More Money, No Gatekeepers: Own Your Side Income

Gone With the Wind… Life of Pi… Harry Potter… 

Do you know what all these books have in common?

They’re rejects.

To all these international bestsellers, the big-house publishers said no thanks, that’s stupid and that will never work.

Over and over again.

If it had been up to them, these books would never have been seen by the public eye. And that’s what’s wrong with the publishing industry today.

Instead of serving as a gateway to spread great ideas… it’s a blockade to all but a select few. And it’s clouded by politics, snobbery and elitism.

But there’s a better way… one that’s easier, more profitable and anyone can use it to create a passive side income.

In today’s issue of Money & Crisis, I’ve asked self-publishing expert James Altucher to show us just how easy this lucrative side income can be.

All the best,

Owen Sullivan
Editor, Money & Crisis

P.S. Want to earn a passive income that keeps earning money even when you’re asleep? Click here and James will show you how to turn your passion into thousands of dollars a week — from your couch… at the beach… or anywhere in the world. Find out more.

By James Altucher

My days as a writer had ended.

In 2009, I published a book that had sold almost nothing.

My publisher hated me. My agent didn’t want to work with me. I lost interest in writing the kind of books they wanted me to write.

I felt like the only thing I ever wanted to do was now done. Finished. Forever.

I had been writing almost every day since 1990.

I cried.

Then I discovered self-publishing.

At first I thought, “Is this like vanity publishing? Where the only way I can publish is to pay?”

Not at all. It was free to write a book, upload it to Amazon, and have it available for both print and digital.

Then I thought, “Is there a stigma? Will people make fun of me?”

But I realized: for 100% of the books on my bookshelf, I had no idea who the publisher of that book was.

If I did a professional job, got a good cover, edited carefully, and wrote a good book, nobody would suddenly ask, “Well….who was the publisher?”

And then, for the reasons I list below, I realized my books would be MUCH MORE successful if I self-publish.

Self-publishing saved my life, both creatively and professionally.

One of my self-published books, Choose Yourself, is in about 20 countries and has sold over 1 million copies. Altogether, my self-published books have sold about 2 million copies.

Two of my self-published books, Reinvent Yourself and The Choose Yourself Guide to Wealth, hit No. 1 in the entire Amazon store. Beating every fiction book (even 50 Shades of Grey) and every nonfiction book from big-name publishers.

I couldn’t believe it. A self-published book written by me was No. 1 in the entire world. I never expected that to happen.

I’m so grateful that I want to share the reasons why I self-publish and to help others do the same.

We don’t live in a world of scarcity. We live in a world of abundance. So write a book, take advantage of all the opportunities, and then pay it forward by helping others.

Society was built on the back of the stories we tell. So tell yours.

Top 4 Reasons to Self-Publish Your Story

1. It’s easier

“Easier” doesn’t mean “lower quality”.

Here’s the problem with traditional publishing. Most of your time is not focused on the writing but the business of publishing.

You have to pitch an idea to an agent, who pitches to an assistant editor, who pitches to an editor, who pitches to a marketing department, who pitches to a publisher.

Then you have to deal with their marketing demands.

And you have to wait a year before your book is published because it has to fit on the schedule they send to bookstores.

Most bookstores won’t even stock your book anyway. They get 2 million possibilities a year and pick 2,000 new books to carry.

And even if you are in the bookstore, if your publisher is not 200% behind your book, nobody will see it.

A simple example: If you go to an airport before your flight and see a book, the publisher paid, minimum (depending on location), $20,000 per month for that book to be there.

With self-publishing you can focus on the writing. Write a good book. The best book you can. And publish it.

I feel so much joy and creativity now that I am much more in control of the entire process.

2. More Money

True, you won’t get an advance. But the average advance is going down anyway. 99% of writers get less than a $10,000 advance for their books.

And that advance is spread out over years. You get it in several chunks:

• When you start the book
• When you submit it
• When the publisher finishes editing it
• When it publishes.

And then the typical deal with a publisher is that they give you 15% of the “wholesale price” – a purely fictional number that is much less than the price you see in the bookstores.

I know people who have sold millions of copies of their books. They are still unable to make a living writing books.

With self-publishing, you get 100% of your revenues. And you are also in control of the international rights, which you can do on your own or work out a deal with an international rights agent.

Fact: I have made 10x the money on my 13 self-published books as I made on my six traditionally published books.

Then there are the people who self-publish more than one book A MONTH. These people make an enormous amount of money by writing.

3. More Sales 

Bookstores are disappearing.

65% of new book sales (both print books and e-books) are bought on Amazon. And this number is increasing each year while bookstores are going out of business.

Listen to me, I like real print books. I like holding a book. I like turning the pages. I like the smell of a page.

This is not e-books versus physical books. This is Amazon versus bookstores.

A traditional publisher prides themselves on two things: they can give you an advance (which is going down every year) and they can get you in bookstores (which are disappearing).

And for that they take 85% of your sales. But you don’t need them and never will again.

So why does this lead to more sales?

For one thing, I can decide how I want to price my book.

Some days I want to publish a book for $3.99 (a price I would never be able to do with a traditional publisher because they would lose money on that and my royalty would be too small).

Some days I will be able to offer a discount to bump up sales by going from $3.99 to 99 cents.

And because I can control the marketing more easily (see below), I can boost sales more easily than a traditional publisher, who will NEVER do the types of sophisticated marketing an individual can do. Nor can they make decisions quickly.

4. Easier to Write

This is very interesting to me. Self-published books are actually easier to write.

How come? I don’t have to spend time thinking about the other seven layers of the publishing industry.

But more importantly, the format of books has been defined over the past 100 years by the needs of bookstores. Bookstores will require publishers to only send books written with that format.

The traditional format: 70,000 words. Fit a very specific genre so they know where to put it on the shelf.

One of my friends six years ago self-published a book that was only 8,000 words long.

It now has 3,000 reviews and is still generating enough income to pay his rent every month.

A traditional publisher contacted him AFTER it was a success and said, “Hey, can we publish this now?”

They said to him, “We need you to expand it, though. Can you make it at least 60,000 words?”

He politely declined.

I find that most published books are like short magazine articles that are then padded with another 60,000 words to fit the traditional format. This makes them poorly written and boring.

With self-publishing you control your format.

90% of being a traditionally published writer is dealing the ins and outs of the publishing business.

I’d rather focus on writing. Living my dream life.

Want even more information on self-publishing? I launched a brand-new course on self-publishing that I think can help. Click here for more details. 

Sincerely,

James Altucher

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