LiveHacked.com 2014 Reader Survey

It’s time, again, to do another survey. 

Last year, I ran a short survey and sent it out to my mailing subscribers. It went well — over 100 responses in all, but I think we can do much better this year. 

I used the information collected to answer a few key questions: 

• Who’s reading the blog/updates? 
• Why are they interested in what I have to say?

This year I’d like to ask some of the same questions, but with a few different goals: 

• Is a blog still the best way to present information/have a discussion?
• What is the most helpful thing I can offer a “tribe?” 
• How can I offer great products, services, consulting, etc. to DIY publishers and writers?

These questions aren’t arbitrary, either.

I’ve always been interested in teaching, learning, and helping other people, and when I started writing books and self-publishing four years ago, I vowed to try to always “add value” wherever I could. 

That meant starting this blog, the newsletter, and trying to earn my place on social media sites and elsewhere. I wanted to create a “tribe” of people who were also interested in these things, help connect you to one another, and overall take over the world with self-publishing know-how and passion. 

This year has been whip-fast, and I feel like I haven’t spent enough time really working on building this thing. I didn’t intend for that to happen, but the result is that things have, uh, slowed down a bit. 

I feel like I’ve abandoned you; left you hanging. 

I want to do something to make it right, and I want to create something that truly “wows” you, but I don’t know what that is. 

For that reason, you’ll notice on the survey that there are some product-related questions, like “what should I make,” or “what do you struggle with?” These aren’t because I want to make a buck — I’m certainly wanting to build income streams and create a “lifestyle business” out of all of this, but the desire is from my own interests in helping you. 

Seriously. 

I couldn’t have written a single word without the help of the countless bloggers and writers out there who gave me the “initial push.” Their books, products, and coaching helped me jump from “no name” to “eh, almost a name” (at least in the self-publishing world!). 

So let me do something that will knock your socks off. 

What is it that would “wow” you? What is it that you would clamor for — what question has been nagging at you forever that you’d love for someone to answer? 

I certainly don’t have all the answers — I don’t have most of them, in fact — when it comes to writing and being an author. But I’m willing to step out and fail early and often to get the answers. I want you to learn from someone who’s been there; someone who’s figured it out “the hard way.” 

Will you take the survey and let me know?