Robert W. Bly - How to Write and Sell Simple Information for Fun and Profit: Your Guide to Writing and Publishing Books, E-Books, Articles, Special Reports, Audios, Videos, Membership Sites, and Other How-To Content

If a recognized authority said to you, You can write a nonfiction book on a topic even if you possess only what I call thin credentials, would you believe you actually can?

Believe. Thats because the authority is Bob Bly. Bob Bly has the unique ability to show us what we may have thought is creatively impossible is not only possible but logical.

If ever youve hadand suppressedthe urge to write a book or an article or an ad or a mailing or an online presentation, grab this book and devour it. It just might be the catalyst that changes your life.

Herschell Gordon Lewis, author of Internet Marketing: Tips, Tricks and Tactics

This book contains the most detailed, concise, and useful information Ive ever found on earning a six-figure income as a writer. I anticipate that the in-depth, how-to secrets in this book will be worth well over $100,000 to me in the next nine months alone.

Joshua T. Boswell, freelance copywriter

Writers should stop wasting time and start reading and applying Bob Blys newest book, How to Write and Sell Simple Information for Fun and Profit. Bob Blys right on the target, as usual. This book will save every new writer a ton of time getting in print and paid. Bly got to the top by writing accurate, easy-to-use, how-to books. This ones a dandy!

Gordon Burgett, author of How to Get Your Book Published Free in Minutes and Marketed in Days

As I write this, Im only on page 39 and its clear this book is classic Bob. From the full picture he gives of todays evolved info-publishing opportunities to the half-dozen new product ideas hes given me already, this thing is jammed with valuable insights. Not to mention, Bob gives rock-solid instructions on how to make it all happen. Great stuff!

John Forde, six-figure copywriter and founding editor, CopywritersRoundTable.com

What do you get when you mix incomparable information with an incomparable writing style? You get Bob Blys latest book. Bob lays out a path to success. All you have to do is follow it!

Marilyn Pincus, author of GET THE JOB! InterviewStrategies That Work

Bob Bly gives the step-by-step details which every aspiring writer needs. Read these pages, apply them to your writing, and you will have fun and profit.

W. Terry Whalin, publisher and author of Jumpstart YourPublishing Dreams

This is a valuable resource for not only the newbie writer but for the most experienced writer as well. Bob goes beyond theory and supplies the practical how to of making money.

MaryEllen Tribby, founder/CEO, WorkingMomsOnly.com

Your Guide to Writing and Publishing Books, E-Books, Articles, Special Reports, Audios, Videos, Membership Sites, and Other How-To Content

REVISED AND UPDATED SECOND EDITION

BOB BLY
with Fred Gleeck

Fresno, California

How to Write and Sell Simple Information for Fun and Profit Second Edition

Copyright 2021 by Robert W. Bly. All rights reserved.

Cover illustration: studiostoks/Shutterstock.com

Published by Linden Publishing

2006 South Mary

Fresno, California 93721

559-233-6633 / 800-345-4447

To order another copy of this book, please call

1-800-345-4447

ISBN 978-1-61035-990-0

Printed on acid-free paper.

135798642

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data on file.

To the great copywriter Clayton Makepeacecolleague, teacher, friendin loving memory

Thanks to Stephen Mettee and Kent Sorsky at Quill Driver Books for having faith in me and in the updated second edition book. And thanks to my family for enduring the neglect that preparing the manuscript necessitated. Additional thanks go to the how-to writers and information marketers who so graciously allowed me to reprint their methods, ideas, and samples of their work in this book.

Special thanks go to Fred Gleeck, friend, teacher, and mentor in the art and science of selling information products online. Fred got me started in internet marketing in 2004, and he continues to educate, counsel, and help me today. Fred, you are a rare gem and I value our relationship more than you know.

Now more than ever, writing is the one skill you need to succeed in lifeand in your career. Words can move mountains. Make strong human connections. Spread a powerful idea. Change minds. Create hope. Leave a legacy. And if you dont know how to use them well, you risk being disconnected and misunderstood.

Donald Miller

U nless youre a hermit living in a cave, you cant help notice the lightning-fast pace at which nonfiction writing, publishing, formats, and the selling of information have radically changed since the first edition of How to Write and Sell Simple Information for Fun and Profit (published in 2010).

Some of the changes are disadvantageous to many traditionally published writers, especially aging Boomers who prefer old-school writing and media:

Print outlets such as magazines are waning. Issues are smaller and published less frequently. Many print editions are being shuttered and transitioning to digital only. And some of these electronic newsletters and magazines pay writers a fraction of the previous rates for print articles.

Newspaper readership and circulation is also on the decline. Newsrooms are laying off reporters by the hundreds.

Back in the day, many freelancers made their livings writing magazine articles. In , well explore why the magazine market for freelance articles is not what it wasand discuss alternate media where you can still write your articles for fun and profit.

The book industry is in flux. Advances and royalties are shrinking. Fewer copies of each book are sold, and many have a shorter shelf life. And the process of selling your book to publishers has become more difficult. gives you details on these changes as well as strategies to overcome them and keep writing books that sell and make you money.

With the rise of the internet, amateurs are flooding the market with works they write on speculation and for free. The amateurs dont care about being paid. They just want to see their writing in print or online with their byline.

When a large number of people are happy to do for free what you want to get paid for, it devalues your work and drastically reduces the fees you can earn from your writing. This reduces fees publishers pay to authors and results in fewer purchases from working writers who write for money.

Some of these changes are advantageous to how-to, self-help, reference, and instructional writers, especially younger writers who were raised in and embrace the digital electronic world:

Self-publishing has skyrocketed over the past decade or so, making it easier for authors to get their books on Amazon while bypassing traditional book publishers.

You can get your work published in a fraction of the time it took back in the days when print was the only publishing option.