The AmWritingFantasy Podcast: Episode 102 – Find Self Publishing Success

What do you really need to know to become a successful self published author?

Well, not only do we have the tips for you ranging from mindset to marketing and covers to the cornerstone you won't find success without, but we have a whole course of advice, strategies, and steps ... and we are giving it to you for FREE!

Plus there are a few other announcements in this episode like the release of our long-awaited worldbuilding course. So check out the episode and find the links you need below!

Enroll in the brand new Crafting Incredible Fantasy Worlds worldbuilding course during its exclusive VIP launch from December 7 - 14 while it is at a super special VIP price at https://ultimatefantasywritersguide.com/worldbuilding/.

And don't forget to pick up the newly released Self Publishing Success course for FREE at https://ultimatefantasywritersguide.com/self-publishing-success/!

Tune in for new episodes EVERY single Monday.  

SUPPORT THE AM WRITING FANTASY PODCAST! Please tell a fellow author about the show and visit us at Apple podcast and leave a rating and review.  

Join us at www.patreon.com/AmWritingFantasy. For as little as a dollar a month, you’ll get awesome rewards and keep the Am Writing Fantasy podcast going. 

Read the full transcript below. (Please note that it's automatically generated and while the AI is super cool, it isn't perfect. There may be misspellings or incorrect words on occasion).

Narrator (2s):
You're listening to The Am Writing Fantasy Podcast in today's Publishing landscape. You can reach fans all over the world. Query letters are a thing of the past. You don't even need a literary agent. There is nothing standing in the way of making a living from writing. Join two best selling authors who have self published more than 20 books between them now onto the show with your hosts. Autumn Bert and Jasper Schmidt.

Jesper (30s):
Hello, I'm Jesper

Autumn (31s):
and I'm Autumn.

Jesper (33s):
This is episode 102 of the Am Writing Fantasy podcast. And today we are going to talk about having success in self publishing and how to go about it. So this is something that many have been looking forward to, because it also means that when you are listening to this are brand new and a a hundred percent free self publishing Success course is available to you. People just do it.

Autumn (1m 0s):
We just talked about needing to celebrate, you know, we need to learn to celebrate Maura. So I'm celebrating those. I'm so excited that this course is ready and we can send it off to author's so that they can hopefully learn these things a lot straighter, faster than we ever did in FREE. And it's a fricking awesome. So I hopefully you got to check it out.

Jesper (1m 21s):
Oh yeah, absolutely. I mean, it's, it's been a lot of work and is finally here. So we are going to go through some of that stuff today. And so you can get a feel for what's what's there and what, what it is that we are offering there. But, but before we get that far, how has life been Autumn? Oh, its been busy. Well, it doesn't help that I decided to work. You know, we are building these, of course I'm putting up the finishing touch. It touches on our self publishing course on the website. But I also, as I mentioned, I had joined a nano Ramo for the first time, but of course I joined at seven days late. So that was kind of a bit of a stumbling block.

Autumn (1m 57s):
But I, so we're recording this the week of the U S Thanksgiving. So guests I've got like what, four or five or six days that finish this up. But I guess what my current Writing I word count is a So I think right now, correct me if I'm wrong. But last time when you ask me what it was the 25. So I guess let's say you do it again because it was right at the middle of the month and you get 25 and it was at 20 like three. Okay. So six days left out of seven days left, approximately. So your probably at, let's say 35. Wow. I am so far ahead of that.

Autumn (2m 37s):
I am a 40k, 40,000.

Jesper (2m 41s):
Wow. You almost have it.

Autumn (2m 43s):
Yeah. I absolutely love my stats graph because you know, it shows like this is what you're supposed to be doing and mine starts off flat and then it like goes exponential. Like it hit the go button there, but I will, this week is a little busy, even though I'm going anywhere because of COVID in the us, it is an American Thanksgiving. So my husband and I were, well, it's supposed to rain, but we we're going to go to the top. We weren't going to cook her entire dinner over the campfire because we were just weird like that. But we think it sounds like fun, but we are going to have a day of eating and cooking. Some of my word count will be a little less, but nano tells me if I, as long as I keep writing a thousand words a day, I will hit my 50,000 so I can not wait to succeed.

Autumn (3m 25s):
Yeah,

Jesper (3m 26s):
Yeah. This should be no problems. Then you have almost a week left. So yeah, that should not be a problem. All right.

Autumn (3m 30s):
I have faith that it would, it would be, I think I can do it. So I'm, I'm excited to finish my first nano and get my badge. Yes. Congratulations to you early. Congrats. I know the next Monday is officially when we record, the next episode will be the last day so we can check in and you can see if I actually did it. I think I'm good at sabotaging myself. Occasionally just one. I think I'm going to do, you know, I've got an easy snow trip, but anyway, your, in the middle of moving and everything else, how are things over there? Yeah,

Jesper (4m 6s):
Yeah. At the moment we just keeping it really busy, trying to get the entire house packed up. We, we were making progress, but we're not quite there, but you know, as, as we are recording this episode, there is a little more than a week. Well, actually a week, it is the next Monday that we are going to get the keys to the new apartment. Oh. So it's getting really close now.

Autumn (4m 29s):
It's a yeah.

Jesper (4m 31s):
Well, yeah, it is. But at the same time, it also means that I feel pretty damn busy. We did play it smart. So we have, we have about three weeks on until we have to hand the house over to the new owners. So we do have some overlap, which is quite nice. If it goes completely crazy, then I guess we can manage this a bit. But yeah. But I think apart from that, all of the packing stuff, I've just been trying to put the outline together for a short story that we are going to use as a reader magnet. And I think we are on the, like the third version.

Autumn (5m 5s):
Yeah. Well, you know where we want this one to be special. So, you know, we're, we're working on it.

Jesper (5m 14s):
Yeah. It's, it's been a difficult one. You know what? I'm not going to spoil anything of course, for anybody here, but we aren't going to, or are we aiming to tell a story in a slightly different way than you would normally expect it, but you know, by having a main character who is actually trapped in one place from the beginning of the story to the end of the story, and I quite liked that, but it also poses some challenges and how we are making it interesting and engaging. So yeah. Yeah. But I think I finally figured it out. Yeah.

Autumn (5m 42s):
Yeah. I think So the little snippets who you are sharing with me. I can not wait to read the next versions. So, and of course its just the outline. I should say just the outline that's that's been enough, but eventually pretty soon I think we're going to get to the writing and I can not wait. Yeah. As

Jesper (5m 58s):
Soon as my moving activity's will allow it, then I will start dictating the first draft. Yeah.

Autumn (6m 3s):
Yeah. That'll be excellent.

Narrator (6m 7s):
Oh, a week on the internet with The Am Writing Fantasy Podcast Well

Jesper (6m 13s):
Fact we have not one but two courses to mention. Yeah.

Autumn (6m 18s):
Yeah. That's true. We have been busy bees having to weigh.

Jesper (6m 23s):
Yeah, I think so too. Yes. So apart from the self publish Success course, which we will come back to you shortly, it also happens that they're worldbuilding course, which we have been working for. Like, I don't know, two weeks,

Autumn (6m 36s):
Two years old, I think it has 22 years and it is it's the it's it's all that we have actually had one lucky winner student who is actually gone through the entire course. I think he's absolutely insane to have gone through everything that's in this course already, but he did and I give us feedback. That's kind of exciting. We already had our first student in there. Yeah, that is absolutely.

Jesper (7m 2s):
Okay, great. And we have everything set up, as you can imagine. Since the, our SUPPORT patron SUPPORT already went through it, all of the modules are available. Everything is ready. We did. However, the site that we want it to open the course up as a limited VIP launched only to start with. Yes. So that means that if you are listening to this episode, the day that this episode releases on the 7th of December, you will have one week, if you want in, on the heavily discounted VIP launch price. That's right. 'cause it's only going to be open until the 14th of December. And we mean that only until the 14th of December, then we are going to close it.

Jesper (7m 45s):
So if you wanted, you will need to be quick about it.

Autumn (7m 48s):
Yeah. So it's not even, it's not even that were going to just have it open for seven days. This is like a brand new course in a special price that we it's like doubling his. Once we go through this little additional stage where we're kind of still testing everything and working really closely with the students and getting feedback and tweaking things. So this is if you want this really special, awesome deal, it's only going to happen once. And it's only happening from the day. This is releasing to the 14th of December, 2020, right?

Jesper (8m 22s):
Yep. So we've added on the link in the show notes from where you can read about all the awesome content that is included in this course. So we can go and check that out, see if you are interested. And if you are, I would advise you to step in now because we are probably gonna launch it again in may be something like six, seven, eight months from now. But when we do, it's going to be at a much higher price point then now. So yeah, if you are listening to her, then price yourself, lucky that you know, you're listening to this podcast because it you're going to be able to save quite some money on this because if you want,

Autumn (9m 1s):
And it is definitely I I I did I tell you this? Because I have that little writing gig I'm doing for some of my little ghost fit in to see ghost writing gig with that sounds a little weird. I actually used the script from the worldbuilding course to develop the world and it is just perfect. It is amazing. It is so concise. Gets the job done. It makes it perfect. Developed as a story. So yeah, we did a good job. Can I get a good pet, a sinner head for this one? It is fantastic. So yes. Check it out if you like worldbuilding but you don't want to get lost or you don't know where to start with worldbuilding this is going to help you out, right?

Jesper (9m 44s):
Yeah. And I think it doesn't really matter if you are brand new to worldbuilding and you need to learn something or if you actually a seasoned writer who has built several Worlds that there will be some content in here that that will make you think about stuff you hadn't thought about before, because there is a lot of content. There was a reason why we worked on this for several years.

Autumn (10m 6s):
Yes, yes. And I can vouch for that. How many Worlds have I built buy now? And I still find this course is much more put together. It's so much more organized and it gets, it gets right to the core of what you need to do without getting lost in the details and developing stuff. You don't need to use So yeah. I am, you know, six or seven were a little Worlds under my belt and it was like, this course just changed my writing life. It's fantastic. So I guess on the first student,

Jesper (10m 39s):
Yeah. So Autumn, we might be crazy offering the self-publishing Success costs for free, but then they go,

Autumn (10m 46s):
Yeah. Yeah. You know, I, I can actually pretty much, I know I've often said from the last decade or two or three that I am definitely crazy. So no one who knows me is going to be surprised on this one. But this course is it is we could, I mean the other places that offer or something like this, its easily over a $500. This is a lot of information. It's not just like, Oh, here's a little tidbits that a lead you on is not a breadcrumb trail. This is the stuff you need to know if you want to have success. So Publishing, and I can't believe we put it together that we're going to give it, just give it away, but we're going to help out our fellow authors in this crazy. And we won't even think about this when we first started planning it, that we'd be in the middle of a pandemic in the world would be in chaos.

Autumn (11m 32s):
But Hey, that was a big city. Even better to get back to our Writing community and our fellow authors and say, Hey, this is what you need to know. Go do it.

Jesper (11m 42s):
Yeah. And I feel as well that it was only fair to be honest, to put it out for free because at the end of the day, the stuff that is in this course is stuff that it, you know, if you spend a lot of time, let's say you read a ton of blog posts, all kinds of different ones you listen to, I don't know what a million different Author podcasts like I do crazy in that way. Yes and you, you write a lot of books and you do your trial and error stuff. I mean that there is nothing in here that you can't figure out. All this stuff that is Here is best practice stuff.

Jesper (12m 25s):
And it is of course in tended to make sure that you don't walk in to the common pitfalls and, and you can see for yourself some time there, as I said up at the top of the episode, but at the end of the day, I felt like Y charts, I didn't quite feel that was fair to chat's money for it. Because honestly, the stuff that is in here is stuff that you can figure out that the problem that you would have then is one. You will need to wait through a ton of information and you need to figure out what of this stuff is actually something that is helpful versus what is just an old tactic that doesn't work anymore. That's one thing. And then the other thing is that you need to figure out how to structure everything so that it make sense.

Jesper (13m 10s):
And basically what we've done here is that we've done a whole of that for you. Right we read it out, all the stuff that you don't worry about that go on with that. Some of the stuff that is in this module, it's only the stuff that we feel like, this is what you need to know, and this is what you need to concern yourself with everything else you can ignore. And we've also Removed all the stuff that is more like a, yeah, this, this is what's, wasn't a tactic that you used to work. For example, we, we have a quite some time or in one of the models, we spent quite some time talking about a Permafree because that's also one of the things that has been very much up in the past, but like it used to work on this.

Jesper (13m 50s):
It's not that it doesn't work anymore, but it it's not as effective any more. So we also touch upon that and so on and so on. So I feel like this is a good thing to, to give people for FREE and of course it's well, we are also showing you can do it for free. Then we're doing it. We are taking our own medicine because we always talk about the importance of building email lists and for it to be able to build an email list, you need some reader magnets, and this is how reader magnet, all right. That's what it is at the end of the day. We are the only thing that you have to pay, quote unquote, is that it does require you to sign up a, with your e-mail to get access to the course.

Jesper (14m 31s):
And that is also not only because we use it as a read the magnet, but it is actually also because there is a lot of information in this course and we are going to drip, feed it to you. So you're not going to get a ton of a video course modules thrown in your face, the students as sign up, because I think it is more common or it's, that's not something that I think that's something that I know, but it it's more common than not that people sign up for courses, especially just like with the Permafree books, if we don't have to pay for it, most people won't go through it. That's true. And even people who pay for courses, don't go through the courses that they pay for. So the chances would be that if we just gave you, okay, here it is, eh, have access to it.

Jesper (15m 14s):
Here's the, here's your access to have fun with it. Chances are you would never go through it. So that's why we decided to drip feed it one session at a time and it's going to run approximately over months actually before you're going through. But then you can go through it slowly. Just one, one, one session every second day at your own pace there. And of course you could just save the emails if you don't have time now, and you can watch them later, that's up to you. But that's how we felt it would be best, but we have 10 modules ready for you. And there's also a bonus module, but I was thinking we could go through the 10 modules or some sort of explain what it is, but yeah. Now I've been talking.

Autumn (15m 55s):
Yeah, that's all right. I mean, you have to just have it and that's what that is, but yeah, that's, that's exactly what we wanted. Yeah. It goes out actually 30 to two days with two days between everything because, and I know that because I just set up all the rules, like we said, I was still building some of the back end stuff because that's part of my role in this and this thing we got going on. But yeah. So lets go through it. I think it will be exciting to let people get an idea of what we have jam-packed in this. And if it is it's free, the cost is your e-mail because we want you to have access to it and we are going to guide you through it so that you're not overwhelmed and that you actually do it is so easy to fall off the wagon and get frustrated.

Autumn (16m 39s):
So these are good reminders that, Hey, this next video is ready. Go ahead and give it a try and we'll make sure that we're there to help you out. And yeah, hopefully we get to know each other a little bit too. Yeah, yeah,

Jesper (16m 50s):
Yeah. And in truth, and this is the same thing that we preach. We've said it multiple times in the past episode, on this podcast as well. You know, if, if your readers and not willing to sign up for you, an email address to get a free story from you then, well, they probably wouldn't be interested in anything else you're going to say anyway. So I think the same thing applies to you or do you know if you're not willing to give you an e-mail address to get access to the course, fine. That's completely up to you, but that is the only requirement there is. And I promise you that it's going to be a ton of good stuff in there, but it's a completely up to you if you want to do it or not. Yes.

Autumn (17m 25s):
Yeah. And we do, once you sign up, you get the first module right away. So you don't have to wait two days to start. Yeah. So

Jesper (17m 33s):
Yeah, but what your one, lets just talk about that first. So as I said, it was 10 modules. So let's do them one by one here in module one. It is really about the, Well the lies that you are telling yourself. And so we are going to dispel some of the myths around publishing and we try to share our reflections on what it takes to be a professional writer. And a, I just thought that when we put this together, that was a good starting point from what your one. Yeah.

Autumn (18m 3s):
Yes. I agree. I I because the title of it even is why 2% of authors succeed in 98% don't so, you know, we talk about the myths of what people think writing is what the mindset is that's going to help you. And what, what is the reality of writing and self publishing? Because I know talking especially self publishing, you mean so many people that are determined to go to the traditional route or are you still think there's a stigma around self publishing and you know, we talk about what is really going on with all of that in today's world. Well, not COVID world, but you know what I mean? The reality is a famous author. It's a, it's a good foundation. You need to know kinda sets the tone for the rest of the course.

Jesper (18m 44s):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely. And module two basically built on module one a because it's a mindset module. Yeah. And then you might ask why, why don't we put in a mindset module? Yeah.

Autumn (18m 59s):
Oh, I see you. That makes total sense to me. But yes, I will ask that. Why would we do a mindset module Yesper? Right.

Jesper (19m 6s):
Well, because it is actively so that nothing, absolutely nothing of the stuff that we teach in this course makes any difference whatsoever. Unless you approach your author career with the right mindset, that's probably the best answer I can do it. Yeah.

Autumn (19m 24s):
Yeah. I, I totally agree. I mean, I think I just saw something today, even about, Oh, something about making it into a best seller. It's like the one Oh one mindset that's different between successful authors and non-successful and if it was a mindset that was the key phrase, it was in believing at it and understanding the ropes, understanding what was required of you and not putting effort where you really don't need it or thinking that it's so impossible, you'll never achieve it. So we break that down and give you two sessions in module two, you know, we looked at what a professional writer is and what you're doing. And we talk about how to be built that into a career.

Autumn (20m 6s):
So whether or not you want a career, but at least the information is there because you know, I know most people that are kind of secretly it gets under your skin and you get a little addicted. I did just on Instagram admit when I listed my nano right. Mo word count that I might be addicted, but please don't send an intervention to me because it's going to interrupt my writing time. So

Jesper (20m 30s):
Is it the one mindset to write it?

Autumn (20m 33s):
Oh, it might be Well I at least rural. All your books are on the Hill. The strategies on the bookstore is that it would work. I couldn't help myself, but

Jesper (20m 44s):
We also introduced the concept of 1000 true fans and in this module and I absolutely love this concept. I came across in quite some years ago, but I really loved it ever since because it makes, you know, if you are thinking about, okay, I need to, I want to build a career and then I need to find a custodian readers out there to read my books. And, but this concept of 1000 true fans, once you start breaking it down, then everything doesn't feel as overwhelming anymore. It feels achievable. That's not to say that this is easy. It's not going to be in the short term a quick fix, a get rich scheme thing because it's not, it takes time to build through a true fans, but it's not about getting it 1000 people onto your email is to us about developing true fans.

Jesper (21m 33s):
That's not an easy, it takes time. Yeah. But still it's a lot more achievable than thinking. I need to get a a hundred thousand people onto my email list. Right. That does not feel achievable. Yeah.

Autumn (21m 43s):
No. And I you introduced me to this a thousand true fans and I know it was just spewed it to my husband, whatever he gets frustrated. Cause he's a crafter and building things with his hand. And so I've passed it on to him and saying you don't need a million people that are selling to you just need to build up these people that are going to be with you through thick and thin. And I think that's the important thing is that again, it teaches you that you can go and join some of these group organized where you're going to all, everyone's going to get 3000 or 5,000 or 10,000 emails out of this thing. Is that really the right method? You know, that's something to consider and you can weigh in or you're trying to build a relationship or are you going to get that?

Autumn (22m 24s):
If you split 5,000 readers between 20 different authors, I have to admit if I was one of those readers and I was suddenly getting 20 emails a day from different authors, it be hitting him and subscribe.

Jesper (22m 35s):
Yeah, for sure. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So we will dive deep into all of that stuff and module two. Yes. Then model three is where we sort of get your set up, meaning that we share information on building your author platform. We've actually touched upon that in a fairly recent episode on the podcast as well. We did, but we also talk about the reader magnet in module three, what it is and how to leverage it a reader magnet for your benefit. And I just a set in a short while ago here or a moment ago, rather than the courses are really active. So you get to see how that works.

Autumn (23m 16s):
Yes. Nothing like learning by doing or doing by learning. And one of the two.

Jesper (23m 23s):
Yeah, I know. So that's good. Yeah.

Autumn (23m 25s):
Session three, module three is a good, it has two different sessions. So we talk about the Author platform. We explain it in how to leverage it, to help build your Success. But also then the second one dives into the reader magnet. So you can turn on some of those browsers and to hopefully your first few true fans, hopefully.

Jesper (23m 46s):
And th there is a bit about social media in here as well on sort of where to focus in and where not to focus in and stuff like that. So a lot of good stuff in module three, a module four is all about understanding the market in which you operate as an author. So this means that if you're trying to sell books online, you also have to understand how the on-road online retailers actually work. So that, that sounds pretty important. Yeah,

Autumn (24m 16s):
It doesn't, it, it does. I was going to say, this is the one that when I was first published in 2012, I wish I had had this because there was a, well, there was so much, I mean, what Amazon eBooks had been out for a year or two when I first published. So it was still pretty much, no one had any instructions at all ever, but now there's instructions out there that are so confusing, but this is like, this is my go-to now about how it all works and how it affects sales, what you need to look like, what is the deal is selling books online and how does that work? Takes the mystery out of it. And it's very factual and easily understood.

Autumn (24m 56s):
So you get an idea of what is out there on what you're up against and what you need to know before you start doing all this.

Jesper (25m 3s):
And there was also some information about how to drive traffic to your books and also the factors that will affect your sales demote. So that also sounds pretty important.

Autumn (25m 14s):
Yes, absolutely. This is it. Like I said, this was the one module that if I could have had, if I can send this back in time, give it to one of my characters in my face story. I'm writing now who can travel in time. I want him to take this back to me, please.

Jesper (25m 30s):
I tell you. And I think if it, if it was me, I would more take module five back, you know?

Autumn (25m 35s):
Oh yeah. Modern five is fine.

Jesper (25m 38s):
Not that different, but from what you will for, because it is also about understanding the online retailers, but with module five, we actually went beyond what we are talking about in module four. And we dive deep into Amazon and you might have even asked why is that important?

Autumn (25m 59s):
Alright. So why is it important to understand Amazon? Well I simple to do with it. Yeah.

Jesper (26m 7s):
Well, 90% of sale, populists authors, all kidding aside Here but 90% of all authors, they make them a majority of the income from Amazon when it comes to book sales, most of it comes from Amazon. So we felt that it was important to cover this particular site in much more detail. So we give you information on the Amazon, a nine algorithm and how that worked. It actually is not one algorithm. It's like thousands of them that works together. But when we talk about that and how that algorithm works, we talk about keywords. We'll talk about categories, how to an Amazon bestseller and all of that. Good.

Autumn (26m 46s):
Yeah. And even if you should go exclusive with Amazon, there are some pluses and there are some medicines minuses. So we look into those two, but yeah, that's true. This is this one when I was, especially when I was building it, I thought of this one as sort of like the guts of the course. Not because it's a five out of 10, but just because of the information that's in, it, it, it just felt to me like, this is, this is the meat of the entire course. And when you get here, you're like, Oh, okay, I'm paying attention to this. Hopefully

Jesper (27m 19s):
It still requires people to actually go through the modules, but a Yes module six. That's one of your favorite so far.

Autumn (27m 29s):
That is, I love it because it's a book covers. I love book covers there. They make me happy. So this is all the advice you need on where to get book covers. What makes a good book cover. And the most important thing is how you can tell whether or not it's a good book cover or not, or you're being ripped off. So I think that is just, I don't know, to me, to me that it doesn't have to, it's not because I'm a graphic artist are that I've wanted it to be an artist since like my first earliest memory I think is of drawling. So it has nothing to do with those things. But as an author of a book cover is your number one marketing image.

Autumn (28m 9s):
This is going to represent your book your months and months of work to readers in like six seconds, two seconds. So as soon as they see it and it represents all of that work and love, and it should be the most amazing, powerful and marketing savvy image that you can get. So yeah, module six is, is definitely one of my favorites.

Jesper (28m 34s):
Yeah. Yeah. And then there was actually as well as a very, very nice short cut in module six for how you can almost add a glance, get to see the commonalities between covers in your Shaundra so that there is some nice, a quick cheat tricks in there that makes it just a ton more easy than going through an Amazon top a hundred list than clicking all the different book. So yeah, there's some nice stuff. And what you were six that you'll find very useful. Yeah,

Autumn (29m 7s):
Definitely. I highly recommend that one.

Jesper (29m 11s):
Yeah. So if we say that module six on book covers is probably the number one success factor when it comes to selling a book, it's probably its cover. Then module seven is the second most important success factor because here we discussed the book description. Yeah.

Autumn (29m 28s):
Yeah. So this is so important to get Right I I've even recently learned another trick en book descriptions. I, I think this is one thing that as the market changes, as you grow as an author, you, you still learn more about this, but this module really breaks down and only, you know, the important things that are out there that you can learn, but some of our own techniques and tactics, I mean, you've only written an entire book on how to write a fantasy book description. So you put a lot of that into this much. Like I know you did. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.

Jesper (30m 7s):
Yeah. It's a, it's a good module. And I think it's, it's actually much harder to write a good book description. And then you think, well, everybody listening to this who have tried we'll know that is, that is true. I mean, one thing is writing a a hundred thousand word story where all of a sudden, when you have to put everything down into 200 words and it has to be really engaging well, then it becomes really difficult.

Autumn (30m 30s):
So even just your tagline can be agonizing for a days. As I know, because I'm trying to write three books descriptions in the next week or two. And I had been working on them for a week or two, and that's a hell of a nice thing. So this leaves breaks it down and it gives you tips and it helps you out so that, you know, like I do, when you haven't quite gotten to the level, you'd need your book description to be at, because it's got to be up there and it's got to be powerful and it's not easy to get to where you need to be. No I indeed. But yeah.

Jesper (31m 5s):
Yeah. I'm thinking module eight. Autumn I'm thinking that's probably not one of your favorite modules. Yeah.

Autumn (31m 12s):
I love spreadsheets or are you kidding? I don't think you do. You know, it's not that well, it's so important though. So advertising, but yeah, this is my wish list that as soon as I have enough spare money and I'm hiring a virtual assistant, this is what I'm hiring them for. Of course I have you. But yeah, even you shouldn't have to be doing a spreadsheets all day every day. So module eight is on advertising, which is so important.

Jesper (31m 43s):
Yeah. Well basically at the end of the day, we cannot have a course on self publishing without talking about advertising. That's just not possible.

Autumn (31m 53s):
No, not at all anymore. I mean, I do remember I still, I need to stop selling the, like the old, old widow in the room and say, Oh, I have ever done to her back in 2012 when I was young, when I was joking. And I knew that he published author, Oh my God, it was so easy to sell books on Amazon, your run, like a, KTP like five free days. And you get 10,000 downloads. I mean, it was like you could sneeze and a cell, a book because there was like less than a million on Amazon back then. It was fantastic. Now you need to advertise. Yeah. You just need to advertise whether it's paid ads or doing something through some of the major advertisers that sent it out to their reading list, you needed to run ads.

Autumn (32m 36s):
And so you need module eight because if you don't know where to start advertising, I won't say, I don't know where to start. I just know spreadsheets and it will help you get yourself organized and your head on straight in, you will not waste tons of money and tons of time, because time is your writing time. It's your fun time. It's your family time. You don't want to waste your time. And it it's, it's just a

Jesper (33m 3s):
Pay to play market nowadays. And that, that

Autumn (33m 6s):
Is just whether we like it or not. That's what it is.

Jesper (33m 9s):
Yeah. So obviously, Nope, no, maybe a few of us, or maybe none of it is maybe it's not true to say none of us, but right now,

Autumn (33m 18s):
Fewer of us has endless funds 2.2 ads. Right? So now what do we need? Some sort of a cost-effective

Jesper (33m 24s):
It's a good way of going about things and that's what we try to share with you.

Autumn (33m 28s):
Yes. It's a very good module. So I would say the module nine is one of the funnest ones in the entire course, right. Because who doesn't love launching a new book. So we actually tackled that as well in the self publishing course, because it's a lot more than just uploading your files to Amazon. I wish it was not easy, but it's not. Oh, when I was young that each year, really? I don't remember that. Was it that what you're saying?

Jesper (33m 60s):
So in 2012, if you just upload a book and then it sells, right. Do you don't want to worry about that? Yeah.

Autumn (34m 4s):
Oh, it did it, you know, you didn't have to worry about lunch. This is probably why I still sometimes go, Oh right. I am supposed to be putting time into this. I still eat struggle. I saw some places to do like a seven month, a month launch sequence. And we have consolidated. Ours is down a little bit less than that, but there are still times when I get, you know, I start booking out my calendar and my schedule and see when the next book comes out going, Oh shoot, I should've started this two weeks ago or so I would probably need to watch module nine. Again, myself.

Jesper (34m 36s):
It is. But at the end of the good thing is with, with this cost that it's going to be there forever. So once you have signed up for at least, at least as long as an internet exists. So if the internet internet is gone, then I can promise you you're access to the course of any more. But as long as there is an intimate, then you can always come back to these modules and what's them later on. If you need to revisit something, it it's just going to be there forever.

Autumn (34m 58s):
Yes. So it will be painful part is the fact that you have to wait two days between each session, the first time. But once you get through them all, there will always be there and we won't make you wait. EVERY I again, indeed. Yes. So yeah,

Jesper (35m 14s):
Once you've gone through much aligned and you have a right. Yeah.

Autumn (35m 18s):
Final module, 10 that's right. And this one, I like the title of it. The cornerstone you cannot succeed without, so yeah. What do you want to elaborate on this special, last module in our group? Yeah.

Jesper (35m 33s):
Yeah. I can. And I always feel like a, having like a, a two second pause here, allowing the listener too. Guess what it is, because if you have listened to this podcast for a longer while I think that you can guess, what is it, what can it be? What could be the cornerstone of your author career that you cannot live without? What could it be?

Autumn (35m 54s):
I can do the jeopardy dude, because I think I should have had something planned. I mean,

4 (36m 0s):
Do you guessed it? Yes. The email list. Yeah.

Autumn (36m 4s):
Yeah. Congratulations yes. This is the important one where, you know, just to get the course, you'd join our email list. This is what it takes.

Jesper (36m 16s):
Yeah. And module 10, we'll go over the basics of a setting up e-mail list. And what do you need to be mindful about? And once you're done with that, you're basically good to go. But in addition, if you want a lot more help on email list building and know all the details of it, then we have to actively S will build an entire additional cost that covers everything you need to know about running an email list, how to set it up, what to do, how often to send emails, what to write about what you should be thinking about for your shop, that subject lines, AB testing, everything is in there that will be explained on the back.

Jesper (36m 58s):
End of module two, if you want to. But that one is one that you have, you we'll have to pay for that if you want that.

Autumn (37m 5s):
Yeah. But at the top of this record, this podcast, this episode, you said there was two courses we were talking about. So this was like a third, this, this number three. Yes, we are crazy.

Jesper (37m 18s):
Yeah. Yeah, yeah. And you wonder why we've said so many times that we are a bit busy. Yeah,

Autumn (37m 23s):
Yeah, yeah. Oh my goodness. And that's all happening in November, December in 2020. When's the asteroid coming. I mean really? Oh Well but yeah. So we go into, we talk about a special extra module, but we also link to a very amazing chorus called master mailing lists. And so that really, if you need help developing your mailing list, if you don't know where to start, if your stumbling, if your pause or having trouble with interaction's and turning those people who were downloading downloading, you're a reader magnet into true fans. If that's where really where your struggling, you want to take a look at this course, this is going to help you out, get everything organized, to give you some emails, to even start with and get you going to be building your fans and, you know, building your career.

Jesper (38m 14s):
Yeah. And it's going to have swipe, swipe copy as well. So you can basically take our stuff and copy and pasted all most and make it a tween, get a bit too, make it your own But. But it's going to have everything you need in here. So a that, that, but yeah, there is no reason to go on and on about that. You'll you will see that once you get to module seven and it's going to be explained there, so you should just enjoy the other nine modules. And then what else? Module tendency, if it's something for you or not afterwards.

Autumn (38m 42s):
Yeah, absolutely. Well, I think that's it, that's the 10 modules of the self publishing Success course that we're offering For did we mention FREE a Yeah even though it costs an e-mail list

Jesper (38m 57s):
Or e-mail address and I should just say

Autumn (38m 59s):
Yes. And if you want to actually, you know, get the link to the course, you have to provide a real email. You can say you can't do a fake one. Its kind of important to make sure that you actually get to the right website after your sign up. Yeah.

Jesper (39m 12s):
Yeah. Well otherwise the links to the individual modules will be sent to a fake one. So yeah. It's going to hurt yourself.

Autumn (39m 20s):
And that will be silly. Yeah.

Jesper (39m 22s):
But I think whether you are a beginner or you, if you are an author with a handful of books or a series, a puppet already, but do you find yourself struggling or you will get the advice that you need to get your own author career on the right track and, and keep it growing. It is not to say that this course in any way is a shortcut is not a short-term. I am going to figure it all out now and then everything will be wonderful. There is work involved in these modules and you need to do the work. And the only one who can do the work is you. If you don't do it, you won't see any results and it's not going to happen tomorrow, either. It is. It's a long term.

Jesper (40m 4s):
Let's say it's a long term activities that you need to take care of. It will pay off in the long run, but not tomorrow. And, and you need to understand that.

Autumn (40m 13s):
Yes, absolutely. And I think to me, even, you know, looking at this chorus as a published author, with 20 bucks out of our own, there's just so much with it. You have life and two things going on in your you're constantly juggling so many things. Whether you are a full time author or your working to become one and you start a job, its easy to not be up to speed on something or to let something fall by the wayside. So in this course, in this platform is a good layout to remind you of all of the things. If you feel like you've let something go on advertising, I'm me and or any other aspect that you need to work on, you can just go back and look at the module and look at it and say, all right, this is where I needed to get, you know, keep yourself reinvigorated and get it going and keep yourself focused.

Autumn (40m 60s):
And that's, to me, that's almost, that's a secondary benefit. Once you go through all at once, you were probably going to come back to it and remind yourself like annually going all right. That's where I need to work on this year. That's my goal.

Jesper (41m 13s):
Yeah. So the sign up link is in the show notes. So you can go ahead and sign up right now and get started right now. So the cost is available to them.

Autumn (41m 24s):
Yes. We got to die and I'm going to go, I'm going to jump ahead to the future where it's done and I don't have any more building to do now. It's all it's so close. Just a few more tweaks and we'll be set. I

Jesper (41m 34s):
Know we'll make it absolutely next Monday. It is all about renaming and rebranding it a series of what do we need to be mindful about and what can you expect in terms of results? So see you there. Yes

Narrator (41m 50s):
Like what you just heard. There's a few things you can do to SUPPORT THE AM WRITING FANTASY PODCAST please tell a fellow Author about the show and visit us at Apple podcast and leave a rating and review. You can also join Autumn in Jasper on patrion.com/am Writing Fantasy for as little as a dollar a month. You'll get awesome rewards and keep The Am Writing Fantasy Podcast going to stay safe out there and see you next Monday.