Peter Bowerman, a veteran commercial freelancer and business coach, is the author of the 2000 award-winning Book-of-the-Month Club selection, The Well-Fed Writer, and its 2005 companion volume, TWFW: Back For Seconds (both self-published; www.wellfedwriter.com). His books have become how-to “standards” on starting a lucrative commercial freelancing business – writing for businesses, large and small, and for rates of $50-125+ an hour. He chronicled his self-publishing success (52,000 copies of his first two books in print and a full-time living for over five years) in his third book, the
award-winning 2007 release, The Well-Fed Self-Publisher: How to Turn One Book into a Full-Time Living. www.wellfedsp.com.
Welcome to Beyond the Books, Peter. Can you tell us whether you are published for the first time or multi-published? Can you give us the title(s) of your book(s)?
Multiple self-published author:
The Well-Fed Writer: Financial Self-Sufficiency as a Freelance Writer in Six Months or Less (www.wellfedwriter.com)
The Well-Fed Writer: Back For Seconds: A Second Helping of “How-To” For Any Writer Dreaming of Great Bucks and Exceptional Quality of Life
(www.wellfedwriter.com)
The Well-Fed Self-Publisher:
How to Turn One Book into a Full-Time Living. (www.wellfedsp.com)
What was the name of your very first book regardless of whether it was published or not and, if not published, why?
The Well-Fed Writer: Financial Self-Sufficiency as a Freelance Writer in Six Months or Less
For your first published book, how many rejections did you go through before you either found a mainstream publisher, self-published it, or paid a vanity press to publish it?
I only made a half-hearted effort to land a publisher, leaning toward self-publishing from the beginning. So, I think I got one “non-response” from a publisher (no formal rejections) before taking on the job myself. I have ZERO regrets over my ultimate strategy, as I’ve easily made 4-5+ times as much money by self-publishing than I ever could have through a publisher. All the while keeping control of the timetable, the creative process and all rights to the books (AND related products, which have proved in many cases to be quite profitable in their own right). I’ll give you an example…
What could you create as a companion ebook to sell with your book? After writing The Well-fed Self-Publisher, I assembled a 100-page ebook called The Well-Fed SP Biz-in-a-Box, containing “virtually every piece of marketing material used in the course of marketing my successful titles.” I sell it for $20 extra with my book ($30 standalone) as an automatic ebook download – a steal, according to most buyers, but that makes it an easy “impulse buy.” Other than the time it took to create it, I have ZERO costs.
So instead of roughly $14 net profit on a $20 book sale off my site (still light years better than I’d have gotten through a publisher), in 60-70% of the cases, buyers purchase both, giving me a $34 net profit on a $40 sale (roughly $6 cost for book production costs, plus shipping to me and the final customer.) Sweet.
How did the rejections make you feel and what did you do to overcome the blows?
The one “non-response” elicited from me, at most, a “So what? Their loss. My gain.” I had little faith in a publisher to do the best job of marketing my book (NO one will EVER care about your book as much as you will…). When an author is accepted by a publishing house, one of the biggest – and most unpleasant – surprises they have is discovering how little marketing and promotional support that publisher actually gives them, and by extension, how much of it falls to them. Way I figured it, if I was going to have to do most of the marketing myself, I might as well be making most of the money.
Authors seeking a conventional publisher for the books would be wise to consider that publisher in much the same way as an entrepreneur would consider an investor or venture capitalist. Aside from the money that entrepreneur would receive from the VC, would he also expect the VC to do much or ANY marketing of his product? Never. Ditto here. Consider a publisher an “investor” in your book, fronting you the money in return for keeping the lion’s share of the profits, with the overwhelming bulk of the marketing falling to you.
When your first book was published, who published it and why did you choose them?
Again, I went with the publisher in the mirror… ;) I had a sales and marketing background and figured I could do at least as well, if not a better job of marketing my good than a publisher. And I absolutely believe that with ever fiber of my being today. An author can potentially do anywhere from at least as good to a far better job of shepherding his or her own book to commercial success in virtually every aspect of the publishing process.
Of course, I often hear, “I don’t know anything about marketing and book promotion.” Well, I firmly assert that commercial success as a self-publishing author is far more about a process than an aptitude – far more about a lot of things you have to do than some way you have to be. None of those things are particularly difficult – they just have to get done.
Because I realize most people don’t come from a marketing background, I devoted an entire chapter of TWFSP to developing a “marketing mindset” – minus the angst and stress. NOT book promotion – that’s covered in the bulk of the rest of the book – but rather grasping the fundamentals of sales and marketing to better understand book promotion. Chapter title? “Learning to Love S&M… (Sales & Marketing).” It just feels like the other sometimes…
Of course, my focus isn’t simply self-publishing. It’s profitable self-publishing. Self-publishing by itself, as a process, is obviously feasible. People do it all the time. And in most cases, they do it like clumsy, sloppy clueless amateurs. And as a result, they go nowhere, reach virtually no one, and make no money. Which is why “self-publishing” gets a bad rap – and in the overwhelming percentage of cases, that rap is well deserved.
But your self-publishing story doesn’t have to end that way. Success isn’t easy or cheap, but it’s do-able. I’ve done it and countless others have done it as well.
How did it make you feel to become published for the first time and how did you celebrate?
As any successful author will tell you, “Writing the book is the easy part.” The feeling of starting with an idea for a book, turning it into a superior finished product, taking that book to market and ultimately turning it into an income stream that provides a full-time living for multiple years is pretty indescribable.
I actually didn’t have some big release party, but will probably do that for my next book, the updated edition of The Well-Fed Writer, due out in late 2008/early 2009.
What was the first thing you did as for as promotion when you were published for the first time?
Promotion starts long before you have a published book in your hand. I launched my first book’s web site (www.wellfedwriter.com) a good year before I had books in hand. I contacted 60-70 web-based entities prior to the book’s release (and roughly 300-350 more in the years since), securing commitments to review my book when it came out. All of which was part of an almost exclusively online marketing approach I too with my books.
As I saw, my book (and all three for that matter) are “niche” books – they’re not going to appeal to the mainstream audience. Bottom line,
if you’re a relatively unknown author of a niche book (or even an unknown author of a mainstream book), by and large, the mainstream media (MSM) just don’t care about you. Go ahead, send endless press releases to already inundated media folks, but your progress on that front will likely be glacial.
I bypassed MSM, opting instead for a 4-step Internet-based approach:
1) Identify target audiences
2) Determine where audiences gather online.
3) Contact sites (request reviews, interviews, placement of a promo blurb, ask to write articles or be a guest blogger (like this!), etc.
4) Take massive action. A few dozen review copies won’t build a full-time income. Think hundreds, and you’ll reap magical word-of-mouth advertising – the gift that keeps on giving.
If you had to do it over again, would you have chosen another route to be published?
Absolutely not. I’m quite happy with my decision to self-publish. There’s no way I could have generated the income I have through a publisher. In fact, I’ve been contacted twice since the first book came out by two publishers (one a household name), asking if I’d be interested in exploring a publishing deal with them. Not interested. In both cases, after chatting with them, it was clear there was no way they could come close to offering me anywhere near as good a deal as I was pulling off on my own. Not that I wasn’t flattered… ;) Feels pretty good to turn down a publisher.
Have you been published since then and how have you grown as an author?
I’ve self-published two more books since then, working on a fourth, and have spun off a bunch of related products/initiatives as well: an ezine (great strategy for keeping your buying public close; now in its seventh year of monthly publication), a blog, ebooks, teleseminars (and accompanying CDs), coaching, speaking, seminars, etc.
Looking back since the early days when you were trying to get published, what do you think you could have done differently to speed things up? What kind of mistakes could you have avoided?
The question underscores the reality that most authors perceive themselves to be at the mercy of The Publishing Kingdom. And I disagree. Once within that kingdom, many find that the emperor has no clothes: paltry royalties, up to two years to publication, the loss of creative control and relinquished book rights. And the afore-mentioned “do-it-(almost-all)-yourself” marketing equation. All to earn – in most cases – far less than a buck a book.
I discovered the power of using Interns (to handle the promotional grunt work) on my second and third books, and wish I’d thought of that for my first. Would have saved me a ton of time, and allowed me to focus on the things I had to do. How did I use interns?
I used interns – at about $9 an hour – to build my review copy list for books #2 (TWFW: Back For Seconds) and #3, The Well-Fed Self-Publisher (TWFSP). In both cases, we started from an existing review copy list, building on it by brainstorming other avenues. I set her up with several standard cut-’n-paste email pitches (one for folks on the existing list and a second for new additions).
For each book, over the course of a summer, she built a list of 150 firm Yes’s (i.e., “Yes, we’d love to get a copy of Peter’s upcoming book”), agreeing to promote the book in any number of ways. Along the way, I’d always pick up a handful of invites to speak at this or that conference (paying expenses and speaking fee).
What has been the biggest accomplishment you have achieved since becoming published?
As mentioned above, turning a book from idea to income makes you feel pretty good. On a more conventional level, having my first book end up as a selection of Book-of-the-Month Club (and two others), while winning a few awards, felt awfully good. Book two was a triple-award-finalist and The Well-Fed Self-Published snagged two awards as well. Always nice when your work is validated my your peers.
If you could have chosen another profession, what would that profession be?
Artist or musician (neither of which I’m close to doing!). Just seems like those folks seem to be the most fulfilled (and yes, sometimes, the most messed up!)
Would you give up being an author for that profession or have you combined the best of both worlds?
I think I’ll always write in some form or fashion, so for me, I’d love to combine two together. Yeah. That’d work. ;)
How do you see yourself in ten years?
I don’t make ten-year plans. I follow my interests in all things. I’ve let my businesses evolve on their own terms and at their own pace, minus a lot of goal setting. Sticking too close to The Plan can have you miss out on a lot. So far, it’s worked for me. It’s NOT about drifting aimlessly. It’s about knowing your general direction and moving in that direction in a variety of ways.
Any final words for writers who dream of being published one day?
Yes. Just remember that that day doesn’t have to be in someone else’s hands. If you like the idea of holding the reins of your own publishing journey, know that it’s doable. And if like the idea of following a proven game plan, I invite you to come visit www.wellfesp.com.
ATTENTION: This interview is being brought to you by Pump Up Your Book Promotion. As a special promotion for Peter Bowerman’s book, THE WELL-FED SELF-PUBLISHER: HOW TO TURN ONE BOOK INTO A FULL-TIME LIVING, Pump Up Your Book Promotion is giving away one FREE virtual book tour or $25 Amazon gift certificate to one lucky person who comments on Peter’s blog stops during his virtual book tour in June. Leave a comment below to have a chance to win one of these prizes! For more stops on Peter’s tour, visit www.virtualbooktours.wordpress.com.
Victoria Wells is a Philadelphia native. She has been an avid reader since childhood. Wells’ interest in writing took root while taking a creative writing course in college. Her most memorable assignment was the rewriting of the last chapter of The Color Purple. Though she did very well in this course it would be years before she would pen a novel. 
After playing hooky one day in the seventh grade to read 
