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How I Sold 1 Million EBooks In 5 Months (2000)

by John Locke(Favorite Author)

3.77 of 5 Votes: 2

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review 1: When it comes to self-publishing phenoms, the media tends to focus on the more sensational aspects of a story while leaving out facts that are crucially important to understanding the author's success. So I really appreciate that John Locke has written this short and to the point book about how, exactly, he rose to the top of the charts with his novels. He takes you through his process step by step, and it is indeed something anyone can do. I'm somewhat skeptical of how much time he claims it takes, given that he did it all in just five months, but besides that I see a lot of keen marketing sense in his plan. Moreover, he confirms several of my own teachings on the keys to self-publishing success, such as achieving critical mass (i.e. multiple books) and that certain genre... mores do best, particularly those that are friendly to book series. I was slightly put off by his basic writing philosophy, which essentially makes sense but I think downplays the importance of the novel as an art form (yes, even genre fiction). I don't agree with the black and white perspective of "quality" fiction vs. fiction that's fun to read. I believe you can write a page-turner that still follows good plotting techniques and has strong character development, etc. and I have read many books that accomplish just that. He spoke of his own books in a way that felt like he didn't care very much about how good a writer he was, just as long as he kept selling books. I haven't read his novels, so I can only go by the impression he himself gave in this book, but it left a bad taste in my mouth. Doesn't take away from his marketing genius, just means I probably won't become a fan of his fiction.
review 2: This is a great book and exceptionally helpful to we authors who are trying to get on the ladder in the ebook market. It provides a very strong argument for the use of twitter and blogging in driving sales. I will have to read the book again of course because you can't get a handle on the system after one read but I had almost given up on twitter and now, perhaps I will give it a go again. The author is at great pains to convince the reader that his blogs are not contrived and that this is how he genuinely feels. His writing is brilliant and his blogs come across as 100% genuine (I had a tear in my eye reading them) and yet he explains the great pains he goes through and the long time he takes to compose them. There is something ambivalent here for me but perhaps it is that I am something of a sceptic! I certainly learned a lot and will be trying to put it into practice. less

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