Introducing: the Simpleology Project Marketplace
Step 1.
Get the big idea: the Simpleology Project Marketplace
(click thumbnail to view the cartoon)
Step 2.
Learn how you will profit from it: author Simpleology Projects
(you know the drill … click the thumbnail)
Step 3.
Build your first Simpleology Project for the Simpleology Project Marketplace
What are you waiting for?
Step 4.
OK, maybe you need more instructions … Here’s a short walkthrough video
(Watch it full screen in HD for the best experience …)
Step 5.
Want some inspiration? Unlock this example Simpleology Project for free …
… by visiting this link and logging in.
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Notes …
1. The grand opening of the Simpleology Project Marketplace will begin on October 21st, 2014. We’ll open it to 10,000 users at a time until we’re confident it’s stable and then we’ll open it to the general public.
2. The price of your Simpleology Projects will be set by you. The only rule: $2.99 minimum.
3. Currently there is no limit to the number of Simpleology Projects an author (you) can have in the Simpleology Project Marketplace.
4. Oh, and one more thing … Simpleology Project authors are now automatically Simpleology Strategic Partners. After you publish your Simpleology Project we’ll give you a short link to promote it. If this results in a new Simpleology sign up, you will earn recurring commission (25%) when they upgrade to Simpleology Elite.
Questions? Feel free to post them below … I’ll be answering them personally. (If it’s a support request you’ll get a much faster response from our awesome Customer Care Team, of course.)
Mark
FrancisJimenez Hey Francis, first let’s set up a time for you, Ian, and I to hang out! I’m still in Manila.
To your questions …
How sales happen: you’ll directly promote, or a user will find it in the marketplace, or someone will find your listing in Google, or maybe it will be an upsell from another author’s Simpleology Project, or … you get the idea. We’ll be improving this greatly as improved versions roll out. We’ll push exemplary Simpleology Projects from time to time as well.
Review copies: that’s on the list of things we’d like to add, but is not in version 1.
Who checks: we do …
Who rates: the customers do …
tdparisi83 Hey there, an account is required but only a free account
PetarAntonov Hey Peter, just like any other online marketplace … it’s a combination of natural search behavior, intra-cart behavior, an author promoting his own product, and so on … You will have a listing and the quality of your listing will certainly affect sales (how persuasively did you state your case? we’ll walk you through the process of creating this, by the way. And make it easy.) And how others speak about your Simpleology Project will matter, too. There will be a rating and comment system.
rodlimb Thanks! Can’t wait to see what you dream up
tobimattingly Only a free account is required to author or purchase Simpleology Projects
GaryMcCaffrey Some scientists believe that our minds share information in as-yet-unmeasured ways … I see this kind of the thing happen a lot. It’s a really fascinating phenomenon, isn’t it?
CSC Software They certainly can
GeoffMcNeely Hey Geoff, glad you like it! Can’t wait to see what you cook up
GarthBradley Hey Garth, thanks!
Simpleology users run the gamut across many vertical markets … One thing you can know about all of them is that they want to improve their lives, or they wouldn’t be here. Many of them are entrepreneurs. But I’d start with what you’re great at and what you can produce easily … Think HIME!
Roberta Marie Munroe Hey Roberta, first you’re most welcome!
And you certainly can! Right now we have no cap on the number of Simpleology Projects an author can pen.
khobby Hi Kristen, pushing tasks on a schedule is something we’re looking at adding in future versions … For this version we wanted to keep the system as simple and flexible as possible. We’re very careful about every single new feature we add and want to think about how it fits into the ecosystem before adding it. That said, we’ve talked a lot about this and so far it makes sense … As with any new features I can’t promise a date, but please know this is on the list.
MerlMiller Haha I’m in the same boat!
Will be getting by on lower than normal sleep for the next little while … Can’t wait to see what you create! 
FrancisJimenez Mark Joyner Hey, for at least another month …
Dave Dunn Hey Dave, awesome! Yep, there is a specific listing format … When the publish button is live just follow our easy wizard (there will be a video from me guiding you through the process of making it effective + some bad-ass tooltips distilling decades of copy wisdom into little nuggets) and poof! Your listing will be done
JulietEaston It’s great to have you here, Juliet!
Can’t wait to see what you come up with …
David Cavanagh Thanks for the support! We’re having such a great time over here …
Mike_MMA Hey Mike, I’m pretty sure there will be huge demand for that. The existing Simpleology ecosystem has many Internet entrepreneurs already … And I know this will naturally attract many more as it solves some pretty major problems all business professionals face. And SEO is now a pretty standard part of everyday business life.
Mark Jones Hey MJ2! Yeah, that’s something we’ve discussed here as well … This won’t be available in version 1, but we plan to make improvements like this hard and fast once the release happens. That’s probably going to be pretty high up on the list as I see this being an issue as folks have more and more Simpleology Projects in their accounts … I’d like to see many types of sorting here.
adryenn Fact: you’re not an entrepreneur if you haven’t written a Simpleology Project in your head on vacation.
kristisayles Haha – why am I not surprised
nanacast Hey hey Josh! Minimum price is $2.99. There is no maximum. In version 1 there will be some upselling, but it won’t be driven by the authors. Very soon we’ll be allowing some author-driven upselling. And a lot more …
TedSikkink Hey Ted, anyone can become an author with this tool very easily. I bet you have tons of knowledge that you can easily turn into Simpleology Projects. And if you’re not a fan of writing, don’t write much. I imagine some Simpleology Projects are going to consist of some videos in the description and some tasks. Easy.
JessHuffman Hey Jess, I’m imaging that length of the Simpleology Project won’t make it more or less likely to sell, but it will factor in on the price you’ll be able to charge … (it will be easier to sell a longer Simpleology Project for a higher price) But the real key here is probably going to be the problem you solve for the user – and the case you state for your solution.
And keep in mind that Projects can be broken down in any way. The tongue-in-cheek example in the video is broken down by days … but they can be steps, phases, or anything you like.
kenpresutti Hey Ken, I’m curious too! Looking forward to seeing your titles in there.
Alexander PK Hey, looking forward to seeing you in there, too! Publish button is not live yet … It will be soon
We’re building something very special for you in there.
patricchan Thank you.
Mark Jones I love this idea … we’ll add this to the list of future improvements and HIME it.
Robert Schimmel Hey Robert, thanks for the kind words. Looking forward to seeing your Simpleology Projects!
Sue Irwin Hey Sue, that’s great news. And I bet you have even more projects than that floating around.
RonJones1 Hey Ron, thanks for the kind words.
catricala Hey, almost all content can be repurposed as a good Simpleology Project if it is broken down into sections thoughtfully and if appropriate tasks are added thoughtfully. Give it a shot!
ZenGlen Hey Glen, good luck on your launch! Here’s another distraction for you…
Create a Simpleology Project version of your product, and offer it as an upsell or a follow up offering.
Thank me for the sleepless nights later
tonylotven Hey Tony, that’s great news!
You can link to absolutely anything you want inside the cards, be it yours or someone else’s. You can even embed video content from others in your cards provided it doesn’t violate the terms of their copyright ( most publicly available content is fair game ).
bonitak Looking forward to your book and the companion Simpleology Projects
Lin Schussler Williams Hi Lin, when someone purchases a Simpleology Project they are only purchasing the rights to use it inside Simpleology – they are not granted ownership of the original content. To help keep this content protected, a Simpleology Project someone purchases will have the Publish button disabled. Of course there is no way to prevent theft completely (it’s impossible, of course), but we’re going to do everything we can to protect the authors. Hope that helps!
GeoffMcNeely BTW, I read all of your usability feedback … we agree with all of it! It’s on the list of scheduled improvements
jamesmcroy Awesome
simon2 Way to take fast action, sir!
LoriLeePeters Hi Lori, no paid account is required to purchase a Simpleology Project in the Simpleology Project Marketplace. Just like Amazon, you can set up a free account on checkout. Better than Amazon, our free account comes with a complete system for simplifying your life.
RonBarnhart Hey Ron, excellent questions …
1. Release Date: We’re notoriously mysterious about that … All I can say is – do your best.
2. Refunds: All Simpleology Projects in the Simpleology Project Marketplace will come with a 30 day money back guarantee. No questions asked. Easy.
3. I’d definitely recommend splitting it into smaller chunks. You’re going to find that content creation here is much easier than creating an ebook or anything else. The tasks are key. Indeed, focus most of your energy there. Don’t add more text or embellishment than necessary. You’re totally right folks don’t want to read an ebook … they want a result. Yours will succeed when you help them get that result – plain and simple.
As for connecting Simpleology Projects together in a series, I love the idea … for now folks will be able to see a listing of all of the Simpleology Projects by the same author. In the future we have many interesting twists in store … Chaining Simpleology Projects together is something we’re considering, but can’t say yet exactly how. As always this will evolve based on your feedback and the dynamics of the user base.
lefay39 Hey Sarah, great questions …
1. Changing card numbers … not yet, but we’re looking at that now. In the past when this was just a cardwall and not a publishing platform the order of the numbers didn’t matter so much. Now it does.
2. Updating price. For now the price is locked once published, but we’re looking at allowing the authors to change it. It’s actually a pretty tricky situation as it creates many complications … How will existing purchasers react to the price change, etc … For now it’s locked, but we’re looking at other options.
3. Content … this is also locked once published because allowing it to be changed also creates many subtle complications. In future versions we’re looking at adding some kind of versioning system. As always what shape this takes and what priority it gets is going to be partly based on the volume of demand.
Hope that helps!
albuiss Hi Alun, awesome! All members can create, manage, purchase, and sell Simpleology Projects.
Breaking news today, guys …
1. We’ve decided to link the Strategic Partnership program to the Simpleology Project Marketplace.
What does that mean?
As soon as your Simpleology Project is approved for listing in the Simpleology Project Marketplace we’ll give you a special short-URL you can use to promote it. When that results in a new customer signing up for Simpleology – and that customer upgrades to Elite, you’ll get the standard lifetime commission on that customer’s monthly payments – in addition to the royalty on your Simpleology Project (which of course you always get regardless of the source of the sale).
And to be clear … Upgrading to Simpleology Elite is optional. The Simpleology Project Marketplace (viewing, purchasing, authoring) is open to everyone – only a free registration is required.
2. We now have two set dates …
September 30 – this blog post will be visible to the world – and the Publish button will be live.
October 7 – we will begin rolling out the Simpleology Project Marketplace to 10,000 users at a time until we have confirmed it’s stable. Then it will be open to the general public.
I want to extend a huge thanks to everyone who has been participating in the early-adopter program so far. Your enthusiasm has been infectious! :D
My door remains open to all of you if you want me to review your Simpleology Projects.
Grahamps Hey Graham, you sure can … just add someone to your Simpleology Project as if they were a collaborator … There are three levels of permission.
And yep, once it’s published it’s published. But we will be offering some kind of versioning solution in the future …
LiveAlive Hey Andrew, family first of course … Good for you for being there for your uncle. Awesome that you’ve been making progress simultaneously!
Please see my post right above this one for an answer to your question
rvillegas75 Hey there, please see my update above for the firm release dates …
Robert Schimmel Hey Robert, great questions. Answers below …
1. If you want to include PowerPoint you can attach them as a file in the Attachments section.
2. For that you’ll want to insert a table, then insert the picture in one of the cells and then place your text in a cell above or below as you like
3. I’m not sure what you mean by forms … Can you give me an example so I can understand better?
4. That’s a really tough question … Free Market Economics are in full-effect here. It’s going to depend on how well you can state your case, how big of a problem you’re solving for folks, how effectively you’re solving the problem, how well the Simpleology Project satisfies the marketing claims, how complex the Simpleology Project is, the uniqueness of your solution, and so on … I predict we’ll see prices run the gamut. Don’t be afraid to ask for your Simpleology Project what you know it’s worth. Just be sure to state your case.
Hope that helps! Really looking forward to seeing your first submissions!
Sturdy That’s a fantastic idea … Well, let’s call this post that place for now. But we kinda almost have to build that.
As for what I’d like to see you build … How about a Simpleology Project that helps someone build a workspace that won’t jack your biomechanics?
tibbsphoto Hey someone should be reaching out shortly
OscarWoudsma Thank you.
Dawn Kupst Great! As for the SP program, someone will be reaching out shortly …
PetarAntonov Hey Petar, thank you for the kind words … Someone will be reaching out about that shortly
Dawn Kupst Hey Dawn, nesting Simpleology Projects isn’t available in this version, but it is something we’re considering … depending on demand. As for feedback, what’s your best email address to contact you? I’ll show you how to share it with me.
albuiss Hey Alun, not yet! But that’s something I very much want as well. That’s on the list of future features …
JohnMunro Thanks, John! Looking forward to seeing your stuff in here
rodlimb Mark Joyner tonylotven That’s a great question, and unfortunately one that a copyright lawyer will need to answer … but as I understand it, if you produce original work, and cite other works appropriate (under the limits of the Fair Use laws), you should always be fine …
AllanHYoung Hi Allan, yep … our over 1,000,000 registered users … all of the other authors … SEO … plus some other surprises we have in store
Dave Dunn Mark Joyner Hey Dave, great questions.
The way we’re handling it in the first version is to allow the authors and customers / potential customers to interact via a public comment thread on each Simpleology Project.
We’ll see how that goes and make adjustments as needed in future versions.
Also, the About the Author page, will have a link back to the site of your choice.
rvillegas75 Publishing Simpleology Projects can happen anytime before or after the launch date. Also, just so you know, September 30th is the date this blog post will be visible to the public. October 7th, is when we start rolling out the Simpleology Project Marketplace to blocks of Simpleology users
Dave Dunn Mark Joyner Hey hey Dave, I answered your questions about contacting customers below. As for checking out your Simpleology Project, I’d love to. I’ll shoot you an email
AmyKing Hi Amy, there isn’t yet, but that’s a feature we’ll be adding very soon …
AmyKing You can rename them easily, but renumbering isn’t available yet.
CulturalCompass Hi there, what would you like to know? Remember that’s just an example … you can structure it any way you see fit.
Justin P Lambert Mark Joyner Hey Justin, yep you’ll see the Publish button available on *all* Simpleology Projects starting today … (can’t give the exact hour yet). The URLs will be available right away, but they’ll lead to a “coming soon” page until October 7th
AmyKing Mark Joyner HI Amy, you’re most welcome. To rename the cards, open it and double click on the name of the card … it will open up an edit dialog … Give that a shot and let me know
rvillegas75 Hey there, payments will be sent directly to your PayPal account and you’ll provide that info when you click the Publish button
After October 7th you certainly can publish more Simpleology Projects.
lefay39 Awesome, congratulations
Keep going!
ClarenceFisher You got it
Hey folks, card numbers are now editable in the same way card names are
AmyKing funDiva kristisayles
jonmarq Hi Jon, you got it … someone will be in touch shortly.
rvillegas75 Congratulations!
For now there is no modification allowed once it’s live. Doing so creates many subtle complications that we’re choosing not to address in version 1.
However, soon we’ll be releasing some kind of versioning system that supports this thoughtfully.
khobby Way to go! Keep ‘em comin’
funDiva Mark Joyner roger that – will have someone take a look asap
MarkGladman Hey Mark, thanks for the kind words
Try clicking on “add card” and see if that does the trick. If not, watch the above video carefully … pause it where you need to as I’m flying through it pretty fast haha. Let me know if that gets you rocking and rolling!
MarkGladman BTW, the add-card button is the big + sign here …
jonmarq Mark Joyner Thanks, Jon – this has been fixed
jillbinder Hey Jill, great question … I’d write your headline in a way that calls out to your target market in an exciting way. Click on the “publish” button and then on Step 2 you’ll see some video instruction from me and some tooltips … Let me know if that gets you going
carldickens Hey Carl, yep that’s true – that these exist within the context of Simpleology – and integrate with it completely – is part of what makes them special. If they existed in a vacuum there wouldn’t be nearly as much value. And only a free account is required
As for attachments, yep they certainly can be downloaded.
jillbinder Hey Jill, you got it
Someone will be in touch shortly …
htiano thank you.
htiano exactly … but please do read the tooltip I wrote right next to the spot where you set your price when you submit. I have a really condensed lesson on pricing psychology in there.
@tonylotven You got it – someone will be in touch shortly …
tonylotven You bet – someone will be in touch shortly.
RonBarnhart Actually … log in to your Simpleology account and at the bottom you should now see a link that says “affiliate program” (and to anyone paying attention that’s a pretty egregious spoiler for what is going to be a pretty major announcement soon
albuiss Hey Alun, click on the card to drill down … then when you’re viewing the whole card double click on the title – poof – editable
carldickens Mark Joyner Hey Carl, there sure will be. The SImpleology Project Marketplace will be viewable by anyone no log-in required. And as soon as you complete your submission, we will give you a link you can use to tell folks about your Simpleology Project. And as some icing on the cake, that link will now also serve as an affiliate link for Simpleology.
albuiss Mark Joyner That’s what we like to hear haha
MaryMorgan Hey Mary, thanks for that info… It’s amazing how easily these chemicals can slip into our homes, isn’t it?
khobby Hey Khobby, awesome to have you on board. After you click publish, you should see some instructions for completing your listing… Did you complete your listing?
khobby Mark Joyner hey Kristen, yep I see 4 approved Simpleology Projects in there for you … Way to go! If you got this morning’s email about the incentives we’re giving to authors who get approved before the live date you’ll be very happy.
Keep ‘em comin’! They *are* fun, aren’t they?
ArturZygmunt Hey Artur, that’s a really good question, for now I would just say yes it’s totally okay. We’ll probably offer more robust localization features in the future, but for now just submit it as is and it should be good to go
Mark Jones Hey MJ2, you’re always two steps ahead of the game haha.
Anyone with admin access can use the publish button. Very soon, you’ll see some really cool stuff coming out for co-authorship
Mark Jones haha maybe … but if we do, it won’t be for a while. I am deliberately not going to sell any of my own for a while so I can keep the spotlight on you guys.
Alexander PK Hey Alexander, actually we’re going to be releasing a versioning system soon … For now I just went ahead and rejected it so you can edit and then re-submit
MJ
Dave Dunn Hey, you sure can
No limits there …
Boat_Wife Hey Peggy, it will but I’ll be answering questions in real-time, so it’s best to be there live
khobby Hey Kristen, first let me congratulate you on being our most prolific author so far! Keep it up! You can definitely do that right now … In the future we’ll create some modules to allow you to string them together, too. (for example, you can specify you want us to upsell a more advanced version … that and many more goodies coming!)
Mark H Harries Yep, up soon …
RyanKoblasa Hey Ryan, file attachments you upload can be up to 5MB. For larger files we’re allowing several types of embedding so you can serve them from the location of your choice.
SherryPrindle Hi Sherry, check out the video above … “Publish” is what puts your Simpleology Project in the Simpleology Project Marketplace.
lefay39 Hey Sarah! Not yet … But that is a feature we plan to develop soon.
tonyzayas Hey Tony, awesome! This is exactly what we like to hear … We want to facilitate faster deployment of content (among other things).
As for sales pages, when you click “publish” we’ll walk you through the creation of your listing (watch the video and read the tool-tips … I did my best to distill many ears of copywriting wisdom into the densest form possible).
That said, that’s something we plan to test extensively and constantly improve
RonBarnhart Mark Joyner khobby Hey Ron, yeah we’ve been thinking about this a lot. This is why when you create your listing we’re asking you to determine whether this is a “hard” or “soft” result. A “soft” result is more of an abstract thing … We want folks to be able to use it for both. At first we were thinking of forcing only “hard” results, but then thought why don’t we let the users tell us how they want to use it? Will be very interesting to see how this evolves!
Mark H Harries Hey Mark, in case you haven’t seen it …
Shawn_Phillips Hey Shawn, this is the right conversation, of course.
As always the market is going to determine the price-range. Depending on the value you add, and how well you communicate that value, you can charge accordingly.
We have no set rules on pricing other than $2.99 minimum. After that you can charge as much (or as little) as you want.
And, of course the high price itself immediately communicates a higher value.
I think folks will end up using this in every way imaginable. Some will add tons of value and charge accordingly. Some will add tons of value and charge a lower prices so they can use it as an attention-getting tool.
Our aim is to make this as flexible and useful as possible for you, the author. We want this to be a canvas that unleashes your unbridled entrepreneurial creativity.
I’ll reach out privately so we can get you rolling fast. Can’t wait to see you in there.
MJ
funDiva Mark Joyner New post with this front and center coming soon
kchris Hi Kelly, this is music to my ears. I want to see more business process in here.
We can’t do this yet, *but* it’s very high up on our dev priority list. I was just talking to my folks about this last night. My reco: build this and let’s see who finishes first
FrancisJimenez Hey Francis! As long as they are legitimately different versions, you can run as many as you like. Of course we don’t want folks spamming the Simpleology Project Marketplace with multiple copies of essentially the same thing, but I think there’s definitely room for many versions of a Simpleology Project that target different vertical markets.
josephsimpson3 Hey Joseph, thanks for the kind words. Yep, each Simpleology Project comes with a 30 Day Money Back Guarantee baked in. And we err on the side of grand-generosity to the customer. The 60-day hold allows us to get past the chargeback window as many fraudsters will exploit that for affiliate-commission skimming (using stolen cards). This keeps everything stable for all.