kindle – Meron Bareket

How To Become A Bestselling Author By Watching TV

Today’s guest on the Inspiring Innovation Podcast is Sean Platt. Sean has revolutionized electronic book publishing over the last two years, became bestselling author several times on Amazon and most importantly — is making a living from something that he truly loves doing. Without formal writing education, Sean is an amazing example of innovation.

His first book was rejected by the publisher. That’s where most writers stop, but for Sean it was only the beginning. He immediately went online and opened a blog where he started writing. Through that blog he met his business partner David Wright and together they created the Collective Inkwell — the home of their collaborative work. They adapted the business model of TV series such as ‘Lost’, ‘The Walking Dead’ and other series to digital books. Specifically speaking – creating episodes and seasons, and releasing on a weekly schedule.

The model has very clear business advantages, as it allows writers to enjoy recurring revenue and get a lot more exposure out of Amazon. But How? Why? Listen to the interview and find out!

In this episode you will learn:

How Sean’s favorite TV Series; ‘Lost’, ‘Mad Man’, ‘Breaking Bad’ and ‘The Walking Dead’ contributed to his books and his success.
Learn about the current Kindle publishing opportunities.
Sean’s serialization model – what is it, why is it huge, and how can you apply it to your own business.
Sean’s story of success: how he went from ‘nobody’ to ‘bestselling author’ in under four years!
What is Amazon KDP and how can you utilize it for your self publishing business.
Why does he release a new book once a week.
Sean’s key principles for more consistent and better writing.
The one thing writers should keep in mind to satisfy their ideal readers.
The number one discipline for a writer.

Items mentioned in this episode include:

Sean Platt: Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin
Collective Inkwell – collectiveinkwell.com
Amazon 47North – the publishing company of Amazon.com.
Our amazing Udemy Giveaway – ending next week!

Sean’s Books

Some More Sean Platt Awesomeness

Sean Platt Celebrates Reaching 100 Reviews on new title, Z 2134 – Lady Gaga Style

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Transcript

Continue reading IIP 007 : How To Write An Amazon Bestseller EVERY Single Week, With Sean Platt

This is a story about a woman named Linn, who travels a lot and reads most of her books on Kindle (much like me). Some time ago, as she loaded up her Kindle app, she found out to her surprise that Amazon have destroyed her account and erased its contents (i.e. her books), with no notice what-so-ever.

You think that when you buy a book on Amazon Kindle you actually own it? Hell no, you are just paying for the (temporary) right to consume it digitally.

This story (which already unfolded and has been remedied) is quite scary, and is an eye opener to all these “Terms & Conditions” that we’re so eager to agree to, just so we can put our hands on the next ‘Hunger Games’ book (I prefer this one though).

Being locked out of her Amazon account wasn’t the worst part. The worst and most scary part is the response Linn received from Amazon when she contacted their support, as described on Martin Bekkelund‘s blog, who was the first to feature this story:

Dear Linn [last name],

My name is Michael Murphy and I represent Executive Customer Relations within Amazon.co.uk. One of our mandates is to address the most acute account and order problems, and in this capacity your account and orders have been brought to my attention.

We have found your account is directly related to another which has been previously closed for abuse of our policies. As such, your Amazon.co.uk account has been closed and any open orders have been cancelled.

Per our Conditions of Use which state in part: Amazon.co.uk and its affiliates reserve the right to refuse service, terminate accounts, remove or edit content, or cancel orders at their sole discretion.

Please know that any attempt to open a new account will meet with the same action.

You may direct any questions to me at [email protected].

Thank you for your attention to this email.

Regards

Michael Murphy
Executive Customer Relations
Amazon.co.uk

So, as Amazon’s Michael offered, Linn sent him some questions, such as – what the hell was Amazon accusing her of?

The emails went back and forth, but the answers repeated themselves: Amazon wouldn’t tell Linn what she did, or even if she actually did something. They wouldn’t tell her which account (allegedly) related to hers was violating their terms either.

They just shut her account down, told her to never try to open a new one, and called it a day.

The good news is that after this story got some media coverage (somebody said NBC?), Linn’s account was restored.

The bad news on the other hand, is that for better or worse – you can’t just march on to “the other Amazon store”. There is no other Amazon. In this day and age, as world’s authors are publishing more and more books solely on the Kindle platform, this is a disturbing thought.

P.S. Please don’t tell me that there’s always the iTunes book store. Not the same reach, and it’s limited in sooo many countries, that it ain’t relevant for now.

Tag: kindle

IIP 007 : How To Write An Amazon Bestseller EVERY Single Week, With Sean Platt