That Content eBook Experiment? I failed

You might remember I set myself the goal of gaining 1000 followers by January 31^st 2013 in order to give myself that push towards writing my very first eBook. The idea was to really put the pressure on myself to get the task done, considering it kept popping up sporadically on the TO DO LIST like some kind of goofy Meer Cat but progressing no further.

Well, I failed.

I got to 990 followers at January 31^st. I sat there for a little while considering if I was obliged to do 99% of a content eBook.

“Does that mean leaving off the conclusion? Not making it as pretty?” I wondered, before I went trawling back through my Twitter to find out where I might have gone wrong. Admittedly, I also checked if I had a loop hole and could wriggle out of it but…

My followers didn’t fail me.

The guys that always give me love in cyberspace jumped up (follow @openshed, @katetooncopy and @taskrunners_aus – seriously, they know the true meaning of community!), plus some new followers really got into it (@365cupsand @prizecatch) and even a friend who was recently hi-jacked of her 10,000 followers and is starting from ground zero, @sarallenconsult found time to help out. These guys all went above and beyond the call to share the challenge on a regular basis, check in with how it was going and give advice.

There were also plenty of retweets, questions and suggestions too.  If I have not mentioned you, please excuse the rudeness. So many RT’s happened that to name you all would fill a page.

So I’m doing my eBook anyway!

One important thing we all learn on the freelance, startup, creative or business journey is failure is a part of the process. And that the best thing you can do is use that failure to your advantage and learn from it. For me, I learnt:

• Numbers doesn’t count- community does. So I owe it to those who supported my slightly loony idea to give them their reward.
• You have to keep at it. I haven’t had any scheduled tweets since January 31^st. My numbers have gone down. So people expect me to give them info on a regular basis, so that’s what I need to do.
• eBooks matter. Now @infinitykaren suggested “why stop at one?” and that I do the whole 4 eBooks. Now my sister admittedly is a little crazy, but she has a point. I don’t want to make any false promises and let people down (especially those who voted), but if the first eBook goes well, I will totally consider popping the other 3 up in 2013. Maybe one a season or something. That does depend on how it goes though timeline wise.
• Challenging yourself works. I do a lot of work for myself and my clients yet still manage to have 4 A4 pages stuck to the wall with bullet point ideas waiting to happen. The list rarely shrinks. So having fired up my belly enough to face one challenge, you can expect some more to come past in future.

So, what won?

The people have spoken, and they want a content eBook.

People need help with content. We’re all coming into an age where storytelling, blogs and having useful, helpful content is super popular. But to a lot of non-writers it’s daunting. So by popular vote, help is on the way.

Interestingly, marketing and creativity tied for 2^nd place. I find this interesting because I didn’t expect anyone other than creative nut-bars like me to be interested in creativity, yet people from all corners scuttled past to drop their hat into the ring. Hoorah, I’m tickled to be keeping such company.

Freelance was a surprising last place because the previous survey I did highlighted freelancers wanted help with self promotion. Does this mean that freelancers are getting more of a handle on things, or does it show they aren’t using social media regularly (which is where I promoted the idea), or does it mean they don’t get how importance self marketing is?

It’s a bit of a melon scratcher.

ANYWAY… stay tuned for details about the Content eBook as it comes to life.

And thanks for all your help all you commenters, tweeters, likers and lovers. I’d kiss you all but I don’t have that much lip balm.