PERSONAL UPDATE

1. I Published My First Science Fiction Book!

My first sci-fi book just got published on Amazon.

It’s a super-short story called “The Last Guardian of Memory” which is about the final 40 minutes before AI takes away human free will.

I submitted it to a writing competition that Sahil Lavingia hosted a while ago.

The book didn’t win.

So I decided to publish it myself.

The book is only $0.99 and it takes less than 15 minutes to read

It also comes with a free GPT chatbot that I created to help answer questions and explain the plot.

I’ll share a few lessons-learned about publishing this book in the next newsletter, but for now, if you’re interested in a cool sci-fi thriller, here’s the link to grab it:

Click here to grab “The Last Guardian of Memory” for only $0.99

BIG PICTURE

2. Why You Should ALWAYS Honor Money-Back Guarantees

Many years ago I tweeted that I was going to buy random products and services from independent creators to support them on Black Friday.

I got hundreds of replies and ended up purchasing many of them (even though in some cases I didn’t really want them).

For one SaaS product in particular, I replied to the creator saying that even though his product wasn’t for me, I signed up to a 1 month subscription because I appreciated the hustle and wanted to help.

Three months later, I noticed I was charged for two additional months (even though I manually unsubscribed immediately after I purchased the first month).

When I kindly asked for a refund (stating it must have been a mistake), I got pushback.

I explained that I never used the product and showed him a screenshot of our Twitter exchange to remind him that I explicitly stated I subscribed for only one month to help him out.

He was still hesitant.

It took a couple of back and forths before he finally agreed and said something like “I don’t typically do this but fine.”

The interaction left such a bad taste that when he launched another tool many months later (that I actually wanted), I went out of my way not to buy it by researching competitive products and purchasing a different one instead.

He still publishes cool products and I still haven’t bought a single thing from him.

The LTV (Lifetime Value) of me as a customer is now 0.

The lesson I learned is that I ALWAYS honor money back guarantees by refunding customers quickly and painlessly. And I do it with a smile and a thank you.

You’ll win in the long run when you do this.

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3. Get Help Selling on Amazon

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WORDS I LIKE

4. Avoid Clichés

Some tongue-in-cheek advice from Gary Provost on why you should avoid cliches:

From Gary Provost’s “100 Ways to Improve Your Writing”

ONE-MINUTE HACKS

5. A Quick Side Gig Hack You Can Apply Today

Sell before you build.

Create a simple landing page that explains your product idea.

Then share it with your audience or online communities.

If people sign up or pre-order, you’ve validated demand (before spending hours creating).

I do this with every product.