It is much simpler to publish your own eBook than you may imagine. Although publishing it may be as simple as uploading a file into Amazon’s KDP platform, the process of actually writing that book is by no means an easy one.
Why Write an eBook?
This useful blog by Visme shares some links and tips to put together your own eBook. It includes lots of great info about researching your topic and audience as well as templates to design your book ready to upload.
Although this blog discusses using eBooks as Lead Magnets, they can also be a great way of monetising your existing content.
I’m not going to mislead you into thinking you can suddenly make a fortune selling eBooks on Amazon. However, over time, with enough of them, they can be a extra revenue stream in your business.
How Do You Write a Book?
Without wishing to sound flippant, the short answer is ‘one word at a time’. But sometimes, that’s easier said than done.
They say we all have a book in us, and while that may be true, it doesn’t necessarily mean you should write and publish that book!
Although many people dream of writing a book one day, far fewer of us actually do it.
Writing a book is a marathon, not a sprint.
The ease of self publishing means that it has gained a reputation for poor quality books..
However, I would argue that Amazon, and consumers, are more sophisticated than they were a few years ago when self publishing platforms like KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing) first emerged.
A bad book simply won’t sell and will soon slide out of the algorithms’ reach. Bad books have a way of making themselves obsolete thanks to algorithms.
If you are ‘self’ publishing your own eBook – that doesn’t mean you have to do it all yourself.
If you want your book to be read (found and bought), get help. Even if it’s asking a critical friend to proof read it. Our brains have a way of reading what it thinks it’s written so it’s easy to miss your own typos, spelling and grammar errors. At the end of the day, your business and reputation are at stake.
A bad book reflects badly on you.
That may all sound off putting, so let’s get some perspective.
If you want to write and publish a book, here are my two pro tips to help you get there:
1) Build Your Book With Blogs
Writing is like exercising. The more you do it the fitter you get. It’s also easier to maintain your level of fitness and stamina by doing a little, often.
One of the best ways to form the healthy writing habits you need to maintain the stamina to finish that book is to blog regularly. Those blogs can then by repurposed into the chapters of your book. That’s exactly what I did when I wrote my ‘Blogging for Business’ book (updated in 2022).
Not only do you get the immediate marketing benefits of publishing a fresh piece of content, but you are also one chapter closer to finishing the book. Depending on how prolific you are as a blogger, this means you can complete the content for your book in a few weeks.
You ‘add value’ by compiling those blogs into an easily digestible format (an eBook) and inevitably, you will rewrite, edit, add and change sections to suit the book, therefore creating a new product with little extra effort. Win.
2) Voice Type
Write quickly by using dictation tools.
A quick way to capture ideas and write content is to use the voice typing function on your phone.
By ‘speaking’ your writing, readers can literally hear your voice and tone in your content.
Here’s How
– Open an email on your phone
– Address it to yourself
– Tap in the text area
– Select microphone icon on the keyboard
– Speak and it will type
– Send message
The advantage of emailing it to yourself is the message will be waiting for you to deal with when you are next at your computer, rather than languishing forgotten about on some app deep in your phone!
Need a little help making your book a reality?
Book a FREE INSPIRATION CALL with me…
