My First Book | LastPass Guide | Coming Soon

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I’m writing a book! I started around July and figured it would take between 6 and 12 months to complete. Turns out I made pretty good progress and will likely be finished in January or February. I plan to self-publish and sell it right here on b3n.org.

This is a book cover for my first book, LastPass Guide. A Step by Step Guide to Managing Your Passwords.

The book is called LastPass Guide (although I’m testing other titles), it is a step-by-step guide to teach people how to use the LastPass Password Manager. I’ve helped many people with LastPass and I know where most get tripped up–I often wish there was a guide I could point people at and I finally decided to write one.

It is simple enough a non-technical person could pick it up and not only become proficient in using LastPass; but also have a good foundation of security best practices by the end. The book also covers security essentials: many that I’ve seen cyber-security experts overlook. I’ve had a few tech professionals review the book and tell me they’re changing their security practices as a result.

If you’re interested in getting updates on the progress feel free to sign up for my newsletter. You’ll also get a sample download from the book.

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Book Progress and What’s Left

The truth is I’ve never self-published, or published anything other than this blog so I’m learning as I go. My to-do list is very different now than it was at the start. I’m also getting a lot of help and advice from books about self-publishing, and getting help from family and friends. I’ve even had Eli proof reading for me.

Progress (so far):

  1. [x] Read several books about writing books
  2. [x] Decide to sell on Amazon or Self-Publish (decided to self publish).
  3. [x] Write a first draft
  4. [x] Send a draft to my editors (family and friends) for feedback
  5. [x] Decide whether to get a new domain for the book or sell it on b3n.org (decided to sell it on b3n.org).
  6. [x] Pick a working title (“LastPass Guide”)
  7. [x] Inform LastPass’s marketing/legal team to make sure there won’t be an issue (just gotten crickets so far)
  8. [x] Design a book cover
  9. [x] Design a Coming Soon Landing Page
  10. [ ] Pick an eCommerce platform (leaning towards Gumroad or WooCommerce)
  11. [x] Review notes / advice from reviewers
  12. [ ] Second round of review / edits
  13. [ ] Run Google Ads A/B testing to test different titles (just started this yesterday).
  14. [ ] Determine Final Title
  15. [ ] Final Book Cover Design
  16. [ ] Third and “final” review / edits
  17. [ ] Photos
  18. [ ] Get testimonials (in progress)
  19. [ ] Setup eCommerce platform
  20. [ ] Build Better Landing Page
  21. [ ] Figure out how to use Facebook and Twitter to announce the launch, if I use those at all. May skip this since I’m not a huge fan of Facebook.
  22. [ ] Setup a discount and run some tests orders through to catch any issues
  23. [ ] Pre-Launch to email subscribers with Discount
  24. [ ] Remove Discount and Launch

Frequently Asked Questions

When will the book be released?

I’m targeting to release end of January or early February 2020.

Why didn’t you choose KeePass, Bitwarden, 1Password, [insert your favorite password manager here]?

LastPass is in a fairly unique position in that it is ubiquitous, fully featured, very well audited and monitored by security firms, has reasonably priced plans and security measures that make it acceptable for individuals, families, small businesses, and enterprises. Some reviewers have asked why I didn’t base the guide on KeePass. While KeePass may be more secure since it is offline, KeePass is missing four key features most people will want: A Dead Man’s Switch, Automatic Sync, Easy Browser Integration, and Sharing.

Can I get a discount?

During pre-launch we will have early release pricing for a few days before it is released to the masses… the exchange for the discount is I want you to be watching for problems in the ordering process and let me know if there’s an issue.

Are you planning to do coupon codes or future promotions?

No. While I am trying to learn some marketing strategies, I’m very much against marketing tactics designed to pressure people into buying before they’ve had a chance to think about it. Other than the initial launch I don’t see doing time-based promotions. I don’t ever want someone to buy a book at full price and then find out it’s on sale at half that price a day later.

Will there be an affiliate program?

Not at launch due to time constraints, but if there is interest I can set it up post-launch. Probably at 50/50 revenue sharing. Shoot me an email if you’re interested.

Why Aren’t You Selling This on Amazon?

A couple of reasons:
1. I want buyers of the book to be my customers. When you sell on Amazon, buyers are not your customers. This is the main reason I chose to self-publish.
2. This book includes a lot of screenshots and graphics and Kindles are just awful at rendering those. How many times have you seen poor reviews on a great book because of the Kindle formatting issues? This book is much better as a PDF format where I have control of the formatting and design. This is not to say I’m not a fan of Kindles, this just isn’t the best book for it.

Will it just be an eBook or are you going to sell a paper version?

Just an eBook. That’s the best format for three reasons:
1. The thing with technology is things can change so I’d rather be able to send out updates as needed which you can’t do with a physical copy.
2. I’m not setup to do fulfillment. I’d have to charge something like $200 a book to make it worth the effort.
3. It’s easier to fix typos and mistakes with eBooks.

Aren’t you going to blog about some cool tech stuff soon?

Yes, several posts are in the works, including my first guest post.

What computer did you write this on?

Dell Latitude E5450.

Well, that’s all for now. Hopefully I’ll have a progress update in January.

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