1️⃣ I’ve never written a book before — where should I start?
Begin by clarifying your Why and your Who. What is your deepest reason for wanting to write your book, and who is your intended audience?
Make sure you can schedule deep writing blocks and don’t feel forced to write in a hurry. Know the time that you plan to write each day, and stick to it. Finally, ensure that you begin with a structured table of contents that you can use as your navigation pane.
My course provides a useful path to start:
2️⃣ Is self-publishing really for me?
Self-publishing is great for non-fiction authors with clear niches where speed to market matters. Has life experience or your profession provided you with valuable information to the benefit of your intended audience? Self-publishing is also excellent for iterative control, which means you can update your editions when new knowledge becomes available or create companion workbooks and courses.
You’ll receive direct reader data through platforms like Amazon KDP, email lists, and direct sales—something traditional publishers rarely share with their authors.
Self-publishing requires you to treat your book as the CEO of your small business, which means it is ideal for individuals with an entrepreneurial spirit and a professional mindset who can follow guidelines. See my YouTube videos for more info: Check out my pre-recorded course.
3️⃣ What tools do I need to self-publish?
Leverage AI as a Thinking Partner, Not as a Ghostwriter! Using generative AI to help you find supporting citations and for ideation, for example, can cut down your drafting time by more than half in my experience while significantly raising the quality of your work. Using AI for wholesale text replacement, on the other hand, can bog down your writing process and cause you various hurdles that you want to avoid at all costs.
A professional home audiobook recording studio can be invaluable if you decide to create your own audiobook for your book. This may sound overwhelming to you right now, and that doesn’t have to be that way.
Check out my course for details if you are interested in the right path to proceed.
4️⃣ How do I market my book once it’s published?
Marketing has evolved into a sophisticated ecosystem, with email marketing delivering the highest return on investment for many authors. However, to get there, you must first establish some important basics, so that you can build your email marketing list.
Don’t wait to complete a brilliant book first before you start marketing it. Don’t go off track because you can’t reconcile the creative writing process with the separate marketing expertise; these are and should be two very different areas of work!
5️⃣ Can I make money self-publishing?
The financial landscape for self-published authors shows both opportunity and the need for realistic expectations. You will be disappointed if you pour all of your expertise, heart, and entire life into one brilliant book without having significant marketing expertise and support, which self-published authors and even traditionally published authors at the start don’t.
You can make money as a self-published author if you know how to dial in the right system and implement it consistently and without fail. I’ve never written a book before — where should I start?
Start by outlining your main idea and your target reader. Our blog has beginner-friendly articles to help you organize your thoughts and plan your first draft.
6️⃣ Is self-publishing really for me?
Yes! Self-publishing is for anyone who wants to share their work without waiting for approval from traditional publishers. It offers flexibility, creative freedom, and often faster timelines.