Hi everyone, it may seem a bit early for a review of 2012 but I have a big event starting on Dec 23rd so I thought it would be good time to do both.

Firstly, I am ending the year and beginning 2013 by co-hosting a major giveaway event with the able help of Keith Purkiss. Giveaway events are excellent not only for members but also contributors as there are many first class products available for FREE or on special offer at amazingly low prices.

Here is the link so that you can claim your own free gifts.

Find out more about Giveaways HERE.

Personal Highlights of the year for me have been spending time and travelling with my lovely partner Julia. We have been to Stratford which saw monsoon weather of biblical proportions, The English Lake District visiting Grasmere and the home of Lakeland poet William Wordsworth.

Bamburgh castle which I have always wanted to visit, and the Capital of Scotland Edinburgh to watch the show Midnight Tango. Plus a brilliant holiday in the sunshine of Majorca.

Business wise, I had a very successful year as an affiliate for John Thornhill’s One Month Mentor, Dan Sumners & John Thornhill’s Product Development Control and Dan’s Bloggers Roadmap. All top quality products from ethical marketers.

On my own products, I have completed my new Kindle home study course (which took months) which I think is my best product to date.

My Kindle books sell on autopilot but I have not produced much content in the second half of the year due to producing the Kindle video course.

I have however produced a number of smaller products such as……

Selling Information Products On eBay

Make A Killer Income From Small Ads

eBay Private Lable Empire

Things I am disappointed with

I had many more products planned this year that I never got around to finishing. Working my full time job has proved draining both mentally and physically leaving little time in the evening for working on my own business ideas or for R&R. I need to find a better balance here.

I had intended to produce Plugin Auction Profits 2 which is in completed draft planning, but this has now been penned in for 2013 as well as my print version or 12 Roads to Success via Create Space.

I had intended to offer custom WordPress websites for local businesses but just run out of time to even start this, maybe I was a bit too ambitious for one year?

So What Is In Store For 2013? Lots!

On a personal basis plenty of fun and travel!

On a business basis…

Priority 1

Continue to build my mailing list, obviously this will be ongoing.

Priority 2

Get my Kindle Product up for sale, I still need to finish the sales page and affiliate materials, order graphics etc.

Priority 3

Complete the upsell for the Kindle product about building an Information Business off Amazon.

Priority 4

Make more use of social media in my business and to blog and visit other blogs more often.

I have a number of other products and ideas in the planning stage which will see the light of dawn in 2013.

So what have you planned for 2013? Please leave a comment.

It’s good to share! Please help me spread the word by sharing on Facebook, Twitter and other social media.

Yesterday was a very sad day for me; one of my personal heroes’s died. Sir Patrick Moore passed away aged 89. Patrick was a national treasure, the embodiment of a world that sadly no longer exists, a better world with old fashioned values such as decency, service and helping others. Patrick stoically refused to be modernised which is why we loved him so much.

With his pipe and monocle, his unkempt appearance, his infectious enthusiasm, and his willingness to send himself up Patrick was always good value.

As a young boy I was captivated by his enthusiasm for astronomy and inspired by his Friday evening spot, seeing stars. I wrote to Patrick several times who always replied promptly to my many queries (I still have the letters and postcards).

I met Patrick on many occasions and always found him to be excellent company, his deep love of astronomy, music and cricket brought forth many anecdotes all of them hilarious: a real story teller.

Best known for his record breaking programme The Sky at Night Patrick was also one of the presenters of the moon landing programmes presented on the BBC. I often wondered what happened to MAUD the lunar bicycle unveiled by Patrick, perhaps future missions to the moon will resurrect this outstanding piece of British invention and initiative.

Patrick was also an accomplished pianist and xylophonist and often performed his own compositions despite having no formal training. Often impersonated on TV with great affection Patrick was a familiar face to all.

My favourite personal memory of Patrick was watching him demonstrate his spin bowling technique by thundering down the reception area of the Shaftsbury Hotel in Liverpool much to the dismay of the Maitre De and the hotel staff.

Thank you Sir Patrick for all the pleasure you have given me over the past 40 years and to the countless others that you have inspired, you will be sadly missed.

Sir Patrick Moore 1923-2012

Or how long is a piece of string? It just depends on the type of product that you are creating. I regularly provide my subscribers with great free content, sometimes this is entirely written by myself, at other times it will be a free report, a video or a product produced by someone else that I have the rights to give away. The important thing is that it is always something of value.

This weekend I put together a complete subscriber appreciation gift in just 2 hours. Here’s how, I used Ezine Articles website to find out some first class information about Kindle publishing. I drew up a list of 10 subjects so that that the report would be valuable and the subject matter would flow together.

I then searched the Ezine Articles website for 10 articles with quality content relating to the list I drew up. There are a lot of articles but as most of them are 400-500 words I found what I needed very quickly (approx 50 mins). The important consideration was quality and value. Always look at the expert authors first here is the link to my expert author page.

I copied and pasted the articles into an Open Office document, did a little formatting, added a cover, disclaimer and a resources page at the end. Voila’ a complete high quality subscriber appreciation gift in under 2 hours start to finish.

Here is the finished product, download HERE or click the graphic.

There are are few do’s and don’ts you need to observe to comply with the Terms of Service (TOS) but really they are just common sense. When authors publish an Ezine Article they give permission to reproduce the article they still retain copyright. No changes or editing is allowed and the author resource box must remain intact together with any links in the box or article. Also credit must be given to Ezine Articles as the source.

This helps to promote the authors work and their own products or website. As a courtesy contact the author to let them know you have reprinted their article and offer them a free copy of you report.

I don’t think of this method of product production as a quick fix but merely a way of collating quality content very quickly without having to write it all myself. There are limits on how many articles you can use in a calendar year limited at 25 per unique domain or 250 per year.

There are some other excellent article sites such as.

• Articlesbase
• Go Articles
• Article Alley
• List of Top 50 Article Directories by Page Rank

Each will have their own TOS, but don’t be tempted to mix and match from different sites as you could inadvertently break the terms of service on one or another of them particularly with article quotas.  Rob

Hi everyone, and welcome to my last video for Barry Wells Video Challenge. This is again on the theme of Amazon services and how to make money. Today we look at Create Space the Amazon POD (Publish on Demand) service.

This is becoming big business for Amazon and makes it very simple for Indie authors to publish their work. The great advantage of this service is that it is very cheap to do you do not need to approach any publishers and you have control over your own work.

This video is a complete walk through on how to publish a paperback book using Create Space.Click the image to play the video of click HERE.

For more excellent videos pop over to Barry’s Video Challenge. Till next time Rob..

Hi everyone here is another video showing you how to make a few extra pennies using Amazon, in this one I look at KDP Select and why you should consider using it if you are selling eBooks on Amazon.

Also I take a look at the new Kindle Format 8 developed for the Kindle Fire that allows a much better reading experience not only in colour but also supports excellent illustration for children’s books, graphic novels and any other type of product that requires the use of extensive illustration such as “How to Manuals”.

The Fire is rumoured to be coming to the UK just before Christmas and that opens up a lot of opportunities for small publishers like ourselves. Click the graphic to play the video.

If you find the video of help then I am just putting the finishing touches to the second edition of “The Kindle Cash Machine”  It’s Kindle Jim but not as well know it…

Take care… Rob

WARNING RANT COMING……

To upgrade, or not to upgrade – that is the question

Whether it is nobler in the mind to suffer

The slings and arrows of “outdated applications”

Or to take arms against the sea of software vendors

And by opposing them end my continual upgrade nightmare

Or just give in and take all the upgrades.

Not exactly the bard…. So what has brought this on, just a few days ago I wanted to do some very simple tasks on the computer. My morning went like this.

Logon:

• Upgrade your Flash Player
• Upgrade your Adobe Reader
• Upgrade your Vaio
• Upgrade Java Script

Haven’t done anything yet

• There are Windows updates for you to download
• Update Firefox
• Update Yahoo Mail
• Gmail Update

I accepted no upgrades except Yahoo as this was being forced upon us.

I only wanted to type a letter and send a few emails, ok check Facebook, changes there new feature! Time line blah blah…. Check blog…

• Update WordPress
• Update WordPress Plugins

The point, how much time could I have wasted on this lot, not very productive is it but we are brain washed into thinking that we need to have the latest this that and the other just to keep up.

I’m not a big fan of upgrades unless they either make thing easier for me or introduce features that I really will find useful.

I run Word 2003, it does everything and more than I need at present, tried 2007 which to me is as user friendly as a cornered rat, but I still get the app appearing every so often to run docx files that want me to buy the latest version.

2003 does it all, at least for now and there is also Open Office for ODT files, some companies such as Amazon Kindle do not like the docx format and is not supported on there website.

As far as graphics are concerned I do not run Photoshop, I use Paintshop Pro 5 which is about 10 years old, and again it does everything I need.

So: To Upgrade or Not To Upgrade.

That is the question! Rob….

Happy New Year for 2012, I know it’s a  day late (nothing new) but I spent yesterday working on my tax return.

Anyway at the end of the year and the start of the next it is always a time for reflection on the year past and for making plans for the coming year. So what were the high points of 2011 and what do I have planned for 2012.

My major success in 2011 was my Kindle publishing sales of my books have been growing since April and now have exceeded 500 per month for the past four months.

I started by publishing PLR materials and some Public Domain works, once I had work out how best to do this I now use this strategy for all be Kindle books. I have even published my plan The Kindle Cash Machine and shot 13 over the shoulder videos to help others to copy my system.

Just over a month ago Amazon released the new generation of Kindle tablets in the US, the flagship product the Kindle Fire is not simply an eBook reader but will allow you to view multimedia content. This opens up a massive opportunity in providing content for the Fire.

Amazon have also made it easy to publish your own content through its Create Space program. This allows anyone to publish content in Audio, Video or even your own Publish On Demand Paperback (POD). It is very easy to do as Create Space walk you through the whole procedure step by step and even provide you with a free ISBN number. I have used this to publish an anthology of my partner’s fiction, the finished is very professional. The cost? Just the cost of a proof copy shipped to the UK $10!

I also released my first WSO with one of my flagship products 12 Roads to Success.

I predict that WSO’s will become much more dominant and better known in the coming year as they offer outstanding value but beware they are not all of the same quality, there are some duff WSO’s s well as some truly amazing one’s.

So to 2012, targets for this year:

• To grow my list by over 1000 subscribers

• To update my products, 12 Roads to Success and Plugin Auction Profits (I know I keep promising this but I will do it!)

• To increase my Kindle sales to 1000 a month

• To build WordPress websites to help Local Businesses advertise themselves

• Not to buy any product I will not use

But most importantly to have as much fun with my lovely partner as I can!

Best wishes for a happy and prosperous new year.  Rob..

Short and Sweet Post My Personal Milestone!

Today I passed 500 sales (519 actually) for the month of November selling on Amazon Kindle. Here’s my free report on how I sell on Kindle and other eBook sites if you want to take a look! Just click on the image.

FREE Report

Or, full steam ahead to the Step by Step Blueprint, Click the image:

Or. the whole course on Video Click The Image

Join the Publishing Revolution…

Rob..

After the blood, sweat and tears, plus endless cups of coffee and other forms of liquid refreshment my Warrior Forum Special Offer is LIVE!

The Warrior Forum is a very busy place these days, Warrior Special Offers or WSO’s are all the rage, you see there are some excellent products to be had at rock bottom prices. I know because I have bought a few myself.

I have used John Thornhill’s, WSO Domination as my guide to constructing my WSO, I have listed my best selling product from last year 12 Roads to Success as my first WSO.

This sells on for $27 on Clickbank.

The price on Warrior Forum, $5, and this include free updates for life.  There is a $10 upsell of 10 standalone plans to help you build your business. I have used Warrior Plus which costs $19 for the licence usage plus the $40 listing fee to make this live.

I am offering 50% commission on the product and 50% commission on the upsell which will be paid immediately into your PayPal account, there is also a full set of affiliate tools including graphics, e-mails, review/blog posts and forum signatures  to help promote the offer, you can access them HERE

My First  WSO 12 Roads to Success

Only one question to ask, anyone in?

Rob

Warrior Forum Special Offers or WSO’s are all the rage at the moment, my inbox gets clogged up every day with a whole range of WSO’s or WSO of the day. There are some outstanding products for sale at unbelievable prices and recently there has been an influx of products from highly respected and successful marketers.

Some WSO’s offer outstanding value attracting a high number of visitors and have a huge volume of resulting sales. Some often very worthy WSO’s attract a much smaller visitor volume. I have bought a few WSO’s recently that will help me grow my business.

Clearly some offers are going to convert much better than others and some money making/automation/simple step methods will be more popular than others. But and this is a valid point you see some offers where you feel the seller hasn’t got it right for some reason, maybe the sales copy is not right, or that they don’t come over as being very helpful, or you find out you need to take an upsell to get the product to work (doesn’t that just suck!!).

I have been wanting to run a WSO’s on some of my own products but felt that I needed some advice. So a few weeks ago I contacted my mentor John Thornhill who has recently run some very successful WSO’s. In his reply John told be he was preparing a step by step training course called WSO Domination that would show all you need to do to prepare and launch a WSO.

I decided to hold fire and get this exactly right and I am glad I did. WSO Domination gives you everything that you need to prepare and launch, manage and profit from your own WSO.

This Comprehensive Blueprint Covers:

* Phase One – Theory

9 Part Step by step training

* Phase Two – Listing a WSO

8 Part Detailed Steps

* Phase Three – Making Money

5 Part Step by Step (monkey see monkey do) Training

* Advanced Training

6 Part ‘Must Have’ breakdowns

* Extras

WSO Domination Mind Map

100 Niche List Mind Map

Bonus Software (sells for $97) – EXTREMELY Helpful!

More Useful Software (sells For $27) – Major Time Saver

PLUS Two Extra Bonuses ($47 & $27 Value) – Helpful for beginners!

The training is Seriously Step By Step and comes in the following formats:

Online

MP4

iPad

iPhone

iPod

PDF

Making them easily accessible to Anyone and Everyone regardless of their preferred learning style or method!

Regarding the actual content, it appears that no stone has been left unturned in ensuring this is not a teaser program that leaves people stuck on various aspects, or searching for weeks to learn how to do some of the basic things needed!

There is an upsell, BUT you DON’T need this to make this work!!

Checkout the Video HERE

Overall it would seem that EVERY ASPECT has genuinely been covered in this STEP by STEP course that will guide the buyers/student to FINALLY seeing results that other programs would have you believe possible, but then go on to be yet another too complicated, too time consuming or parts missing type of program.

WSO Domination isn’t a quick read report, and is in fact a full blown training course laid out in a step by step manner for all levels of marketers to be able to take advantage of.

It’s filled with content that genuinely covers every aspect step by step.

The bonuses are actually useful and make a great addition to the main core training.

All in all – this product is Excellent Value for money and I feel confident it will actually help a lot of people get started in finally getting a return on their investment of both time and money they have made in searching for genuine income methods that work in the online marketplace.

My Recommendation:

Check it out, and if you either have the ability yourself to create products, or the knowledge to outsource product creation. Then this will help you make a lot more money a lot faster than many methods that hit our inboxes on a daily basis!

Oh yes I forgot the price! Just $10 until THURSDAY 3^rd November when it will be $29.95.

WSO’s are all the rage, jump onto the bandwagon and get this while it’s too cheap!

Rob