Tag Archive for self-publishing

Ideas are the Currency of the Twenty-First Century

One quote from Lee Iacocca in his book, “Iacocca: An Autobiography”, has stayed top of mind and led to many breakthroughs in my life.  Iacocca, for the younger crowd, was the famous auto executive who was fired from Ford and went on to lead the miraculous Chrysler turnaround in the 1980’s.

Lee said in his book, “You can have brilliant ideas, but if you can’t get them across, your ideas won’t get you anywhere.”

That one quote caused me to take a Dale Carnegie course in my younger days and become an award winning speaker to get my ideas across.  It led me to write and publish books that have sold across the globe. It continues to inspire me today to write and share and help you with ideas on how you can become a better communicator and get your message, your ideas, out into the world – where they can do the most good. Where they can make a real difference in someone’s life.

 

Jim Altucher, in his new book, “The Choose Yourself Guide to Wealth”, (which is destined to become a best-seller like its predecessor, “Choose Yourself: Be Happy, Make Millions, Live the Dream”) goes so far as to say that, “Ideas are the currency of the twenty-first century.”

 

New ideas, new thoughts, new ways of doing things. This is what drives progress, pushes humanity to become better in all areas. One of the greatest compliments I ever received on my books was, “Your way of explaining things Bob does more for me than all the (Youtube) videos.” Your way.

 

You don’t need the status or the alphabet soup of letters after your name for your ideas to have value. YOUR WAY might just be the tip, technique or trick that we need to make our lives better.

 

Don’t deny us. Don’t wait to be chosen. Choose yourself.

 

Write your own book. Publish your own book. Share your ideas with the world.

 

No matter where you are on the ladder of success, there is someone coming up behind you who could use some help. Your way of explaining things might be just what they need.

 

If you need some motivation to get started, to gain confidence in yourself, in your opportunities and your ideas, I highly recommend reading James Altucher’s new book, “The Choose Yourself Guide to Wealth”. 

 

Inside there are great tips you can use right now, he tells great stories about his own failures and successes, plus he’s funny.

 

There has never been a better time to share your idea with the world. Self-publishing makes it easier than ever.

 

Lee Iacocca also said, “Apply yourself. Get all the education you can, but then, by God, do something. Don’t just stand there, make it happen.”

 

Let me know how I can help you.
Robert Schwarztrauber

 

P.S. In his book, “The Choose Yourself Guide to Wealth”, Altucher also tells you how to get great ideas for a book, or a raise, or anything. Even if you’re struggling right now.

What To Write for Money

Old Typewriter

by Bob Schwarztrauber

In the old days, writers had just a few options and tools for writing and making money from their work. Often, making money from your writing meant you had to rely on someone else to publish your work and provide payment. Distribution and printing costs were high.

Today, opportunities are wide open for the self-publisher. Many of them free.

Computers are the modern tool for creation, and in a pinch, most folks have free access to one at their local public library. So creation is free.

There are many free options for publishing your work as well. Digital publishing lets you create free or paid access to your work through blogs, file sharing, and email. And thanks to Amazon.com,  it’s even free to publish a complete digital book, large or small through Kindle or even a full-color paperback book through Createspace. Amazon.com provides the free marketing and distribution channels as well.They take care of all the payments and returns stuff too. And automatically send you the royalty money each month like clockwork.

Can you imaging how frustrating it must have been for those writers who worked prior to digital publishing? Can you imagine having to rely on a publisher and be turned down over and over again and still have no viable means of getting your work out to the people who could most benefit or enjoy? Ugh!

So now that we know the opportunities to make money are out there, what do we write to get paid?

Here is a list, far from complete given all the options out there, but certainly enough for you to get started writing your own eternal money magnet today…

  1. Kindle or Nook Books, how-to, fun, picture, comic, fiction
  2. Paperback Print Books, Fiction or Non-Fiction
  3. Special Reports, 10-100+ pages of specific and useful knowledge
  4. Problem Solving Paper, 1 to 10+ pages, one problem, one quick solution
  5. Speeches
  6. Sales letters for other products
  7. Dialogue/scripts for audio books
  8. Transcribe audio books for creating print versions
  9. Publish your own blog, sell ad space
  10. No topic of your own? Seek out others in your town and help them tell their story

Oh, now some of you might be saying but I can’t type. Forget that excuse. I’ve one-handedly pecked my way through 100’s of thousands of words and they never once asked me how I typed before the cash arrived in my bank account. Even if you have a severe physical restriction that won’t allow you to type with your hands, there is a great program out there called Dragon NaturallySpeaking Home 12.0, English. Using this program you speak into a microphone and the computer types for you into your favorite word processing program. Very cool! I know several authors who use this to create books.

Our ancestors not so far removed would have killed for the opportunities we now have available. Don’t squander the opportunity. You have the means, for free, but you must provide the will. Ask me if you need help getting started.