Information about Me and My Website
American Inspirations: Medical Educators With Heart (and business brains)
Here is my website boiled down to three simple statements:
1. My Mission Statement
Devoted to mastering the art, craft, science, and business of self-publishing and sharing what I learn in the process
2. Why I Created This Website
I created this website to share my self-publishing and small-business adventures and insights.
3. About Me
I am an author, husband, father of twins, grandfather, and small business owner near New York City.
I write about all aspects of self-publishing non-fiction:
• Practical and actionable advice on the craft of writing nonfiction.
• Expert how-to articles on writing, selling, marketing, and more.
• Publishing strategies and tips, including properly designing a book cover and interior to help you sell more books.
• Inspirational and motivational features that speak to writers at all levels and backgrounds.
• Heavy emphasis on business management and marketing and treating your self-publishing as a business.
• Heavy emphasis on producing high-quality writing and producing a book that you can be very proud to have created – that will also make you money.
Everything on this blog is from my perspective. Someone that has done it and works hard at it every day. I’ve put in the work, time, money, and research. I’ve worked through the mistakes and missteps and will share them with you here.
I hope that by sharing my experiences and knowledge, you’ll be able to achieve your self-publishing goals much more quickly than I did and with a lot less aggravation.
More about This Website
I am an author, business owner, and book marketing specialist who helps educate and empower bloggers, solopreneurs, and small-business owners who want to enter the world of self-publishing to build their credibility and get more leads, customers, and sales.
Photo Gallery (Click on the image to see more)
BookExpo 2017 at The Javits Center in NYC (Click on the image to see more)
With this website, I offer my readers and viewers a solid grounding in editorial, production, design, and marketing and provide practical and usable advice to assist beginners in avoiding common pitfalls.
I’m incredibly attentive to the more intricate and sophisticated stages of the self-publication process: how to work with a printer and distributor, create an attractive and successful cover, work with Amazon, market using the web and video, develop proper pricing, build your niche, etc. My clear writing style and practical business approach will hopefully appeal to many of you.
Thank you very much to Djamal and Yazid for using my quote about the true definition of success.
I also want you all to know that publishing, especially self-publishing, is generally not a way to get rich quickly – like many websites and books might lead you to believe. Unfortunately, the book market is crowded because entry into self-publishing is effortless and low-cost.
But the good news is that with today’s technology, careful planning, and following sound business practices, you’ll be able to stand apart from the crowd, create a superior product – and make some money as a self-publisher.
Unfortunately, the truth is that most self-publishers make little or no money at self-publishing. A few make a decent part-time living doing it. Even fewer make a full-time living at it. But you must also realize that for most people, making money is only one of many reasons to get involved with self-publishing.
Some of us want to self-publish to promote our own business. Some wish for career advancement by gaining credibility in a chosen field, and with their peers, by being published authors. Some want to share their experiences and knowledge developed during many years in a particular career. Some want a creative outlet for their writing. Some want to build an excellent little side business to supplement their current job or work during retirement.
Many of these reasons might be more critical to self-publishers than making money from their book. But, I believe that with hard work, perseverance, a dream, a plan, and following established business, design, and editorial principles, you can achieve those needs and some financial success as a self-publisher.
About Kunz
I am a natural-born manager and entrepreneur. Circumstances and life forced me to learn how to manage a home, family, and business as a teenager. Over time, I finally realized that I’m one of those fortunate people who has discovered what he loves to do, gets to do it every day, and makes money doing it.
21st Century Modern Family: Entrepreneurs that gracefully merge marriage, family, and business
I have many years of experience as a hands-on, in-the-trenches business manager. My practical advice, guidance, and insight have helped others avoid costly mistakes and also helped strengthen their businesses into more financially viable operations.
I’m incredibly proud that I’ve helped many others learn how to balance their self-employed business life with their family life – and still be financially successful. We can only achieve true wealth, success, and happiness by balancing our business life with our duty to ourselves and our families.
Picking pumpkins and gourds on the east end of Long Island, NY
I learned about publishing while my wife Michele and I built our medical training business. To help our students be successful and help them learn a large amount of information very quickly, we learned how to publish books, study guides, pamphlets, and videos to help our students better understand the study material.
These study publications became so popular that students and educators at colleges and hospitals nationwide began asking for them. Because of their popularity, we decided to take publishing to the next level by setting up our little publishing company.
Michele and Joe have appeared as guests on WABC-TV news
I also did a short stint on Wall Street before creating my first start-up company. Now, 39+ years later, I am a seasoned manager with a broad range of management skills and entrepreneurial talent. My wife Michele and I still own and manage the medical training company we created in 1984.
This website is about helping those who dream of creating a unique and fulfilling business and making it a reality. I’ve been able to apply this business experience to my start-up publishing company that I started in 2003.
I want to show my readers how they can apply tried-and-true business, design, and editorial principles to self-publishing. I believe this is the surest way for my readers to become financially successful and happy self-publishers.
Old Westbury Gardens – John Phipps Estate, Long Island, NY, AACA Meet, 1957 Oldsmobile Super 88
Kunz received his BA in English from Hofstra University; and his MBA in Business Administration from Long Island University at C.W Post.
Kunz is happily married to his wife of 35+ years and business partner for 39+ years, Michele, a nursing educator, consultant, mentor, author, and entrepreneur. They have extraordinary twins, Eric and Erin, and are now grandparents.
Main Hashtags for This Website:
#SelfPublishing
#BookMarketing
#NonFiction
#SmallBusiness
#SideHustle
#MultipleStreamsOfIncome
#MicroNiche
#Authorship
#PersonalBranding
#Careers
#Entrepreneurship
#Books
#Writing
#Blogging
#KDP
#SoleProprietor
#TrustAndAttention
#MakeThingsBetter
#YourBestSelf
#Empathy
#Teaching
#MakeADifference
Book World America: Self-Publishing Superstars, BookExpo/BookCon 2017
