Discover whether or not an author-published book is worth considering. Learn about the best strategies that make self-publishing easier now.
Today's question has three answers and you are going to want to stick around for the third answer. It is the thing that makes the difference when it comes to author-published books.
Whether the winners or the losers, that third answer is going to tell you exactly what it is that makes the difference. Now let's get into it. The question that was sent in today was, should you consider an author-published book?
The person who wrote this is clearly wondering a little bit about whether or not it is worthwhile to publish a book themselves. You are a writer and an author but you want to get your book out into the world. You want to find an audience but the problem is there are too many different options available.
When it comes to publishing your book, do you try to go for a traditional publisher or do you try to do a hybrid which is some sort of a vanity publisher? Or do you try to self-publish? If so, which platform do you choose?
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The overwhelm results in you doing absolutely nothing. This is an all too common problem for many authors and this is what we are going to answer in today's article. But before we get into the answers, check out my free Self-Publishing Checklist.
It will help you make sure you are not skipping any of the steps to make as much money off of your author-published book as possible. The books that you have published or to help you get it published in the first place.
So let's get into it. When I first got started, I had written my very first book and like so many authors we wonder will I be able to sell it? Is it possible to get this author-published book to sell?
The problem I found was that there are 15 different platforms that people kept on commenting on or I could put the book onto those different platforms that are even just a small section. They may have been closer to about 20 or 30 different ones that come up.
Different podcasts, books, Youtube videos, blogs, and Facebook groups, everybody is commenting on different locations and different ways to go about doing it. The result is a feeling of complete overwhelm and that was what I had reached.
I was trying to figure out what exactly is the correct choice. But then a self-publishing expert pointed out and that was back in the day before I had even published my very first book.
I was just getting it out and they pointed out that you should choose the top returning platforms that are always thinking strategically here. Our goal is not to get it on every platform. It is to get it on the ones that will give us the highest return on investment.
Choose The Easiest Way
That is what they suggested and so I looked a little closer and I discovered that there is a strategy here to avoid the overwhelm. Maybe not completely but to help with this entire process. The answer is your first place is Kindle Direct Publishing.
I have several students I'm in contact with right now who are continually wondering, "well maybe I should do this, and what comes after that?". They get very confused with all of the things and the different options. I tell them to stop doing everything until you get your first book out onto Kindle.
So Kindle Direct Publishing is your starting point. Then Kindle Print or KDP Print is the next one. Your print version then your hardback version on Lulu and then on Ingram Spark.
You can get another paperback version and an eBook version of your book. Smashwords is another eBook. Now, you might be wondering why would you go through all of these?
The answer is it's because each one of them hits a different audience and there is some overlap. But some people like to read their book on their Kobo or on the app of their iPhone or whatever it might be. These different devices around the world, sell differently.
You can see that there is an awful lot of choices but this is the correct choice. One of the key issues there was just choosing one at a time. So we start with Kindle.
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If you were to ask me where should I start with publishing, I would tell you, do you have your Kindle book out? If you don't then I would say you need to get your Kindle book out. If there are any issues, just let me know and I can help explain how to work around it.
There is a whole bunch of them, like how can you do it for free or these other things. You can always ask me and I will let you know. So the issue is, should you consider an author-published book?
Well, the first is yes it's the number one way to succeed. It's exactly the route that I took and I have not looked back since that point. Compared to all of the people who have chosen other routes whether vanity publishers or traditional publishers, this is by far the winning route.
Especially for an author or an aspiring author who wants to get their books published. It's the easiest way to go about doing it that cost you the least amount of money. So, without a doubt, this is the route you should be considering if you haven't already jumped in.
The second thing is you don't need to be overwhelmed. I felt that overwhelmed, maybe you feel that as well. The thing is you need to do one thing at a time so that you do not get that overwhelmed.
You will always do what gives the highest reward that is which one is the most strategic choice. So let's say in this example you want to get the Kindle book out. For the people who I have been helping, one of the first things would be you need to set up a kindle account.
The Most Strategic Step
But then the question is, where do I do it? Well, you need to go to kdp.amazon.com and you need to log in and set up the account. We do one thing at a time and there is no need to be overwhelmed because we are simply focusing on the one thing that comes up next.
The most strategic step I learned and is originally from Getting Things Done a book by David Allen, it's a very powerful concept to prevent the overwhelmed sensation which is to break things down and just look at what is the next task.
But the third answer is the difference between the winners and the losers when it comes to self-published books or author-published books. It is that you need to dedicate time each day to the next step. And I hope the next step is strategic.
We are not going for busy work or more research or whatever it might be. That so many people convince themselves is moving the needle. When in reality, it's just delaying them.
Getting the book out and when we don't see sales, we don't get the book out and we don't feel that progress. We don't feel that great feeling of knowing we are succeeding at this. So that leads to demotivation.
Maybe we never get our author-published book out at all and that happens way too many times with too many first-time authors. I do not want to see this happen to you. So, do yourself a favor and start with Kindle.
Set up the account and use a certain amount of time. Is it 5 minutes, 30 minutes, or 1 hour? Don't kill yourself on this but go very slowly.
Make sure that you can get that book onto the market. That is the secret between the winners and the losers when it comes to author-published books. So, have you published your first book or a book at all?
If you have, I want to know so that I can make sure I'm making these articles to the right audience. Write the word "Yes" below in the comments if you have published your very first book.
If you have never published the book, you have maybe written it but you have never published it, then write the word "No" below in the comments. So that I'll know and it will help others as well get a basic feel of how many people are doing what within the audience.
Check out my other blogs and videos for more answers to your self-publishing questions.