SPS 012: How I Built an E-Book Business of $3,000-$4,000/Month with Lise Cartwright

Lise Cartwright is a Self-Publishing School graduate. She has been one of the most successful students in the program. She is a bestselling author and coach based in Auckland, New Zealand. She blogs and writes books with actionable information for new freelancers and time-poor entrepreneurs. It is her goal to help these entrepreneurs move forward in their business whether they are just starting out or just need to gain forward momentum. She has an amazing story, and she has been a writing machine and has published 14 books over the last 10 months. Her community is really engaged and can’t wait for each new book to come out. Her writing, community, and income are only building. She has managed to achieve an income of a few grand a month, and it is growing. Her recipe for success for building an author platform is to right and let the marketing come later. I know her books are going to continue to grow and create an even bigger income. I am really excited to talk with Lise today as we dive into her story and how she has been able to accomplish so much.   You can find Lise here: Lise Cartwright’s Books on Amazon Lise Cartwright Hustle & Groove Lise on Twitter @LiseCnz   Show Notes [02:28] Her first book was a guide written in 2012 on how to be a freelance writer on oDesk. [04:28] Marketing the book about freelance writing was an issue, but her second book "No Gym Needed" is what she considers her first book. [05:34] To find her topic, she wrote down topics that she already knew and discovered her topic for her second book which she considers her first book. [07:08] She used mind-mapping as a visual process to organize and create the content for her books. She mind-maps all of her books. She used the old pen and paper mind-map method. [08:15] She puts her idea in the middle of the page and then puts down everything about that idea that comes to mind. In the mind-map, she uses colors, arrows, bubbles and whatever it takes to get the information down and organized. [10:05] She mind-maps entire series when she gets an idea. [11:56] To write consistently Lise set a schedule or the writing wouldn't get done. She wrote for an hour a day during the week. The more she wrote the faster her writing became. [14:54] She would outline and find information for her book as well as mind-mapping. [16:15] She went from finished book to published on Amazon in 7-9 days. She just went for it and hit the publish button. [18:18] Some of the fears she had were that nobody was going to read her book, but she went ahead with it anyway. [22:15] How she went from fitness books back to freelancing and "Side Hustle Blueprint" because it is scary for people to start the freelancing process. This also led to questions on her blog which led to more book topics. She ended up writing a book a week. She mapped out a series and wrote 7 books in 7 weeks. [26:24] She cleared every Monday for book writing and planned out her weeks. [28:23] She had a process for each book and wrote for 8 or 9 hours and 20 hours total. [29:02] Having a decent outline and a checklist it could be done. Write, publishing, and launching all in one week is too much. [30:24] The surprising thing was that book launches are hard and have a lot of moving parts, so she had to outsource. [33:18] After all of this, she took two months off. Then she co-authored some books to ease herself back in. [35:04] She now writes faster and finds the process easier. [38:25] Hearing from fans she doesn't know has been surprising. She also wants to think about the impact of the books on people as opposed to just the writing of the books. [39:47] Networking and guesting on podcasts like Self-Publishing School and the Side Hustle have been great opportunities. [44:12] Don't overthink it, just go ahead and write your first book. Take action!   Links and Resources: Lise Cartwright’s Books on Amazon Lise Cartwright Hustle & Groove Lise on Twitter @LiseCnz self-publishingschool.com Spsfreetraining.com The Book Ninja