If you're thinking about getting into eBooks, this summer would be a good time to do it. You probably have more free time and you'll be well-positioned for the Christmas volume increase.

More than 1,000 people have learned how to publish eBooks with my free course. It's a quick walkthrough of the entire eBook publishing process. You can start in the morning and have an eBook submitted the same night.

I'm also working on a new site called BookCodes which will help you get ahead on the Kindle Store. BookCodes will help you optimize your keywords, niche selection, and even track your eBook sales on a daily basis. 

I know how bad Amazon's sales reporting is so I created templates that you can use to track your daily sales. Let me know if there are any problems with them.

eBook Sales Tracking Template for Pages 

eBook Sales Tracking Template for Word

Share these templates on Twitter
Spencer Costanzo

I'm excited to announce AppFrames, a new company that I'm working on with co-founder Braydon Batungbacal from Sitrusy LLC. AppFrames is a rich media mobile ad network which will allow highly specific demographic targeting for every ad.

Advertisers can display custom video ads among many other ad types and implementation of the network will take just minutes for app publishers.

AppFrames will display the right ad to the right audience at the right time.

Request an early access invite to AppFrames here!

In 1995 someone pitched my Dad an idea. "We have to buy domain names for this thing called the internet!" His company got involved but my Dad didn't buy any.

If you're not developing apps today, I think you'll look back and wish that you had. Over the past 2 years it's become increasingly difficult to release successful apps. There's never a day where competition lessens or the review process becomes more lenient.

Someone recently told me they were very interested in developing apps but didn't have time to watch my course until April. With that mindset, you've already lost in the app world. 

The difference between success and failure can be 1 day, 1 feature, or even 1 keyword. There's no time to think about it and there are no excuses. There are people willing to give you money for a great idea, there are freelance developers who want your project, and there are endless niches to fill on the App Store. 

Spencer Costanzo

These are some of the goals that I'm working to achieve before the start of 2014.

Business
- Have consistent Top 200 iPhone apps in Reference, Entertainment, Utilities, Music, News, Food & Drink, and Sports
- Generate an average of $2,740 every day ($1 Million a year) in passive income from apps, eBooks, courses, and investment companies
- Invest in 10 startup companies (5 so far) *made a new investment 30 mins after posting this
- Invest money > Save money
- Grow the course business to $100K/year (New topics, reach more people, help more people)
- Grow the eBook business to $250,000/year

Travel
- Visit 5 new US states/countries combined
- Visit the Amalfi Coast, French Riviera, Paris, Australia, New Zealand, South America
- Find the #1 cappuccino/coffee in each place visited
- Live on the West Coast for a few months

General
- Grow social media following organically through content that helps others start online businesses
- Don't spend any money on marketing any of the above businesses traditionally. All organic.
- Spend a ton of money on fun things. Vacations, restaurants, clothes, entertainment, and other people. Make 1000 times more though

Spencer Costanzo

I published one of my top iOS apps as an Android apps last year and was disappointed with the results. It made a few dollars a day and came nowhere close to its iOS counterpart (less than 30x). Last week though, I made a small change that boosted sales 10x. Braydon, a top app developer friend, recommended that I use Google Play's auto-translate feature to translate my app's metadata into several languages. It's actually as easy as selecting the languages and clicking a button. It's a feature that I completely skipped over, yet immediately boosted sales 5-10x per day.

A few lessons here:
1) There are thousands of contractors on Elance ready to out-bid each other for your Android app. I found a contractor that charges less than $100 per app. This means that I only need 50 sales EVER on my $2.10 apps to make a profit.
2) Take the time to learn all the features when you switch to a new platform. I've been missing out on $1000+ per month because of Google's auto-translate feature.
3) Reach out to other developers as much as possible. For my first 1.5 years in the App Store I was completely on my own. Luckily, now I'm part of a mastermind group with other top app developers.

Note: Although Android apps can be a good diversification, I highly recommend iOS over Android. 

Spencer Costanzo

(I posted something similar last month but had to take it down. There were so many people copying my eBook topics, covers, etc that it wasn't worth it. Here's a new post with the basics, but for a complete step-by-step tutorial, I created my eBook Publishing for Profit Course!)

Have you always wanted to self-publish an eBook? Do you want to create a lasting passive income stream? I've found that Amazon offers the most effective way to publish quality eBooks fast. It's so fast in fact, that I've published more than 30 eBooks in just a few months. My record publishing time from idea to eBook is less than 20 hours!

Here are the very basic steps…but again, through this link you can get my eBook Publishing for Profit Course at a nice discount.

1. The Idea
A. If you have an idea in mind, great. To save money, start with an eBook that you can write on your own. Everyone's an expert in something.

B. You can get ideas by looking at how certain topics are selling on the Kindle Store. Click on any eBook and scroll down the detail page. Every book has a sales rank. This tells you how any book is selling in comparison to every other book. #1 is the top selling and the ranks go into the millions.

C. Decide if you will write the content for your book or if you can hire someone to write it.

2. Verifying your Idea
A. Head to adwords.google.com or a similar keyword research tool if you're familiar. Sign in with a Google account and go to Tools > Keyword Research Tool. Type in your desired topic and relevant keywords to get an idea of the search volume on Google. 

3. The Content
A. You'll either write the content yourself or hire a freelance writer. Full tutorial on where to hire, how to hire, and who to hire in the eBook course.

B. If hiring a freelance writer, it's essential that you ask them to send you a sample of their work on a similar topic to what you need written. Review it carefully. This is the step where I cut most contractors.

C. Tip: Never pay writers by the hour! You want to control exactly how much the entire project will cost you upfront. With a fixed-price job, contractors are also incentivized to complete the project as fast as possible.

4. Cover Art
A. If you don't want to pay for cover art, I've found text-based covers to be effective. You can simply create a cover in Word, Pages, or Photoshop with text and export it as either a JPEG or TIFF file. Amazon only accepts these files.

B. I recently discovered a new source for eBook covers called Fiverr. You can post any project (including eBook covers or graphics) for just $5.

C. Tips on Cover Art
- Look at the cover from the user's perspective. View the cover at a smaller size and see if you can read the words, understand what value you may be providing, etc. 
- Look at competing covers…line them up and make sure yours is better! It's easy, they've already provided a template for what you have to improve upon.
- Use font colors that contrast most with your background color.
- Use as few words as possible and make them as large as possible.

6. Publishing your eBook
Tips: 
- I recommend publishing exclusively on Amazon for several reasons. There are several programs that Amazon offers which doubled my profit.
- Always include a table of contents in your book description.
- Make sure to export or ask your designer for either JPEG or TIFF formatted files. Amazon only accepts these files for cover art.
- Take a few minutes to understand Amazon's pricing tiers. They don't make a lot of sense.
- Your book will be approved and ready for sale in 12-48 hours!

It may be possible to figure out the entire eBook process on your own but you can certainly learn from my trial & error. These are some of the things that you'll learn in the course: 

✓ How do I find eBook ideas that will make money?
✓ What type of eBook should I publish? What categories?
✓ How much will it cost? How long does it take?
✓ How can I effectively price my eBook to maximize profit?
✓ How can I reduce costs? How can I have no recurring costs?
✓ Where & How do I publish my eBooks?
✓ Where do I hire writers? How do I post job and who do I hire?
✓ How can I make an effective eBook cover, even if I'm not a designer?

If the course doesn't give you everything you need to publish your first eBook, you can certainly request a full refund immediately. Good luck!

You'll take the course on an amazing course platform called udemy which allows you to watch the course on your computer or iPad at any time!

Visit the course here

Spencer Costanzo

I've spent about $40-70K on app development over the past 2 years. I could look up the exact amount but it doesn't matter. Instead of thinking about the money as a sum, I think about it per app and in terms of how fast I can return my investment. If I was making $1Million/year and saw $1Million worth of opportunities, I would invest it all without a second thought.

Over time I've created a development strategy that accomplishes several goals:
✓ Reduce the risk involved with app development
✓ Potential to double your profit per dollar spent
✓ Reduce development costs for future apps

In one quick conversation with your developer you can potentially do all of this. It's all about the user interface. I simply look for opportunities where I can develop one interface (or shell of an app), and use it for as many apps as possible.

Once your developer creates an app 'template,' it's far easier for them to create a similar app which uses that same design. A few weeks ago I decided to develop an app which helps users keep track of their pain. To reduce my risk, I looked for other apps which would allow users to track something similar. Headaches and migraines seemed like an obvious extension. 

I talked with my developers before starting the project and agreed to one price for both of these apps. It was almost exactly the price of just one. Now if one of them fails, I have another chance to make back my investment. Also, when I have new ideas in the future, I have about 6 app templates which I can modify and develop at a much lower price.

If you want to use this strategy, most of the work is done in the research phase. Actively look for opportunities where you can develop one 'template' for a variety of apps.

Spencer Costanzo

What is Passive Income? 
Passive income is earning recurring income with little (or no) effort required to maintain it. Passive income is freedom from a 9-5 job. Passive income is making money while you sleep. Passive income sounds too good to be true. Let everyone else think that.

Although it's possible to earn a living from passive income, sometimes I make it sound too easy. It can be easy but I work more now than ever. If you want to stay ahead, you'll be working more than anyone you know. Keeping up a passive income of $100s of thousands per year is a full-time (but extremely fun) job.

Misconceptions
1) Passive income = Easy income. Wrong. Developing an app or similar product can be stressful and time consuming. Even though you're outsourcing the work, coordinating team members and getting past Apple is a huge job. (Okay, eBooks can be easy once you figure out the process!)
2) Your first product will be a hit and you can retire on an island. WRONG! Keep reading...

Realities
1) Your first attempt won't be a huge success. My first app took months to develop, only to be removed by Disney after 2 weeks.
2) Once you make some passive income you'll want to earn a little more, and a bit more, then A LOT more! It's addictive!
3) You can work from anywhere in the world with an internet connection. I can be just as effective in New Jersey, Switzerland, or on the beach. Unfortunately I can't work while hang gliding though.
4) Your first passive income stream will likely disappear. 
5) You'll have success through creating a diverse portfolio of products in a variety of highly targeted niches. You'll want to remember this.
6) Through small failures (hopefully fast failures), you'll gain specific knowledge which will positively inform your future decisions.

How I Earn Most of My Passive Income
eBooks: In just 6 months I've built a 6-figure eBook publishing business. I use the same outsourcing model as with apps. eBooks are interesting because you can publish for free on Amazon with minimal development costs. If I were to start over, I would start with eBooks. You can make 10+ eBooks for the cost of 1 app.

Diversify your Passive Income Streams
My plan was always to only develop apps. That may be possible but I've doubled my income over the past year through diversification. Diversification works to your advantage in two ways. First, it boosts your total income (always good!). Second, when one income stream 'dries up', you'll have something waiting to supplement or replace it.

Here's how I've diversified over the past year:
eBooks

• Variety of topics and niches
  
• Kindle eBooks and Apple iBooks
  

Courses

• My Step-by-Step App Development Course
  
• eBook Publishing Course Now available!
  

Investments

• Equity and profit-sharing in app/tech companies

Getting Started
The reason I posted this is because I think that everyone (especially students) should give passive income a try. There are so few barriers to entry, especially in creating eBooks. Don't be too discouraged when your first (or 2nd, 3rd, and 4th) ideas don't work. Although I lost $20,000+ on HUGE failures, I learned things that will earn me more than $100,000 in the future.

For Those Starting A New Business, Quitting Your Job, Dropping out of School
I constantly get emails from people who are inspired to either start a business, make passive income, quit their job, or even drop out of school. That's why I post and give out free info in the first place but let me say one thing. I didn't decide to drop out of school until I was making $200,000 per year. I'm EXTREMELY happy that people are inspired, but be careful of how much you're relying on passive income before you make it. While I'm against the higher education system, I don't recommend dropping out until you're confident and ready to devote most of your time to your business. 

Feel free to ask me any questions.

Spencer Costanzo

I have Google Alerts set up for each of my (60+) products. Each time one of them is mentioned online, I get an automatic email with the link & details! 

Highly recommended for keeping track of mentions of your business, individual products, and even your name!

(In the video I was trying to be very formal for some reason…you get the point!)

Spencer Costanzo

My interview with Dylan Varian from Ireland was posted today. 

Highlight: My Advice for Young Entrepreneurs