How To Create Your First Digital Product In Three Hours

October 20, 2022December 5, 2022 Neera

“If you want to grow your subscriber numbers, write a freebie,” said my mentor.

“But I don’t know how,” I cried. “And what?”
“What can I give as a freebie?”

“Anything of value.”

Something was stopping me, but I couldn’t figure out what.

I had written several articles on Medium but writing an eBook was a big step.

Then one day, almost a year later, I woke up with a tiny voice in my head.

“Write the damn book and write it fast.”

If there is one thing I learned in my creative life, it is to listen to that tiny voice.

I wrote my first ebook in one week and published it.

Then wrote three more and published them too.

I have written a guide to help you with the process.

It’s FREE. Download it here.

How To Build An Author Brand

September 20, 2022December 5, 2022 Neera

One of my readers wrote, “I like the idea of a learning plan. I especially need to get organized for an author brand.”

That triggered the thought — I need a learning plan for building an author brand.

I have been writing full time for over three years and haven’t bothered with branding.

When I was new to this game (yes, I have begun to see that everything is a game), I tried to engage a branding expert to help me build my author brand. He gave me a quote of $13,000.

That was just his consulting fee. I said, “Thank you,” and ran.

I had put branding aside and concentrated on writing. Although I have spent much more money on writing and marketing courses than the branding coach asked for, I still haven’t gone back to building a brand.

Today I want to discuss with you the reason behind that.

But before I do that, I first want to discuss what an author brand means to me.

What is an author brand?

If you listen to branding gurus on YouTube and blogs, they will make you believe a brand is a logo, a colour scheme, a slogan, or a website homepage with specific images and fonts.

Yes, these elements are helpful to branding, but they are not your brand.

A brand is a much simpler concept.

Your author brand is your promise to your readers.

It’s the perception your readers have of you. It’s how your readers identify you.

Branding is recognition beyond the physical aspects of your business and your persona. It’s the thought that others have when hearing your name or your business name. It directly represents you, what you stand for and what you do.

Stephen King’s brand, in three words, is imaginative, gripping, and suspenseful.

Why do authors need a brand?

Your brand is the hat you wear while writing and serving your readers.

There are a plethora of reasons you would want to wear your brand hat:

First, it helps you differentiate from other authors in the same industry who possibly write on the same topics as you.
It gives a better perception of your work, core values, strengths, and unique offerings.
It helps your readers to recognize your work.
It converts potential readers into fans.
It increases your visibility.
It helps you to fulfil your readers’ expectations.
It helps create your author platform.
It builds trust amongst your audience.
It helps you build quality relationships with your readers.
And it creates an impenetrable layer of authenticity.

I write about writing, creativity, and productivity. Countless other writers are writing about the same things. What differentiates me from them is that I write from an amateur’s point of view.

That’s my brand.

My promise to my readers is that I do not pretend to be a know-all. I am here to learn. And whatever I learn, I pass it on.

Do we need to spend money on branding?

The best form of branding is costless.

You don’t need to purchase different products to ‘start’ branding.

A better way to build a reputable brand is by being present, consistent, authentic, valuable, and unforgettable. As an author, these aspects of your brand are free.

You don’t have to spend thousands of dollars to engage in image building to build your brand.

You’re a storyteller, and a brand is a story. Tell your story authentically and you have a brand.

Each author has a unique backstory. Mine is that I sucked at writing. Rather than accepting it as my weakness, I made it my strength. I connect with those writers who think their writing sucks (which most writers do).

I began building my brand a long time before I published my first book. I was building it when I was writing my blog, I was building it when I was writing articles on Medium, and I am building it through The Whimsical Writer newsletter and LinkedIn posts.

So, how should you build your brand?

The answer is — through your writing.

Nurture your unique style of writing.

That is why readers read your articles, subscribe to your newsletter, or pick up your books to read. Fulfill their expectations.

But it’s not enough to be good at what you write.

You need to create an emotional connection with your readers – often before they’ve read your work.

You need to open communication channels with your readers. You need to encourage them to talk to you, either through your website or social media. Ask them questions. Invite their opinion. And when they respond, write back to them. Keep the conversation going.

It is not as hard as it sounds. I have formed many friendships with readers worldwide through Medium articles and LinkedIn. These people have become my cheerleaders. They read everything I write and encourage me through my project more than my family or physical life friends do.

Jeff Bezos is right when he said:

“A brand is what other people say about you when you’re not in the room.”

Another thing you can do is become a storyteller.

Early in my writing career, I realized I couldn’t become a literary writer because I lacked the skills. But I can become a good storyteller.

Being a skilled storyteller means being able to deliver a story in a way that is whimsical, amazing, and irresistible, and forces your audience to bow at your feet metaphorically. People love good stories.

Tell stories from life. Sharing personal stories is hard, but it gets easier with time. Besides, most of our information is already on the internet, either on Facebook or Instagram, so why not share it with our readers who connect with us at a much deeper level through our writing?

Author Branding is different from Book Branding

Book branding is about how good the book is and how well-packaged it is to attract the target audience. Is the cover right? Does it include all the elements of the genre? Would it appeal to the target audience?

An author’s branding establishes that the writer is the perfect person to solve readers’ problems. Readers don’t care about your book; they only care about what your book can do for them.

A fiction author’s brand promises this book will be as entertaining as the previous one.

Effective branding is foundational to developing your writer platform and audience-building efforts.

I hope I have addressed some questions in your mind, Carol.

But you still would need to make a Learning Plan for your brand, and it will take you a while to get to the point you want to get with your brand. But keep the above information in your mind while creating your brand, and don’t just stop at a logo, a colour scheme, and a slogan.

Although I have moved along since I tried to engage a branding expert, I still am nowhere near where I want my brand to be.

So, I if you are looking to build your author brand, here are some questions you need to ponder.

What is your uniqueness?
What is your brand in three words?
Who are your audience? What are their needs?
What channels of communication do you have with your audience? How often do you communicate with them?
What problems do you solve?
What level are your storytelling skills?
Have you discroved your voice?
How are your growing your audience?
What are your distinctive physical features (logo, color scheme, slogan)?
What books/ articles, podcasts, and other resources you need to learn more about author branding.

Here are some resources:

How To Create Digital Products Using Your Current Knowledge

August 23, 2022December 5, 2022 Neera

Creating a digital product that they could sell is every new creator’s dream. Digital products are an amazing way to add a revenue stream.

The beauty of digital products is that they allow you to package knowledge you already have or skills and services you already performed into a product that you can build once and sell countless times. That allows you to save a lot of time, a lot of overhead and reach a lot more customers.

What is so special about digital products?

They’re a low investment.
They’re more profitable than physical goods because you don’t have to worry about shipping or replenishing inventory.
You don’t have to deal with the hassle of constantly producing stock, storing shipping, or any other logistics.
You can automate the delivery, and you can serve your niche at scale by providing valuable information.
Not only that, but the shifted digital business models and online education is a powerful market factor working in your favor. eLearning for example is projected to be worth $331 billion by 2025.

What should you create?

You don’t need to be an expert in what you do in order to create a digital product. You need to be two years ahead of the people you are teaching.

Think of something you have learned in the past two years. Chances are other people also want to learn the same skill. You can teach them through your product.

People prefer to learn from someone who is a little ahead of them rather than from experts. Experts are too far ahead in the game. Beginners can’t relate to them.

Make a list of the things you are good at. Things people ask your help for. It could be — how to create a website or how to choose a good board game to play when you have friends over.

Make a list.

Then choose one thing that you can work on straight away.

Once you have done that, let’s get started.

How to create a digital product

The first thing that you need to do when creating a digital product is to answer a very simple question.

What problem can you solve and what opportunity can you provide?

At the core, there are two main reasons people purchase a product.

To move further away from pain
To unlock a benefit.

In either case, these people are seeking to improve their lives meaningfully. So what you need to do is create a problem statement.

A problem statement is a concise description that highlights the gap between the barriers your target market is facing and their desired end state.

The reason you want to do this is so that you clearly articulate what the idea is and why it is useful in the context of the marketplace.

Writing a problem statement is actually quite simple.

It should be more like a paragraph that a sentence. Start by stating the desire. Then point out what is stopping them from fulfilling that desire. Then propose how they can fulfil their desire and how your product is going to help them reach that.

Last week, I created a digital product. The problem statement for that was:

Creating a digital product is every new creator’s dream. But most of them don’t do it because they don’t know what problem they should pick, how to create it and how to write the sales letter. They either keep postponing it. Or they start creating it, and when they get stuck, they give up.

My guide can help you create your first product in three hours. It will help you write the sales letter and select a platform where to publish it for repeat business.

Do you see how the problem statement helps frame and articulate my digital product idea and why it is valuable in the market?

Then I stated how my product was going to help them solve their problem.

This guide can help.

Written in a short and succinct manner, this short guide gives you all the information you need on:

• What to create as your first product.

• How to create it.

• Where to publish it.

• How to improve it.

• How to write a sales page.

Examples of products.

No matter whether you’re making software, a course or a digital download, don’t skip this step.

I have created a guide that can help with the entire process. You can download it here for free.

Hope it will inspire and help you with writing your first product.

Lesson Learned During 30 Day LinkedIn Sprint

February 15, 2022February 15, 2022 Neera

Last month I wrote I am using LinkedIn to establish myself as a writer. The article generated a lot of interest. Since I just finished the LinkedIn30daysSprint with Tom Kuegler, it’s time to update you on what I learned.

First my achievements:

I wrote 30 posts in 30 days and didn’t get stuck even a single time.
My followers/connection numbers increased by 300, and it is at 1625 at the moment.
I made several friends.
I started a newsletter on LinkedIn, which attracted 500+ subscribers in 3 weeks.
I announced a sprint of my own, ‘Write Your Book Sprint,’ and several participants enrolled for it, and I haven’t even written a sales page or designed the course yet.

I hadn’t envisioned I would achieve so much in 30 days. It is unbelievable what incredible results the focused effort can bring.

What did the Sprint Involve

The Sprint participants had to make two main commitments:

Write a post every day.
Engage with other participants’ posts.

Since the number of participants was very high, we were divided into three groups. Each day we commented on our group members’ posts.

You might think they were forced comments, but in fact, the activity generated some great discussions.

Reading 20–30 posts a day and then saying something helpful to add to the discussion was harder than writing my post and took much longer than anticipated.

Personal stories generated the most engagement for most of the participants.

Each day I spent close to two hours in engagement, and that was where I realized the strengths of LinkedIn is.

The Medium used to be like that previously but since the change of algorithm, reach has dwindled and so has the engagement from the readers.

LinkedIn has one great advantage over Medium; you can directly message the other person and make meaningful connections. If you take the sales out of the equation for a second, it is a great way to meet and stay connected to people with the same interests as you.

If You are a sparse LinkedIn User, these insights can help you do well on the platform.

Write a post every day. The LinkedIn algorithm favors the consistent creators (like all other platforms), and you are seen as an authority by your followers.
Publish your post early in the morning, preferably between 7:00 AM to 10:00 AM, US time. That is when most people are active on the platform if you miss that, later in the afternoon, between 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM and at night after dinner is the good windows to post.
Spend more time engaging with other people’s posts than writing your own. When you comment on someone else’s post, all the people from their network see your comment. If they like your comment, you can thank them and send a request to connect. This way, you can grow your network with like-minded people who already like your work.
Don’t use any scheduling software to post. LinkedIn prefers people type their posts in the interface. Scheduling software will adversely impact your reach.
Don’t batch write either. It takes away the spontaneity from your writing. Instead, write your posts the night before or the day you are going to publish.
Have a clear idea of your business and what you are offering. Then write your post in that niche.
Engage with people in your niche area, particularly those with a big following.
Follow the 80/20 rule. Give free advice 80% of the time, sell 20% of the time.
Practice copywriting. Say more with fewer words.
Experiment with different types of posts so you can see which ones feel right to you and which ones get the most engagement.
Be patient. Some posts will bomb, and others will skyrocket. So, learn by doing, show up daily, and let the algorithm work its magic.
Complete your profile because it helps the right people find and connect with you.
Store a few quotes to use on days you are too busy or too tired to write. Then, use the quotes as your posts on those days.
Focus on one area of improvement at a time. For your first week, you might focus on the top lines as engaging as possible. For another week, you might focus on how you format text in your posts. Later, you might ensure you end your post with something punchy. Don’t try to master everything all at once. Give yourself time to learn.
Have one place to put all your ideas for writing that you can easily access on the go. One participant suggested using index cards held together with a clip. I liked it very much and started using that. You could use a tiny notepad or Evernote etc.

How to approach writing on LinkedIn

My approach to writing on LinkedIn was different than most people’s.

I didn’t go on the platform to impress anyone or make connections to sell them something. I concentrated on learning and getting better at writing.
I asked for people’s opinions by polls and regular questions at the end of a post which helped me with my writing projects. People generally give you an honest opinion and are happy to participate in polls.
I set aside 20 minutes each day to publish and close to an hour for engagement. I would have kept going had I not set myself a limit to writing comments.
I noticed I had become a much better commenter from all the practice. NOw I am not afraid of leaving comments on viral posts or posts by well-known Industry figures.
I realized it is much better to work in groups. Your group members support you, and you support them. You get to appreciate some very different perspectives. You get a daily appreciation for your work which keeps you going.

In Closing

Tom Kuegler is starting another sprint in March. It is worth participating in it, if you want to experience success quickly.

If you are already on LinkedIn and want to connect, my handle is www.linkedin.com/in/neeramahajan. I will be happy to engage with your posts if they interest me.

Subscribe to my newsletter at A Whimsical Writer for more tips and motivation.

One Cool Way to Grow Your Audience Beyond Your Wildest Dream

January 25, 2022January 25, 2022 Neera

I have been writing on Medium for almost 18 months now. All this time, I had paid no attention to growing my audience. I have roughly 2600 followers, but I am aware most of them don’t read my articles.

I have a small number of subscribers to my publication Authorpreneurs, who get, on average, two articles a week from me in their inboxes. These are my niche audience who are interested in writing books. I write articles to provide them with writing, publishing, and marketing information.

In addition, I have been writing a Substack newsletter for more than 14 months. It is growing at a snail’s pace, but the subscribers are my die-hard fans who read everything I write and occasionally let me know if they liked (or disliked) a particular piece.

Three weeks ago, I started writing on LinkedIn regularly. Imagine my surprise when I watched my connection swell, 10–60 comments on my post and whooping 490+ subscribers to my newsletter that is just two weeks old.

What is going on here?

It is not that I have become a great writer overnight. I am still the mediocre writer who fights her daily demons to write a decent enough piece for publication.

But there are a few things in play here, though.

LinkedIn Algorithm

LinkedIn is at a point where Facebook was in 2012. LinkedIn wants to grow, and it wants its users to grow as well. So any post you write, if it gets a little interaction (as little as five comments in the first hour), LinkedIn sends it not only to all your connections and your connections’ connections and anybody who comments, their connections too.

If your post gets a whole lot of interactions then LinkedIn sends it to everyone on the platform.

Of course, it is my hypothesis (I have no inside knowledge) but I have been seeing the magic happen for a few days now.

This recent one I watched unfolding was mind-boggling.

If your post gets a whole lot of interactions then LinkedIn sends it to everyone on the platform.

This is exactly what happened to a fellow writer Sasja Nieukerk-Chomos who is also participating in 30 Days LinkedIn Sprint with me where we writing a post a day.

Sasja Nieukerk-Chomos wrote a post and it got close to 800 likes and hundreds of comments in the first hour. Then the post went viral. It now has 34,447 likes and 2679 comments and perhaps close to a million views (I can’t see the view counts only Sasja can).

Sasja Nieukerk-Chomos on LinkedIn: #leadership #psychologicalsafety #linkedin30daysprint | 2679…
18 years ago today my father took his own life. He was so damn tired. He was only 60 years old. My father was a…www.linkedin.com

Of course, the content of the post, the connection with the workplace (LinkedIn is a platform for professionals) and the touchpoints of the story helped but I haven’t seen it happening on Medium.

So in short, growth on LinkedIn is phenomenal at the moment.

LinkedIn Newsletters

I had my own taste of unbelievable growth. I started a newsletter on Linkedin last week which picked up 230 subscribers with the very first issue. This week when I sent the second issue of the newsletter the subscriber numbers swelled to 490 plus.

It is not possible to get this many subscribers unless LinkedIn is promoting the newsletters. LinkedIn introduced newsletters just a couple of months ago, needless to say, they want more people to take advantage of that. But they are being more successful with it than any other platform including Medium or Substack.

The reason is that most of the users on LinkedIn are professional and they are interested in certain topics. My newsletter is about writing, creativity, and productivity which are the right niche for the LinkedIn audience.

Takeaway: if you want to start a newsletter think about LinkedIn.

LinkedIn Polls

Now here is the most interesting of all the observations.

Last week, I wrote a little post asking the audience to help me choose the book cover for my next book.

My coach suggested that I should formulated the post as questions in a poll, so that I could use the algorithm to advertise my book for free.

I used her idea about a book writing sprint I want to run. So I wrote a post and added a poll at the end of it.

I have 857 views on the post so far. It will run for another six days. That’s for the power of running polls on LinkedIn. Now hundreds of LinkedIn users know I am creating a program. They feel part of its formulation, and I have people ready to take the course. They are even helping me shape the course.

It is what my coach calls a win-win-win.

Takeaway

Tom Kuegler once wrote You Can Dominate Every Social Media Platform If You Do These 3 Things:

Write five times per week.
Respond to every comment.
Follow everyone who interacted with you in any way.

I am applying this approach to LinkedIn and it is working.

I will keep sharing my LinkedIn learnings with you. Stay tuned.

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7 Essential Components of An Author Website

January 18, 2022January 18, 2022 Neera

A website is an absolute must for authors. As soon as a reader finds a new author, the first thing they do is check their website.

Your website is your home on the internet. Your readers should always be able to find you there. It is the best way of connecting with your readers outside social media. They can find out what books you have written, which one is coming next, and how to contact you. If you are blogging, they can learn from your articles.

It is one location that you have complete control over.

Social media platforms can change their rules anytime (like Facebook has done a few times now), and you can lose your audience in a single day. But a website is your own real estate in the cyberworld.

Besides, social media content has a shelf life of a few minutes, whereas your books, articles, and announcements are always there.

Your website doesn’t need to be complicated; simple is often better. Three key areas to focus on when designing and building an author site are:

1) Your books. These should always be the main focus. It would help if you had your books displayed in a way that is easy to understand and navigate, especially with a series. Each book should include the cover, description, and purchase links. This is also a great place to highlight any awards or reviews to help sell your books.

2) Gaining newsletter subscribers. This should be your second focus. Offer something of value, such as a free copy of your book or a short course to entice readers to subscribe to your newsletter. It is better done through a landing page.

3) Your information. Readers want to know more about you, so include an ‘About’ section that showcases your personality, information about contacting you, and links to your social media accounts.

If you have had any experience building websites, you will know they could be a nightmare. You spend hours and hours solving technical issues which seem trivial but end up giving you sleepless nights.

But my biggest problem was to figure out what should an author’s website look like. Unfortunately, there is not enough information out there, and whatever is there was contradictory and didn’t address a lot of my requirements.

I went to website design companies specializing in building author websites, but they asked $5000–$6000. I was not prepared to invest that much money into the website. So I started looking for other options.

Luckily I came across a managed solution that had all I needed on my website. It is built by a thriller author Nick Stephenson and his team, and I am very happy with my new site.

According to Nick, an authors website should have seven essential components:

Home Page
About Page
Books Page
Call To Action
Free Book Offer
Invitation to Join Your Book Review Team
Blog

Home Page

The Home page is the most visited page of an Author’s Website. Therefore, it must grab the readers’ attention while at the same time giving them enough information about you and your work.

You don’t need to write volumes about yourself or your books. Images work much better. Please check out my Home Page, and let me know whether or not it is inviting and gives you all the information you need.

About Page

About page is the second most important page on an Author’s site. It is where readers get to know you better. You should include here everything you want to share with them.

My About page has my photos, a bit of blurb about my writing history, and my second passion — sketches.

Books Page

Your “Books” page is the third-most visited page on your site. Most people will enter your site via the homepage. They would want to check out what other books you have written.

If you want to make direct sales of your books, you will do that from the Books page. For that reason, it is going to need most of the work.

You need to make sure you have a straightforward way to display your entire catalog. Each book should have a clear description and prominent “buy” buttons.

Free Book Offer

This is also the landing page where you offer a free book (or other goodies) so that readers get to know your writing style, and you start building your reader base so that you can announce your future books to them.

Invitation to Join Your Book Review Team

As you will be writing more books, you should build a review team to get to read your book first and provide you feedback. They are your beta readers as well as the ones most likely to give reviews on your book sales page.

Call For Action

You should have a call to action to join your newsletter at the end of each page.

Blog

Your blog is where you regularly publish to stay in touch with your readers. You can choose what you want to write there. I write articles primarily. I publish all my articles first on my blog and then on Medium, thus keeping the ownership of my intellectual property.

Final Words

My website still needs a lot of work, but I am happy where it is at the moment. I hope it is inviting and proving all the information my readers need.

I built it mostly myself, using a WordPress-based hosting service (nrdly.com) that has author-specific templates.

If you need any advice or have any questions regarding building or updating your website, ask them in the comments section. I am not an expert but I will try to answer them to the best of my knowledge.

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