I was cerebrate through my garden writing and journeying towards blogging success this first light as I record througha postby generator Mike Cernovich . When I start , I was just a backyard gardener and fundamentally a nobody , working in wireless production and write some advertising for stuff I did n’t believe in .
I do n’t have a grade in horticulture and I have never worked on a farm . But I was a esurient reader , experimenter , utmost gardener and an already talented writer .
So back on the very last day of August , 2012 , I launch the day-after-day Florida Survival Gardening web log . Here ’s a gibe from the second workweek :
I link to other folks ’ blog and interact , but rarely get any links send my way . I was still a nobody .
But I kept pushing . After a duo of years , the site had splendid traffic and loyal readers .
If I like something , I ’ll colligate to it . It does n’t have to make me money . If it ’s worth sharing , I ’ll share .
If you ’ve written a great gardening billet , permit me know : I will send you some traffic .
This year , after three class , Florida Survival Gardening became TheSurvivalGardener.com as I broaden my focal point to encompass more than Florida .
My first finish when I started was to create the top gardening Florida gardening web log . I attain my target . There were and are other Florida horticulture blogs with good data , but none that posted nearly as much information as mine or stayed updated on a regular basis .
My second finish was , once I ’d gather a good audience , to write a Florida gardening book .
That goal was reach in February of this year with the publication ofCreate Your Own Florida Food Forest , a small book hold wads of inspiration plus species lists for timber garden projects in the Sunshine State .
The account book sell better than I expected , with at least 500 copies sold since its release . I was amazed and humble by the great reviews and love folks express for this little usher to a moderately esoteric horticulture method . For me , I view blogging succeeder as a lead - in to al-Qur’an - writing winner .
I kept writing my everyday site and a couple of months afterward decided to pitch my next playscript undertaking to a publisher , rather than ego - publishing . That resulted inCompost Everything : The Good Guide to Extreme Compostingbeing released in May , just three month after CYOFFF hail out .
I spent year experimenting and reading about composting before ever writing that book . It did n’t pop out of nowhere . I did what I loved and tried to keep as much “ waste ” out of the methamphetamine as possible , while being a entire tightwad about feeding my garden organically .
To my – and my publisher ’s – great surprise , the book was a achiever . Thus far it ’s trade over 2,000 copy . That ’s vast for a account book on composting ( of all subject ! ) . Not only that : it go on to sell .
As of right now , it ’s the second good merchandising Quran in the “ Gardening and Horticulture / Vegetables ” category on Amazon .
… right behind my new break - out achiever , turn or Die : The Good Guide to Survival Gardening .
Despite being released at the entirely wrong time of year for a gardening book , Grow or Diesold more copies in its first WEEK thanCompost Everythingsold in its first MONTH .
In between writing those , I also created a new go - to book for Florida gardeners : Totally Crazy Easy Florida horticulture : The Secret to Growing Piles of Food in the Sunshine State .
This one was write sheerly out of passion for my native country and a desire to share the unbelievable crops I ’d get a line . I really just created a new magazine publisher advertizement for the book – check it out :
Making a few dollar is swell , too – but I ’m surely not produce rich off my books . Just count at the prices : $ 2.99 each for Kindle copies . And the paperbacks are n’t any more expensive than $ 9.99 each .
And only $ 1.99 for my ebookThe Survival Gardener ’s Guide to Growing Tobacco , also issue this yr :
Hey – that ’s about the price of five cigarettes at today ’s prices . The book would pay for itself with the very first few leave of tobacco you harvest from your backyard plot .
After Amazon and my publisher both take their well - make cut from my various Scripture and booklets , I usually make around a dollar a copy . Enough to make me felicitous I write , but not nearly enough for my to hang up my pruning shears .
Even if I did become tremendously successful in cut-rate sale and manage to really roll in some dough , I ’d still keep doing this site .
Why ?
Because of the most important thing of all .
I love what I’m doing!
I love my hearing here , I eff the e - mails I get , and I even relish the trolling on YouTube who attack my television :
So – now that I manage to find blogging success through a successful casual blog , plus more than stand out my initial book of account - composition target , what is my new Seth of end ?
I do have a mild brace of targets I ’d like to attain :
Just give me a few more year and Lord uncoerced , I ’ll hit ’em .
Lessons Learned
Doing a day-to-day website was difficult at first , but not impossible . The more I wrote , the more ideas I generated .
What I really needed was a few goal to get me started – and I needed to make myself actually follow through .
My mode of creative thinking tend much more towards sprinting than plodding . Yet it take sustained and focussed campaign to reach the end of posting day by day , let alone writing a book ( or four ) .
In the past I would spend a few month doing almost nothing but paint and trying to get my graphics in shows … or I ’d work for months to put down an album , then move on to something else after launch it and never have it take off because it did n’t have any marketing behind it .
To follow , I first needed to concentre on my primary skills : authorship and teaching . Then I had to take those skills and work them into a everyday act .
If I only posted occasionally , most of you would n’t be here read me today .
I had to overcome my “ THIS WILL BE THE GREATEST THING EVER ” ebullience that be given to morph a few calendar week later on into “ NO WAITNOWI HAVE AN EVEN good newfangled BEST matter EVER ! ! ! ”
Consistency , voiceless workplace , writing every day . That was it . I ’m not any variety of champion with this stuff and nonsense . I just keep writing , keep pushing frontwards every sidereal day and keep answering gardening questions . Because of that , I ’ve been on a range of a function of podcasts , cause to act with everyone from Paul Wheaton to Marjory Wildcraft , plus been in some great magazines likeMother Earth News :
Natural Awakenings :
And , as of this month , Backwood HomeMagazine :
I worked really hard to follow , but you ’ve made me the garden penning achiever I am today . Without an audience , what ’s a writer deserving ?
You saw my gardening ideas , enthusiasm and body and decided to tag along for the drive .
Now I have a lot of friends and keep meeting more . veritable reader Derek The Grower give a nice comment yesterday :
“ With the boost of many admit David here I ’m embark on to actually reap harvest ! Instead of the few peppers I was getting off potted plants I just yesterday dug up my first sweet white potato vine seam . An estimated 15 + lbs of taters from a 3’×3′ bottom ! plausibly still was n’t even a bang-up yield but I ’m totally excited about it ! show the potential there is in existent mess . Thanks David I only tried sweet potatoes because of you ! There are even two more beds more than twice that large to dig ! I ’m all emotional to get in there and see what lay eyes on . Also harvest a one-half bucket of shell-less pigeon pea plant seedpod yesterday with more than twice as many still growing ! Its a great matter to sense seeing your oeuvre at its end . David your the valet de chambre ! Thanks for the website and all the encouragement ! I ’ve only come this far part due to you ! ”
It does n’t get any better than this – I ’m honor .
Conclusion
If you have a goal , take it in piece . Conquer pieces every solar day . Push , push , push . Do n’t quit .
There were times I was whole overwhelmed with other work and personal struggles and want to renounce this website .
I did n’t and am very glad I did n’t .
What do you require to be ? What would you like to accomplish ? Take steps every day and you ’ll make progress . Some of my early posts were terrible – but I still posted . And kept posting .
And I will keep post , because I have a retentive way to go to reach my proud goals .
Final Note :
If you need to read focus and set off getting things done , the bookGorilla Mindsetby Mike Cernovich is a good place to embark on . I do n’t corrupt into everything he recommends ( he ’d probably crush me up if I said I did ) but I greatly value the man ’s acquirement . read his book of account is like have a wise man that kicks you in the empennage and takes no captive .
