Just The Workouts: The story behind it & my other Kindle guides

Greetings RAW Warriors,

Just a brief post today about my Kindle guides, and how I've come to create them and sell them the past year.

My first guide was "Back on Track", a guide that takes you through one of my workout-by-workout track seasons for long distance athletes.  I am a minimalist when it comes to training programs, meaning I don't do programs of endless miles like some coaches do.  Our co-op is pressed for time in our workouts at practice, so I am more concerned with quality of workouts versus the quantity from them.  I think its worked pretty well, as we have taken athletes to state the past 2 out of 3 seasons, and came very close last year (.07 seconds close).  I used to make e-books and sell those online, but when Kindle guides came about and their self-publishing route with Kindle Direct Publishing, it opened up a whole new avenue to me.

After Back on Track, I created the All-Star Athlete Plan, which was a past PDF guide I made for athletes and also as a bonus guide with my other ebooks. 

I then decided to take down two PDF ebooks from my ebook sites and convert them to a 2-in-1 guide called "Just The Workouts", taking out the pictures and just leaving the text and some light descriptions of the exercises.  The two guides I chose were "Kettlebolics" and "Indestructible!".  Kettlebolics is a guide I made for runners mostly, that incorporated kettlebell power exercises. "Indestructible!" is a guide I made that calls upon a common program I found in HS, 2 colleges, and other gyms I worked in, while taking my journey through sports as an athlete, student trainer, and coach.  I found this program 'tucked in the corner of the weight room', so to speak, on the walls of the weight room as a chart of 1 rep maxes and sets/reps to do, plus in many team training guides from the college coaches I worked with.  I then found it once again while training other athletes as a speed coach and going over their college or HS's programs they did.  So, I said to myself, "Man, this program must be pretty indestructible if it keeps going from place to place like this."  Then it hit me:  Why not make a guide on the program itself?  I have tried to discover its true roots but no one I talk to really knows where it came from.  I have a feeling its probably Russian periodization based, and probably has its roots over there.  So, in some sense, this is a history search for me personally on the origins of this program.

Nonetheless, my Kindle guide of "Just The Workouts" is my top seller out of all my guides, most months it will equal or be greater than the sales of all the others combined.  I think part of why it sells so well is:
1. Its no-fluff.  People get tired of seeing different opinions on how to do bench presses, deadlifts, all their variations, etc.  After a while, you pick the variation that is best for you, and then you move on.  I didn't feel the need to give a few descriptions of bench press alone because if you do a search on bench pressing, its mind-numbing to discover the varying degrees of instructions on it.  There are many changes from general training to more specific powerlifting styles. I think most people who are used to doing bench presses have their style and just want the program to follow.  Its sort of like running: once you decide your distance, you want the workouts, not guides on how to run with proper form.
2. Its a guide filled with 2 different focuses: classic strength training and also new kettlebell workouts. If you like the classic stuff, the guide is for you.  If you like new kettlebell routines, its for you.  If you like both, you are happy twice. :)
3. Its pretty cheap:  I made all my guides 99 cents now because its an easier selling point and I feel I don't have to make my guides as long as a full-length book.  They are GUIDES, not books you'd set on a shelf.  They are a quick read and reference on your Kindle readers.  This makes it easier to purchase, read, and review and you're only out one dollar.  Not a bad price considering a 20 ounce Coke is around $2 today.

All in all, I did make 2 other guides to complement JTW: Just The Chart is just that, a tap & go chart of maximums to have when you do your calculations from JTW.  Tap on your 1 rep max in the Table of Contents, then you will get straight to your phases and weights you need for them.
The 2nd guide is of course, the Rats Alley Barbell Club Manual.  This takes half of JTW's workout phases, shortens up the workouts, and adds a new Finisher component to the end of the workout.  Both of these are great resource guides for setting up your programs, as well as how to do the exercises in the Finishers of 2 & 3 Minute Warnings.

So, there you have it: a brief run-down of some of my top Kindle guides, in case you were curious.  My latest addition of "Just Swing It!" has been a surprise, its selling at almost the same rate of Just The Workouts right now on a per-day basis.  I think its a good program to look at if you are into the 10,000 Kettlebell Swing Challenge that a lot of KB enthusiasts have taken.

Check out all the guides at http://tinyurl.com/rkofp

Lift. Dominate. Repeat.
Rats Alley Barbell Club
Coach Rick Karboviak