As a trained marketer, I spend many hours on research looking at graphs and statistics. It’s something I enjoy doing. My business majors were marketing and management. I dissect graphs and make decisions to improve results and ROI. To most people, this will be dull work. But it’s something that excites me. I love to see the numbers roll in, the live feedback of customers, the way they click on the website and conversion actions to become a buying decision. I love that technology allows me to see flow through behaviour on how a customer interacts with a website, what is the first action they do? Will they click on the link or leave a comment? What is the percentage rate of them doing so? Using these feedback I adjust my interactions with customers and tweak the buttons and links in a way that is more visually appealing for them to “click through”.
I am an experimental marketer, I try many different ways to get the highest ROI results. I run different campaigns in different formats. But most of my “experiments” fail. Once I hit a formula however, I stick with it. It works for some time, before I have to change it again because as it is with technology, the world is changing too fast for anyone to keep up. What may have worked yesterday, will not work today. Thus, monitoring results and adjusting campaigns are paramount to achieving desired results.
When I was in school, I was quite a force. Well disliked or well liked – I didn’t care. I just did projects within my parameters. I realised when I teamed up with someone who does detailed minute checks and is good at organizing, we will get a higher grade. I function best with an assistant or two. Thus my working style is such that I need people who do the detailed work such as verifying facts and getting research materials for my consolidation to write a strategic report. I think this mode of operation has not changed for me since graduating from university. Now, there are live reports on Google Analytics and Facebook Analytics, work is now done by algorithms.
I have a fear that if i fail in my ventures I may have to resort to finding a day job. I have admittedly, embarrassingly, not worked in a day job for someone else. I had received and rejected so many job and business offers to pursue my writing career. I know if I do fail, I may have to return to doing consulting or seeking employment. I had not used my degree to date. I don’t even have a resume! I had interviewed people but I never got interviewed. Such is a strange paradox to my career.
My best asset to any organisation would be to provide insightful feedback to improve their existing process and implement steps to increase conversion rates. This is what I had been doing for myself. I study the Amazon sales graph everyday now to see how my book downloads are doing. Although I am not charging a cent for it, I believe this free marketing tool is the most powerful advantage to my future book sales. I am targeting at 100 000 downloads for Red Hourglass within one year. With a conversion of 5% or 5000 people who would be interested in purchasing the sequel, that’s the ROI I am looking at. There is a rolling effect to this – the more downloads, the more conversions. It’s a marketer wet dream to have this outreach without the dependence on the big brother. We are looking at zero marketing budget here, it just builds and builds on it’s own on open platforms.
Could you imagine there are billions of people out there and the internet and mobile and ereader outreach is only increasing day by day? Such is the potential. But such is my fear – that I will fail. We can only try to put in our best effort and hope for the best return of results.
The Red Hourglass by Scarlet Risque is now ranked #962 Free in Kindle Store. Considering there are thousands of free books published daily, it is quite remarkable the book has climbed the ranks so quickly. This is probably based on 173 free ebooks downloaded on 08 Nov (Sunday). Maybe people read more books on Sunday compared to other days? I could only imagine that book downloads will soar towards holidays such as Christmas periods.
I am quite zen about my results, I don’t feel any attachment to the emotion of my book downloads. Some days are high, some days are lower. I am in a contented stage. I did my best work, in a limited time.
I am still under 30 years old and I had released my debut novel. I don’t have anymore things in my life that I feel are more difficult. I think publishing a book is harder than graduating from college or starting a successful business (which I both did but felt dissatisfied with my life).
I had to fight my inner demons on a daily basis while writing. I had eccentric mood swings leading up to publication. I had to shed my old beliefs to welcome my new mode of living by turning full time in my artistry. I had reached a state of zen.
Another way to describe this emotion is like having climbed Mount Everest. Okay, I climbed the highest mountain. I have no more urge to climb anymore mountains. I had done it. All I have to do now, is maintain my momentum and continue writing the sequels and spreading the message. I have the people around me to thank for (especially my editor, Tara Keogh), and my fans who continue to support my work, that makes this viable for me to continue pushing on this state of zen.
I started a few successful businesses while I was pursuing my business studies in school. I became a distributor of products at 18 years old when I could legally sign my first contract. I gave tuition on the side. Before I was 18, I was using my mum’s credit card to start an ebay account to buy and sell products. When I was 12, I had a virtual online shop on neopets were I sold potions for virtual currency and made a killing with my best friend. There are many different instances where I put my creativity and resourcefulness into play. I think there is no running away from this calling once you are connected to your higher purpose – mind – heart and soul.
The reason why I choose self publishing because I want to experiment with my creativity and have the freedom to do whatever I want without anyone else telling me what to do. Maybe I am controlling in that sense, but I have a strong work ethnic and I spend hours of research before I take any action to write a single line or film a video. It makes me feel good to see that people appreciate my products and services which are my unique offerings to the world. I was reading this diagram on self publishing and boy, it really resonated with me and inspired me to write this post on why I feel so strongly about my self publishing independent journey.
There are a few factors that lead to my current line of thought, one key reason why I chose this lonely difficult path is because I do not want any casualty. What do I mean by that? If I start any other business, and that business fails, I have to lay off staff. I dislike firing people, but when there are no more clients or the economy goes down, staff have to be laid off. But with writing, the only person I have to depend on is myself. I have to produce my targets on time, and I am the only casualty in this. This makes me feel more content at least I can control the outcome (by deciding to write more or rest).
How I work – I have a Google Calendar where I put my milestones for the day and checklists. I have a five year business plan for my writing which I enact on, and readjust my strategies. I reevaluate my actions yesterday, and re-correct my actions for today. If the past month actions produce no results, I will switch my direction and mode of operation by formulating a different strategy. I have to admit I fail most of the time (9/10 times). Only about less than 5% my plans produce results. Some days I feel like a total failure and defeated for this reason. I had regroup my friendship net and built up my core group of support network over time so that I won’t be thrown off the grid if the going gets too tough. As a entrepreneur sometimes you got to be ready to lose everything you have overnight, so you can operate without the fear of having everything taken away from you.
It’s like poker. You can’t win if you show your tells. You can’t win if you show your fear. You have to zen out and think rationally about each decision. Will you be able to make your opponent fold knowing you have the weaker hand? Will you be able to bluff? Will you be able to make him bet knowing you have the stronger hand? These are very mental decisions. These are the thought processes that goes on everyday for an entrepreneur. That’s why business people love poker and likewise. It’s not a game, but it’s a mental state. The game is not your opponent but yourself. You can never beat your opponent if you are not in the center of your own internal universe. That’s the greatest mistake people make – they think they can lie, bluff and be deceit about their actions. But no, your opponent will sense your fears and triple bet you and take away all your chips. Such is essence of mental game.
The day has not ended for Nov 04, so the graph only shows the units sold on Nov 03 and not Nov 04.
I am really excited that my book is climbing up the ranks so fast, I hope readers find themselves and their truths through the Hourglass Series. Here is a video of me reading the introduction to the Red Hourglass (book trailer).
My YouTube Channel, Scarlet Queen – hit a million views today after 82 videos and two years and a half years starting from Nov 2012 – Oct 2015.
My next goal is to achieve one million ebooks from a combination of novels, novellas and poetry/short stories to be released in the next five years.
My current results:
6700 website hits per month on thescarletqueen.com
600 website hits per month on averral.com
105000 views per month on Scarlet Queen YouTube
2500 subscribers on Scarlet Queen YouTube
145+ Facebook fans
100+ email list
Exponential Targets for 2021 (5 years)
500 000 views per month on Scarlet Queen YouTube
5000 + subscribers a year on Scarlet Queen YouTube
50 000 website hits on Scarlet Queen website per month
10 000 subscribers email list
10 000 Facebook fan following 1 000 000 ebook downloads
Future Releases
– 5 full length novels on Hourglass series
– Free short stories and poetry books (10 books)
– 5 sets of Erotica Novella (Butterfly)
– Translated versions of novels for multiplier effect
– Paid Audio versions of Butterfly and Hourglass
– Free audio of shorter works and readings
– Podcasting / Audio Video (thinking about putting a friday slot into audio videos of Risque voice readings)
Through my works I want to convey this message:
To allow others to find their true selves through my works, fight for their convictions, and be liberated from the constraints of society and make conscious sociopolitical decisions that will leave the world a better place for future generations.
Thank you so much for your supporting my artistry <3
as quite a force. Well disliked or well liked – I didn’t care. I just did projects within my parameters. I realised when I teamed up with someone who does detailed minute checks and is good at organizing, we will get a higher grade. I function best with an assistant or two. Thus my working style is such that I need people who do the detailed work such as verifying facts and getting research materials for my consolidation to write a strategic report. I think this mode of operation has not changed for me since graduating from university. Now, there are live reports on Google Analytics and Facebook Analytics, work is now done by algorithms.
