Kindle Publishing JV

Hi,

Those of you that are familiar with me know I have had some success publishing on the Kindle.

The 3 key questions people ask me about KDP on BHW are:

1. How do you choose a Fiction/Non Fiction topic to write about that will sell?
   
   
2. How do you market it?
   
   
3. How do you outsource?

So it made sense to me to offer a JV that deals with those 3 points of concern.

My business has now sufficiently scaled in size that I can offer a JV with either people who are starting out or established Kindle publishers who are looking to expand and everyone in between.

If you are looking to self-publish on Amazon KDP this is probably the JV for you.

My JV will help you with any or all of those 3 questions, as your needs require.

1. I will research and tell you topics that will sell (The answer is anything if you do it right!)
2. I will sort the marketing. (If you set it up correctly Amazon will do most of it for you.)
3. I will sort whatever needs outsourcing. I have a huge database of people I outsource to. These are the key areas that you need and which I outsource:
   Ghost Writers
   Cover Artists
   Illustrators/Photographers
   English Speaking Editors
   Web Design (Each of my authors -a different pen name for each genre- has a website)
   Social Media (To be honest I don?t use this too much, but sometimes it is useful)

Obviously you may well bring your own skills and not need all the outsourcing and that is great. I am simply outlining what is needed and that I can sort whatever is missing. If you are not doing the above to a high standard, chances are you are not very successful on KDP.

Once your book is ready I will also provide step by step instructions of exactly how to upload it into KDP in a way that increases its chances of selling. You just tell me if you want to be white, grey or blackhat about this.

In return you then publish the book on your KDP account. I get 30% you get 70%.

I have tried to make this risk free for you, but obviously I have to trust you to pay me my share when Amazon pays you. So we will have to agree some terms about that, nothing outrageous, just to protect me a little.

The way I am able to manage the scale of my existing work and this venture is by outsourcing and managing it. Coupled with my current work I simply don?t have the time to talk each person through things on Skype. If you need everything outlined on Skype, this isn?t for you. If you are happy to correspond by email, then you will be fine.

If you are interested in this JV feel free to PM me.

Thread Approved.

Based on my interactions with GringoMonkey I feel comfortable stating that he does indeed have quite a bit of knowledge in this space.

Best of luck to you in your JV, Ian!

Morning,I am looking to make a serious push into the kindle platform in 2015, I have saved a fair amount of cash ready for this venture and I am interested in this JV but I have a few questions.Are you willing to provide screen shots of both payment on your Amazon account and the payment going into your PayPal or bank account ?Why are you JVing for 30% if you are able to outsource everything your self and keep 100% ?Are you willing to work for a flat fee rather than % royalties ? It just seems easier than doing math every month. CheersShaun

Shaunm said:

Why are you JVing for 30% if you are able to outsource everything your self and keep 100% ?Are you willing to work for a flat fee rather than % royalties ? It just seems easier than doing math every month. CheersShaun

Click to expand...

This. I understand why you prefer a percentage instead of a fixed fee, but why do you need partners if you have the cash flow and you can outsource everything.

Something doesn't add up.

Carepolice said:

Based on my interactions with GringoMonkey I feel comfortable stating that he does indeed have quite a bit of knowledge in this space.

Best of luck to you in your JV, Ian!

Click to expand...

Hi Norman,

Thanks for that.

I was thinking this might be something to also integrate with your Zon Sidekick. As you have some nice data mining tools but my experience has been most people don't know how to mine the data. So they are looking for a series of answers to questions they don't actually know need to be asked. I can ask the right questions and therefore get the right answers in this JV.

Shaunm said:

Morning,I am looking to make a serious push into the kindle platform in 2015, I have saved a fair amount of cash ready for this venture and I am interested in this JV but I have a few questions.Are you willing to provide screen shots of both payment on your Amazon account and the payment going into your PayPal or bank account ?Why are you JVing for 30% if you are able to outsource everything your self and keep 100% ?Are you willing to work for a flat fee rather than % royalties ? It just seems easier than doing math every month. CheersShaun

Click to expand...

Hi,

Thanks for your questions.

I actually JV already with some people and I think one of them is on BHW so I can get a reference from them as to my success. If we decide to go ahead I think that is probably better. I would have to check exactly but I think I was making $5000 - $7000 per month with her.

In respect of why this JV for 30%...

It is simply too much for me to do all that is required on my own anymore and grow.

I need others because in terms of day to day operations there are 2 reasons:

1. I have thousands of book ideas I could not possibly fund on my own.

2. Lets just take one of the requirements - an authors website.

There is a huge difference between me pointing out to you who can build that, than me having to actually run say 100+ author websites on my own. Similarly with the other requirements.

But to pay managers would be a bad idea and require a big upfront investment for their salary and they would just take the money and not really keep me informed or I would have to give a % as well anyway. Hence why I don't want to employ managers and would rather have a JV.

The idea is ultimately the people I JV with would have their own book portfolio. If something was going wrong I am sure they would be very quickly pointing that out to me. So I would not have to manage the portfolio managers as they would be invested in the idea.

Your either bringing skills or cash to this JV or a mixture. I bring Kindle expertise. Hence why I think a JV is best for me and 30% is fair for the amount of work I would be doing.

Hope that answers your points.

If you wish to move forward feel free to PM me and we can talk further.

I also noticed this point was echoed by lord1027. Similarly I hope that clears things up for you as well.

Thanks for the replies, are you willing to provide proof of the $5000-$7000 a month from your past JV along with the proof of your current earnings on your own account with both screenshots of your kindle account and the money going into your PayPal?

I am new to kindle but have been reading everything I can get my hands on to get as much knowledge as possible. I have also saved $15000 for my kindle project from various CPA/SEO methods in the past that are no longer working, thus I am looking to move to kindle.

Shaunm said:

Thanks for the replies, are you willing to provide proof of the $5000-$7000 a month from your past JV along with the proof of your current earnings on your own account with both screenshots of your kindle account and the money going into your PayPal?

I am new to kindle but have been reading everything I can get my hands on to get as much knowledge as possible. I have also saved $15000 for my kindle project from various CPA/SEO methods in the past that are no longer working, thus I am looking to move to kindle.

Click to expand...

Hi,

Within reason I am happy to provide proof of what I say, but before I do we would have to agree a deal.

It might be better if you PM me rather than negotiating in public as it means I have to reply in public else it looks like I am ignoring you.

But I will be frank with you $15000 is not enough to put a team together. As owner you would have to pay their salaries for at least 1 year, which is what you would have to agree to on a flat rate.

In my experience to properly fund a brand new business you need cash to cover the first years outgoings really, because unless you can show how your going to fully fund salaries etc no one will accept a job with you. Else they do a load of work and you say you ran out of money.

So I think, like most people, you would be better with a JV and you can dip your toe in the water with that. You can then drip your $15000 into that as you scale.

Thank you for the replies, I think I will just try it myself.

I feel $15000 is plenty to test the water. I don't see any need to take on full time staff, I plan to outsource on a project by project basis.

thanks again

Shaun

Asuming we'd outsource the whole process, how much do you estimate it would be needed to fund this operation for a book?

Hi there,
I've followed your other thread and have begun my publishing. I am just starting out and had success with a couple of books.
I currently have 5 books being written (outsourced) now and am fully committed to Kindle.

Let me know what type of investment / requirements you are looking for
Thanks

NemoTheOne said:

Hi there,
I've followed your other thread and have begun my publishing. I am just starting out and had success with a couple of books.
I currently have 5 books being written (outsourced) now and am fully committed to Kindle.

Let me know what type of investment / requirements you are looking for
Thanks

Click to expand...

yea , what kind of investment required and whats the earning possibility ? ROI ?

Shaunm said:

Thank you for the replies, I think I will just try it myself.

I feel $15000 is plenty to test the water. I don't see any need to take on full time staff, I plan to outsource on a project by project basis.

thanks again

Shaun

Click to expand...

Sure that is what I suggest you do as well. What I am offering is a JV not a flat fee though.

If you want to try and sort all that on your own good luck. But I suggest you read the various kindle threads on here as that is not an easy thing to do.

Assuming you are starting with nothing...

This would be the minimum you would need:

Ghost Writers - $125- $1000
Cover Artists - $60
Illustrators/Photographers - $125 - $1000 (if used)
English Speaking Editors - $60 -$100
Web Design - $250 for hosting, domain, design etc, there after about $60 per book

The first book is always the messiest to set up. Scaling then gets easier and cheaper.

The more difficult it is to copy the more money you are likely to make hence quite a big variation in author/photographer/illustrator fees.

It is difficult to get a hard figure as each book is different and in all honesty you don't know until you do it. I have some that sell 2 per day and some that sell 100. All are priced between $0.99 and $9.99.

I'd be looking for a minimum of $100 revenue per book per month. Most do more and that is usually proportionate to how much you spent on it. A $1000 book typically makes more per month than a $125 book and is easier to scale as there is less competition that can produce to that standard.

I hope that answers lord1027 NemoTheOne and wealth54

GringoMonkey said:

Ghost Writers - $125- $1000
Cover Artists - $60
Illustrators/Photographers - $125 - $1000 (if used)
English Speaking Editors - $60 -$100
Web Design - $250 for hosting, domain, design etc, there after about $60 per book

Click to expand...

Something doesn't seem to add up with this thread :s.

I don't see how $15,000 is not enough to start getting into Kindle.

I don't need the illustrator or photographers for the books I plan to make, also I have no need for the web design, I have been working with a proof reader for a long time who charges me $4 per 1000 words too.

The costs you listed all seem to be outsourceable on a project by project base rather than needing to build a full team and pay them each a years wage...

Hey everyone,
I was a little bit sceptical when I read the offer by GringoMonkey. But then I've compared it to my own "Kindle journey" and seem to understand it:

Everyone knows how difficult it is to build up such a structure/business with good working ghost writers, cover artists, editors and so on. It's very hard (managing) work, it takes time and you are not able to build up such a business from day one. Why? Because you scale up your investments (for ghost writers, cover artists etc.) parallel to your growing income. At the end you have an automatically working business. Your only work is to invest money and to manage everything. NOW Gringo offers to you to use his existing structure so you don't have to struggle with building up the system - it's a pure investment and management game for you.

I bet that most of the people are asking now: "If Gringo already has this structure ...why he doesn't use his structur? ...He could get 100% back of his investments?" The point is: I told you that it's important to scale up your investments parallel to your growing income. Let's say you make $1.000 with Kindle - You invest $500/month for a ghost writer to make $250 more per month. Let's say you make $2.000 you will invest $1.000/month to make $500 more per month (eg. to hire a cover artist next to your ghost writer(s)). Let's say you make $10.000 some time and you are able to invest $5.000/month to make $2.5k more every month. Your business is now fully automated and your only work is to manage and invest. BUT: Even if your business is fully automated you are just able to publish 50 books/month (just an example to make it clear) because your time is limited. That means: Your income is growing by $2.5k/month but you can not scale up your investment anymore. So your income growing is limited to $2.5k/month. Let's say you have an income of $50k/month ....A growing of $2.5k is nothing. Again: This calculation is just an example to make it clear why Gringo is doing this: He offers to you his working system. You can use it to make money and give him a fee to use it. So he can grow his Kindle income but he also has the time to concentrate to other (bigger) investment methods (maybe a second business, maybe real estates, etc. - I don't know).

Why he doesn't want to cheat you? Because he want to make money (with you). If you are successful - he's successful too. It's a win win situation ...a partnership. You should give it a try to see what you'll get back. And if you see that it's working it's just an investment game for you (the classically numbers game).

@Shaunm: Of course you can do and/or outsource every work yourself. If you are able to do this you don't need this partnership. But I think Gringo just wants to offer his full structure and not only his ghost writers (because the fees would be too low and he can not require the 30% of your success).

Why I don't use his structure? Some know that I already have much success with Kindle (read the "Guys, Kindle is the ticket thread"). I also have the expertise and it's working great for me. My business is not fully automated like Gringos business but I'm on a good way. My income is growing month by month and there is no reason for me to change something. But I also know that there are people who already published 10 books and more and have not such a great success. So this offer could be very interesting for those people.

@Gringo:
You have to give a proof of your income, the quality of your workers, a clearly calculation of what the people are getting, maybe a rough calculation what people can earn when they invest $10k (+ proofs of your books). What's with the tax payments? And so on. Your idea is very good and I think I would do the same when my business is finally automated. But you need people who trust you, who understand the system, who are trustworthy etc. because you are looking for long term success. If I were in your position I think I would ask my friends if they are interested in this investment case. Because ...everyone one wants to make money. They already trust you. You can teach them one on one and bring them up from a $1k investment/month to $5k or more per month. You make sure that you have long term success. This is just my personal opinion.

Another possibility: I have a non fiction series in a specific health niche and make $2k+ only with this series (ebooks + paperbacks). Now I'm planning to produce a much better series and hired prof. photographers. My investment is really high but I'm sure that I'll earn 3 or maybe $4k+ more per month only with this new series. This series is outstanding and beats every other book in my niche (even the books of prof. publishing houses). If you are not able to scale up your investment (=your income growing is limited) you should think about to produce more outstanding books (you could hire prof. photographers, you could buy licensed photos of popular people, you could hire popular experts etc.). You can also ask big companies in your niche if they want to advertise in your books (another great income source without more work). If you bring the traffic to your blog/fb/twitter you can build a business around your niche with other products (eg. physical products with which you can earn much more (open end income growing)). I think there are tons of better ways to make more money than struggling with people over the Internet. You have to put time and effort into this people. You don't know if they'll give up after a month. You don't know what they'll do with your contacts. It's very very difficult...


Wish you everything best!

Shaunm said:

Something doesn't seem to add up with this thread :s.

I don't see how $15,000 is not enough to start getting into Kindle.

I don't need the illustrator or photographers for the books I plan to make, also I have no need for the web design, I have been working with a proof reader for a long time who charges me $4 per 1000 words too.

The costs you listed all seem to be outsourceable on a project by project base rather than needing to build a full team and pay them each a years wage...

Click to expand...

You outlined you wanted to pay a flat fee and not have a JV.

I am not interested in anything other than a JV hence why I posted a JV in the JV section.

Therefore I offered to set you a team of your own up, but you would have to salary them. That is why $15000 is not enough.

As Pinger says if you already have a team to do everything this isn't an appropriate JV for you, because I am not sure what I can add.

Gosh Pinger030 that is one hell of a detailed post and I will do my best to expand on it

I can only echo what you say to @Shaunm:If he already has a team/system in place and doesn't want to expand using mine then this JV won't work for him.

Your pretty much spot on about the scaling. As I outlined in an earlier reply, I cannot really do it and fund it all on my own quickly enough.

Your comments about better quality books etc, I already do that, hence as you can see some of the scale of outsourcing costs for authors, illustrators, photographers etc.

In terms of what people invest, as you probably know, once a system is set up correctly, as mine is, it is not really about "if" you make profit it is how quickly you make it. I would be lying if I said I could predict that. I have some books that sell just 1 or 2 per day others 100+. So obviously I make the initial investment back a lot quicker on the ones that sells 100+, but all the others make the money back it just takes longer.

I actually already do this JV with various people. The purpose of this JV on BHW is to scale my scaling. So I am beyond people I know and have found business networking incredibly time consuming and very hit and miss. BHW is a good place to look as it has like minded people and I am looking for about 10 of them for this JV. Then I will close the thread and come back again once all is running smoothly with them.

As outlined one of the people I currently JV with is actually here on BHW and I am happy to provide, within reason, proof once we reach an agreement.

To summarise, as you outline it is a no risk situation to anyone who joins the JV as I only win if they win and they only pay my 30% of royalties after Amazon pays them.

Okay, here is what i think:
1- The OP offers a JV, but indeed it's his outsourcing service that's hidden in the name of JV and the win-win.
2- $15K not enough! sure, the idea here is to make you spend much more, and as a broker he may spend $5000 or $10,000 and the rest will be his pure profit.
3- If you failed F#$ You! It's not his fault, cuz you didn't apply his rules fore sure! and if you did it, he makes money again from you!

I started to think that's a lot of people who starting a journey threads, or jump in one and give big claims that they made TONS of money, they just fishing some noobs for future project...

What makes me think like this? simple, cuz you refuse to do JV with those who won't PAY for your full service! the logic says if there is a person who is a good designer for example or who can build a nice website why you won't do JV with him if he can provide the SAME quality? It's clear that's the point here to SELL as much as you can for that noob who needs your magical system!
And finally, yeah a proof that's not photoshopped will add a big value since people have to risk thousands of $ in advance, at least give them something in advance too.

Thanks!