Through his direct “tell it like it is” approach, Matthew teaches CEOs, entrepreneurs, and high-achievers how to supercharge their business credentials, increase their stature, and leapfrog competitors using the independent publisher platform.

Your books are brilliant, direct and sensible. Do you think it’s important to “be yourself” when you write? Why?

I absolutely believe that every author should find “their writing voice”. One way to do that is to write as you might speak. Another way to do that is to allow your feelings and opinions to be known instead of being overly cautious and trying always to be politically correct. Being neutral is boring and doesn’t command respect or attention. Whether people agree with you or not, they want to know where you stand.

With the explosive growth of the Internet and published titles, it is extremely difficult to be “totally original”. The only thing we truly can call original is ourselves and the essence of who we are. Sharing that essence is absolutely necessary to earn credibility and respect especially if you are an unknown author.

Another important part of being yourself has to do with authenticity.  People are too smart and savvy today to listen to canned and highly-scripted messages.  In this age of political correctness, mistrust, and scripted messages, people are starving for authenticity.  They want “real information” from “real people”.

Your book focuses on helping people self-publish. What do you think is the biggest stumbling block on the way to becoming a self-published author?

It is very difficult for me to pin it down to on stumbling block so I am going to cheat the question and offer two big stumbling blocks.

1. The first one is sheer ignorance.  I don’t mean that in an insulting or derogatory way to people who have not yet learned to become educated about the truths and myths about today’s publishing.  I am more angered by the elitist attitudes and monopolistic tendencies of the traditional publishing industry.  The traditional publishing industry have and continue to generate propaganda that discourages people from entering into self-publishing or independent publishing.  The reason for that is the traditional publishing conglomerates are desperately trying to keep control of the industry from “upstarts” like you, me, and thousands of other independent publishers and self-publishers. They do not like the changes that will essentially put about 80% of them out of business within the next 10 years.
2. The other major stumbling block is they don’t focus on the “big picture”.  They focus so much on the mechanics of the “how do I self-publish”, they get lost and discouraged in the quagmire of technical information.  They think they have to have every technical skill to create a book when they really need to have a good, broad understanding of what needs to happen to get the end result you want. Let the experts be the experts. Unless they already have specific technical skills, self-published authors should simply focus on being a good project leader and manager and find good people to work with.

When I started out in publishing, I had very few of the technical or publishing skills I now have today.  However, what I had going for me was I had a clear objective on what I wanted to create at the end. I first educated myself on what the overall process was, broke it down into logical chunks I could digest, and then took each step as it came. As problems and challenges came up, I would solve or workaround the issues.

What are the 3 most important things a new author needs to understand about the business?

1. You have to be willing to take responsibility for your work and your message. It does not matter even if you hire a ghostwriter or editor to write and editor for you. Ultimately, you have to be clear on what your message is and what impact you want to have on your readers and, of course, what you want the work to do for you.
2. You have to be willing to be actively engaged in promoting yourself and your work. This can mean learning more about social media, publicity, media relations, speaking, internet marketing, TV, radio, and any number of other skills.  No one person can know all of this. But every author has to choose one or two venues they are attracted to and start there.  Even traditional publishers have moved into that model where they are pushing those responsibilities to the authors.
3. Every author needs to know that it is incredibly difficult to hit a home-run on the first attempt at publishing.  And yet so many beginning authors pour their entire soul, finances, energy, and self-worth into that first publishing project. That first publishing project, whatever it is, is only a warm-up for a much better publishing project down the road.  Love your first project passionately because it is your first one.  But just understand, your best works will likely be future ones as you get better.

You have lots of videos on your websites. Why?

Using videos is a relatively new part of my internet marketing.  However, the videos serve multiple purposes. First, I want the practice of being in front of a video camera. It can open doors to additional publicity such as traditional TV. Second, I can more directly reach, speak, and impact my audience in a way no written article or audio recording can.  Third, I view videos as the third leg of my media publishing triad.  That triad being: books/ebooks (text), audio publishing, and now videos which will lead to full-blown video courses, seminars, and the like.  Essentially, with the growing availability of high-speed broadband connections, video is becoming more important in so many ways.

What one thing do you wish you knew when you started out in publishing?

This is a great question and one that truly stumped me. I had to think about it for a few minutes.  Believe it or not, what I wish I knew has little to do with publishing than knowing myself better and where I wanted to go in life. The reason I say that is that publishing is simply an extension of myself. Publishing is a message and communication platform for me. Hence, the more clarity I have of myself and my goals, the more powerful my publishing efforts will be.  I love the publishing business (book, audio, video) and understand how powerful it can be in changing the world but also myself.  I should have phased into the publishing business quicker and sooner instead of treating it like a “part-time” business.

What’s next for you?

Another great question.  During these challenging economic times, I have had to make major adjustments in my business. However, going forward, I see myself pushing the envelope of what publishing is all about.  I will share and spread my media publishing triad model (book, audio, video).  I intend to live what I teach and write about.  I will likely find another niche that I want to pursue then build another publishing brand around it.  I view my life as an ongoing journey. As my interests and goals changes and evolves, you will see that reflected in my publishing projects.

Is there anything else you want to tell people?

I would tell people to Get Started and finish that first book, audio, or video project, then release it.  Too many people are stuck in the wishing, creation, and production process.  They take years when it only takes months to complete.  People have to get committed and move their projects to completion not get caught up in this perfectionist attitude that is so prevalent in the publishing industry.

There is no question that these early stages are important but you have to eventually move past that and not have projects be in gestation for so long. Every baby must eventually be birthed and be allowed to grow.  This is where the action, learning, and excitement happens.

Contact Details & Discounts

Matthew is generously offering all readers a 30% discount for direct orders. Just use the Coupon Code: wealthyauthor at checkout.

• Websites: http://www.ascendbeyond.com/ & http://turnkeypublisher.com/ & http://ceopublishinguniversity.com
• Book(s): TurnKey Publishing: How to Create a Profitable Self-Publishing Business Without Any Help From Publishers, Bookstores, or Literary Agents!
• The Turnkey Publisher’s Audio Publishing Handbook: How to Create & Self-Publish Profitable Audio Books & Audio Programs Without Any Help From Publishers or Recording Studios!

The Old Risk & Reward Rules

Traditionally, the publishing pecking order went (and still goes in many cases) something like this…

The bookstore (via the wholesaler) is the main link to the customer (and therefore the money) for a geographically defined area and so the bookstore lays down the law to the publisher. Bookstore Law includes: crippling discounts (55% and up), stretched-out payment terms (90 days+), paying bribes to guarantee visibility (read this article from The Times if you don’t believe me http://su.pr/2Y14b3) the option to return in any condition/destroy/remainder any unsold books – for a full refund.

The publisher (sometimes in cahoots with the agent) is the main link to the bookstores and so they lay down the law to the authors. Publisher Law includes: not accepting  submissions unless through a recognised agent, paying pitiful royalties (typically 7-10% of whatever’s left once the bookstore has been paid – of which a percentage will have to go to their agent too), preventing the author from taking other book deals elsewhere, paying the author once per year – assuming they’ve made more money than they got paid as an advance.

The poor author (who, don’t forget, is the only one providing the raw talent) is at the bottom of the pile and lays down the law to nobody. This pecking order also translates into a pretty unfair divvying up of the risks and rewards.

The following charts illustrate a typical risk (based on effort, opportunity cost and financial exposure) – reward (based on retail price of book) split for the old publishing model…

It hardly seems fair that the stakeholder who risks the least should be rewarded the most but – when there was no internet, no social networks and no other way to reach your target market other than by getting your book on the bookshelves – they had a monopoly on the vital asset – customers and got paid accordingly.

The New Risk & Reward Rules

With the new rules in effect the pecking order looks quite different…

The bookstore (via the wholesaler) is one link to the customer (and therefore the money) along with international online bookstores (like Amazon and many smaller specialist stores), ebook retailers (using mobile technology and the internet), mail-order bookstores and Print On Demand book vending machines (such as The Espresso Book Machine).  Traditional bookstores can no longer lay down the law because they no longer have exclusive access to customers. This means crippling discounts (55% and up) are no longer tolerated, stretched-out payment terms (90 days+) are no longer acceptable, wasteful returns policies are no longer viable. Added to this, the highstreet bookstore (with shelves and carpets) has the highest overheads of all the retail channels.

The publisher is one link to the bookstores (via the wholesaler) but the author now has the option to cost-effectively self-publish (with distribution built-in). Old-style Publishers can no longer lay down their law because they no longer have exclusive access to the retail channel. This means agents are no longer tolerated by authors, the pitiful royalties look bad compared to what the author could make by going it alone, the author will expect more control over their content in the various formats enabled such as ebooks and audio.

The empowered author (who can finally see a way to be paid fairly for providing the raw talent) is now in a position to choose their own publishing route. This new level of choice for the author and the new routes available means the distribution of risk and reward is shifting to a much more balanced picture.

The following charts illustrate a typical risk (based on effort, opportunity cost and financial exposure) – reward (based on retail price of book) split for the Publishing 2.0 model…

The result is that publishers playing by the new rules and their authors can decide to tolerate traditional bookstores but they no longer have to give in to their demands.

Most traditional bookstores have had it their own way for too long and until they adjust their terms or shrink their overheads, something they’re still very much resisting, in light of the new rules, many of them will lose the new game and go the same way of the myriad record stores who were casualties of the same recent shake-up in the music industry.

There are only really 3 publishing models but lots of different names for vanity publishing…

1. Paid For Publishing aka “Vanity Publishing”: If you pay someone else to publish your book it could be called collaborative publishing, cooperative publishing, subsidy publishing or (most misleadingly of all) self publishing but it’s really just vanity publishing with a more acceptable title. Some big-sounding New York and London publishers are offering “deals” to new authors with a high cost attached. These “deals” are really nothing more than an attempt to cash in on their name and sell an overpriced vanity package.
2. Self Publishing: No matter what the vanity press says – it’s not self publishing unless you’re doing it all yourself. Obviously you may employ people to provide certain skills but you are still the publisher and the buck (or should that be book) stops with the author and only the author. This is further split into two main approaches:
   1. Print-On-Demand Self Publishing – Low Risk with Good Distribution Built In (providers include LightningSource, Lulu, CreateSpace and BookSurge)
   2. Print-Then-Sell Self Publishing – High Risk with No Distribution Built In (there’s no longer a good reason to publish this way unless you only plan to sell books direct)
3. Mainstream Publishing: These organisations pay you for your book. There’s a lot of competition from authors here so fewer and fewer publishers are offering big (or any) advances anymore and many still insist you apply via an agent. However – they won’t expect you to pay them a penny for your book and they will expect to be sending you royalties. Mainstream publishers really fall into 3 main categories:
   1. Big Publishing Houses – New York Publishers, London Publishers etc. – most aspiring authors dream of getting a huge advance from these companies. First timers should expect tiny royalties and dwindling advances.
   2. Independent Publishers – usually smaller publishers that only publish a few titles per year. These companies are often specialist in nature and can provide a good start for many authors. However, they’re still crippled by the old print-then-sell rules and aggressive terms from bookshops so don’t expect to earn a big royalty,
   3. Publishing 2.0 Publishers – again, usually smaller publishers that have embraced new technology for both production, distribution and sales. Good publishers embracing the new rules of the publishing game are able to pay much higher royalties because they no longer rely on bricks-and-mortar bookstores for their sales.

Here’s a quick matrix from Publishing Academy that plots some of the main differences…