Comments on: Revealed: My Write a Book in 7 days Secret Weapon.

By: Tim

Tim — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 01:55:53 +0000

Thanks Ed for advice & link. Have a number of products one is a coaching resource for soccer coaching, http://www.TrainingSoccer.Org. Would like to produce coaching books or pdf for my new blog.

Have sent email to BR

Will let you know how I get on. Enjoying your Ultimate Web Marketing Strategy book, first visit to your blog.

By: Ed

Ed — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 22:40:36 +0000

@Harry – Spot on. I got the concept for the book even further back than July, but like I say, the total amount of contiguous time I’ve spent working on getting the book off to print is less than 40 hours.

Of course I’m not adding in the time I spent writing and talking about it on my blog, replying to blog comments and such — because that was to do with marketing the book – not getting it to print. Hopefully I’ve made it clear that when I say ‘less than 7 days’ I’m talking about the solid amount of time I actually spent writing the book and getting it off to the printers.

You have raised something I missed though – surveying my own e-mail subscribers was another shortcut to knowing what needed to go in the book (although most of it was already in the mind-map it highlight one or two omissions that were added in before I recorded the audio.)

Saying that, I could have skipped the survey and the book would have been done even faster, and it would still have had the exact same effect and use as a front-end lead generator when my Joint Venture partners start promoting it to their list. (For my own satisfaction though, and benefit of my e-mail subscribers, it’s good to know the extra content is in there.)

And finally… please don’t take it personally that I didn’t take your advice on book cover design! If the cover incorporated everyone’s suggestions it would have ended up looking like a fairground attraction! (Thank you though for contributing – it was appreciated.)

@Sangeeta – of course I forgot about Goal Mapping – must give that a try sometime thanks for reminding me.

@Roberta – thanks!

@Gavin – Neither… and both! The page you saw on her site was put up in a rush immediately before my post here recommending them. It definitely needs a lot of work, but also interesting to note that Alexa’s goal isn’t to try and elicit a response from everyone – it’s only to get enquiries from serious authors-to-be… so the proper web site when it’s launched will probably a lot less ‘persuasive’ than I would normally like to see. (Also of course an endoresement like mine means the landing page doesn’t have to work as hard.) I’ve been meaning to call you for ages by the way – will call you.

——
Thanks for all your comments and feedback.

Ed.

By: gavin

gavin — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 08:14:00 +0000

Ed,

maybe the book refinery need some e-marketing consultancy from you LOL, or maybe Alexa is so damn good she does not need it.

Gav

By: Roberta Jerram

Roberta Jerram — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 16:13:28 +0000

Thanks Ed – really informative!

By: gavin

gavin — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 14:58:03 +0000

It would be interesting to see what the book refinery did to your layout and how they added value to your project.

Because their site does not give any examples at all it’s just a contact us page?

Gavin

By: Ed

Ed — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 14:10:22 +0000

Hi Gordon – Good question. The cost of steps 1 – 4 is very low if you use the free or inexpensive software I mentioned above. Outsourcing the cover design on Elance or similar is quite low (just a few hundred pounds or less depending on which vendor you choose. And of course there are lots of UK designers who can do that but I can’t comment on how much they charge – if there are any book cover designers reading this comment then I encourage them to contact me via the feedback form on this site and I’ll check them out and possibly recommend based on theor prices, portfolio and customer feedbacl.)

As for The Book Refinery services – Alexa quotes each job entirely on spec – I’m sure “no job’s the same” and each person requires a different level of service.

Best thing is to contact her with an idea of your book project and where you need help, and she can then give you an idea of costs involved. Her link again is http://www.thebookrefinery.com.

Best of luck with any books you’ve got planned.

By: Sangeeta

Sangeeta — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 13:08:07 +0000

This is great, concise and very supportive advise Ed. As a published author I know what a mountain this process can feel like and I’ve always found that having a process and plan in place to get from concept to publication and in fact to marketing is powerful and efective. You’ve described five very straightforward steps particularly for people who want to publish their wisdom but do not necessarily choose to take the time out to physically write the book themselves. I also use Goal Mapping to set my clear intentions around the achievement of goals like this to turbo charge my results and keep me on track. http://www.goalmapping.com

By: Gordon Drayson

Gordon Drayson — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 13:05:19 +0000

Hi Ed,

Very interesting an innovative way to create a book. I wonder if you can give me and your other readers an idea of the ball park figure we should be looking at the create a book in this manner.

I signed up last week, so looking forward to receiving the book soon.

Gordon

By: Harry Mooring

Harry Mooring — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 12:25:17 +0000

Ed
Seem to remember you talking about the concept of this book early July, 2009 and doing some research between that date as well as telling us about email templates and other part that where going into the book including the front cover design and the title. In fact I think I gave you some feedback on the cover but you didn’t change it!

Personally I think from concept it took a lot longer than 7 days! But I guess it makes good marketing and advertising