How To Write, Publish, And Sell An Ebook

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To write, publish and sell an ebook, work through the steps in order and do not wait for it to be perfect: find a niche where books already sell, write 500 to 1,000 words a day, get it edited, format it with Atticus, get a cover, set up KDP and publish. Then market it. Here is how one writer, Tim, did it in about four weeks.

What if you doubt you are a good enough writer?

Tim deleted his entire manuscript and was ready to quit. A few months earlier he had been an aspiring writer with a bunch of stories in his head from childhood. He had heard a lot about ebooks, but the process seemed too complicated, and he wasn’t sure he was a good enough writer or that anyone would want to read it.

That self-doubt is very common. The good news: there are people who will resonate with you, no matter who you are or what you write. The quality of your writing matters less than finding the audience that connects with it. Natural writing skill helps you find that audience faster, but even a writer who is not great will sell books to readers who are satisfied. I used to think you had to be a top-level writer for anybody to buy your books. I was wrong. For a short tip on reaching those readers, see My Best Book Marketing Tip.

Should you study first, or write first?

Write first. After deleting his draft, Tim decided to study a lot of material before writing again. That was a huge barrier. When you first get writing and you’re making progress, the last thing you need is a pile of tutorials. Learning is useful once you have produced something and seen how it does, then you go back and study to improve. Don’t wait to get your first book on the market.

We broke it down on a free discovery call. Each step goes deep and can get difficult, so the right way is not to make everything perfect. Move slowly through the steps, get your first book out, then go a layer deeper on each step.

What are the steps to write, publish and sell an ebook?

1. Find the niche. The first thing I did with Tim was look at what he was interested in. We used KDSpy to find genres where books sell a lot of copies but there are not many on the market, and shifted his idea a little into a profitable market. A sailboat shouldn’t hope for wind: find where the wind already blows and face your sails there. It must still be a niche you can write several books in, because a series of books builds an audience. This isn’t about becoming a millionaire overnight.
2. Write 500 to 1,000 words a day. Sit in your chair and do it daily. Don’t wait for the muse. That is how you lose. I get pushback from people who think it should just come easily; it doesn’t, and you work through it. Read How To Write A Book 1000 Words At A Time.
3. Hire an editor. You can find editors on a freelance marketplace such as Upwork. Look for plenty of good reviews and samples in your genre. If you want every error in your draft marked, with the writing left as yours, I offer a manuscript review.
4. Format with Atticus. Atticus is the tool I recommend for formatting. It is a one-time $147 payment with a 30-day money-back guarantee (Atticus, October 2026).
5. Get a cover. Tim used 99designs, where designers compete to make your cover from your brief. Packages start at $299 (99designs, October 2026). Look at the top sellers’ covers in your niche with KDSpy and match their style.
6. Set up your KDP account and upload. Add the manuscript, cover, categories, keywords, description and price. On Amazon.com, KDP pays the 70% royalty on ebooks priced from $2.99 to $12.99 since 07-Jul-26 (KDP royalty options). It sounds like a lot, but once the book is written, edited and has a cover, the excitement carries you through the last buttons.

Tim got through all of this in about four weeks after the discovery call. His book was only 30 to 50 pages. He didn’t see many sales at first, and the cover could be improved, because it was his first time working with a designer. We aren’t going for perfection on the first book. If you wait for perfection, you sell nothing and build no audience.

Can I give my ebook away for free?

Not by setting its price to zero. KDP’s price page lists $0.99 as the lowest minimum, for files under 3 MB, with higher minimums for larger files, and it does not list a free price (KDP eBook list price requirements). The way KDP describes giving a Kindle ebook away is the Free Book Promotion: up to 5 days in each 90-day KDP Select enrollment period, scheduled at least one day ahead, with no royalties while it runs (KDP Free Book Promotions).

KDP Select asks for more than the promotion, so read its terms on exclusivity before you enroll. A free promotion gets the book in front of readers. It does not pay you while it runs.

How do you sell the ebook?

After publishing, Tim started the marketing phase: content marketing, ads and an email list. If I told you to do all of that from the start, you would be overloaded. Do the steps once, keep them simple, then improve each area for the next book. Use your first book to learn from: run ads (see EASIEST Ads Strategy For KDP), build your list, and talk to readers. Organic reviews tell you what to fix.

Many programs list everything you need to do and leave you asking where to begin. If you want someone to go through the steps with you, see How Can Group Coaching Help Self-Publishers?

Tim started with a free 25-minute discovery call. Book yours, and we will look at your book and your next step.

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