How To Write A Book

Guys, it's not as difficult as you may think to become a published author, and there are many benefits to self-publishing and getting your work out there.

Back in the day, (I'm talking even 5-10 years ago) it was a lot less common that you'd have the opportunity to become a published author. Technology has been opening up opportunities for us, and if you have a message to share and want to spread it to even more people... writing a book is a really great medium to do it through.

Let's start first with the most obvious benefits of self-publishing.

1. You don't have to wait to be "picked"

Old school publishing is not the only way any more. You no longer need to find a literary agent, pitch your manuscript and then sit pretty waiting for someone to select you. Not that this is a bad route - it just isn't guaranteed. I'd rather "just do it" and pick myself. That's the message I want the universe to hear: I need nobody's approval!

2. Passive income

When you have a book on #Amazon, it becomes a passive recurring revenue source from an "evergreen" product. Evergreen means it's something that isn't time-limited and is available at all times, anywhere. It's not like that group coaching program that has closed doors after X date. It's there, it's live, and even though you're not making hundreds of dollars per sale, it's an easy product to market and you can point people to it for years.

3. Exposure / Reach

If you also run a business, #Amazon is a potentially untapped resource for you to expand your reach and exposure to new people. Once you've launched your product, not only do you have the ability to start raking in your royalties, the platform will also recommend your book to potential shoppers who have searched for books with similar themes, search terms or categories. BOOM.

4. Searchability

Speaking of search-ability, what better piece of info to pop up when someone googles you than "OH COOL, SHE WROTE A FREAKING BOOK!" That will happen and direct people to Amazon to snag their own copy. Then they get the ultimate in "like, know, trust" as they get to spend an entire book with you and your wisdom! Win-win.

5. Credibility / Expert Status

Now, I'm not saying I think I'm an EXPERT - I actually feel more like a mentor and like I contribute to the conversations of online business and self-publishing than I am a guru of either - but it does establish me as someone who is of "expert" status, and gives me credibility for expanding my network and for future networking opportunities. Conferences, Podcast Hosts, and Panels find your title of "Published Author" very attractive and it establishes you as an expert when you're introduced to bigger audiences who know nothing about you. If you're an author, it immediately creates an image of credibility before you even open your mouth.

Then you can open your mouth and tell them to go buy your book.

Win-win-win!

You will have to invest in yourself in order to get your project to completion, but aren't you worth the investment? If this is a goal of yours, don't you think it's time you start putting some energy into the process, instead of just wishing and hoping someday it'll happen?

Well, I wanna give you a quick kick in the pants, okay?

Without investing ANYTHING, I'm gonna give you my personal book mapping workbook (for free, you're welcome) so you can stop dreaming and start DOING. That's a great first step. Download it here.

The next step is to actually START WRITING! You can't move forward with publishing a book if you don't have content for the book that can be published!

So start writing. Generally, a manuscript for a small-medium sized book could be about 25,000-50,000 words. If you wrote 1000 words a week, you could crush your manuscript in about 6 months of focused effort.

If you write 1000 words a day, though... Does that sound like a lot? 1000 words? It's only 4 paragraphs. Or, about 1 word-document-sized page per day.

Speaking of word documents, that's really all you need in order to write! You don't need any fancy technology in order to do it. Just open up your word processor of choice and focus on writing.

I like to plan my writing time and work through chunks every week. You could also write for 20-30 minutes EVERY DAY. It doesn't really matter HOW, you just have to commit to DOING it. Because writing a book does not give you any instant gratification or benefits along the way, it's going to be reaaaaal easy to just put it off and onto the back burner.

RESIST THE URGE!!! I promise, finishing this thing WILL have some real rewards and benefits, including financial benefits, but in order for that to happen, you need the horse ahead of the cart.

GET. WRITING!

(Remember, if you're stuck for how to do that or don't know where to start, you can get my free book mapping workbook HERE!)

When your manuscript is done, here's what you need to do next:

-Find and hire an editor
-Get the manuscript edited
-Find and hire a designer
-Get your cover designed
-Find and hire an interior designer
-Have your edited manuscript laid out
-Upload your files to Amazon
-CELEBRATE YOUR LAUNCH!

This is a super top-level overview, but that's the format you'll follow in order to self-publish. It's not HARD, it just takes TIME. If you have any questions about the process, feel free to find me @leadherpublishing and hit my DMs with any questions! HAPPY WRITING!

(Oh, right, if you wanna get any of my books, you can find them, on Amazon, obviously.) HA!