The Big Problem with Low Content and No Content Book Publishing

About this video

Sean argues the biggest problem in low-content publishing is the mindset that it should be free, easy, and fast. He admits YouTubers, including himself, use clickbaity titles because those videos get views — he references his own video about going from zero to one million dollars with KDP for free, which he says he has actually done — but says he tries to be realistic inside the videos. In his 8 years of entrepreneurship, he says no legitimate business scales fast for free; every worthwhile business takes time, money, and work, which is good because it creates something sustainable. Because anyone can open a free KDP account and make a journal in Canva, low-content has a very low barrier to entry and attracts people using pre-made templates hoping for passive income in minutes. He stresses nothing is free: you pay with money or with time. If a cover takes 2 hours to make in Canva but could be outsourced for 5 dollars, you paid in time. To sell against 10000 other books on the same topic, a book must be differentiated by being unique or simply better — in cover, title, content, description, or topic angle. He urges publishers to value their time, outsource tasks like covers, formatting, and uploading for 5 to 20 dollars on Fiverr or Upwork instead of doing everything themselves, act like a CEO, accept higher barriers mean less competition, and commit at least one year to publishing.

Key takeaways

• There is no legitimate free, easy, and fast business — publishing takes time, money, and sustained work
• Free work is not free: making a cover yourself for 2 hours to save 5 dollars means paying with time instead
• Spending 5 hours on a task that could be outsourced for 5 dollars values your time at 1 dollar an hour
• A low-content book must stand out as unique or better than the competition in cover, title, content, description, or angle
• Commit at least one year to publishing; higher barriers to entry mean less competition and more market share

Episode details: published March 18, 2022 · 11:51 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Business results and any income figures mentioned are Sean Dollwet’s own claims, shared for education — they are not typical or guaranteed.

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