Like anybody else who sells ebooks, books, or other types of information product, I get refunds.

It’s a part of the business. And it doesn’t matter who you are, or what you write about, or how good you claim your information is, you’re going to get them.

So if you’re a newbie, you better get a tough skin. You’re probably going to need it.

I remember when I first started selling ebooks many moons ago.

It took me 2 weeks to get my first order. And 2 days for that person to request a refund.

My first order! How pitiful.

But it wasn’t just a civil “can-I-have-a-refund” refund request. It was a “this-is-crap-and-I-hate-it” refund request.

Admittedly a big crocodile tear welled up in my eye when I saw it.

Later through some keen investigative work I discovered it was a competitor.

And then I felt stupid for getting all bent out of shape. I vowed not to let the whole refund thing bother me again.

Now most of the time my refunds are cut and dry. They request it. I give it. Good luck to you. The end.

But on occassion they do provide a little comic relief…

* A couple of months ago I received a refund request from a customer who conveniently “discovered” that he couldn’t read my ebook because English wasn’t his mother tongue. 

Nevermind that my 400-page salesletter is in English. And that the e-mail he sent me was in English as well.

Hmmm… seems a little fishy. What do you think?

* Just the other day an order came in around 5pm.

The customer e-mails me maybe 45 minutes later saying that he needed the download info.

Then another e-mail came in maybe 90 minutes after that advising me that my customer service was crappy because I hadn’t responded yet, and it was still business hours.

So I check my e-mail after dinner, and respond saying that it was business hours on the west coast, but dinner time on the east coast. Hence my 2.5 hour delay in responding.

Anyway, yesterday I got an e-mail saying that since I never responded to ANY of his e-mails, he wanted a refund.

Now here’s the punchline… in the body of the e-mail it says “4:30pm West Coast Time.”

Now why, why, why would he make reference to West Coast Time if he hadn’t seen the e-mail I sent him? All I could do was laugh!

* And then there’s this one lady who orders everything I write, and then requests a refund on all of it.

Not just the stuff I write under my real name. But also ebooks I write with pen names. Like 6 or 7 ebooks altogether.

The last time she placed an order, I immediately sent her money back with the following e-mail…

————————-

Dear _________________,

In recognizing you as a habitual refund requester, I’ve taken the liberty of sending your payment back.

Please place a check beside the excuse you intended on using this time:

( ) Your salesletter doesn’t match the book at all.
( ) I know this already.
( ) I never received the download information.
( ) This isn’t what I was expecting.
( ) Okay, honestly I just like getting stuff for free.

————————–

She never ordered from me again.

And I imagine I might have saved a bunch of other ebook authors from this virtual kleptomaniac.

Yes, so you’re not the only one with a war chest of ‘colorful’ refund stories.

It’s gonna be okay.

Keep your head up, keep on selling, and grow rich,

Alexis Dawes

In the next two years I want to do a print book.

Not going the traditional route with an agent, a publisher, and all that stuff.

I’m in travel mode right now, and I need to control my own destiny at this point. So having a traditional publisher wouldn’t work for me.

Instead I plan to self-publish.

It’s really not THAT expensive. If you know how to shop around, you can launch for under $2K.

And besides, what’s the fun of calling yourself a writer/author, if you can never show a real bookstore book for your efforts.

Don’t get me wrong, ebooks make fantastic money. And ebooks will always be my corner pocket strategy, because I love money wa-a-a-ay more than I love fame.

But we all know that print books have a certain endearing legacy. In the eyes of the general public, you’re a real star only when you can pull out a print book with your name on it.

The only stumbling block in this process is that I can’t come up with a good topic.

Like my Desperate Buyers Only formula, I have a certain criteria for doing a print book.

Willy nilly “lets-just-try-this” ideas are for ebooks – not print books that I’m paying thousands of dollars to publish.

So as of right now, here’s my criteria for publishing a print book topic. If you’re thinking about self-publishing you may want to create your own such list.

* It must be something that appeals to a large enough audience that I can do radio and possibly television interviews.

Radio interviews sell books. Provided you know what the heck you’re doing when you get on the air. And the topic is interesting enough.

I’m a chatterbox, and I love an audience. (As if you couldn’t tell.) So I think I’d do well on the talk show circuit.

BTW, Radio-TV Interview Report is a well-known publication for authors seeking on air publicity. Highly recommended.

* It must have a good blog audience.

I want a topic where blogs are already running rampant. This is another good source for publicity.

* It’s gotta include information that makes people say, “Oh shit… REALLY!?!”

There are like a gazillion print books published every year. I don’t want to do one that’s normal and safe. Let’s leave that to the experts.

When people hear what I’m talking about, I want them to drop what they’re doing.

That – I believe – is the making of a bestseller.

* Preferably I want a book that can be backended with a subscription web site or a newsletter.

Hey, if I’m going to do all this, I might as well go all out.

Print book or bust!

Alexis Dawes

P.S.- Amazon is now in the beta stages of Fulfillment by Amazon.

You send them your inventory. They store it. Ship it. And handle post order customer service. The price starts at only .50 an item if it’s under $25.

Just one more incentive to hit the print book highway.

Last week one of my blog posts focused on why writers should get tutors to help them better understand the subject they want to write about.

The reason is obvious. You get a fast, focused education.

Zoom, zoom, zoom.

Today I’m going to tell you why you should still get a tutor even if you already understand a particular subject. 

You see whilst I’m here in Montreal I’m studying French with a couple of private tutors.

I do know some French from listening to language CD’s on and off for the past couple of years. And my vocabularly is growing just from being in a predominantly French speaking city.

But interestingly what I gathered from one of my tutors has accelerated my skills a hundred fold.

He teaches me things that I already know far more efficiently than the 2 or 3 ways I learned them on my own.

So a tutor is useful for helping you learn new things, but also in teaching you how to do things you currently know more efficiently or quickly.

Even if you consider yourself fairly well versed on a subject, it might be worthwhile to see how other people convey the same message.

Remember readers want more than just great information, they want the “better-and-faster” advantage. If you can cover those two bases, you’ve got the makings a great ebook.

Never be too damn smart to continue learning and grow rich,

Alexis Dawes