This is an interview with Sean Platt, copywriter turned fiction writer.
There has been a lot of talk about the Kindle and self-publishing lately, so I decided to have a chat with Sean and clear up the confusion.
This interview is around 45 minutes of Sean and I going through the do’s and dont’s of self-publishing in a very relaxed manner.
If you aren’t into self-publishing, I highly recommend you listen to this interview anyway, because you will learn what it takes, and how Sean made the transition with a wife and two kids.
If you don’t have time to listen to this interview here on the blog, you can download the MP3 or the transcript below.
I have personally been looking into and learning about publishing for the Kindle, and I have to say it’s interesting. However, I’m in no rush, and right now I’m observing and doing what I like to do, which is publish my ebooks and courses right here.
Also, my mind completely blanked at the end where I forgot a very common English word, so if you want to have a laugh, listen to that ;).
Here are just a few of the things we cover:
- What is self-publishing?
- Why now is the best time to self-publish
- The difference between vanity publishing and self-publishing
- How to price your books for the Kindle on Amazon
- How losing everything for Sean turned out to be a positive thing
- How to allow fear to catapult you into success
- Why making mistakes is essential to realizing your dreams
- Can you use PLR or put in affiliate links in Kindle books?
- The #1 mistake that hold most people back from taking action
- What to do if you’re not a killer writer
- What to expect when you start self-publishing
- How to market your book to success
- A devious tactic for publishing books without writing full-length books
Download
Right click here to download the MP3
Right click here to download the transcript (PDF)
(Note: Many of the links and things mentioned in this interview no longer exist or have changed, so you may have to do an online search to find them. The reason for this is because this interview was done many moons ago.)
Sean’s Books:
- Writing Online
- How to Write a Salesletter That Works
- Available Darkness
All the best,
Henri
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Good interview with some good info. Thanks for sharing this. I’m working on my first ebook right now, and I plan to port it over to kindle after I get the pdf version together. It’s interesting to hear Sean’s experience with Kindle publishing, and how he’s approached it.
Thanks Eric!
Best of luck with your book.
Interesting and informational discussion. Self publishing is a viable publishing option for aspiring authors who have been waiting for centuries to land a deal with a traditional publisher. For me, self publishing opens doors to lots of authors to carve their names in the writing world.
Hey Jose, true that. Time to get out there where everyone can see you! Best of luck.
Hi Henri,
Thanks so much for this interview. I’ve been online for a few years and I’ve been through numerous trainings for “Making Money Online,” but little of it ever resonated with me. Sean’s “online” method seems plausible to me like it’s something I can actually do and enjoy and make a “career” out of. It’s funny but as soon as I was done reading the Transcript of the interview I opened up Scrivener on the MAC and was looking at a nearly completed manuscript. I was thinking how I could turn this into a Kindle book and then noticed that Scrivener does it for you with a couple of clicks. I compiled the manuscript and uploaded it to my Kindle and was so pleased with how it looked.
Now I plan to have my manuscript out in about a week and I’ll immediate get started on my next Kindle single.
Thanks a bunch!
That’s excellent stuff, Charlie! Sometimes it just takes a while to find something that really resonates with you, but you keep going until it does, because how could you not, right? 😉
That’s awesome Charlie! Glad to hear it.
Couldn’t live without Scrivener, by the way. Wrote my first book on it!
I really enjoyed that, Henri. I have no desire to publish but I found the discussion about how to write (ie. picking 12 things) very helpful for applying to blog posts (especially asking yourself a question and answering it – excellent tool). And being a perfectionist (*sigh*) it always helps to be reminded about mistakes not being a big deal. And last, being an ISFP I always think whatever I can do someone else can do better (even if I happen to be spectacular at it) so who am I to teach anyone? – so I needed to hear the part about being a ninja to someone. Wonderful. Thank you!
I had the same blocks when I began, but as I started seeing that I could actually help people, it started going away, and I have a feeling yours will, too, as you take action!
That’s a very enlightening interview about self-publishing. I’ve question which I hope Sean and/or Henri can shed some light on. If you’re writing a non-fiction, would you still choose to publish on Amazon Kindle, or you’d rather sell it on e-Junkie or Clickbank where you can price it higher and possibly recruit affiliates to help promote it for you? Thanks!
I’m hitching my wagon to Kindle.
For example, I have a how to write a sales letter book. This was an eBook priced at $47, but I’d rather put it on Amazon for $9.99. MASSIVE reach, plus I can deliver far more value to my buyers for the same price.
Wow, fantastic interview!
What can I say, I learned a lot. I didn’t know, however, it makes sense that you should have multiple titles before marketing anything so your readers and fans have more to come back for.
I also like how you talked about being fast but staying good in the writing. It shouldn’t take “forever” to write a book but the quality should definitely be there, too.
And last, I must say, don’t feel bad (unless you don’t, anyway :)) Henri that you messed up on a word in the interview. I actually have a lisp, if you couldn’t tell when we did our session months ago and I have gotten a lot better over time with it.
I like this and continue to love reading Wake Up Cloud. You should do more of these interviews. They’re really something.
Take care! 🙂
Thanks, Eric!
Yeah, I thought my messing up at the end was funny. I could’ve edited it out, but decided to leave it for your entertainment.
I actually don’t remember a lisp, at least nothing out of the ordinary during our call.
Keep rocking!