Jesse Tevelow - Authorpreneur: Build the Brand, Business, and Lifestyle You Deserve. It’s Time to Write Your Book

A Preface

Neurosurgeons, Bestsellers, and Bags of Cash

After a night of broken sleep, I was groggy and stressed. Wearing nothing but a pair of boxers, I sunk my teeth into an apple and sat down in front of my computer. I nudged my mouse to wake the screen from its sleep mode, and there it was: a long-winded email from a complete stranger that would alter the course of my life.

Jesse,

Thanks for providing the details on how to get started with blogging, something Ive wanted to do for some timeboth medical and life philosophy stuff. And also thanks for validating my desire to write a book or two (even if I am the only reader).

There are many fascinating things that I have done (and many more I plan to do), both professionally and personally, that have really influenced my view of the world. Ive seen the best in people, and the worst in people. Ive had great teachers and mentors, and very bad ones. I have rejoiced with my patients and families at their highest points in life: the births of sons and daughters, or a miraculous recovery from a life-threatening event. And I have been to the depths of human emotion, weeping with families when they are saying goodbye to their children with brain tumors or other horrible affliction.

I have seen just about every way that adults can destroy their bodies and souls; and how bravely children always fight to get well, so that they can get back to school with their friends and play ball. Life is full of incredible juxtapositions

So true. Full of juxtapositions. Todd was an accomplished neurosurgeon from Florida and he had just finished reading my book, The Connection Algorithm. Now he was ready to start blogging and working toward publishing his own work. We had never met, yet he felt compelled to pour his life onto the proverbial page for me. I had received similar emails before, but for some reason, this one felt different. It tipped the scales. After reading Todds message, I knew Authorpreneur had to be written.

When I published The Connection Algorithm, I was a first-time author. I had no clue what I was doing. But somehow, it became a #1 bestseller in several categories on Amazon (including Entrepreneurship, Management, Knowledge Capital, and Personal Success ) and ranked as high as #867 overall out of over a million digital books offered on the Kindle platform. To put that into perspective, it was performing better than 99.9% of all other books, including those written by perennial all-stars whose titles consistently decorate the New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller lists.

In the first year alone, it sold over 10,000 copies. Over that same period, I produced an audio version and partnered with a marketing agency that focused on selling the foreign rights throughout the world. We did publishing deals in Korea and China. Then I wrote another book in just seven days called Hustle , which became another #1 bestseller. I was two for two.

My total book income (in the first twelve months alone) was roughly $20,000. Not bad, considering I did almost no marketing and had no pre-existing brand or following. But that was just the beginning. Beyond book sales, Ive been invited to speak on podcasts that reach millions of listeners, been featured on high-profile web properties like Forbes and Entrepreneur, written guest posts that reach tens of thousands of readers, and leveraged my books to build a thriving business that banked over six figures in its first year.

But even more exciting than the accolades and wads of cash are the emails I get from people like Todd. I changed a neurosurgeons life without ever meeting him. Thats crazy.

I only sold a few hundred bound copies of The Connection Algorithm in the first three months of its publication, but I sold thousands of digital copies. And it was no accident. Theres been a fundamental shift in the industry. Remember when we bought CDs and we had to put them in big cases and carry them around? Yeah, that was weird. Did I mention I didnt use a publisher?

Im not saying all of this to brag. Im not special. Im lucky. And so are you . We happen to be living at an extraordinarily lucky time in human history. Technology is shifting control from the corporation to the individual. People like you and I havent been this powerful since pretty much the beginning of time. Dont look now, but youre sitting on a goldmine.

Part One

The Power of the Written Word

Chapter 1

Welcome to the

Writer Revolution

The Seven-Figure Side Gig

Have you ever felt frustrated with your career, or that youre somehow selling yourself short? Ever wished you could harness your passion and find financial freedom in the process? I know I have. But for most of us, thats as far as it goes. The thought evaporates as quickly as it forms. Its a half-hearted prayer, an unattainable goal whispered aimlessly into the night, a dream . Eventually, we wake up from our fantasy and go back to reality.