About 500 words today, which was a welcome change after a few zero days. I also came up with a new book idea that will require very little effort and also add value to my catalogue.
Basically, I’m going to take part of my Indie Author Confidential series and turn that into its own book.
If you’ve ever read the series, each book is broken into five parts of being a writer: content creation, marketing, technology, data, writer of the future, and ideas you can steal. I share what I’ve learned in each category. The series is like being a fly on the wall and seeing how I think when I approach my writing business.
Anyway, the “Ideas You Can Steal” section honestly could be a book series of its own. Each volume has 12 ideas, and by the end of this year, I’ll have 6 volumes. If I took the “Ideas” section from each volume, that’s 72 ideas. Add in a few extra original ones that are exclusive to the new book and I can get it up to 84. It would probably be a 30,000 word book.
It would take me a week or so to write the extra chapters.
It would take thirty minutes to compile all the formerly published ideas and format them in Vellum.
It would take 3 days to get the cover designed. Probably 3 days for my editor to turn the new chapters around.
And boom—new book around free ideas that I’d like to put out into the universe that would make the author community better. The book would be free or $0.99 because I’m not trying to nickel and dime people. I might make it permafree for a while just out of sheer amusement to see what happens. I’ve never done a free writing book before. It would be a fun experiment, and I could always raise the price later.
Anyway, that’s how you can take content that you’ve already created, repurpose and repackage it, and use it to reach a new audience. If there’s anything I’ve learned in this business, it’s that you NEVER know who is going to come into contact with your books out in the wild. You never know. If you understand that, then you understand that it’s in your best interest to put as much out there as possible. If, from time to time, you can repackage something with minimal effort, it’s a smart win. (But remember, don’t nickel and dime your audience and don’t be deceitful about it. A lot of marketers give repurposing a bad name.)
At the end of this year, my Indie Author Confidential series will be a pretty substantial property, with six volumes, two compilations (Vols 1-3 and Volumes 4-6), and a spinoff book with the ideas. Pretty cool, and amazing what you can do if you get creative.
Don’t forget to join me for the June Power Hour tomorrow. It’s going to be rad. 10AM Central time!
