On Self Publishing.

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Introduction

Writing and selling your own book is not complicated. The following post shows my approach to self-publishing.

Publishing books is cool for many reasons. My main reason is not to make money through self-publishing, but to show how I operate as Interim Manager and Interim CTO. A great way to share knowledge and promote your personal brand. A win-win to attract for me and my clients.

Caveat: I am not particularly successful right now, and you might also want to read articles from Will and other experts.

Table Of Contents

Writing up things

Writing is hard, especially when you’re dealing with multiple ideas or topics. Here’s my simple approach from collecting ideas to creating a long coherent text (aka book).

Firstly, it’s a good idea to collect all your ideas in one document. This could be a Word document, a Google Doc, or even a simple notepad. The key is to have a central place where you can jot down all your thoughts and ideas as they come to you. Alternatively, if you’re dealing with a variety of topics, you could create separate documents for each. This way, you can focus on one topic at a time, which can make the process less overwhelming and more organized.

Once you have all your ideas gathered, the next step is disciplined writing. This doesn’t mean you have to lock yourself in a room for hours on end. Instead, find a routine that works for you. For example, you might decide to dedicate one hour each day to writing, perhaps during your train commute. You will be surprised at how much you can accomplish in just one hour a day.

In the post-ChatGPT era, I’ve found a new approach that works quite well. These days, I often start with bullet points of the ideas I want a book section to be about. Then, I let ChatGPT expand on these points to a full text (make sure to let ChatGPT kow to use ‘simple English language’). ChatGPT can be a great starting point, but it’s not the final step. After getting the draft from ChatGPT, I spend time rearranging and rephrasing what it has written. This allows me to ensure that the final piece is in my own voice and aligns with my original vision.

Proof reading

Proofreading is a crucial part of the writing process. It’s the final step that ensures your work is polished, free of errors, and ready to be shared with the world. Proofreading is surprisingly affordable when done by humans. But there are several tools available that can assist with this task, making it less daunting and for me more efficient.

One such tool is DeepL. This online service is excellent for fixing spelling and grammar mistakes. It’s a simple and effective tool that can help improve the quality of your writing. All you need to do is paste your text into the platform, and it will automatically highlight any errors and suggest corrections.

Another tool that can be useful is ChatGPT. While it might not always provide perfect results (depending on the prompt), it can offer valuable insights and suggestions for improving your writing. It’s a great tool to use in conjunction with others, as it can offer a different perspective and potentially catch errors that other tools might miss.

It’s important not to blindly copy the corrections suggested by these tools. Instead, view their feedback as a guide. Always take a moment to review the suggested changes and only implement those that align with your writing style. Of course, it’s essential to fix any genuine mistakes, but maintaining your unique voice and style is equally important.

Setting Up the Publication Pipeline for Generating the eBook

Writing and generating an eBook involves more than just putting words on a page. It requires a technical setup that allows for efficient writing, editing, and formatting. Here is a simple guide on how you can set up your own system using readily available tools.

To start with, Google Documents is an excellent platform for writing your eBook. I write my ebooks in markdown. Google Documents does not understand that I am writing in markdown, but that is the beauty of it. For instance, you can highlight your markdown headlines using the headline feature from Google Documents. This makes it easy to write and structure your eBook.

One of the great features of Google Documents is its history function. This allows you to track changes and revert back to previous versions of your document if needed. It’s a useful tool for keeping track of your edits and progress. Google Documents also offers basic grammar and spelling correction. This can help you catch and correct minor errors as you write, saving you time during the proofreading stage.

For the cover of your eBook, you can use graphic design tools like GIMP. Nowadays, I also find myself using DALL-E 3 a lot, which is an AI tool that generates images from textual descriptions.

Once your eBook is written and formatted, you can export it as a text file, in markdown format. This is where the custom rendering pipeline comes in.

You can use my markdown to epub converter to render your markdown file into EPUB format. EPUB is a popular eBook format that is compatible with a wide range of eBook readers.

After that, you can use Calibre, a powerful eBook management tool, to further process your eBook. With Calibre’s command-line interface, you can render your EPUB file with a table of contents, convert it into a PDF, and much more.

While this setup might not be perfect, it works quite well. The eBooks generated using this pipeline are rendered correctly by all the eBook readers I’ve encountered so far. They are also accepted by Amazon KDP and Leanpub.

Publish Your eBook

Once you’ve written and formatted your eBook, the next step is to publish it. There are several platforms available for this, each with its own benefits. Here are the two I use:

Leanpub

Leanpub is an excellent platform for publishing your eBook. It’s very straightforward and easy to set up, making it a great choice, especially for first-time authors. With Leanpub, you can quickly get your eBook out there and start reaching readers.

Personally, I use Leanpub to experiment with my eBooks. Once I am happy with descriptions and cover I release them on Amazon KDP.

Amazon KDP

Another platform to consider is Amazon KDP. This platform is also not too complicated to navigate. Amazon KDP allows you to reach a wide audience given Amazon’s extensive user base. Plus, your book will be available in both eBook and paperback formats, giving readers more options.

It’s important to remember to create your author page on Amazon if you haven’t done so already. This page provides a space for you to share more about yourself as an author, and it’s where readers can go to find all of your published works.

One thing to be aware of when publishing your eBook are the reviews. You’ll likely receive a lot of nice and kind reviews that will make you feel proud of your work. But you should also be prepared for unfair and mean comments. Don’t be surprised when it happens. Be happy about the constructive criticism to improve your future work, but don’t let negative comments discourage you.

Making Money and Marketing Your eBook

When it comes to publishing an eBook, writing and formatting are just half the battle. The other half (or even more) involves marketing your work and building your personal brand. This is where the real challenge lies, and it’s a crucial aspect if you aim to make money from your publication.

Without proper marketing strategies and a well-established brand, it’s challenging to make any significant earnings from your book. I cannot stress this enough: Marketing and personal branding are essential.

Here are a few strategies you might want to consider:

Running a newsletter. This can be a platform where you share interesting insights, updates, and occasionally promote your own books. It’s a great way to keep your readers engaged and updated on your latest work.

Becoming an active voice on professional networking platforms like LinkedIn can also be beneficial. Share your thoughts, participate in discussions, and build your network. This can help increase your visibility and establish your authority in your field.

In general, it’s crucial to build your reach and brand. This involves consistently sharing valuable content, engaging with your audience, and promoting your work. Without a strong brand and a broad reach, it’s difficult to sell your books.

However, it’s important to note that the success of your eBook isn’t solely determined by the number of sales. Even if you don’t sell many copies, having a published book can still be beneficial - it’s an excellent way to showcase your skills and knowledge.

For me as Interim Manager and CTO, it’s always a great feeling to hand over a copy of my book to potential clients. It shows how I think and work and is a powerful tool in building professional credibility.

Understanding Taxes for eBook Sales: A German Perspective

Navigating the world of taxes can be complex, especially when it comes to income from selling eBooks. If you’re based in Germany, here are a few key points you need to consider:

Firstly, if there’s a middleman, such as an eBook publishing platform like Leanpub or Amazon KDP, involved in the transaction between you (the author) and the customer, you can operate as a freelancer. This means you’re self-employed and responsible for managing your own taxes. Operating as a freelancer in Germany is quite simple and you don’t have to file for any corporate taxes. Only you and the tax authorities. Simple.

However, it’s important to inform the tax authorities about your freelance work. You’ll need to apply for a new tax ID specifically for this purpose. This is a crucial step to ensure you’re compliant with the tax laws and regulations.

If you’re already working as a freelancer in another capacity, you might be able to add your eBook sales to your existing tax ID. This can further simplify your bookkeeping. It’s best to discuss this with the tax authorities directly. Usually, they allow this arrangement if your eBook sales are below a certain threshold.

On the other hand, if you plan to sell your eBooks directly from your own website without a publisher, the situation changes. In this case, you’re essentially running your own business, and you’ll need to establish one officially. This involves more than just tax considerations; there are also legal and administrative aspects you’ll need to handle. But if you do this you get a larger share of the sales price. Pros and Cons as everywhere.

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