Write. Publish. Repeat.: The No-Luck Guide to Self-Publishing Success

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Write. Publish. Repeat.: The No-Luck Guide to Self-Publishing Success Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

Johnny B. Truant (Author), Sean Platt (Author), Simon Whistler (Narrator),

4.6 1,345 ratings

Goodreads Choice Award nominee

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In 2013, Johnny B. Truant and Sean Platt published 1.5 million words and made their full-time livings as indie authors. In Write. Publish. Repeat., they tell you how exactly how they did it: How they created over 15 independent franchises across 50+ published works, how they turned their art into a logical, sustainable business, and how any independent author can do the same to build a sustainable, profitable career with their writing. Write. Publish. Repeat. explains the current self-publishing landscape and covers the truths and myths about what it means to be an indie author now and in the foreseeable future. It explains how to create books your readers will love and will want to return to again and again. Write. Publish. Repeat. details expert methods for building story worlds, characters, and plots, understanding your market (right down to your ideal reader), using the best tools possible to capture your draft, and explains proven best practices for editing. The audiobook also discusses covers, titles, formatting, pricing, and publishing to multiple platforms, plus a bit on getting your books into print (and why that might not be a good idea!). But most importantly, Write. Publish. Repeat. details the psychology-driven marketing plan that Sean and Johnny built to shape their stories into "products" that readers couldn't help but be drawn into - thus almost automatically generating sales - and explores ways that smart, business-minded writers can do the same to future-proof their careers. This audiobook is not a formula with an easy path to follow. It is a guidebook that will help you build a successful indie publishing career, no matter what type of writer you are...so long as you're the type who's willing to do the work.

Listening Length

10 hours and 27 minutes
Author

Johnny B. Truant, see all
Narrator

Simon Whistler
Audible release date

March 7, 2014
Language

English
Publisher

Sterling & Stone
ASIN

B00IUQB0YQ
Version

Unabridged
Program Type

Audiobook
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Product details

Listening Length	10 hours and 27 minutes
Author	Johnny B. Truant, Sean Platt
Narrator	Simon Whistler
Whispersync for Voice	Ready
Audible.com Release Date	March 07, 2014
Publisher	Sterling & Stone
Program Type	Audiobook
Version	Unabridged
Language	English
ASIN	B00IUQB0YQ
Best Sellers Rank	#82,962 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals) #308 in Marketing (Audible Books & Originals) #747 in Writing Skill Reference (Books) #852 in Job Hunting & Career Guides

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4.6 out of 5

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Obligatory lecture for all indie authors

Reviewed in the United States on April 3, 2014

Verified Purchase

Write. Publish. Repeat is a book written by a couple of indie authors with the goal to cover the whole field of independent publishing for all who want to write or want to take their writing business to the next level.

Yes, business. It's not a book about how to write better or use beautiful metaphors in your works. It's is about writing, publishing and making money out of it.

I had mixed feelings reading this book. Most of them were positive, but you know why they call it "mixed"? There were negatives too. And I will start with them.

1. The authors Sean and Johnny are a little shortsighted. They confessed they look just a decade ahead (while I am thinking in terms of the next eon ;) )

I don't know about you, but I want to be a writer for the rest of my life and I don't intend to live just a decade more. Having said that, the timespan they focus on is much longer than in any other book about indie publishing I've read (which usually was: "publish your 100 books yesterday and enjoy your life afterwards!").

2. They use profane language; the `F' word appears all too often for my taste. However, they were honest about it from the beginning, so I excuse them on this point.

3. At least several readers rightfully made the observation that the introductory part was too long. Ruminations about book's voice, fiction vs. nonfiction, who they are, who their intended audience is, who shouldn't read the book, publishing- marketing dictionary ... it all took about 11% of the book. And later on they have the impudence to say that they wrote so huge a book, because they love me.

OK, I would maybe have skipped a half of this 11% of the book, but it was all I would have been willing to skip. The rest of the book is pure meat. And I do the same in my books--I try to discourage people who have unreasonable expectations from buying and reading my works. That way I get less bad reviews and refunds.

4. They are arrogant bastards. (You see what I meant about profanities? I used the ugly word, after reading this dam... emotional book). They brag and brag about themselves making me feel soooooo tiny in comparison. I'm light years behind them regarding my publishing business. Bragging wasn't helping me at all.

But their confidence is justified. They write. They publish. They do it again and again (just visit their Amazon sites! They produce books like machines!). Their books are selling.

And that's as far as negatives go.

What is more, almost every aspect of those `not so bright' points has at least some positives with them too (not profanities, I don't see any reason to use them).
Let's talk about positives then.

I'm a published author and, quite recently, a bestselling author. I've been studying self-publishing since March 2013. I knew about 99.5% of the subjects covered in Write. Publish. Repeat. Most of them I knew by heart.

(I think the only thing I didn't know previously was the reading trend on small devices and apps which allow authors to send their works directly to readers' mobiles)

Your mailing list, owning your platform, the importance of reviews, connecting with readers, writing tips, marketing tips, editing tips--there was nothing new to me.

But I just needed to be reminded about it once again. I found myself nodding ALL the time. This book spoke to me, because it was like seeing the prior year of my life on fast rewind.

I felt like it wasn't just a book about their publishing business; it was about mine, too.

And they covered EVERYTHING! I can't think of a single item even remotely connected to the self-publishing business they forsook.

1. Those guys know what they are talking about.
They not only published a few dozen different titles among the two of them, they also have a Self-Publishing Podcast and they interviewed dozens of indie authors (and a few traditionally published). Their knowledge is impressive.

The breadth and deep of their analysis is stunning. I've heard about practically everything that the book is about, but I applied only about 10% of that knowledge. The authors, on the other hand, discuss confidently every aspect of self-publishing, because they know what they are talking about.

2. Nuggets.
Because of their knowledge, Write. Publish. Repeat is full of data nuggets. Things that are absolutely unnecessary for every indie author, but any of them can use: ISBN management; producing audio or paper books; writing software; which sites are most efficient in paid advertising and so on.

For most authors those are just tidbits. And they are just the byproduct of the book. Johnny and Sean are in the business, so they know about them and share them by the way.

Tidbits are not relevant to the book's message, but they are still there; by the way.

3. They are little more in the business and marketing than me.
I don't like marketing and I despise internet marketing as a whole. It is so abused that it makes me sick each time I think about it.

But the authors of Write. Publish. Repeat have deeper backgrounds in business and marketing than me, and a different perspective.

I loved the core marketing advice of the book. Be yourself--it really resonated with me.

4. The voice.
Those guys write fiction; I don't, and I can still use their advice.

They are fiction writers and you can easily feel that. The book is engaging and funny. I was literally convulsing with laughter when I read Johnny's remarks about `scientific research stats checking'. I was fresh from latest book launch and I could totally relate.

They talk about fiction writing, but not too much. Their businesslike approach to writing stories reveals the principles every writer should follow--be true to the characters, be true to yourself, avoid the fluff, don't waste the time of your readers (I'm guilty). Besides, I want to write fiction one day. In fact I'm writing a novel (drawer-destined) and found their advice convincing.

The voice of book is not exactly straight-to-the point, but as skillful story craftsmen they make the book interesting. They don't come around the subjects. They name the things by their name. Lousy work is lousy work. There is very little luck involved in success; everything worthy takes some time.

5. Attitude.
I like what they teach, but I love how they do it. They don't give you a ready formula for success, because there is no such thing. I found a Goodreads review whining about the fact that there is no program, no ready-to-apply tips & tricks.

The reviewer clearly didn't get what the book is about. It's not about tips & tricks; it's about building a business.

If you want to build a business based on the proven formula, you pay a lot of bucks and run a McDonald's restaurant then. I don't want to run McDonald's analogue of writing, thank you.

Every man is solely responsible for his own success (or failure).

I'm sick of sales pages and copies which in general try to say "This is your salvation!" (click to buy); which try to convey the feeling that their way is the only way and if you don't save yourself (click to buy) then you are a loser.

The authors of Write. Publish. Repeat say "See what we do, pick a few parts and do what works for you." And they repeat it over and over again.

I do the same in my writing. I'm a firm believer that success can't be imposed. You are the one who makes it happen. Foreign solutions won't work for you until you distill them and make them your own.

6. Motivation.
My belief is that you don't need knowledge. Well, not exactly "don't need", it's just secondary to your motives, attitudes, grit and action. It's more the effect of your activities than something you need to start them. You can absorb a lot of data, but you truly get their meaning when you use them.

I mean, look at our society. We are the first generation which has ALL the knowledge of the world at our fingertips. And what do we do with it? Is success more common now? Is it?

So, Johnny and Sean provide some knowledge, but it's not their main goal. They have a lot of grit and, thanks to their book, I was able to steal some of it.

And you cannot name the price tag on this.

I have a lot of highlights which shows me that anybody, even I, can do it.

In terms of motivation this book was like nothing else I've ever read and I read a lot. Why?

Because they have been there, they have done that. They had the same s***ty self-doubts I have. On every page of the book I can sense the struggles behind the content. They named my all fears (nobody will read your books and if somebody will, he won't like it at all), my all false hopes (it will be easy), and my all faulty expectations (one book, one bestseller and I'll be done) and all the solutions (write publish repeat).

"For the first time in history, life as a full-time writer has become about simple math."

And, oh boy, I can do the math! My first 6 months of writing gave me about 1.5% of my day job's salary. In this tempo I would be freed of my job in about 33 years.

Reaching that point, I don't have to rely on social security, whims of my employer and so on.

But it was just the first 6 months. Writing is no exception to the rule, that the longer you do something the better you are at it. And my latest book sales proved that quite convincingly.

I absorbed this kind of iron confidence page by page and highlight after highlight.

As I said, I knew all that Johnny and Sean said; I knew all the facts. But thanks to this book I was able to feel them too.

7. Timeless values and principles.
A decade is not enough long term perspective for me.
But...
All too many "advisors" out there don't give a s*** about next year, not to mention the next decade. Their advice comes down to "find a trick and exploit it; the readers are morons, so treat them as morons; it will make you riiiiich!"

"You're not going to fool a reader more than once, and you deserve to fail if you try."

However, you can do many other things instead. Like love your readers, be integral, be persistent, think of your publishing venture as a business and a lot more.

Again, Johnny and Sean named it all. The whole book is the textbook of making writing your way of life plus making money out of it.

It's so refreshing to have finally found people who believe the same values as I and who get this message across with such clarity and wit.

8. Write. Publish. Repeat provides more than just self-publishing info.
I got more advantages from reading this book. My self-esteem skyrocketed because I discovered I already know all that successful indie authors do (am I repeating myself? ;) )

The "Dave jokes" were fun. This guy must be a saint to put up with Johnny and Sean ;)

I even had a spiritual experience reading the passage about courage. I was reading Saint Teresa of Avila's book at the same time and the lecture of Write. Publish. Repeat put some light on this.

Conclusion
This book is cool. If you don't believe me just read the 10% preview on Amazon and you find the sections who is it for and for who it isn't. If you find yourself among the target audience just read it and you won't regret it.

Write. Publish. Repeat is great. It is so good in fact, that made me wish I had a Kindle device on which I could highlight all the fragments that spoke to me or taught me something. I've read part of it on PC Kindle where I could highlight and a bigger chunk on my eReader device without such a feature.

No, it's beyond cool and great; it is even better. I decided that, one day, when I can afford it, I WILL buy a Kindle, read Write. Publish. Repeat once again and highlight all those fragments.

And I will pay for it using my books' royalties.

15 people found this helpful

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Kirk White

a small amount of nonsense for a no-nonsense book, but ultimately a fantastic read.

Reviewed in the United States on May 12, 2015

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Admittedly, I came into the world of Realm and Sands a bit Bass Ackwards, as I was just randomly searching for a book on Indie publishing, found this one, thought it seemed okay enough and then read (interestingly enough this “bookstore” phenomenon is actually something they mention in the book (the discoverability shift). It was during the reading of the book that first discovered Johnny, Sean and DAVE--The telephone salesman Father who fell in love with long distances to their Amanda and Tom…the dude who ain’t there but whose presence is definitely felt throughout the book (this concept of the DAVE who just will NOT participate in the book but nonetheless IS in the book actually works quite well as they use him as the surrogate “too cool for school” bona fide arTEEST not trusting, not willing to compromise but who somehow does, in fact, trust our two heroes and does compromise sometimes but the battle that it takes to get him there somehow manages to keep Johnny and Sean honest and on their collective toes.) Dave is a great cypher. Dave is metaphor. Dave is us. Dave is the cynical artist who longs to be pure and not whore himself out that refuses to compromise but still has to make a dollar and a dime. Dave IS the tyranny of evil men, but he’s trying…real hard, Ringo, to be the shepherd. And so the arguments WE have against this art is nothing but product approach are also felt by invisible Dave and hey, if invisible Dave can make it work, maybe there’s hope for us too.

It’s a great narrative strategy.

A side note, it wasn’t until after I read this book that I discovered SPP (well, DURING is when I discovered, after is when I subscribed) and, in hindsight, thing that this is a great launch pad to the boys and their philosophy/wares. The tone is refreshing, fun, YES a weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee bit wander-y at times and there were sections where I did (sorry, guys) find myself skimming a little through the zany banter aspect…BUT that was only because I found the information so compelling and wanted to get more of their wisdom.
And that is the beauty of WPR. You get the sense, in reading this, that you are seeing these two and a half men Indiana Jones this sh*t and make it up as they go along. This is further solidified when one listens to the podcast. But because they have this approach, you can actually believe the stuff they say. There is not a morsel in here that I questioned as to its validity. No it may not work for everyone but it does feel like it all works for them which means that SOME of it may work for me and that’s really all you can ask for…the expression “anyone who says they have all the answers is selling you something” ALMOST fits here….I say almost as…you know…they are also trying to sell us stuff. But you get the point.
The “list of truths” and “list of myths” chapters are the two that I still reference. I won’t spill them all (you should read the book) but they paint a rather challenging but ultimately hopeful picture of the new normal in arts. The death of the Gatekeeper MAY have been misrepresented, but dang if the proverbial fat lady ain’t warming up. And there is hope in the whole angle of “nobody cares who published your book only that it’s an awesome book” is a great thing to hear…even if the hard stuff that follows in the “how not to look like an amateur” unit is a little daunting. True FEELING, but daunting. And the units that follow after that are incredibly insightful, helpful and once again, give you the feeling that you are seeing behind the curtain, NOT just theoretical or “in a vacuum” kinda stuff. This is how they do it. (did you sing those last words? Betcha did).

I found this book at the beginning of a long process…trying to figure out how to write and publish (okay and repeat) and will no doubt return to it as my process develops.

My only real gripes, if you can call them gripes, is that man I wish they had included some metrics. Sales statistics…they mention some numbers with regards to pricing and maybe one could find these numbers elsewhere and YES, INVISIBLE DAVE, IT’S REALLY NONE OF OUR BUSINESS HOW MUCH MONEY YOU MAKE but it would be interesting to see the real numbers behind these strategies.
And not for nothing, they do promise that they will tell you secrets about how they write so much and then at the end, just kinda NOT tell you that. (this may be in Fiction Unboxed or WPP , part II and yes there is a ton of great stuff in this 6 dollar book but still, technically they do say they are going to tell us in the opening chapter and don’t so Nyah.

Bottom line, if you are interested in self publishing, this is a fantastic place to start. Equal parts inspiration and realism and practicum and zany (okay, maybe a little too much zany) and featuring a heaping helping of America’s Sweetheart, Invisible DAVE, this book will paint the picture (as far as I can tell having neither written, published or repeated as of today) of the landscape as it really seems to be.
It’s a solid book.

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Top reviews from other countries

Stephanie Arnal

Very Helpful

Reviewed in Canada on July 15, 2023

Verified Purchase

Since I have decided to try self-publishing some work, ordering this book seemed like a no-brainer. They share a lot of their own experiences and tips for self-publishing. I now know I should have some smaller projects ready to release around the same time as my main project so I can create a funnel and hopefully increase sales of my book. I appreciate the casual voice in this book since that's totally my style as well. Now I'm also curious to check out some of their fiction!

Not only useful, but entertaining.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 10, 2019

Verified Purchase

There are so many things I love about this book:

For those of us working on our first book it manages to be inspiring and yet realistic at the same time. (Basically it's all in the title. If you do the work then you can become a published writer.)

But unusually for a non-fiction book, the authors' personalities also shine through and make it really entertaining. It also comes across as a really honest book that is genuinely trying to help other authors succeed (rather than claiming that there is some quick and easy formula for writing that will earn you big bucks). These guys have succeeded as writers by putting in the hours and going through difficult times, and they don't pretend that it's all been easy. I actually found that to be very reassuring, and it motivated me to keep on working on my own writing project.

Because it's likely to be months (if not years) until I'm ready to publish my current book, I was originally worried that some of the information in "Write.Publish.Repeat" would be out of date by the time it came to publishing and marketing (because the world of indie publishing seems to change and evolve really quickly). But they cleverly focus on the long-term strategies rather than short-term tactics of marketing a book. So I feel that when I'm getting to the final draft of my book then the advice in "W.P.R." will still be relevant and applicable, and I can re-read those bits of advice when they are more relevant to each stage of publishing that I reach.

In summary they talk a lot of sense - based on both good and bad experiences that they've had - and give useful and practical advice but in an entertaining way instead of the traditional 'dry' non-fiction format. I loved this book and now I want to read all of their other ones.

2 people found this helpful

Amazon Customer

Amazing read

Reviewed in India on December 25, 2017

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o from a wannabe author to a real one, this is not a creepy get rich quick by writing book, ut is a book that respects the art and the hardwork one has to do in order to be a successful author, and while the discussed area is the self publishing space, the principles are the same for traditional aswell, just write a good book, make it easy to buy/read, and write the next one till you have an awesome following and then some. Seriously recommended. And if you do end up buying this, beware, it is huuuuge

KarlettaA

I highly recommend this book.

Reviewed in Australia on May 5, 2017

Verified Purchase

This book is a great guiding hand on mindsets and strategies of being a self published writer.

Highly recommend this book if you are starting out, and are already on your self publishing journey.

Before reading this book I had been listening to to the Self Publishing Podcast, of which this book is a great collection of the concepts that they talk about.

The podcast and this book supported me as I started my self publishing journey.

I now have three eBooks in the Kindle store, have scrapped one and am working on two more.

I highly recommend this book.

Marcos Simões

6 STARS

Reviewed in Brazil on February 15, 2016

Verified Purchase

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you very much! I'm writing my first non-fiction book and you guys really opened my eyes. For sure, this is my new favorite book. And I already bought the next: Iterate And Optimize. Let's keep writing, ALWAYS.

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Write. Publish. Repeat.: The No-Luck Guide to Self-Publishing Success Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

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