Thinking of writing a book

I'd prefer a detailed project by project version.

E Book sounds a great idea - that way you can test the demand but still sell it. Maybe put an E book up with the first few chapters and judge the response.

Start a blog about it so you are getting hits and have an email sign up page somewhere so you can let people know when it launches.
 
Dazzling said:
Title suggestions ??
Click to expand...
Hi Dazz.

Was thinking along the lines of " How my 'dumps' turned into goldmines"

As you've already mentioned, a lot of authors print books and make it look just too easy. Sometimes, it's like following a step by step plan except it appears that some of the vital points have been eliminated, so the puzzle isn't quite complete.

Also like to hear of pitfalls along the way (not just the prosperous ventures), as it keeps readers aware of what to look out for.

Regards
Marty
 
Hi Dazz, I accidentally (well it was my fault really) bought 2 commerical units. But I had no idea what I was doing at the time...and would really be interested in reading what others have done. I'm keen to read your book or e-book. Especially interested in the gory details of others' experiences.

I think there would be a tremendous demand for your literary work.:)

cheers
Sharon
 
G'day Dazzling,

Excellent idea !! And you write well (that helps :D ) Count me in for at least one copy - and if it's really good, up to another 10 for family members. Autographed, of course... ;)

My thoughts re the whole deal:-

1. The "Story by Story" style is an easy (and useful) read for many. Can you do a series of "what worked (didn't work) for you" stories? In fact, it could START off this way, then after a few stories, get into the nitty gritty and all the numbers stuff, pitfalls, possibilities, etc.

2. How about a title like "If you like Property Investing, TRY THIS !!" Would be guaranteed to have every property investor reaching for it (at least... how many is that?)

3. Or perhaps "Get a little Dirt on your Hands" with maybe a sub-line explaining things like "My way of Investing in Industrial Property" (but in much smaller type).

Go for it, Dazz - I'm cheering from the sidelines,

Regards,
 
Dazz

I would certainly be interested in a book like that. Me, myself, personally.

But, as you mention, it would have an extremely limited market.

People have mentioned material available in the US and UK- where there is a much bigger audience. A book like that might make a little amount of money over there. Here- probably a very small chance.

I'd try to find out how the Roth & Lang book worked. That was fairly general, but was available in the bookshops. Yes, it covered non direct commercial investment as well- but any info you get on the sales of that might give you a little chance of finding the size of your own potential market.

Alternatively, as people have mentioned, publish it as an ebook- or, as Dale has done, as a loose leaf "manual". With such a limited audience, you would be treading a very fine line between getting a little return from your effort, and turning people off completely based on a price too high.

I'd hesitate to buy any book at the bookshop over $30. But I'm happy to buy Dale's at $99. It's had credibility from this forum. And I can see that Dale's manuals are well worth their money. So it has a track record.

I'd love to see the book- but I'm not sure if you would get enough back to make it worth while.

(And also remember, that even though people here are probably doing quite well with property investments, many have a "frugal" mindset- they do watch their pennies).
 
I would love to get my hands on a copy, and to be honest i would probably pay a fair whack of change for it, especially if the book was promoted as being a limited run - ie only me and another 9,999 people have a copy.

Another thought I had, Is there any way to stop e-book's from being copied?

cheers


paulie
 
Les said:
G'day Dazzling,

Excellent idea !! And you write well (that helps :D ) Count me in for at least one copy - and if it's really good, up to another 10 for family members. Autographed, of course... ;)

My thoughts re the whole deal:-

1. The "Story by Story" style is an easy (and useful) read for many. Can you do a series of "what worked (didn't work) for you" stories? In fact, it could START off this way, then after a few stories, get into the nitty gritty and all the numbers stuff, pitfalls, possibilities, etc.

2. How about a title like "If you like Property Investing, TRY THIS !!" Would be guaranteed to have every property investor reaching for it (at least... how many is that?)

3. Or perhaps "Get a little Dirt on your Hands" with maybe a sub-line explaining things like "My way of Investing in Industrial Property" (but in much smaller type).

Go for it, Dazz - I'm cheering from the sidelines,

Regards,
Click to expand...
Great ideas here Les and l think the title "Get a Little Dirt On Your Hands" is just sheer brilliance:) l like it.
Dazzling the book sound like a good idea.You write well and entertaining.You have mentioned in some posts a couple of old blokes you have met along the way and they have given you good advice.A bit of a write up of those characters would be good.And like others have said dont gloss over the little stuff because thats important too.
Good luck l am sure your mind is racing a million times [$$s] per hour
cheers yadreamin
 
Target Market...

Agree GeoffW,

If you go into any bookstore, the only good, easy to read, and relevant book on commercial property is How to Invest in Commercial Property by Chris Lang and Martin Roth.

There is literally nothing else worth reading.

I´m sure Lang and Roth had some degree of success with that book, given the lack of competition. It´s in almost every bookstore I´ve been to.

As GeoffW says, their sales volumes should give you an idea of the size of your target market. Could call the publisher or e-mail Chris Lang (see his website), not sure about Martin Roth´s e-mail.

GSJ
 
i would love to see a "story by story" book as said above. if you know others in the industry (or on this forum who will contribute) it would give a wide range of types of commercial/industrial investment, tell us the nitty gritty of how each did their deals (or multiple stories for multiple different deals). everything from building two small shops for let written alongside outfitting an office premises right up to setting up a large industrial/warehouse sites,

it is the nitty gritty that i want - not generalisation that "one size fits all".

a story by story would also perhaps mean less work for you as a collater, rather than total writer, where you would record the stories and then mould them into shape.

very exciting.
 
Why?

Dazzling,

A fundamental question - why write the book?

If for non-commercial reasons, maybe consider a web page or something similarly inexpensive. You could test the waters on this forum.

If motivated by profit, well, it seems like we are all guessing...

Regards,
 
lizzie said:
i would love to see a "story by story" book as said above. if you know others in the industry

it is the nitty gritty that i want - not generalisation that "one size fits all".
Click to expand...


Yeah Lizzie, that was sort of the format I was thinking of. Maybe 10 or 15 pages of really nitty gritty details per story....no executive summaries or overarching statements, just full on details on how the deals came about and exactly what steps were taken to get both the sales deal and the leasing deal over the line. Lots of fin. numbers and recounts of conversations that precipitated the deals.

My next door neighbour has been doing C&I deals for the past 25 or 30 years and is about 8 times bigger than us operation wise, but getting info out of him is extremely difficult. He's a good bloke generally, but squeaks when he walks....if you know what I mean.


Pete - why write a book ?? Well yesterday I awoke at 4am bright and alert with this epiphany of writing a book. I was charged with energy and couldn't get to sleep. Compared to the mind numbing feeling of getting up to go to work, if was very refreshing.

But....I'm not that charitable, the main reason would be commercial, and who knows where it could lead to from there. As I said before, I feel a bit embarrassed as we are very small fish in this industrial pond, especially when I look at what my quasi-mentor for one and my neighbour for another example....but no other bugger seems to have put pen to paper.

If it's a flop and only a cuppla hundred copies are sold, well then, I will have wasted my time and I'll move onto something else after having licked my wounds....no biggie. Keeps me off the streets though.

I feel with the increase in people's equity over the last few years with their ressy props, perhaps there is a leaning, or at least a desire to see what is over the other side of the fence. Sometimes the grass is greener.

I'd like to include some good and bad stories. She's not all fresh daisies and skipping along. The wife with her big marine grade chain and lock confronting and then locking out the bikies will probably make an appearance.

Anyway, most likely procrastination will set in and nothing will come of it...who knows, with a full on reno, 3 kids, a full time job and a bit of property to manage, time is not in abundance at the moment.
 
Dazzling said:
The wife with her big marine grade chain and lock confronting and then locking out the bikies will probably make an appearance.
Click to expand...

Mrs Dazz sounds like an amazingly assertive lady. I'm all ears to hear this yarn.:D Sounds like a real gem!

cheers
Sharon
 
please don't procrastinate!! i am sure with more people looking at smsf there will be a good market - but not huge.

i like to informally teach what i know about investing as well as invest - basically feel comfortable talking to people and sharing what i have learnt - although i am barely a tiddler compared to your small fish. this comes from wanting to give something back to society and pass on my knowledge to eager minds ... if your book comes from that motivation then i'm sure it will do well. karma and all that jazz.
 
you know, out of appreciation to the Somers for the way they educated a couple of generations of Aussies about property, I wonder if a series of books might be put together on res and comm dev't....how to's with real meat in them....

they could also be a composite of different forum members' experiences and detailed workings of how to get finance, project manage, feasibility study, manage cash flow....in fact, I wonder if Ian has another piece of software in him- property development stuff, similar to devfeas or estatemanager.

having the Somers' endorsement would I am sure, get a series of books into the stores a lot more effectively...and be good for sales...

And considering the big push for self managed retirement, I think it'd be a positive thing for Australia in general.... Would be good to see ethically minded locals designing and developing local commercial and residential property....I reckon when locals deal with locals, there's less likely to be someone getting ripped off. Word travels fast locally. Out of towners can just keep moving around trying to stay ahead of their tarnished reputation.
 
TFB,

I've come across this one as well http://www.devfeas.com.au/html/feastudy/feastudy.html

I still say "Go For It" Dazzling, it may be Cathartic and as you say give you a new drive, why not start a Blog as you compile some stuff and put together the pieces; leaving the meat for the book of copurse but it may also *whet* the appetite and give you an indication of interest etc, there may be a lot of possibilities right there...:confused:

All the Best ;)
 
You dreamed it Dazzling, go write it and sell it.
I was going to say "Naaahh, don't bother writing that stuff, no-one here wants to make any money out of boring old real estate", :p but decided against tongue in cheek and wanted to be encouraging instead.
If it's in your head and it works, please write it, it'll sell. :D
Cheers
crest133
 
Hi Dazzling,

A very resounding "yes, please write a book" from me.

If you can including something about the psychology of commercial property, I think you'll do well. Most of the people I know who have even a couple of investment properties won't go near commercial, as it's either too "hard", or too much of a "black box", or "only rich people invest in commercial property".

I'd be interested in how you tackled finance, Ie, what's the first reaction that a bank has when you want to purchase your first ever commercial property? :)

Best of luck!

-- MJ.
 
Last edited:
DO IT! DO IT! DO IT!

Dazzling I find your posts very informative and have been tempted many times to encourage you to write a book.
I even volunteer to proof read it!

Cheers Pablo.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Dazz
Don't have to lift a finger
2 3 4
Replies
60
Views
10K
markp
M
Back
Top