I sold five times as many books during the launch of my second book than I did on my first one.

Now, I am still not a New York Times Best Selling author, but I’m starting to see the true power of online writing. In fact, this second book launch has given me enough confidence to believe I’ll be one of those, big wig, uber successful, tens-of -thousands-of-copies-selling writers one day.

I’m not here to brag. This will not be one of those “I made x in y amount of days” posts.

I hate those. And I’m sure you do too.

I wrote this post because I want to encourage you to write your first book and continue writing more books. I’ve seen many authors fall short on their first book and give up. Most first books aren’t good. To be honest, I still don’t think I’ve scratched the sufrace of my capabilities as a writer. I know if I continue to experiment and improve, skies the limit.

If you continue to experiment and improve, you will become a successful writer regardless of your talent level right now — I promise.

My First Book Launch

My first book did well enough for a first-time experiment, but in retrospect, I realized I made a ton of mistakes along the way that could have been avoided.

First, I rushed in getting it out there. From start to finish, it took 90 days to write, edit, and publish the book. With book number two, it took six months, and it shows. The quality of writing is much higher in the second book and I’m prouder of it.

Not only did I rush in writing the book itself, but I rushed in setting up the platform it needed to become a success. When I published my first book my email list had exactly zero people on it. With no platform of my own to stand on, I put the fate of my book strictly in the hands of Amazon. While Amazon does help authors promote books, your book won’t fly off the charts on its own.

Amazon works with an algorithm. If the algorithm notices your book is selling well for a sustained period of time, it will market the book on your behalf, but you need to create those initial sales yourself.

With my first book launch, the extent of my promotion techniques included buying advertising from one website. That accounted for enough sales to get a bit of momentum going, but it was nowhere near what I was able to accomplish with this launch. I imagine my launches will be even larger in the future as I continue to grow my platform.

Here are the four important lessons I learned.

Your Platform Matters

If you’re interested in writing a book, focus on building a quality email list first. In the coming weeks, I’m going to go back to basics and detail everything I’ve done to go from an unknown writer with zero fans to having thousands of people on my email list to share my work with.

For now, here is a detailed guide I created on finding fans for your work. 

To start, you need a few things at a minimum:

• A website (which you can start for just $3 – I have a guide here that shows you how here)
• An email provider and a landing page service to retain new readers.
• Hustle. I wrote for two years before I was able to get my first thousand email subscribers. Once I hit that milestone, I had the skills to keep growing the platform. My guide above will help you get started, but nothing is going to replace your elbow grease.

If I could go back in time, I wouldn’t have launched my first book without having an email list in place first — it’s that crucial.

If you’ve read about online writing before you might have heard the phrase “the money is in the list.”

There’s no way around it. You need an email list to be successful as an author.

You can also learn how to build one — key word being can. I’ve been around long enough now to know that anyone who says they are struggling to get readers isn’t trying that hard.

Don’t be Shy

In the beginning of my writing career, I was concerned with being too promotional or “too salesy.” This comes from a place of insecurity.

If you spend your hard earned time crafting something with your own two hands, you have every right to promote it as heavily as possible. Also, no matter what you do, the majority of people you reach out to will not buy from you.

The people on your email list or in your community will fit one of the following categories:

• Die hard fans – These people truly love the work you do. According to Kevin Kelly, if you have 1,000 true fans, you’ll make enough from their support to earn a full-time living. Mind you, this is 1,000 true fans, not 1,000 people on your email list. There’s a huge difference between the two.
• Casual fans – These people enjoy your work, but they often need to be reminded when you put something new out. It’s also your job to provide compelling reasons for why they should buy your work.
• Never buyers- For whatever reason, these people will never buy from you. They likely joined your email list solely to get something for free.

I sent multiples emails to my list during the launch to let them know about the promotional price of the book, which was just .99 cents. I set it at this price to get initial sales early, and still more than 100 people unsubscribed during the launch. That’s perfectly fine with me. In total, about five percent of my list bought the book in the first few days. With my next launch, I plan to promote the book earlier, more heavily, and at a higher price.

Have a Long Term Plan

The book launch itself lasted for a week, but it’s only the beginning. I plan on promoting the book consistently for the next year.

I’m doing so in the following ways:

• I created an email funnel to promote the book – An email funnel is simply a series of automated emails you create one time. When a new person joins your list, they receive these emails. The funnel includes a 7-day course with ideas from my book and it offers explicit calls to actions to buy the book in half of the emails. For the rest of the year, I will create content in my personal development niche to send new readers into that funnel.
• I created an ad campaign on Amazon – This is working well so far. I am making more money than I spend on advertising, and I will continue to refine my ad tracking each week.
• Experiments – I will be running new experiments week to week to increase sales. Right now, I’m in the midst of a 30-day promotion campaign where I write a blog post per day to promote the book. After the 30 days are up, I will be trying new techniques such as using Quora, Slideshare, and anything else I can think of. Running experiments is actually a key part of the lessons taught in my book. You never know what works until you try.

Don’t Do it Alone

My book wouldn’t have done well without the people I’ve met in my online adventures.

I enlisted the help of some fellow authors I met to read the book, check for errors, and post reviews of the book when it went live on Amazon.

Instead of just promoting the book to my email list, I was able to work with an influential friend of mine who let me share my book on his list as well. In the future, I hope to have the help of many influencers, but I will never take an ingenuine approach to do so. The person who helped me with my recent launch was a friend who happened to be influential. We met after I submitted a post for his blog and developed a friendship. I’ve helped him in many ways prior to asking a favor, and I didn’t help him because I wanted a favor down the road.

I helped because karma is real. In general, you want to find ways to add value to other people, especially online. You don’t do it for a one to one transaction, but rather to be able to have the karma come back to you when you need it.

Here are some great guides on influencer outreach:

• Blogger Outreach: How to Get Influencers to Promote Your Content for Free
• How to Influence People: The Most Overlooked Secret

You Must Write a Book

I used to be skeptical about the idea that you could gain income and influence through writing. Even just prior to this launch, I wasn’t sure how high the ceiling was. I now know the ceiling is extremely high, and the only person in the way of a six-figure big time author career is me.

The same goes for you.

You can find thousands of fans for your work. Tens of thousands. Hundreds of thousands.

You can write a book that flies off the shelves.

But nobody can build your writing career for you. You can keep reading blog post after blog post without doing action or you can put your foot down, write your ass off, make a dent in the universe, and live out your writing dreams.

What the hell are you waiting for?

Did you know there’s a website called Medium.com you can use to make a full-time living writing, no strings attached? Get exclusive access to your free five-day email course on monetizing Medium.

You know you need to write often to have a successful writing career.

You want to build a writing habit so you can unleash the ideas, words, and stories you have locked inside you.

But…

You can’t bring yourself to face the page enough to make the habit stick.

You write sometimes, or worse, you don’t write at all. 

What should you do?

I can offer tips to help you, but you’ve heard them all, and they haven’t helped, right?

Tips don’t address the underlying psychology behind developing a writing habit.

Today I want to help you uncover and resolve the deep seated issues that keep you from sitting down to write.

Once you diagnose the problem, you can treat the symptoms.

Are you ready to get started?

The One Question You Must Answer “Yes,” to if You Want to Become a Writer

Do you really want to be a writer?

Think about it for a second.

There are two different types of people when it comes to writing. People who want to write, and people who like the idea of being a writer.

If you’re the type of person who dreams of living in a cabin where you drink whiskey while you write your novel, your chances of success are low.

You don’t want to write. You want the writer’s lifestyle.

In order to become a writer, you have to want to perform the act itself.

If you truly want to put words on the page, but fear, doubt, and negativity hold you back, then I can help you.

How to Reshape the Stories You Tell Yourself About Writing

When you’re trying to build a habit like writing, exercising, or eating healthy, lack of information isn’t the problem.

You know to eat less and exercise to improve your health, but knowing doesn’t help you overcome the psychological blocks that keep you on the couch eating chips.

The same thinking applies to your writing. You know you have to block out time, sit down, and write

Instead of focusing on the “what,” let’s focus on the “why,” behind improving your writing habits.

Here are some of the subtle stories writers and aspiring writers tell themselves. If you recognize any of these in yourself, there are ways to re-frame these stories and make them work to your advantage.

Story # 1 – I have to be a great writer

You want to create great work and that’s admirable. You care for your words and meticulously craft them in the hopes of becoming an all time great.

Maybe your dream of being a great writer is actually moving you away from your goal.

Writers aren’t created equal. Some writers have more natural talent than you do. Some are so freakishly talented you’ll never get close to their level.

If you measure yourself against a level or quality you’re incapable of producing, you’re setting yourself up for failure.

Who says you have to be the next Malcolm Gladwell, Charles Bukowski, or Sylvia Plath?

Maybe it’s okay to be a “pretty good,” writer who creates meaningful work and builds a solid living from their writing.

Instead of comparing yourself to writers who seem blessed with pure talent, try focusing on becoming the best writer you can be.

If you push your writing skills to your limit, you’ll pen some damn fine words, trust me.

If you can cultivate the spirit of being okay with doing your best, you’ll still end up creating work that blows your own mind.

For example you can say, “I want to write as well as I’m capable of writing. If I reach my potential as a writer, I’ll be happy.”

Story #2 – Writing is inherently difficult

“There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit at a typewriter and bleed.” – I won’t try to attribute this for fear of the quote police gracing my comment section.

Writers romanticize pain and suffering.

We take a masochistic pride in suffering through creative blocks.

I hate to burst your bubble but…

Writing isn’t difficult.

All you have to do is press fingers onto a keyboard and form sentences.

You have and endless amount of ideas in you. You may be suffering through writer’s block or avoiding writing altogether because you’re giving the act of writing itself more credit than it deserves.

Once you come up with an idea to write about or have an outline, start moving your fingers.

If I’m feeling stuck, I’ll write something like this: “Damn, I don’t feel like writing right now.” If I have to write 1,000 words of pure nonsense before I reach the zone then so be it.

The act of typing conjures creativity. The muse rewards action.

If you can disassociate the action of typing and the craft of creating compelling ideas, you stand a chance of building a habit that sticks.

Embody this phrase and your writing career will blossom: the act of writing is easy.

In your Writer’s Habit Worksheet, fill out the appropriate section with a statement that takes the pressure off of the words themselves.

For example, my statement might say, “Nobody gets talker’s block. I have interesting things to say. If I keep my fingers moving, the ideas will form as I go.”

Story #3 – I’m not productive 

The story you tell yourself about your identity has a major impact on your behavior. The words you place after the phrase “I am,” can define you.

When you say “I’m not productive enough to be a writer,” you take away all your power. It’s okay to admit you’re struggling, but you can re frame it in a way that gives you room to improve.

For example, you can take the phrase above and change it to: “I haven’t been writing as often as I want, but I’m committed to mastering my mindset in order to build my writing habit.”

Same scenario, different story. There’s power in switching your story.

Use your Writer’s Habit Worksheet to write a statement that creates a positive writer’s identity.

Story #4 – Writing involves a huge commitment

You’ve read blog posts telling you to write 1,000 words per day or to write every single day. You figure since you can’t commit to that much writing, you shouldn’t write at all.

If you re frame your story into one of testing methods instead of being bound to them, you’ll relieve some pressure and have the ability to explore and find out what works for you. 

You don’t have to write 1,000 words per day or write daily to build a solid writing habit.

You can create a habit with less—much less.

When you meet someone new, you don’t skip straight to marriage after the first date, do you?

Why, then, do you think you have to make a major commitment to writing in order to succeed?

The “hustle gurus,” who tell you to grind non stop have no idea how behavior and consistency work. We’re not all capable of going from zero to hero in three seconds.

It’s okay if you don’t feel like making a large commitment yet. Later on in this post, I’ll show you how to set reachable short term goals to help you gain the momentum you need to make the habit stick.

In the corresponding section of your Writer’s Habit Worksheet, create a sentence that alleviates the pressure of commitment.

For example, mine might say: “I’m writing to test and explore ideas.”

Story #5 – I have to be original

You want to write something so original it blows people away, and you’re showered with praise for your genius, original, and groundbreaking work.

Stop. Stop. Stop.

You can’t live in a vacuum and produce work without being influenced.

Nobody is original.

Shakespeare stole.

We all steal.

As a human being, your environment influences your behavior. Unless you become a recluse and never view any form of media, you’ll end up “borrowing,” ideas and styles from others.

If you let go of your need to be one hundred percent original, you won’t become a plagiarist. I promise.

There are a gazillion blog posts that offer writing advice, but no other writer has my voice, my unique experiences, and my subtle insights. 

The same applies to you.

In fact, if you’re too original, it means no one will be interested in your writing.

Are there still a few uncharted territories? Perhaps.

Will you be the one to discover them? I doubt it.

Focus on remixing and remaking what’s already been done and tailor it to your voice. Every successful writer does this.

Even fiction writing is generally the same: Somebody wants something, and someone or something is in the way of them getting it.

You’re over thinking.

Every “outline,” has been created it. It’s up to you to fill in the space with your words.

Now that you’ve uncovered the negative stories you tell yourself and re-framed them, we can talk about routines, systems, and strategies for creating a writing habit that sticks.

In your Writer’s Habit Worksheet, write a statement telling yourself it’s okay to borrow ideas.

Mine might say, “Once I learn from the greats, I can create my own style using my unique voice.”

How to Set Yourself Up for Success

I believe in having a solid vision for your long term success, but battles are won and momentum is gained in the short term.

Before we work on setting your writing goals, I want you to answer this question:

What does success look like for you in the immediate future?

Do you have a specific project you want to complete?

Are you simply trying to start writing period?

Are you a polished writer who needs to get back on track?

The goals for each type of success definition vary. Once you define success, setting a goal will be much easier.

I recently helped an established writer jump start his writing habit. He had a background in journalism and freelancing, but his writing career faded and he hadn’t faced the page in a while.

I helped him start a new blog and define his definition of success which was simply to “get back on the horse.”

Once he builds a consistent habit, his definition of success may change, and he can change his goals accordingly.

My definition of success is different. I’m looking to expand my reach, influence, and income through writing. This definition requires a healthy writing output, and my goals reflect those ambitions.

When I started writing, my definition of success was getting my work out there, because I dreamed about writing for a long time without taking action.

If you have zero writing experience, success shouldn’t look being a famous author.

You don’t have the chops for it (yet).

Success for you might mean writing often enough to believe in yourself.

Use your Writer’s Habit Worksheet to write an answer to the above question.

Why Most People Fail to Reach Their Goals

I’m great at following through with my writing goals, but I fail when it comes to my health goals.

When I want to get back into shape, I come up with a crazy plan to go from zero exercise to fitness guru overnight. I’ll plan to work out four times per week and cut out carbs completely.

You can guess how my plans work out.

I set the bar too high, and once I fail to reach my goals, I crash hard. The zero carb goal ends with me eating a pile of nachos and feeling a weird mixture of satisfaction and depression. Once I miss one day in my workout schedule, I give up completely.

Instead, I should try working out and eating no carbs once per week. Once I accomplish that a few weeks I can move up to twice per week. This gradual strategy would lead to me creating a solid fitness routine.

(This post will be my reminder).

When it comes to your writing goal, I want you to pick a ridiculously small goal you know you can achieve.

Maybe you choose a 250-word blog post once per week.

Maybe you promise to write one sentence when you get up each morning.

You can use an experimental run of one month to build a habit, then, you can increase your word count or frequency when you’re more confident.

Small goals seem trivial, but they help your brain associate positive thoughts with your new habit. Your brain likes to “win,” and when you reach your small goal it will start to “wire,” itself to believe you’re competent and capable of following through.

If you write your small goal down and keep it somewhere prominent where you can look at it, your chances of following through will go up as well.

What’s a dead simple easy to follow writing goal you can achieve? Write it down in your Writer’s Habit Worksheet.

For example, your goal can be: “I will write 100 words per day for the next 30 days,” or “I will write one 500 word blog post for the next two weeks.”

When you complete your trial run, decide if you want to increase your goal or do another trial run to firm up your habit.

How to 10X the Chances of Reaching Your Writing Goals

When you combine your easy to reach goal with a compelling “prize,” to work toward, your odds of following through will increase tenfold.

When you focus on goals alone, they’re hard to achieve, but when you see your goals through the lens of the rewards they’ll grant you, there’s a pot of gold at the end of your rainbow to look forward to.

I want you to take your definition of success and use it to write a compelling “prize statement,” you can look at to remind you why you want to build your writing habit.

For example, my prize statement would be “Writing 1,000 words per day will help me publish more books and grow my writing coach business.”

Use your Writer’s Habit Worksheet to create your compelling prize statement.

Throughout this post, you’ve learned subtle techniques that will help you build a writing habit that sticks.

Each is helpful on their own, but combining them makes you become invested in your habit, and ultimately your success.

How Long Does It Take to Build a Habit (That Sticks)?

According to a study conducted by University College London, it takes a minimum of 66 days and as long as 180 to build a habit that sticks.

Following this logic, if you write one sentence per day for two and a half months, you’ll have the solid writing habit.

Baby steps lead to a habitual process. At a certain point, you’ll “hit a groove,” and the habit will be ingrained into your system.

Now that I have a solid writing habit, I can take a few days off and come back to the page without worry of getting stuck.

Once you build the habit and make it stick, the sky’s the limit in terms of your growth as a writer.

Picture yourself a few months from now.

You’ve just published your first book or have a thriving blog with thousands of readers.

Even better, you’re the writer you once dreamed of becoming.

Most people try to become writers and fail. But you’re different. You made it to the end of this post and today’s the day you’re going to set yourself up for success.

Keep your Writer’s Habit Worksheet handy when you sit down to write. When you feel stuck, you can look at it to realize you’ve set yourself up for success.

Embody the statements you wrote down, and face the page with confidence.

I’m excited for you. You will love the rewards you reap from building your writing habit.

You can do this. Trust me.

Begin.

The steps to writing a book are simple.

Think you have a book in you?

We’ve all heard the overly quoted statistic.

81% of the population wants to write a book, but only 1% actually does.

In 2017, writing and publishing a book isn’t only possible, but it’s easier than it’s even been before.

There’s something amazing about being able to say you’ve written a book. Your self-esteem goes up. When people know you’ve written a book they have more respect for you. It can add credibility to your career or business.

When I received a proof copy of my first book, the feeling was euphoric.  I felt a mixture of pride and disbelief.

I created this.

Once you’ve published your first book, you can to stand proudly among the 1% who has done it, your bucket list has one less item, and at minimum you get a cool souvenir.

Then you can build your audience by blogging on Medium to sell even more books in the future.

If it’s halfway decent you’ll earn a profit. You write the book once and it continues to pay each month (even though sales will likely drop after a few months, which is why many successful self-published authors write multiple books).

The bad news? Books aren’t exactly easy to write. In order to write one, you’re going to need to have a healthy writing habit. You’re also going to have to come to grips with the fact that your first draft is going to suck and will need to be rewritten several times.

Even the polished, final version of your book won’t be that good.

That’s okay. Your first book is for learning. This isn’t going to be one of those cheesy “Write Your Book in 7 Days and Sell 1,209,283 copies,” type of posts. It’s just me sharing what I know from experience.

Don’t expect your first book to sell 10,000 copies, make the New York Times Best Seller List, and launch your career into the stratosphere. It’s not going to happen. But if you become a better writer and publish more books, your income will grow.

Regardless of the results, the process is worth it. I’ve met a bunch of self-published authors with varying success, and 100% of them are happy with their choice to write and publish their first book.

If you’re thinking about writing a book, you should write one.

One of the First Steps to Writing a book is Setting Expectations

I’ve seen some authors sell a decent amount of books their first try. I don’t personally know any who had breakout success with their first book. Your first book is an experiment and a learning process. If you go into the process with unrealistic expectations you’ll end up disappointed.

It’s important to understand what you want and what your goals are for your career as an author. Some just want to cross writing a book off of their bucket list. Others want to turn it into a full time living. Some use their books as launching pads for a business.

I’ve broken down the author types into three different categories. Each category requires a certain level of commitment, both mentally and financially.

Figure out which one you are (or aspire to be) and plan accordingly.

Author Type # 1 – The Laborer of Love

The laborer of love has dreamed of writing a book for a long time. Of course they’d like their book to sell, but it’s not their main reason for writing the book. They just want to be able to say they did it. At this level, you don’t have to break the bank on cover design, editing, and marketing.

Budget Range – $300-500

Author Type # 2 – The Serial Writer

This is the type of person who writes multiple books in order to make a full-time living as an author. They write quality books, but they keep tight deadlines to write multiple books a year. They take pride in their writing, but they’re more business minded and aren’t hoping to become the next Hemingway.

Most successful self-published authors fall into this category.

Steve Scott is a great example. He started writing short books (20-30k words) every 3 weeks. He now makes north of half a million dollars per year in royalties after having written more than 60 books. He used his platform and authority as an author to pursue more business ventures, but book royalties are his main revenue source.

Joanna Penn is another great example. She’s published 19 books — half fiction and half non-fiction. She says that “none of her books are breakout hits,” but the cumulative amount of royalties added up to nearly six figures in the past year. 

Lastly, take a look at the income reports from serial author Michael Stawicki. He waited a year before publishing the reports to give a clear view of the struggles he faced early on. In his first few months he made little money and even lost money some months.

Now, according to NYT Bestselling Author Kevin Kruse, Stawicki “makes more money than 75% of self-published authors.”

When you read statistics about self-published authors not making much money, the data often includes writers who only write one book.

You’re definitely not going to be able to make a full-time living from one book if you don’t already have a huge audience. I’d be interested to see the numbers for serial authors who dedicate themselves to publishing multiple books. I bet the numbers are more favorable.

I plan on writing a new book every 4-6 months. I take my reputation as an author seriously. I want to write quality books, but I want to move towards a full-time living too. This schedule gives me enough room to make those cumulative sales but also gives me enough time to produce quality work.

Sales for my first book have averaged anywhere from $225-$300 per month. Not exactly “swimming in money,” but I did make a profit and I imagine with several books published the monthly figures will start to grow.

I personally know an author who has written about 30 books, which enabled him to write full time. It seems like it’s not only possible, but also feasible to make a living as an author with the serial book writing strategy. It doesn’t take master level writing skills. It just takes work, diligence, and patience.

Authors on this level spend more on quality editing and design. They also spend a lot on advertising for their book launches.

Budget Range – $500-1,000 

Author Type # 3 – The Authorpreneur

This is the Holy Grail for aspiring writers. This is when your hard work and persistence pay off and you’re able to make more than just a comfortable living through your writing. The Authorpreneur takes the credibility they’ve gained from their books and leverages it to make money in other ways.

Their income streams include:

• Online courses
• Speaking engagements
• Affiliate income
• Sponsorship
• (High amounts of) book royalties

At this level, the author usually has a very large following (10,000 to 100,000+ email subscribers). Once you have a large audience it’s hard to fail.

Got a new book out? Send an email to your subscribers and sell 1,000 copies on day one.

Launch an online course? You can convert at .5% and still make a king’s ransom.

I can’t speak on exactly what it takes to get there because I’m not there. But here are some things I can safely say about making it to this level.

• You have to work hard.
• You have to build a large email list
• You have to develop relationships with influential people.
• Most of the writers I’ve noticed on this level have been at it for 5-15 years.

While this is an ideal goal, if you set your sights on this level too early you’ll burn out. If you compare yourself to these people you’ll feel insecure. If you blindly copy their techniques they won’t work.

Take it one book at a time, use blogging and book writing to build your following, develop trust and rapport with your audience, and be patient.

The only reason I included this author level is to give you something to aim for long-term. This is my long-term goal, and I keep it in the back of my mind when I feel like giving up.

It’s my dream. It might be yours too.

It’s extremely difficult to pull off. Anyone who tells you it isn’t is lying to you. But if it’s your dream you should move towards it and believe in yourself.

Authors at this level have major book launches that cost a lot of money. Usually they’ll have contract with a publishing house.

Self published authors at this level spend a lot of money on design, editing, and marketing. James Altucher, author of Wall Street Journal Bestseller, Choose Yourself, spent $31,000.00 to publish his book. It went on to sell more than 350,000 copies.

Platform or no Platform?

A platform means having a group of people who’ve given you permission to communicate with them. An author platform usually consists of a blog and an email list. Having an email list of people who you can market your books to increases your chance of success.

Seth Godin says you should start marketing your book “three years before it comes out,” by building a platform.

If you’re in the labor of love camp, then don’t worry about having a large audience before you launch. For all other types, you might want to consider building a following before you launch first book.

When I wrote my book, I had no following. If I had a bigger following at the time the book would’ve succeeded on a higher level.

Here’s the thing – when you don’t have your own following, you’re relying on the book retailers and advertising companies to promote your book. This can only take you so far.

Every single book I’ve seen succeed on a large scale was by someone who had an email list. This works well combined with other marketing techniques like working with an SEO company.

So how large is large? Well, it depends on who you ask. Some authors have 100,000 email subscribers. Some have a few hundred.

It’s more important to have engaged email subscribers than it is to have a large email list with people who aren’t interested in you or your work.

Taylor Pearson, author of The End of Jobs, sold 5,000 copies in his first month with just 700 email subscribers. He had a couple of things going for him.

• The book was well written.
• He had a great professional network established prior to the book release.
• He had an insanely good marketing plan. 

A smaller email list with high engagement can help your book sell if you use smart marketing like Taylor.

Right now I have around 1,400 email subscribers. I’d like to see that number in the 3,000-5,000 range when I launch my new book at the end of the year.

The value of having email subscribers is that they can help your book get the “lift,” it needs to succeed on Amazon and other platforms.

If your launch goes well and you get a high amount of sales during your first few weeks, Amazon will help you market your books by recommending them to customers.

They’re in business to make money too, so if they see that a book is already doing well, it makes sense for them to promote the book too, because they get a commission from every sale.

If you just want to get your feet wet in publishing, you can start with no following. If you’re looking to play with the big boys and girls, work on building a following first.

I might come out with a list-building guide in the future, but there are several bloggers who can do the subject more justice than I can.

Here are the best resources on the Internet for building your email list:

Free Resources:

• Video fruit 
• Smart passive income
• Jeff Goins

Paid Resource:

• Serious list building for authors

The Nuts and Bolts of Writing a Book

Alright. After that long-winded introduction I’m sure you want to know how to actually write the damn thing.

Teses are the steps to writing a book I followed. I’m not saying it’s the best way. It’s just the way I learned how to do it.

Step 0 – (Optional) Research Phase

If you’re worried about your book being low quality because it lacks due diligence and research, by all means take the time to research first.

Depending on the subject of your book, research may be necessary. Once you’ve pinned down your idea, you can decide if you want to do research for your book.

I read a lot. So before I even had the idea for my first, I’d been collecting and organizing information I read in various books.

I used the “note card technique,” to research and collect information. I learned about it from best selling authors Ryan Holiday and Robert Greene. You can read about the entire process in detail here.

It helped to have a stack of quotes, facts, and anecdotes to draw on before I got started on writing the book.

Patience is key when it comes to creating quality work. If you want your book to be more authoritative, it’s smart to make it well referenced. But if you’re writing something like a memoir or fiction then research isn’t necessary.

Step 1 – The Idea

If you have an idea for a book already, skip to step two.

If you don’t know what you want to write about, here are some primer questions to help get you started:

What can you talk about with ease?

For me, living a strength based and purposeful life was something I always talked about.

What do you like to read?

If you don’t like to read, then you shouldn’t write. Period. I love to read books about personal development, business, psychology, spirituality, and marketing.

What’s your worldview?

I learned this exercise from popular author Jeff Goins. He says to create a worldview statement to get a focus for the subject of your writing. The statement goes like this: all _____ should ______. Mine ended up being: All people should use their natural talents and strengths to become successful.

What pisses you off?

The fact that people blindly follow the rules of society pisses me off.

Using these questions and other similar questions can help get your ideas flowing. If you’re still stuck, try writing down 10 book ideas per day for a week. After a week, take a look at what you came up with and narrow it down to a broad subject you can write about.

It’s better if you’ve given your book idea some serious thought before you write it, but I also don’t want you to suffer from “analysis paralysis.”

Your first book probably won’t be great. You might as well ship it and learn something along the way.

This is my philosophy.

I’m not from New York, nor am I a stuffy, elitist writer, so I don’t really care about anything related to the word “literary.” I just want to see people grow and share their thoughts with the world.

Step 1a – The Mind Map

The mind map is basically a brain dump of everything you can think of to include in a book about the topic you’ve settled on.

I take the main subject, write it down, circle it, and start branching ideas off of it.

The ideas branching off of the main circle may end up being chapters or sections of chapters, but at this point is doesn’t matter. The entire purpose is to get down everything you can to see if there’s enough “meat,” there for a whole book.

Some people like using post it notes and large sheets of construction paper to write the mind map on. There’s also mind mapping software you can use if you like.

I set a timer for a half an hour to do my first round of mind mapping. Then I step away from it for a while and come back for a second round. I’ll sleep on it for a day then repeat the process one more time.

For your first book, you can move quickly on your ideas, and a couple of rounds of mind mapping should be enough to get you started.

When you move forward in your author career, you’ll have a more elaborate thought process and you might let ideas marinate for months, even years, before you make the decision to start writing a book.

Slower thought processes will lead to higher quality work, but in my opinion, you want to get that first book out there simply to get the “write a book monkey,” off your back.

Step 2 – Outline

Once you have your mind map complete, you need to turn it into an outline.

To create your outline, start grouping similar topics on your mind map. You’ll start to notice patterns with the your ideas and they’ll start to form into chapters and sub sections. There are a couple of different ways you can structure your book.

Fiction

Fiction books usually follow a three-part story arc. There’s the introduction/plot formation phase, the climax, and resolution. I know absolutely nothing about writing fiction so that’s all I can say to that.

Non-Fiction

Here’s a general outline for structuring a non-fiction book.

The chapter and section structure is easy to follow and it’s neat. It looks like this:

[Chapter A]

• Section A
• Section B
• Section C
• Section D

It’s the one I would recommend to first time authors.

Take your mind map and organize the ideas into chapters and sections.

Take the ideas that are similar to one another and group them together. Each of the groups becomes a chapter, with each individual idea within a group becoming a section of the chapter.

This won’t be the final version of your outline, but it’s enough to get started. You’ll find out that by the time you’re done with the finished product, it won’t resemble what you started out with.

Step 3 – Writing the Rough Draft (30-90 Days)

Here comes the fun part!

If you have the outline of the book nailed down, the writing shouldn’t be too difficult. Coming up with good ideas is the tricky part, but once the outline is complete and you have a good grasp on the subject you’re good to go.

When writing my first book, I repeated the mind mapping and outlining process for each chapter. I did this because I wanted to draw out any new ideas.

You’re not going to flesh everything out in your initial mind map and outline, so it’s probably a good idea to see if there’s anything else you can add.

For example:

Let’s say my outline for Chapter A looks like this:

[Chapter A]

• Section A
• Section B
• Section C
• Section D

I’ll go through the mind-mapping phase again for 10-15 minutes. After that, I’ll re create the outline for the chapter and it might look something like this:

[Chapter A]

Section A

• Subsection A
• Subsection B
• Subsection C

Section B

• Subsection A
• Subsection B
• Subsection C

Section C

• Subsection A
• Subsection B
• Subsection C

You get the idea.

The more you can flesh out ideas and structure before you start writing, the easier it will be.

Rules For Writing Your Rough Draft

1. Don’t Edit Anything – Your first draft is going to suck big time. The whole purpose of the draft is to get your ideas on paper and to see if you have enough there for a book. If you self-edit while you’re trying to write your rough drat, you’ll end up in “self-editing hell,” and run the risk of never finishing your book. I’ve seen this happen to several authors. They get bogged down in editing purgatory and never escape.
2. Write every day – Your rough draft should be written in “rapid writing mode.” If you write every day, you’ll be able to complete a rough draft of your manuscript in 30-90 days depending on the length of the book. I set a goal of 1,000 words per day for my draft, but it’s up to you to decide your pace. I wouldn’t go lower than 500 words per day. I’d also suggest writing at the same exact time every day too. It helps build a habit.
3. Don’t look things up while you write – If there’s a fact or quote you’re looking to insert, you can find it later. Just leave yourself a note in the text e.g. [Insert statistic here] and come back to it on your second time through.
4. Concentrate – This goes without saying, but you shouldn’t surf the web and check your phone during scheduled writing time. Whatever time block you dedicate to your writing should be done in a state of absolute focus.
5. Have fun! – Writing your first book will be one of the most exciting times in your life. Every day of the rough draft phase was a blast for me. You have several headaches ahead of you, so enjoy the rough draft phrase.

Step 4 – Read Your Book Out Loud

Editing is perhaps one of the most important steps to writing a book. You’re going to end up editing your book multiple times before you send it off to a professional editor.

In the first editing phase, you’re going to read the entire book out loud to yourself. Why? Because you’ll catch tons of phrases that sound weird and don’t make sense grammatically.

Some people like to print out the entire book and mark it up with a red pen. I made edits in real time on a word document. It’s up to you.

Step 5 – Editing Phase 2 – The Chopping Phase

During this editing phase, you’re going to want to go through and take a hard look at the structure of your book, the concepts in it, and the way it reads.

Writing is always the easy part. It’s difficult to cut out portions of your book, but it’s necessary.

Remove any unnecessary sentences, paragraphs, sections, or entire chapters.

I tried using some posts form my blog in my first book. Some of the ones I included didn’t fit the subject matter well or they interrupted the flow of the book, so I removed them.

Many sentences were removed. If I repeated myself I removed the sentence. If the sentence was “fluffy,” and didn’t do much to support the topic I removed it.

As a rule of thumb, you should remove at least 25% of the book. There’s no way it’s good enough to need less editing than that.

After you’ve removed a good portion of the book, go back to the beginning and add some flare or expand on topics you might have glossed over.

Step 6 – Editing Phase 3 – Beta Readers

Beta Readers are a group of people who agree to read the semi-finished draft of your book. I reached out to other authors I knew as well as friends of mine to read my manuscript.

Beta readers will help you catch any spelling or grammar mistakes in the book and they’ll also make comments on the overall structure and provide input for improvements.

There’s also another benefit to having beta readers. When you’re book is published on Amazon, you can ask them to review the book.

Reviews are important when it comes to marketing your book for a couple of reasons:

• Amazon uses reviews as a part of it’s ranking algorithm.
• Reviews provide social proof. If a random buyer sees your book with a lot of reviews they’re more likely to buy it.
• Certain advertisers require your book to have a handful of reviews before they’ll allow you to use their services.

Once you’ve received feedback from your beta readers you can work on finishing the final phase of your manuscript.

Step 7 – The Polishing Phase (1-2 Weeks)

In this phase you can incorporate the feedback you received from your beta readers and look through your manuscript to see if there’s anything missing.

Does your book flow well from chapter to chapter?

Is your voice consistent throughout the book?

Can anything be added to make it better — stories, statistics, or concepts?

You want to the book to be as complete as possible before you send it off to an editor. You also want to read through it a couple of times to catch any spelling or grammar mistakes before it’s sent off.

You’re hiring an editor because they’re supposed to catch every mistake, but you want to do your part in making sure it’s checked as thoroughly as possible.

Step 8 – Send Manuscript to Editor

If you’re serious about your book becoming a success, professional editing isn’t optional. If your book has spelling or grammar errors it will turn people off. Even worse, they’ll leave you bad reviews on Amazon.

There are two different types of editing — copy editing and developmental editing.

Copy editing is only for spelling and grammar mistakes.

With developmental editing, you collaborate with an editor to make sure your book has a strong narrative and reads smoothly. Developmental editing can turn a good book into a great book, but it’s expensive. Good developmental editing will cost you thousands of dollars.

The choice is yours, but for your first book you might want to stick to simple copy editing. When you have a book or two under your belt, you can work with a top-notch editor to work on your NYT bestseller.

You can find an editor on freelance websites like freelancer and upwork.

These sites allow you to post a job listing where different freelancers can bid on your job and give you estimates of how much it will cost to complete.

It’s important to set your budget beforehand and also make sure you set a clear deadline for how long you want the editing to take.

Most editors charge by word count. Some charge per hour (try to get a fixed price if they say they’re hourly.) Don’t be afraid to negotiate. A good copy editor will cost you a couple hundred bucks.

So what do you do while your book is being edited?

When you’re book is being edited, you can start to search for a cover designer. Your book cover is definitely something you don’t want to pinch pennies on. When it comes to books on Amazon and other online retailers, they’re definitely judged by their covers.

If your cover looks unprofessional, people will pass on your book. You also want to make sure your cover looks good as a thumbnail image. With the cover for my first book, the subtitle was too small and was hard to see in thumbnail version. Unfortunately I didn’t realize it until it was too late. Here are some great examples of well-designed book covers with appealing lettering.

You can go for a more graphic heavy style if you want, but the ones I’ve seen do well usually have crisp lettering and eye-catching colors.

Prices for book covers can range anywhere from $100-$1,000. For your first book, get something nice but don’t break the bank.

Here are some resources for finding book cover designs:

archangelink.com

happyselfpublishing.com

99designs.com

Step 9 – Incorporating Feedback/ Final Edit

When you receive your manuscript back from an editor, you might be taken a back at the amount of suggested changes. I’ve seen some authors get really upset at the comments and suggestions they’ve gotten.

Keep a few things in mind when you’re looking at feedback from an editor:

• This is their job. If they make a suggestion it’s based on solid knowledge and experience.
• They want your book to do well, which is why they made the suggestions.
• It’s not personal.

Ultimately, it’s up to you to decide whether or not to accept your editor’s changes. Of course you’ll want to correct the grammatical errors they found, but if they make some suggestions about structure or subject matter you have the power to make the final decision.

Once you’ve completed making the changes, you’re going to want to read over the manuscript over a few more times to make sure it’s juuust right. I’d set a limit at 3 — you don’t want to fall into self editing hell.

After your book is edited, you want to hire someone to format your book so it can be uploaded to Amazon and other retailers. You can use the freelancer sites I mentioned before to find someone to format your book.

Picking a Title

This is one of the steps to writing a book that should be done with care. I didn’t really like the title of my first book (The Destiny Formula), and the subtitle was way too long (Find your purpose. Overcome Your Fear of Failure. Use Your Natural Talents and Strengths to Build a Successful Life.)

The best advice I’ve heard for choosing a title is to make sure it clearly communicates what your book is about. It should also be succinct. Don’t try to be too cute or clever. You also want to use your sub-title to explain the benefits of your book.

Conclusion

I was going to dive into a section on how to publish your book on Amazon, but that will likely require another 4,500 word guide just to explain it. I’ll leave you with these parting thoughts.

Writing your first book will be one of the most awesome/scary/anxiety ridden/fantastic/stressful/joyous/at times miserable parts of your life. It’s an emotional roller coaster that’s well worth the price of admission. Remember to have fun. Your first book isn’t going to sell a bunch of copies. Keep your expectations low. Enjoy the process of growing as a writer. Begin plotting the idea for your next book.

My book was released in January and I’m just now starting the work for my second book. If I could go back in time I would begin writing my second book right after I finished marketing my first. I made a nice little profit form writing one, but in order to reach my goals I’m going to have to write more. The good news is they’ll be higher quality each time and my audience will be larger each time.

If you’re serious about becoming a full-time writer, I suggest you get started on the process.

P.S. 

If you’re really serious about learning the steps to writing a book there are paid resources to teach you how.

Self Publishing School has helped hundreds of authors publish their first book. I took the course and I made every penny back and then some. They have two different options — pro and master level. The master level includes 8 one hour coaching sessions, but it’s much more expensive.

Here’s a link to a free video series that explains what the course is about. If you like what you see and decide to buy the course, I’ll give you unlimited coaching sessions with me for free. It’s an affiliate link, so I do make a commission on the sale at no extra cost to you.

If you have questions about the course prior to purchasing feel free to email me at ayo@pro-writer.com

First, let’s eliminate all potential whining from whiny writers.

We’re living in the best possible time in human history to be writers. As a writer today, you don’t have to jump through the insane hoops, obstacles, and barriers your predecessors had to.

Kurt Vonnegut wrote for twenty-five years before publishers discovered him.

Today, you literally have access to billions of potential readers. With time, patience, and effort, people will notice you.

The times have created a “wild west,” of content creation and publishing. With the floodgates open, the water gets muddier.

With today’s publishing and online writing landscape, it’s just as important to be able to market your work as it is to write well. But where do you draw the line?

Do you write to write well, or do you write for clicks and subscribers to help you build the platform you need to reach a wider audience?

The Truth About Online Writing We All Must Understand

Great art and marketing aren’t mutually exclusive.

If you think high-quality literary writing should stand on its own two feet and spread through pure word of mouth, you will fail.

There are exceptions to this of course. If you’re Malcolm Gladwell, you can get away with doing zero marketing for your work and just write. But you’re not Malcolm Gladwell and you never will be.

Unless you’re one of the freakishly talented writers who go viral based on their words alone, you’re going to have to market your work and hustle. There’s no way around it. If you don’t want to do that, quit.

If you think writing for an audience means you have to dumb down everything you write into “top ten,” lists to get attention, you’re also misguided.

People are looking for interesting stories. Great writing isn’t dead. You don’t have to write an entire blog post of one sentence paragraphs to succeed.

You need balance.

How do You Want the World to See You?

At the end of the day, you have to write based on your definition of writing success (with elements that will help you build influence.)

I could write a new top ten list every day, publish it, and inflate my number of clicks and subscribers. It’s simple. All you have to do is write “Top 10 Ways to Do X,” name drop Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, or Harvard research, and fill each point with a quote plus one sentence of original writing.

I could do that, but I won’t. Not because I have the right to judge what makes good or bad writing, but because I wouldn’t be happy with myself if I wrote that way. It would feel empty and cheap based on my standards.

But just because I don’t write top 10 lists doesn’t mean I don’t bake elements of marketing into my work.

I try to write intriguing headlines, break up sentences to make them easier to read and use active voice to draw people down the page.

I push my words to the right websites and publications because I believe in them. If you believe in what you write, you should do everything you can to promote it without shame, because if you need to say it the world needs to hear it. 

Maybe your aim is to build up your subscriber base to launch a product, gain visibility for your company, and establish yourself as a guru. In that case, write for clicks if you like. Just know what you’re sacrificing in return.

The Rules of Influence

If you (just) build it, they won’t come.

You must earn attention. Nobody will hand it to you.

Using good grammar and sentence structure doesn’t make your writing interesting. It makes it pretty. You can write well and remain obscure. It takes more than pretty words for people to notice you. An MFA is a prerequisite for absolutely nothing in terms of real world success.

If you put your writing in front of the right eyes, it will increase your influence. This means guest posting, republishing, and advertising.

You have to show up over and over and over again when most others won’t.

You also have to come to grips with the fact that you will probably lose out to click bait articles in the short term if you focus on your craft.

If you write well and become a better marketer your time will come, but in the short term, people who publish “top ten rules for success,” will run circles around you.

That’s fine. Don’t worry about them. Run your race.

I have a sneaking suspicion you want it all — to write well and to have the audience, income, and body of work.

It’s possible. Continue you learn how to blend art and marketing until it’s just right. Then you win.

Self-publishing has leveled the playing field and given writers a chance who wouldn’t have had one before.

Much of the stigma around self-publishing is gone too, and there are authors making a real impact and an income with their words.

I took a course on self-publishing, and since then I’ve written two books. I also have plans for multiple books to come in the future. Now, I’m positive I’ll continue writing them for the rest of my life, all the while becoming a better writer.

If you’re on the fence about writing your first book, here’s why you should do it.

Confidence

Regardless of how well your book does, writing one is an accomplishment. When you tell people you’ve written a book, they’ll get a “wow,” look in their eyes.

You’ll be able to look back at a piece of work you crafted hold onto it forever.

If you follow through with publishing a book, you won’t be scared to take on new opportunities. In terms of self-esteem boosters, publishing your own book might be at the top of the list.

Branding

Everybody seems to have their own personal brand these days. Building a body of work to showcase your talents goes a long way when it comes to your career or your business.

We live in a public world where everyone has a public persona to maintain. Writing a book adds credibility to your name and makes you seem more competent or intelligent.

Some people say books are the new business cards.

If you have a startup, a book could put your business on the map. If you want to grow your clout and influence as a writer, a book will surely help you do that.

Content marketing and online branding are weaving their way into the fabric of professionalism in every knowledge industry. A book signals knowledge and adds credibility to anyone who writes one.

Expression

As a unique individual, you have something unique to add to the conversation.

If you have the slightest itch to write a book, it means you’re filled with ideas that can help other people. Instead of thinking about sharing your ideas as a luxury, think of it as a duty or necessity.

Les Brown once said most businesses, books, and great ideas can be “found in the graveyard,” because people never took a chance on themselves before they went six feet under.

If 81 percent of people want to write a book and less than one percent does, there are tons of pent-up ideas that need to be expressed.

The landscape we’re in offers the opportunity to express them. If nothing else, you should write a book as a cathartic exercise to get the weight of your ideas off your chest.

Money

Now I’m not going to be one of those people who promises you’ll make “six figures in six months,” if you start publishing books, but books create platforms to make an income in several ways.

Books can lead to:

• Speaking engagements
• Consulting work
• Creation and sale of online courses
• Affiliate marketing opportunities
• Freelance work or client work for a service based business

Most self-published authors write one book, fail to market it well and get upset when they aren’t instant millionaires.

This is the wrong way go about publishing a book. When you look at your book as an opportunity to expand into other areas, you can craft something people want to read and use it to jumpstart your career.

Lack of Difficulty

Writing and publishing a book is easier than its ever been. Should you just slap together some words, pay a college art intern to design a crappy cover, and throw your book on Amazon?

No. Hell, no.

But with a bit of patience, you can come up with a quality book people will want to read.

The internet gives you access to top professionals who perform services like editing and design, many of which used to work at major publishing houses.

The new connection economy decentralized the talent pool, making all the necessary resources available to anyone who wants to write and publish a book the right way. 

How to Start Your Publishing Journey

A little over a year ago, I took a course called Self-Publishing School by Chandler Bolt. Since then, I’ve written two books and made thousands of dollars with nothing more than my words.

Will you get rich overnight following Chandler’s techniques? No, but he does provide a proven and foolproof path to writing and publishing your first book, along with techniques to help you turn your book into a business.

He’s giving away a free copy of his best-selling book, Published, away for free for the next few days. You can check it out here.

If you’re the least bit interested in writing and publishing a book, check out the link above.

**disclosure – I am an affiliate for Self-Publishing school, which means if you join the program after viewing the free material, I will receive a commission at no extra cost to you. I’m a proud affiliate because SPS miles above any other online course I’ve taken and worth ten times what it costs.

Did you know there’s a website called Medium.com you can use to make a full-time living writing, no strings attached? Get exclusive access to your free five-day email course on monetizing Medium.

Let’s cut to the chase — you want people to notice your writing.

If you didn’t, you wouldn’t attempt to publish your work online, you’d just keep it in a journal or on a file in your computer.

Humans crave attention.

It hurts to feel overlooked, ignored, or mired in anonymity.

Many writers feel this way, especially with the explosion of blogging, content creation, self-publishing, and all of the new avenues accessible to online writers today.

You think to yourself, “Why not me? I have something to say. I know I can contribute something meaningful to the conversation.”

But there’s so much noise, right? Millions of articles posted every day — many of which seem to say the exact same thing — how are you going to stand out?

The solution is simple, easy to follow, and straightforward.

Every single successful online writer you follow used the exact same process to get where they are today. It still works, and you can do it too if you would just get out of your own way.

Why Trying to do it “Your Way,” Will Cause You to Fail

The quickest way to becoming a failure in the online writing space is this: get cute. 

Ignore all of the tried and true marketing principles, be “authentic,” and blaze your own original path.

Let me be clear here. If you want to write vampire fiction, historical narrative non-fiction, or any other niche topics, my approach won’t work.

I’m talking to the writers who want to either educate, inspire, or entertain people with their writing. Those are the avenues with proven paths to success.

If you want to be the next Stephen King, I don’t know what to tell you, but if you want to write the kind of words people are actively searching for online, the recipe for success is dead simple.

I’ve seen many people look this truth in the eye, ignore it, and wonder why things aren’t working.

The #1 Strategy for Getting Noticed Online

You’re a little fish in a big big big pond, right?

If you start a website, write a post, and hit publish without doing anything else, nothing will happen.

Smart writers utilize the attention of other people’s audiences.

That’s it. No big tricks. No magic formula. Just find out where people are reading the type of material you write and get your work published there.

I explain that in depth here.

I’m positive the “build it and they will come mentality,” is the only reason most writers fail.

If you want attention, you have to go out and get it. You don’t deserve it.

Attention isn’t that hard to earn if you aim your sights at the right target.

The Three Step Formula For Growing Influence

The framework for finding people to read your work online is as follows:

Research the landscape for places who feature work by guest contributors.

I write about writing, so I feature my work on popular writing blogs.

Here’s a guest post I published recently.

The blog has hundreds of thousands of readers. It also allows guest contributors to add a link in the bio portion of their posts.

I added a link in my bio to a page where I offered a free guide in exchange for an email address.

The published post resulted in me gaining nearly 100 email subscribers.

You can also post your work right here on Medium, but to get your work in front of enough people, publish your work in one of Medium’s “publications,” like The Writing Cooperative. 

I’ve given this tip dozens of times now, and I can count the number of people who followed it with one hand.

Each post I write on Medium helps add dozens or hundreds of people to my list.

I’ve gained hundreds of email subscribers with one post. I’ve seen examples of people gaining thousands of email subscribers with one post. 

Put your writing in the right place, and good things will happen.

I remember when sales of my book had a huge spike within a span of a few days.

The spike happened because I published a piece on The Huffington Post and included a link to my book.

This was the same old book, but featuring it in a different placed gave it more traction.

Most of my posts revolve around the idea of getting your work in the front of the right people because it’s the only thing you need to do to succeed.

Wash, Rinse, Repeat

More than one hundred thousand people have read my work with this simple strategy.

From now until I croak, I will publish my work in places with larger audiences than my own over and over and over again, because it works.

It’s how I went from having one email subscriber (me) to thousands. It’s how I went from unknown to growing and progressing.

You can grow your presence online and find more readers, but will you?

How many times do you have to read blog posts telling you exactly what you need to do before you do it?

When is it going to be your turn?

People like you are why I do what I do. I know what it’s like to sit on the fence for years and do nothing. It sucks. Nobody likes to feel stuck.

Take the next step today, use the guides I share with you, and come along on the journey to getting noticed.

If I didn’t think you could do it, I’d stop writing for you, but  I know it’s possible to flip the switch and get to work.

I did it.

Now it’s your turn.

I have good news and bad news.

Let’s start with the bad — your writing career might be a waste of time.

The good news — it’s probably not.

I’ve noticed a strange fear I — as well as many others — have. The fear of putting time and effort into something that just isn’t meant to be.

You want to publish your own books or find a way to make a living for your writing. You actually don’t lack motivation.

If you knew this whole writing thing would work out, you’d attack the keyboard full force every day.

But you don’t. Why? Because of uncertainty.

Let’s just get to the point. I do know of one career ending sign. If you don’t see this sign, you’re fine.

The Only Circumstance Where Your Writing is Destined to Fail

If you’ve never had an inkling, an itch, or a slight desire to write before stumbling across a “make a living writing,” blog post, you’ll fail.

Writing and publishing has become one of the get rich quick schemes de jour.

Everyone’s throwing their hat in the ring now because writing looks cool and can make you serious money when done right.

This is how we end up with 100,000 blogs about “writing content,” “content marketing,” “motivation,” and “success.”

I’m one of those bloggers myself, and I have to do a great job of encouraging people while tempering their expectations at the same time.

I’ve had people request to work with me. The ones who talk solely about making a living through their writing are the ones I know aren’t cut out for it.

I once had someone call and tell me he wanted to start making six figures publishing books by next year. He had zero readers, no email list, and one failed book.

This type of “gold rush,” thinking leads to failure in every hot new industry with people looking to cash in. The same line of thinking for making a living writing applies to drop shipping on Amazon, flipping houses, starting an Etsy store, or anything else in the realm of online business.

Most people are all talk and no heart. They have no desire. They just see dollar signs.

I definitely write for money, but I write for love, too. Without the love, you’re dead.

Most people are in it for the love. You want to build a career, yes, but it’s not your primary motivation.

Maybe you used to scribble poems in your notebook as a kid like I did. Maybe you got lost in your favorite books and want to give that feeling to other people.

Something in you is drawn to words.

You love writing, but your love for writing can also be your biggest downfall.

So YOU Think You’re Ernest Hemingway?

Let’s just kill this noise right here and now.

The chances of you becoming a legendary author are essentially zero. Your book will not sell 1 million copies.

It could very well, however, sell 1,000, 5,000, 10,000, 50 or 100,000. I’ve seen good writers hit these numbers.

Notice I didn’t say great. Notice I didn’t say critically acclaimed.

I’m talking about writers who put in the time to learn both their craft and the marketing aspects of publishing. They pride themselves in their work, but in the end they realize they’re not their work.

The closer you tie your identity to your work, the harder it will be to sit down and write.

Yes, you are a writer. But you’re also a wife or husband, mother or father, sister or brother, son or daughter, member of a community — a complex person with tons of different things going on.

Writing is just something you do. It’s not who you are.

You’re not writing enough because you think your success or failure in writing says something about who you are as a person.

It doesn’t.

If that were true, I would’ve quit after writing my first couple of blog posts that made no sense and were riddled with errors.

I shared an excerpt of one of my first posts here. Look at how awful it is.

Negative feedback can be used as a corrective system — like a heat seeking missile making dozens of subtle changes in direction until it hits the mark — or it can be used as a label, a brand, a message on your tombstone that signals the death of your writing career.

Ambition means tying your well-being to what other people say or do. Self-indulgence is tying it to things that happen to you. Sanity means tying it to your own actions. — Marcus Aurelius

Great writers tie their well-being to their actions.

When you show up, you get to give yourself a gold star, because you’re doing something 99 percent of other “aspiring writers,” will never do.

How You Can be Certain Your Writing Career Isn’t a Waste of Time

If you do write and publish your work, you’ve inspired at least one person — yourself.

I don’t know about you, but each time I hit publish and put myself out there I feel great about overcoming my fear by doing it.

I’m afraid all the time. Afraid of an uncertain world with uncertain outcomes. But I know my work isn’t a waste of time because at minimum it relieves me from having to wonder “what if?”

After hundreds of blog posts and a book, I can look back at what I’ve done fondly.

Even if I never become an ultra wealthy author, I can look on my shelf and see something I’ve made.

You might not think that’s enough now, but trust me, when you do it you’ll understand.

I believe in you, but to be honest I can sum up your problem easily.

You’re not doing enough.

If you wrote every day for a year, you’d get better. If you come to me with frustrations about uncertainty I know you haven’t done any work — any real work.

Leaving your posts in draft form and your manuscripts in unseen word documents doesn’t count, because the most important element of your work is hitting the “ship it button.”

I’ll always be here, but my message is always a variation of this.

Do the work. Show up. Wait. Win. 

I’ve been writing for two years now.

When I started, I had no idea I’d write as much as I have or accomplish as much as I have.

Like you, I had a burning desire to unleash the thoughts I had stirring around in my head. I thought about writing for far too long before I decided to put words on the page.

The problem was I didn’t exactly know how to do it. I knew a little bit about blogs, but I had no idea how to set one up for myself. I skimmed through a couple articles about self-publishing. It seemed awesome enough, but the idea of doing it for real seemed far-fetched.

How My Writing Career Started

I had a tendency to write small essays as Facebook statuses. It was my mental and creative outlet. I’d post about what I was reading, insights I gained, and encouraging words I thought would help my friends.

One of my friends took notice and saw something in me. He was working on a startup — a news website — and he wanted me to write for it.

The first time I wrote was like the first time you hit a crack pipe. Finally, someone had given me the permission I was unable to give myself.

The writing itself sucked at first, but I didn’t care. I was like a rabid dog let out of a cage. I had a lot to say, and I continued to say it to anyone who would listen.

In the span of two years, I’ve written hundreds of blog posts and a book. In total I’d say I’ve written at least half a million words. At two years in, I haven’t even scratched the surface of what I’m capable of, so I continue to show up because I know i’d be doing a disservice to myself — and potentially other people — if I didn’t.

You can start writing today. You can show up today. I want to give you the permission my friend gave me.

It’s strange, how so many of us have this burning desire to put words on the page, but get stuck and trapped in fear and self-doubt.

If I had to pick one reason for procrastination when it comes to writing, I’d choose arrogance — the fact that we place ourselves at the center of the universe instead of realizing we play an infinitesimal role in in.

The Universe Doesn’t Care About You

The main reason people don’t write is because they’re scared. Scared of failure, what their friends will say, or being trolled and subject to scrutiny online.

It’s arrogant really, because when you’re afraid for these types of reasons you’re putting yourself at the center of the universe.

When we’re afraid, we feel like the spotlight is on us. That the world will be ready to pounce on us as soon as we make a mistake. We falsely believe our mental projections have any bearing in reality.

If you decide to publish a post on Medium today and it sucks, nobody will care. They’ll move onto the next blip-in-the-universe-4-minute read.

You can write an entire catalog of books that fail until one does well. James Altucher’s 18th book sold more than all of his previous books combined, and no one cares about his earlier duds. Also, like the rest of us, James will be lost in the expanse of time. But he’ll be able to say he used his time well.

You’ll be able to say that too, if you’d just get over yourself.

Like the famous line in Shawshank says, “You can get busy livin’ or get busy dyin.”

The clock is ticking, and nothing you do matters per se, except it matters to you. The only real risk you face is your own inaction and the regrets it will bring.

When you look at the stars in the sky at night, you’re looking at light that takes thousands of years to reach you. Some of the stars you “see,” are already dead.

In the infinite space you occupy, your moment has kind of already passed.

You’re still breathing, sure, but the universe has already moved on, and in relative terms you’ll be dead very very soon.

I’d been struggling with my writing lately, but then I realized how arrogant I was being in putting myself at the center. Instead of wasting my time stuck in paralysis, I got back to doing what I love.

I try to internalize my own insignificance as much as possible.

I’m a dot, a blip, a fleeting moment. I could waste the time I have worrying about what will come of my writing or I can mash this damn keyboard until my fingers get tired every day, because it’s what I love to do.

The only person in your way is you. Nobody cares about you. Get going.

The Magic of Showing Up

Your first blog post is going to suck, so will your second, third, fourth, and fifth.

I’ll look at this post a year from now and think it’s bad. That’s okay.

I’ll never be an amazing writer who pens everything perfectly, but the more I show up, the better I get.

All the while, I’m learning new things about myself and the world around me.

Showing up often forces you to exercise your brain. It teaches you skills you can use in other areas of your life. When you write often enough, you’ll start to become thirsty for more knowledge you can use in your writing.

A magnificent obsession turns into a cycle of improvement.

If you write every day for a year, you won’t just be a better writer, you’ll be a different person.

I’m not one for mysticism, but when you show up and keep putting your work out there, good things start to happen. You make new connections, people reach out to you, opportunities start to present themselves.

I’ve made money in several ways I didn’t know were possible before I started writing. I’ve met smart and influential people who act as confidants and mentors.

I don’t know where the road will turn next, but I know if I keep showing up, I’ll be able to look back on what I’ve done and smile.

Writing is a “walk by faith not by sight,” adventure. You don’t know what will happen, but if you think about it, doesn’t persistence lead to positive outcomes more often than not?

You Can Start Showing Up Today

One of my clients just had a blog post go viral, because he showed up. He gets better with each post and he’s well on his way to becoming a fire-breathing monster of wordplay.

I’ve seen countless writers get better because they showed up.  I’ve seen people go from insecure and tepid to confident commanders of language.

Writing is mental exercise and your creative muscles grow when you show up.

What should you write about? Anything you find interesting. Maybe we’ll find it interesting too.

Still, that’s not the point. The point is that your job in this world is to make yourself useful in whatever avenue piques your curiosity. If that’s writing, you should write.

The chances of your sperm cell reaching the egg and your relative importance in the world is one to an almost infinite number.

I’ve been guilty of spouting lies, so have many other online writers.

Online writers and bloggers make success in the writing field seem harder than it is.

Don’t get me wrong, becoming a better writer, finding readers for your writing, making money from your writing, building a legacy with your writing, ect., aren’t necessarily easy.

But they’re not as impossible as many would like you to believe.

You’ve seen the introduction in blog posts on writing blogs that say something along the lines of:

“There are a bazillion blog posts published every day. How is little-old-you going to be able to stand out among the infinite space of online publishing?”

Personally, I get motivated by challenges. I strive to stand out.

Maybe I’m egotistical, but I believe I’m capable of achieving anything I want with my writing given enough time.

When someone asks me how I’m going to stand out, it pushes me to work that much harder to get noticed.

For others, however, hearing phrases like this does nothing more than discourage them.

It’s sad, because there are writers out there who can succeed, but they’re stuck in the starting gate because they don’t believe in themselves or gain enough momentum.

And writers who talk about the difficulty of success in the blogosphere are part of the problem, not the solution.

The idea that it’s difficult to become an influential writer is misleading. I think there’s a better explanation.

Are You Insane?

Marketing expert Gary Vaynerchuck often talks about people’s “insane lack of patience,” when it comes to the activities related to perusing their passion.

I agree with him one hundred percent.

Becoming the best in the world at anything isn’t hard, per se, it just takes time.

You have to show up.

Unless you’re totally inept (you’re not), you’ll find some measure of success given enough time.

I look at the comments of people who say they’re going to follow the advice I give them about writing and promoting their work. I check their Medium accounts to see if they’ve been posting regularly.

If I could put a number on it, maybe less than one percent do.

This is the state of the world, not just in publishing, but in every other avenue in life that requires even the slightest bit of delayed gratification.

Nine times out of ten, people fail to stay consistent.

For you to want to write a handful of blog posts and become a famous writer is insane. For you to expect any level of success without having written, say, at least one hundred blog posts, is delusional.

Deep down you know this, but you won’t succeed until the truth buries itself into your consciousness deep enough for you to take action.

That’s okay. It’s what makes work like this relevant and important.

I needed about three hundred reminders about ways to improve my life before I actually did anything.

Call it a “fed up,” moment. We all have our own tolerance level for the amount of bullshit and lack of progress we’re able to accept in our lives.

I write each post because I hope it’s your fed up moment.

Tick. Tick. Tick.

Another day you could’ve spent writing is wasting away. The sands of your writing dreams are slipping through the hourglass, at a cruelly rapid yet gradual pace.

What are you going to do about it?

Fed up yet?

Let’s dismantle the idea that becoming a successful writer is difficult. It’s time consuming, but it’s simple.

A blueprint for success exists, and I’m about to reveal it.

The Most Obvious Yet Ignored Advice When it Comes to Your Writing Career

I’m convinced there’s one trait that separates people who succeed in writing — or any other field for that matter — and those who don’t.

It’s not innate talent, luck, or even motivation.

It’s the ability to follow directions and implement what you’ve learned.

Those blog posts about driving traffic to your website, promoting your work to readers, and becoming a better writer will work if you DO what you’re told.

You just won’t do it.

You’ll read a blog post that says, “reach out to ten potential readers via email,” and you’ll reach out to one or two or zero, make up a rationalization for why your situation makes the task worthless, or skip onto the next blog post.

Do me a favor.

Take one blog post on writing or marketing and do it exactly what it says.

Suspend your judgement and DO.

You’ll be amazed at the results.

Unsuccessful people are bad listeners. They’re hard headed. They’re insane.

I could give you a detailed blueprint for a building, an instruction manual, and all of the tools/materials you need to build a house.

But I can’t hammer and saw for you.

The blueprint for success in writing is readily available. Write often, promote your work, build relationships with readers, and grow your network within the industry.

It make take months or years, but it isn’t hard. It just requires those cliched virtues of patience, consistency, and the ability to follow through.

Being a Successful Writer Isn’t Hard

This isn’t 1975.

You don’t need to send 900 query letters to publishers like Seth Godin did.

You don’t have to live in obscurity for 25 years like Vonnegut did.

Nobody is in your way. It is by far the easiest time to become a successful writer in the history of writing, because you have direct access to the entire world.

As far as the competition is concerned, those millions of other online writers don’t matter, because 99 percent of them are going to quit. So it goes. Again, this is the state of human behavior.

You may have to write a couple hundred blog posts or even a handful of books before you succeed, but why does that mean finding success as a writer is hard?

I’m sitting here in a chair, relaxed. I’m not out of breath from typing. I have to edit and that’s a bit of a strain mentally, but I love to write.

If you love to write, then why the hell is doing it often such a problem?

Hmmm?

Writer’s block? I’m not buying it.

If I asked you to talk to me about your favorite T.V. show you’d barely be able to contain yourself. “Nobody gets talker’s block,” so you shouldn’t get writer’s block either. You’re just making things more complicated than they are.

If your writing is bad, then write poorly.

You don’t even have to set out on a grand mission to start, just write every day.

Hit publish, spread your ideas around, see what happens.

Those online writers who love to talk about how difficult it is to publish just don’t want you running around in their playground. They’re not showing you tough love, they’re infecting the population with insecurity and it’s unnecessary.

There’s enough room for all who persist.

But there’s no way around the moat of effort and consistency.

Get going.

What if I told you people would pay you to become a better writer?

What if I also told you people would pay you higher amounts to keep learning how to become a better writer?

I’ve seen too many online writers wasting away writing free material without reaping any rewards for their writing.

Today I’m going to talk about the quickest way to turn your writing habit into income.

The Proven Path to Writing Income

Will your bank account fill itself with hundreds of thousands of dollars after you write your first book? No.

You can, however, write books that earn a profit and continue to write better books that sell more each time.

To make a full-time living self-publishing your own books, you’ll need a healthy writing habit, a desire to learn, and the ability to adapt and iterate several times before you crack the profit code.

Steve Scott, who would have a spot on the Mt. Rushmore of self-publishing, provides the perfect example of how the process works.

Steve started writing short books—15 to 20,000 words—in 2014. As expected, his first book didn’t hit the New York Times Best Seller list. With his first book, sales started to trickle in. Instead of giving up on the process, or waiting months and years before writing book two, he wrote another book within a month.

He wrote about one book per month, and today he’s written nearly 70 books.

Myth – “You Can’t Make Money Selling Books”

According to a recent article he posted, Steve has earned more than $500,000.00 in the past two years solely from book sales.

Joanna Penn, another self-publishing giant, reported her first (almost) six figure earning year from royalties earned from the 18 books she’s published.

Mark Dawson reports making several hundred thousand dollars per year through his self-published fiction catalog.

What do these examples tell us?

They show that self-publishing is a viable method to earn a full time living through writing—without having to create an online course, do affiliate marketing, or becoming a coach, which are the profit earning techniques de jour for online writers.

If you just want to write and make money strictly from your words, it’s possible.

But you have to do it right.

The Wrong Way to Self-Publish a Book

Jane wants to publish a book.

She writes the book, gives it a quick spell check, hires a designer for five dollars to create her book cover, and throws it up on Amazon.

When she releases the book, she sends out a few social media posts and waits. She eagerly checks the statistics on her Amazon sales page.

Nothing. Zip. Zilch.

This experience crushes her. She decides self-publishing is a crap shoot and never writes a book again.

She joins the majority of self-published authors who never sell more than 250 copies of their first book.

Her story ends there.

This is how most people self-publish. They ignore proven techniques that help books sell. They delude themselves into thinking their efforts merit sales, and give up on the process because they place the blame on readers or the book retailers.

Don’t be like Jane. Instead, follow the techniques I lay out and use the right resources to help your book sell.

If you make a few smart moves, your book will earn a profit and provide the income you need to continue to create better books in the future. You’ll learn new techniques along the way, therefore creating a process where you get paid to learn.

How to Win on a Level Playing Field

Why has self-publishing become a viable route to income? Because smart and talented writers, editors, and designers are choosing themselves. These types of professionals used to be guarded by gatekeepers, but many have gone independent.

You now have access to professionals who can help you create a book that looks, feels, and reads exactly like a traditionally published book.

The only distinction readers use to buy books now is whether the book was professionally published or non-professionally published. I’d be willing to wager that you couldn’t tell the difference between certain self-published and traditionally published books if I put them side by side.

The key to finding success as an amateur is to do everything you can to avoid looking like one.

There are some authors and publishing industry insiders who lament over the influx of self-published books. They’re assholes.

You have every right to publish your own book regardless of your experience. Back in the days of the gatekeeper, you had to be a great writer and you had to be chosen—often at random—to get noticed.

Now you can choose yourself. You can put your books out into the world, practice in public, and reach a point where you’re writing as well as the big boys and girls.

Don’t let the stuffy elitists fool you. You don’t have to be Hemingway to be a successful author and have readers who enjoy your books. E.L. James gets scoffed at for the literary quality of Fifty Shades of Grey, but readers loved it and that’s all that matters.

I bet the stinging shots from the critics hurt, but I think she’s content to drown her sorrows in a gigantic pile of cash.

That being said, if you’re going to publish a book yourself, you need to do a few key things right in order to give your book a shot at succeeding.

Cover

People will judge your book by its cover.

The cover clues the reader to the book’s quality. I don’t like to speak in absolutes often, but you must have a great looking cover.

You don’t have to spend an arm and a leg to create a quality cover.

100 Covers creates book covers for $100.00

Happy Self-Publishing creates them at affordable prices too.

99 Designs also creates excellent covers, but they’re a bit more pricey, starting at $299.00

Here are some great posts on the elements of a winning book cover.

6 Elements of a best selling book cover

How to Outsource Stunning Book Cover Design

Editor

If you want to destroy your book’s chances of success, don’t hire an editor.

You will spend the largest portion of your budget on an editor, but it’s well worth the investment.

If readers notice grammatical errors and typos in your book, they’ll ask for a refund and they’ll post negative reviews of your book on Amazon.

Even if you edit your book multiple times, you still won’t catch every error you made. Plus, editors can help you with the overall structure of your book and help you omit needless words.

Some great guides on editing are:

Master Guide to Selecting the Best Book Editor

How to find the Right Editor for Your Book and More Editing Questions Answered.

A Plan

This seems obvious, but I’ve actually witnessed book launches that consist of nothing more than the author putting their book on Amazon and sending out a few tweets.

I’ve also seen book writing projects that fail to get out of the starting gate because the would-be author had no plan or structure set before writing the book.

Here’s what you need to know to plan your book from idea to launch.

Step 1 – Idea Phase/Outline/Write

I already wrote a detailed guide about the process of writing your book. You can read it here – The Ultimate Guide to Writing Your First Book. 

In short, you need to:

• Brainstorm an idea/book contents – There are techniques such as mind laid out in the guide
• Outline and write first draft – Adhere to the “shitty first draft rule,” and write non-stop until the first draft is complete

Step 2 – Self Edit and Send to Professional Editor

You will go through multiple phases in editing the book.

The most important type of edit happens when you read the book out loud because it will help you catch odd phrasing. After you’ve edited multiple times (3-5) you can send it to a professional editor.

Step 3 – Source Designers

Use the resources I mentioned to design a great looking book cover. You will also need to hire someone to format your book unless you opt to do it yourself.

Step 4 – Plan Launch and Promote

Your launch plan will make or break your book. To plan a successful launch, you want to combine a mixture of your own marketing efforts plus paid promotion.

Most self-publish authors set the price of their book at free or .99 for the first week, use paid promotion to boost sales, and then switch the price to $2.99 $3.99.

Your plan, launch, and expectations for your first book should be simple and modest. Without a large following of your own, your first book won’t become a runaway hit. Over time, however, you can build an audience to support your book writing business.

I talk about audience building in depth here – The Ultimate Guide to Attracting an Audience Of Loyal Fans

It would take another 2,000-word guide to explain the book launching process in detail.

Instead, I’ll refer you to these excellent guides:

How to Launch Your Book – The 5 Day Plan That Works – By Steve Scott

How to Plan A Successful Book Launch – By Tim Grahl

The Mistake I Made After Writing My First Book

My first book wasn’t a runaway best seller, but it made money. It’s been a year since I wrote my first book, and my only regret in my writing career was not writing and publishing a second one right away.

I’m almost finished with my second book, and I’ll keep the momentum going with multiple books per year from now on.

I once asked James Altucher for book marketing advice. He said the most important step in marketing your book is to write your next book.

Self-published authors who succeed write multiple books per year. They become smarter marketers and better writers throughout the process.

They work their tails off–getting paid to write the entire way–until one day they become an “authority,” and everyone wonders how they did it.

There’s no substitute for hard work, so stop looking for one.

If you do the work, repeat the process, and iterate along the way, good things will happen.

Why You Should Write A Book

If you follow the process, you’ll at minimum make your money back with a modest profit. At maximum, you’ll have a book that takes off and makes a nice amount of income.

Either way, you’re getting paid to learn.

Each book you write will be better than the last.

Each book launch will teach you new strategies for the next one.

You’ll add loyal readers to your audience, which will increase your chances of success with each book.

You’re getting paid to do marketing experiments and perfect your craft. It’s a win-win.

I spend a lot of time blogging.

I enjoy blogging, but like publishing expert Matt Stone says, “Would you rather have 700 free blog posts or 15 books?”

Yes, blogging can lead to huge opportunities by building a business on the back end, but how many bloggers actually pull it off?

I see tons of writers slogging and blogging away, with no real plan for how they’re going to turn their blog into an income.

I see a lot of writers who simply aren’t cut out for the six figure blogging pipe dream.

What they do have, however, is a healthy writing habit and thousands of words of material — material that could just as easily be in a book with some polishing.

It’s not for the weak of heart. You need to have a healthy writing habit. I’m talking 1000+ words per day. And you have to love to write.

But you can find success through self-publishing, and I encourage you to give it a shot.