop and once there, well, I wrote, because I always write in the coffee shop.

My newly formed coffee addiction is, I think, a small price to pay for my new output.

Anyway, thanks for this post which has reaffirmed my determination to keep up the new afternoon schedule.

Habits not goals. Love it.


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## Joseph J Bailey (Jun 28, 2013)

Well done!

Happy New Year!


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## dragontucker (Jul 18, 2014)

David J Normoyle said:


> As everyone else has said, fantastic post.
> 
> Before 2016, I never consistently wrote despite lots of free time, resulting in about one short novel a year over 5/6 years. Last year, I started going to a coffee shop every morning for 2 cups of coffee and a croissant and 3 to 4 hours of writing time (I never turned on wifi once). I completed 4 novels in 2016 (I'm a slow writer compared to many). In the afternoons and evenings, I only really got non-writing stuff done. This year, I'm going to continue the coffee shop routine and add one coffee at home in the spare bedroom with my writing tablet and hopefully another 2 hours of writing and restrict my non-writing work/internet surfing to the evenings.
> 
> ...


I write a lot at the coffee shop. The problem is, I don't turn off wifi because I like to listen to Pandora music. But...I am thinking I might need to figure out a different way to listen to music. I stop sometimes and browse the web etc. I think I must get more disciplined. I am not writing releasing often enough. Thank you David for this post  It's some more motivation I needed. And of course, thanks Nicholas for this thread


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## EvanPickering (Mar 8, 2016)

Fucking epic.

Great job Nicholas. That breakdown of Goals Vs. Habits needs to be framed, chiseled in stone, gouged into someone famous' forehead or something. Absolutely brilliant

EP


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## Donna White Glaser (Jan 12, 2011)

I read through the post twice, then bookmarked it, then printed it off to keep on hand. REALLY GOOD STUFF! Thanks, Nick!


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## amdonehere (May 1, 2015)

Thank you so much Nik. Your post is golden!

Your comments on free promo and Also-Bots really resonate with me. I made the mistake of doing a big free-promo for Book 1 in my series just when my Amazon ads sales had got me at a sweet spot on regular sales. The free promo messed with my Also-Bots big time and I'm still scrambling to recover. I'm now concurrently running an Amazon ad on a later book in my series (which had the perfect line of also-bots and best cover to convey the genre), for no reason but to try to get the right target readers and hope they'll then click on my Book 1 and buy. Not sure if it'll be effective but I don't know what else to do.

Overall, I don't think I'll do free promos again. I don't write in the most popular genres and my books are holding ranks well enough for me based on Amazon ads and whatever else the Amazon algo is doing. Free promos do nothing but tank my sales, and I can't tell if I get a good ROI from sell-throughs. If there were sell-throughs, they didn't show up until weeks later, at which point I can't tell if they were from the free promo. For readers who buy at my normal $2.99 retail price for Book 1, I tend to be able to see their sell-throughs to the rest of the series within the next few days or within 2 weeks.

I'm even reluctant to do 99c sales for the same reason. I've also decided against resubmitting to BookBub. I know getting a Bookbub is a huge deal, but even that is a spike sale. I'm not looking for a spike sale, but sustained, long-term sales. If a Bookbub will mess up my Also-Bots and take me 6+ months to recover, then for me, I'm better off letting the Amazon algo work for me. (I will consider trying a Bookbub with a stand-alone that is a spin-off of my series. I think theoretically, if that garners a lot of readers, then the ones who proceed to read my other books may be more filtered as the right group of audience.)

I'm not saying limiting myself to Amazon ads is better. I am saying that I feel like my hands are tied right now. My KU reads are just good enough so I can't make the leap to get out and try going wide. And now the Amazon ads are working just well enough and also kicking the Amazon algo into gear that any outside promos I do that would mess up my Also-Bots would be suicidal. I really do wish I can have more promo options on top of Amazon ads. But as it is, the only other viable choices I have are my own mailing lists and multi-authors cross promos for the same genre.

My problem likely doesn't affect authors in the romance, PN, sci-fi, etc., bigger genres, which can recover quicker from Also-Bots mess ups. (If I'm wrong, writers in these genres please correct me and add your advice.) But for writers who write in more niche genres like me, this is definitely a concern.


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## going going gone (Jun 4, 2013)

This is great, and I think you are right.

A question: do you not believe in revising? Your figures don't account for revision time.

I look forward to seeing what you have to teach about PPC ads.


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## Nicholas Erik (Sep 22, 2015)

Glad people have been finding this helpful. I've read all the comments, and appreciate that so many of you took the time to read it, since it's fairly long. Onwards to questions.



dragontucker said:


> Great post Nicholas. Thank you for this! How about having a permafree as the lead in book? I am guessing that is a totally different situation? The also bought bots can be skewed a bit but it doesn't effect the next paid books in the series as far as I am aware.


The also-boughts with permafrees are a little different. The ones beneath _your_ book will look a little weird. But the ones underneath your book don't necessarily tell you which books yours is appearing under.

In the case of the permafree, that answer will be...nowhere. Permafrees no longer appear in other books' also-boughts, which significantly hamper their visibility. You can confirm this by checking out your other series books. For example, this Book 2 (mine) should have Book 1 as #1 on the also-boughts. Instead you see all the other books in the series, but no Book 1.

Thus, you don't have to really be concerned about screwing with Amazon's recommendations with permafrees, because Amazon's engine isn't actively recommending your permafree.



dragontucker said:


> Also, if you don't mind, I had a quick question about "writing to market." If most readers don't read the sample, how do they know that a book is "written to market" before buying it? Sure, I know the cover and blurb are important. But, how do readers know when a book hits the certain tropes they are looking for etc? Is it word of mouth that later happens?


You pretty much nailed it: cover and blurb. The cover is the most important part of this. Check out this image of recent indie UF book covers that Domino Finn put together. All those books kind of have the same feel, yeah?

Beyond that, your blurb identifies the tropes. If you look at most of those books, you'll find they're written in first person with a kind of similar angle that highlights the occult/snarkiness/grim mystery ahead of the protagonist.

Once you get a couple reviews, if you hit the tropes right, they'll usually mention that. So you'll have three things working in your favor to signal to a potential genre reader that this book is what you're looking for.

Think of the cover + blurb as your "trailer." If you've ever seen a recut trailer on YouTube, you know that a movie can be presented in dramatically different ways depending on what clips are included in the trailer. E.g. convincingly presenting 



.

Your blurb/cover are similar: when done correctly, they immediately portray the genre, because they both explicitly and subtly capture its "feel."



David J Normoyle said:


> As everyone else has said, fantastic post.
> 
> Before 2016, I never consistently wrote despite lots of free time, resulting in about one short novel a year over 5/6 years. Last year, I started going to a coffee shop every morning for 2 cups of coffee and a croissant and 3 to 4 hours of writing time (I never turned on wifi once). I completed 4 novels in 2016 (I'm a slow writer compared to many). In the afternoons and evenings, I only really got non-writing stuff done. This year, I'm going to continue the coffee shop routine and add one coffee at home in the spare bedroom with my writing tablet and hopefully another 2 hours of writing and restrict my non-writing work/internet surfing to the evenings.
> 
> ...


This is an effective use of an environmental trigger that also builds in a good focusing technique by switching off the WiFi. Your options are either be bored or write, which was a method used by Raymond Chandler, who wrote at least four hours a day with two rules: you don't have to write during that four hour block. But you can't do anything else.

One thing I'll add is that _most_ creative professionals only work 2 - 5 hours a day on their craft before they're spent. Something to keep in mind if pushing for an afternoon session is met with resistance. Afternoons might be better used for marketing or administrative work, since those tasks usually can be done with a little less focus.



mmandolin said:


> Good stuff as always, Nick.
> 
> Honestly, I think it WOULD be helpful if you made all this into an e-book.
> 
> I'd certainly shell out a buck or three to have this info all in one more digestible/succinct place than this great (but long) thread. Cheers.


There were a few folks in the last thread who requested an eBook as well. I'll probably do that eventually. Before that happens, I'll (likely) put everything together in a free PDF on my website of all five sections, plus maybe a sixth section on habits/goals since folks seem to have found that helpful.



dragontucker said:


> I write a lot at the coffee shop. The problem is, I don't turn off wifi because I like to listen to Pandora music. But...I am thinking I might need to figure out a different way to listen to music. I stop sometimes and browse the web etc. I think I must get more disciplined. I am not writing releasing often enough. Thank you David for this post  It's some more motivation I needed. And of course, thanks Nicholas for this thread


Two things you can try:

1) play Pandora on your phone and leave WiFi off on your laptop.
2) assemble a playlist beforehand of downloaded music that acts as a specific trigger. One thing I've seen a fair # of creative people do is listen to movie soundtracks. A lot of people get distracted by words/lyrics, but scores don't have this problem. Further, scores are designed to evoke specific moods/emotions, which can aid in shaping scenes/characters/stories.

I don't have a playlist that acts as a trigger so much as a more general habit where I play an album that's 30m - 2hrs long, depending on the task and how I'm feeling. This acts as a "timer," where I have to write/work until the music runs out, but it's more flexible than Pomodoros etc. because I take "breaks" whenever I feel like it, just listening to the music.



AlexaKang said:


> I've also decided against resubmitting to BookBub. I know getting a Bookbub is a huge deal, but even that is a spike sale. I'm not looking for a spike sale, but sustained, long-term sales. If a Bookbub will mess up my Also-Bots and take me 6+ months to recover, then for me, I'm better off letting the Amazon algo work for me. (I will consider trying a Bookbub with a stand-alone that is a spin-off of my series. I think theoretically, if that garners a lot of readers, then the ones who proceed to read my other books may be more filtered as the right group of audience.)
> 
> I'm not saying limiting myself to Amazon ads is better. I am saying that I feel like my hands are tied right now.


I wouldn't be overly concerned about BookBub messing with Amazon's recommendations/data set. Whatever negative effects it has will be far outweighed by the sheer volume. I think for the smaller sites - and free, as you mentioned - it's certainly a concern. If you're not getting sell-through on free, then I would definitely avoid it (unless it's a BookBub, because you're likely to make back your money on KU reads alone on the free book). Your books, while romances, skew more toward a literary audience because of the historical elements and presentation. So they might not be readers who are looking for free or discount books.

Author cross-promos and your mailing list are great options, as you mentioned. Try Facebook Ads, if you haven't already. You can get high-quality targeting if there are a few big name authors in your sub-genre to target. Start low ($5/day), since they don't work for everyone. BookBub CPM ads are worth a test as well.



cadle-sparks said:


> My only "negative" feedback is for the goals section and it's purely a typesetting issue. All those paragraphs are the same length. When that happens, I zone out in my reading. Perhaps this is only my issue (I may be entering my second childhood, where I have the graphic needs of a child :/ or simply am tired after starting work 14 hours ago today), but I need more white space and variety to stay engaged as a reader. Bold face, boxed text, one short paragraph: anything like that would have helped me stay focused.
> 
> A question: do you not believe in revising? Your figures don't account for revision time.
> 
> I look forward to seeing what you have to teach about PPC ads.


I actually really like The Fussy Librarian's platform and service, but they're booked so far out for a bunch of genres that I didn't include them.

Good feedback. I try to add a lot of bolding and white space + sub heads, but that section seems to have mysteriously been skipped over. I'll see what I can do.

I do revise; I don't measure the # of hours because I do it by chapter blocks (e.g. 3 - 5 chapters per day). That absolutely needs to be factored into matters when it comes to speed, because you can write tons of unusable words by not paying attention to basic continuity. As series continue, this becomes much more of a problem. Ergo, you can write Book 1 in a couple weeks if you're snappy, but that drastically slows down with Book 2. Revising massive manuscripts deep in a series is brutally slow, so I try to get as much right on the first draft as possible.

The solution I've found is to keep a series bible (basically a document with character traits, info about the world, summaries of each book, who's currently alive or dead). It doesn't cut down out all the annoyances, but it takes care of obvious things like hair color + traits, as well as what happened thus far (written as an on-going summary).

Nick


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## BeachB (Sep 3, 2013)

Outstanding post and thank you so very much Nick.  Wow just Wow!


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## PearlEarringLady (Feb 28, 2014)

AlexaKang said:


> Your comments on free promo and Also-Bots really resonate with me. I made the mistake of doing a big free-promo for Book 1 in my series just when my Amazon ads sales had got me at a sweet spot on regular sales. The free promo messed with my Also-Bots big time and I'm still scrambling to recover.


I've had this problem too. I had a free promo on The Dragon's Egg on 16th November which wiped out my also-boughts totally. It took a while before they even got back up to the full quota, and even longer to get my own books back on there, and they're still not all on the front page after 7 weeks. BUT I've had good sales and pages read since the promo, so I'm not too concerned.

On the plus side, I've had three free promos in December, over two different genres, which didn't have this problem at all. They came back with my own books right at the front again, and only a sprinkling of oddball stuff. So it may be that whatever the problem was has been fixed. Or it may just be lower numbers of downloads (4K for Dragon's Egg, against 1-1.5K for the others). Who knows?

I'm not giving up on free promos yet because I still find them effective more often than not, and since my books aren't a proper series there's less at stake with a promo that goes wrong, but I'm keeping an eye on it.


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## Dom (Mar 15, 2014)

This post is gold.


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## Nicholas Erik (Sep 22, 2015)

Okay, a few general updates:

> this thread will act as a "hub" (or a table of contents) for the other parts of this guide, as well as the mini guides I put out in the future. *If you missed any of my previous guides on getting reviews, launch services or my recommended promo sites, check out the top of the first post for the links*. Future guides will be added as they come out. 
> the future guides will receive their own KBoards thread, barring any technical issues with formatting
> I will announce when the free PDF of the complete guide is available in this thread, so you can grab that for easier printing/organization.
> I will announce the eBook here as well, although I'm not sure if that'll be an Amazon thing or a free download or both (or vaporware). That might take a while, since there are enough pictures to make the formatting a pain in the ass and I have no idea when the other parts will be done.

> to be notified of new guides, you can simply reply to this thread. You'll see a new post notification when you click "show new replies to your posts." 
> I finally started a non-fiction mailing list that a few of you found. Subscribers will receive an email whenever I publish a new guide. That's, uh, basically it, unless people start wanting more.

If you have corrections, suggestions, a topic you want me to cover, any specific questions, or need help with your book, just post or PM me.

Nick


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## The one with all the big dresses on the covers (Jan 25, 2016)

Posting to follow. Thanks for being so generous with your time and research Nick!


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## emmapearce (Nov 4, 2016)

Amazing post!


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## amdonehere (May 1, 2015)

Thanks Nick. Really appreciate this.


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## Nicholas Erik (Sep 22, 2015)

Okay, Part II (Traffic) is finished. Unfortunately, the formatting is not translating well to KBoards - lots of ? glitches + lots of pictures + lots of bullet points/bolding make for a sad combination - *ergo, the link to the full 8800 word guide is here*. The discussion about traffic sources that kicks off the guide is more an introductory level overview; for those who have been around for a couple years, you might want to skip ahead to the discussion of the algorithms.

KBoards thread for Part II is here.

Note that the info on the algorithms gets a bit technical at points, so you'll probably have to slow down if it's new territory. Just fair warning - I tried to make it engaging, but it might not be the most scintillating topic. Worth understanding, though, I think.

Nick


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## AliceS (Dec 28, 2014)

Wow. Whole lotta info there. Of all the advice I've read, this works for my brain the best. Thanks!


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## MQ (Jan 5, 2011)

Thanks so much for this, Nick!


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## mmandolin (Oct 16, 2014)

Thanks for the updates, Nick! Really appreciate all the helpful information you always put forward.  

Semi-random question: Do you have any idea if the Amazon algo differentiates in how it pushes physical books as opposed to e-books?

(i.e. should the goal be to sell a steady stream of paperbacks during launch, or is a sharp spike in paperbacks during launch more helpful?)


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## Nicholas Erik (Sep 22, 2015)

mmandolin said:


> Thanks for the updates, Nick! Really appreciate all the helpful information you always put forward.
> 
> Semi-random question: Do you have any idea if the Amazon algo differentiates in how it pushes physical books as opposed to e-books?
> 
> (i.e. should the goal be to sell a steady stream of paperbacks during launch, or is a sharp spike in paperbacks during launch more helpful?)


To be perfectly honest, I don't know. I would hypothesize that the sales/rank algorithm works similarly store wide, since it's all run by A9, but there are probably differences between categories. For example, a lot of FBA (e.g. private label selling on Amazon) guides talk about including the keywords in the product description. But when I tested a nonsense keyword for one of my book listings, it came back with zero results.

So either they're all mistaken (possible), I'm mistaken (possible), or the search/recommendation engine functions differently based on the category (possible).

Which is a long-winded and not terribly helpful way of saying I would test it and see what happens. I would try it myself, but there aren't any promotional channels available for fiction paperbacks, so it would be impossible to get the volume (e.g. I sold 3800 copies of an eBook on BookBub day...and 2 paperbacks). But there are probably ways of doing it with non-fiction (e.g. send out to your list Day 1, promo sites Day 2 because there will be spillover to the paperback, a guest blog post/podcast Day 3 etc.).

Nick


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## mmandolin (Oct 16, 2014)

Nicholas Erik said:


> So either they're all mistaken (possible), I'm mistaken (possible), or the search/recommendation engine functions differently based on the category (possible).
> 
> Which is a long-winded and not terribly helpful way of saying I would test it and see what happens. I would try it myself, but there aren't any promotional channels available for fiction paperbacks, so it would be impossible to get the volume (e.g. I sold 3800 copies of an eBook on BookBub day...and 2 paperbacks). But there are probably ways of doing it with non-fiction (e.g. send out to your list Day 1, promo sites Day 2 because there will be spillover to the paperback, a guest blog post/podcast Day 3 etc.).


Right on, thanks Nick. I'm going to experiment with this on my next non-fiction launch, and will report back. My current pet theory is self-pubbers are really underestimating the potential power of paperback sales, especially with AMS on the scene. Of course, this pertains more to non-fiction than fiction - but I still think it can apply to both. I'll let you know if I find anything interesting while testing. Cheers  Tim


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## AmpersandBookInteriors (Feb 10, 2012)

mmandolin said:


> Right on, thanks Nick. I'm going to experiment with this on my next non-fiction launch, and will report back. My current pet theory is self-pubbers are really underestimating the potential power of paperback sales, especially with AMS on the scene. Of course, this pertains more to non-fiction than fiction - but I still think it can apply to both. I'll let you know if I find anything interesting while testing. Cheers  Tim


I've had this question in mind also, and come to the determination that ... with every version of the book connected to itself on Amazon, we can't really control what people buy there. I think we'd have to send people to an exclusively paperback-specific page, and then possibly offer a deal (like maybe Createspace with a coupon. That's not a bad idea; I don't think many people will sell enough paperbacks in a day to stroke algos, so at that point it's all about the individual sales).


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## mmandolin (Oct 16, 2014)

Write.Dream.Repeat. said:


> I've had this question in mind also, and come to the determination that ... with every version of the book connected to itself on Amazon, we can't really control what people buy there.


I've had a large increase in paperback sales thanks to AMS. Even though the AMS ads link to the Kindle version, inevitably a certain amount of people buy the paperback also (or instead.) This is probably more for non-fiction books than fiction, but applies to both.


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## AmpersandBookInteriors (Feb 10, 2012)

mmandolin said:


> I've had a large increase in paperback sales thanks to AMS. Even though the AMS ads link to the Kindle version, inevitably a certain amount of people buy the paperback also (or instead.) This is probably more for non-fiction books than fiction, but applies to both.


Yes, definitely. I suppose I mean high-powered paperback sales. I haven't hacked that yet


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## mmandolin (Oct 16, 2014)

Write.Dream.Repeat. said:


> Yes, definitely. I suppose I mean high-powered paperback sales. I haven't hacked that yet


Totally. 

E-books are great, but the market is so saturated. I'm more excited long-term on paperback potential than e-book potential. I could see many successful self-publishers going in that direction...


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## AmpersandBookInteriors (Feb 10, 2012)

mmandolin said:


> Totally.
> 
> E-books are great, but the market is so saturated. I'm more excited long-term on paperback potential than e-book potential. I could see many successful self-publishers going in that direction...


As long as they have the correct readership and market, I agree. I suspect the non-fiction, like you said, SFF, Middle grade, and mystery markets have some of the highest potentials for higher paperback sales. Someone might figure out how to sell print to literary readers, which may be the self-publishing salvation for literary works.


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## alexbobrov (Feb 7, 2017)

Very informative. Thank you for this post.

I wonder what at are the best sites for book promotion. Did anyone have any success with paid promotions? What genre was your book?


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## Dr Luck (Mar 29, 2015)

You didn't need to give out all this help to us all, but I'm sure glad you did. I for one would be more than happy to buy an ebook version to keep alongside my other 'How to' reference gold.  Many thanks


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## Nicholas Erik (Sep 22, 2015)

alexbobrov said:


> Very informative. Thank you for this post.
> 
> I wonder what at are the best sites for book promotion. Did anyone have any success with paid promotions? What genre was your book?



Here are the best sites for book promotion.



Dr Luck said:


> You didn't need to give out all this help to us all, but I'm sure glad you did. I for one would be more than happy to buy an ebook version to keep alongside my other 'How to' reference gold. Many thanks


eBook/PDF/paper versions coming later this year (by popular demand). I'll post in this thread when they're available.

Nick


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## Nicholas Erik (Sep 22, 2015)

The final main part of the guide is now available! You can read all about how to get your first 1,000 mailing list subs (with step-by-step instructions on how to do so, along with tons of other info) *here*.

Additionally, I've expanded the habits idea from the initial post over the past few months. I wrote a 4,400 word guest post on The Write Practice detailing *a routine/habit building system* that I've been working on. If you liked the original idea of habit building, this new guide goes much deeper and lays out exactly how to create new habits, best practices, and how to chain them together into effective routines.

Nick


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## writerc (Apr 15, 2016)

Nicholas Erik said:


> Additionally, I've expanded the habits idea from the initial post over the past few months. I wrote a 4,400 word guest post on The Write Practice detailing *a routine/habit building system* that I've been working on. If you liked the original idea of habit building, this new guide goes much deeper and lays out exactly how to create new habits, best practices, and how to chain them together into effective routines.
> 
> Nick


Thanks for the great ideas on habit building Nick. I'm bad for just slogging through stuff and now I'm thinking I will reward myself for even the short sprints. 
It's so great to have access to such great info for free. Really appreciate what you do


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## Nicholas Erik (Sep 22, 2015)

Just wanted to drop a quick note and say that the complete guide is now available, and all the parts can be found *here*; finally finished *the summary*. If you haven't read the first five parts, that's not necessary; the summary stands alone.

I still have to file off a few rough edges by going through everything again, but I'll have a free PDF available sometime soon, hopefully.

I've also put a blurb cheat sheet and 1-Page marketing cheat sheet in the original post, so if those are of interest (they're both PDFs), you can download those.

Nick


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## UK1783 (Aug 5, 2017)

100/10.

By far the best thing I have read on this website.

Stirling job.


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## AliceS (Dec 28, 2014)

Thanks! Every time I reread these posts they give me a new nugget to work on.


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## antcurious (Jun 2, 2017)

Awesome to see it all in one place. Makes it so much easier to focus on each component.

Thanks for all the hard work.


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