Publishing

About

Have you ever wanted to write a book, but assumed it's hard.

You could not be more wrong! Publishing is easy!

This is an article I sent to friends to inspire them to graduate from everyday civilian to a "published author". Think of it as a superpower, and let's break the misconceptions right now.

What you didn't realize about publishing your book.

1. You don't need to pay a cent. - Okay, so ordering each copy of the book will cost $2-6 dollars, but the publishing part is 100% free!
2. You don't need a publisher and 99% of the time you don't want a publisher! - Reaching out to publishers is a giant waste of time and will kill your creative freedom. You first book should be self published, meaning you don't have to wait on anyone but yourself, and you can make correction to your print-one-demand book instantaneously.
3. It doesn't take years or months to become publish, it takes hours. - If you decided right now to "try publishing" and simply publish those 5 pretty awesome poems you wrote in high school - you can have it available for purchase on Amazon within 24 hours from now.. consider that a challenge.
4. It doesn't have to be a novel. - That's right, you don't have to write a giant 300 page fiction novel to become an author - your book could be 10 pages of recipes or nature photos.
5. You don't need expertise! - If you want to write about "the history of meth" or "having fun fishing", you don't need to be an expert fisherman or a doctor who uses meth. Wikipedia covers the facts, what's really fascinating to people is your views and passion on whatever topic it is. Maybe you get some cred points for being an expert but often books like "my brother died from diabetes" are the most compelling. They are human.
6. You don't need to be a good writer! - Some of the best selling books aren't well written - it's about your message and passion. Some people even find poor grammar charming. If someone reads your book and complains about the writing ask them to fix it for you and you can upload the "better grammar" version the next day.

I hope that's already gone some way to convincing you that it could be really fun to be a published author. I guess the next question. What would you write about?

Child Pages

Related/Child Pages:

• Kindle Direct Publishing - The actual steps self-publish your own book on Amazon.
• Audio Creation Exchange - To turn your book into an audiobook and get it published on Audible.com, Amazon.com and iTunes.

Your Book Can Be Anything

Somewhere in your head right now is an amazing book idea, and the type of book can be anything. For examples:

• Photo Book - you are an amazing photographer, why don't you have a beautiful glossy coffee-table picture book with your best photos. You'll barely need any words at all. You could do:
  • Nature Photos - great scenery or animal photos you are proud of? Book!
  • Modeling Catalog - maybe you're a makeup/tattoo/clothes/jewelry artist showcasing your work, or an aspiring model... and yes maybe the latter seems narcissistic, but hey we live in an instagram world where almost everyone is a narcissist, and this might actually help your business. Book!
• Recipe Book - you have some amazing family recipes you want to share with your friends. Book!
• Poetry Book - you've already written a dozen amazing poems, you just need a few words to string them together... and you can be an published author by tomorrow if you drill down!
• Autobiographical Story - okay, so you're no Tony Robbins, but you have an amazing story about your brother with a disability, or some amazing hardship you've faced. You want your experience to help others. It doesn't have to be a giant long story... but you want a bit of a legacy. It may take off, it may not, but you're excited to put yourself out there.
• Comedy - my first book was called "Ice Cream = Sex", and my next one "Funny Team Names"... which is pretty much what you'd guess.... a list of team names! I guess I love comedy, I'm even thinking about making a yoga joke book.... and the great thing about comedy books, is they could be a few pages.
• Children's Book - a few of my friends have gotten into kids books - often that means paying an illustrator, but there are lots of them around on various freelance sites, or maybe you can do the pictures yourself. The text is pretty easy, and there's probably a wonderful message you want to share.

... and basically anything else you can think of!

The Power of Being a Publisher Author

It's a special and fun set of people who can throw into conversation, and onto their resume, that "oh yes, I published a book". When you say those words, people often look at you differently. It's a combination of respect and immediately finding you more interesting. They want to know what your book was about. And if you want them to remember you forever, it's surprisingly inexpensive to give them a copy of your book - just a few dollars. There is no better business card!

For me, I like to turn it around onto them and explain that publishing was really easy, and I will probably give them a link to this article. Why? Well I wish someone had send me this article decades ago!!

For me, I love writing, but it wasn't until 2020 (the pandemic) that I realized that self-publishing can be 100% free, and almost instantaneous. There are several print-on-demand self-publishing websites, but I focus on Kindle Direct Publishing because it has the best reach, and if feels great to tell people "oh yeah, my book is on Amazon". All you need is the word doc or PDF and a few clicks later you can order as many copies as you want at "cost price" (for a paperback maybe just $3 and no shipping) for yourself to give to friends! Usually it takes just a day after you upload your word file or PDF that the is approved, and you can then send the link on amazon to your first book, for your friends to order as a paperback (usually 1-2 weeks to deliver) or Kindle (instantaneous). You can even upload an audio version via Audio Creation Exchange if you are tech savvy. Find a spelling mistake in your hard copy? Just upload a new version of the PDF and the next person to order your book will see the new copy. That's what print on demand means. It's incredible.

Getting It Done

So now you are pretty sold right?

Maybe you've already got a strong idea of your book title and topic, but even if that's true I still encourage you to order a copy of Published.: The Proven Path From Blank Page to Published by Chandler Bolt. Why? Well it helped me... it will help you decide on a topic, a title, build a table of contents, and commit to finishing by a particular date. This book is largely focussed on non-fiction for "tell-your-story" and/or "write-a-book-that-generates-you-business", but it will help motivate you for a fiction book also and has many specific tips on KDP and getting yourself an audience and accountability ahead of publishing. It also has some great exercises to help you mind-map your book to get your structure ahead of writing. The author is a huge fan of self-publishing and explains the many ways KDP ("just-upload-it-yourself") is superior over the antiquated "this-is-gonna-take-years-to-get-onto-shelves-and-you-lose-creative-control-and-we-will-not-actually-even-promote-it" situation with traditional publishers. Let's be honest..... if you're not already famous your book probably won't make lots of money... so don't do it for that reason. Do it because you want the rush of being an author, introducing yourself to new peers as an author, and giving copies of your book (at print price - just a few dollars a book often) to everyone you meet. You won't get a better "business card" then giving someone a copy of your book. Even if they don't read it, it will be on their shelf to remember you!

Just in case you decide not to buy a copy of Published, I've summarized some of the key points from the book below.

Pick the Topic

So sit down now with a pen and paper, and give yourself 10 minutes to brainstorm book ideas. Topics or ideas you are passionate about. Any crazy idea will do and any book genre (comedy, photos, self-help, fiction) is fair game. You might be surprised that you end up with 30 ideas and suddenly you change your mind about what to publish. One word of advice I want to give. Keep your first book short and simple... think if it as a practice book that only needs to be really short! My first book I wrote in 2 days, but then decided I wanted a photo on every page, and then it took me forever! Photos and getting licensing for photos take time (unless the photos are yours of course). The most famous painters in history didn't start with their masterpiece. They saved their best ideas till after they practiced a little. The guy who writes a 15 page book of silly poems and the guy who spends years writing a trilogy of novels.... they both get to call themselves published authors, and it's quite likely the guy with the 15 page book sells more copies!

It's a pretty good idea to come up with a "working title" and Google/Amazon search it right now to see what's available. Maybe your idea is unique, maybe it's not a unique idea, but your take on it will be unique!

Mind Mapping a Table of Contents

Before you stat writing, it's best to know what your structure is for your book. If it's a fiction, you need to know that story-line... if it's non-fiction you need to know what sections you want.

The mind mapping strategy is incredible, and I'll explain it in brief. Write the working title of your book in the middle of a page and put a circle around it. Now spend 15 minutes draw lines off it with related subtopics, like a big tree growing... so if you have a book called "Mastering Photography of Dogs", some of your lines might be "Preparing Your Dog", "Buying a Camera", "Lighting", "Subject Matter", "Technical Camera Details"... and off technical you might add "Exposure"... and so on. It can be rough.. and an idea you might want to write a little about, even if it sounds crazy ("Sexy Dog Photos"), add it. This isn't your final table of contents. Once you finish your mind map, you might want to clean it up, then work out a logical flow to become your Table of Contents. At that point you have to ask yourself.... "wow, this book might be longer than I though - will someone really want to read 200 page about dog photography, how can I cut it down to the most important bits".

Accountability To Finish

Nothing is worse than starting a book and not finishing. The key thing to remember is:

Done is better than perfect.

Get yourself accountable to finish writing by a particular date. One hour of writing a day and you'll be done in no time. Talk to some of your friends to tell them you are writing a book. Published is a good book for nailing down a plan to finish. Having a friend to check in with at the end of each week - call it an accountability buddy is a good way to keep focus. You buddy will encourage you and probably be the first one to read it an offer suggestions. That's actually my own advice.

Making Money

Okay, so here's the interesting part. Don't quit your day job and don't write a book to make money. Write it because you're passionate. If you only touch 20 people with your book, are you still happy - and will you still get pride telling people you're a published author. I hope the answer is yes, because the only way to make money from books is:

1. A book in a million - somehow you got lucky with the perfect book topic to hit a chord... somehow Oprah read it and you sell 100,000s of copies. Now it's your living. Now suddenly publishers want to talk to you. To sell more copies you'll need to dedicate your life to book tours and shameless self-promotion. This happens to such a small fraction of authors that you should compare it to winning the lottery. J. K. Rowling, before she got lucky with her timing on Harry Potter, was a starving artist. Remember that.

1. Sell you business - You get just a few dollars from each book sold.... but what if your book promotes your business. Maybe you're a jewry artist, or maybe you have online courses. At the end inspiring end of the book you have a "call to action" (maybe even a special offer) that makes people excited enough to visit your website or call, and suddenly from a few dollars, that client might be worth hundreds. Tony Robbins knows this better than anyone. He makes almost nothing on books, but it's thousands of dollars to attend his seminar. Using a book to generate more business is just clever. Honestly, even someone at a car dealership could sell or giveaway a booklet with fancy car photos to clients, and suddenly that client feels such gratitude they will want to use that car dealership every time. You can make a loss on books by giving away copies for free, but then make that money back with extra business and some clever branding.

For reference, Amazon takes a 60% or 40% cut (depending on if you want extended distribution) of profits. So considering you paid nothing to get it published, and you chose the price to sell your book... well that's pretty great! If you order 100 copies at print price, you can also sell them manually at your cake stall (cupcake pictures!) and then your profit on those book is 100%. Maybe start with 10 copies to be safe. :)

Making Sure Someone Will Buy It - Generate Excitement About Your Book Ahead of Release

Most self-published books don't sell many copies unless you have a plan. It doesn't matter if your book is a masterpiece or not if nobody reads it. Your book may last on Amazon forever, but who's going to discover it by typing in the keywords "Sloppy Bob's Detective Mystery with Angry Joe the Dog" and order a copy of your book that has zero reviews and zero stars. The page with your book is collecting virtual dust. It's good to have a plan to self promote on your social media and just give copies to friends and make sure your first few reviews are 5 stars. Work out how many copies you'd want to sell to be happy. If zero people read the book you might be a bit upset that you committed months to writing your 300 page novel you'll be bummed. You can't just throw it onto Amazon and expect results. You need a plan and you need to be proud enough of your work to sell or gift copies to friends.

Published has a mush more specific plan for promoting your book ahead of releasing it... because when you promote ahead of release it, there's a small chance it will trend on Amazon. I personally haven't got the timing quite right, but for my next book I'll try harder to follow this book, so I get some sales on day one of release.

Pick a Title

I do like the idea that you don't need a real title till after the book is done. Now you need to decide on a title and subtitle. Remember that some of your sales can come from Amazon or Google web searches, which is why the pros of non-fiction books often have a short title, but then a really long subtitle with a message. The title "Influence" is still a little bit vague and people have short attention spans so they don't want to read the whole blurb. "How to Win Friends & Influence People" was a great title (and a best seller) because it told people what they wanted to hear. You might read the book and not win a single friend, but it doesn't matter - nobody remembers a soft claim "this book might help you make some money", people are attracted to a big claim, even though it's never a guarantee "how to retire by 20 and live on a luxury island". For my first book I had a catchy title, followed by a juicy subtitle: "Ice Cream = Sex: What your flavor says about your fantasy, and how to make it happen". The subtitle explains what the book is about, and it suggests that reading the book will help you realized your deepest sex fantasy. Will it? Well it might!... it's a book that gets you thinking and bold enough to ask for the ice cream or sex that you want, so I felt like it's a good title.

Also, before you commit to a title - because that's the one part of your book you can't change after your first upload.. be sure to do a web search and amazon search to check there isn't already a similar title that will completely overshadow your book.

Upload Your Book

Okay, so you've had some friends review it and it's ready for upload. Now you'll want my next article :

• Kindle Direct Publishing - The actual steps self-publish your own book on Amazon.

The Success of Your Book - Lessons and Advice

So my first book "Ice Cream = Sex: What your flavor says about your fantasy, and how to make it happen". Has it sold thousands of copies? It has not.

Am I happy?

Hell yes!!!

It's got a 4.7 out of 5 start rating with 18 ratings - most of them from friends who I encouraged to write a review + I uploaded a video of me flipping through the pages, so people know exactly what they are buying. My one really bad review? That was my mistake on uploading a Kindle version and hitting publish before proofing it on a kindle! I didn't realize that the publish button really does mean publish straight away... and by some miracle someone found it almost instantly.... a whole week before I could proof the paperback copy and tell my friends to read it.... and the formatting on the Kindle was messed up, so the guy gave me a bad review. Lesson learned there... kindle format is really hard for any picture book, so do that last!

It's a year after I published that I'm writing this... how many copies were sold? Looks like about 50 copies which is about $100 in royalties... so not much at all! But on top of that I've probably ordered 50 books myself to gift to friends, and it's brought me so much joy! Copies still get sold occasionally, so I guess you could call it passive income, but it's so little it doesn't affect my tax return. My day job at Google earns me good six figures a year, so I'm not doing this for the money, and I don't think I'm likely to quit Google anytime soon during a pandemic!

If I really wanted to sell more copies, I guess I would write to columnists, because it is a fun concept. Better yet I'd "spend money to make money" but running a survey to see what ice cream flavors really do mean about sexual adventurousness, but hey - I do what I enjoy, and I don't know if I'd enjoy spending time to market my book outside my fun group of friends.

The joy of this book has been ordering lots of copies myself and gifting it to friends on their birthdays and heck, even on a really good date I've been known to gift a book. It's a wonderful conversation to have... both the act of publishing and the topic is super fun.

You already know the rest of my advice. Pick a light short book for your first topic - you can save your masterpiece for after you have a book. Do it because it brings you joy. There's always a small chance your book will hit the right person at the right time and make a "best seller" on one of the specific Amazon topics, but be comfortable with the idea that you probably won't make your fortune in money. You will make your fortune in happiness if you publish something you are proud of and can tell all your friends. :)

Hope this advice resonated!

Sincerely,

    Andrew Noske

Links

• Amazon.com - Webstore
• How Amazon Works - a 2005 article on "how stuff works" with some good historical figures and stats.