Iterate and Optimize

Optimize Your Creative Business for Profit

By: Sean Platt, Johnny B. Truant, David Wright

Narrated by: Simon Whistler

Length: 10 hrs and 32 mins

Publisher's summary

The top-to-bottom guide to taking your writing and publishing business from square one to stratosphere.

Iterate and Optimize is a behind-the-scenes peek into how indie publishing company Sterling & Stone grew their three-author team into a juggernaut, and a next-level guide for authors looking to explode their sales and do the same.

In their cornerstone publishing guide Write. Publish. Repeat., best-selling authors Johnny B. Truant, Sean Platt, and David Wright explained how to build a thriving international publishing empire with no luck required.

Rather than resting on their laurels in the years since WPR was written, they've been evolving their once-fledgling business a little bit at a time: expanding to eight publishing imprints, 10 high-profile podcasts, a coordinated staff working behind the scenes, millions of words published, and hundreds of thousands of books in the hands of eager readers.

In Iterate and Optimize, they show you how they grew their business from the ground up in tiny, incremental steps, and give you a road map so that you can do it, too.

More than "just another self-publishing guide", this book delves deep into the business behind the success of Platt, Truant, and Wright's company Sterling & Stone, making it the essential "advanced course" follow-up to Write. Publish. Repeat., covering topics like:

• Exclusive versus "going wide" distribution
• International and multi-format sales
• Optimizing book covers, descriptions, and metadata to increase conversion
• Company organization and outsourcing
• Product funnels
• Series structure
• Networking and in-person meet-ups
• Workflow management and systems
• The writing and pre-writing process so you can "write better faster"
• Social media
• Podcasting
• Crowdfunding
• Advertising and marketing
• And much more!

©2016 Sterling & Stone (P)2016 Sterling & Stone

Another Awesome Book by These Guys!

I very much enjoyed this book! It was a great follow up from Write. Publish. Repeat. Very direct, to the point, and motivating.

I'm glad they stayed consistent with the narrator

They used the same narrator they hired for Write, Publish, Repeat, which is a good thing. If you haven't read or listened to WPR, I suggest you do so first, since this is the follow up book.

I love these guys. In many ways, they're trail blazers in the Indie Author Industry. They run their art like a business, turn out a ton of work, and show us that "indie" doesn't mean alone. They're also funny as hell (check out some of their podcasts). If I had to choose who I'm most like, it would be Dave.

I must admit, I have a little team envy. I hope to find a writing/business partner or two who has some of the strengths I lack and vice versa. I could also see the benefits of having an accountability partner and having others who depend on you to complete your part of a project. I imagine this would be a benefit of going to conferences or association events...meeting others to collaborate with.

Also, I suggest you check out their Sterling & Stone Publishing website to see a compilation of work they produce. You can listen to their podcasts on the website as well.

a wonderful read, wonderfully read

Loved it! This audio book had so so much great, actionable info. fun to listen to

Wonderful book & audiobook

I’ll read and listen to any book they put out! I highly recommend the other books around publishing.