So… in case I forgot to remind you my first book “Life Insurance “Dirty Little Secrets” for Consumers Revealed!” will be released in just ten days – that’s April 14th for those who abhor math and calendars. The giveaway is well over 200 entrants. Not bad for a book on life insurance. I’m not writing all that much at this point. No, it’s not “writers block”. I don’t believe in that. I’ve been helping my wife during her busy season and I’ve been preparing for growing season. Last year, I went all out to try to grow some tomatoes and peppers. Nobody was more surprised than I when we enjoyed an excellent crop last fall. We canned and froze a lot of produce. I also made several batches of salsa. Most of the salsa turned out very, very good if I do say so myself. As such I’m gearing up for another season. I’m expanding a bit as well as improving on last year’s setup. All that is in addition to making some repairs on our raised beds. We built those a couple of years ago from scrap from our old front porch. Some of the boards are rotting out and some of the beds are literally falling apart. Need I say with all the rigmarole bandied about concerning food shortages, learning to grow food couldn’t come at a better time? Believe me when I tell you, we’ve tried for years to learn how to garden. The raised beds are a major factor but, really, the most important aspect, I’d say, is paying attention. It paid off.
Anyway, I expect to get back to my writing projects soon. I keep coming up with ideas and I have others projects I’ve worked on here and there. Of course my next book is all ready to go on the block – that is the agent edition. A strange tale can now be told tangential to that.
A few days ago, someone contacted me via my writing email address about buying one of my domain names. Now that it in itself would take some work as the two are connected by only the thinnest of threads. It would have been far easier to simply contact me via the email on that site. The site was set up for insurance lead generation. Since I no longer sell life insurance, it was just sitting there. The domain had auto-renewed just a day or so prior so I have a feeling the prospective buyer was hoping I’d just drop it.
Moving on, I had no qualms about selling the domain really, however it was geared toward selling final expense and medicare supplement products. These two markets are close enough that one could sell either or both from this domain. Well, I felt this fellow might reconsider if he read my book so I offered a copy. He accepted. He then told me it was “good” as far as he’d read and when was I going to sell the domain. Long story short, I proceeded with the sale, he bought it and I never heard from him again. As a matter of fact, I’m not 100% sure he was able to buy the domain as I put it up for sale in a marketplace where it was first come, first serve. And I have yet to receive payment. Now, this last is not the buyer’s fault. The buyer has to pay before they can get the domain, but still, I thought I might hear something from him. Nada. Oh well, I tried. Here’s the rub:
This fellow, IMHO, would be far better off abandoning the final expense market and following the concept I outlined in the book. Granted my method is not at all as immediately lucrative as the final expense market. On the other hand, I see my approach as far more stable and lasting. That said, this fellow appears to be single-mindedly bent on selling final expense products. Maybe he will do well and maybe he will crash and burn like so many others littering the path. Even so, my book could help him do well even in his chosen niche – if he’d take the time to read it. I doubt if he will until he is desperate. He’s young enough where it won’t necessarily be too late for him but discouragement is an unforgiving foe. Add to that his young family, a wife and twin babies, and he is likely to find himself in make it or break it territory. Some rise to the occasion. Me? I’d likely fold and go find whatever I could to pay the bills.
That story aside, once the agent version is cleared for takeoff, I plan on turning my attention back to my novel. My plan for that is to find some beta readers (contact me if you are interested.) and work towards the final version. Per my experience publishing these first two books, I no longer plan on long pre-order periods. I might reconsider under certain circumstances but such scenarios – such as my having some platform where an eager audience hangs on to my every breath – are really pipe dreams and I’m out of opium. So, once I finally deem the novel ready for prime time, I’ll load it up and release it to the masses. Hopefully it won’t immediately get lost in the crowd.
