The self-publishing world has changed quite a bit in the last couple years. Amazon is constantly changing the rules and rewards for authors, and more and more writers are entering the fold.
In the Side Hustle Show archives, we’ve heard from successful self-published authors like Steve Scott, Nick Stephenson, Chandler Bolt, and Lise Cartwright. I even shared the tactics I used to reach the top of the Amazon charts with my launch last summer.
In today’s show, I’m joined by Jyotsna Ramachandran, a “stay at home mom entrepreneur” and best-selling author. She shares candidly how she built her Kindle empire to more than 50 titles in less than 2 years, primarily with ghost-written content.
As the game has changed, she’s shifted her focus to produce more quality products and less quantity, admitting that the rapid-release of lower quality books can be a viable strategy in the short-term, but is tough to build a business and a brand on in the long-run.
Her book Job Escape Plan has done very well since its release this spring, and Jyotsna and her business partner Ani (a best-selling fiction author) have started their own done-for-you publishing service.
I think this conversation is a testament to just getting started, because you never know what opportunities will come up once you’re in motion.
Related: Want to work from home? Here’s a monster list of jobs you can do without going into the office.
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Learn:
- How the birth of her daughter led Jyotsna to pursue an online side hustle.
- How she built a portfolio of more than 50 Kindle titles in less than 2 years.
- Why her strategy has shifted away from ghostwritten content and toward building her own brand.
- How Jyotsna launched Job Escape Plan to bestseller status with no audience or list.
- How she’s leveraging her freelancer network, business process systems, and experience with Kindle (good, bad, and ugly) into building a publishing company to help other authors get their work on Amazon.
- Jyotsna’s #1 tip for Side Hustle Nation.
Links:
- Jyotsna Ramachandran – The HomeEntrepreneur
- Happy Self-Publishing (formerly Publish My Book Today)
- Job Escape Plan
- BuckBooks
- BargainBooksy
- BookSends.com
- RobinReads
- Holger’s book promotion service (under the pen name James Mayfield)
- Ani’s Write2BRead podcast
- The Piggyback Principle
- Austin Netzley’s Epic Launch
- Tom Morkes’ Insurgent Publishing
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.
Where is the link to download the podcast? I do not like to go to itunes or other sites. You used to have links to download the podcast.
Hey Flower — at the top of the page in the green player bar, there’s a download link right next to the Play button. It looks like an arrow pointing down into a tray.
Do you have any tips or suggestions on brainstorming ideas for a first book? I love to write and live the idea of publishing a book, but I’m just not sure where to begin.
Here is how I’ve done it. When my life had no direction, I started a blog. I always loved to read, so most initial blog posts were actually book reviews. And then I noticed a common theme in what I was reading: life extension and aging research. So I changed the title of my blog to a more niche one and started focusing on this part specifically. After several blog posts, I notice that some of them could be developed further but I was hesitant in posting very long articles. So that’s I came up with the idea of my first book. And my second one. And I’m now working on my third one.
Thats a very nice suggestion Anca,
I also know of some people that usually package some of their older posts to an ebook or kindle and then, start selling it.
So for someone who does not know what to write about, putting together a collection of a few blogs posts can really serve.
Hello Nick,
This is really mind blowing. You know, I’ve been planning to write a kindle book for over a year now but has never made up my mind to actually start it.
However, I don’t want to write on the Internet marketing niche as I see it as over saturated because there have been so many noise out there on how to make money on the Internet.
I’m starting a new authority site and I think I can monetize the site with kindle.
I’m already downloading the podcast and can’t wait to listen to it
I’ve got another interview coming up you’re going to love — perfect for the authority-site –> kindle model. Stay tuned :)
Hello Nick,
That will be sooooo awesome and I can’t wait for the interview.
Let me quickly subscribe to your email list so I will always be notified once there’s a new post.
Thanks for being awesome.
Really enjoying your blog, don’t know why I didn’t discover it before now :)
Hey Nick,
It felt like this podcast was made for me! Already contacted publishmybook :)
Thanks!!
Sweet! Glad you liked it :)