Playing the Long Game to Win at Life and Self-Publishing

…isn’t that hard, but it seems to be a skill to master that isn’t commonly taught

Hi there ,

This week brought to view the fact that 98% of us don’t choose to set goals, and if we do, don’t write them down.

But this is also the way to being what you want to be and having what you want to have.

If you follow this, you have a route to “making your dreams come true.”

You simply have to keep dreaming the same thing and taking action.

Let’s back up.

I’ve been launching a book in a different way, all in parts and in several versions at the same time.

In the middle of this, another application of natural systems showed up.

Authors seem to worry about their platform a lot. Any new author has to “build a platform” in order to get sales. And traditional publishers turn down authors who don’t have a “platform.”

But mostly, they don’t define a platform. No one really does.

The closest I’ve found is Tim Grahl, who has figured out three different ways to get a book launched and promoted. Every one else has only said there was one way to do this. (Conventional Wisdom strikes again.)

Again, we’re talking here about having a goal of being a successful author and having a successful book that is selling well for you.

What is more interesting is that the natural system that successful authors use is the same one which you can apply to your own work, or business, or life-success in general.

Now, Grahl says that if you have a big network of people, then you get them to help you launch your book. He says that if you have a big audience (mailing list) of people, then you ask them to help you launch your book. The third type he calls the “long game” where you gradually build your network and audience while you prepare to launch your book.

And these are all fine, and are head and shoulders above the rest.

Good Old Boy networks used to be the way to get something done. Colleges rely on alumni. Clubs have networks and echelons.

Audiences are the way to get “instant bestsellers” and are how Amazon picks the books they want to promote.

If you have neither, then you seem to be out of luck, and have to spend some time building each of them up in order to make your book launch a success.

Not really.

There’s a system underlying book launches, and this is the same that runs any business. It’s also a way you can run your life.

It has four parts: Mind – Body – Value – Bliss

Let’s take these up one at a time:

You need to have your Mind straight and not filled up with a bunch of unworkable stuff that holds you back. And this is why Make Yourself Great Again is an introduction to Mindset Stacking Solutions. You are constantly restacking your mindset every day – it’s called learning. The trick is to learn to take control over what you want to learn about and so change your brittle mindset stack (based on static data that can be disproved) over to a resilient mindset stack (based on systems which allow you to “roll with the punches” and adapt to your environment more easily, no matter what changes happen.)

Your Body is what you’re riding around with through this life, but this term is also the specialized knowledge that you acquire for your job. It’s also the training you’ve done and can do. In your business, its the form of the organization and how it’s planned.

Value is what you give in order to get. Golden Rule stuff, which what our economy is based on. You can’t expect a fire to give you heat until you add some fuel. And the scams you see in your email are all of this type – you have to give them something before you can get the Next Great Thing they are offering. The emails you like to read are from the people who regularly give you great stuff without asking for anything (well, not very often.)

Bliss is your sweetspot of what you most like to do and what you know how to do best. Some call this your purpose in life. Others frame it as “what you would like to do even if you never got paid for it.”

When you narrow down to what you most like to do that you can do, then you can work out how to find people who would pay you to do that for them.

But that takes us right into working this system.

• You know what you can and want to do.
• So you work up some stuff you can give to others that they would want to give you something in return.
• You have to have it organized so they can get the best use out of it, and you have to have an assembly line so you can generate this stuff simply and regularly.
• To do that, you have to be able to sit there and crank this stuff out without distraction. You have to have your mind clear, in other words.

How this applies to writing and launching a book is just this simple.

Bliss becomes Vision.
Value becomes Content.
Body becomes Audience.
Mind becomes Network

Vision – You find a genre that you are fascinated with, the stuff you like to read. You get an idea of what you want to accomplish by writing and publishing your books, write this down and refer to it at least twice a day and every chance you get.

Content – study that genre and find out what people are expecting. Start cranking out stories which meet their expectations.

Audience – publish these in the various areas people are looking for them. Social networks like Goodreads and Wattpad are great for this. But Amazon and all the ebook outlets are also places to find your audience. They won’t buy what they don’t like, but until you publish, you’ll never know…

Network – these are like-minded authors and people around them, like book bloggers and podcasters and radio hosts, even broadcast news media. You contact them and offer value that they can exchange with their audience. You treat them like you’d want to be treated, with openhanded giving.

Now, the next step is to simply put that machine in action.

1. Start writing daily. Start publishing weekly or bi-weekly, even if it’s just short stories to your own blog.
2. Reach out regularly to others in these areas to join their team and vice-versa.
3. Set up a mailing list that people can join and so you can stay in contact with them, and help them with what they most need.
4. Spend some time daily clearing your own mind, and in improving your craft as an author, publisher, and marketer.

Then you are on your road to success.

What’s interesting is that these all work together as a system. If you improve any single element, it improves the other three elements. Similarly, if you publish crap, then your audience and network won’t trust you as much. Plus, you’ll feel bad about it.

Just keep polishing your vision and fixing the details of it in your mind every single day. Keep polishing your skills and producing valuable stuff every day that other people will appreciate. And then spend some time finding more people to join your audience and become part of your network.

Before long, you’ll see your vision start showing up around you in terms of the booksales you want to see, the income you want to see, and the life-satisfaction you want to see.

And that’s the Long Game. It works for life, it works for business, it works for authors. Probably everything you could ever want to be or have.

Try it for yourself.

You only get out of life what you put into it. So get started.

Until next time…

– – – –

And you may want to check out my new book, Make Yourself Great Again. Part 1 is free and the other parts are set to really low prices. Feel free to share this with your friends.

But above all, have fun.

Click here to get yours.

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