How to Write a Book And Get it Published: A Beginner’s Guide

Table of Contents Why Write a BookHow Will Writing a Book Help MeHow to Become an AuthorHow to…
Man writing a book in hand.

This is a guest post and you are going to love the tips on how to write a book and get it published shared in this post.

I never thought I would write a book or become a published author. As a child, I used to write short stories and poetry in my spare time, but deep down I wanted to become a nuclear scientist.

However, life took a complete U-turn.

In September 2013, I challenged myself to publish a book before my 24th birthday. I spent countless hours reading information on how to publish a book, how to contact a literary agent, and how to make a pitch to a publisher.

But I was lucky enough to learn about Amazon’s user-friendly self-publishing platform, “Kindle Direct Publishing,” also known as KDP, to publish digital books and “Createspace” to publish paperbacks.

I finally published my first book, in the month of December 2013. Since then, I have published 7 more books, as of October 2, 2014, and I am currently working on my next book.

As a first-time author, I had hundreds of questions for which I was unable to find answers. The main idea behind writing this article is to make it a one-stop guide for bloggers, writers, and wannabe authors to be able to learn about self-publishing.

RELATED READWhat Stops You From Self-Publishing a Book on Amazon

Check out the FREE video on how to write, market, and publish your first book.

Why Write a Book

There can be hundreds of reasons to write a book. Some of the popular reasons are:

  1. To educate people
  2. To reach a much broader audience
  3. To promote a business
  4. To establish as an authority
  5. To capture leads
  6. To create a sales funnel
  7. To get on TV (yeah, I know, but some people do it)
  8. To do it as a hobby
  9. Because you love writing
  10. TO EARN MONEY
  11. To do it as a task on your bucket list
  12. To be an entrepreneur without building a company
  13. To work from home and spend more time with your family

If I missed a reason, add it in the comments below. So, now that we have the list of reason, we need to be true to ourselves.

In my case, I wrote a book in order to check off one of the tasks on my bucket list. I wanted to publish a book before I turned 24. For me, there was no other reason to publish a book other than my personal satisfaction.

But now, after writing seven books, I have increased my pace. I write now because of all the reasons listed above.

Do I earn enough money to live on, with book royalties alone?

Probably not, but I am moving towards financial and personal freedom. As on today’s date, I can easily pay my rent and bills with book royalties.

Money shouldn’t be your sole criteria for writing books. It can affect your quality. Write it for any other reason except to just earn money.

How Will Writing a Book Help Me

A book can open infinite possibilities for us, both personally and professionally. People will start trusting your opinion.

You will be invited to be interviewed on blogs, magazines, radio, and TV. Just two days back, I was interviewed on Search Decoder by Matthew Capala, Adj. Professor at New York University, Speaker and Author of “SEO Like I’m 5”.

For me, I love working from the comfort of home. I always wanted to be an entrepreneur, but then I would have the headache of handling clients and employees, and building my business every single day.

I have always made my own choices to earn my freedom. Being an author gives me even more freedom than being an entrepreneur.

All I need to do is write. I can work from anywhere in this world, without having to worry about running a company. What about you?

For bloggers, a book can help you reach a much broader audience than you have ever imagined.

A book will validate the work on your blog. It will attract traffic from across the world. You will be able to reach school and college libraries and educate the upcoming generation.

You will receive interview and guest posting opportunities, which will again be instrumental in sending traffic to your blog.

In other words, by using a blog and a book, you can create an automated system to generate traffic and leads, earn money, interact with an audience and most of all attain both financial and personal freedom.

A woman author writing a book

Check out the FREE video for first-time authors on how to write your first book.

How to Become an Author

Writing a book is not rocket science. It’s similar to writing a blog.

The difference is that you are introducing capitalism into writing. Instead of offering free content via your blog, your readers will have to pay for this content.

The rules of writing a book are simple.

Forget all about formatting, marketing a book and other technical terms. Just focus on writing a damn good book on a niche/genre that you are most comfortable with.

If you love finance, write a book on stock trading or how to save money. However, if you love marketing, don’t go and write about finance or insurance solely because you think these niches are more profitable than marketing. This is the wrong approach to writing a book.

Your aim should not be to write a mediocre book in a big niche, but to write the best book in any small niche and establish yourself as an authority.

Be truthful to yourself. Write what you love and your readers will love reading it. Personalize the whole book with your own story, because you are unique and your story is unique.

People love to read stories. Since ancient times, we as human beings have evolved by reading stories.

So, what about formatting, marketing and editing?

I would suggest that you write a book first. Once the manuscript is ready, new avenues will open up automatically.

Read a lot of good books on writing and self-publishing.

I have only written non-fiction, but I want to try writing fiction. Hence, yesterday I bought James Scott Bell’s Fiction Attack!

The point I am trying to make is, the more you read, the more you learn.

How to Start Writing a Book

Once you figure out what you love, start writing an outline for your book.

Your outline will consist of chapter titles, headings, and sub-headings. The bigger the outline for your book, the bigger your book will be.

Most writers struggle to write 10,000 words. If you have an outline worth 4000 words alone, then you can easily write a book as long as 30,000 words.

If you are a blogger with a couple of articles on your blog, you can easily compile them into a book. You might have to add or remove a few paragraphs in order to interlink the chapters.

James Altucher has done it with his book, “Choose Yourself”, where he has compiled all his blog posts. The book is a bestseller and is currently selling hundreds of copies every day.

Remember: If you are publishing on Kindle, then you can’t enroll in the “KDP Select Program” if your content is available elsewhere in the internet. This is not a major setback, since you can still publish your digital e-book even without enrolling in the KDP Select Program. I will talk more about the “KDP Select Program” later in this article.

Here is an article on how to write a book in 30 day or less. If you search Amazon, you will find a lot of similar books related to this topic.

The main idea is to publish your first book and learn from it. I have learned everything I know only from my experience.

Write your first book just for the experience. To learn how the publishing world works, give 100% effort in writing your book.

Why Bloggers and Freelance Writers Have a Better Chance at Writing Books

Bloggers and freelance writers have a better chance at writing books because they have practiced their craft over a thousand times, unlike a newbie wannabe author from a different profession.

You can now put all your experience as a writer into writing your book.

You can write with a better flow, better plot, use better vocabulary, greater typing speed and you know exactly what your readers want to read.

Do you think a lawyer or a doctor has the same writing skill as a blogger or a freelance writer?

They will struggle to write their book in the beginning. They will also have writer’s block due to lack of practices whereas you, on the other hand, can get on to writing your book without hitting any roadblocks, right from day one.

How to Become a Better Writer

“If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.”― Stephen King

If you are already a blogger or a freelance writer, you are already aware of my answer.

Write, write, write! Write everyday! The more you write, the more you can practice your craft and the better you will be at writing.

To become a better writer, you need to read a lot. I was horrible in both spoken and written English. Five years ago, I was even rejected from a job in a call center because of my broken English.

Since then, I have read more books than I have ever read in my lifetime. I have practiced every day to improve my skills.

There’s no better alternative than practice and hard work. I have been there and I am telling you this from my personal experience.

Why Should you Self-publish a Book

Self-publishing will give you the freedom to write without a deadline. You will earn a larger royalty share. Secondly, you will own the copyright of your book.

Amazon is the world’s biggest bookstore with over 25 million paperbacks, 9 million hard cover books, and 1.8 million Kindle books.

It is also the world’s third largest search engine, following Google and YouTube. It’s bigger than Yahoo and Bing.

What’s even more interesting is that Amazon users are not just surfers. They are real buyers with credit cards. The world is moving towards digital reading and Kindle gives Amazon an edge over the others.

Written books ready for publishing

How to Publish a Book

There are two ways:

  • Self-publish a book
  • Publish with a traditional publisher

I have self-published all my books so far, but I want to test the waters by publishing at least one book with a traditional publisher.

The main advantage of self-publishing is that you get to enjoy better royalty (70% from Amazon). Traditional publishers on the other hand will pay you
10% to 15% in book royalties.

If you want to go through the traditional publishing route, then you will have to go through a literary agent (as this is easier than approaching a publisher directly).

There’s an amazing article on Hindustan Times on how author Anees Salim published his first novel. He never received a single reply from a publisher until he finally hired an agent. This article pretty much explains why hiring an agent is a shortcut in getting your book published.

Your agent takes a commission of around 10% to 20% from your signup bonus check. Thus, they will make a sincere effort to get a good deal for you.

Here is a list of 131 literary agencies in the US with contact their info. In India, there are five major agencies, namely Red Ink Literary Agency, Jacaranda Literary Agency, Siyahi Literary agency, ShernaKhambatta Literary Agency, and Writer’s Side Literary Agency.

Most of the communication usually takes place via email. If you want to learn about how you should pitch to a traditional publisher, read this guest post by John Romaniello on Tim Ferriss’s blog.

 

If you want to write a book then check out this FREE video on how to write, market, and publish your book.

How to Self-publish a Book

Apart from Amazon, you can also self-publish via Smashwords.

If you want to distribute your e-book to Apple, Barnes and Nobles, Flipkart, Baker and Taylor, Kobo etc. then you can publish via Smashwords.

Personally, I stick to only Amazon because of the 80/20 rule.

Amazon can bring in 80% of my sales. If I decide to stick with only Amazon, then I can enjoy the benefits of the “KDP Select Program.” Please do not confuse KDP with KDP Select.

How to Print your Book

I use Createspace as my print-on-demand company. There are other alternatives, such as Lightningsource, but I prefer Createspace for the following reasons:

  1. They will take care of shipping, logistics and everything else because they are owned by Amazon. You can make money in your sleep, without having to do any manual work. With other POD (pint on demand) companies, you will have to process the orders manually.
  2. They pay on time.
  3. ZERO upfront cost. They also offer a free ISBN number, which is mandatory for the printing of paperbacks.
  4. They offer free expanded distribution to libraries, bookstores, etc. My book is available in Landmark bookstore, Homeshop18, Barnes & Nobles, Google Books, etc. This is because of the expanded distribution network from Createspace.
  5. Ability to order copies for yourself or use them as drop shipper to send your print version to anybody in this world with the click of a button.

Books seen within Kindle

Expert’s advice is GOLDEN: Know the secrets of writing, marketing, and publishing your first book in this free video.

How to Self-publish on Amazon

In order to publish via Amazon, you will have to sign up for KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing). People often struggle with formatting books that they need to publish on Amazon. Here’s the best tip I can offer:

Write in Google docs and download it as .docx. You can upload that file directly into the KDP dashboard. You can also insert “table of contents” in your book quite easily with Google Docs.

While uploading your book on Amazon, you will find the option to enroll in their exclusive KDP Select Program. If you select this, you will receive five free promo days every 90 days or seven Kindle countdown days. During this period, you can’t publish the digital content elsewhere, including your own blog.

That being said, you cannot sell your e-book via any other medium, including Clickbank, blog, Selz, Gumroad, EBay, Flipkart, Barnes and Nobles, etc, although under this contract, you are free to promote your print version anywhere you want. These rules are only limited to the digital version.

Getting Paid:

Amazon pays a 70% royalty if you price your book between $2.99 and $9.99. Outside of this price bracket, you will be paid a 35% royalty. They pay every quarter via wire transfer or check.

Remember the tax withholdings:

Amazon will withhold 30% of your royalty for tax purposes, unless you fill out their tax information form. It takes five minutes to fill out their form online.

All you need to provide is your country’s Tax ID and fill out basic information like name and address. Refer to this topic for further details.

I lost a lot of money because I wasn’t aware of this tax policy. Do not make the same mistake I did.

Once I had filled out the tax interview form, Amazon now withholds 15% instead of 30%, since there is a tax treaty between India and the USA. It will vary from country to country.

Connect your Author Central Account to your books:

After you publish your book, create an author central account and link all your books. You will be able to track sales rank, author rank and edit details, such as “Editorial Reviews,” “from the backcover,” and update categories right from your “Author Central” dashboard. It is also very easy to contact Amazon’s customer support.

A book with ebook cartoon on it and a mouse

How to Self-publish an e-book

You can self-publish without relying on a third party and sell it directly to your audience via your website or an online shop. Integrating a PayPal button is damn easy. You can also use Gumroad to sell your book directly.

An advantage of using Gumroad is that you get to capture leads, you get a better conversion rate, and you can even let your readers decide what they want to pay for a book.

Most people sell it as a .pdf, but in order to avoid piracy, I suggest selling .mobi copies that can be read on any tablet or mobile devices.

If you write in MSWord, just save it as a .PDF and you are done. It’s the simplest way to publish an e-book.

Things to Know about Kindle Publishing

Here are a few things that you should be aware of:

  1. You can edit your book anytime you want (since it will be a digital version).
  2. And you can rename and change the book cover anytime you want.
  3. You do not need an ISBN to publish a digital copy with Amazon. They offer their own ASIN number for free.
  4. You can publish your book with a pen name.

How to Become a Bestselling Author

Amazon gives you a bestseller tag when you hit the charts. Now here’s the trick. You do not need to sell thousands of copies to become a bestseller.

Amazon has a lot of categories and these categories have a lot of sub-categories. All you need to do is sell 40-100 copies in a day and you will easily hit the #1 bestseller charts in a sub-category.

It should also be noted that your bestseller rank is updated hourly. Hence, you should sell as many copies as possible within a confined time limit in order to hit the charts.

Amazon does a lot of the selling for you if you produce a good book. They will promote your book in multiple categories, run ads on Facebook to retarget old visitors, and also do the email marketing for you.

The only thing you need to understand is that they cannot promote each and every book available on Amazon. They will only promote the books that sell well.

So, get the initial sales by promoting your book to your audience, email list, social network fans and followers. This will trigger Amazon to start promoting your book to other Amazon customers.

How to Promote your Book

Marketing is universal. I wish I could write about promotion and book marketing in just a few paragraphs, but I can’t.

I sincerely want to help self-published authors. Hence, I am writing a book called, The Art of Book MarketingHarleena, thanks a lot for allowing me the opportunity to guest post on Aha!NOW.

I would love to connect with your audience.

Over to you:

After reading this beginner’s guide and knowing all about how to write and publish your own book, are you going to write one and become an author? Have you ever written an ebook or self-published on Amazon? Share your thoughts and experiences.

Here is a FREE video mini-course for first-time authors. Don’t miss the golden opportunity to become a bestseller.

MUST READ: What Stops You From Self-Publishing a Book on Amazon

DON’T MISS: Review of the Best Self-Publishing on Amazon Online Course.

Photo Credit: FreeDigitalPhotos

120 comments
  1. Hi Harshajyoti,

    I love hearing stories like this and want to thank you for sharing. You have lots of good information here as well.

    Writing an ebook and getting it published is hard work. I did it back in 2008 and I’m so glad I did. It took a lot of effort to keep at it which most people don’t. They start out with ideas of grandeur but often quit before reaching their goal of finishing and publishing.

    I used Amazon to publish my book on kindle which isn’t hard. In fact Kindle makes it as easy as they can.

    Great to hear your story and best of luck to all those ebook publishers and publishers to be 🙂

    Blessings,
    Liz

    1. Wow Liz, You did it back in 2008?

      Kindle was launched in Nov 2007. It’s really amazing to see that you have picked up the opportunity while most of us were still unaware of these opportunities.

      How many books have you published after that? What are you working on these days?

      Cheers!
      Harsh

  2. Hi Harsh
    This is my first time checking out Harleena’s blog and I sure picked a good time. This is amazing information and I’ve bookmarked it. Once I get clear on a few other things I will print if off so I can refer to it on an ongoing basis.
    Thanks so much for sharing such great knowledge.

    1. Hi Lenie,

      I am pleased to hear from you. Glad you have landed on Harleena’s blog via this article.

      I print articles from the web quite often. It’s a great idea to read it on paper. What are you working on these days?

      Many Blessings !
      Harsh

  3. Yes, I totally agree with your point that “To become a better writer, you need to read a lot”. even, I too had a broken English and I improved a lot with reading and writing practice.

    1. Hey Dedy,

      Thanks for your comment. What are you reading these days? I just brought “Mastering Hypnotic Language” by The Rogue Hypnotist. I hope to apply some of these techniques in my upcoming book on “Book marketing”. Oh, I am still halfway through “Mastery” by Robert Greene.

      Have a wonderful week ahead.

  4. Hi Harshajyoti,

    WOW! This is just what I needed at the right time. I’m just starting to write my ebook. I wish I could leave a long, lengthy comment like I normally would but I’m way out of my area of expertise.

    Writing the book will be no problem. Publishing it on the other hand, that’s a different story. I feel I have so much to learn.

    Can’t wait to go through the process.

    Thank you again! I am bookmarking as I know I will have to come back to this page.

    Harleena, WOW!!!! You are so awesome having someone like Harshajyoti share the nuts and bolts with us. What a blessing.

    Thanks again!

    ~ Don Purdum

    1. Hey Don,

      I was just surfing through your blog a couple of minutes back.

      Once you write your book, publishing takes just 5 minutes on Amazon. It’s a child’s play. Feel free to buzz me anytime if you want my help. Btw.. just started following you on Twitter. Let’s connect!

      Appreciate your time to post this comment Don. So, what are you working on these days apart from your ebook?

      1. Hi Harshajyoti,

        It’s great to connect with you. I appreciate you’re feedback and I look forward to reading and engaging with you on you blog as well.

        My focus right now is on increasing my coaching clients, the eBook, I’m developing a small group mastermind and I’m scoping out a video series that people can buy.

        Yep, I’m having fun being busy. But, at least I’m not busy being busy for the sake of being busy, lol…

        How about you Harshajyoti?

  5. Hello Harsh,

    I’m glad to meet you here. Congratulations for winning this guest post giveaway. Even, I’ve won for this month. This is really feeling good to featured at Aha!Now. I know that you’re also feeling the same.

    Amazing post you have written about e-Book. I’ve recently launched small size free e-Book for my readers. After reading your post, I can improve my e-Book writing and promoting skill.

    Yes, I totally agree with your point that “To become a better writer, you need to read a lot”. even, I too had a broken English and I improved a lot with reading and writing practice.

    I was little confused about promoting an e-Book on Amazon. Thanks for the covering this selling part too. This is very helpful for me and others too.

    Thanks again for sharing this wonderful and helpful post with us. I am really enjoyed reading and learned lot of things here.

    Have a wonderful day ahead!

    1. Hi Nisha,

      Yeah you are right. It certainly feels great to win a giveaway. And to be honest, to win this giveaway was perhaps the best thing that has happened to me last month.

      Where have you launched your ebooks? On the website or you are selling ti directly via channels like ebay?

      Yeah, many Indians face the same problem when it comes to writing and speaking the language. Blame it on the education system. Even though, mine was an English-medium school, everybody communicated in either Hindi or vernacular language. Moreover, we were so dumped with exam pressure, that it left us with no time to read other books.

      Have a blessed day Nisha.

  6. Hi Harsh and Harleena,

    Congratulations Harsh for winning the guest post opportunity on Aha!NOW!! You really did a great job writing this post and I am impressed.

    In my 2 years of blogging I have never seen such a detailed post about publishing an ebook and you have explained all the steps thoroughly. This post is a great resource if I ever considered to write an ebook which I am inspired to do after reading this post.

    I am really happy that nowadays you don’t have to wait on a publisher to be willing to publish your book. You can do it all on your own. It will save you time and effort.

    Thanks Harsh for a great write up and for the time you invested in compiling together all the tips and resources. It’s sure a success!!

    Thanks Harleena for having Harsh over to write such a wonderful and informative post about publishing an e-book.

    Enjoy the rest of your week, you both!!

    Be Blessed,

    Neamat

    1. Hi Neamat,

      Wow ! thanks for your kind words. I know you are a very active blogger. When I hear some one like you praise my article, I feel obliged.

      I tried my best to do complete justice to this opportunity to write a guest article on Aha-now. I am overwhelmed by the whole response.

      Thank you once again for encouraging me to keep writing and sharing wonderful tips with fellow writers/bloggers/authors.

      Have a Blessed Day!

  7. Hi Harshajyoti,

    What a great post and big congratulations on your publishing successes.

    I was amazed when you said that just 5 years ago you were rejected for a job because of your broken English. Your writing is perfectly fluent now and that shows how much great work you’ve put in.

    Your list of reasons for writing a book must certainly be ones that tickle the fancy of most people wanting a book published. I can think of another which comes to mind which is having something which will outlive us mere mortals.

    Something our children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren after that will remember us by. I guess to leave a footstep of some kind is something we all desire, even if we don’t consciously think about it.

    You’re right in regards to bloggers being more initially suited to writing a book. When you write every day with a passion, you begin to perfect your writing voice and the habit of writing a lot.

    Wonderful post Harshajyoti.

    Edward

    1. Hi Edward,

      Yeah, my life had a lot of ups and downs but it was damn exciting. My life has taught me a lot. It’s been my greatest teacher.

      Thanks for adding that point to the list. Even I think the same. To leave a legacy behind is definitely one of the core reason to write a book. We will have the ability to still connect with humanity and to make someone smile with our story even after our death. A book will also give us a chance to connect and teach values to our grandchildren or great grandchildren even when we are no more. What a fabulous idea! Thank you once again for reminding me.

      Cheers!
      Harsh

  8. Hey Harshajyoti,

    Welcome to Harleena’s place and what a wonderful share.

    Wow, what a post and you didn’t leave anything out. Now that’s very impressive that you had that on your bucket list and wanted to achieve that so early in life.

    I guess it was about five or six years ago now I got the wild hair that I wanted to write a book. I had a dog for 19 years who I loved like a child and I wanted to share with the world how great he was. So I took a course from a well known writer and she basically taught us that every book starts with a general outline and she explained this in a way I definitely understood. I still have all the notes but later decided that although I loved my dog, there wasn’t enough in there for a story. I’ve never thought of writing a book since.

    People try to convince me that my blog posts would do well as mini-books but that’s just not what my heart desires. I wanted to do it as fun at one time but it’s really not a goal I have on my list to achieve.

    So many people do though so what you’ve shared here will be very helpful. I mean you already have seven behind you, that’s just so very impressive.

    I’ll be sure to pass this post around, I know so many people who would probably love to conquer this dream of theirs. Maybe you can help them with that final decision with all the tips you’ve shared. I sure hope so.

    Hope you both have a wonderful rest of your week and thanks again. Oh and congratulations on winning this guest appearance too.

    ~Adrienne

    1. Hi Adrienne,

      I have been a fan of your writing since the day I have read your free guide on “relationship marketing.”

      We all love reading and listening to stories. If you write your story about your dog, you will find plenty of readers who will enjoy. A story doesn’t necessarily mean a drama or a tragedy. Even when you tell the day-to-day incident, it can turn out to be a engrossing story. It’s the same reason why some diaries have turned out to be such great sellers. If you put up a story out there, you will definitely find an audience who will adore your story. There’s a huge audience of dog lovers in America alone.

      Thanks for your heartiest greetings. Have a wonderful week ahead.

  9. Hi Harsh,
    I am digging gold in Aha-now. This is something I have been browsing about for a long time. My ambition is to be a successful blogger. Of course it needs patience and time which I think I have in ample. I have divided my ambition into segments to make it easy for me. First write good content. Then to bring viewers to me. Then to make use of my blog to promote the eBooks I have written. My eBooks deals with relationship problems and one book is about proverbs and its relevance in this modern world.It is all sketched roughly. I wrote and forgot about it. After reading your post I have started my editing. Hopefully I will have the courage to finish it and publish it. Thank you for your easy suggestions.

    1. Hi Mathi,

      I am so glad that you have shared your goals and ambitions with us. First of all, nice domain name.

      You can also publish your ebooks on Kindle, Amazon and drive traffic from Amazon to your blog. Even that’s possible.

      In your niche, the best way to drive traffic is perhaps to take an active participation on Quora, Yahoo Answers and relationship forums. People are actively seeking advices on their relationship in these places.

      You know, nothing makes me more happy than to realize that my one article has inspired someone to restart an old project that was gathering dust.

      All the best for your future. Keep “Taking Actions”.

  10. Hello, Harsh,

    WOW! What a comprehensive article! I’ve had book publication on the back burner for a while. I have projects nearly completion, and others half done, but have bookmarked your article and will definitely return to it.

    Thanks for so much for the detail you provided, and lists, which I like.

    I appreciate the quality you provide, and will definitely be sharing with my friends. Job well done!

    Harleena, thank you so much for having him! I learned a lot, and will be using this as a resource in the future. 🙂

    Have a good evening.
    – Carol

    1. Hi Carol,

      Glad to catch you on Aha-now. Thanks for stopping by my guest article.

      It’s really exciting to hear comments like this. I am sure, you will be able to publish your book very soon. I can see that you have already made up your mind. It’s just the damn pending tasks that keeps us busy. I have been there, so I can understand your situation.

      You are a brilliant marketer and you will be able to put all your knowledge into your book. We are all waiting for your book.

      Thanks again Carol for inspiring us.

  11. Hello Harsh,

    It’s so nice to meet you and welcome to Harleena’s blog! Thank you for sharing all this valuable information with us. Your advice was very motivating for me to start thinking about a second book :).

    I just published my first eBook on Kindle back in August. The one thing I’m struggling with is marketing. I have never heard of Gumroad so I will definitely check it out.

    I for one will be looking out for your book on marketing when it comes out. 🙂

    Thank you again for these great tips! Enjoy the rest of your week! Hello Harleena! I hope you’re doing well my dear!

    1. Hi Corina,

      Congrats on your new book. If you are using KDP Select, you can’t publish your book elsewhere. Is this your book ? “Beginners Guide to a Work-from-Home”

      Let me tell you a few quick tips that can help you sell more copies..

      1. You need a better cover.
      2. $2.99 for a 28 page book is considered too high on Amazon. It will sell more copies at 99 cents.
      3. You have just one review. Why not send a PDF copy to all your blogger friends and let them review it for you?
      4. Honestly, the title is not intriguing. Both both these elements in the title: “Assurance” and “Expectation”.

      If you need help with anything reach me directly. You will find my contact details on my site.

      Cheers!
      Harsh

  12. I love seeing this and I’m going to be sharing this with all my author friends. I have met so many independent authors who are amazing people, plagued by doubt and insecurity but they never ever stopped trying and managed to self publish both fiction and non fiction. I have 2 works in progress, but though the story is right in my head, I’m missing the middle. Outlining is something I have never been very good at but I think it’s time to go back to that step because without it, I just have a muse who laughs at me, and characters irritated at me for not finishing their story properly. Thank you for the inspiration, this was exactly the right thing to read today.

    1. Hi Becca,

      I am thankful for referring your other author friends. Appreciate it big time.

      There is a book called, 2k to 10k. I am not sure if you have read it but the author talks about how she went from writing 2k words per day to 10k words per day. The secret was to write a outline for the book in the very beginning.

      You are most welcome Becca. I wish you all the best for your upcoming books.

      Cheers!
      Harsh

  13. Hi Harshajyoti, and Harleena,

    This is a great post and a keeper. I had written a post on that very subject myself a while back, but it’s always good to read someone else work.

    I think that it’s fantastic that nowadays you don’t have to wait on a publisher to be willing to publish your book. It can be done by yourself.

    I hope to see you back soon Harleena.

    1. Hi Sylviane,

      It’s so great to hear from a writer who has already written an article on a similar topic. Oh thank God, you didn’t find too many loopholes. 🙂 If there’s anything I might have missed, please let me know.

      Self-publishing industry and digital ebooks have changed the whole face of the publishing industry. I just brought a kindle ebook today on “Hypnosis” for $0.99 cents! If it was a paperback, I know for sure that I would have procrastinated and have never brought it. Who wants to take the hassle of buying and then waiting for a week to get the delivery. On top of everything, we need to make sure that somebody’s at home to answer the door.

      Have a wonderful week Sylviane.

      -Harsh

  14. Hi Harsh,

    Excellent post! I have thought about this before and this helps a lot with feeling more comfortable taking the leap.

    This gives me plenty to think about.

    CreateSpace is a new one but you tips on how you can make money from doing nothing is very appealing for sure 🙂

    I will refer back to this one. I will start diving seriously into my book at the beginning of the new year.

    Thanks for this Have a great rest of the week Harsh.

    I hope all is well with you also Harlenna!

    1. Hi Steven,

      Yeah, even I was a bit hesitant when I first started out with kindle and createspace. Once you publish your first book, it’s going to look so easy.

      Pocket this article. I am sure, you can always refer when you are finally ready to publish your first book.

      All the best for your future endeavors. Good luck.

      Have a pleasant week.

      Regards,
      Harsh

  15. Hi Harsh,

    Your post is very helpful particularly for me because I am also in process of writing my first book and publishing it.

    What I have found the most challenge is that writing of a book is way different than writing a blog post. The organizational skills it demands is tremendous and that has caused me to write and re-write my chapters. Each time I go back to one of the chapters I already have written, I feel I need to go back and re-write it again. It has killed a lot of time for me.

    As far as logistics are concerned, I am going to bookmark this post since it will be handy when I am ready to publish.

    Thank you for such a wonderful post.

    Regards,
    Kumar

    1. Hey Kumar,

      Congrats on your first book. It’s really exciting to hear from a new author. Writing a book is slightly different from writing a blog. I agree. But it’s not really that different. Sometimes, we are just over cautious while writing a book just like a mother is to her new-born child.

      A couple of days back, I was listening to a podcast of a famous writer. I forgot who he was but that guy has sold over a million copies. He said that, no matter how much you feel the urge to go back and rewrite, DON’T. “Just finish the damn book already” — These were his exact words.

      Once you finish writing your book with over 75k words, you can always go back and chop off 60% of the book. Just keep the part that you think is interesting enough for the readers to read. But if you stop in between to go back and edit after every chapter, you will never be able to finish your book.

      I wish you all the best in your publishing career.

      Good luck !

  16. First of all, congratulations for being the winner of the Aha!NOW guest post giveaway, Harshajyoti!

    You listed some interesting tips to help people be inspired writing a Book.
    I think the most important point is understanding your audience, knowing to who you are writing for.
    Then if you are able to solve your audience problems, or needs, then you are right on your way to sell some copies of your book! 🙂

    Thanks for the post,
    have a great one.

    1. Thank you Erik,

      You have raised a very good point. We need to understand a problem before starting out work. It goes for any product development whether it’s a book or a software. A few years back, I made the mistake of not doing enough market survey before launching my software company. It sold a few freebies but nobody was willing to pay for it.

      Understanding what an audience want is extremely important but it’s next step of the process. The first step is to realize the audience for whom we are planning to write a book. Most people often make the mistake of selecting a wrong audience and writing for the wrong target audience.

      Thank you for sharing your views Eric. Commenters like you enhance the quality of a blog post.

      Cheers!

  17. Good Job Harshajyoti! This is a great guide to rely on. I also checked your blog and I must say you that you are a great writer. I just loved all the contents written by you. Thank you for sharing this guide.
    Way to go!
    Regards,
    Rohan.

    1. Hey Rohan,

      Thanks for commenting and checking out my blog. It’s still a work in progress though.

      What are you working on these days?

      Regards,
      Harsh

  18. Hi Harshajyoti,

    Wow!!! I am flabbergasted to see you here at Harleena’s. Congratulations for winning the guest post here. 🙂

    But I digress…

    Did Bonnie Gean approve you as a member in our Video Blogging Challenge community? I am just wondering I haven’t seen you post your video blog post there.

    Anyway, back to Kindle…two of my friends who are great kindle publisher are: Steve Scott and Rob Cubbon. They are both making pretty good profit from KDP. A strategy I’m trying to adopt myself. I have faith in nonfiction ebooks writing.

    This is a great post, Harsha. You are indeed a great writer. And I love your “No SEO Forever” ebook. Minus the automated comments. I have kept the book.

    Um, a doctor might struggle in writing a book because of a lot of jargon words. However, a lawyer might have a better chance to write a better book than the doctor because the lawyer majored in English and Communication. So they can express themselves in words. How do I know that? One of my favorite writer is Tad Crawford who wrote “Legal Guide for the Visual Artist”. He is not a blogger but a Lawyer. And he wrote books before computer even evolved.

    I tell ya Self-Publishing a book today is better than 25 years ago where you have to wait at least 6-months from a publisher before your book gets even publish in PRINT. Now, with the beauty of the Amazon and the Internet and the computer you can publish your book in 24-hours and make money right away!

    I agree with you. Amazon is the 3rd largest search engine. There is a way to make money there even if you didn’t have any blog. You can collect email addresses from your fans on your ebooks. These audience are more targeted customers. Once you sell your book in Amazon and it becomes number one seller, Amazon will promote it for you and will target some other audience who are reading the same kind of books.

    Btw, Steve Scott makes 6-figures from his blog and selling his kindle books. He said he creates an ebook every 21-days. You have to write that fast. With him he does it really well. His career took off just by writing ebooks.

    Anyway, thanks for writing an excellent article. I have Pocketed this post. I hope you have a great week!

    Angela

    1. Hi Angela,

      So nice to hear from you again. Thanks for stopping by this guest post.

      Bonnie did accept me but it was way too late. I had already changed my schedule. I was left with not time in my calender to participate.

      Steve and Rob are both great guys. I interviewed Steve just recently for my upcmong book, “The Art Of Book Marketing”. He has shared some interesting information about book marketing. I will contact Rob for an interview as well. He is the guy to talk to about branding.

      I get what you said about Tad Crawford and I agree. There are some really good doctors who have written wonderful books. I have read books by Dr. Sarah Ballantyne and Dr. Terry Wahls. It’s just an example where I have compared a general profession with a blogger.

      Self-publishing has surely changed the whole publishing industry. Amazon is on top of it’s game. On a personal level, I prefer buying Kindle books because I am also contributing to the environment by saving paper.

      Steve makes around 60k every month from his books. He is surely an inspiration for all of us. He has a book that talks about “How to Write a Book in 21 Days” but during a recent interview with Pat Flynn, he said that he plan to write more in-depth books worth 20k-25k words by taking 2-3 months in hand. I have to agree with his decision because there are numerous low-quality books pooping up on Amazon recently. Most of them are written by outsourced writers. If we want out books to stand out from the crowd, we are bound to write a big-fat, in-depth book. Although in some niches like “Motivation”, “Habit”, etc. a 100 pages book will sell quite well.

      Have a great week ahead Agnela. Thank you once again for sharing your views.

      1. 60K a month just for writing books? WOW!!!! He is the man. Btw, I have 50 nonfiction books to read. Some of the books were free and some I have bought ’em at Amazon. Majority of the books I have are from Steve Scott. I think I bought most of them. I think Steve Scott outsource his books too but he only outsource the Cover Design of the book, and prolly some of the editing. But ALL of the books he produced he wrote them all based from his experience.

        Angela

  19. Hi Harsh,

    I have self-published a novel in Norwegian on both iBooks and Amazon. It was hard writing it. I didn’t do it for the money, but more to see if I could actually get it done. What I find interesting with my experience is the marketing part. I work with marketing, and I should know how to do it. But, when I was finished writing the book, I was finished. I didn’t want to keep marketing the book. I was tired of it, even though I was happy with the result. It was an interesting experience 🙂

    Great article and I wish I had read it before I started writing my book.

    -Jens

    1. Hi Jens,

      So, we both are marketers and authors. Good to connect with someone who is like me. 🙂

      I get your pain. Sometimes, we just lose interest. It has happened to me before. But there’s something that has always motivated me to keep going. Think how many life you can touch with your book. We are the gifted few who has the ability to write a book, publish it and promote it to the masses. Most authors have no clue about marketing or promoting their book. We are among the gifted few and we should use our gift. If we let it go to waste, we will be doing an injustice to those who are less privileged.

      We need to treat our book as a business/company. The day we stop advertising and marketing our company, it’s DEAD ! The same is the case with our book. We need to have a goal and work on it everyday. A simple goal can be to publish a newspaper article after sending your book to a newspaper editor. Or, to earn 500 email subscribers from your book within a week. Keep challenging yourself all the way to keep the fire burning. Willpower is bound to reduce with time. Hence, we should try out best to make the whole task, challenging, inspiring and encouraging.

      Good luck buddy !

  20. Hi Harsh,

    Your post is exactly what I was looking for! I have been blogging for almost two years now and I have been considering writing a book for many years, but I didn’t know how to start and where to find the info needed to achieve this. Your article is giving me the means to finally write my first book! Now I can seriously begin and realize my dream to become a writer. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience with us!

    I also want to congratulate you for winning the guest post giveaway, you truly deserve it! 🙂

    1. Hi Nataly,

      Thank you for your wishes. I appreciate it big time.

      I hope you finally write your first book that’s long pending. For now, just write. Forget all about formating, marketing, publishing etc. Once you finish writing your book, contact me and I will help you out personally with the whole self-publishing process.

      You have my best wishes!

      1. Wow! Thanks a lot for offering to help me with self-publishing my book. I will surely take you up on your offer and will contact you when I am done with my book! Have a nice day!

  21. Writing a book is one of the best ways to make money online. We know that beginners want to know how to publish a book and this article revealed how.

    I am also grateful that you create a list on how to write a book. This will push their enthusiasm and interest. Additionally, the tips given on how to write a book are simple and easy to follow. You have to focus yourself to create a book you love and share a topic you are passionate with to have a good and more fruitful result.

    The practical tips aren’t that difficult to do. Hard work is your investment and so with time.

    Great article all in all! Keep it up! This is encouraging and inspiring!

    1. Hello Metz,

      Yeah, I tried to make sure that the tips are easy for any newbie writer to implement. We need to be passionate about our job or else, we will land up creating a mediocre book.

      I am glad this guest post was able to inspire and encourage you.

      Good luck for your future.

      Cheers!

  22. Harsh, I think what you have done here with this post is awesome. You’ve basically condensed a year of learning into one compact post. Well done!

    I’ve had to learn things the long way ’round, but now that I have had my first experience with being a self-pubber, I have to say I learned a lot.

    I’d like to know a few things, though.
    1. Who does your graphics for your books?
    2. Did you have to apply for an ITIN with the IRS to get a reduced rate for CreateSpace?
    3. What have you found is the “sweet spot” regarding pricing?

    I know you’ll only have your own experiences to draw on to answer these, but that’s okay. 🙂

    I’m looking forward to your reply, Harsh.

    Thanks, and congratulations from one aha!NOW winner to another. 😉

    1. Hey Lorraine,

      I am so happy to connect with you. Congrats to you too for such a lovely guest post. You surely set the standard really high for me.

      Let me answer your queries:

      1. Who does your graphics for your books?

      I get free stock photos. Just remember to give them proper credit in the end of your book

      2. Did you have to apply for an ITIN with the IRS to get a reduced rate for CreateSpace?

      No, you do not need to apply for a ITIN. Your local country’s tax Identification Number is enough. And it’s not just for createspace, it applies to Kindle earnings too.

      3. What have you found is the “sweet spot” regarding pricing?

      It depends on a lot of factors. Book pages, categories, niche, author reputation, category selection etc. etc.. I launch my books at 99 cents and then gradually increase my price. I watch over the sales graph closely for around a week. If the sales are consistent, I will increase the price a little more until I find a “sweet spot” where my book will still sell giving me the max revenue.

      Sometimes, it’s not about revenue. We have different goals. Eg: I have priced my book, “Be The Genius” at $1.99 so that I can sell a lot of copies. I am not concerned about the revenue it generates. I would want people to read this book and help them change their life. You should see the email responses I get from my readers. They share about their problems in life and we connect on a personal level. I love helping people and that’s why I wrote this book.

      My conversion optimization book is priced anywhere between $2.99 to $5.99 because business owners will easily pay that money. If I would have priced it at $1.99, it hardly makes any difference. Hence, I sell it at a higher price.

      My other book, “Engagement Interaction Conversion” is priced at 99 cents. I am not concerned about how much revenue it generates but how many copies it sells. I am planning to take this book to a traditional publisher and show them the sales numbers. This will help me get a good signing bonus.

      It all comes down to what your end goals are….

  23. Nice to meet you, Harsh!

    Thank you for the comprehensive guide 🙂

    I have written a few eBooks, but I haven’t invested into publishing (and selling) one. I am thinking about it (I am also planning to go into writing fiction. I do love reading, especially good stories and novels, why not write one? I already have a few ideas and have started writing one, just need to stick with it :D).

    I have heard of Amazon’s program, but don’t know much about setting it up (so, thank you for the guide). I have bookmarked the page; this will be great help when I am eventually done with the book 😀

    Thank you again for the guide, and good luck with your new book!

    1. Hey Jeevan,

      Since you have already published your ebook, why don’t you convert them into Kindle and paperbacks? It doesn’t even require an investment. It’s all FREE!

      I am happy that you have finally found this guide to help you in your self-publishing process.

      Go ahead and write your first Fiction. We often procrastinate for no reason. If you can bring a smile to just one reader, the effort is worth it.

      Wish you all the best for your future. !

  24. Hi Harsh!

    Thank you for this excellent post. I was always wondering how self-publishing works but never took the time to actually look into it. The information you provided is very helpful. I am not quite in the process of writing a book yet, but as bloggers we always think about it. I will keep this post and will definitely come back to it from time to time.

    Thank you Harleena for letting Harsh be your guest blogger 🙂

    Best, Ilka

    1. Hi Ilka,

      As a blogger, you have a very big advantage over others. Publishing a book is an exciting journey. Do it for the experience if not for any other reason.

      I wish you all the best for your future.

      Many Blessings!

  25. Harshajyoti,

    Great post.

    For the longest while, I’ve always wanted to write a book. In fact growing up, the profession I wanted to be was a writer. I read books by Stephen King and others and said, I wanted to be like them one day … but I’ve yet to write a book.

    This post inspired me to start writing that again so thank you for that.

    Regarding publishing, is it better to publish a regular book or one on Kindle platform? Or both?

    I know some people that’ve published books and they complained that some of their stuff is pirated and people receive copies they haven’t paid for. Not sure how true that it or not.

    Regardless, great post. Thanks for the inspiration. Today, I start my journey to become a best selling author either online or offline.

    – Andrew

    1. Hey Andrew,

      I am glad I was able to inspire you to write and publish.

      Let me answer your question. Ebooks have already outsold paperbacks on Amazon (the world’s largest bookstore). Within the next 10 years, ebooks might capture 80% of the market share. But there will still be paperbacks, physical bookstores, libraries and such.

      I would advice you to publish your digital version on Kindle and paperback via createspace.com . There’s no harm in having both. You will sell more copies and earn more profit.

      Do not worry about piracy. If you enable DRM (digital rights management) while publishing in Kindle, your book won’t be pirated. Just make sure to avoid giving away .pdf versions of your book to unknown readers. Let them download it via Amazon or send a .mobi version if at all you need to.

      I hope it answers your query. Good luck !

  26. This post definetely serves as a great guide in defining on how to write and publish ebooks. I seriously didn’t know about many facts involved in it. I appreciate your help in disclosing about the details involved in the same. Hope many writers got fruitful benefits out of this post

    1. Hey Vino,

      I am happy that I was able to convey the message clearly. I am sure, you will be able to put these tips into good practice. Can’t wait to see your first book being published.

      Share it with other writers who can benefit from this article. Will highly appreciate it.

      Many Blessings!

  27. Hi Harshajyoti
    Wow! What a lenghty article you set up here, it took me over 30 minuts to read this.. Hehehe.

    It’s a nice one you’ve publishe here on how to write a book and get it published, probably, this isn’t just a beginners guide’ this article is also a one hit for even those that already authors.

    I love it where you said “If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.” thats what most people fail to understtand.
    Thanks for the big share and welcome to Aha-Now. 🙂

    1. Hi Larry,

      haha.. ! I hope your 30 mins was worth it.

      The main idea behind writing this article was to motivate aspiring authors to publish their first book. I am really happy to see the overall response from readers. 231 shares on Social media? WOW !

      Reading is extremely important if we want to write. Right now, I am writing my upcoming book on BOOK MARKETING. As a part of my research, I am reading all the classic marketing books written by famous authors. They needn’t necessary talk about book marketing but when you increase your knowledge about your industry (MARKETING), you can write a better book on a smaller subject (BOOK PROMOTION).

      Most people fail to understand because they are in a hurry to publish a book. It’s like skipping preparation before appearing for a test.

      What are you working on Larry? Would love to connect.

      Cheers!

  28. Hi Harshajyoti

    It is one of the most comprehensive posts on writing and publishing an ebook.

    I observe two types of people who write ebook. First is the one who support their brand and second is those who want to achieve any other goal with it including money making, becoming famous, becoming a though leader etc.

    In not much advance nations it is a pity that book writing is still not considered as a full-time profession. Once my friend introduced himself as book writer to people in a party. They did appreciate his being a book writer but again asked him what he do to make his living.

    Another extreme I also observed since the online publishing becomes so easy and popular. People who don’t have much knowledge and skills are also writing ebook and they just hang it at any online bookstore and then declare ebook publishing is not a profitable business after getting poorest response.

    Length of an ebook is also not a big thing to worry. I saw several best sellers with pages lesser than 100 and are worth following.

    I think even to be much creative is not required to write an ebook. You just need to know the art of expressing your views in simplest term to serve the maximum info needs of your readers.

    Thanks a lot for being here at Harleena’s blog and sharing the gist of your experience with regard to ebook writing and publishing.

    Have a wonderful week ahead.

    1. Hi Mi,

      Appreciate your long comment. Thanks for sharing your views about writing and authors.

      People have their own agenda but yeah, these two are probably the prime factors.

      It’s silly when people ask these questions. Most people have a general idea that writers are those who will write an article or two for a local newspaper/magazine. How the hell will they earn a full time income. Little do they know about the publishing industry. It’s growing exponentially. As of 2014, people are consuming content more than ever.

      I agree about the length of an ebook. Books less than 100 pages will also do well if they are well written. Most readers do not have the patience to read a big fat book. They want to consume as much knowledge as possible from an author and then move on to the next one.

      Creative writing is required when you are writing a novel. For a non-fiction, you just need to know your subject better than others so that you can educate them.

      So, what are you working on these days?

      Have a pleasant week ahead.

  29. Hi Harleena Mam,
    Stunned after reading this post. I was too busy due to studies for last few days. When I got a chance to be online, never had a second thought to visit your blog.
    What a co-incidence! I had serached a lot on this topic. But got nothing clearly. This is an all-in-one post about self-publication.
    Thank you so much Harsha to jot down your experience with us.
    Harleena Mam, you are always on top of quality, no matter if it is guest post.

    1. Hi Rahul,

      Stunned? Wow.. Thanks a lot for your comments buddy. What are you studying?

      Go ahead and take your first step in self-publishing. It’s a wonderful journey after that.

      If you need anything, do not hesitate to connect with me.

      Cheers1

  30. Hi,

    You have written such as fantastic blog. I have got so many new ideas after reading this Blog. Writing a book one should need good practice, Then only we can able to write better book. Even educated people also not able to write properly. Thanks for the wonderful tips and ideas. Keep posting good article.

    1. Hello Rajesh,

      I am happy that this blog post was able to inject some fresh ideas in your brain. What are you working on these days?

      I wish you all the best for your future endeavors.

      Cheers!

  31. I’m currently writing my first novel. Reading this has inspired me Harshajyoti. Thanks!

    1. Hey Vernon, good luck on your upcoming novel. You can save this article as a .pdf to refer when your book will be ready for publication.

      Many Blessings!

  32. I think bloggers and writers are great candidates to become authors also because they know what interests readers. Since they’ve been doing it for a while they know what people want and how they want it.

    ~Lea

    1. Hey Lea,

      Just read your comment on FireYourMentor.com as well. Replied.

      Have you published a book?

      Bloggers and writers have a huge advantage over other professions. They have practiced their craft over a thousand times. All they need is a right direction. I hope this article was able to provide it.

      Will see you around on Aha-Now and FireYourMentor.com.

      Cheers!

  33. Wonderful job Harshajyoti! Having recently published my first book, I will say that you certainly did a great job covering this topic!! Although I must admit, I’d love for Harleena to have you back to discuss the Marketing in more detail. PS-Thanks for the link to your upcoming book!

    1. Hi Kathi, I would love to come back and publish another guest post on Book Marketing. Aha-now has frequent giveaways. I hope to win a guest posting opportunity again in the future. It’s really nice to read all these comments and connect with other authors/wannabe authors.

      btw.. thanks for contacting me via PM. I hope I was able to offer you some valuable advice to promote your book. You already have my Twitter id. Let’s connect there as well.

  34. Hello,

    Its good to write and publish book. But its really tough work to make it popular and earn money from it. I have started magazine portal. But I did not earn good money from it. In these days I’m providing the magazine free of cost.

    Thanks
    Dr. Diana

    1. Hi Dr. Diana,

      Everything needs work whether it’s a book, a blog or a magazine. I would love to offer some free consultation on how to promote your magazine. Anything can be monetized if you have a strategy. All you need is an audience.

      How many people download your book every month?

      Here’s a small idea:

      1. Giveaway your magazine for free but create a sales funnel.
      2. Sell advertisements or earn by selling affiliate products
      3. Publish your magazine on Apple Newsstand by creating an app. I know it’s costly but you can publish it for free if you go via www(dot)magzter(dot)com
      4. Instead of sending your visitors to a direct .PDF download link via bit.ly, you can send them to an Opt-in page and capture their emails.

      I wish you all the best with your magazine. I am happy to guide you if you need any further help.

      Have a pleasant weekend.

  35. Hi Harshajyoti

    This is a great post. The information is valuable with lots of tips and thanks for addressing the fears that many of us bloggers who have toyed with the idea of writing and publishing our book for a long time now.

    It is also good to have a professional edit your manuscript before finalizing it to go to your publisher. Costly mistakes can be avoided.

    In order to become one of the best writers one has got to read a lot. It is how we learn and new ideas are birthed. One cannot get away from doing that.

    Thanks for sharing and I am happy that Harleena decided to feature you on the blog through this you wonderful guest post. Have a wonderful weekend.

    1. Hi Yvonne,

      I highly appreciate your reply. The main idea behind writing this article was to inspire bloggers to publish their book. Bloggers are already highly skilled. They just need the right direction to self-publish their work. I tried my best to answer as many queries as possible.

      Editing is very important. You won’t believe how pissed readers can be if they read an unedited book. They will bury your book with negative comments within days. It’s always wise to invest a little on a good editor or a proofreader.

      Have a wonderful Weekend.

      Cheers!

  36. Thank you Harsh,
    Your comment made my heart glad. Those were the most encouraging words I have heard in a long time.
    Sure I will take your tip and work on it.

    You have offered so many workable solutions to every aspect of writing a book. A complete and comprehensive method for others to follow and to further enrich the content. The replies to comments, have added even more insights and detailed tips.

    I already made pdf’s of everything said in this post, the original post and the comments that followed. Guess just merging all the pdf’s is going to be a great collection in itself.

    Thanks again. Its indeed a pleasure to be here. And, Harleena…cannot thank you enough.

    I am hanging around for sure. I saw your twitter post earlier today..the one on abuse, but thats digressing. Will make my comments where they should be.

    Thank you all.
    Nick

    1. Just replying to my part of the comment Nick, while Harsh would to his – it’s a pleasure to have you as a part too, and we look forward to your blog AND book 🙂

      You sure are fast and even got the pdf done up! But the comments will keep coming for more than a week and those add additional value to the post, so stay tuned dear friend.

      Thanks for checking out the post on abuse, which is another harsh reality of life we cannot overlook and I know many who go through that. We appreciate your visit 🙂

    2. Interesting Nick. I have the same habit of creating PDF’s and saving them to read later.

      I try to inspire people I am happy I was able to inspire you. I will be really happy to see your succeed. Go ahead and follow your dreams. We are behind you if you need anything. We as in, Me, Harleena, Vinay, and the whole blogging community . ヅ

  37. Hello Harsh,

    First of all i must congratulate on your recieving this guest post reward. However, just as Madam Harleena have said, we all are beneficiaries of this award as we all have learnt a great deal from this post of yours.

    You have immensely impacted in the lives of many bloggers – as you can see; a lot of us have been motivated to write and publish our own books and e-books. You painstakingly revealed the method of writing and publishing a book. Many have desired to publish books of their own but lack the required experience to do so. I will simply share this on my Social Media accounts; sure i will be able to help a few of such persons.

    I hope to write a book someday and i’ll just take note of this post as it will serve as my reference.

    Thanks for taking your time to construct such an informative post, i really appreciate.
    Thanks Madam Harleena for letting Harsh share this piece with us. Wish you both, a wonderful weekend!

    1. Hi Ngwu,

      I am glad I was able to inspire you. I tried to cover as much as possible in my article. If I have missed something, I am trying to cover them in the comments.

      I highly appreciate your effort to stop by and comment. Thank you for sharing it on social media. The more people we can influence, the better.

      I wish you all the best for your future. I am sure, you will write a bestseller. Keep the fire burning and have the desire to accomplish your dreams. You can surely do it.

      Many Blessings!

  38. Hello Harshajyoti,

    Wish you a hearty congrats for making a great post on eBooks possible.
    I had already read your post in the morning and I LOVE it.Its a GO TO guide for every aspiring writer like me. I have completed my eBook on health niche to a good half level. And I had left it because I did not have proper tutorial. Not that I did not Google, but I did not find any relevant post.

    There were literally 60-70 comments in all those articles from aspiring writers like me that was never responded to. I now wish I knew them so that I could share this with them. I remember many queries of them like taxation, piracy protection,publishing management not hearing to them etc very precisely explained here.

    I really would like to know one more thing as to should I give a disclaimer as I am writing in the medicine niche and I might face legal issues if someone takes a wrong step. (I am qualified to write about medicine though).

    Should I apply for an ISBN for my book? Is it compulsory?

    Thanking you for writing such a wonderful and detailed post. Hey we could convert it into an eBook 😀

    Thank you Harleena maam, for introducing Harsha to us.

    1. Hey Swadhin,

      My whole idea behind writing this blog post was to help writers like you. Do thank Harleena for inspiring me to write this article. It was her idea. She wanted to motivate fellow bloggers to write and publish their first book. I wanted to write about something else in the beginning. That being said, I hope this blog post will be instrumental in shaping the lives of hundreds of other aspiring authors. Do share it on Twitter and Facebook and let the world know about it.

      Let me start by answering your questions:

      Should I give a disclaimer ?

      Yes, you should. You will have a “Disclaimer and Terms of use page” on your book. You can copy the exact format word by word. Here’s the link: pastebin.com/4JWeJqp4

      Should I apply for an ISBN for my book? Is it compulsory?

      No it’s not compulsory. ISBN is an unique identification number for each book.

      If you are publishing a digital version via Amazon, they will provide you with an ASIN. (Amazon’s own unique number to identify your book). On the other hand, both Apple and Kobo require you have an ISBN even for your digital book.

      As for the paperback/hardcover version, if you are printing it via createspace, then you have two options:

      You can either use their FREE ISBN or you can provide them your own ISBN. Using their FREE ISBN will enable you to use their “expanded distribution’ free of cost. Please note that you can not use their ISBN to print your books anywhere else. You can use their FREE ISBN on createspace alone.

      Now, there are some authors who would like to print their books using createspace, lightingsource, or a local printing company in their city for local distribution.

      There are two more options:

      You can buy a custom ISBN which will cost you $10. You can use each custom ISBN with only one printing company.

      Or, you can buy an Universal ISBN which will cost you $99 and you can use it everywhere starting from createspace to your local printing company in your city.

      This article explains it brilliantly: sellbox.com/how-choose-isbn-options-using-createspace-print-demand-printer/

      Thank you again for your wonderful words. If you have any queries, do let me know.

      Have a blessed day !

  39. Wow! I am in some excellent company here.
    Amazed at the talent and the easy lucidity with which everything is explained.
    That was some article! It had my eyes jumping out of their sockets.
    Thanks Harsh, Harleena and all others who commented.
    You guys are all so close to home, its somehow feels so comfortable to be here.
    I am from mixed parentage Indian/Telugu speaking father and English speaking German mom.
    I live in Chennai with a successful writer and city celeb; my daughter who has had a half page in two newspapers for the past 10 years.
    Having taught both my daughters the love for books a personal addiction, it has always been my dream to be able to write my own.
    Reading Harsh’s words has made so many difficulties I envisaged as mountains seem much smaller now.
    I am so thrilled.
    Thank you all. Perhaps there is still time to fulfil my dreams after all.
    After spending my entire life in education quite successfully, writing that book, seemed a dream left to my children, and for me to enjoy vicariously.
    Now that dream seems within grasp.
    I find it difficult to put my feelings in just a few words.
    In conclusion, I pray Maxwell Ivey and all the others fulfil their dreams too.
    Thanks again.
    Nick

    1. Hey Nick,

      I am really happy to connect with you. We indeed live nearby.

      Most writers have the same problem. They just can’t put their feelings in a few words. Here’s what I do..

      Whenever I have an idea or a ‘feeling’, I take a note (on evernote). Then, by the end of each day, I write the outline of my book using these notes. The outline will basically consist of a couple of headings and sub-headings. Once you have created the outline for your book (which is usually a few thousand words) you can start filling in the gaps with your thoughts. You will have a lot of empty spaces to fill in.

      You can put all your life experiences into writing your book. You surely have a major advantage than most young authors.

      I wish you all the best for your future. I know you will make it happen. Hit me up once you have written a book and I will help you to promote it.

      Many Blessings!

  40. Hi Harshajyoti, Great tips from start to finish. I would like to add that it’s important to have your manuscript professionally edited. It costs a little money but is well worth it. You will give credence to your work by naming your editor in the book. I’m a self published author, too. Also, Agents shouldn’t charge you anything to represent you. They strictly make money on royalty percentage. I would advise that first time book authors be careful of Agents who charge a lump sum to ‘represent’ you. They may not follow through with their promises and you have no recourse to get your money back. Wonderful post! Thanks Harleena for introducing me to this cool guy!

    1. Hey Lisa,

      Good point! I missed to mention the importance of investing in a good proofreader and book cover. Thanks for pointing it out.

      What’s your book about? Have you self-published it via Amazon or Smashwords?

      When I first wrote my book, I went over to fiverr in search of a proofreader. I hired over 20 proofreaders and all of them sucked big time. Finally, I found 2 proofreaders who are really good. They are “typerc” and “mrproofreading”. I have mentioned them here because I know a lot of people will go searching for a proofreader on fiverr and will probably waste a lot of money like I did.

      About the literary agents, you are right. They shouldn’t charge any upfront money to represent you. There are a lot of scammers out there. Even the biggest literary agents will only take a commission (usually 15%) from the signup bonus and book royalties (or as per the contract). Most of the literary agencies will mention the terms and conditions in their website itself. Thanks for highlighting it.

      Let me know if I can help you with anything.

      Cheers!

  41. Hello Harsh! Wow You sure make it sound easy. I like how you have stated
    that writing a book is not rocket science and this is it similar to writing a blog post.

    Well I never even thought I would be doing this so perhaps a book is in my future.

    You certainly have not left anything out that I can see, Great Choice here Harleena to have Harsh as a guest blogger here today.

    Thank you both and do enjoy your weekend… Chery :))

    1. hey Chery, thanks for stopping by amidst your busy schedule to comment on this post. For me to guest post on Aha-now was not a choice but destiny. I was destined to inspire people like you (may be that’s why I won the giveaway). I hope to see your book published soon.

      As a matter of fact, nothing is rocket science. Everything is possible. You can’t imagine how many people just sit back thinking that it’s going to be too tough for them. We just have to ‘Take Actions’. It’s all easy after the first step.

      Good luck and enjoy your weekend Chery.

  42. Hello Das and welcome to Harleena’s community,

    At some point in time, i was writing my first ever e-book. but i never get to finish the e-book due to the stress and other challenges i was facing. I did reveal a lot of secrets but i guest the book will not be out anytime soon 🙂

    Nice tips… and from the post, it did showed that you throw out your best.

    Thanks and hope to see you here more often. Have a good weekend

    1. Hey Babanature,

      I am sure, you will get back and finish your book soon. I wish you all the best.

      We all prioritize our work in life. Stress and other challenges are inevitable. Trust me, the last three years were crazy for me. yet, we need to separate our personal life from our professional life.

      Here’s something that has worked for me and I am sure, it will work for you as well. Write down a list of things you want to acheive by the end of next year. make another column and write down what you need to do in order to acheive these goals. Do whatever you have to do in order to acheive them. That’s life! A series of crazy challenges but we live it with glory and joy.

      Good luck for your future. Have a wonderful weekend.

      Harsh

  43. Hi Harshajyoti,

    Though I have never even imagined of writing a book but still its great to know that writing a book can be so much effective.
    Even for bloggers it may prove a way to get more traffic.

    There are many readers who try to find out more and more book to increase their knowledge. But there are many authors too.
    To be unique you should write about something which interests you because only then you will be able to explore your ideas beautifully.

    I am glad to read the benefits you have mentioned above. All have their own reason for writing any book. There are many people who write only for spreading their thoughts.

    Making money is always important and many writers try to make money through their book.

    In my opinion writing a book is not an easy job. People should devote their time to it.

    Thanks for sharing this kind of informative post.

    Hope you are enjoying your day.:)

    ~Ravi

    1. Hi Ravi,

      Thanks for stopping by my post and sharing your ideas. When we write about a subject we love, we can write a good book. If we focus on an unfamiliar subject, we will land up writing a mediocre book.

      Yeah, money is important. Let’s all be honest about it. But the idea to write a book for earning money will backfire. Once you have written your book, you will create a marketing strategy for promoting your book. Only then, should one think about earning money by making more sales, not while writing the book.

      I agree with your opinion. Writing a book is not easy. In fact, nothing is easy and yet everything is easy. It all depends on the hardwork and dedication one devotes to his work. A person can write a book within 7 days without any research. On the other hand, someone else will research 5 hours everyday before writing his book. In the end, it all comes down to how we want to approach.

      Enjoy your day Ravi. Thank you for your comment.

      1. Hi Harsh,

        You know when we work with the topic or subject we like it seems interesting to get more engagement with it.

        People write books by taking their own interest at the top. I have noticed that some people try to go into another topic which may bore them later.

        Money is always important. Selling a book is not an easy way to make money but still if you have potential to attract readers through your book then it will be rocking.

        Thanks for replying.

        ~Ravi

  44. writing a book is always something interesting and show something different to world and you have share very much interesting things in this post like always yous my inspiration blogger thanx for this nice post .

    1. Hey Prince, I have just finished reading your post “iPhone 6 Price In India and Features”. Tweeted as well.

      I am glad I was able to inspire you. Writing a book gives you the opportunities to reach places you have never imagines. Think of a rural African or Indian school reading your book. With a book, you can reach the far corners of the world and educate people.

      What are you working on these days?

  45. Hi Harsh,
    That was superb! Its a long time I read a detailed comprehensive blog post on “how to write and publish a book”. Indeed, this is a beginner’s guide and I am glad to have stumbled upon it. Thanks Aha Now!

    You made many salient and relevant points which include:
    “To become a better writer, you need to read a lot”
    “Personalize the whole book with your own story, because you are unique and your story is unique.”
    I sure have bookmarked this piece and would gladly put the lessons into practice!

    This comment was shared in kingged.com where this guide was shared.

    1. Hey Sunday, it’s nice to hear from you again buddy. I saw your reply on my other post on Kingged. The best way to know if something will work or not is to try it out.

      Go ahead and publish your book. Even if it’s not a big hit, you will take away tons of valuable lessons from your experience. And then, you will write your second book, then third. Ultimately, there will be a time when you can be proud of your work.

      We all learn as we grow. I used to work as a freelance writer 5-6 years back. I was paid $1.5 for a 500 words article. Back then, I wrote as many articles as I could, only to hone my skills.

      I see you comment regularly on blogs. You are ultimately practicing your craft. Go ahead and put that practice into writing a bestseller. All the best with your life ahead.

  46. Hi Harleena and Harshajyoti,

    Awesome post – But I published one eBook before reading this post. In that way I feel happy. Ya this post really helps the newbies and also webmasters with lots of knowledge and don’t know how to attract audience. eBooks are the best way to reach vast audience that too in a shorter period.
    Have a Great Weekend.

    1. Hi Kumar,

      Yes you did and I am sure it must’ve been a real hit 🙂

      Harsh has done a tremendous job of writing all the minor details to help those who want to write a book and get it published too. It’s a real resource for both, bloggers and wanna be writers.

      Thanks for stopping by, and Harsh will reply to you once he is here – we appreciate your visit 🙂

    2. Hello Perambur,

      Hey congrats on your new ebook. How is it selling? Have you published it on Kindle or as a .pdf on your website?

      What are you working on these days? Writing the second book soon? The best way to promote the first book is to write a second book. It’s like movies. Part 1 will promotes part 2 and vice versa.

      Regards,
      Harsh

  47. Hey Harshajyoti and Harleena,

    Thank you for updating us with this.

    Congrats to Harshajyoti Das for winning the guest blog giveaway. Its awesome to hear that.

    I have never written an ebook before but considering doing so very soon.

    This article has motivated me to think about writing my own ebook in the future.

    As an entrepreneur and a blogger, i would love to improve on my writing skills via blogging so that in the future i can start writing fantastic ebooks.

    I have learnt alot from here.

    Thank you and have a nice day ahead.

    -Oloyede Jamiu

    1. Hi Oloyede,

      Yes, the winners are always rewarded, though this post is a reward for all of us, isn’t it? 🙂

      We sail in the same boat dear friend, as I can understand how tough it can get for bloggers to take out time to sit and write, but if you are determined, I am sure you’d do it. I know I have to too! Nothing works better than writing daily, that just makes you better, though I think you write well as I’ve visited your blogs and read all that you write. A little polishing we all need, and there are many sites for that. I am sure Harsh will be able to throw more light on it once he’s here.

      Thanks for stopping by, we appreciate it 🙂

      1. Thank you Harleena,

        I’m always around to learn from this blog.

        Kudos to your elbow.

        Thank you for the comment on my blog.

        I’m honoured.

    2. Hi Oloyede,

      I am glad that I was able to motivate you. If you are an entrepreneur, you will love the journey of writing a book. As entrepreneurs, we are already inclined towards freedom. Writing a book will help you connect with your inner self. It’s another kind of freedom.

      You can write books in your own industry and use them as a medium to help others.

      The more you write, the better you will be. I used to suck at writing, I still do. There’s a mountain to climb. Keep a goal and keep walking towards it.

      Good luck !

  48. Hello,

    Harshajyoti, congratulation for winning the guest post giveway and thank you so much for publishing this content. I am thinking to write an E-book and want to publish it. So this article will help me lots. Now I bookmark this article and also recommended to my friends to are search resources to publish their book. Thanks again. 🙂

    1. Hi Moumita,

      Thank you for taking the time out to comment on my article. What is your ebook about? How many words have you written so far? Is there anything I can help you with?

      Please share this article with your friends. I am sure, even they will find it useful.

      Take Care!

      Harsh

  49. Wow! Harshajyoti

    You have motivated me to self publish my ebook. I know that a lot bloggers will be feeling the same way. I have been trying to publish a book but have not had the time and didn’t know the ropes of self publishing. This article is a great resource and I have had to bookmark this to peruse at a later time.

    One thing for sure is that by next year, I will be writing an ebook and Harleena as well as ABC members are lucky to have you in our community where we can learn from you about publishing books.

    Thanks for sharing.

    1. Hi Ikechi,

      I am glad I was able to motivate you. I am lucky to be around here with such wonderful people. I am able to share and learn a lot about life and blogging. Harleena has created a wonderful community of bloggers and motivational experts.

      When you publish your book next year, hit me up. Can’t wait to read !

      Hany Blessings !

      harsh

  50. Hello; thanks to harleena for bringing us this helpful author with such great suggestions. I am a totally blind computer user and I just finished my first ebok. Its a motivational book based on my experiences where I share my life lessons. It is an expanded version of my guest post on Harleena’s site. It will be about 20 to 25 pages and have exercises for the reader. I’ve already started promoting it by asking my readers to participate in choosing the cover image and setting pricing. Lorraine Reguly, another self published author, is editing it for me. I didn’t know about how amazon determines best seller rankings. that seems to me to be a big help to us. Especially seeing how you said that amazon will help support and promote books that are popular. wonder if they have a category for personal development written by an author with a disability? 😉 what you are saying here is very similar to advice people are given about choosing niches and keywords for their websites or blogs. so you do know quite a bit about marketing ebooks and marketing in general just didn’t think you did? we all have subjects like this. I didn’t realize that my life and blog posts were inspirational. now that i know, I’m doing my best to help people. and i believe the ebook will help me generate coaching clients. by the way have you done any videos to promote your books? what is your opinion about video as a promotion tool for books. and I know about the service to print actual books. Right now me and lorraine just want to get the book live as an ebook but i already have a couple of people who want to get some print copies to sell on my behalf. and i imagine physical copies would be better for give aways too. i have a spot on twanna young’s radio show in november and plan to use it to promote the book. well thanks again for sharing. take care my new friend. I say that because i see all the people in this amazing community as my friends, max

    1. Hi Max,

      I won’t say much and leave you in the better company of Harsh, but I knew you would love this post and also connecting with Harsh – the right person to guide you.

      I know about your book and we have already talked about it, and once it’s edited and you finalize the cover, I am sure it’s going to be a huge hit. At least for the first one and by someone who has achieved so much in life.

      We ALL wish the very best with it. Thanks for stopping by and Harsh will be here shortly to take up your comment in detail 🙂

      1. Hi Harleena; that is what i love about you and our network here. You are always supportive and encouraging. even when i am noticing myself that i only have one topic these days, you still took the time to reply and remind me that it will be awesome. I am happy to have met him through you. I believe he will be a good friend and fine resource. but we really got to get him a nick name. I hate not using a person’s name in my comment, but the only way I wouldn’t mess that up is to use copy and paste. 🙂 looking forward to his thoughts. thanks again sweet harleena and take care, max

        1. You know I love helping people and it gives me immense happiness 🙂

          That is what I love about the Blogosphere, it is so vast, yet we have our own little circle of good friends, and with more joining in, it just keeps getting better.

          Oh yes…he’s also called ‘Harsh’, so that would be a nice and short one to use, and I am sure he’d prefer that too, easy for you to type as well. He would be here soon and I know you would have LOTS to ask him as you are currently in the process of wanting to publish your book. Take care as well 🙂

        2. Call me “Harsh”. It still question my parents about it. It has a completely different meaning in India. It means “happiness”, (not cruel). 🙂

          1. Hello Harsh; thanks that is much easier. and to think my grandma on my father’s side tried to talk my grandpa out of naming my dad maxwell because she thought he might have trouble learning to spell it when he started to school. 🙂 good to meet you Harsh. take care, max

    2. Hey sorry Max to keep you waiting. I was away for most part of the day. First of all congrats on your new book. Yeah, there are tons of categories related to personality development on Amazon. Each major category has sub-categories. Each sub-category again has sub-sub categories. Eventually, you can find a sub-category that suits your need.

      You can create an author bio page on Amazon’s ‘Author Central’ platform. You can link to your books from there. Thus, your readers will be able to see your author bio while visiting your product page on Amazon.

      Marketing is my passion. I love hustling and coming up with new ways to promote products. I have been into internet marketing since seven years. I am writing a book that will teach self-published authors to promote their books without hiring a publicist. It’s called, “The Art Of Book Marketing”. You can sign up to receive the book as mentioned above in my blog post.

      I haven’t created any videos yet but that’s next on my list. I plan to open an Youtube channel with book marketing videos and also create some slideshare presentations.

      I am glad to know about your upcoming radio interview. Just keep on “TAKING ACTIONS” in life. Opportunities will open up automatically.

      Take care my friend. It’s nice to connect. Oh have I told you that I have previously seen you on many other blogs. I do remember you name as well 🙂

      1. Hello Harsh; no worries, we all get busy. I thought I would have replied to this sooner myself. I did register for your book, thanks for including the link again. and i tried to set up an author central page but it wouldn’t let me because I don’t have a book published yet. Is it something that you have to have at least one book uploaded first before you can create such a page on amazon. Yes, we do have to take action daily. I mentioned that as one of my keys in life lessons from a blind blogger a past guest post on here. yesterday, I started contacting lions clubs and scouting groups in search of my first speaking engagement. as a blind person who achieved the rank of eagle scout either of these groups should be a good place to look. I’m also continuing to approach radio shows and podcast owners about appearing on their shows. I am continuing to find friends who are reading the draft version of my ebook and have promised to post a review once it is live. so, should i post these reviews to my blog or to the author central page whe i get one or both? Perhaps you would consider also reviewing it for me. and anyone else who is reading this can join in and help with an additional review just ask. I have heard your nick name but haven’t visited your site. or at least i don’t think so. thanks for the help, max

  51. Hi Harsh,

    This is an excellent post for aspiring writers with all the details which are needed to publish a book! I am amazed at your speed!! Did you say 7 books in less than a year?? Fantastic!! All the best with your rocket speed! Congratulations for winning a guest post at Aha-now, you have done an awesome job.

    When I published my first book, I had to read and read a lot to gather all this info which you have provided in just one post. It is not very easy for a layman, it took me almost a month to learn all the techniques as I started from a scratch but once I had learnt all the skills, I felt it is so easy. So it took me just half an hour to upload my second book! By the way you have not mentioned that we need an impressive cover page too.

    Let me add another reason for writing a book. Writing comes quite naturally to a writer and if you happen to be one, you are bound to publish sooner or later. That is my reason for self publishing plus it is much easier if your focus is not just money. When we write, our focus is only writing, which is very fulfilling in itself. it is only when we have a lot of pages that we think of the next step! I realised quite late that marketing your book is the most important part, more difficult than writing and nobody writes a review without being paid. Do you have any tips on marketing?

    Thanks Harleena for inviting Harsh to write such a wholesome article. Have a blessed weekend.

    1. Hi Balroop,

      Oh yeah, I forgot about book cover. If a book wants to sell, it should invest in a good cover designer. Packaging is always important to sale a product. Thanks for pointing it out. 🙂

      I agree on this one Balroop. Even for me, it was an inner calling. An inner voice was telling me to just open Google Docs and start typing…

      I do have a lot of tips on marketing and hence, I am writing my book, “The Art Of Book Marketing”. I also offer private marketing tips via emails. You can sign up here: book-marketing.org

      It was nice to hear that you have already published two books. If you need any help, you know where to find me.

      Cheers!

  52. Hi Harsh,

    Welcome to Aha!NOW as one of the lucky guest bloggers! You won the guest post as a giveaway held recently, but let me tell you, I’m the lucky one in fact to have this post on my blog. 🙂

    This is a splendid post and truly a great guide on how to write a book and get it published with such fine details. I’m sure this is going to help many budding authors, bloggers, freelance writers, and others too. This is a book-markable post!

    You know its been more than 3 years that I’ve been blogging and I haven’t yet come up with my own ebook, leave alone any other self-published book. I guess I’ve just been SO involved in blogging and building this blog, and now the new community that taking out time to sit and write, is just never there! I guess I need to take a few weeks off and just sit and write, and do nothing else! After reading your pose, I surely am motivated to become a self-published author – some day 🙂

    Of course, the easiest way for me will be to compile my blog posts into an ebook, and this has been on my mind for a long time. I need to learn from you in this aspect, who has written so many books in about a years time. Wow!

    I agree with you that bloggers will benefit a lot if they self-publish books or even simply have an ebook to their name. That will give them more traffic, great name, and some revenue too.

    This post has great information on Amazon and its KDP program. Thanks for going into the details and sharing your personal experiences with self-publishing- I am glad you wrote about all the things we discussed, which makes this such a great resource. I’m sure you’ll be the best guide to help with the publishing process. I’d suggest all wanna be writers and authors to visit your website.

    Thank you Harsh for being a great guest blogger and an ABC member too. I’m sure all the other Ahaians as well as readers of Aha!NOW will have questions for you. So, I’ll leave this center-stage for you and wish you have a great time interacting and engaging with the audience. As for me, I’ll be only coming to greet the new visitors or reply to the comments addressed to me as well. Have a great time! 🙂

    1. Hi Harleena,

      Thank you for publishing my guest post. I would love to contribute once again in the near future. Aha-now has a lot of interesting people with whom I can connect/have connected. Until then, I will see you guys on Aha-now forums.

      It was really nice to finally see my blog post published on Aha-now. It’s published where it belongs. Even if I can motivate one blogger to publish his/her own book, the effort was worth it.

      As I said in my post, James Altucher has taken articles from his blog to create “Choose Yourself”. I am sure you can do the same. There’s an audience out there who haven’t discovered Aha-now yet. You can reach them by publishing a book.

      I wish you all the best. Can’t wait to read your first book. Hit me up once you are ready to publish. We will work out the book launch campaign together. Nothing makes me more happier than to see my friends succeed.

      Cheers!

Comments are closed.

Previous Article
picture showing crown with gems of ahanow written

GEMS Of Aha!NOW – October 2014

Next Article
A man upset with the reality of blogging

7 Harsh Realities Of Blogging That Bloggers Should Know

Related Posts
Poster on how to write a dissertation
Read More

How to Write a Dissertation: 5 Tips to Get Good Grades

Writing a dissertation is a long and tedious process. It is interesting if you know how to write a dissertation as the way it is accepted in the institutes. Here's all about the process of writing a dissertation with tips about the aspects that you need to consider while penning the dissertation.
Total
118K
Share