If you focus primarily on writing your book with your reader in mind, then you are going to be successful as an author. (Location 163)
Rule #1: Write a really, really useful book. That’s it. (Location 165)
1) Useful means helpful When someone buys a nonfiction book, they’re typically looking to solve a specific problem or to address a pain point that they have. So give them a helpful book that solves their issue by challenging yourself with the following question: “How will my reader’s life improve after they read my book?” (Location 172)
2) Useful means short Your book should be short and concise. Many people have this misconception that a publication has to be the size of an aircraft manual to qualify as a legitimate book. But that’s not true. Most readers don’t have a lot of time to go through an endless manuscript. They want to get to a solution as fast as possible, and without having to sift through a mountain of fluff. So focus on making your book long enough to get the point across. No more, no less. (Location 176)
3) Useful means well written
Finally, your book should be well written. This doesn’t mean that your book needs to be worthy of a Pulitzer Prize. It just means that you give it your own personal best. (Location 181)
The bottom line about Rule #1 is this: your readers should be happy that they spent their money and their valuable time on reading your book. So make it helpful, make it short, and write it well. (Location 186)
Here are three things you should keep in mind about the money you can make. 1) Legacy > Currency The first is that legacy is more important than currency. I heard this phrase once from Gary Vaynerchuk and it stuck with me since. (Location 221)
Writing a nonfiction book should primarily be about establishing credibility and authority in a specific domain. Your aim should be to become a published author and respected thought leader in your market. So focus on a “legacy-first” mindset over a “money-first” one, and the money will come later. (Location 227)
The biggest benefit is that your book will become part of an infrastructure that is ready for a sales spike due to an event months or even years after you publish. (Location 235)
3) More money “because of” than “from” The third thing is that you’ll probably make more money because of your book than from your book. (Location 239)
Publishing a nonfiction book is like having a resume on steroids. It opens up many doors for you that you don’t expect. (Location 243)
Simply focus on Rule #1 (write a really, really useful book) and worry about everything later. (Location 249)
An Amazon exclusive deal means that you choose to publish only on Amazon’s KDP platform by enrolling in a program called Amazon KDP Select. (Location 305)
Readers on the other platforms can still read your ebook. That’s because publishing on KDP does not mean that readers only with a Kindle device can read the book (a common misconception). Readers who have an iPhone, an iPad, an Android phone, or even just a laptop can still read your book by downloading the free Kindle App on those devices. (Location 320)
Reason #3: It’s only for 90 days Amazon’s enrollment in KDP Select is only for 90 days at a time. So you’re not bound for life. After 90 days, you can break the exclusive agreement and sell your book on all the other marketplaces. (Location 324)
My recommendation is focus on the ebook version only when you first publish because the other formats will require a lot of time on your end in terms of prepping and formatting. (Location 333)
For example, after you launch your ebook you can create a paperback and audiobook. You can also break your KDP select contract after 90 days and sell your book on other marketplaces. You can then choose to sell it on your own blog as part of a packaged deal, or give it away for free as a marketing tool. That’s exactly what I did with my Influencing Virtual Teams book. I published it as an ebook-only version when I first launched it. Then, after a full year or so, I created the print and audiobook versions. I then broke my KDP Select contract and gave away my book for free as part of special promotions. (Location 346)
The Process at a Glance Here’s the entire end-to-end process of writing and publishing your book on the side: • Step 1: Choose a General Topic • Step 2: Narrow It Down • Step 3: Choose a Title and Subtitle • Step 4: Test and Iterate • Step 5: Outline Your Book • Step 6: Write Your Book • Step 7: Edit Your Book • Step 8: Format Your Book • Step 9: Design a Cover • Step 10: Publish Your Book • Step 11 [Optional]: Launch Your Book • Step 12 [Optional]: Turn Your Book into an Amazon #1 Best Seller • Step 13 [Optional]: Gather Emails from Readers • Step 14 [Optional]: Expand Into Other Formats (Location 368)
How can I find the time to write a book on the side? You force yourself to. There is no other way. You sit down for 30 minutes a day, five days a week, and just write. It doesn’t matter if what you write doesn’t make sense. You’ll revise it all later anyway. The secret is momentum. (Location 388)
Note: The secret is momentum
How long will it take me to finish a book at that rate? Six months, give or take. It will depend on your writing speed, your book length, and what you’re going to outsource. (Location 395)
How long should an ebook be? Around 10,000 to 12,000 words. Amazon uses a word count instead of a page count because the number of pages depends on the screen size. That range translates to approximately 60 to 70 pages of a standard size book. (Location 409)
The goal here is to pick a subject that satisfies two conditions: people want to read about it and you want to write about it. (Location 418)
Four circles The best way to explain how to choose a topic is to think of a Venn diagram with four circles that intersect in the middle. Three of those circles are mandatory, and one of them is optional. Circle 1 is labeled “Interest,” Circle 2 is “Experience,” and Circle 3 is “Market.” Circle 4, which is optional, is “Job-Related.” The objective is to jot down ideas in each of those circles and to pick the ones that show up at the intersection. (Location 423)
Circle 1: Interest The first circle is about ideas that you’re interested in. Interest doesn’t mean being madly in love with the subject of your book. It just means that it excites you on some level. If your book becomes a hit, chances are you’ll be doing a lot more writing and talking about the topic on news sites, blogs, or podcasts. So if you’re not very interested in the topic now, you’re not going to be interested in it later. (Location 433)
Circle 2: Experience The second circle is about areas in which you have some experience. Don’t confuse experience with being an expert. Experience only means that you know a little bit more about a topic than what the average person does. (Location 439)
Circle 3: Market The third circle is about ideas that have an existing market. An existing market means that people are actively purchasing products about the area you’re writing about. (Location 446)
However, there is one final circle that isn’t mandatory, but is highly recommended for someone writing a book on the side. Circle 4: Job-Related (Optional) The fourth circle is about ideas that are related to your current job. If you’re writing a nonfiction book, choosing something that’s related to your career is going to help you with advantages in marketing, branding, and promoting your book. (Location 464)
A published book about a related field is a powerful marketing tool that makes it easier for you to pursue those additional opportunities. (Location 483)
1) Narrow down the target audience (Location 498)
2) Narrow down the outcome (Location 507)
Narrowing down your topic will help you in several ways. First, you’ll avoid spreading yourself too thin because you’ll be focusing on a more defined area. Second, you’ll save a lot of time on writing because you’ll be typing fewer words. And third, you’ll give your readers what they want because most people enjoy quick, short reads anyway. (Location 513)
The secret to doing this effectively is to research specific pain points for a certain demographic. Most people buy nonfiction books to solve a problem. So if you can figure out who those people are and what problems they’re trying to solve, then you’ll find the narrow topic to pursue. (Location 518)
Tip #2: Read Amazon reviews Another idea for finding pain points is to read Amazon reviews of similar books. This is a great strategy because you’ll research viewpoints of readers who already paid for those books and took the time to review them. So those same people might end up being your customers, and you’ll be honing in on what they need. The key is to read both the positive and negative reviews of those books to find any potential patterns. (Location 536)
If you want to save time in this step and avoid having to read hundreds of positive and negative reviews about each book, here’s a little timesaver. Amazon lists the “Top positive review” and the “Top critical review” for each book. Those are the top two reviews that are voted by the public as the most helpful for prospective buyers. (Location 560)
Tip #3: Check Internet Forums Another great idea to narrow down your topic is to check out internet forums. Forums, or message boards, are websites where people can hold online discussions about a particular topic. Those can be a treasure of ideas to narrow down your topic because people usually post questions on them to get help. (Location 564)
Output of this step The output of this step will be the following sentence: “My book will help <Target audience> <Outcome>” (Location 603)
You might end up with several statements, and that’s ok. If you get a couple that are related, then don’t be tempted to combine them into one book. It’s better to keep them separate and publish one of them as another short book in the future. (Location 613)
Step 3: Choose a Title and Subtitle The next step is to choose a title and subtitle for your book. The objective here is to take the output from Step 2 and come up with an attractive title so that people will be interested in learning more about your book. (Location 615)
The general recommendation is that your title should be between one and five words in length. That’s because you want to make it easy to pronounce and memorable. You also want to make it simple for people to mention your book on social media and in interviews. (Location 627)
A great title and subtitle should ideally do four things: grab attention, explain the outcome, define the audience, and contain keywords. You don’t have to cover all four elements in both the title and the subtitle. A couple of those elements can be addressed by the title and the other two by the subtitle. (Location 636)
2) Explain the outcome The second thing your title should do is explain the outcome so that buyers know exactly what they’re getting out of your book. (Location 662)
Your prospective customers should know exactly who the book is written for. (Location 681)
The point is that if someone reads the title, they should be able to determine if the book applies to them. (Location 691)
Finally, your title should contain some relevant keywords in it. (Location 694)
The biggest turn off for readers is a dry and boring intro. (Location 790)
Third, your introduction should explain why your book is unique and why people should read it. (Location 796)
The one thing you should be cautious about is that the outline of your main body should always deliver on the title and subtitle of your book. (Location 824)
The conclusion should be a short chapter that summarizes the content of your book. In this section, you reinforce the outcome again by stating something like “We just covered <Outcome> that will help you <Benefit> as a <Target audience>” (Location 828)
The primary reason why people never finish their book is that they don’t have the time for it. The second reason is that it’s hard work. (Location 847)
Tip #1: Force a block of time Let’s start with the most important writing tip that you can learn. There is absolutely no way you can write your book if you don’t set aside some time for it. There are no secrets or magic pills about writing. It’s all about forcing a block of time and creating a habit around it. My recommendation is to dedicate 30 minutes a day, five days a week to write your book. (Location 854)
You could even split the 30 minutes a day up by writing 15 minutes in the morning and 15 minutes at night if you have to. (Location 860)
Writing five days a week instead of seven means that you can take the weekends off. So that will help you manage your time a little bit better, and give you a mental break so that you stay motivated when you get back into it. (Location 862)
Going a full week without writing will make you lose momentum and you’ll eventually give up. (Location 867)
The idea behind writing five days a week is to keep your creative juices going. Whether consciously or subconsciously, throughout the day your mind is going to be thinking about your book, and that’s an important part of the process. You can only trigger that thought process if you give your brain a push by writing every day throughout the week. Also, understand that thirty minutes is a minimum guideline. If you feel one day that you’re on fire and can go on for much longer than that, then certainly don’t stop. Those are rare bursts of creativity that you should take advantage of. (Location 869)
Tip #5: Shoot for 10,000 to 12,000 words The biggest time saver when writing your book is to write fewer words. (Location 892)
Tip #6: Avoid setting a daily word count Some authors recommend forcing a “word count” every day instead of time. Meaning that they recommend writing 500 to 1,000 words every day instead of dedicating thirty minutes a day. That didn’t work so much for me because of two reasons. First, I got very anxious every time I didn’t meet the word count goal. So I started artificially pumping out words just to make it to 500 or 1,000. Second, as someone who has a full-time job, a family, and other obligations, I just didn’t have the energy to write every day. I wanted to spend some of that time brainstorming, editing, and researching the topic. (Location 897)
Tip #7: Don’t set a deadline Other authors recommend setting a self-imposed deadline for publishing your book as well (e.g., launch by December 7). The idea is that this will encourage you to write and stop procrastinating. But I think that’s unnecessary if you follow the writing schedule of 30 minutes a day for five days a week. You’ll eventually get the book written, and deadlines only add unwelcome stress. (Location 907)
Note: Deadlines only add stress
Tip #8: Write in a casual tone As you write your book, keep in mind that you’re communicating with other human beings who prefer casual tones. (Location 915)
Writing in a casual tone will also help you write faster because you’ll be writing “as you speak” and not wasting time on fancy sentences. (Location 919)
Tip #9: Separate writing mode from editing mode This has been one of the best pieces of advice that I’ve received about writing. I used to waste half an hour writing three sentences and then editing them over and over until I was satisfied. But that strategy was so demotivating because I could never get a lot accomplished. I learned later that the best authors never edit while they type. They separate their writing mode from their editing mode. So what I started doing was spend 30 minutes on a day doing nothing but pure writing. I threw down ideas on the screen by vomiting thoughts on my keyboard. I didn’t care about grammar, spelling, or content mistakes. If I wrote something down that sounded like garbage, I didn’t stop to clean it up. I just kept going. The next day, I spent my 30 minutes looking over my draft and… (Location 921)
The key thing to remember is that the first draft of anything is going to be horrible, and that no one is ever going to read it. So give… (Location 932)
Another great time saver is to jot down ideas whenever and wherever they pop up. Throughout your day, you’ll have some bursts of ideas about your book that you’ll want to capture, and it’s important to write those down as soon as possible before you forget them. Here’s what I do: After I write my outline (in Step 5), I keep a copy of it on my iPhone. Whenever I have some free time through my day (waiting for a friend at lunch or in line at the store), I look through it and start filling in the blanks on that outline. This exercise is more about idea generation than actual writing. So I keep my notes brief and only jot down words that remind… (Location 935)
Tip #11: Don’t fight writer’s block You will almost certainly get writer’s block—that dreaded state when you’re completely stuck and not able to continue writing. The first thing you should realize is that everyone gets it. So you’re not alone. The second thing is that you shouldn’t fight it, but rather work with it. In other words, when you’re unable to proceed or think about writing… (Location 942)
Note: Work with yur writers block
Tip #12: Record your voice Another tactic that helps writer’s block (or writing in general if you find that too cumbersome) is to record your voice as you discuss the topic. You can then transcribe the recording as you re-listen to it afterward. This… (Location 949)
A professional editor should make at least two passes on your work to allow for some back and forth discussion. (Location 1002)
As a side note, most editors are actually trained on formatting as well, so what I do is hire an editor who also formats the book for me by paying them a little extra. (Location 1020)
I don’t care if a book has over fifty positive reviews. If the cover looks like it was put together using Microsoft Paint, I’m going to assume that the content might be subpar at best. (Location 1049)
Moreover, designing a nice looking cover will also help you market the book to other sites later on. For example, blogs or news websites that might feature your book will have a higher chance of accepting it when they see a serious professional-looking cover as opposed to a cheap one. (Location 1052)
3) Make sure it looks good at a width of 90 pixels (Location 1081)
Manuscript: Here is where you upload your completed manuscript (from Step 8). You can also choose to enable Digital Rights Management (DRM), which protects your book from unauthorized distribution, and I recommend you opt in for that. (Location 1128)
Side note: You can always go back and update your manuscript after you publish your book. That’s the beauty of publishing an ebook on Amazon. (Location 1131)
When I first publish, I select a 35 percent royalty, and price my books at $0.99—the cheapest possible price—so that I maximize the number of downloads. A week or so after my publication date, I change the royalty plan to 70 percent, and price my book at $2.99. You can change the price of your book at any time, so it’s a good idea to start low and then increase as you tweak it. (Location 1154)
My main objective in a launch is to maximize exposure of the book and get Amazon to promote it for me. The strategy I follow is to publish the book for free and then slowly increase its price over time. This maximizes the number of downloads and word-of-mouth advertising, while creating a sense of urgency so people act early and download it before the price hike. (Location 1181)
Several weeks before the publication date, I market the book by spreading the word about it. I connect with influencers such as bloggers, podcasters, and journalists to give them a heads up about the book’s topic. I let them know that I’m willing to provide them with guest post articles or interviews if they’re interested. During this time, I continue to gather testimonials from early readers of the book, and ask them to publish their blurbs as reviews on Amazon when the book is out. (Location 1188)
Phase 2: Launch free for five days On the publication day, I launch the book for free and keep it free for the first five days. Amazon lets you do that only if you enroll in KDP Select. (Location 1198)
Phase 3: Set price at $0.99 for seven days (Location 1204)
Most people won’t think twice about spending $0.99 on a book they’re interested in, especially if it has already generated some buzz. This phase is more important than the previous one because Amazon’s algorithm cares more about actual sales than free downloads. (Location 1206)
Phase 4: Raise price to $2.99 (or higher) After a week, I raise the price to $2.99. This is the lowest price at which I can set my book to get a 70 percent royalty (as a reminder, if I priced the book anything lower than $2.99, I would only get a 35 percent royalty). (Location 1213)
I then keep it at $2.99 for at least a month to get some steady-state data, and then test different prices by increasing the price $1.00 at a time. (Location 1216)
With KDP select, you can offer promotions to your readers every 90-day period. (Location 1219)
Make sure you take advantage of all those offer promotions so that you keep the buzz going about your book months or even years after the publication date. (Location 1222)
The key to becoming an Amazon #1 best seller is to list your book in a low-competition category and get a high number of sales in a short period of time. (Location 1242)
So your goal is to find a #1 bestselling book that has a rank of 20,000 or more (i.e. it sells only around 15 copies or fewer a day), in a certain category. Then, if you list your book in that category and sell 16 copies of your book on any given day, your book will technically take over that top spot and become the #1 best seller in that category. That’s the whole strategy. (Location 1254)
If your book does hit the #1 list, Amazon will list an orange “#1 Best Seller” banner underneath it or right next to it. So make sure you take a screenshot if that happens, because it won’t last forever! (Location 1313)
This step about gathering emails from your readers so that you can stay in touch with them after they read your book. (Location 1316)
1) Clean your manuscript Before you create your paperback, make sure your manuscript is print-friendly. This means there can be no live links. (Location 1381)
2) You’ll need an ISBN An ISBN (International Standard Book Number) will be required for your physical book. You can get one for free using a CreateSpace-assigned ISBN, or purchase a custom universal ISBN for $99. I usually go for the free option. (Location 1384)
As Benjamin Franklin once said, “Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.” (Location 1442)