Marc's Blog

July was a month in the right direction. I created multiple training courses this month which are now part of the Advanced Influencer Mastermind and built up multiple streams of income.

The Wealthy Author Audiobook Is Coming Soon…

After publishing the book towards the end of March, it took me a while to follow-up with an audiobook. However, my work on the audiobook side is officially done. I submitted the audiobook to ACX and they will take it from there.

Making the decision to publish audiobooks has increased my book royalties by 10%. And that’s with 2 audiobooks compared to 23 Kindle books. I honestly may consider turning one or two of my top books into audiobooks but I’m not sure about that.

One thing I’m certain of is that I will turn all of my future books into audiobooks. I will start working on the audiobook edition of Breakthrough Success in mid-August. While I haven’t had a $100 month from audiobooks yet, I see myself making a few hundred each month as I add more audiobooks to be catalog and get more exposure for my existing audiobooks.

One thing to note is that a key factor for audiobook earnings is the length. The length of the audiobook determines what price Audible will sell your book at. For instance, the audiobook edition of Content Marketing Secrets (6h 59m) costs $19.95 while the audiobook edition of Podcast Domination (2h 15m) costs only $6.95. 

The Wealthy Author audiobook is slated at 2h 25m, so it’s likely to be priced at $6.95.

While I don’t like writing longer books, longer audiobooks do help you more because your book is sold at a higher price point. Since many Audible members have credits and use those credits to buy audiobooks, it won’t matter how much your audiobook is priced at. 

So far, 60% of my audiobooks sales have come from members’ credits. Interestingly enough, almost 80% of listeners who bought the Content Marketing Secrets audiobook did so with their credits while only 43% of listeners who bought the Podcast Domination audiobook did so with their credits.

That’s what happens when one audiobook sells for $19.95 and another audiobook sells for $6.95. However, I make more than double the royalties from a $19.95 audiobook sale than a $6.95 audiobook sale. Part of the problem is that I talk fast from a time standpoint, but overall I have no problem with my talking pace.

It just makes it harder to make the book longer (which is a good thing for the listener). 

Profitable Public Speaking Is My Next Book 🙂

After writing a book around Breakthrough Success, I decided I couldn’t leave out Profitable Public Speaking. Right now I am cruising through the book and have reached the 10,000 word mark. Since I write shorter books that rarely exceed 25,000 words anymore, the book should be done by the end of August. 

While I don’t want books to be my entire business model, they’re great for promoting everything else you’ve got going on. Oh, and I LOVE writing books and sharing them with my community.

More Training Courses 

This month, I created two new training courses, and that was with two weekend trips up to Boston. I am very happy with the training course production and might turn some of my future training courses into books. 

Repurposing content is one of my favorite things to do, and I’ve used books, training courses, and virtual summits as inspiration for one another. 

The training courses I publish will now go in the Advanced Influencer Mastermind. Some people suggested I change the name of the mastermind for selling reasons and I will consider it. I have a few ideas and am always eager to test new things.

Speaking of training courses…

The Content Marketing Plaza

This is the only course I don’t offer in the Advanced Influencer Mastermind, but AIMers do get a 50% coupon for this course.

I’m also bringing up this course for another reason…it made a few sales this month.

Understand that this is a course that I do virtually no promotion for. The two people who joined Content Marketing Plaza weren’t on my email list before. I’ve promoted the Plaza on some podcasts, virtual summits, and other places in the past. 

I’m honestly not sure how I got those sales, but it means I have to work harder on promoting the Plaza. 

I was of the mindset to do a big launch around the Plaza like you see a bunch of other people doing. However, I’m just as down for a big boost in monthly income which is what I got from the Plaza this month. 

Breakthrough Success Sponsorships Are Taking Off

Breakthrough Success has two sponsors committed for the rest of 2019 — SkillShare and Jobber.

We’ve also gotten some traction for the Fiverr gig which I’ll raise the price for in the future. The interesting thing about the Fiverr gig is that a bunch of people using that gig didn’t know who I was before that gig.

While I don’t see myself making a full-time income from Fiverr, it is certainly a great discovery tool. A few sponsored guests booked appearances to be on Breakthrough Success as well.

I Will Hire Another Coach Soon

My YouTube coach is amazing. Two lessons the experience has taught me is that I can only go so far on my own and having the knowledge isn’t enough.

Based on the coaching package I chose, there are only a few calls I have left with my YouTube coach. He’s been amazing and is someone who walks the talk.

The new area I’m looking to pursue is Pinterest, and I already have a coach in mind. I’m traveling in Cape May for two weeks soon, so I don’t want to hire this person right now.

However, the moment I get back, it’s game time.

In Conclusion

July had a few positive signs and put a higher emphasis on different income streams I overlooked in the past. 

What were your thoughts on this performance report? Do you have a question for me? Sound off in the comments section below.