ASP 38: David Nihill on Testing Book Ideas with Udemy and Going Traditional with His Self-Publishing

Quote of the Day:

“From there to here, from here to there, funny things are everywhere!”

– Dr. Seuss

In this episode, David talks about how he tested his book on the Udemy platform first, how it became a bestseller, and his decision to leverage this success with a traditional publishing deal.

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6 Eye-Opening Reasons Authors Need A Blog


Are you hoping to build a business around your books?

Or are you already an “authorpreneur” looking to grow your business?

If you want to scale up your business, then yesterday was not too late to start a blog. If you haven’t started a blog, you’re definitely leaving money and opportunity on the table.

It used to be you could publish your books on Amazon and wait for their giant marketing machine to do the work for you. But now — not so much. Amazon has tightened the screws on self-published authors to ensure quality, and there is simply a lot more competition vying for readers’ attention.

As an author, if you want to sell books, you need to build your own base of loyal fans who want to read what you have to say. Give away a lot of great content first so your followers get to know and trust you, and then they become more willing to spend money on your content.

Successful online businesses operate in a social media driven environment which demands interaction and engagement. A blog is just the place to offer your readers exactly what they want — useful information presented in an authentic, engaging way, that improves their lives and builds your credibility and ultimately your bottom line.

You give them tons of quality content, and they can interact with you directly through comments and questions right on your blog. And this translates into happier customers and more sales — of your books, as well as any other related products you create.

A study by Bain and Company reveals that “customers who engage with companies over social media spend 20% to 40% more money with those companies than other customers.” Says Wendy Lea, CEO of Get Satisfaction (a social business consultancy), “Now, your bottom line is riding on your ability to deliver excellent service while you are meaningfully engaging customers.”

If you need more convincing, here are 6 reasons all self-published authors need to start a blog:

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ASP 36: Turn Your Book Into A Course: How to Expand Your Author Income Streams

Quote of the Day:

“Online learning is not the next big thing; it is the now big thing.” – Donna J. Abernathy

Self-published authors are leaving money on the table by not creating courses from their books. In this podcast, we discuss how to create another profitable income stream using content you’ve already created by designing and selling your own course. Barrie and Ron give you an overview of why creating courses is a great business decision, and teach you the steps to get your first course off the ground.

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ASP 35: A Turnkey Self-Publishing Solution with Reedsy

Quote of the Day:

“If you think it’s expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur.

– Red Adair

Barrie and Ron took the day off today, so Steve is interviewing Ricardo Fayet from Reedsy.com. Ricardo talks about how to use Reedsy to get help with editing, cover design and marketing your books. He also talks about their brand-new, free book formatting service.

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ASP 34: Expert Editing Advice from Team Writership

Quote of the Day:

“You write to communicate to the hearts and minds of others what’s burning inside you, and we edit to let the fire show through the smoke.”

– Arthur Plotnik

Today’s guests are Alyssa Archer and Leslie Watts from Writership.org, whom Steve has met previously. Alyssa and Leslie will actually be working with Steve on the book that he is currently co-authoring with Hal Elrod. Leslie does developmental and structural editing, and also does some proofreading.

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ASP 33: Affiliate Marketing for Authors (an Overview)

Quote of the Day:

Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like hard work.”

– Thomas Edison

As an author, you can increase your income potential by diversifying your streams of income. A great place to start is with affiliate marketing.

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