This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
What's up, welcome to Sadosville School. This is your host, Chris Guillebeau. What comes first, the followers or the work? That's the question today. Well, it's the overall framing of today.
We've got a specific question. Sometimes people feel trapped. They feel like they can't create something without having followers or customers. They're like, well, what if I make something and nobody cares? What if there's nobody out there who's interested or wants to buy it or even notices?
Fortunately, our listener today calling in from Mexico doesn't have that problem. She is all about creating. She is creating a podcast on mental health. She also wants to publish a book. And she's wondering, should she put that book out on Kindle, even though she doesn't have a lot of followers yet?
Or might there be some other options? That's what we're gonna talk about in this episode. Should I self-publish a mental health guidebook on Kindle? We will jump into that after this message from our sponsor. Thank you, sponsor.
[Music]
- Hi, friends, this is Eugenia from Mexico. Thanks for all the generous work you're putting out there every day. So as a former reporter, one of the things I'm good at and actually love doing is creating content and doing in-depth research. I'm passionate about human behavior and mental health topics. I just started two months ago a trauma-informed interview-based podcast.
So I don't wanna use that platform to make an effort now. I do wanna capitalize on my research skills to write a nonfiction ebook guide with curated mental health tools that can help people navigate these weird, stressful uncertain times. I've been doing my own research, but I wanna reach down. So my question is, is self-publishing on Kindle even a smart move? What would you suggest me to do if I don't have a huge following on not even an email list to sell or promote this guide?
As mentioned before, I'm just getting started with the podcast, so I don't wanna use that platform now to make an offer. I'm considering something similar as what you shared on your 1006 episode. Thank you, Chris. Have a great week and stay safe. [Music]
Thank you so much, Ohinia.
So glad you're out there. Hope you are staying safe as well. So what comes first, the followers or the work? Well, the thing is about Amazon, the point of Amazon isn't to sell to your followers. It's to help you to reach new people.
So if you already have people who are willing to buy from you, they're like, "Yes, I want this book or I want this," whatever it is, you don't necessarily need to send them to Amazon. What Amazon can do, at least when it works, and of course it doesn't always, but when it works is introduce your work to lots of new audiences. Like that is the goal of something like Amazon. So Ohinia mentioned episode 1006. I went back to look at that.
That episode was entitled "Layoff Leads Journalists to Build Kindle E-Book Empire." And the model used in that episode didn't rely at all on the person having a lot of followers. However, I'm also not sure that it's the most accurate comparison because in that story, the journalist was publishing a lot of different short guides and e-books. In some ways, she was almost agnostic about what topic she was writing about. It was all about figuring out how to kind of work the system, to find the right topics, it was quite varied. So when something works, she did more of that.
If it didn't work, then she just did less of it. Whereas what Ohinia is doing, she has an actual message that she wants to share. So the topic is important. Therefore, it's also important for her to build a community over time. So when I hear her say she doesn't want to use the new podcast to promote a paid product, I totally understand that.
But I would use it to promote the platform. I would use it to promote the community. I would start that email list and encourage people to join. Don't be discouraged that you don't have it yet. The whole point is to start building it.
So no matter what you do next, that will help. I think that's true for everyone out there in this situation. If you have a message that you're trying to get out there building that platform, trying to start that community, that's going to be ultimately more important than whether you choose to publish this thing on Kindle or how you develop the podcast or whatever other medium you go into. And as for the direct question of whether she should self publish on Kindle or not, I would just say it's up to her. It might be worth a try as long as she doesn't expect it to be a tremendous success right away.
But more important, since she has a message to share to focus on building that community. And over time, you have different outlets for it. You have the podcast, you've got the books, you've got something else. But the central point of all of it is that message. So in the long term, it's not so important about which tactics or which medium it is about building that community and sharing that message.
Okay, thanks so much, Ohania. And listeners, thank you as well. If you have a question, come to sidehustleschool.com/questions. We will continue to feature them throughout the year, along with updates from other listeners as they launch their projects. Hope you have a wonderful day wherever you are in the world.
My name is Chris Guillebeau. This is Side Hustle School. [Music]
From the Onward Project.
