It’s always beneficial and encouraging to hear from someone who started from nothing and built a successful writing career from the ground up. Even more so, it’s encouraging to hear the story from a person who is following the exact same procedures and school of thought that you’ve adopted. That’s what you’ll hear in this episode with John P. Logsdon. John is a student in Mark Dawson’s Self Publishing Formula course and he’s followed Mark’s systems and approaches to achieve stunning success with his playful series of science fiction books. You’ll get the full story on not only his unusual genre and style but also how he’s leveraged Mark’s approach to great success on this episode of The Self Publishing Formula podcast.
Success in self publishing discovered through a spiteful response.
John had already written his first novel and was having a terrible time getting it noticed and promoted. Everything he’d tried by way of building a mailing list had failed (he had only 7 subscribers). When his wife pointed out the Self Publishing Formula course that Mark had created, John was very cynical. When he finally got tired of hearing his wife talk about the course he decided that he would follow it step by step just to prove to his wife that it wouldn’t work. That was his golden mistake! You can hear John’s hilarious story of spite turned to success in this episode.
5000 words per day using a script writing tool.
When John followed the advice of many of the traditional writing manuals out there he found himself stymied at every turn. It took him far too long to create character sketches and outlines of every scene and he was getting discouraged. He finally decided to approach his writing in a way that he felt was a better fit for his personality and way of thinking. In the end John wound up using a scriptwriting tool (in the links for this episode) to create rough scenes and situations, writing the dialogue first, and filling in the gaps as he went. The result is a blazing word count of over 5000 words a day on most days. John goes into detail about how he works this approach to his advantage, on this episode.
Working with a co-author in a way that maximizes each of their gifts.
John wrote his first novel without his co-author, Christopher P. Young, who had said that it wasn’t his thing. But Christopher came around – and John’s so glad he did. The two of them have unique gifts when it comes to the book publishing process, and though Christopher does not fancy himself a writer, John is happy to have his name on the books because of the great things he brings to the process. You can hear how this atypical partnership works and how it might spark your own creativity.
Why Facebook advertising, aimed at building a mailing list, is the way to go.
Many self published authors have tried Facebook advertising with little effect. They ignore the possibilities offered to build solid, long-lasting relationships with readers through mailing list opt-ins. That’s what John finally did with his Facebook campaigns and the result was an amazing email list over 10,000 strong. John has come to realize that the relationship and interaction he has with his readers is what enables him to be a successful self published author and he believes that you can do the same thing.
Outline of this great episode
- [1:25] Mark’s process of recording every step of his new book launch.
- [2:13] A quick preview of Mark’s newest John Milton book.
- [4:15] Why connection with people in the self publishing community is helpful.
- [6:23] The new SPF Youtube channel.
- [6:43] Who is John P. Logsdon?
- [9:21] How Mark’s course got John rolling in his self publishing career.
- [11:52] How John writes at least 5000 words a day using processes.
- [18:44] The secret tool in Scrivener that helps you know how fast you’re writing.
- [22:53] John’s back catalogue of books.
- [24:35] How John works with a co-writer.
- [28:42] The marketing approach John takes to his self publishing career.
- [29:22] What is a launch team and why is it such a powerful thing?
- [33:15] John’s journey from 2013 until today.