Information, inspiration and interviews on writing, self-publishing, book marketing and making a living with your writing. If you need help with writing your book, or you want to learn how to navigate the new world of publishing and book marketing, then join Joanna Penn and her guests every Monday. Also covers the business of being a writer and how to make money with your books.
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The Mindset Of Successful Indie Authors And Longevity As A Writer with Bob Mayer
OLD POST ALERT! This is an older post and although you might find some useful tips, any technical or publishing information is likely to be out of date. Please click on Start Here on the menu bar above to find links to my most useful articles, videos and podcast. Thanks and happy writing! – Joanna PennToday, I'm really excited to bring you a fantastic interview with Bob Mayer, who definitely counts as one of the leaders of the indie community.
In the intro, I talk about DRM and some of the things we need to be aware of as authors. The next blog post will go into this in more detail.
This podcast is sponsored by Kobo Writing Life, which helps authors self-publish and reach readers in global markets through the Kobo eco-system. You can also subscribe to the Kobo Writing Life podcast for interviews with successful indie authors.
Bob Mayer is a West Point Graduate, Former Green Beret, CEO of Cool Gus Publishing and a NY Times Bestselling Author. With 60 books published, Bob has sold over four million books, and is also a leadership speaker and consultant.
You can watch the interview on YouTube here, listen above or on the podcast feed on iTunes or Stitcher, or read the transcription below.
We discuss:
* Discipline and putting in the work as an author
* How authors lie and some of the myths around sales figures and the industry
* How to stay afloat in the river of digital books
* Focusing on a niche for long term success
* Longevity as a writer
* How Bob works with his COO, Jen Talty to run Cool Gus Publishing
* On the mindset of successful indies and the lure of control
* Multiple streams of income and how Bob manages his speaking as well as writing
* On the future of foreign rights, subscriptions services and other things to consider for the next few years of publishing upheaval
* The themes that span Bob's fiction work -you can check out a sampler here
* What writers can learn from TV
You can find Bob at CoolGus.com and on twitter @bob_mayer
Transcription of interview with Bob Mayer
Joanna: Hi, everyone, I’m Joanna Penn from TheCreativePenn.com, and today I’m here with Bob Mayer. Hi, Bob!
Bob: Hi, thanks for having me.
Joanna: It’s great to finally have you on the show. So, just as an introduction, Bob is a West Point graduate, a former Green Beret, the CEO of Cool Gus Publishing, and a New York Times bestselling author, with 60 books published. Bob has sold over four million books, and is also a leadership speaker and consultant, and one of the indie—I don’t want to say gurus, Bob, but you are a bit of a guru!
Bob: OK. Not fond of the term guru, but that’s OK.
Joanna: Well, we’ll say you are our sort of Green Beret leader, how’s that?
Bob: OK, that works.
Joanna: Yes, that works. So, just on that, I am absolutely fascinated with your military background, and one of the big things about the military, I guess, is discipline. And with 60 books, that’s just amazing.