2 builders who never spoke to each other
Write to a daily quota and hire out the rest
Commit to a fixed word count and track the streak instead of waiting for inspiration, and pay for the steps where your own hands add nothing: conversion, cover, editing, page code. Fix the topic before writing anything, since most book ideas are killed by their subject rather than their execution.
The method
- 01
Commit to a fixed daily word count and track the streak rather than waiting for inspiration.
- 02
Outsource the steps where your own hands add nothing - format conversion, cover illustration, video editing, page coding - and keep your time on the material.
- 03
Pay a copyeditor before release, or at minimum get a couple of friends to read it, because visible spelling errors cost you credibility.
- 04
If you will not have time to write it, hire an editor on a monthly retainer and recruit through local job boards plus your own network.
- 05
Write on the thing you can already demonstrate skill in, because a promising topic you cannot back up will not sell.
What it returned
- 1,000
Nathan Barry writes 1,000 words a day, an idea he took from Chris Guillebeau, and had logged about 388 consecutive days in an app he built called Commit.
- 20
About 20 applicants, 3 strong finalists, and a $2,000/month part-time retainer for a local freelance writer who was also a music festival publicist
- 90%
He estimates 90% of the book ideas he hears are destined to fail
Nathan Barry's mother, a professional copywriter, edits all his books; Justin hired an editor from inside Draft.
Sources
- Self-Publishing Hangout highlightsJustin Jackson · justinjackson.ca · The process of writing · undated
- How we grew a local newsletter to 10,000 subscribersNathan Barry · nathanbarry.com · Hiring an editor and growing to 260 subscribers · 2022-03-22
- How Nathan Barry and Sacha Greif Sold $39k Worth of eBooksNathan Barry · nathanbarry.com · Coming Up With An Idea, And Making Sure It’s Good · 2012-10-03
- Why do you want to become an Authority?Nathan Barry · nathanbarry.com · Writing a profitable book · 2015-05-21
- 2023 Year in Review: Of Ambition and Aliveness - Ness LabsAnne-Laure Le Cunff · nesslabs.com · Gradually, then all at once · 2023-12-21
the second source
Three plays a week, for the phase you are in
No roundup of links, no news. Three tactics more than one builder arrived at separately, with the numbers each one returned and the disagreements left in.
More in product
- Give away a tool that pulls its own audience7 unconnected
- Take many small shots instead of one big bet6 unconnected · contested
- Get it into real hands, or shape it first6 unconnected · contested
- Cap the hours and let the ceiling design the business6 unconnected · contested
- Set the bar for writing code deliberately high6 unconnected
- Buy nothing until there is revenue6 unconnected