The dream of every writer is to be a published author; sit back and write books and publish and sell them all over the world. How cool would it be to be able to write as many books as you want and know that they will all be published?
Can you close it?
If you could write and publish books for a living, you could work from anywhere in the world. You could sit by a pool and write, or sit on a warm tropical beach or hide in a snowy log cabin as you write one great book after another, knowing that each and every one of them will be published.
How fantastic would that life be?
Well now you can stop dreaming and make your life as a successful author come true. And if you think you can’t afford to publish all of your own books, you’re wrong. Because now it is possible to write and publish all your books for free.
The easiest and most obvious way to publish a book is to publish it digitally as an e-book. And e-book publishing has made such great strides that it is now possible to become a full-time writer simply by writing and publishing your own e-books, fiction or non-fiction.
But first you need to make sure that your manuscript is in the correct (and simple) format and that you have a cover design for your eBook. E-books used to be published solely as downloadable PDF documents that could be read on any computer. But the internet has really changed the way e-books are published now and in addition to making your books available as downloadable PDF e-books, you can now publish them through several of the major online companies as digital epub e-books. .
Epub files are basically a type of HTML file that makes them easy to download and read on any screen of any size. But unlike traditional books and PDF e-books, epub file readers can change the layout and font, etc. to suit themselves which makes formatting less important, plus you have to keep it simple (no fancy fonts etc).
There are several companies online that will publish your e-book and here is a short list of the ones that I consider to be the best.
Amazon.com
Amazon will publish your e-book through its dtp (digital text platform). They have a very easy to use control panel where you can simply fill in your e-book information and upload your manuscript file to have it automatically transformed into an epub file. Amazon.com, at the time of writing, do not insist that your e-book have an ISBN number. Amazon also provides its readers with an iPhone application so that all e-books purchased through Amazon can also be read on an iPhone or iPad.
Smashwords
SmashWords will allow you to open an account and upload your e-books. They will sell them directly from their website and also submit your epub file to the iTunes online store (if you have an ISBN). But they have strict conditions on how your e-book manuscript should be formatted and presented. They provide a great style guide that you can download and follow. And although it is long, the guide is easy to understand.
Kobo Books
Kobo Books sells e-books through its online store and also through Borders and some other online and brick-and-mortar stores. They have a conversion service that, although not free, is very good and they allow you to download your own epub files to save them. Kobo eBooks can be read on almost any digital device, including Blackberry and Android phones.
itunes
Apple’s iTunes store has a somewhat complicated dashboard for uploading your e-book files. They also insist that your e-book have an ISBN number before you consider listing it in your online store.
LuLu.com
Lulu.com is a free online POD publisher that will sell a hard copy of your On Demand book from their website, as well as help you design a free book cover. All they ask for in return is a percentage of each book sale. This is a good way to provide a print alternative to all of your e-books for anyone who still prefers to buy a physical book. They will also allow you to sell PDF copies of your e-book through their online book store.
Of course, these are just a few of the different options you have to get started publishing every book you write.
But more than writing and publishing books, you also need to continually market them.
If you want to write and publish a lot of books, the easiest way to market them is to start your own author’s blog, which you update regularly with information about the books you have already written and published and your next work or work in progress. .
And if you add an email sign-up box, you can also email interested readers with the latest news, and over time your list will grow into a ready buyer pool for every book you write.
Just make sure everything you write is excellent and makes for a read that’s second to none.
