The Ultimate Guide to

Self-Publishing
The Ultimate Guide
to Self-Publishing
Amazon said, “Let us know when you’re next in Seattle. We want to do
some stuff with you.”

I had no plans to be in Seattle. Zero.

So I booked my ticket and called them back. “Guess what? It turns out I’m
going to be in Seattle next week!”

“Great! Let’s do some videos.”

I shot about 20 videos for Amazon. As always, it’s an education to spend

time with the largest bookstore in the world.

I’ve self-published many of my books, including my three best-selling

books: Choose Yourself, Reinvent Yourself, and The Choose Yourself Guide to
Wealth.

One person once wrote me, “Do you only self-publish because no publisher
wants your books?”

I didn’t write back. He was mean! But I’ll answer here: No.

Maybe back in 2011, I didn’t want to go through the process (AGAIN) of

begging a publisher to publish my seventh or eighth book.

But now, I do it because I love self-publishing. I’ve been way more suc-
cessful with self-publishing than I ever was with a traditional publisher.

Choose Yourself has sold well over 500,000 copies and was named a Wall
Street Journal bestseller and a USA Today bestseller. USA Today said it
was one of the “12 best business books of all time.” It was the #1 book on
Amazon for non-fiction. Reinvent Yourself and The Choose Yourself Guide to
Wealth both hit #1 on Amazon for ALL categories — fiction and non-fiction.

But that’s not the only reason I love it. It’s also because I don’t have to
ask for permission — from editors, agents, peers, publishers, marketers,
bookstores. I get to give myself permission. And my answer to myself is
always YES!

I strongly believe everyone reading this has the content inside of them
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to write a book. I also firmly believe everyone SHOULD write a book. The
benefits are enormous:

• You get to underline your expertise and establish authority.

• You can use your book to propel you to the next step of your career.
Books are the new business cards.

• You can create a stream of income with your books.

• You can write for posterity. Maybe you don’t care who buys your book.
Maybe you want to leave something of yourself behind for your great-
great-great grandchildren. I wish my ancestors had done that for me.

• You can write for yourself. Because books are babies, and maybe you
have a baby inside you that wants to be born.

And if you DO write a book, I believe you should self-publish. Here’s why:

Reason #1: More sales (which equals more money)

Here are my advances on my first five traditionally published books, in

order: $5,000, $7,500, $30,000, $100,000 and $30,000. Advances are
coming down quickly!

My first book made back my advance, and with about a 10% royalty I
probably made another few thousand dollars on it. None of my other
books came close to making back their advances.

In the first week that Choose Yourself! was out, I made the WSJ Bestsellers
List with about 10,000 copies sold. In the first month, I sold 44,294 copies
between my paperback, audiobook, ebook, and hardcover versions.

I didn’t keep track of how much I made right away, because at first I gave
a lot of books away for free to help build up my readership. But I can
tell you that since then, Choose Yourself has earned me roughly $300-
$400,000, and Reinvent Yourself, The Choose Yourself Guide to Wealth and
The Rich Employee are all on a similar course.

Unless you’re John Grisham or E.L. James, you will make much more
money by professionally self-publishing. (Incidentally, both of those authors
self-published their first books. E.L. James, in fact, sold 250,000 copies of
“50 Shades” via CreateSpace before publishers even noticed her.)

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It’s not just money on sales, either. There are foreign rights and special
packages that you can offer if you control all the rights to your work.
Packages that the traditional publishers almost never go for.

Reason #2: Control over design

Traditional publishers usually keep that control.

Reason #3: Speed

With a traditional publisher, you write an outline and a few chapters, you
get an agent who submits to editors. They convince a marketing depart-
ment, who convinces a publisher, who begs bookstores to buy it.

The time between putting words on a paper and seeing your book tradi-
tionally published will take you one to two years.

My typical self-published book is done in around six months.

Another friend of mine publishes a book every two or three months.

Another friend writes fantasy novels — maybe two or three a month. He’s
sold over two million copies of his books. All through self-publishing.

Reason #4: Content control

By the time you’re done with editors, publishers — and any anyone else
who gets to have a say in your message — you might not even recognize
your book anymore. When you self-publish, you can control your message.

But best of all…

You don’t have to wait for anyone to choose you. You get to choose
YOURSELF! You get to say yes to you.

The gatekeepers are gone. You’re your own gatekeeper. So open the
gates.

LET NOTHING STAND IN YOUR WAY

Before we get started, first I want to dispel some of the most common
excuses I hear from people about not starting their book:

Q: What if I can’t write?

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Try it. Keep practicing. Exercise your writing muscle. A lot of people who
say “I can’t” are just people who gave up too soon.

Q: Do self-published books have a stigma?

Here are the facts:

A) Self-published books have higher star ratings than traditionally published

books (on average). In other words: They are better.

B) Self-published books have better ranks (on average) than traditionally

published books. In other words: They sell more.

Is there a stigma? That’s up to you and your private thoughts at 3 a.m.

Q: What if I hate marketing?

That’s OK. I hate marketing also.

Ultimately there is only so much marketing a person can do.

Here is the #1 secret of book marketing — and even if you don’t do any of
the other things, this is the key that will ensure people will read your book:

Write a book people will share.

Your readers are your best marketers. Write the sort of book someone will
tell their friends about.

It doesn’t matter how many ads, reviews, podcasts, book signings, letters,
or anything else you do.

If a reader won’t tell a friend about your book, then your book is no good
and won’t sell.

P.S. The #2 secret is to write a second book.

Q: Are books dead?

The typical National Book Award Winner (in the United States) will sell
2,500 copies of their book. That’s fewer readers than most blog posts
have.

So why write a book?

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A blog post is a certain format. You can write a blog post in a day or a few
weeks. A book is a different format.

With a good book, the author takes his or her very best thoughts and
crushes them down like coal into diamonds before fitting them in between
two covers.

It’s OK if a book sells only a few copies. You deliver your very best
thoughts to your very best readers.

And then both sides celebrate. Because a book is an event.

It’s a party of words. It’s a bloodbath of your fears. And now you’ve given
them as a gift to your readers.

Q: Why do I care so much?

I don’t really know.

I wanted to be a writer when I was 12 years old. I wanted to write because

I felt it was the only way I could express myself so people would like me. I
was too shy to express myself in other ways.

I’ve done many things since I was 12. But I still love writing. I want to share
that with you. I want you to have the pleasure I have felt from seeing my
own book out there.

Ultimately a book is a love letter. From me to all the strangers in the world
I am afraid to talk to but I want to. I really want to.

So without further ado, here’s my 10-step guide to self-publishing the

book inside of you:

STEP #1: BUILD YOUR PLATFORM

Start off by building your own community. Which means a Twitter following,
Facebook following and/or a significant blog following.

These will be your future readers.

So how do you build your platform?

Have an honest voice. Don’t be afraid to say things about yourself or your

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industry. Provide a unique perspective.

If it doesn’t bleed, it doesn’t lead. Make sure every post or video you do
bleeds from the heart, entertains, and educates. In that order.

How do you get traffic? Blog on bigger sites that aggregate bloggers or
podcasts or whatever. It takes time to build up. But sincere voices will
always rise to the top.

STEP #2: WRITE

This report is not about how to write a good book. The assumption is that
you will write a good book.

BUT, two tips:

Write 500-2,000 words every day to keep exercising the writing muscle.
And read good writers every day. Then you will write an even better book.

A typical book is anywhere from 40,000-80,000 words. So if you can

average 1,000 words a day, seven days a week, you can write four to eight
books a year.

STEP #3: KNOW WHAT YOU WANT

In terms of costs, pick and choose what you think you need.

If you need an editor, but no marketing, no audio, and no video trailer, then
your costs will be cheaper. Without the video trailer and audio, my costs
for Choose Yourself would’ve been about $20,000.

Without an editor and marketing, my costs would’ve been closer to

$5,000.

If I used CreateSpace to make my cover and if I had done the design on

my own, my costs would’ve been $0.

If you are self-publishing, then you can publish your book right now with-
out any other effort. Go to CreateSpace, check the box that you want to
publish both paperback and Kindle, pick a cover, upload your manuscript,
and in a few days you’ll be published on Amazon and people can start
buying your book.

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If your goal is to have a published book and use it to get customers,

consulting gigs, speaking gigs, or a beginning set of readers for your next
book, then by all means publish this way. It’s the fastest way to do it. And
if that’s what you want, you can stop reading here.

BUT if your goal is to put out the best possible product, maximize the
money you make, and get the most readers, then continue following this
guide…

STEP #4: EDIT

Previously my editing process just involved a spell check. And that was
more than some of my mainstream publishers did.

But with my more recent books, I go all out. I hire copy editors to go
through the basics on spelling and grammar. I hire a structural editor to
make sure my content is as strong as possible.

For one book, my editor and I went back and forth more than 15 times
with major rewrites. The difference between the original version and the
final version was like the difference between chicken shit and chicken
salad.

And yes, publishers have editors. Some very good ones. But I specifically
wanted to choose my own editor and use an editor that has worked on
books that have sold millions of copies.

The entire idea of self-publishing is that I am not limited to who is on the

publisher’s staff. I can pick the absolute best people in the industry. With
millions of books out there, the competition is incredible.

STEP #5: DESIGN

I never liked any of the designs on my traditionally published books, but I
had no control over them.

I don’t mean this to sound so anti-publisher. But they were busy with bigger
authors, and I don’t think they were always able to devote resources to me.

When I self-publish, I’m able to make sure I put out a product I can be
proud of. I hire excellent book cover designers, who do the exterior, the

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interior, the spine, the font selection, the inside flaps, the back cover, and
all the quirks — tables, pictures, asides, etc. — inside the book, and THEN
help format for when I upload to Kindle Direct on Amazon.

STEP #6: MAKE AN AUDIOBOOK

A while back, I was at a dinner that Amazon hosted for self-published
authors.

One guy who was making a solid living self-publishing science fiction
novels told me that he always made an audiobook. I thought that was a
horrible idea, and told him so.

But here are two things about audiobooks:

1. When people see you have an audiobook, they see your book as even
more credible. It stands out from the average self-published book
when you have an ebook, a print version, and an audiobook. Plus, the
audiobook is more expensive, so even though there are fewer sales, it’s
decent money. (By the way, if you self publish, always do a print book at
the very least. Even if 99% of your sales are going to be ebook.)

2. I asked the head of an ad agency what marketing tips he had for my up-
coming book. The first thing he said was, “Make an audiobook. For your
kind of book, people will love listening to it while they drive into work.”

That was several years ago. Since then, I ALWAYS do audiobooks when-
ever I publish. And guess what? The audio version of Choose Yourself sells
about as well as the paperback.

If you do an audiobook (and you should), I suggest using a professional

studio. You don’t have to. You can use your Mac and a mic and call it a
day. You can also edit your own book and design your own cover. But just
like with everything else, the quality will be much better if you have it done
professionally.

STEP #7: CRAFT YOUR TITLE

This deserves its own category. When I self-publish, I have total control
over the title. Originally, I wanted to call Choose Yourself “The Choose Your-
self Era.” But whenever anyone asked me to say the title, I had trouble.

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“Era” sounded like “Error.” One person asked me if it was going to a book
about archaeology. It just wasn’t working.

So I picked 10 titles that I liked, added them to the cover design, and
created Facebook ads of each version. I sent them out to all my friends
and friends of friends in the U.S. Then I sat back and watched the click-
throughs. After a few days and thousands of clicks, I had my title.

The Choose Yourself Era came in a distant third place. Pick Yourself! was
right above it in second place. And Choose Yourself! came in first by far.

I then took the same Facebook approach to pick the subtitle and the final
version of the cover design.

STEP #8: MARKETING

When I published Choose Yourself, I used Ryan Holiday’s company Brass-
check to help market it. Ryan has marketed many bestsellers, including
books by Tim Ferriss (The 4-Hour Chef), Robert Greene (Mastery), Tucker
Max (I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell), and others.

What Ryan provided was unbelievable.

Between his Rolodex and mine, we scheduled about 60 podcasts, radio

interviews, speaking engagements and guest posts on popular blogs and
websites. He also organized a Reddit AMA that got over 3,000 comments,
a SlideShare that got over 300,000 views, and a bunch of other stuff.

You don’t have to use an outside agency, though. You can successfully
market your own book. I’ve marketed my own self-published books the
last few times and they’ve done just as well. Here’s what I do:

A) Be everywhere

When I’m marketing a new book, I write articles almost every day and I
publish everywhere I can: my site, Facebook, LinkedIn, Medium, Huffing-
ton Post, Thought Catalog, and many, many other sites. I also try to go on
TV and go on every podcast I can. No matter where you look, no matter
what your demographic, I want to be there. And in every article, I write,
“Follow me on Twitter” so I can keep building my platform.

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B) Q&A

Every Thursday from 2010 through 2016, I did Q&A sessions on Twitter.
I wrote two books based on the answers: FAQ ME and FAQ Me Too. But it
also got my name out there.

C) The podcast tour

Book tours are worth nothing. Some 30–50 people show up, and only
some of those people buy your book. But on a podcast, anywhere from
10,000–100,000 people learn about your book. Go on as many podcasts
as possible.

D) DO STUFF!

You can’t just talk about the contents of your book. Many people are “writers.”
It’s important to be a writer who DOES things.

Here are some examples of things I did when I was marketing Choose Yourself:

• I ran for Congress.

• I built with my own hands the one single bitcoin-only store, which sold
just my book. I then went on CNBC to talk about being the “best-selling
bitcoin-only author ever.”

• I offered a full money-back guarantee on my book. I was the first person

in history to ever do that.

I’m always doing things. If you do interesting things, you will write interest-
ing material and people will be interested in reading what you have to say.

E) Start your second book

As soon as you finish your first book, start your second book.

Why? Because if your first book is a hit, people will want to read your next
book.

Or if your first book is not a hit, but your second one is, people will want to
go back and read your first book.

Plus, marketing your second book is a great way to continue marketing

your first book.

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STEP #9: SECURE FOREIGN RIGHTS

I found with my prior books that the traditional publishers would more or
less wait for foreign publishers to call and then they would sell the rights
and my split would be minimal. Typically the split was 50/50, but out of
my 50% would come my agent’s fee. I was competing with too many
of the other authors in the publisher’s stable to get any attention from
foreign publishers.

Now I own all the rights to my book. But you still need someone who is
going to be your advocate with the foreign publishers. So I got a foreign
rights agency to handle all of the foreign rights on a commission basis.
They go to book conferences all over the world and have connections in
each country.

STEP #10: OTHER MERCHANDISE

Since I own the rights, I can do whatever I want.

When I was marketing Choose Yourself, I put together a bundle combining

a hardcover version of the book with three of my earlier books, plus some
original writing that was sent out by an e-newsletter company that did all
of the fulfillment and split the proceeds with me.

I also made a poster and a t-shirt. They’re designed like the Choose Your-
self cover when you look from afar, but when you get close to it, you see
clearly all 67,000 words of the book.

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