ENLISTED TO ENTREPRENEUR By Vicki Garcia veteransinbiz@gmail.com
Be Outstanding in Your Field: Write a Book Write a Book
Did you know that every Presidential candidate since the beginning of time has written a book? We hardly trust anyone these days, but we seem to trust authors. Writing a book gives you credibility and respect in your field. It’s a big calling card. Sound intimidating to you? You don’t think you’re a writer? No worries. That’s no impediment. Many things have changed in the publishing world. Forget about submitting this to some big publishing house, hoping for acceptance (aka Traditional Publishing). Today the game is all about self-publishing. We’re not talking about the novel you’ve promised yourself. We’re talking about non-fiction, particularly if it relates to something you do as a professional. Start by thinking about the expertise you have in your head. Write about what you know. If you pick a topic you know nothing about, this will be much harder. The Publishing Industry Has Undergone a Seismic Shift Amazon is considered to be the largest publisher of self-published e-books. Amazon’s CreateSpace division dominates the print self-publishing market, with 1.4 million self-published print titles in 2018, up from 929,290 in 2017. 50
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Amazon is not your only option. Since they take a higher fee when you sell a book, you should consider other ways of marketing it. Self-published books have a much, much higher payoff than traditional publishers because you get to keep anywhere from 50-70% of your book’s profits. With selfpublishing, you can produce and publish your content as quickly as you want. You’re Not Alone Self-publishing requires that you find your own editor, cover designer, formatter, and launch team members. As always fiverr.com is filled with inexpensive ways to do this for you costing anywhere from $5 to $50. Self-published authors gather on social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Reddit. Before the pandemic, there were really fun conferences for selfpublishing authors. Hopefully, they will return. The Self-Publishing School says “Most people looking to write a book want to earn more money, gain more freedom or have a platform to share their ideas. When you self-publish and have complete ownership over your ideas, you also have complete ownership over your future.” You might want to listen to Chandler Bolt’s podcast at www.self-publishingschool.com/podcast/ If you’re serious and want tons of expensive hand-holding, this is the place for you.