When you recommend something on Amazon, you get a commission from Amazon of 4-8%. If you sell a video for $19.99, Amazon will pay you from forty to eighty cents for that recommendation. It’s not much, but it’s better than nothing.
Looking at the direct response market, my favorite platform is called Clickbank. They have a program called Yoga Burn. You can find links to their sales page at ServeNoMaster.com/orbit. (On that page, I have a ton of follow-up information and links to all the things discussed in this book. Sometimes you just need a visual, and I have loads of bonus material on that page.)
The Yoga Burn program is a series of DVDs that sells for $37. If you recommend that series to your book readers, Clickbank will pay you 75%. You can earn nearly $28 for each recommendation. This product costs double the Amazon DVD price but pays out thirty-five times more money. Which offer would you want to promote?
When you mix in high-quality affiliate offers with your own content, you magnify your income.
Most direct response products have an entire upsell sequence behind them. You recommend that first product for $37, and when people buy it, they immediately see another product for $77. Many of those sales turn into more than three hundred dollars.
Sending a single customer to a great product can generate you an extra two hundred bucks from just ONE customer.
Cultivating Your List
You have dollar signs in your eyes right now, and it’s my fault for putting them there. Please listen to this warning. Do not recommend stuff to your audience that will not improve their lives. Do not recommend things you don’t use or believe in just because they offer a great commission.
As you build your list, you will face greater and greater temptation. When you can make ten grand promoting something, maintaining integrity gets pretty hard. If you don’t prepare in advance, the temptation will overwhelm you.
Your list will turn off and tune out boring newsletters. Think about your experience as a customer. Which emails do you open and which ones do you ignore? If I sent you an email every day with something to buy, you would unsubscribe in a few days. Nobody wants to be treated like an ATM.
Whenever you are thinking about an email to send out, remember to always give them value first. When your primary focus becomes income, you risk alienating more and more of your fanbase. You’ll notice that my emails are filled with additional content to take you beyond this book. This book is double the length I intended. But it still only covers ten percent of what I know about Amazon.
I have podcast episodes and blog posts where I can share more advanced techniques and provide visual walkthroughs of these processes. My goal is to build engagement with you and give as much value as possible. Build your list with the exact same mindset. These are people who trust you, and you must honor that trust by guiding them down the right path.
Your initial goal is to open as many lines of communication as possible. Right now we are having a one-way conversation. I’m talking, and you are listening. That’s not a conversation. Get your audience to connect with your social media presence, to listen to your podcast and to comment on your blog posts. The more people interact with your content, the more likely they are to take action.
Give as much value as you can on each of your platforms and develop strong relationships with your readers. The stronger the connection, the more powerful your list will become.
Some marketers have a list of over one hundred thousand email addresses, but less than three percent of their list opens any given email. That’s the same as building a list of three thousand people that open every email you send. Focus on quality and you will build a powerful business fast.
28
Keep the Sales Rolling in for Years
Amazon is a fickle beast. Authors who work hand-in-hand with Amazon to generate sales and growth get the most attention. Their books appear in more promotions and on select lists all the time. Amazon can list your book in many special locations. The site has all the power, and you must be active to maintain momentum.
Authors who become complacent and stop managing their profiles will slowly fade into oblivion.
Following the method you just learned, you can successfully launch your books. Some of your books will hang in the top twenty listings for an entire year before they slip. Others will only hang for a few months.
Once your book is live, there will be other authors coming after you. They will launch their books to try and knock off your crown. If you want to stay at the top of the mountain, you must actively fight for position.
Remember your three key metrics. Amazon only cares about traffic, sales, and reviews. You should continually refine your review-gathering process. Always seek ways to get more reviews and to turn more of your active readers into reviewers. Add incentives to your emails for people who leave reviews. Encourage them to take action even weeks after they read your book.
As long as you maintain engagement, you can strengthen the relationship. Some people who didn’t feel like leaving a review right after reading your book might feel ready after a few weeks of additional content. That relationship-building will turn more and more of your readers into reviewers.
More Content
The Internet is a hungry monster. As a ravenous monster, this beast demands more and more content. Your biggest fans will rip through your content faster than you can believe. On my first blog, I had over one thousand posts. When a new fan would get excited, they would consume everything in three days or less.
When I get turned onto a new podcast, I tear through their back catalog very quickly. I can get through two hundred episodes in a week or two.
Your biggest fans are the ones who want the most content.
When the book is published, the writing is not complete. You must provide continual content through your blog, social media and emails. If you have a podcast, you must deliver content like clockwork.
Right now I put out five podcast episodes a week, but it’s not nearly enough content for my fans. I need to up my game and generate more blog posts to stay ahead of my followers’ desires. The more blog posts I write, the more they will consume.
All of these people are looking for content to read and share with their friends. It’s hard to “give away the gold,” and many writers turn stingy with their content. That’s just not my mindset. I don’t need to hide my best material behind a paywall. The people who love me the most will buy stuff either way.
If you feed the beast properly, you turn your traffic into a cycle. You launch your first book following the Breaking Orbit method. Your first readers form the core of your new list. As you engage them, you move them from reading emails to your social media profile. Over time they start to share you with their friends. They post and tweet and like and mention your blog posts and books and videos. All of this engagement brings you new fans. You then send these new fans to your book.
These brand new fans found you through social media, not Amazon. They read your book and become members of your tribe. They become so excited that they post about you on their social media profiles, and soon their extended network is buying your book and joining your tribe. This is how you turn your book launch into a self-perpetuating cycle. Keep generating content and the machine keeps spinning.
When the Book Drops
You’re going to have good and bad days. If the book next to you spends a thousand bucks on traffic one day, that book is going to sell more units than you.
When you notice your ranking and sales numbers slipping, wait a few days before panicking. One of my books is always number two or three in its category. Once, the book slipped down to number six, and I worried that the book was dead. A few days later, Amazon course-corrected and I was back to number two.
If your book slips below the top 30,000, then you need to take action. Set up a free promotion and launch a new traffic push. Amazon always wants to see new reviews on your page. A few months after your launch, you can reuse all of the review sources I shared above. Th
eir audience will have changed, and you will find a whole new batch of reviewers.
During that free promotion day, get as much traffic and momentum as you can. Share with your list and get them to share with all their friends. The skeptics who were interested in your book, but not willing to buy it, will gladly read it for free. They will then become engaged, join your tribe, and leave awesome reviews.
29
Pull the Trigger
You’ve done it! We’re at the end of the book. My journey is coming to an end, but yours is just starting.
This is where we separate the readers from the doers. If you read this book out of curiosity and have no desire to ever write a book, that’s cool. I appreciate you taking the time to read my story.
This chapter is for everyone else. If you want to succeed, you have to take action. You have all of the steps you need in this book. There are additional walkthroughs on my blog, and advanced lessons on my podcast. You can email me with any questions, and post to my Facebook page when you want feedback. You have knowledge, tools, and support to get you through writing and launching your first book.
The first step is planning your book. You might not have an idea yet, and that’s ok. Start searching around the Kindle categories until you find something that appeals to you. Analyze the keywords and categories for profit and opportunity. When you find that good fit, study the competition.
Looking at the competition will give you a target word count. Take that word count and divide it into manageable pieces. If you can write five hundred words a day, you can set a deadline to finish your first draft.
Write Your Book
Nothing will happen until you start putting words on a page. This action step is crucial. Whether you write by hand, use Scrivener, or dictate your book, do whatever it takes to get those words written.
The idea phase is pleasant, but the writing stage is where reality is created. Put in the time, get your head down and write that book. Release the creativity that is within you. You know the same deep research method that I use for my work. You have every single piece of knowledge you need to write something fantastic.
Writer’s block will never enter your life because you know how to research and create a flawless outline. Writing is my favorite part of the process. It’s so exciting. Each word you create brings you one step closer to immortality.
Launch Your Book
When your writing is complete, it’s time to edit and then launch your book. Ignore any thoughts or negative words from your friends. They will try to stop you from launching.
I waited two years between writing and launching my first book. I was afraid to release it into the universe and wanted to wait until the time was just right. I was a fool, and my hesitation cost me thousands of dollars. Learn from my mistake.
I launched Serve No Master forty-one days ago. Here I am writing the conclusion to the next book in the series. I’m a big believer in speed to market. The faster you can create and launch books, the sooner you will have the momentum you need to quit the job you despise. To pay off those credit card debts. To serve no master.
Join My Tribe
Thank you so much for reading Breaking Orbit. I want you to break the gravitational chains that have limited your income for so long.
I have tons more material to help you along your journey and to support you as an author and as an entrepreneur.
Please check out my blog and give my podcast a listen. They are loaded with free content to help fill in the gaps in your knowledge. I’m always adding new content, and I want nothing more than to get that email from you bragging about your new bestseller or paying off that final credit card. Those moments are the ones that change me and make all of my effort worthwhile.
You may have felt like something was missing from this book and that I didn’t go into deep enough detail on something. Please check out the Breaking Orbit page on my site to see if it’s in the extended material. If you don’t find what you’re looking for, please email me. You don’t have to write a bad review because something you wanted wasn’t in here. I’d much rather get your feedback directly and improve this book to better meet your needs.
I respond to every email personally, and I do update and improve my books as things change. I want my material to be as valuable as possible. This book is not an altar to my hubris. It is not about ego or fame. I desperately want to help you achieve the same life that I live. I am sitting here on the beach at sunrise on my paradise island.
My dreams came true. Now it’s your turn. Let me help you. Let my show you the path—so that you too can achieve it.
Serve. No. Master.
One Last Chance
I believe in second chances. Now that you’ve read this entire book, you know that I have a whole series of bonuses waiting for you on the other side. Just click the link below and enter your email address; I will immediately send you my guide to boosting your income with audiobooks. It’s so easy that it will blow your mind.
After that you can expect a few more emails with all of the additional content I mentioned during the course of this book. I will include some of my top secret advanced training, several custom paperback templates, and even more top secret book review strategies.
Turbocharge your results NOW.
ServeNoMaster.com/audio
More Information
Throughout this book I mentioned other books, images, links, and additional content. All of that can be found at:
https://servenomaster.com/orbit/
You don’t have to worry about trying to remember any other links or the names of anything mentioned in this book. Just enjoy the journey and focus on taking control of your destiny.
Found a Typo?
While every effort goes into ensuring that this book is flawless, it is inevitable that a mistake or two will slip through the cracks.
If you find an error of any kind in this book, please let me know by visiting:
ServeNoMaster.com/typos
I appreciate you taking the time to notify me. This ensures that future readers never have to experience that awful typo. You are making the world a better place.
About the Author
Born in Los Angeles, raised in Nashville, educated in London - Jonathan Green has spent years wandering the globe as his own boss - but it didn't come without a price. Like most people, he struggled through years of working in a vast, unfeeling bureaucracy. And even though he was ‘totally crushed' when he got fired, it gave him the chance to reappraise his life and rebuild it from scratch.
Since 2010, he's been making a full-time living on the Internet - helping brick and mortar business owners promote themselves on the Internet, helping men and women find true love, ghostwriting best sellers for some of the biggest publishers in the world and much, much more.
Thanks to smart planning and personal discipline, he was more successful than he could have possibly expected. He traveled the world, helped friends and family, and moved to an island in the South Pacific.
Now he's passing his knowledge onto the rest of the world as host of a weekly podcast that teaches financial independence, networking with the world's most influential people, writing epic stuff online, and traveling the world for cheap.
His hobbies include kayaking, surfing, and building empires. He currently has a loving girlfriend, and two wonderful kids who love the ocean (almost!) as much as he does.
Find out more about Jonathan at:
ServeNoMaster.com
Books by Jonathan Green
Serve No Master Series
Serve No Master
Breaking Orbit
20K a Day
Control Your Fate
Habit of Success Series
PROCRASTINATION
Influence and Persuasion
Love Yourself
One Last Thing
When you turn the page, Kindle will give you the option to rate this book and share your thoughts on Facebook and Twitter. If you found value in this b
ook, I would appreciate it if you would take a few seconds and click the FIVE STARS and share with your friends. If they desire to write amazing books and making a living as authors, they will be grateful for the recommendation.
Without stars and reviews, you would never have found this book. Please take just thirty seconds of your time to support an independent author by leaving a rating.
Thank you so much!
Sincerely,
Jonathan Green
ServeNoMaster.com
Breaking Orbit: How to Write, Publish and Launch Your First Bestseller on Amazon Without a Mailing List, Blog or Social Media Following (Serve No Master Book 4) Page 13