In June 2013, just a few months ago, we received a short note from an attorney with an idea for a book on teaching people how to become fluent in Spanish. His name is John Del Gaudio and he’s a practicing bankruptcy attorney who taught himself Spanish using a rigorous self-study approach.
John decided to call it How To Become Fluent In Spanish: Not for Beginners, Not Quick and Easy, but Really Effective. He wanted readers to understand that there are no shortcuts to becoming fluent, but there is a system anyone can use if they’re willing to dedicate the time, energy and effort into learning.
How a First-Time Author Sells More Books Than Random House
We knew the book would be a hit and so we moved quickly, publishing it within just 3 weeks of the time we first talked with John. It became a #1 best-seller by July, and by September over 1,200 copies of the book had been purchased by happy readers.
At only 25 pages long, you can read the book in an afternoon and start implementing John’s system for becoming fluent in Spanish right away. Despite its brevity, the book packs a punch and has become the #1 bestselling book on Amazon in both Bilingual Education and Spanish.
Becoming a #1 Bestseller In 8 Weeks
John was amazed at the success of his book, especially in comparison to other Spanish Education books such as Madrigals Magic Key to Spanish, published by Random House, which is currently selling less than half as many Kindle ebook copies as John every day.
John said, “I just did not want to bother with learning the publishing business, at least for my first project. TCK Publishing made the project work for me. They really know what they are doing.”
John’s story clearly shows the way of the future for independent authors: success through publishing ebooks, publishing them faster, and connecting directly with readers.
Had John approached a traditional “Big Six Publisher” like HarperCollins, they would have first rejected him because he wasn’t represented by a literary agent.
Even if he had an agent, they would have rejected any book just 25 pages in length and laughed him out the door. And had he somehow convinced them to publish the book, it would have taken 6 months to two years or more to get it published. With TCK Publishing, John’s book was published within three weeks from the time he contacted us, and became a #1 bestseller on Amazon within two months from that initial conversation.
Authors Take Note
If you want to succeed in the publishing environment today, you have to do things differently. Authors like John are outselling authors backed by Big Six Publishers who are only earning 10% royalties (with 15% of that going to their agent).
So not only is John selling more books than his traditionally published peers, he’s earning 50% of the net royalties on his sales, meaning he doesn’t even need to outsell his competitors to earn more.
To learn more about our services and what we can do for you and your book, be sure to check out our publishing services. Then, review our submission guidelines to learn how you can submit your manuscript for our review.
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If you enjoyed this post, then you might also like:
- How We Sold 300,000+ Books without a Big Marketing Budget
- The Best Way To Market Ebooks With a Limited Budget
- 5 Book Marketing Ideas That Helped Me Go from 0 to International Best Seller in 5 Countries
- 13 Sites to Publicize, Promote and Market Your Book With Little or No Marketing Budget
Tom Corson-Knowles is the founder of TCK Publishing, and the bestselling author of 27 books including Secrets of the Six-Figure author. He is also the host of the Publishing Profits Podcast show where we interview successful authors and publishing industry experts to share their tips for creating a successful writing career.
