THE IDEA LIST BOOK PUBLISHING CHALLENGE #1 I know you can write this and the best way to get better at writing is to. I've seen dozens of people write books in 30 days after one of these challenges. I'm going to give you a "30 day book challenge" right here. Because of you.ĥ) MYTH: IT TAKES YEARS TO WRITE A GOOD BOOK. Nobody will ever ask, “Who is your publisher?” If they like the book, then they like it because of the writing. I doubt he cares about the stigma (he originally self-published “The Martian” when he couldn’t find a publisher). See “The Martian” (and my podcast with author Andy Weir). 150 million copies later I bet she doesn’t care about stigma. ![]() See EL James (who originally self-published “50 Shades of Grey”). See the mention about Hugh Howey's study above. ("50 Shades of Grey" was originally self-published and sold 250,000 copies before a major publisher picked it up).Ĥ) MYTH: There is a stigma to self-publishing. I will cover this in great detail in a future newsletter. A published book is just one spoke on that wheel. I call this the spoke-and-wheel approach. But more money is made from the byproducts you get in life from writing a book. The biggest pleasure I get is when someone stops me on the street and says, “Your book changed my life.” This is an ego trip for me but I am afraid I love that feeling.īut don’t book sales translate to money? Yes. People buy books that look good, that are on topics they are interested in, or books their friends buy for them or suggest they buy.Īnd success is not measured by book sales. 100,000+ Twitter followers), less than 1/2 of 1% will buy your book. Second, even if you have a big platform, (e.g. The new definition of a book is… no rules.įirst off, neither does the publisher. I can give many examples of people who pay all of their bills from a 20-50 page book they wrote 5+ years ago. (My most successful book, "Choose Yourself", was self-published and sold over a million copies)Ģ) MYTH: A book is 250 pages, give or take. But it's just one way to get published and not the only way. People feel good when they are “chosen” by an agent a publisher. ![]() they were better) than mainstream published books, and they had higher rankings on Amazon (they were selling more copies). He found that, on average, self-published books had higher-star ratings (i.e. Hugh Howey, author of the self-published novel, "Wool", did a study of all the books on Amazon. He went on to sell over a million copies of his book. I recently interviewed David Goggins, who self-published.īecause he self-published he got no advance (he was offered over $300,000 but turned it down), and he will never make the NYT bestseller list.īut HE SOLD 250,000 copies in the first week and his audiobook is #2 on Amazon after Michelle Obama’s. Here are some old myths: some people use these myths as excuses and some people actually believe them. The definition of a good successful book has changed. There are many reasons to write a book: Make money, Establish expertise, Practice for writing more books, a Creative Outlet, to lend Authority to other projects.įor instance, if you want to be a public speaker and a conference is deciding between you and another equally talented speaker with the same skillset as you - the person who has written a book will get the speaking gig.īelow is the first of several "30 day book challenges" that I'll release through this newsletter in the next few months. ![]() But when someone says that it usually means they can't do it. Many people used to tell me, "You can't do that". It's just a matter of knowing the various myths that the gatekeepers of publishing try to hide from you and then the techniques I describe below. I know this because I've done it and I've helped others do it. ![]() In that sense, the title certainly does not lie, but all of the references to trying things "with your kids", to going to church, and to prayer make me think that perhaps they could be a little clearer in the description as to who this book is actually for.You can write a book in the next 30 days. I was hoping for something a little more in way of insight or inspiration, but for the most part this book is literally just a list of things to try. Far too many of the tips just felt like advertisements for the author's blog, or gave instructions to visit such-and-such website for more information (if only there was some way of concisely conveying information to a reader, perhaps in the form of words, printed on a page with ink, and bound together with front and back covers - that would be so convenient!), or simply gave no instructions at all (I tried to do the plank challenge, the provided calendar made reference to "scissor kicks" and "flutter kicks", which I had to look up on my own to know what those even were, and am still not certain that I'm doing right).
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