#I get this a lot in terms of beta/editorial feedback too

[emeryleewho]

I actually find it really sad that people's response to missing some allusion in fiction is to say the story did a bad job of explaining it rather than to think "maybe I should read closer next time" or "maybe the target audience for this piece has some context that I don't and it's worth my time to gain some of that context before reading more stories like these". And I mean sad, not in a condescending way, but in an "it genuinely hurts my heart and I wish I could help" way.

[brynwrites]

What I learned while self-publishing.

@milkyteefs asked:

I'm unsure about the entire self-publishing world! Do you have a basic outline of the process? Some key highlights/headings of how you started and what connections you needed to make? Thanks again! <3

I went through the process of self-publishing Our Bloody Pearl this summer. Even with all the guides in the world it turned out to be a very grueling experience. I’ll be doing it again with Quasi Stellar soon, but I also hope to traditionally publish The Warlord Contracts trilogy.

First, let’s get this out of the way: Self published books are often very bad.

But they don’t have to be.

Self publishing requires you, the writer, to either wear the hat of everyone else at a publishing house, or be your own investor and pay for professionals to do the jobs you can’t. If you’re willing to put in that effort and money then you can come out with a more professional book than you might have had you published traditionally. If you’re not, then self publishing might not be the right road for you.

Now then, how do you self publish in a way that produces a professional book?

Fifteen Basic Steps to Self-Publishing:

1. Write and edit the book.

This is, understandably, the step that a lot of people get stuck at. Writing a novel is hard. Don’t worry about how or when you’ll publish it until it’s finished.

Just write it.

During this time you should also be marketing yourself as a writer. Learn more about that via my marketing tips tag.

2. Beta readers and critique partners.

Getting feedback from handpicked peers is essential for any book no matter which publishing route you choose. If these terms are new to you, learn more about beta readers here and critique partners here.

During your first book (or two) I recommend starting with critique partners and then moving to beta readers afterward, because critique partners will shred your novel down to the bare bones, which you usually really need the first few books you write. Critique partners will also generally pick at your grammar and typos though, which can be very useful at the end of the editing stage so that your manuscript looks cleaner to an editor (or agent, if you traditionally publish.)

3. Write your blurbs and summary.

While your story is in the hands of your final group of readers, you should already be working on blurbs and summaries. By the end of the publishing process you will need:

A back of the book blurb.

A one-two sentence logline style blurb.

A one page summary of the story.

Don’t put these off! They won’t get any easier if you wait. You can find tips on writing blurbs in this article.

4. Determine that you’re done making changes to the manuscript.

A writer who’s growing and learning will forever feel as though there’s something they can change in their manuscript, but at some point you have to decide that what’s done is done. You will always have another awesome book which will be even better than this one.

If you have trouble determining when this point should be, check out this explanation!

5. Make a publishing timetable.

Give yourself more time on your timetable than you think you need! Traditional publishing takes about two years for a reason. A lot of the steps below this point seem relatively simple compared to writing and editing a book, but they require you to learn new skills and spend a lot of time waiting for other people with busy schedules.

Five and a half: Start book two.

You might have already done this during the beta reading stage, but if not, start another book! Writers should never stop writing and editing (outside of planned vacations, emergencies, and mental health breaks, of course), so pick that pen back up and start pounding out another book.

6. Find a content editor.

If you ran a beta reading stage with 10-20 critical and knowledgeable beta readers in your target audience then congratulations, they served the purpose of a content editor already!

6. Find a copy editor.

A copy editor is the person who checks your grammar, sentence structure, flow, and word usage. I found my editor though the editorial freelance association directory. The main things to look for when choosing an editor:

Experience. This should include testimonies, information about any publishing companies they worked with, and the works they edited in the past. If you can’t easily access and double check these things, then keep looking.

Sample edits. Any editor worth your time will offer you a free sample edit. (For copy editing this is generally 750-1k words of your novel. I’m not sure about other types of editing.) Take advantage of this! Send the same sample to the top four or five editors who fit your price range and see who returns feedback that you jive with and feel comfortable paying.

What if I can’t afford a copy editor?

In general, you can probably get away without hiring a professional copy editor if you (a) find 3-4 solid critique partners who are willing to do a very detailed line edit and proofread of your final draft (do not take advantage of your fellow writers!! Offer them the same in return!!), (b) get free sample edits from a handful of freelance authors to see if they catch any major formatting issues you do regularly, and (c) learn what a style guide is and make at least a simple one for yourself while you do another round of proofreading.

Remember though, traditionally publishing exists specifically so that you, the writer, can get a professional edit without having to pay for it. If you want a professional book without putting in the investment, then querying an agent might be the better option for you.

7. Prepare to offer ARCs to reviewers and friends.

Getting reviews for your book is the most important marketing activity you can do. The sooner you contact reviewers about this, the more reviews you’ll have when the release date comes. Note that the large majority of book reviewers you contact will never respond. If you email 20 reviewers, expect to get one or two reviews out of it, most likely in 4-6 months. (Which is why you should email all your friends and past beta readers too.)

How do we maximize the number reviewers who will read our books?

You know those neat little lists of book blogs who will review indie books? Don’t use them. Anything that with nicely compiled and easy to get reviewer lists is going to be overcrowded with blogs who have two year wait-lists and 97% of them will never even email you back.

Instead, try searching for reviewers you already follow on twitter and tumblr. Look for semi-popular goodreads reviewers who put positive reviews on books similar to your own and check if they have a link to a blog, or an email for review inquiries. Find less well known booktubers that youtube links to off your favorite popular booktubers.

8. Format the book.

You can pay someone to format your novel, but its rather expensive for something that’s relatively easy to learn to do yourself using guides off the internet. Paperback and ebook formatting must be done separately, and your first time I would set aside a full Saturday to tackle each of them, just to be safe. If you have a program like scrivener, with a little tweaking you should be able to get a nice looking ebook with none of the hassle of learning html. There are many other options though. Do a little research to find the one which works for you!

(Note: If you’re printing a paperback you cannot get a paperback cover until you’ve formatted the book and know final page count for your print size!)

9. Hire a cover artist.

The book cover is the most important part of your book, so far as sales and success are concerned.

There’s a huge trend in self published books to skip this stage and work with photoshop or cavna instead. I would not recommend this. Cover artists for professional books do what they do full time. They know the market. They know what sells. So do some writers, but the truth is, many of the writers who think they can design covers, turn out the sorts of designs that are easily pegged as self-published books.

If you want a professional looking book that pops in the amazon charts, hire a professional.

There are a multitude of ways you can go about this. Some large cover art sites like damonza offer bundles which can get pricey, but let you back out with no charge if you don’t like their first drafts and include unlimited changes if you commit. There are also many freelancers who specialize in book covers, for a wide range of prices.

What if I don’t have the money to hire a cover artist?

If there is anything you don’t want to go cheep on, it’s your cover art. But let’s say you absolutely have to get a cover for cheap or free. There are people who do cover designs for $5 on Fiverr, and I think some of them actually turn out half decent covers for very specific genres, but its a gamble. A couple writeblrs do cover design as part of their day job and might be willing to do something cheep or for a trade. You could also learn how to design covers yourself, but if you want to compete with books whose designers went to school just to do what they now do full time, you’ll either have to put in a lot of time or be lucky enough to have a very good, easily executed idea for your particular novel, and hopefully not one with requires any stock photos unless you want to purchase rights to them.

Now, there are some exceptions. Some writers have a natural design brain, and some writers are in fact designers themselves. Sometimes you write a book where the perfect cover design is very simple and easy to produce yourself. But that won’t be most people, with most books.

So far I have seen exactly two of the hundreds of self publisher made covers I’ve seen have actually made me want to buy the story. I’m not trying to be mean. It’s just the truth.

10. Offer ARCs to more reviewers.

Now you have a nicely formatted book and everything! Who can resist that?

11. Do a cover reveal, and during the cover reveal, offer everyone there an ARC.

Cover reveals come in many different forms. Some writers just post the cover on their blog, some do livestreams on facebook, some do question and answer sessions leading up to the reveal, some even go all out and have other writers come talk about their books on their site for a full day prior to the cover reveal.

Do whatever works best for your schedule. The goal is to attract attention for the book, so make sure you link to anything you’ve already set up from #12, so people can easily find your book when you release it!

And, as always, give out ARCs.

12. Get your book and author profile set up on everything.

Prior to your book’s release you should have a goodreads author page, an amazon author page, and a bookbub author page, all with your book attached. You should also have a website and a mailing list (linked to via your ebook), prepared release announcements for every social media site you work off of, and be ready with attractive and easily noticeable links to the book’s sale page off your tumblr blog and website.

Keep in mind that some of these things will take a decent chunk of time to set up, and a few of them require a live human being to confirm you are who you say you are. Start them as early as possible!

13. Release the book!

Time to actually put the book out there for all to buy. You can do a similar hype release as you do with a cover reveal, if you so desire. Make sure you remember to post all your announcements and put up all your links.

Try not to check on the book’s sales until the following day! It does not help their growth or your mental health to constantly be haunting your sales charts. When you do check them, keep in mind that a book which sells two thousand copies in its entire life time has done well, all things considered.

The fantastic thing about self publishing is that you never have to stop selling your book. If you sell fifty copies your first month and then twenty the second and then five the third, you can always dive back into marketing, run a discount, apply for a bookbub ad, focus on marketing yourself as an author and gaining followers. You chose whether your book is done selling.

To offer pre-orders or not?

This is a toss up. In my experience, pre-orders aren’t a good idea for your debut self-published novel, even if you think you have a large audience who will buy them, because they take away from the sales you could have your release week, and the boost those sale give you on the amazon charts. If you do wish to offer pre-orders though, try going through ingramspark instead of amazon advantage, to save yourself tears and heartache.  

To go amazon exclusive or not?

Many authors claim that you have to try both to know what’s right for any particular book. Do your own research and decide what you think is best for you.

Thirteen and a half: Start book three.

At this point you should already have finished at least the rough draft of second novel, so don’t forget to start your third book at some point!

14. Offer people read for review copies.

Especially if your debut novel is aimed toward broke teenagers and younger adults, there will be a lot of people who are interested in the book but aren’t motivated enough to actually buy it on faith alone. By offering free ebooks on a read for review basis, you...

Grow your reviews.

Create fans out of people who may have never read the book otherwise.

Have higher paperback sales, because readers who loved the ebook you gave them may decide to buy themselves a paperback.

15, unto infinity: Keep promoting your book into the sunset, while writing new books!

The time to stop promoting you book is whenever you feel you’ve had enough sales and reached enough readers. Until you reach a point where you’ve published so many books that you can’t handle marketing them all, you should still be trying to expand your readership!

And don’t forget to have a little bit of fun along the way. You worked hard for this. Celebrate it.

But what if I just want to get a book out there?

If your goal is not to publish a professional looking book with will expand your fanbase and set you on a path to full time authorship, but rather to have a piece of your writing available in a book format your friends and family can buy, then there’s no reason not to publish exactly how you wish to.

Are all these steps really necessarily?

I believe they are, at least for a debut novel. In fact, there are probably more steps which I missed entirely. But, if you can find multiple self-published authors who went through a less rigorous publishing process and still received hundreds or goodreads reviews, then by all mean, follow that process instead (and let me know about it!)

So which book did you self publish?

This one here! You can support me and my ability to keep giving writing advice by purchasing a copy today =D

[hkvoyage]

Fic: Butterfly Wings - Chapter 32

Story summary

A fashion blog started at University launched Blaine Anderson’s fortune and fame. As Vogue’s new editor-in-chief, he is struggling to find an original angle for an upcoming issue. Kurt Hummel has recently arrived in New York City after finishing high school, and is having no luck building a musical theater career, so he decides to explore another passion of his: fashion. He applies for an internship at Vogue, and Isabelle sees in him the perfect fresh face to liven up the magazine, and convinces him to try out as a model. Kurt meets Blaine, and in spite of their 10-year age difference, sparks fly. Can they overcome misunderstandings and sabotage to find their happily-ever-after? Klaine model AU.

Rating for this chapter: General (overall story is mature)

Word count for this chapter: 5,623

Can also be read on A03 / FF  

Master post is here.

Cassie at @cc-graphics​ created animated artwork for the Skype conversation in this chapter. Please leave her some feedback here.

Thank you to the amazing @lilyvandersteen for the beta work and support.

*****

“Maybe we needed to break a little, so we could put ourselves back together more beautifully than before.” ― Leah Raeder, Cam 

April 

Kurt wakes up with the late afternoon sunlight streaming across his face. He remembers that he’s in Antoine’s studio, but can’t for the life of him think why he’s in Antoine’s bed. He quickly sits up to assess the situation.

“Non, non, mon chouchou. Don’t move!”

Antoine is standing at the foot of the bed… behind an easel… with a paintbrush in his hand. Kurt quickly pulls the sheet from his waist to the top of his neck. Kurt now remembers that he finally agreed to pose for Antoine for a painting. He must have dozed off during the sitting. Life has been so busy working full-time at Bellerose, taking two fashion courses in the evening and spending time with Antoine on the weekends.

“Why do you cover yourself? All that pale skin is parfait. Those rosy lips and cheeks, mmmm…”

Kurt smiles and slowly lowers the sheets to his bellybutton. Kurt isn’t quite ready to allow Antoine to paint a full nude portrait of him. They’ve become closer over the past month, with a few hot make-out sessions, but Kurt isn’t willing to go further unless he’s in a committed relationship. Kurt doesn’t know what their relationship means to Antoine, and it’s starting to bug him.

When they go out with Antoine’s friends, everyone assumes that they are together in an exclusive relationship. Antoine is attentive, warm and caring, and has eyes for no-one but Kurt. It’s casual and nothing that’s overly complicated – after the situation with Blaine, it had initially seemed ideal. However, Kurt is getting to the point where he wants some sort of commitment. They have never discussed it, and sometimes words speak louder than actions.

“The afternoon sunlight… C’est idéal. T’es si beau comme ça. Je t'aime (It’s ideal. You’re beautiful like that. I love you).”

Kurt freezes for a few moments, hardly believing what he’s just heard. Did Antoine say that he loves him? Did he mean it or was he just caught up in the moment with his painting? One thing Kurt knows for sure is that he has to find out the answer.

“Y-you love me, Antoine?”

“Oui, mon amour. You are perfection on my canvas. You inspire me.”

“So you love me as a model?”

“Bien sûr (Of course). I also love spending time with you. Seeing Paris through your eyes is magical and like a breath of fresh air. It’s like viewing Paris from a new perspective, and that makes me more creative.”

“D-does this mean we’re boyfriends?”

“Oh, mon chouchou, I’m not into labels. I cannot do relationships.”

“What do you mean by that, exactly? What are you looking for, then?” Kurt asks, sitting up and covering his chest.

“Boyfriends, marriage and children. Pha! So bourgeois. I’m a free spirit and my art is the most important thing in my life. I can’t be creative if I have to worry about a husband and children. I’ve seen it with other artists. They worry about the mortgage, the schools, and other unimportant things in life. Soon their art is nothing but a hobby and they settle for some boring desk job. Non, that is not the life for me.”

“That sounds a little lonely to me,” Kurt replies. He can’t imagine a life without a husband and family, and establishing roots in a community. Kurt is a little nervous asking the next question.

“Where does that leave us, Antoine?”

“I may be a free spirit, but I’m not a philanderer. I enjoy the company of only one man… at a time. However, my art is my mistress and her call is more powerful than any man can be.”

Kurt has had enough of the modeling session. He wraps a bathrobe around himself before getting out of bed to use the bathroom. While Kurt is in the shower, he thinks about Antoine’s philosophy of life. On paper, it sounds ideal – being caught up in the moment with one man without society’s labels. But Kurt’s heart is telling him something different. It’s not something he really wants in the long-term, but can he settle for this type of relationship as long as he’s in Paris?

*****

Kurt adjusts his tablet so that his image fills the little window in Skype. “Blaine, can you see me?”

“I certainly can. You look amazing, Kurt. Can you see me okay?”

Kurt smiles because he has spent a lot of time making sure his hair is perfect before their prearranged Skype call. It’s one thing to tweet, e-mail and talk on the phone, but another thing altogether to see each other on Skype. Kurt’s heart flutters when he sees Blaine fill the screen. He can tell Blaine has taken some time with his hair as well, because the loose curls have a luxurious shine. Blaine is wearing a simple T-shirt, but its snug fit accentuates his biceps, and those distressed jeans he loves so much. However, it’s Blaine’s warm sparkling eyes and smile that capture Kurt’s attention. Blaine looks at him as if he’s the single most important person in his life. After minutes of silence have gone by with nothing more than them staring at each other, Kurt clears his throat.

“Who’s your buddy? I didn’t know that you now have a dog.”

“Oh, Sundance isn’t mine - he’s Bentley’s. I agreed to dog sit for him this week. It’s Bentley and Marge’s 20th wedding anniversary and they went to La Jolla. Marge has a cousin living there and they’ve always wanted to visit California.”

A vision of a house surrounded by a white picket fence, two children and a dog flashes through Kurt’s head. He’ll have to convince Blaine that cats are better than dogs… Kurt quickly shakes these thoughts out of his mind and continues the conversation.

“I read the editorial you did on accessories you sent me, Blaine. It’s really good… Exceptional even. You know my views on fashion having no gender.”

“Yeah, you’ve proved that time and again. Your views certainly influenced the editorial. What do you think? Did I go too far with my examples?”

“No, you didn’t. If your readers take on your ideas, the jewelry industry will have a lot to thank you for. Have you picked the photo to go with your editorial?”

“Umm… We’re using the usual headshot of me. Why?”

“As cute as that photo is, it doesn’t push any boundaries. Why don’t you get a special photo taken, wearing some of the accessories you describe in the editorial? I don’t think scarves really suit you, but I bet you could really pull off wearing some bracelets and rings.”

“You think I look cute in that photo?” Blaine asks with a twinkle in his eye.

“Is that all you got from what I said, Mr. Anderson?” Kurt huffs, embarrassed that he let that slip.

“No, of course not. You don’t think I’d look silly? I’m not a model,” Blaine giggles nervously.

“That’s exactly the point! If you really believe that accessories can be worn by everybody, you have to lead by example. Show people that they’re not just meant for supermodels to adorn a magazine spread. It’s a look that a successful businessman can pull off as well.

“You know, Kurt, I think you’re onto something. I will get a new photo taken. I knew you would have a good idea to make the editorial come to life. Thank you.”

“You’re most welcome. Now tell me about the Monarch House. My dad sent me some photos of the after-party. I loved your T-shirt, by the way. I wonder where you got that idea? Snooping around Rachel’s YouTube channel?”

Blaine throws his head back in laughter and describes his evening of watching New Direction videos on YouTube. He then relates a few stories about the Monarch House opening day and its activities since. The conversation is light and easy, and for the first time, Kurt feels like maybe their friendship survived Klainegate…. Maybe there’s even hope for more… Someday…

*****

May

Kurt enters the Bellerose Boutique early on Monday morning, with a café au lait and un pain au chocolat from the Petite Patisserie, below where he lives. He limits himself to one chocolate croissant on work days, and brings two chocolate éclairs to Emmeline’s every Friday night. He climbs up the stairs instead of using the elevator, hoping that he’s working off some of the calories.

Kurt’s workstation is in front of Christophe’s office, and he starts up the computer before taking off his jacket. Springtime has come to Paris and Kurt is thankful for the warmer weather, and the tulips and daffodils in bloom. It looks like the cherry trees will be blossoming by the weekend.

Kurt loves his new job at the Bellerose Boutique – it’s everything he could possibly want. Sure, there are boring administrative duties – answering the phone and organizing Christophe’s diary – but the other aspects of the job more than make up for it. He loves seeing the new designs come together, and he’s even made a few suggestions that have been used. His nighttime courses in fashion design are also helping to formalize his knowledge of good design structure. Christophe reviews all his design coursework and makes useful suggestions. He has even hinted that a couple of Kurt’s designs might be used in the next winter’s collection.

One thing that has surprised Kurt in his new job is how much more he prefers working behind the scenes. He doesn’t miss the spotlight, both on and off the set. He can see how this type of career could blend in so much better with raising a family. While Fashion Weeks and new line debuts are busy times, requiring every waking moment of the day, they are predictable. With good planning, the Hummel family could still work smoothly.

When the computer is ready, Kurt opens Christophe’s diary. The morning is relatively light, but Christophe will be out of the office after lunchtime. Kurt then opens Christophe’s business e-mail, flagging messages that require his boss’ immediate attention. There is one from the fabric supplier in Thailand and one from the ad agency in Paris. Kurt takes a sip of his coffee and nibbles on his chocolate croissant, and continues browsing through the new messages. Kurt’s eyes pop when he reads the subject line ‘Opening of the LA Boutique next month’.

Kurt knows that Christophe plans to open a boutique in LA, the first shop in the US. However, Kurt didn’t realize that it’s happening so soon. He opens the message and reads about the LA Boutique, and the detailed plans for the opening day and its fashion show. Kurt raises an eyebrow when he reads that Sam Evans has been confirmed to be a model on the runway.

“Bonjour, Kurt. I see that you’re up with the birds this morning. Any interesting e-mails today?’ Christophe asks as he walks past Kurt into his office.

Kurt makes Christophe a coffee with the shiny new Nespresso machine by his desk. He grabs his tablet and rushes into Christophe’s office.

“I flagged the e-mails that require your attention this morning. The Thai supplier wishes to confirm the amount of silk material you’re ordering. The ad agency wants a meeting to go over the budget for the next collection. And…umm… Jayden Robinson has confirmed the details of the LA boutique opening.”

“Fantastique! I need you to book four first class air tickets to LA for next month. There will be myself, my wife, Mademoiselle Monette, and yourself.”

“Me?! I’m going to LA with you?”

“Of course I want you there. I’ll need you more than ever in the days leading up to the opening. When you make the travel arrangements, make sure you book your own flight back to Paris a week or so later.”

“Why is that?”

“You want to see your father, non? Perhaps some other family and friends? I know how difficult it can be sometimes to live so far away from your home. So, book yourself the long way back through Ohio and New York City. Consider it a birthday present from me.”

Kurt practically skips out of Christophe’s office. He can’t wait to tell his dad the news that he’ll be home for a visit. And yes, he’ll go to New York City and surprise Blaine. Christophe was amazingly kind with the extra time off work.

Best. Boss. Ever.

*****

“That’s fantastic news, kiddo. I can’t wait to see you. Do you want me to come to LA for the boutique opening?”

“Maybe it’s best if you don’t, Dad. I’m going to be super busy and I won’t have any time to spend with you. Why don’t we wait to see each other the following week in Lima? I’ll be home for my birthday. I’ll then spend a few days in New York City before I return to Paris.”

“Anyone in particular you wish to see there? I hope it’s not that Sebastian fellow from Elle magazine. You’ve got your life sorted out now and you don’t need to be partying with him all night.”

Kurt rolls his eyes at his dad through the computer camera and hopes that Skype picks up his expression.

“No, Dad. I won’t see Sebastian. We haven’t talked since I moved to Paris. I want to meet up with Blaine.”

Kurt can see his father’s lips turn into a huge grin and look up as if he’s thanking the gods.

“I know you are Team Blaine’s biggest cheerleader, but I’m not sure what’s going to happen when I see him. I’m hoping that we can be friends. Blaine has a new man in his life now.”

“Come off it, son. I’m Team Kurt all the way. Every. Single. Time. My respect for Blaine has nothing to do with you. He’s a decent young man and is doing a lot of good for Ohio. The Monarch House in Westerville is a huge success. I’ve been making noises about how the next house should be in Lima, and Blaine is listening.”

“And that’s the only reason you like Blaine?”

“Look, buddy, I’m not going to lie. I liked how happy you were when you and Blaine were friends. He really cares about you. I don’t know anything about a new man in Blaine’s life, but he certainly doesn’t come with Blaine to Ohio. All I know is that man is still in love with you. He always asks me about how you’re doing.”

“I miss him a lot, Dad. I know I still want him in my life. We need to meet up and see how that could or might work. This boutique opening is giving me the perfect opportunity to see him.”

“You’ve got a hell of a jet-setting lifestyle, bud - Paris, LA, New York City. I’m glad you can squeeze in Lima, Ohio to see your old man.”

When the Skype call finishes, Kurt makes a list of things he needs to do before flying to LA. There are presents to buy, school to notify of his absence, a wardrobe to be planned, and he needs to contact Rachel so they can meet up in Lima. Kurt looks over his list, wondering what it’s missing. It’s only after dinner that he figures it out – Antoine.

Of course, Kurt needs to tell Antoine that he’s going to the US for a couple of weeks, but Kurt knows that he needs to tell him more than that. Their conversation last Sunday had been a real eye-opener. Kurt had thought they were heading to some sort of commitment, only to find out that Antoine doesn’t ‘do’ relationships.

As much as Kurt enjoys spending time with Antoine, he knows that the relationship will go nowhere. Sooner, rather than later, Kurt will get frustrated with Antoine’s casual and free-spirited philosophy. Kurt really wants to matter in someone’s life. He wants his partner to be so much more than just a friend and a willing body to pass the time with – boyfriends, then husbands, and then fathers. There’s no way that he and Antoine will have a happy ending. If Kurt ends things now, there’s a chance that they can remain friends.

And then of course, there’s Blaine.

Kurt’s thoughts have revolved around Blaine since he heard the news of the trip that morning. His heart flutters in a way that it never has for Antoine. It might be seven months since he’s last seen Blaine, but Kurt knows he’s still deeply in love.

Kurt arranges to see Antoine the following evening for dinner, ensuring that they will be alone to speak. There’s no easy way of doing this, but he’s got to break up with Antoine before he leaves for LA.

*****

“This beef bourguignon is simply delicious. One Friday night, you’ll need to teach me how to make it.”

“Oui, I can do this for you. The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach,” Emmeline cackles.

“Don’t forget that I won’t be here for the next three Friday nights, because I’ll be in LA.”

“Mon petit, you leave so suddenly! Does this have anything to do with Antoine? He told me you agreed to be friends only. I was hoping that your love would blossom, but it wasn’t meant to be.”

“I like Antoine very much and enjoy spending time with him. However, we both have different views about what love is, so what might have blossomed would have died at the first frost.”

“The heart knows what the heart wants. And I think that you know who you want. That homme américain (American man)?

“I’m not sure, but I haven’t seen him in seven months and I miss him so much. I’m hoping that we can meet up during my visit and then we’ll see what happens.”

“Ack, the affairs of the heart. Si compliqué (So complicated)! If you love him, go after him! And I want to know every single little detail when you get back.”

*****

“I thought you didn’t want to model any more. What made you change your mind, Sam?” Blaine asks. He makes a point to touch base with Sam each week to not only catch up with his news, but to find out how Mercedes and his future godchild are doing.

“Dude, do you know how expensive baby stuff is? Mercedes took me to Babies-R-Us a couple of weekends ago. I can’t believe how much a newborn baby needs. I thought they just slept, ate and pooped. Mercedes says I have a lot to learn. I’m doing just the one modeling job so that we can buy all the crap for the nursery.”

“So tell me more about this modeling gig? Is it for a designer that I know?”

“I’m not sure. It’s some fancy French boutique called Bellerose.”

Blaine has heard rumors through the fashion industry grapevine that Christophe Bellerose plans to open a boutique in LA, however he didn’t realize that a firm date has been set. Blaine isn’t sure whether Kurt will be attending, but if there is any chance, he’s determined to be there.

“Kurt works at Bellerose in Paris. What’s the date of the opening?”

“May 23rd. I know what you’re thinking, Blaine...”

Blaine quickly looks at his calendar and there’s nothing in it than can’t be moved around those dates.

“I’ll be at the opening. I’m going to clear my diary for the next week as well.”

“Yessss! Let’s hope that Kurt will be there as well. Can I ask you a favor, bro?”

“Anything, Sam.”

“Would you mind taking Mercedes to the opening? She’ll be seven months pregnant, and I’d feel a whole lot better if you were looking after her.”

“Absolutely. I haven’t seen Mercedes since you two got married. Besides, it will be a good time for her to whisper the baby wish list to me. Godfathers always give awesome presents.”

Blaine is secretly grateful that he’ll be going to the boutique’s opening with Mercedes. She’ll give him the support he’ll need if Kurt is there.

“So, did you see the amazing reaction to the newest comics in the Surfs Up! series? I now have over 140,000 followers.”

“That’s so cool, Sam. I can’t believe all the fanart that people are making to go with the webcomic as well.”

“It’s not only the fanart, Blaine. There is even fanfic about them. Most of it is the fluffy stuff about making cupcakes together, but there’s one author that’s different. His name is JiffyFeels. You don’t think that it’s KrianFeels writing by another name?”

“Well, tell me something about the story, Sam.”

“It starts like the rest of them, with Biffy and Jamie making cupcakes. But then the whipped cream, cherries and sprinkles don’t end up on the cupcake. Instead, they’re spread along Biffy’s body and Jamie takes his time licking and getting Biffy off. Not sure what’s going to happen in the next update.”

“That sounds like KrianFeels alright. We do know what’s going to go down in the next chapter. Sex on a surfboard? Fucking in the kitchen while the cupcakes are baking? Is Mercedes letting you read this stuff?”

“She only banned KrianFeels. She didn’t specifically mention JiffyFeels. Promise me that you won’t tell her.”

“Your secret’s safe with me. Just don’t go too crazy in the bedroom,” Blaine chuckles.

*****

“So how are the circulation numbers for the ‘pushing boundaries’ issue?” Blaine asks Tina when he enters Vogue’s executive suite.

“They are higher than we expected. I e-mailed you the stats. I think you have a few days before you need to decide if we need another print run. I’ve also sent you links to fashion blogs that have reviewed the ‘pushing boundaries’ issue. Most bloggers are positive about it. Donald Trump of course thinks it’s perverse and things like this shouldn’t be published.”

“If Trump isn’t happy, then I’m ecstatic. Even Trump and his cronies couldn’t possibly change the freedom of speech. Thank god the Supreme Court is there as a check and balance.”

Blaine taps on Tina’s desk nervously and then says, “I’m going to LA in a couple of weeks. I’ll let you know the dates. When you book the flight, can you make sure that the return journey is flexible? I’m not exactly sure when I’ll return.”

“Is this trip business or pleasure?” Tina asks, annoyed that she hasn’t heard about this before.

“A mix. I’ll be going to the opening of the first Bellerose Boutique in the USA. Sam will be working as one of the models.”

“Hey, isn’t that the same fashion house that Kurt works for in Paris?”

“Yeah, it is.”

“Is Kurt going to be in LA? Is that why you don’t know when you’re returning?”

“I don’t know if Kurt will be there, but if he is, I want to see if we can be friends again.”

“I knew that you weren’t over him. Wake up, Blaine! You were never ever just friends. If you do meet again, don’t let him escape. Tell Kurt exactly how you feel. I never, ever want to go through your lovesick pining again. None of your friends do, for that matter.”

“Frankly, I don’t want to go through that again either. However, Kurt is very independent and knows his own mind. There’s no way I can force him to love me.”

“I don’t think you’re going to need to force Kurt - at the least the Kurt that I once knew before he abandoned ship and made your life a living hell. I’m not sure I can forgive him as easily as you do.”

“Then it’s a good thing that you’re not the one after Kurt.”

“Where do you plan to stay in LA? With Cooper or Sam?” Tina asks.

“Neither. I think I’ll stay at a hotel. Can you book one close to the Bellerose Boutique? Sam and Mercedes have a lot going on at the moment, with the baby coming. And as much as I love Cooper, I think I’ll be better off staying by myself.”

Blaine hums as he enters the office. He carefully looks over the stats for this month’s issue, then the links to the influential fashion blogs. Most reviewers like the ‘pushing boundaries’ issue and applaud Vogue for its cutting-edge reporting.

Blaine thinks back to the phone conversation he had with Michael Saiger, the founder and creative director of Miansai, on the way to work. Saiger called to thank him for wearing one of their signature bracelets for the editorial photo. Internet orders have soared as a result, and Saiger offered him a lot of money to model for their next ad campaign. Blaine had politely turned the job down, reciting conflict-of-interest rules, but suggested that he book Kurt for the ad campaign. Although Kurt is now working behind the scenes at Bellerose, he might like the money on offer for this one-off photo shoot. Blaine returns to the issue’s stats, but his concentration is broken when his cell phone starts to ring.

Her name was Lola, she was a showgirl… With yellow feathers in her hair and a dress cut down to there…

“Sam! You’re up pretty early given that it’s 9 a.m. in New York.”

“I’m going surfing this morning, dude. When I woke up, I checked my e-mails, and I received one from the Boutique Bellerose.”

“And?”

“Kurt is coming to LA! He’s going to be here a week before the opening to help set up the boutique and fit the clothes on the models before the show. What do I say when I see him? Does he know you’re coming to LA?”

“Sam, that is fantastic news! I wasn’t sure whether Kurt would be in LA or not. No, don’t tell Kurt that I’ll be there. I want to surprise him.”

*****

“So let me get this straight. You’re going to LA for the opening of the Bellerose Boutique, the exact same fashion house that your ex -  but not really ex – works in Paris. You don’t want me to join you because you’ll be spending your free time with Sam, and you’ll be too busy taking care of Mercedes at the opening. Kurt will be there and you don’t know when you’re coming back to New York City. You’re going to decide after the opening… After seeing Kurt, I presume.”

Blaine meekly nods and bows his head. It sounds even worse when Connor puts it like that. Blaine isn’t sure what to say. Fortunately, the coffee house is pretty busy and no-one notices them tucked away into the corner.

“Do I factor into any of that? Or your life for that matter?”

Blaine doesn’t dare look up at Connor and see the expression on his face. Blaine can tell by the bitterness in Connor’s tone that he’s not happy.

“Don’t answer that, Blaine. I’m not sure I could handle it. Look, you were honest with me from the start about Kurt. I thought that you were getting over him, but obviously, you’re not.”

“I’m sorry, Connor. It’s not quite like that. Kurt and I were never boyfriends, but he’s very special to me. I haven’t seen him in seven months and I would like to think that we can become friends again.”

Connor picks up his coffee stirrer and starts playing with it.

“Are you really that deep in denial, Blaine? You’re in love with Kurt. Always have been - ever since you first met him - and always will be. Do yourself a favor and admit it to yourself.”

“B-but…”

“But nothing, Blaine. I think we’re done here. We could have been something great, you know?”

“I know, Connor. You’re a pretty terrific guy. I thought I could do this – do us – but I can’t. And you’re right -  I’m still in love with Kurt. I need to see if I can make things right between us. I never meant to do this to you. I really, really care about you and I wanted it to work out. The truth is, I don't know what I'm doing. I’m so sorry. I…”

Connor places his hand over Blaine’s to get his attention.

“Stop rambling, Blaine. It’s adorable but I don’t think I can listen to any more. You go off to LA and see what happens. But don’t call me unless you’re sure you want me. I can’t keep sharing you with Kurt.”

Connor abruptly gets up and gives Blaine a kiss on the cheek, before quickly leaving the coffee house. Blaine feels horrible that things ended like this, that he hurt someone so nice. However, Blaine is relieved that it’s over and that he can concentrate on getting Kurt back.

*****

“Blaine, I can see your body practically humming with excitement. You spent all yesterday planning your LA wardrobe. I’ve never seen you fully packed a week before a trip.”

“I can’t help it, Amy. I’m going to see Kurt again. I’m finding it hard to concentrate on anything else. Friday can’t come soon enough.”

“Why don’t you do something with all that energy? I haven’t heard you play the piano since you found out that Kurt will be in LA.”

Blaine nods and quickly goes to the piano. After doing his warm-up exercises and playing Debussy’s Clair de Lune, he walks over to the floor-to-ceiling windows and looks down onto Central Park. A few raindrops start to fall, but it doesn’t dampen Blaine’s mood. All he can think about is that rainy weekend when he was he was lying on the couch with Kurt and watching James Bond movies.

He starts humming, and soon the tune becomes a chorus. He rushes back to the piano and plays around with music. He then starts to sing about spring days, falling in love and dreams… And, of course, butterflies. He sets up his mic, and when he’s satisfied with the song, he records it. Records the first song of hope about Kurt.

*****

“I had to call with you with the news. Meagan gave me the forecasted figures for the Monarch House, and it will start breaking even next month.”

“I wasn’t expecting that to happen so fast, Dad. I had put away cash to support it for the first twelve months. How did that happen?”

“Meagan and I met with the Social Work Department chairperson from Ohio State University. She applauded our efforts and is 100% behind the Foundation. Starting next month, there will be seniors doing their field placement at the Monarch House. Since they will be given course credits for working, the staffing is easier, and they don’t need to be paid. The chairwoman also said that starting next semester, they’ll include a case study of the Monarch House in the junior year coursework to get ideas on how to fundraise and support the community further.”

“But how will we cover other costs like electricity, the Internet and stuff?”

“The grant from the Legacy Fund came through to cover most of the running costs. We also have donations from people and businesses in Westerville. There’s a lot more support for the Monarch House than we had thought there would be. Meagan is looking into what other grants might be available.”

“Wow. I guess we better start thinking about what happens next. I wasn’t expecting to open another Monarch House until I got my next bonus in January. We can use this time to put together a blueprint for future Monarch Houses and do some fundraising.”

“I have news on this front as well. Burt Hummel has contacted me and he is very keen to have a Monarch House open in Lima – something about wishing it had been there for Kurt when he was in high school. Anyways, he’s lined up some donations from local businesses and is making a lot of noise with the Lima City Council.”

“I hope Burt realizes how much money is needed to open a Monarch House,” Blaine comments.

“Burt does know, and the donations so far don’t cover the property purchase. However, I can help as well.”

“What do you mean?”

“I checked with HR at work and the company will match my charitable donations. I’m selling the fund I set up for Cooper’s college education. He’s now in his late 30s and I think we both know he won’t be going to college. With the matching donation, I think we’ll have enough money for a couple of Monarch Houses.”

“You would do that for me?” Blaine whispers, desperately trying to hold back his tears.

“Yes, I would. But it’s not only for you. I can already see how the Monarch House is helping people in Westerville. Besides, I like working with you on the project. It’s a whole lot better than fixing up a car, don’t you think?”

“Yeah, that it is.”

“Great. I’ll fix a time with Burt when we can look at properties for a potential Monarch House in Lima.”

*****

“Don’t just stand there. Come in,” Sebastian barks, after his assistant knocks on his office door.

“I thought you would be interested in this newsfeed. Bellerose Boutique is opening its first store in LA. They are having a high-profile event next Saturday.”

“And why would this interest me? French boutiques are a dime a dozen in the US,” Sebastian retorts.

“Kurt Hummel works at Bellerose Boutique. I phoned the boutique manager in LA, and Kurt will be there. When I asked about the guest list, the manager confirmed that Blaine Anderson will be attending as well.”

“Why didn’t you say so earlier? This reunion looks like it could be interesting. Get me a ticket to the Bellerose Boutique opening.”

Author’s notes

Sam’s ringtone – Copacabana by Barry Manilow

Next up: The Bellerose Boutique opening in LA. Blaine and Kurt see each other for the first time in eight months! It will be posted on Saturday. I think you will like this chapter :) :)

[identitypublications]

Getting Positive Reviews From Readers Who Understand Your Message and Leveraging Them as Social Proof.

The success of your next book, especially if you are an unknown author, depends on your ability to generate social proof from real people. In other words, prospective buyers need to see what other people think of it before they can make a confident decision to spend money on it. There are many ways to generate social proof, but in the world of book sales, the most important is authentic reader reviews. However, this remains one of the hardest parts of marketing for many independent authors.

Real reviews from real readers are how you make your work noticeable and appear to be worth the time and money of online shoppers. Positive and negative reviews alike have great influence over the buying decisions of all types of readers. In fact, shoppers will often skip past a book’s official description and scroll right to the authentic feedback left by other readers. Why? They know that book descriptions are engineered by a biased party to praise a book and create sales. Reviews are (usually) unbiased third-party opinions with more credibility about the quality of the book.

People tend to trust opinions of others when it comes to things with which they are not familiar. They even tend to buy books that people talk about, even when the talk is negative, rather than an unknown book without established popularity. Books with a high quantity of reviews attract and retain more attention than books with few, even if the average rating is somewhat lower.

Of course, the ideal situation is to have both a high quantity of reviews and a high average rating. A guaranteed and costly way to do this is to pay a professional organization to write a detailed and positive review of your book. Businesses like Blue Ink Reviews and Custom Writings offer to review books for $300 and up. However, the significant cost and ethical dilemma involved make the viability of this approach debatable.

Paying for reviews isn’t your only option, however. There are new services emerging which offer the option to buy curated lists of contact information for potential reviewers. Frequent reviewers on Amazon often list their email addresses publicly on their profiles. These services simply find the reviewers most likely to want to read (and enjoy) your book, based on their past reviewing behavior.

Once you have their email addresses, you (or someone you hire) can reach out to them with a simple, short request. A few sentences go a long way when worded well. A simple, generic template of what this might look like is:

Subject: (Name of reviewer), would you like a complimentary copy of (name of your book)?

Hi (name of reviewer),

I’m reaching out to you because you left a review on the Amazon page for (name of book they reviewed).

I recently wrote my first book, (name of your book). It covers a subject that is similar to (name of book they reviewed), but it focuses more on (something specifically appealing about your book). Early readers have been saying it really (way your book affects readers). I think you might really enjoy it.

To make sure my book does well on Amazon, it’s vital that I get as many authentic reviews for it as early as possible. Would it be alright if I sent you a complimentary copy in exchange for your honest review on Amazon when you are done?

No rush on time, and no hard feelings if you are too busy or not interested!

Thanks for your time,

(Your name)

Once the responses start coming in, you can decide what format you are willing to send your book in. Electronic formats like PDF, epub, and mobi, are free to send, but not everyone likes reading on a computer screen or eReader. Audio is the preferred choice among certain readers, and mp3 files are easy to upload and share once you’ve taken the trouble to have your book narrated.

You can even elect to send a paperback or hardcover, but be prepared to incur the costs of printing and shipping, which can be substantial if you are contacting many reviewers. Authors on a budget usually reserve the free physical book treatment only for reviewers who might also be influential in other ways, such as if they have a blog or a YouTube channel relevant to your book. Glowing endorsements from a few strategic people can make a big difference in your book’s success.

The cost of recruiting reviewers is substantially lower than paying for professional reviews, but there is no guarantee that any of the people you contact will be interested in doing so. Of the hundreds of reviewers you email, fewer than 25% will likely respond. Of the portion who agree to read your book, many will drop off the radar. Some may leave negative or middling reviews. They may take weeks of months to get around to it at all. However, this approach is far more authentic than paying for praise.

You can also seek out avid readers and book enthusiasts in your genre who would be willing to evaluate your work. Reach out to niche bloggers. Invite beta readers who have experience with the type of writing you are doing. If they are intrigued by what you are doing, it won’t cost you a dime to have them read and review it. In addition to leaving reviews on Amazon and other retailer listings, they may share their praise for your book on their website or social media profiles. It’s a lot of work to maintain conversations with a lot of these people, but the result of free, authentic reviews can be well worth it.

It’s wise to start gathering reviews well in advance of launching your book. By the time your book is published, you can have editorial reviews which you can use to promote it. Positive quotes from reputable sources are valuable social proofs that your prospective buyers will need to take the risk of spending money on an unknown product. You can add these reviews to the Editorial Reviews section of the book’s Amazon page through your Amazon Author Central account. They also work well placed strategically on the book’s back or front cover.

Acquiring reviews for your book is an ongoing process that will last as long as the book remains on the market. It should always be a part of your marketing plan if you want to maintain ongoing sales. Encourage your readers to leave their opinions about your work when they are finished. Leave a short note at the end of your book telling them how important reviews are to your success as an independent author. Engage your social media followers and website visitors with a fun contest for a free book if they leave a review. Just remember that it is against Amazon’s terms of service to solicit exclusively positive reviews or compensate readers anything beyond the cost of the book.

As with anything else, diminishing returns quickly become a factor with Amazon reviews. Your book is unlikely to be taken very seriously until you have at least 50 positive reviews. The importance of each review drops off rather quickly once you get into triple digits. Realistically, only the most popular books with the widest syndication on national or international levels ever acquire thousands of reviews, so that isn’t a goal that’s worth putting the effort into chasing for most new authors.

What will really matter for the success of your book is crafting a unique message that appeals more potently than any other book on the market to a specific type of reader. The positive reviews you get just act to reinforce the impression that the information contained in your book really delivers all the amazing things you claim. Convince your target reader that they will get a massive return on the time and money they invest into your work and you will never run out of customers.

[williamjharwick]

Physical Product Experiment [PPE #3]—Prototypes

Welcome to the third installment of the Physical Product Experiment! If you missed the previous two installments, go back and check those out first before reading on. You can find those posts here: Physical Product Experiment [PPE #1] and Physical Product Experiment [PPE #2].

In this installment, Physical Product Experiment [PPE #3], we’re exploring prototypes! But first, here’s a quick recap of where I started and where I am today:

I am experimenting with a physical product: a productivity calendar I hope will be like nothing else out there. In the first post in this series, I shared details about the product itself, and where I’m starting my research. In the second post, I discussed how I am going to be reaching out for validation and feedback.

Regarding that validation and feedback, I mentioned in the previous post that we were hoping for twenty volunteers to help us test out the calendar with an actual, real-world task: writing the draft of a book in ninety days. And guess what? We have our volunteers! We were grateful to receive more than 120 applications, and then whittled that down to twenty-one applicants who had a wide variety of backgrounds with a wide variety of reasons for achieving the same goal: writing a book. That variety is best for testing too. Although I wish I could have picked all 120+ applicants, the cost and logistics of shipping the prototype package (more on that below!) would have been a little too much to manage at this beta test stage.

For the twenty-one applicants we picked, we’ve already sent you an email announcing your part in this exciting experiment! But I wanted to also mention you here, as I truly appreciate your support in this! The twenty-one volunteers for the beta stage of the Physical Product Experiment are:

Gina

Jess W.

Barbara C.

Alex S.

Greg S.

Benny H.

Nakita R.

Mary J.

Stacy B.

Kristie W.

Kristen D.

Jeremy C.

Bree K.

Jeremy

Kelsi M.

Shannon K.

Russ K.

Laura

Jami B.

Alina

Nick H.

Thanks for being willing to go on this journey with me!

For the others who reached out, thank you so much. Unfortunately, we had to limit the number of volunteers, so some of you didn’t make it. But I truly appreciate your amazing outpouring of support. That, in and of itself, is validating for the experiment. Thank you.

Now, there’s a reason why we limited this volunteer group to twenty-one, besides the cost. With small groups, you have a more controlled environment, which is better for communication. With larger groups, it’s more challenging to keep on top of all of the feedback—you risk miscommunication, focus is split between too many people, and you tend to lose sight of the goal. In this case, the goal is to determine if the physical product will help you with your desired outcome.

The product needs to serve its audience.

That’s the whole purpose of this experiment—to create a physical product that will be a game-changer in the lives of those who use it. With a smaller, more focused group of “beta” testers, we can avoid creating something like the universal remote—with hundreds of buttons and a minuscule percentage of useful ones.

The MVP Stage

Right now, we’re nearly at the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) stage. We’ll soon have the basic components of the product—a prototype—to ship to our volunteers so they can start testing it.

Once the MVP is complete, we’ll share that with our volunteers so they can go through the process of engaging with and actually using the productivity calendar to help them write the first draft of their book in ninety days. And, as the first-round test group, the volunteers will be taking notes of what works well and what needs improvement, from the concepts to the workflow. As I mentioned before, I want this productivity calendar to be the tool to help engaged and aspiring people to achieve targeted goals. If the volunteers think otherwise, we need to remedy that until it does help!

Now, one really cool aspect of this is that the volunteers signed up, for the most part, because of an expressed interest in getting unstuck. They’ve wanted to write the first draft of their book, but have struggled to finish, find motivation, or lacked the accountability to cross the finish line. My goal is that this physical product will be their winning system, their blueprint for success.

Productivity Calendar Prototype Components

My team and I have devised three components to this physical product, all designed to work with each other as part of an integrated method for being super productive and achieving goals. Those components are the calendar, the workbook, and the community.

Each of our twenty-one volunteers will receive a package, shipped to their physical address. The experience will start the moment they open the box, which will include the calendar, workbook, and a welcome sheet that will explain how this experiment will work, when it will start, and a thank you message from me. It will be an exciting unboxing to kick off the goal-seeking journey with a bang.

Let’s look at each one of the prototype components individually.

1. The Calendar

This whole journey began with the idea of creating a better calendar for planning projects and improving productivity. In its original form, it was going to be a large, mostly blank wall calendar to incorporate whatever projects or tasks you would have within your life. Since then, the idea has grown into something much more targeted: a calendar that will be used in conjunction with a workbook to help guide a person through the process of achieving a very specific goal. The first goal we are tackling is writing the first draft of your book in ninety days. This is just one of many goals that there will be workbooks for in the future. (We’ll get to the workbooks in a minute.)

When the testing starts with our twenty-one volunteers, the calendar will be what we call a medium-fidelity version, between low-fidelity (a simple sketch or wireframe) and high-fidelity (fully designed from top to bottom). This medium-fidelity version will allow the volunteers to do what they need to do, but the product itself won’t be in its 100 percent finished design in terms of final colors, fonts, and material.

As for the size and shape of the calendar, our vision is to have a giant wall calendar. But we still need to determine the precise size and shape that will be best for the people who use it based on placement (it shouldn’t take up the entire wall!) and usefulness (giving people room to write, place stickers, engage with their goal in a meaningful, structured way).

A big reason why I think the calendar is extremely important is not only for its tracking purposes or goal-setting capabilities, but for its place as a daily reminder. The calendar itself will be quite large. So, when you put it up on the wall in your writing cave or office, you will have that tangible, in-plain-view reminder every time you sit down, which I hope will be an excellent motivator. At least this is what I visualize in my head.

It’s like what Hal Elrod talks about in his book, The Miracle Morning, when he describes the SAVERS method of establishing a miracle morning. The “V” in SAVERS stands for “Visualization.” Another way to put it is to imagine (visualize) how you want things to pan out in the future. That’s a big motivator for me.

When I was writing Will It Fly?, for instance, I loved the idea that readers would be going through and finding value in the book’s exercises. I was motivated by visualizing people reading the book, going through the exercises, sending me messages about how the book helped them. It may have never happened, but the idea that it could motivated me to keep writing. But guess what? It did happen, and I receive messages from readers almost every day!

The same is true for this physical product. I’m super motivated by the idea that this productivity calendar and workbook will help people achieve their goals. And, for those using the product, the calendar itself is a visualization exercise. When you see your goals and dreams in plain sight on the wall, your daily reminder to work on specific tasks in order to achieve those goals and dreams, it makes it easier to make those visualizations become a reality because it’s there in a place where you see it every day. It’s the classic power of positive thinking: you envision your goals, which helps to reinforce them and keep you on track to achieve them.

I am so excited to see how you use the calendar—putting it up on the wall, how you interact with it on a daily basis, and the reactions shared with me and the SPI community as a whole. That’s what truly motivates me to make the best possible product that I can.

2. The Workbook

The workbook will be more than a blank journal. I love those type of journals and others like The Five Minute Journal, which you know I rave about. They’ve helped me immensely in my business career, and as a writer. But I wanted to create something that stands out. That’s one of the reasons why we’re calling it a workbook as opposed to a journal. This workbook will have more structure, with both journaling opportunities and instructional exercises geared toward the specific goal it’s addressing. It will include guidelines for people as they progress through the ninety-day timeline of writing a first book draft.

My team, especially Matt and Janna, are seasoned writers who have a lot of experience in writing and editing, in addition to helping authors and author-entrepreneurs with strategy in the areas of book publishing, book cover design, and brand voice development. Matt, who’s the CEO of Winning Edits, helped on the editing and content strategy of my first book, Let Go. I connected with Janna through Matt. Her experience in running a literary magazine (Under the Gum Tree), and overall editorial strategy is also a necessary addition to this experiment.

So the workbook will be a companion to the calendar, a tool to check in with yourself and reflect on what is working, what isn’t working, and take notes on potential blockers or distractions. It will include a daily tracking element that will correspond with the calendar. It will also be an integral tool to help people overcome the biggest struggles associated with the goal they are working toward. Each workbook guide and goal we tackle with this product line will have its own section dedicated to overcoming the most common struggle people have while working toward that goal. It’s another differentiator for these workbooks, and it could mean the difference between someone actually pushing through versus not moving forward at all.

For this product prototype, the workbook will help people overcome one of the biggest struggles of writing a book: writer’s block. Yes, that dreaded writer’s block, the bane of every writer’s existence, the thing that keeps you from doing what you want to be doing: writing! But, the good news is that the workbook, along with the calendar, will guide you past it.

The last aspect of the workbook I am really looking forward to seeing how people use is the stickers. Yes, the workbook and calendar will come with stickers to add that visual oomph to your daily productivity.

3. The Community

We have the calendar and the workbook. The third component is the community, an element that is obviously really important when you’re doing any sort of beta launch with a founding group of volunteers because you want a place for them to leave feedback and to express what they’re going through so that you can understand how they are using your product and what is going through their mind.

The community component will also be a part of the final product launch, which is not something you see that often. Typically, community aspects of launches are part of the beta or testing period only. But I think it’s massively important to keep for the public launch too. In my experience, a group working toward a common goal has a greater chance for success. There’s more accountability and camaraderie in a group setting—like the gym partner who cheers you on during that last rep. Plus, having a community creates a space to ask questions, get feedback, and even provide a little bit of friendly competition!

We’ll also be testing out a platform for housing the community. Something different from what I’ve used in the past for other launches (but I do use it regularly with my team). That platform is Slack.

If you’re not familiar, Slack is an amazing and powerful communication tool that can be used to create and foster conversation around specific topics or projects. A lot of people are using Slack nowadays for hosting their communities and it has a lot of benefits. My team uses it internally and I know a number of other teams who use it as well, but I’ve been noticing that a lot of people who sell products offer a Slack community so that their customers can communicate with one another and the product owner as well. That’s pretty cool, and I want the same for this calendar product.

There’s also a cool tool for managing Slack communities called SlackPass.io, which seems like it will become an important part of the administrative process for my team. Some companies that charge for the communities also use this tool to collect payments and manage membership.

Slack comes with a number of advantages. It has an intuitive, and easy-to-use interface. And, one of my favorite features, you can archive conversations, which is something that cannot be done with Facebook Groups, for example. Facebook Groups are great, and they are popular right now, but they may not be best suited for longer term, goal-related processes like this. Slack, on the other hand, empowers everybody in the community to engage on the level that suits them best. And, for me, as the one overseeing the community, I can separate conversations into channels based on certain topics.

For example, there may be a channel specifically for questions for me to answer. There could be a channel specifically related to wins that people can share. There could also be a channel specifically created for all of the random conversations, which is fairly common. For Team Flynn, we have a similar Slack channel called “Giggles” and that’s for posting random funnies and silly gifs within the team without getting in the way of other SPI business-related conversations.

The Slack component for the beta volunteer group is going to be important because it’s going to help us validate whether or not it’s a viable option for hosting a large community working toward a common goal. I do feel like it’s a great option with a lot of upsides in terms of cohesion and inspiration, but we won’t know until we test it out. Of course, people are used to Facebook—I have Facebook Groups for specific products I’ve created—but I wanted to test out Slack as an option and this is the perfect opportunity to do that.

Branding the Physical Product

The final thing I want to talk about is related to the branding of the physical product. My team and I have been going back and forth a lot on the branding, but we’ve come to what we believe is going to be the final brand name (not the product name, but a name for the whole brand):

Atlas

We chose the name Atlas for this product line for a number of reasons. By definition, Atlas is a collection of maps, tables, and charts designed to help guide someone, so it makes sense for a collection of workbooks that will help guide people toward a goal. And who can forget Atlas from Greek mythology? In the mythic stories, Atlas is a Titan who revolts against the gods, but is ultimately forced by Zeus to carry the burden of the heavens on his shoulders. You know the sculpture with the figure holding the planet. That’s Atlas, a perfect metaphor for the strength and resilience required to accomplish a sometimes daunting goal.

For this brand, you can think of Atlas as the parent company or publishing imprint, and each of the individual Atlas products will have its own name. We are essentially creating a new business unit within the SPI universe that will have its own line of products. We’ve been throwing around a number of different ideas for actual product names and some are very obvious and very clear, some are more clever than clear, and some are more brandable than others.

The truth is, at this point, product names don’t really matter. That’s an important lesson for us to realize. We can still accomplish our goal of testing this product and seeing if it’s viable based on the feedback from our beta volunteers. That’s the key right now. Getting the beta product into the hands of our volunteers, getting feedback on specific problems, and finding solutions for those problems. We can’t put the cart before the horse, which is a thing that happens all the time in online business. Starting your own thing is a really exciting prospect, and coming up with a name for your business, creating a website, ordering business cards—all of this is about getting too excited for how your business looks, and now how it serves.

A prime example of this is Instagram. Before it was Instagram, it was Burbn. Yes, after bourbon, the beverage. Kevin Systrom, the co-founder of Instagram, is a fan of Kentucky whiskeys, so he called it Burbn. Back then it wasn’t what Instagram is today. It was an app that enabled users to check in at particular locations (à la Foursquare), plan for future check-ins, earn points for hanging out with friends, and post pictures of their meet-ups. Fast forward to today, and we have Instagram—a completely different name, and a mostly different app—primarily because the Burbn feature that people raved about the most was the photo filters. See how that worked out?

I’m not saying that Atlas will be the next Instagram-level product. I just think it’s a fascinating look at how things change over time based on the market, feedback, and testing. The name itself, Burbn, was probably far less important than getting than app out there, seeing how people used it, what they liked about it, and what they didn’t like about it.

The fact is, with this physical product of mine, you never know how it’s going to go. Maybe the calendar is the highlight for users, and the workbook is less of a draw, so it becomes a bonus add-on. Or maybe it’s the workbook that people like, and the calendar isn’t used at all. You never know. That’s why launching this first go-around with a small group of people is the right move.

What’s Next?

The plan now is to validate this product with the twenty-one volunteers, and to start designing and building out the products, which is going to be a lot of fun. I’m really looking forward to that. But, most importantly, the experience that our volunteers have during this initial phase will be crucial to the product’s design and look.

After that, we’re going to run three to four more goals (similar to writing the first draft of a book in ninety days) through this calendar/workbook/community product before we fully nail it down. We’ll also work with other influencers who have goals that their audience may want to achieve that may be suited for a system like this, and reach out to those who may also want to be a part of this. Obviously, there are higher-level business decisions to be made with that and partnerships involved and that sort of thing, but that’s how I hope this will scale.

We are currently considering holding a Kickstarter campaign in November, when there may be four or five different goals that people can choose from initially. And then, if that works out well, possibly add on other goal ideas. The sky’s the limit! This could potentially become something that could house hundreds of goals down the road and become a subscription model where people would pay annually to get access to the library of goals that they can achieve every quarter using the calendar as the foundation, and then mapping their new goals on top of it every time.

It’s really exciting. It’s really fun. It’s different. It’s challenging. But we’re trying to take it one step at a time. The first step is getting our twenty-one volunteers through the process and collecting their feedback.

Yes, we’re eventually going to have to design the thing. We’re eventually going to have to figure out how to manufacture it, ship it, fulfill it, store it, and all of that. The materials of the product will also be important. What is it made of? How will it be manufactured? What will the cost be, and are there ways to save on cost without compromising quality?

These are all important questions and should definitely be thought about early in the process when you’re developing a physical product. But, at the same time, we are still focused on just proving the concept. Materials and manufacturing are important, but without a working prototype, that stuff can wait. Throughout this testing process, there will definitely be opportunities to try various types of calendar material. For example, dry-erase material versus one that’s also magnetic, and taking into account multiple use, versatility, durability, and cost.

But, if there’s one thing I’ve learned since starting my businesses, it’s this: before you spend a ton of time and money on what people use, it’s always best to focus first on why and how people use things. We’re on our way to figuring out those things, and our twenty-one amazing volunteers will help us get there. Let’s prove the concept of the product, let’s nail down the solution, and then we’ll go from there.

Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for an in-depth look at branding in Physical Product Experiment [PPE #4]!

Physical Product Experiment [PPE #3]—Prototypes shared from David Homer’s Blog

[andrewmrudd79]

Physical Product Experiment [PPE #3]—Prototypes

Welcome to the third installment of the Physical Product Experiment! If you missed the previous two installments, go back and check those out first before reading on. You can find those posts here: Physical Product Experiment [PPE #1] and Physical Product Experiment [PPE #2].

In this installment, Physical Product Experiment [PPE #3], we’re exploring prototypes! But first, here’s a quick recap of where I started and where I am today:

I am experimenting with a physical product: a productivity calendar I hope will be like nothing else out there. In the first post in this series, I shared details about the product itself, and where I’m starting my research. In the second post, I discussed how I am going to be reaching out for validation and feedback.

Regarding that validation and feedback, I mentioned in the previous post that we were hoping for twenty volunteers to help us test out the calendar with an actual, real-world task: writing the draft of a book in ninety days. And guess what? We have our volunteers! We were grateful to receive more than 120 applications, and then whittled that down to twenty-one applicants who had a wide variety of backgrounds with a wide variety of reasons for achieving the same goal: writing a book. That variety is best for testing too. Although I wish I could have picked all 120+ applicants, the cost and logistics of shipping the prototype package (more on that below!) would have been a little too much to manage at this beta test stage.

For the twenty-one applicants we picked, we’ve already sent you an email announcing your part in this exciting experiment! But I wanted to also mention you here, as I truly appreciate your support in this! The twenty-one volunteers for the beta stage of the Physical Product Experiment are:

Gina

Jess W.

Barbara C.

Alex S.

Greg S.

Benny H.

Nakita R.

Mary J.

Stacy B.

Kristie W.

Kristen D.

Jeremy C.

Bree K.

Jeremy

Kelsi M.

Shannon K.

Russ K.

Laura

Jami B.

Alina

Nick H.

Thanks for being willing to go on this journey with me!

For the others who reached out, thank you so much. Unfortunately, we had to limit the number of volunteers, so some of you didn’t make it. But I truly appreciate your amazing outpouring of support. That, in and of itself, is validating for the experiment. Thank you.

Now, there’s a reason why we limited this volunteer group to twenty-one, besides the cost. With small groups, you have a more controlled environment, which is better for communication. With larger groups, it’s more challenging to keep on top of all of the feedback—you risk miscommunication, focus is split between too many people, and you tend to lose sight of the goal. In this case, the goal is to determine if the physical product will help you with your desired outcome.

The product needs to serve its audience.

That’s the whole purpose of this experiment—to create a physical product that will be a game-changer in the lives of those who use it. With a smaller, more focused group of “beta” testers, we can avoid creating something like the universal remote—with hundreds of buttons and a minuscule percentage of useful ones.

The MVP Stage

Right now, we’re nearly at the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) stage. We’ll soon have the basic components of the product—a prototype—to ship to our volunteers so they can start testing it.

Once the MVP is complete, we’ll share that with our volunteers so they can go through the process of engaging with and actually using the productivity calendar to help them write the first draft of their book in ninety days. And, as the first-round test group, the volunteers will be taking notes of what works well and what needs improvement, from the concepts to the workflow. As I mentioned before, I want this productivity calendar to be the tool to help engaged and aspiring people to achieve targeted goals. If the volunteers think otherwise, we need to remedy that until it does help!

Now, one really cool aspect of this is that the volunteers signed up, for the most part, because of an expressed interest in getting unstuck. They’ve wanted to write the first draft of their book, but have struggled to finish, find motivation, or lacked the accountability to cross the finish line. My goal is that this physical product will be their winning system, their blueprint for success.

Productivity Calendar Prototype Components

My team and I have devised three components to this physical product, all designed to work with each other as part of an integrated method for being super productive and achieving goals. Those components are the calendar, the workbook, and the community.

Each of our twenty-one volunteers will receive a package, shipped to their physical address. The experience will start the moment they open the box, which will include the calendar, workbook, and a welcome sheet that will explain how this experiment will work, when it will start, and a thank you message from me. It will be an exciting unboxing to kick off the goal-seeking journey with a bang.

Let’s look at each one of the prototype components individually.

1. The Calendar

This whole journey began with the idea of creating a better calendar for planning projects and improving productivity. In its original form, it was going to be a large, mostly blank wall calendar to incorporate whatever projects or tasks you would have within your life. Since then, the idea has grown into something much more targeted: a calendar that will be used in conjunction with a workbook to help guide a person through the process of achieving a very specific goal. The first goal we are tackling is writing the first draft of your book in ninety days. This is just one of many goals that there will be workbooks for in the future. (We’ll get to the workbooks in a minute.)

When the testing starts with our twenty-one volunteers, the calendar will be what we call a medium-fidelity version, between low-fidelity (a simple sketch or wireframe) and high-fidelity (fully designed from top to bottom). This medium-fidelity version will allow the volunteers to do what they need to do, but the product itself won’t be in its 100 percent finished design in terms of final colors, fonts, and material.

As for the size and shape of the calendar, our vision is to have a giant wall calendar. But we still need to determine the precise size and shape that will be best for the people who use it based on placement (it shouldn’t take up the entire wall!) and usefulness (giving people room to write, place stickers, engage with their goal in a meaningful, structured way).

A big reason why I think the calendar is extremely important is not only for its tracking purposes or goal-setting capabilities, but for its place as a daily reminder. The calendar itself will be quite large. So, when you put it up on the wall in your writing cave or office, you will have that tangible, in-plain-view reminder every time you sit down, which I hope will be an excellent motivator. At least this is what I visualize in my head.

It’s like what Hal Elrod talks about in his book, The Miracle Morning, when he describes the SAVERS method of establishing a miracle morning. The “V” in SAVERS stands for “Visualization.” Another way to put it is to imagine (visualize) how you want things to pan out in the future. That’s a big motivator for me.

When I was writing Will It Fly?, for instance, I loved the idea that readers would be going through and finding value in the book’s exercises. I was motivated by visualizing people reading the book, going through the exercises, sending me messages about how the book helped them. It may have never happened, but the idea that it could motivated me to keep writing. But guess what? It did happen, and I receive messages from readers almost every day!

The same is true for this physical product. I’m super motivated by the idea that this productivity calendar and workbook will help people achieve their goals. And, for those using the product, the calendar itself is a visualization exercise. When you see your goals and dreams in plain sight on the wall, your daily reminder to work on specific tasks in order to achieve those goals and dreams, it makes it easier to make those visualizations become a reality because it’s there in a place where you see it every day. It’s the classic power of positive thinking: you envision your goals, which helps to reinforce them and keep you on track to achieve them.

I am so excited to see how you use the calendar—putting it up on the wall, how you interact with it on a daily basis, and the reactions shared with me and the SPI community as a whole. That’s what truly motivates me to make the best possible product that I can.

2. The Workbook

The workbook will be more than a blank journal. I love those type of journals and others like The Five Minute Journal, which you know I rave about. They’ve helped me immensely in my business career, and as a writer. But I wanted to create something that stands out. That’s one of the reasons why we’re calling it a workbook as opposed to a journal. This workbook will have more structure, with both journaling opportunities and instructional exercises geared toward the specific goal it’s addressing. It will include guidelines for people as they progress through the ninety-day timeline of writing a first book draft.

My team, especially Matt and Janna, are seasoned writers who have a lot of experience in writing and editing, in addition to helping authors and author-entrepreneurs with strategy in the areas of book publishing, book cover design, and brand voice development. Matt, who’s the CEO of Winning Edits, helped on the editing and content strategy of my first book, Let Go. I connected with Janna through Matt. Her experience in running a literary magazine (Under the Gum Tree), and overall editorial strategy is also a necessary addition to this experiment.

So the workbook will be a companion to the calendar, a tool to check in with yourself and reflect on what is working, what isn’t working, and take notes on potential blockers or distractions. It will include a daily tracking element that will correspond with the calendar. It will also be an integral tool to help people overcome the biggest struggles associated with the goal they are working toward. Each workbook guide and goal we tackle with this product line will have its own section dedicated to overcoming the most common struggle people have while working toward that goal. It’s another differentiator for these workbooks, and it could mean the difference between someone actually pushing through versus not moving forward at all.

For this product prototype, the workbook will help people overcome one of the biggest struggles of writing a book: writer’s block. Yes, that dreaded writer’s block, the bane of every writer’s existence, the thing that keeps you from doing what you want to be doing: writing! But, the good news is that the workbook, along with the calendar, will guide you past it.

The last aspect of the workbook I am really looking forward to seeing how people use is the stickers. Yes, the workbook and calendar will come with stickers to add that visual oomph to your daily productivity.

3. The Community

We have the calendar and the workbook. The third component is the community, an element that is obviously really important when you’re doing any sort of beta launch with a founding group of volunteers because you want a place for them to leave feedback and to express what they’re going through so that you can understand how they are using your product and what is going through their mind.

The community component will also be a part of the final product launch, which is not something you see that often. Typically, community aspects of launches are part of the beta or testing period only. But I think it’s massively important to keep for the public launch too. In my experience, a group working toward a common goal has a greater chance for success. There’s more accountability and camaraderie in a group setting—like the gym partner who cheers you on during that last rep. Plus, having a community creates a space to ask questions, get feedback, and even provide a little bit of friendly competition!

We’ll also be testing out a platform for housing the community. Something different from what I’ve used in the past for other launches (but I do use it regularly with my team). That platform is Slack.

If you’re not familiar, Slack is an amazing and powerful communication tool that can be used to create and foster conversation around specific topics or projects. A lot of people are using Slack nowadays for hosting their communities and it has a lot of benefits. My team uses it internally and I know a number of other teams who use it as well, but I’ve been noticing that a lot of people who sell products offer a Slack community so that their customers can communicate with one another and the product owner as well. That’s pretty cool, and I want the same for this calendar product.

There’s also a cool tool for managing Slack communities called SlackPass.io, which seems like it will become an important part of the administrative process for my team. Some companies that charge for the communities also use this tool to collect payments and manage membership.

Slack comes with a number of advantages. It has an intuitive, and easy-to-use interface. And, one of my favorite features, you can archive conversations, which is something that cannot be done with Facebook Groups, for example. Facebook Groups are great, and they are popular right now, but they may not be best suited for longer term, goal-related processes like this. Slack, on the other hand, empowers everybody in the community to engage on the level that suits them best. And, for me, as the one overseeing the community, I can separate conversations into channels based on certain topics.

For example, there may be a channel specifically for questions for me to answer. There could be a channel specifically related to wins that people can share. There could also be a channel specifically created for all of the random conversations, which is fairly common. For Team Flynn, we have a similar Slack channel called “Giggles” and that’s for posting random funnies and silly gifs within the team without getting in the way of other SPI business-related conversations.

The Slack component for the beta volunteer group is going to be important because it’s going to help us validate whether or not it’s a viable option for hosting a large community working toward a common goal. I do feel like it’s a great option with a lot of upsides in terms of cohesion and inspiration, but we won’t know until we test it out. Of course, people are used to Facebook—I have Facebook Groups for specific products I’ve created—but I wanted to test out Slack as an option and this is the perfect opportunity to do that.

Branding the Physical Product

The final thing I want to talk about is related to the branding of the physical product. My team and I have been going back and forth a lot on the branding, but we’ve come to what we believe is going to be the final brand name (not the product name, but a name for the whole brand):

Atlas

We chose the name Atlas for this product line for a number of reasons. By definition, Atlas is a collection of maps, tables, and charts designed to help guide someone, so it makes sense for a collection of workbooks that will help guide people toward a goal. And who can forget Atlas from Greek mythology? In the mythic stories, Atlas is a Titan who revolts against the gods, but is ultimately forced by Zeus to carry the burden of the heavens on his shoulders. You know the sculpture with the figure holding the planet. That’s Atlas, a perfect metaphor for the strength and resilience required to accomplish a sometimes daunting goal.

For this brand, you can think of Atlas as the parent company or publishing imprint, and each of the individual Atlas products will have its own name. We are essentially creating a new business unit within the SPI universe that will have its own line of products. We’ve been throwing around a number of different ideas for actual product names and some are very obvious and very clear, some are more clever than clear, and some are more brandable than others.

The truth is, at this point, product names don’t really matter. That’s an important lesson for us to realize. We can still accomplish our goal of testing this product and seeing if it’s viable based on the feedback from our beta volunteers. That’s the key right now. Getting the beta product into the hands of our volunteers, getting feedback on specific problems, and finding solutions for those problems. We can’t put the cart before the horse, which is a thing that happens all the time in online business. Starting your own thing is a really exciting prospect, and coming up with a name for your business, creating a website, ordering business cards—all of this is about getting too excited for how your business looks, and now how it serves.

A prime example of this is Instagram. Before it was Instagram, it was Burbn. Yes, after bourbon, the beverage. Kevin Systrom, the co-founder of Instagram, is a fan of Kentucky whiskeys, so he called it Burbn. Back then it wasn’t what Instagram is today. It was an app that enabled users to check in at particular locations (à la Foursquare), plan for future check-ins, earn points for hanging out with friends, and post pictures of their meet-ups. Fast forward to today, and we have Instagram—a completely different name, and a mostly different app—primarily because the Burbn feature that people raved about the most was the photo filters. See how that worked out?

I’m not saying that Atlas will be the next Instagram-level product. I just think it’s a fascinating look at how things change over time based on the market, feedback, and testing. The name itself, Burbn, was probably far less important than getting than app out there, seeing how people used it, what they liked about it, and what they didn’t like about it.

The fact is, with this physical product of mine, you never know how it’s going to go. Maybe the calendar is the highlight for users, and the workbook is less of a draw, so it becomes a bonus add-on. Or maybe it’s the workbook that people like, and the calendar isn’t used at all. You never know. That’s why launching this first go-around with a small group of people is the right move.

What’s Next?

The plan now is to validate this product with the twenty-one volunteers, and to start designing and building out the products, which is going to be a lot of fun. I’m really looking forward to that. But, most importantly, the experience that our volunteers have during this initial phase will be crucial to the product’s design and look.

After that, we’re going to run three to four more goals (similar to writing the first draft of a book in ninety days) through this calendar/workbook/community product before we fully nail it down. We’ll also work with other influencers who have goals that their audience may want to achieve that may be suited for a system like this, and reach out to those who may also want to be a part of this. Obviously, there are higher-level business decisions to be made with that and partnerships involved and that sort of thing, but that’s how I hope this will scale.

We are currently considering holding a Kickstarter campaign in November, when there may be four or five different goals that people can choose from initially. And then, if that works out well, possibly add on other goal ideas. The sky’s the limit! This could potentially become something that could house hundreds of goals down the road and become a subscription model where people would pay annually to get access to the library of goals that they can achieve every quarter using the calendar as the foundation, and then mapping their new goals on top of it every time.

It’s really exciting. It’s really fun. It’s different. It’s challenging. But we’re trying to take it one step at a time. The first step is getting our twenty-one volunteers through the process and collecting their feedback.

Yes, we’re eventually going to have to design the thing. We’re eventually going to have to figure out how to manufacture it, ship it, fulfill it, store it, and all of that. The materials of the product will also be important. What is it made of? How will it be manufactured? What will the cost be, and are there ways to save on cost without compromising quality?

These are all important questions and should definitely be thought about early in the process when you’re developing a physical product. But, at the same time, we are still focused on just proving the concept. Materials and manufacturing are important, but without a working prototype, that stuff can wait. Throughout this testing process, there will definitely be opportunities to try various types of calendar material. For example, dry-erase material versus one that’s also magnetic, and taking into account multiple use, versatility, durability, and cost.

But, if there’s one thing I’ve learned since starting my businesses, it’s this: before you spend a ton of time and money on what people use, it’s always best to focus first on why and how people use things. We’re on our way to figuring out those things, and our twenty-one amazing volunteers will help us get there. Let’s prove the concept of the product, let’s nail down the solution, and then we’ll go from there.

Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for an in-depth look at branding in Physical Product Experiment [PPE #4]!

Physical Product Experiment [PPE #3]—Prototypes originally posted at Homer’s Blog

[judithghernandez87]

Physical Product Experiment [PPE #3]—Prototypes

Welcome to the third installment of the Physical Product Experiment! If you missed the previous two installments, go back and check those out first before reading on. You can find those posts here: Physical Product Experiment [PPE #1] and Physical Product Experiment [PPE #2].

In this installment, Physical Product Experiment [PPE #3], we’re exploring prototypes! But first, here’s a quick recap of where I started and where I am today:

I am experimenting with a physical product: a productivity calendar I hope will be like nothing else out there. In the first post in this series, I shared details about the product itself, and where I’m starting my research. In the second post, I discussed how I am going to be reaching out for validation and feedback.

Regarding that validation and feedback, I mentioned in the previous post that we were hoping for twenty volunteers to help us test out the calendar with an actual, real-world task: writing the draft of a book in ninety days. And guess what? We have our volunteers! We were grateful to receive more than 120 applications, and then whittled that down to twenty-one applicants who had a wide variety of backgrounds with a wide variety of reasons for achieving the same goal: writing a book. That variety is best for testing too. Although I wish I could have picked all 120+ applicants, the cost and logistics of shipping the prototype package (more on that below!) would have been a little too much to manage at this beta test stage.

For the twenty-one applicants we picked, we’ve already sent you an email announcing your part in this exciting experiment! But I wanted to also mention you here, as I truly appreciate your support in this! The twenty-one volunteers for the beta stage of the Physical Product Experiment are:

Gina

Jess W.

Barbara C.

Alex S.

Greg S.

Benny H.

Nakita R.

Mary J.

Stacy B.

Kristie W.

Kristen D.

Jeremy C.

Bree K.

Jeremy

Kelsi M.

Shannon K.

Russ K.

Laura

Jami B.

Alina

Nick H.

Thanks for being willing to go on this journey with me!

For the others who reached out, thank you so much. Unfortunately, we had to limit the number of volunteers, so some of you didn’t make it. But I truly appreciate your amazing outpouring of support. That, in and of itself, is validating for the experiment. Thank you.

Now, there’s a reason why we limited this volunteer group to twenty-one, besides the cost. With small groups, you have a more controlled environment, which is better for communication. With larger groups, it’s more challenging to keep on top of all of the feedback—you risk miscommunication, focus is split between too many people, and you tend to lose sight of the goal. In this case, the goal is to determine if the physical product will help you with your desired outcome.

The product needs to serve its audience.

That’s the whole purpose of this experiment—to create a physical product that will be a game-changer in the lives of those who use it. With a smaller, more focused group of “beta” testers, we can avoid creating something like the universal remote—with hundreds of buttons and a minuscule percentage of useful ones.

The MVP Stage

Right now, we’re nearly at the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) stage. We’ll soon have the basic components of the product—a prototype—to ship to our volunteers so they can start testing it.

Once the MVP is complete, we’ll share that with our volunteers so they can go through the process of engaging with and actually using the productivity calendar to help them write the first draft of their book in ninety days. And, as the first-round test group, the volunteers will be taking notes of what works well and what needs improvement, from the concepts to the workflow. As I mentioned before, I want this productivity calendar to be the tool to help engaged and aspiring people to achieve targeted goals. If the volunteers think otherwise, we need to remedy that until it does help!

Now, one really cool aspect of this is that the volunteers signed up, for the most part, because of an expressed interest in getting unstuck. They’ve wanted to write the first draft of their book, but have struggled to finish, find motivation, or lacked the accountability to cross the finish line. My goal is that this physical product will be their winning system, their blueprint for success.

Productivity Calendar Prototype Components

My team and I have devised three components to this physical product, all designed to work with each other as part of an integrated method for being super productive and achieving goals. Those components are the calendar, the workbook, and the community.

Each of our twenty-one volunteers will receive a package, shipped to their physical address. The experience will start the moment they open the box, which will include the calendar, workbook, and a welcome sheet that will explain how this experiment will work, when it will start, and a thank you message from me. It will be an exciting unboxing to kick off the goal-seeking journey with a bang.

Let’s look at each one of the prototype components individually.

1. The Calendar

This whole journey began with the idea of creating a better calendar for planning projects and improving productivity. In its original form, it was going to be a large, mostly blank wall calendar to incorporate whatever projects or tasks you would have within your life. Since then, the idea has grown into something much more targeted: a calendar that will be used in conjunction with a workbook to help guide a person through the process of achieving a very specific goal. The first goal we are tackling is writing the first draft of your book in ninety days. This is just one of many goals that there will be workbooks for in the future. (We’ll get to the workbooks in a minute.)

When the testing starts with our twenty-one volunteers, the calendar will be what we call a medium-fidelity version, between low-fidelity (a simple sketch or wireframe) and high-fidelity (fully designed from top to bottom). This medium-fidelity version will allow the volunteers to do what they need to do, but the product itself won’t be in its 100 percent finished design in terms of final colors, fonts, and material.

As for the size and shape of the calendar, our vision is to have a giant wall calendar. But we still need to determine the precise size and shape that will be best for the people who use it based on placement (it shouldn’t take up the entire wall!) and usefulness (giving people room to write, place stickers, engage with their goal in a meaningful, structured way).

A big reason why I think the calendar is extremely important is not only for its tracking purposes or goal-setting capabilities, but for its place as a daily reminder. The calendar itself will be quite large. So, when you put it up on the wall in your writing cave or office, you will have that tangible, in-plain-view reminder every time you sit down, which I hope will be an excellent motivator. At least this is what I visualize in my head.

It’s like what Hal Elrod talks about in his book, The Miracle Morning, when he describes the SAVERS method of establishing a miracle morning. The “V” in SAVERS stands for “Visualization.” Another way to put it is to imagine (visualize) how you want things to pan out in the future. That’s a big motivator for me.

When I was writing Will It Fly?, for instance, I loved the idea that readers would be going through and finding value in the book’s exercises. I was motivated by visualizing people reading the book, going through the exercises, sending me messages about how the book helped them. It may have never happened, but the idea that it could motivated me to keep writing. But guess what? It did happen, and I receive messages from readers almost every day!

The same is true for this physical product. I’m super motivated by the idea that this productivity calendar and workbook will help people achieve their goals. And, for those using the product, the calendar itself is a visualization exercise. When you see your goals and dreams in plain sight on the wall, your daily reminder to work on specific tasks in order to achieve those goals and dreams, it makes it easier to make those visualizations become a reality because it’s there in a place where you see it every day. It’s the classic power of positive thinking: you envision your goals, which helps to reinforce them and keep you on track to achieve them.

I am so excited to see how you use the calendar—putting it up on the wall, how you interact with it on a daily basis, and the reactions shared with me and the SPI community as a whole. That’s what truly motivates me to make the best possible product that I can.

2. The Workbook

The workbook will be more than a blank journal. I love those type of journals and others like The Five Minute Journal, which you know I rave about. They’ve helped me immensely in my business career, and as a writer. But I wanted to create something that stands out. That’s one of the reasons why we’re calling it a workbook as opposed to a journal. This workbook will have more structure, with both journaling opportunities and instructional exercises geared toward the specific goal it’s addressing. It will include guidelines for people as they progress through the ninety-day timeline of writing a first book draft.

My team, especially Matt and Janna, are seasoned writers who have a lot of experience in writing and editing, in addition to helping authors and author-entrepreneurs with strategy in the areas of book publishing, book cover design, and brand voice development. Matt, who’s the CEO of Winning Edits, helped on the editing and content strategy of my first book, Let Go. I connected with Janna through Matt. Her experience in running a literary magazine (Under the Gum Tree), and overall editorial strategy is also a necessary addition to this experiment.

So the workbook will be a companion to the calendar, a tool to check in with yourself and reflect on what is working, what isn’t working, and take notes on potential blockers or distractions. It will include a daily tracking element that will correspond with the calendar. It will also be an integral tool to help people overcome the biggest struggles associated with the goal they are working toward. Each workbook guide and goal we tackle with this product line will have its own section dedicated to overcoming the most common struggle people have while working toward that goal. It’s another differentiator for these workbooks, and it could mean the difference between someone actually pushing through versus not moving forward at all.

For this product prototype, the workbook will help people overcome one of the biggest struggles of writing a book: writer’s block. Yes, that dreaded writer’s block, the bane of every writer’s existence, the thing that keeps you from doing what you want to be doing: writing! But, the good news is that the workbook, along with the calendar, will guide you past it.

The last aspect of the workbook I am really looking forward to seeing how people use is the stickers. Yes, the workbook and calendar will come with stickers to add that visual oomph to your daily productivity.

3. The Community

We have the calendar and the workbook. The third component is the community, an element that is obviously really important when you’re doing any sort of beta launch with a founding group of volunteers because you want a place for them to leave feedback and to express what they’re going through so that you can understand how they are using your product and what is going through their mind.

The community component will also be a part of the final product launch, which is not something you see that often. Typically, community aspects of launches are part of the beta or testing period only. But I think it’s massively important to keep for the public launch too. In my experience, a group working toward a common goal has a greater chance for success. There’s more accountability and camaraderie in a group setting—like the gym partner who cheers you on during that last rep. Plus, having a community creates a space to ask questions, get feedback, and even provide a little bit of friendly competition!

We’ll also be testing out a platform for housing the community. Something different from what I’ve used in the past for other launches (but I do use it regularly with my team). That platform is Slack.

If you’re not familiar, Slack is an amazing and powerful communication tool that can be used to create and foster conversation around specific topics or projects. A lot of people are using Slack nowadays for hosting their communities and it has a lot of benefits. My team uses it internally and I know a number of other teams who use it as well, but I’ve been noticing that a lot of people who sell products offer a Slack community so that their customers can communicate with one another and the product owner as well. That’s pretty cool, and I want the same for this calendar product.

There’s also a cool tool for managing Slack communities called SlackPass.io, which seems like it will become an important part of the administrative process for my team. Some companies that charge for the communities also use this tool to collect payments and manage membership.

Slack comes with a number of advantages. It has an intuitive, and easy-to-use interface. And, one of my favorite features, you can archive conversations, which is something that cannot be done with Facebook Groups, for example. Facebook Groups are great, and they are popular right now, but they may not be best suited for longer term, goal-related processes like this. Slack, on the other hand, empowers everybody in the community to engage on the level that suits them best. And, for me, as the one overseeing the community, I can separate conversations into channels based on certain topics.

For example, there may be a channel specifically for questions for me to answer. There could be a channel specifically related to wins that people can share. There could also be a channel specifically created for all of the random conversations, which is fairly common. For Team Flynn, we have a similar Slack channel called “Giggles” and that’s for posting random funnies and silly gifs within the team without getting in the way of other SPI business-related conversations.

The Slack component for the beta volunteer group is going to be important because it’s going to help us validate whether or not it’s a viable option for hosting a large community working toward a common goal. I do feel like it’s a great option with a lot of upsides in terms of cohesion and inspiration, but we won’t know until we test it out. Of course, people are used to Facebook—I have Facebook Groups for specific products I’ve created—but I wanted to test out Slack as an option and this is the perfect opportunity to do that.

Branding the Physical Product

The final thing I want to talk about is related to the branding of the physical product. My team and I have been going back and forth a lot on the branding, but we’ve come to what we believe is going to be the final brand name (not the product name, but a name for the whole brand):

Atlas

We chose the name Atlas for this product line for a number of reasons. By definition, Atlas is a collection of maps, tables, and charts designed to help guide someone, so it makes sense for a collection of workbooks that will help guide people toward a goal. And who can forget Atlas from Greek mythology? In the mythic stories, Atlas is a Titan who revolts against the gods, but is ultimately forced by Zeus to carry the burden of the heavens on his shoulders. You know the sculpture with the figure holding the planet. That’s Atlas, a perfect metaphor for the strength and resilience required to accomplish a sometimes daunting goal.

For this brand, you can think of Atlas as the parent company or publishing imprint, and each of the individual Atlas products will have its own name. We are essentially creating a new business unit within the SPI universe that will have its own line of products. We’ve been throwing around a number of different ideas for actual product names and some are very obvious and very clear, some are more clever than clear, and some are more brandable than others.

The truth is, at this point, product names don’t really matter. That’s an important lesson for us to realize. We can still accomplish our goal of testing this product and seeing if it’s viable based on the feedback from our beta volunteers. That’s the key right now. Getting the beta product into the hands of our volunteers, getting feedback on specific problems, and finding solutions for those problems. We can’t put the cart before the horse, which is a thing that happens all the time in online business. Starting your own thing is a really exciting prospect, and coming up with a name for your business, creating a website, ordering business cards—all of this is about getting too excited for how your business looks, and now how it serves.

A prime example of this is Instagram. Before it was Instagram, it was Burbn. Yes, after bourbon, the beverage. Kevin Systrom, the co-founder of Instagram, is a fan of Kentucky whiskeys, so he called it Burbn. Back then it wasn’t what Instagram is today. It was an app that enabled users to check in at particular locations (à la Foursquare), plan for future check-ins, earn points for hanging out with friends, and post pictures of their meet-ups. Fast forward to today, and we have Instagram—a completely different name, and a mostly different app—primarily because the Burbn feature that people raved about the most was the photo filters. See how that worked out?

I’m not saying that Atlas will be the next Instagram-level product. I just think it’s a fascinating look at how things change over time based on the market, feedback, and testing. The name itself, Burbn, was probably far less important than getting than app out there, seeing how people used it, what they liked about it, and what they didn’t like about it.

The fact is, with this physical product of mine, you never know how it’s going to go. Maybe the calendar is the highlight for users, and the workbook is less of a draw, so it becomes a bonus add-on. Or maybe it’s the workbook that people like, and the calendar isn’t used at all. You never know. That’s why launching this first go-around with a small group of people is the right move.

What’s Next?

The plan now is to validate this product with the twenty-one volunteers, and to start designing and building out the products, which is going to be a lot of fun. I’m really looking forward to that. But, most importantly, the experience that our volunteers have during this initial phase will be crucial to the product’s design and look.

After that, we’re going to run three to four more goals (similar to writing the first draft of a book in ninety days) through this calendar/workbook/community product before we fully nail it down. We’ll also work with other influencers who have goals that their audience may want to achieve that may be suited for a system like this, and reach out to those who may also want to be a part of this. Obviously, there are higher-level business decisions to be made with that and partnerships involved and that sort of thing, but that’s how I hope this will scale.

We are currently considering holding a Kickstarter campaign in November, when there may be four or five different goals that people can choose from initially. And then, if that works out well, possibly add on other goal ideas. The sky’s the limit! This could potentially become something that could house hundreds of goals down the road and become a subscription model where people would pay annually to get access to the library of goals that they can achieve every quarter using the calendar as the foundation, and then mapping their new goals on top of it every time.

It’s really exciting. It’s really fun. It’s different. It’s challenging. But we’re trying to take it one step at a time. The first step is getting our twenty-one volunteers through the process and collecting their feedback.

Yes, we’re eventually going to have to design the thing. We’re eventually going to have to figure out how to manufacture it, ship it, fulfill it, store it, and all of that. The materials of the product will also be important. What is it made of? How will it be manufactured? What will the cost be, and are there ways to save on cost without compromising quality?

These are all important questions and should definitely be thought about early in the process when you’re developing a physical product. But, at the same time, we are still focused on just proving the concept. Materials and manufacturing are important, but without a working prototype, that stuff can wait. Throughout this testing process, there will definitely be opportunities to try various types of calendar material. For example, dry-erase material versus one that’s also magnetic, and taking into account multiple use, versatility, durability, and cost.

But, if there’s one thing I’ve learned since starting my businesses, it’s this: before you spend a ton of time and money on what people use, it’s always best to focus first on why and how people use things. We’re on our way to figuring out those things, and our twenty-one amazing volunteers will help us get there. Let’s prove the concept of the product, let’s nail down the solution, and then we’ll go from there.

Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for an in-depth look at branding in Physical Product Experiment [PPE #4]!

Physical Product Experiment [PPE #3]—Prototypes originally posted at Dave’s Blog

[davidmhomerjr]

Physical Product Experiment [PPE #3]—Prototypes

Welcome to the third installment of the Physical Product Experiment! If you missed the previous two installments, go back and check those out first before reading on. You can find those posts here: Physical Product Experiment [PPE #1] and Physical Product Experiment [PPE #2].

In this installment, Physical Product Experiment [PPE #3], we’re exploring prototypes! But first, here’s a quick recap of where I started and where I am today:

I am experimenting with a physical product: a productivity calendar I hope will be like nothing else out there. In the first post in this series, I shared details about the product itself, and where I’m starting my research. In the second post, I discussed how I am going to be reaching out for validation and feedback.

Regarding that validation and feedback, I mentioned in the previous post that we were hoping for twenty volunteers to help us test out the calendar with an actual, real-world task: writing the draft of a book in ninety days. And guess what? We have our volunteers! We were grateful to receive more than 120 applications, and then whittled that down to twenty-one applicants who had a wide variety of backgrounds with a wide variety of reasons for achieving the same goal: writing a book. That variety is best for testing too. Although I wish I could have picked all 120+ applicants, the cost and logistics of shipping the prototype package (more on that below!) would have been a little too much to manage at this beta test stage.

For the twenty-one applicants we picked, we’ve already sent you an email announcing your part in this exciting experiment! But I wanted to also mention you here, as I truly appreciate your support in this! The twenty-one volunteers for the beta stage of the Physical Product Experiment are:

Gina

Jess W.

Barbara C.

Alex S.

Greg S.

Benny H.

Nakita R.

Mary J.

Stacy B.

Kristie W.

Kristen D.

Jeremy C.

Bree K.

Jeremy

Kelsi M.

Shannon K.

Russ K.

Laura

Jami B.

Alina

Nick H.

Thanks for being willing to go on this journey with me!

For the others who reached out, thank you so much. Unfortunately, we had to limit the number of volunteers, so some of you didn’t make it. But I truly appreciate your amazing outpouring of support. That, in and of itself, is validating for the experiment. Thank you.

Now, there’s a reason why we limited this volunteer group to twenty-one, besides the cost. With small groups, you have a more controlled environment, which is better for communication. With larger groups, it’s more challenging to keep on top of all of the feedback—you risk miscommunication, focus is split between too many people, and you tend to lose sight of the goal. In this case, the goal is to determine if the physical product will help you with your desired outcome.

The product needs to serve its audience.

That’s the whole purpose of this experiment—to create a physical product that will be a game-changer in the lives of those who use it. With a smaller, more focused group of “beta” testers, we can avoid creating something like the universal remote—with hundreds of buttons and a minuscule percentage of useful ones.

The MVP Stage

Right now, we’re nearly at the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) stage. We’ll soon have the basic components of the product—a prototype—to ship to our volunteers so they can start testing it.

Once the MVP is complete, we’ll share that with our volunteers so they can go through the process of engaging with and actually using the productivity calendar to help them write the first draft of their book in ninety days. And, as the first-round test group, the volunteers will be taking notes of what works well and what needs improvement, from the concepts to the workflow. As I mentioned before, I want this productivity calendar to be the tool to help engaged and aspiring people to achieve targeted goals. If the volunteers think otherwise, we need to remedy that until it does help!

Now, one really cool aspect of this is that the volunteers signed up, for the most part, because of an expressed interest in getting unstuck. They’ve wanted to write the first draft of their book, but have struggled to finish, find motivation, or lacked the accountability to cross the finish line. My goal is that this physical product will be their winning system, their blueprint for success.

Productivity Calendar Prototype Components

My team and I have devised three components to this physical product, all designed to work with each other as part of an integrated method for being super productive and achieving goals. Those components are the calendar, the workbook, and the community.

Each of our twenty-one volunteers will receive a package, shipped to their physical address. The experience will start the moment they open the box, which will include the calendar, workbook, and a welcome sheet that will explain how this experiment will work, when it will start, and a thank you message from me. It will be an exciting unboxing to kick off the goal-seeking journey with a bang.

Let’s look at each one of the prototype components individually.

1. The Calendar

This whole journey began with the idea of creating a better calendar for planning projects and improving productivity. In its original form, it was going to be a large, mostly blank wall calendar to incorporate whatever projects or tasks you would have within your life. Since then, the idea has grown into something much more targeted: a calendar that will be used in conjunction with a workbook to help guide a person through the process of achieving a very specific goal. The first goal we are tackling is writing the first draft of your book in ninety days. This is just one of many goals that there will be workbooks for in the future. (We’ll get to the workbooks in a minute.)

When the testing starts with our twenty-one volunteers, the calendar will be what we call a medium-fidelity version, between low-fidelity (a simple sketch or wireframe) and high-fidelity (fully designed from top to bottom). This medium-fidelity version will allow the volunteers to do what they need to do, but the product itself won’t be in its 100 percent finished design in terms of final colors, fonts, and material.

As for the size and shape of the calendar, our vision is to have a giant wall calendar. But we still need to determine the precise size and shape that will be best for the people who use it based on placement (it shouldn’t take up the entire wall!) and usefulness (giving people room to write, place stickers, engage with their goal in a meaningful, structured way).

A big reason why I think the calendar is extremely important is not only for its tracking purposes or goal-setting capabilities, but for its place as a daily reminder. The calendar itself will be quite large. So, when you put it up on the wall in your writing cave or office, you will have that tangible, in-plain-view reminder every time you sit down, which I hope will be an excellent motivator. At least this is what I visualize in my head.

It’s like what Hal Elrod talks about in his book, The Miracle Morning, when he describes the SAVERS method of establishing a miracle morning. The “V” in SAVERS stands for “Visualization.” Another way to put it is to imagine (visualize) how you want things to pan out in the future. That’s a big motivator for me.

When I was writing Will It Fly?, for instance, I loved the idea that readers would be going through and finding value in the book’s exercises. I was motivated by visualizing people reading the book, going through the exercises, sending me messages about how the book helped them. It may have never happened, but the idea that it could motivated me to keep writing. But guess what? It did happen, and I receive messages from readers almost every day!

The same is true for this physical product. I’m super motivated by the idea that this productivity calendar and workbook will help people achieve their goals. And, for those using the product, the calendar itself is a visualization exercise. When you see your goals and dreams in plain sight on the wall, your daily reminder to work on specific tasks in order to achieve those goals and dreams, it makes it easier to make those visualizations become a reality because it’s there in a place where you see it every day. It’s the classic power of positive thinking: you envision your goals, which helps to reinforce them and keep you on track to achieve them.

I am so excited to see how you use the calendar—putting it up on the wall, how you interact with it on a daily basis, and the reactions shared with me and the SPI community as a whole. That’s what truly motivates me to make the best possible product that I can.

2. The Workbook

The workbook will be more than a blank journal. I love those type of journals and others like The Five Minute Journal, which you know I rave about. They’ve helped me immensely in my business career, and as a writer. But I wanted to create something that stands out. That’s one of the reasons why we’re calling it a workbook as opposed to a journal. This workbook will have more structure, with both journaling opportunities and instructional exercises geared toward the specific goal it’s addressing. It will include guidelines for people as they progress through the ninety-day timeline of writing a first book draft.

My team, especially Matt and Janna, are seasoned writers who have a lot of experience in writing and editing, in addition to helping authors and author-entrepreneurs with strategy in the areas of book publishing, book cover design, and brand voice development. Matt, who’s the CEO of Winning Edits, helped on the editing and content strategy of my first book, Let Go. I connected with Janna through Matt. Her experience in running a literary magazine (Under the Gum Tree), and overall editorial strategy is also a necessary addition to this experiment.

So the workbook will be a companion to the calendar, a tool to check in with yourself and reflect on what is working, what isn’t working, and take notes on potential blockers or distractions. It will include a daily tracking element that will correspond with the calendar. It will also be an integral tool to help people overcome the biggest struggles associated with the goal they are working toward. Each workbook guide and goal we tackle with this product line will have its own section dedicated to overcoming the most common struggle people have while working toward that goal. It’s another differentiator for these workbooks, and it could mean the difference between someone actually pushing through versus not moving forward at all.

For this product prototype, the workbook will help people overcome one of the biggest struggles of writing a book: writer’s block. Yes, that dreaded writer’s block, the bane of every writer’s existence, the thing that keeps you from doing what you want to be doing: writing! But, the good news is that the workbook, along with the calendar, will guide you past it.

The last aspect of the workbook I am really looking forward to seeing how people use is the stickers. Yes, the workbook and calendar will come with stickers to add that visual oomph to your daily productivity.

3. The Community

We have the calendar and the workbook. The third component is the community, an element that is obviously really important when you’re doing any sort of beta launch with a founding group of volunteers because you want a place for them to leave feedback and to express what they’re going through so that you can understand how they are using your product and what is going through their mind.

The community component will also be a part of the final product launch, which is not something you see that often. Typically, community aspects of launches are part of the beta or testing period only. But I think it’s massively important to keep for the public launch too. In my experience, a group working toward a common goal has a greater chance for success. There’s more accountability and camaraderie in a group setting—like the gym partner who cheers you on during that last rep. Plus, having a community creates a space to ask questions, get feedback, and even provide a little bit of friendly competition!

We’ll also be testing out a platform for housing the community. Something different from what I’ve used in the past for other launches (but I do use it regularly with my team). That platform is Slack.

If you’re not familiar, Slack is an amazing and powerful communication tool that can be used to create and foster conversation around specific topics or projects. A lot of people are using Slack nowadays for hosting their communities and it has a lot of benefits. My team uses it internally and I know a number of other teams who use it as well, but I’ve been noticing that a lot of people who sell products offer a Slack community so that their customers can communicate with one another and the product owner as well. That’s pretty cool, and I want the same for this calendar product.

There’s also a cool tool for managing Slack communities called SlackPass.io, which seems like it will become an important part of the administrative process for my team. Some companies that charge for the communities also use this tool to collect payments and manage membership.

Slack comes with a number of advantages. It has an intuitive, and easy-to-use interface. And, one of my favorite features, you can archive conversations, which is something that cannot be done with Facebook Groups, for example. Facebook Groups are great, and they are popular right now, but they may not be best suited for longer term, goal-related processes like this. Slack, on the other hand, empowers everybody in the community to engage on the level that suits them best. And, for me, as the one overseeing the community, I can separate conversations into channels based on certain topics.

For example, there may be a channel specifically for questions for me to answer. There could be a channel specifically related to wins that people can share. There could also be a channel specifically created for all of the random conversations, which is fairly common. For Team Flynn, we have a similar Slack channel called “Giggles” and that’s for posting random funnies and silly gifs within the team without getting in the way of other SPI business-related conversations.

The Slack component for the beta volunteer group is going to be important because it’s going to help us validate whether or not it’s a viable option for hosting a large community working toward a common goal. I do feel like it’s a great option with a lot of upsides in terms of cohesion and inspiration, but we won’t know until we test it out. Of course, people are used to Facebook—I have Facebook Groups for specific products I’ve created—but I wanted to test out Slack as an option and this is the perfect opportunity to do that.

Branding the Physical Product

The final thing I want to talk about is related to the branding of the physical product. My team and I have been going back and forth a lot on the branding, but we’ve come to what we believe is going to be the final brand name (not the product name, but a name for the whole brand):

Atlas

We chose the name Atlas for this product line for a number of reasons. By definition, Atlas is a collection of maps, tables, and charts designed to help guide someone, so it makes sense for a collection of workbooks that will help guide people toward a goal. And who can forget Atlas from Greek mythology? In the mythic stories, Atlas is a Titan who revolts against the gods, but is ultimately forced by Zeus to carry the burden of the heavens on his shoulders. You know the sculpture with the figure holding the planet. That’s Atlas, a perfect metaphor for the strength and resilience required to accomplish a sometimes daunting goal.

For this brand, you can think of Atlas as the parent company or publishing imprint, and each of the individual Atlas products will have its own name. We are essentially creating a new business unit within the SPI universe that will have its own line of products. We’ve been throwing around a number of different ideas for actual product names and some are very obvious and very clear, some are more clever than clear, and some are more brandable than others.

The truth is, at this point, product names don’t really matter. That’s an important lesson for us to realize. We can still accomplish our goal of testing this product and seeing if it’s viable based on the feedback from our beta volunteers. That’s the key right now. Getting the beta product into the hands of our volunteers, getting feedback on specific problems, and finding solutions for those problems. We can’t put the cart before the horse, which is a thing that happens all the time in online business. Starting your own thing is a really exciting prospect, and coming up with a name for your business, creating a website, ordering business cards—all of this is about getting too excited for how your business looks, and now how it serves.

A prime example of this is Instagram. Before it was Instagram, it was Burbn. Yes, after bourbon, the beverage. Kevin Systrom, the co-founder of Instagram, is a fan of Kentucky whiskeys, so he called it Burbn. Back then it wasn’t what Instagram is today. It was an app that enabled users to check in at particular locations (à la Foursquare), plan for future check-ins, earn points for hanging out with friends, and post pictures of their meet-ups. Fast forward to today, and we have Instagram—a completely different name, and a mostly different app—primarily because the Burbn feature that people raved about the most was the photo filters. See how that worked out?

I’m not saying that Atlas will be the next Instagram-level product. I just think it’s a fascinating look at how things change over time based on the market, feedback, and testing. The name itself, Burbn, was probably far less important than getting than app out there, seeing how people used it, what they liked about it, and what they didn’t like about it.

The fact is, with this physical product of mine, you never know how it’s going to go. Maybe the calendar is the highlight for users, and the workbook is less of a draw, so it becomes a bonus add-on. Or maybe it’s the workbook that people like, and the calendar isn’t used at all. You never know. That’s why launching this first go-around with a small group of people is the right move.

What’s Next?

The plan now is to validate this product with the twenty-one volunteers, and to start designing and building out the products, which is going to be a lot of fun. I’m really looking forward to that. But, most importantly, the experience that our volunteers have during this initial phase will be crucial to the product’s design and look.

After that, we’re going to run three to four more goals (similar to writing the first draft of a book in ninety days) through this calendar/workbook/community product before we fully nail it down. We’ll also work with other influencers who have goals that their audience may want to achieve that may be suited for a system like this, and reach out to those who may also want to be a part of this. Obviously, there are higher-level business decisions to be made with that and partnerships involved and that sort of thing, but that’s how I hope this will scale.

We are currently considering holding a Kickstarter campaign in November, when there may be four or five different goals that people can choose from initially. And then, if that works out well, possibly add on other goal ideas. The sky’s the limit! This could potentially become something that could house hundreds of goals down the road and become a subscription model where people would pay annually to get access to the library of goals that they can achieve every quarter using the calendar as the foundation, and then mapping their new goals on top of it every time.

It’s really exciting. It’s really fun. It’s different. It’s challenging. But we’re trying to take it one step at a time. The first step is getting our twenty-one volunteers through the process and collecting their feedback.

Yes, we’re eventually going to have to design the thing. We’re eventually going to have to figure out how to manufacture it, ship it, fulfill it, store it, and all of that. The materials of the product will also be important. What is it made of? How will it be manufactured? What will the cost be, and are there ways to save on cost without compromising quality?

These are all important questions and should definitely be thought about early in the process when you’re developing a physical product. But, at the same time, we are still focused on just proving the concept. Materials and manufacturing are important, but without a working prototype, that stuff can wait. Throughout this testing process, there will definitely be opportunities to try various types of calendar material. For example, dry-erase material versus one that’s also magnetic, and taking into account multiple use, versatility, durability, and cost.

But, if there’s one thing I’ve learned since starting my businesses, it’s this: before you spend a ton of time and money on what people use, it’s always best to focus first on why and how people use things. We’re on our way to figuring out those things, and our twenty-one amazing volunteers will help us get there. Let’s prove the concept of the product, let’s nail down the solution, and then we’ll go from there.

Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for an in-depth look at branding in Physical Product Experiment [PPE #4]!

[kinosternon]

(CW: abstract discussions of abuse, several heaping spoonfuls of new-adult angst. Also, length—this is like 2,000 words lol)

This particular story, such as it is, starts with me chatting with a very close friend of mine over Skype, and looking through my email at the same time. (Me and this friend are the type of close where we Skype once a week and they play video games or code while I browse the Internet and watch whatever they’re up to, so a certain amount of multitasking is par for the course.) I’m a big fan of StoryBundle and related stuff, so when I came across their Write Stuff 2017 bundle (https://storybundle.com/writing), I remember that I’d bought a similar bundle of theirs last year, and went to check it out.

It actually wasn’t the first time I’d looked it over. I’ve been trying to give up writing for the past several months, and been through a similar cycle several times: get fed up with the pressure of writing, decide to give up on writing altogether, feel a lot better, start thinking about writing again—without so much as opening a document or a notebook. Reading the descriptions for the bundle got me thinking about the whole pattern, and I said out loud to my friend, “Reading about writing feels like looking through an ex’s Facebook.”

Then I stopped and thought about what I’d said, because it did. That was exactly what it felt like. So I started to wonder why.

~

As a white, male, able-bodied 20-something in the United States who attended a liberal arts college and tries to be at least politically aware, if not politically active, I find the narrative of abuse survival to be one that’s ineffectual to apply to myself. Have I been in some shitty situations with people? 

…Yeah. I have. 

Have I caused some shitty situations? Without a shadow of a doubt, though I’m pretty hopeful about the idea that I’ve never been outright abusive. Certainly I’ve never been so intentionally, but intention can only get a person so far.  

I struggled for a long time with the idea that I may have experienced abusive situations in my childhood and beyond, and now I’m more or less at peace with the idea that abuse is a narrative that I don’t feel comfortable applying to my life experiences so far. I heard a lot about abuse growing up—which is good, it’s absolutely vital to spread that knowledge—but not a lot about what to do and how to go forward when a relationship is just shit, and that left me stuck for a while. It really wasn’t fun.

Still, eventually, I figured out an answer to the latter question I’m comfortable with. I don’t need to be able to prove, to myself or anyone else, that a relationship is abusive for me to want to leave it. I think more people out there need to remember that, especially because the myth of needing proof is often used by abusers themselves.

To believe and be properly sympathetic to people who had undergone abuse, I had to understand that their concerns were not my concerns—that I am not, in my head, part of the “survivors of abuse” identity group. Anything else was harmful to me, and both disrespectful and detrimental to the people I might encounter during my attempts to be a good ally.

Abuse, at the moment, isn’t a helpful way for me to frame my relationships. Negativity and toxicity, on the other hand, absolutely are. I started feeling a lot less anxious when I started applying more shades of subtlety to my emotions and experiences.

~

Time and circumstance can change relationship dynamics a lot. Lately, I’ve reconnected with a friend whom I’d labeled “toxic” pretty vibrantly in my head, and whom I’ve got a complicated history with. I turned the idea over in my head for months, dismissing it as a bad idea with more and more reluctance each time. In the end, fairly sure of the reasonableness of the idea, I followed through on the impulse to contact them online. Turns out the friend was not only still happy to hear from me, they were in a much better place than they’d been back when I cut off contact. And I’m in a better place now, too. They don’t test my boundaries anymore, and even if they did, I’d feel much more sure about enforcing them.

Having this friend back in my life has been enjoyable and enriching. Another source of support in life is always welcome.

I’ve made some new friends, too, and both reconnecting with sour friendships and making new ones that I’m okay with require a certain amount of emotional resilience. I’ve been trying to cultivate a strong sense of self-worth, agency, and self-reliability independent of those friendships, and it’s been helping.  

I’m not quite sure what to call the more welcoming side of those efforts, though. Tolerance, forgiveness, and patience all have different undertones. I think it’s somewhere between the three, and I’m still testing out the way those nuances shift depending on the specific circumstance. And they all start with an awareness of my own limits, and the feeling that I’m always allowed to stop and walk away.

~

Anyway, this was a story about writing. Setting boundaries for yourself is important, I thought, as I considered where the thought of “writing as shitty ex” had come from. If I kept shying away from writing all this time, then maybe it really was a toxic relationship.

The problem is, writing isn’t a person. I don’t ascribe very hard to any one particular class of thought or pedagogy when it comes to writing, either, so as far as I can tell that isn’t the difficulty. It’s still possible that outside influences are building up and forming an unpleasant imagined persona, like an unwelcoming audience. But for a little while now, I’ve been trying to curtail instances of random exposure to the displeasure of strangers, and by now that influence has noticeably lessened. So what was going on?

When I thought about it in those terms, it wasn’t too hard to reach a perplexing conclusion: I’m in a bad relationship with writing, and I’m the only person in that relationship.

I’m all the moving parts. Just me. Which led me to wonder, what am I doing to myself that I haven’t consciously realized?

~

I recently started tutoring a couple of kids in creative writing through Skype call. (Someone thought it was a good idea to put an advertisement on a freelancing website, instead of a tutoring-specific one, but that’s another story, and one that I know very little about.) The first couple of lessons were a little bit awkward, until one of the parents clued me in to the idea of working through prompts in class, instead of assigning things and providing feedback. Then a couple of online resources mentioned the idea of working along with the kids on exercises, so I tried that, too.

I would’ve figured it was a bad idea, putting them on the spot or accidentally showing off, but so far both strategies seem to be working. It’s been good to show that even a teacher can’t think of everything on a tight schedule, that what I come up with is imperfect or incomplete. And better still, I’ve gotten into the habit of waiting a little longer for answers, continuing to ask prompt past the first, dubious or hesitant response. I’ve been asking a lot of “Why?”, and making games out of brainstorming. It’s been fun, and I’d like to think I’m not the only one learning.

I think I’ve forgotten how important patience is in writing, as in many other things.

~

One summer, between semesters of college, I tried living with friends. It was a lot of fun, but there were parts that were very stressful—specifically, the coming-up-with-rent part. I managed to land a decent ghostwriting job, but it wasn’t enough to keep up with bills, not by a long shot. (I was extremely privileged to have parents that were willing to come up with some of the difference, without which I would have been very ill-advised even to try.) So I tried to balance an internship or two alongside it, which ultimately led to me keeping abreast of chores and stressing instead of working on everything else.

Near the end of the summer, desperately trying to make up a huge word deficit on a ghostwriting project, I set myself a goal: 24,000 words in 24 hours. A quota of 1,000 words an hour, with permission to do whatever I wanted each hour, after hitting that point.

I managed it, almost getting to the end of the piece. I don’t think I so much as opened the document for eight weeks afterward. I blew far past the intended deadline, and in the meantime, my client moved on to greener writing pastures. I was never paid for that project.

I didn’t realize until years later that ever since then, something related to the writing part of me has felt injured—that it feels like something got sprained inside.

~

People talk about their inner editors. Whatever that particular force in my head is, I’m not sure it counts as just an editor anymore.

My editorial sense is just fine when it comes to other people. I like providing developmental edits. I’m good at line-editing and formatting. I’ve interned at a literary agency, and, as mentioned above, worked as a ghostwriter before that. I occasionally beta-read fanfic and/or critique friends’ work for fun. I like fixing other people’s writing, and I like meeting them where they are in their efforts to improve their technique.

Moreover, I’m pretty confident of my technical writing ability. I know how to put together a sentence. I’m as susceptible to typos as the next person, but otherwise my error rate is pretty low. I’ve got a working sense of structure, pacing, and style. I actually know how to format dialogue correctly, how to use a long dash and a semicolon, and the difference between a too-long sentence and a run-on.

That doesn’t mean I don’t still have a long way to go—that’s the nature of writing. (See: I write long sentences even when I shouldn’t, and I’m far too fond of italics.) But I’m not all that self-conscious about any of that, really. It doesn’t bug me.

No, I’m just completely certain of my inability to have ideas. Or, having miraculously had an idea that I didn’t immediately tear to pieces, to actually sit down and start. Or, having started, to muddle through the middle, let alone finish. Or, having somehow finished, to have the self-discipline to do any revision whatsoever.

I “know” these things just won’t ever happen—that I “can,” but that I won’t. And I “know” that I shouldn’t give up on one of my most-developed skills. But when I finally gave myself permission to give up—to move on to something I haven’t built up to be so utterly wraught—I felt a lot better. And thus the cycle began.

Even getting to that point—feeling like I deserved a chance to walk away—was in itself a kind of growth. But I think I’m ready to try moving beyond it. I’m just not sure what direction “beyond” will be in.

~

I’m slowly circling around a choice. Like water spiraling around a drain, or one of those pennies in a black-hole model at the mall. (Anyone else remember those?) I could try to break free—I’m fairly certain that I can, to whatever degree I want, though there would be parts of it that would hurt. But I don’t think I want to.

I’m not going to let writer-me take over my life again anytime soon. I don’t want to give him any power, because or the past few years he’s done the opposite of earn it. But I might be willing to get back together with him, for a bit of a trial run. The equivalent of a re-friending on Facebook and maybe catching up over coffee.

I find myself curious as to how it might go.