writing a Property investment book

[TMNT]

Just wondering I've yet to read Jan Somers book

If she is still on this forum

Without asking too Manu private questions

Can I ask how many copies you have sold

And how many copies do you have to sell to break even?

And what sort of number of copies to make say $1m

And when you wrote it were you a recognised Property gun or just a annonynous Property gun?

 

[Spades]

A memoir by TMNT in the wings?

 

[nhg]

Stuart Zadel has a book, where one of the chapters is on writing a book and promoting yourself to SEEM like a guru. It is one of the think and grow rich ones.

Ironic considering that is how he got started.

Read up on him. Interesting business method.

 

[redwing]

Read the books TMNT, well worth the time

 

[bashworth]

Just to give you some ideas I have heard that for hardback books royalties are around 10% of the purchase price so for a $20 book the author gets around $2 (LESS THE AGENTS 15%)

These days if you are planning to write a book an E book is a good way to get started. I sell mine for $4 and get $3.60 a book. The only overheads are hosting the website which costs around $150 a year and paying 'E Junkie' to manage the shopping cart which is $5/month.

 

[JamesGG]

I was approached by a publisher a couple of years ago about writing a book. From the notes I scribbled from the subsequent meetings;

If you are going through a publisher, the return to the author is about $2.50 per book sold; give or take a little. Roughly 10% of RRP. My maths isn't great but that's a lot of books to be sold before reaching $1m income. If you are writing about property / investment, something around 5,000 units/year was suggested to me as a reasonable target to have in mind. For me, this would have made it more like a business marketing project than an income-generating exercise.

Another well-known author sells pages of (what is effectively) advertising within his books. These are disguised as interviews, quotes and contributions from industry "experts" and I am led to believe that he makes much more from those than from the royalties.

Self-publishing is another game altogether. Costs are relatively low but the challenge of getting the book into stores becomes your problem too - and of course, the bookstore will buy for much less than they sell.

Having something of a profile helps enormously whether you plan to sell online or in stores, via a publisher or by yourself. Bit of a catch-22 when having a book goes a long way towards building your profile in the first place!

 

[geoffw]

It would be hard, I think, to write something new.

There's been quite a number written. Many try to put a new spin on it, emphasising one viewpoint or another. Jan's was the original, and is still solid for the buy and hold. There's one or two which do look at, and compare, a few other techniques.

Reinventing the wheel may be worth doing if you've got a really good take on a new wheel that really works. But not otherwise.

 

[see_change]

It's something you'd do if you want to be a " Guru "

I cut and paste some of the posts I do ( that's why some of them are long winded ..) , Not because I want to write a book for general consumption , just something I can give my kids , grand kids , nieces / nephews etc if they want advice on what we did.

If I don't record it , by the time they get interested ,... I'll probably have forgotten why and what I actually did ....

Cliff

 

[TMNT]

thanks everyone,

im not looking to reinvent the wheel, but if the book can be the first stop for all new and beginnerr property investors that would be good,

it will be all based on my experiences, and my research,

im thinking of having a few basic diagrams ofteh investment cycle/clock etc.

wont have any stats like this cities population is expected to jump by 100% in the next 10 years etc.

maybe a section on how to do DD, how important DD is, how important finance is, a few finance options/strategies,

and maybe a second book on renos etc. etc.

i dont really want to fork out $20k to start off, so I might go the option of $4 ebooks,

are ebooks the way of hte future now????

and what about length? rich dad poor dad wasnt super long but it wasnt short either!

 

[bashworth]

thanks everyone,

are ebooks the way of hte future now????

and what about length? rich dad poor dad wasnt super long but it wasnt short either!

A good way to start with no risk People are more prepared to spend $4 then $20 and they can read them on their tablet.

I sell around 50-60/Month, not going to set the world on fire but a nice little earner for a hobby.

Length The book I have sold the most is around 35 pages, but lots of checklists. The other 2 are around the 100 pages mark.

 

[geoffw]

If you haven't read Jan's book yet, it might be an idea to read what's out there- to get an idea of what has been covered, and what hasn't. Broadly, topics like buy and hold, cash flow positive, renovation and development have been covered. So research first.

 

[Dan_p]

Just wondering I've yet to read Jan Somers book

If she is still on this forum

Without asking too Manu private questions

Can I ask how many copies you have sold

And how many copies do you have to sell to break even?

And what sort of number of copies to make say $1m

And when you wrote it were you a recognised Property gun or just a annonynous Property gun?

I published a book this year, I went through a mini publisher, so I came up with the costs, the mini publisher sourced the printer and took care of printing, QC, importing, customs etc. Other than that I was on my own to move the books.

1,000 copies of a4 368 page, colour books cost me about $18 a copy. The book retails at $35.

I don't expect to make back a million, actually I will be happy to break even. I don't think people publish books purely to make a profit. There is a lot of self satisfaction from publishing your own work and getting it out there.

There is a massive difference in price between printers / publishers in Sydney alone. One of my first quotes was over $100 a copy.

Good luck with your venture

 

[T.G]

Don't forget the costs of having the book copy written too. If you want to get an idea of costs and the best way to go about it I may have a few contacts that may be helpful.

Cheers

T.G

 

[Singo]

thanks everyone,

im not looking to reinvent the wheel, but if the book can be the first stop for all new and beginnerr property investors that would be good,

it will be all based on my experiences, and my research,

im thinking of having a few basic diagrams ofteh investment cycle/clock etc.

wont have any stats like this cities population is expected to jump by 100% in the next 10 years etc.

maybe a section on how to do DD, how important DD is, how important finance is, a few finance options/strategies,

and maybe a second book on renos etc. etc.

i dont really want to fork out $20k to start off, so I might go the option of $4 ebooks,

are ebooks the way of hte future now????

and what about length? rich dad poor dad wasnt super long but it wasnt short either!

Have you started the book?

 

[DavidMc]

Agreed with all of the above. I've looked into it as well, it seems to only be useful as a marketing tool for another service or the personal satisfaction.

 

[MTR]

Apparently as far as property investment book sales go in Australia.

This book has had the highest sales ever

From 0 to 130 Properties In 3.5 Years (S McKnight)

 

[attrill]

If you want to start doing the seminar circuit, a book seems to really help. Raises your credibility no end and gives you something to sell on the night.

There are only so many legal ways to make money in property in Australia and most new books seem to be a re-run of the same methods, but that doesn't stop a few new ones turning up in the bookstores each year.

There is a reason Jan's books sold so well and I imagine they continue to do so. Simple, easy to read and thousands of dollars worth of good straight forward advice.

If you can do that with an updated twist then it could do well.

 

[willair]

Apparently as far as property investment book sales go in Australia.

This book has had the highest sales ever

From 0 to 130 Properties In 3.5 Years (S McKnight)

Maybe look a bit deeper into TheMillionaireNextDoor and who he studied to write that book over a thousand millionaires most did not exhibit any signs of a higher level of intelligence most got there through hard work,the same as the TheMillionareMind,and I have all of Jan Sommers books but by the time ihad the time to read them I was already where I wanted to be..

Maybe target the thousand that wanted to be a multi millionaire,and never made it and the mistakes they made along they way that's the only disturbing interpretation on so called "LUCK",it works both ways..