Best selling author John Locke uses the characteristics of a Mequoda System to make money online
Can you imagine selling over one million eBooks in under five months?
John Locke, the self-published author, does not have to imagine such a feat as he’s sold over one million eBooks through Kindle in five months.
The interesting thing to me is that a lot of publishers we work with at Mequoda aren’t really different than what Locke is doing as a self-publisher.
In fact, there are an awful lot of companies with three to five employees where the senior person takes on multiple roles as the CEO, lead content provider, lead publisher and domain expert.
Now, due to his success, Locke stands as an iconic prototype for online publishing.
To set the record straight, as publishing consultants we have never worked with John Locke. He hadn’t heard of us until a recent interview via email. However, it’s clear to us that this guy is using the Internet to run a Mequoda System. The fact that it’s a little different than our other systems is illuminating, especially since it deals strictly with fiction.
How John Locke’s website can be considered as a Mequoda System
As I’ve discussed before, a Mequoda System is unique due to its core values of being content-driven, Google-friendly, subscriber-centric and multiplatform.
Here is how Locke’s website fits the Mequoda System mold:
Content-driven: Locke’s website is content-driven because it incorporates a free active blog with reader reviews, a fan forum and quotes from “Donovan Creed”, the main character in many of Locke’s novels, as content samples.
Google-friendly: Locke’s content is optimized for Google. To land on this conclusion, I Googled “personally respond to readers” to see if one of his blog articles entitled “Why I Personally Respond to My Readers” would come up on page one in Google. His article came up first, showing me that his content is Google-friendly. His participation with social media and blog commenting likely furthers his relationship with Google.
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Subscriber-centric: Locke offers website visitors the opportunity to subscribe to blog updates via email. I had read prior to writing this article that Locke is touched when people write to him and in response, he takes the time to respond to every message. As Locke states on his blog, “No one’s paying my readers to write to me! Isn’t their time as valuable as mine? –Of course it is!”
Multiplatform: Locke is multiplatform because he offers premium information products on his website. He is also using many ways to find and communicate with audiences to sell products. These include his blog, which has an archive of articles, Facebook, Twitter, RSS, Amazon, YouTube and email.
Publishing of the future
I try to read a book per week; and the fact that each one may cost $20, doesn’t slow me down. For others, that could be a serious investment.
The future of publishing is bringing art, literature and entertainment to the masses with affordable, digital solutions. This will continue as prices of e-readers decline. For instance, a Kindle that can currently be purchased at $129 will likely be $49 in two or three years. This will make e-readers no more expensive than a cell phone.
This change in publishing is bringing on a leveling impact where the standard of a best seller will change as pop fiction now takes on 99-cent price tag.
If you missed the million-dollar author trend that’s just beginning here in 2011, perk up your ears and pay attention. This trend isn’t just about a few authors being disruptive; it is going to be the standard of publishing in the future.
