Derek Murphy is a world traveler, book cover design extraordinaire, and the author of a dozen different books, mainly in the young adult fantasy genre.
A lot of the self-publishing content and interviews on the Side Hustle Show has been related to non-fiction books, and to me, it’s a more straightforward process: help someone solve a problem.
Fiction is a bit of a different animal, and something Derek covers in detail over on his site at CreativIndie.com.
Derek started out editing books and designing book covers while completing his Masters and PhD in literature. Having an interest in reading fiction and wanting to get away from client work, Derek started writing fiction books.
When comparing fiction to non-fiction, Derek says, “there is a lot more demand, and it’s possible to make a lot more money.” His book portfolio is now bringing in $5k a month.
It’s not as competitive as you may think either. Although there are literally millions of fiction books available, when you cut through to the books that are being marketed and targeted to the right audience, Derek says it’s not that difficult.
Tune in to hear how Derek starts by finding keywords and researching what the readers want based on what’s already selling, then testing the market for demand before committing to a series of books.
He also shares the methods he used to grow an email list of more than 32,000 as well as advice on how to launch a book with an email list of zero.
Free Bonus: Download Derek’s Top Self-Publishing Tips
Download the Free PDF "Highlight Reel" from this Episode
With all of my guest's top tips and resources included.
Enter your email to access it now:
Success! You just unlocked the highlight reel from this episode ... AND over 200 other subscriber-only bonuses. Check your email for details :)
(If it doesn't show up in 5-10 minutes, check spam/promotions.)
You'll also receive my best side hustle tips and weekly-ish newsletter. Opt-out anytime.
Subscribe to The Side Hustle Show on iTunes!
Subscribe to The Side Hustle Show on Android!
Subscribe to The Side Hustle Show via RSS!
Or use the player app above to listen right in your browser.
Sponsor:
- Sanebox.com – Start your 2-week free trial today!
Learn:
- Why there is more money to be made writing fiction than non-fiction.
- How to find and use keywords that will give you a competitive edge over your competitors.
- The tools and tricks Derek uses to test for demand before writing a book.
- How to use Amazon’s PPC service to find keywords and return a positive ROI.
- How Derek built an email list of 8500 to launch a book from just $100 in Facebook ads.
- How you can use half-books to generate preorders and collect more emails.
- Ways Derek is now speeding up his writing and publishing process.
- Derek’s #1 tip for Side Hustle Nation.
Links:
- CreativIndie.com
- Derek’s books on Amazon
- KDP Rocket
- KingSumo
- Permafree on Amazon
- My attempt at hiring a ghostwriter
- DIYBookCovers.com
- CreativIndie (Derek’s YouTube Channel)
Download the Free PDF "Highlight Reel" from this Episode
With all of my guest's top tips and resources included.
Enter your email to access it now:
Success! You just unlocked the highlight reel from this episode ... AND over 200 other subscriber-only bonuses. Check your email for details :)
(If it doesn't show up in 5-10 minutes, check spam/promotions.)
You'll also receive my best side hustle tips and weekly-ish newsletter. Opt-out anytime.
As a new upcoming writer, I have mixed feelings about this episode. While it was packed with info, there were no technical details around listing build, physical book giveways and blog posts, there was no mention of how it’s all tied together with the kindle publishing, where/how to get the freemium buyers to a list, I could go on, sorry, I’m just feeling frustrated and overwhelmed :(
Thelma, you will need a landing page or website to collect emails. After that is setup, next step is to find items to give away. One of my tips is to google contest websites or giveaway websites and you can submit your contest to them. The facebook ads that he runs is also a very good idea.