Newsflash: This Stuff Really Works!

October 30, 2009 | By Larry Brooks In How to make money, Make money with |

This is going to be a little different. My posts usually are, frankly, but this one is personal.

I’d like to share the story of the last 24 hours of my life. Which, for me at least, represents a discovery of the inherent potential of online marketing and the importance of listening to the wisdom of our blogging elders.

Which ain’t me, by the way. Even though I’m here every week, waxing oh-so-confidently knowledgeable. Fact is, I’ve only been blogging for a little over four months. I still have to call a friend to explain how to change a widget in Wordpress.

I’m here Because I’m a Writer

One who blogs. Not a blogger who writes. Sometimes that’s a big difference.

This makes me a bit of a neophyte on one the hand, and it gives me a leg up on the other. If nothing else than from the fact that I can do for myself that which other bloggers often have to pay for – I can generate killer content.

I’m here at Kevin’s behest to talk about writing. To tell you that using words such as “ain’t” is perfectly okay. At least in the proper context.

Writing isn’t about what your grammar teacher once said or even what she might think if she read your stuff now, it’s about what the reader gets. And if my use of the word ain’t rubbed you the wrong way, hey, I’m cool with that. You can’t hip a square, anyhow.

But I digress. Here’s the backstory behind these past 24 hours.

The Little Site That Could

My blog is for fiction writers. In four months I’ve gathered about 900 subscribers – I have no idea if this is good or just okay… I’m pretty sure it’s not bad – and have a few hundred other discreet visitors each day.

Brian Clark isn’t losing any sleep about me breathing down his neck.

A while ago I wrote and released a little ebook on writing tips, and it went over pretty well. Generated about two grand in revenue over three months. About what Brian Clark spends on lattes.

But I kept posting, and I kept hearing from readers that I was delivering something that they couldn’t find elsewhere. That my posts were making a difference. Pingbacks started showing up, and gradually my brand began to emerge.

My readers learned that they could trust what I said. And that’s the key to everything that follows.

Learning As You Go

Meanwhile I was a student of Blogging 101 (I dunno, is there a site by that name? I have no idea…), and while posting on Bloggingtips.com, I also devoured everything else it offers. Gradually I became more comfortable here, and thus more confident in putting myself out there on my own site, delivering value without asking for anything in return.

Because that’s what the conventional wisdom says works.

Late yesterday I released my second ebook, which was a compilation of a series of blogs I’d done on story structure, with significant enhancement that includes new material. It’s called Story Structure – Demystified, aiming at what has turned out to be my niche is this fairly crowded little corner of the internet.

Yeah, I’m the structure guy. I get hate mail from pantsers, those who write by the seat of their pants with little regard to structure or dramatic principles or what I call story planning. But that’s fine, as they often make my point for me when they brag about writing a dozen or so drafts of their stories before they feel close to getting it right. As if that’s a good thing.

Here’s What Happened

The new ebook is virtually (and I mean that literally) flying out the door. It’s a pre-release, typos and all, not even available yet on Clickbank. I’ve offered a discount to my subscribers and visitors, who have surprised me with the enthusiasm of their response.

I’ve sold well over 100 copies already. I’ve already made well over half of the entire revenue generated from the first ebook, and a full day hasn’t gone by.

It’s the math that’s amazing here. With about 125 sales so far on 900 subscribers, or about 1200 folks counting other visitors today, that’s a conversion ratio of about 10 percent. I dunno, folks, is a 10 percent conversion pretty good? I’m thinking it is.

Gets me to thinking about how and why this happened. Not to mention what might happen going forward as my site grows.

And the Keyword is…

And that can be described in one word: value. Deliver it, and they will come. Keep delivering it, and they will stay. Make your blog about them, not you (like I’m doing here), and they will tell others about it.

We read this sage advice all the time, here and elsewhere, but I thought it was valuable to put a stamp of validity on it.

Maybe I’m in the right game after all. And maybe, with the teacher remaining the student as I go along, my waning career as a professional fiction writer will be resurrected in the process. I have a new novel coming out in February, and with somewhere around 1500 subscribers to my site by then, that’s a pretty good head start, sales-wise.

I know my creative and entrepreneurial spirit has already been resurrected, and I have my blog to thank for it. Because I can’t wait to get up tomorrow and see how many new orders are waiting for me.

Prior to my blog, I just didn’t want to get up at all.

Larry’s new ebook, ‘Story Structure – Demystified,’ is available on his site, Storyfix.com, for a few more days, at a pre-launch discount price of only ten bucks. You can read a review of it here.

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Newsflash: This Stuff Really Works!

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