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Review of "How I Sold 1 Million eBooks in 5 Months" by John Locke

7/19/2011

11 Comments

 
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This is not a book about writing. Mr. Locke admits that he is not a great writer, but he also states he doesn't "suck". And this is fine because, as he also points out, he writes to entertain, not to impress. So this book will not improve your writing. This is a book about how to sell what you write. Between being the best novelist and the best selling novelist, the author states he'd rather be the latter, and many would say he has succeeded.

Mr. Locke begins the book by telling us about all the mistakes he made spending thousands of dollars to market his books while his sales languished. Then he tells us about how he developed and applied his system, which caused his sales to take off. The interesting thing is that his system involves things many writers already do like writing a blog and using twitter, but he uses these tools in his own particular way which often runs against conventional wisdom.

For example, haven't we all been told that we need to constantly tend our blogs, posting daily if necessary? Well Mr. Locke posts only 12-15 times a year in his blog! And Twitter, I have used Twitter for one year. Well, after the author revealed how HE uses Twitter I had one of those "duh" moments. I can't believe I didn't figure that out by myself!

While many writers may find it difficult (I would even say "unnatural") to follow Locke's central directive on how to go about writing, I still think the book has a lot of great ideas to improve your sales strategy. At $4.99 this e-book is towards the high end of what e-books should cost. However, as the author states (and he sounds very sincere), he would have paid $10,000 for these ideas when he was in low-sales limbo. If you are also in this sales netherworld or want to avoid ending up there, this book may give you the framework that you need.



11 Comments
Barbara Alfaro link
7/20/2011 05:49:12 am

Thanks for a very interesting post. I've bought the book. I don't have $4,000 to hire a publicist so $4.99 for a Kindle edition of what sounds like an excellent book works for me.

Reply
phantomimic link
7/20/2011 09:04:48 am

I hear you. The alternative is, of course, a lot of hard work sitting many hours at the computer. But hopefully we can make it fun too!

Reply
The Jotter link
7/20/2011 12:45:27 pm

Interesting concepts, makes me very curious! Not every writer has the knack of publicity so this would be very helpful!

Reply
Arthur Slade link
7/22/2011 11:45:38 pm

What I was most impressed about with this book is how hard he works. He must not ever sleep.

Reply
phantomimic link
7/23/2011 01:16:08 am

One thing we have to remember is that Mr. Locke is wealthy. He can pay for others to do a lot of the stuff we have to do on our own. But he does work hard in corresponding with his audience and promoting his books.

Reply
Laura Novak link
7/23/2011 06:13:43 am

Thanks for this Phanto. We can't all write and tend to our social media and learn about the business, so when another writer can share tips with us, such as this book, then that's how it works. Thank you! Look forward to looking it up.

Reply
Allen Schatz link
7/27/2011 06:04:43 am

I was disappointed. Between the endless snark and self-deprecating, any ideas for replicating a fraction of Locke's success are hard to find. But that was the point, I think. He got us again, to buy a book, that doesn't suck, but isn't all that good either. He is the ultimate marketer and for that should be commended. There are better tips for writers out there. I'd pick Jon F. Merz's in a second (after having picked up both).

Reply
phantomimic link
7/27/2011 10:28:39 am

Laura and Schatz, thanks for your comments. I guess everyone sees things differently, there are some strategies and ideas (and ways of presenting them) that will either "click" with you or not. As for myself I am still rereading Locke's book, making notes, and finding things I overlooked. He opened my eyes to several things I am doing wrong and others I am not doing at all.

Reply
Mary Yuhas
7/29/2011 10:20:03 pm

Can you share what you've been doing wrong and what you've not been doing? Thanks!

Reply
phantomimic link
7/30/2011 01:18:33 pm

One of the biggest mistakes I was making is not thinking about who my readers will be when I publish my book. Thanks to Locke's book now I am giving a lot of thought to that so I can identify and promote my book to those readers (my target audience). Another realization for me is how Twitter can allow you to find such readers once you know their salient characteristics. My Twitter use so far is not necessarily wrong but it is unfocussed by Locke's standards, although I am not sure I want to follow his model 100%. Similarly, am not yet willing to totally adopt Locke's blogging style but I will certainly write a blog for my target audience when I sell my book. I was considering writing a press release when I published and I was spending a considerable amount of time learning how to do it but Locke convinced me it is a waste of time. There is other stuff but these are the major aspects.

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Lisa Martino link
9/2/2011 10:36:47 pm

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