If you’re thinking traditional and print, then I’ve got no advice for you other than go look at Create Space and good luck. If you already have something done or you want to get something done relatively quickly, as long as it’s good value and useful to people, then I’ve got some information for you.
As a self-published author and experimenter extraordinaire, I’ve looked for the quickest way possible to get creative works out there and available to people in an electronic format.
Watch the video or read the transcription:
*YouTube Videos Removed*http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kc-Jo8_zdHc]
Or save the audio for later, if you’d prefer:
*Podcast No Longer Available*
Now, I’m not saying I’ve tried to produce things quickly, I’m trying to say the part where I’ve turned what I’ve made into something that is consumable, reduced that time to market as much as possible and really and truly, if you have anything in a Word document, as long as you clean it up, you’re good to go.
Amazon Kindle direct publish system, or KDP, I think that’s what it stands for, Google it, you’ll find it, I just click the button and log in now, I don’t pay attention to it. You can directly upload your Word file and bada-bing bada-boom, you’re done. A day later and it posts to the world.Pretty amazing, right?
Now there are some rules to follow and there’s some metadata to fill out but it’s a relatively painless process and there is absolutely nothing to it. It takes some time to master and to get a following but that’s not something to focus on while you’re trying to get the book to the public or publish it.
I’ve done Smashwords, which is infinitely more difficult and I don’t recommend it right away but I do recommend picking up on it later. Then there’s GumRoad.com, which is the simplest of all. If you’ve got a file, you simply upload it like you’re going to email it, to their website. You fill out maybe 4 or 5 metadata fields. You hit “Publish” and you are given a link that you can send to anyone and they can pay with credit card right then and there and you’re done.
So if you’re looking for how to publish a book, look no further. If you’re intimidated by the process and you just want to get your feet wet and get stuff out there: GumRoad.com.
If you’ve already tried a couple of these things, like Ejunkie is another one, or GumRoad.com, then maybe you want to move up a notch and get to Amazon, which is by far the biggest market.
If you’ve already been exposed, book-wise, all over the place and you’re looking to reach into Apple or Kobo or Barnes and Nobles, well, then you need to go over to Smashwords to get the easiest route into those big markets. You can also get into libraries too, which is kind of cool.
Start out easy, build up your confidence and then branch from there. It’s easy to publish a book. Creating something that people want to read and find useful in there life is quite a bit more difficult. Focus on that and know that publishing is the easy part. When you’re done with that, write another one. It’s time to repeat.
Good luck out there. Get your words into the world. Looking forward to seeing what you do.