Fast Self-Publishing Online

An Authors’ Dream Come True With Self-Publishing On Amazon

Key benefits

There are nine key benefits to publishing your book on Amazon:

1. It is inexpensive to start the publishing process
2. Self-publishers can start earning income quickly
3. It is possible to earn up to 70% in royalties
4. There is a worldwide distribution
5. The listing and publishing process is simple and easy
6. Authors maintain creative control over their book
7. Earn additional income from customers borrowing books
8. Get a marketing boost for up to 5 days from time to time
9. Amazon gives you the option to fix errors if you spot them after publishing.

To avoid major mistakes and risks associated with poor publishing outcome it’s important to learn the fundamentals of listing and marketing your book within the Amazon ecosystem.

Rejection from mainstream publishers

No longer do you have to find a mainstream publisher to publish your book. Gone are the days of receiving reject letters and feeling frustrated, discouraged and disappointed that a mainstream publisher has rejected your book.

Instead, you can now replace these feelings with excitement, a buzz, and even euphoria when you make that first sale. A dream come true!

Print on demand

Self-publishing on Amazon means you can archive those days of the past when if you self-published you had to invest in a large print run. Publishing on Amazon is free.

With the Paperback platform, it’s Print on Demand. Simply buy one copy, 10 copies, 200 copies, whatever.

There is no upfront investment or risk to investing in your book as you don’t have to sell to recoup the money by selling lots of books.

There are no upfront costs so when a Paperback is sold, Amazon ships it to the buyer and you the author receive a royalty. This is passive income.

Passive income stream

When you start to see the sales you realize the potential for developing another income stream. – a passive income. This means that your book royalties may help fund the lifestyle you so desire.

Revisions

Have you ever feared to publish a book only to find that the cover design is terrible, there are mistakes in the text or other errors? Well, you can relax.

There is no need to stress. Amazon has a process for revision.

After publishing, it is possible to make changes to your manuscript, to fix any errors, refine your content to the best of your ability, or to update the cover.

Millions of potential customers

Finally, by publishing on Amazon authors are exposing their book to millions of potential customers. This is an amazing opportunity to create brand awareness to the thousands if not millions of people who could become their customers, and authors are promoting their brand for free.

A dream come true

The best part is that the process for publishing on Amazon is simple but to maximize the results you desire, authors need a coach to guide them. They can say goodbye to feelings of being lost, suffering frustration, and procrastination.

Instead, an author can experience the ecstasy of having their first book published, a dream come true, and realize the potential of a gateway to future income opportunities.

Marji Hill

Founder of Fast Self-Publishing Online

JOIN: Fast Self-Publishing Online FACEBOOK community

Self-Publishing On Amazon

Self-Publish On Amazon

The process of self-publishing your own book can be very simple. Publishing it on the Amazon platform is a breeze and is easier than ever.

It can also be very challenging and complex.

While self-publishing on Amazon is relatively easy it is not all that easy to do it well or to build your customer base.

It requires a lot of work and effort.

My First Self-Publishing Experience

I published my first book both as a Kindle eBook and as a Paperback. The Paperback was published on what was formerly CreateSpace.

Now both Kindle eBook and Paperback versions are published on the Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) platform.

Once I had finalized the manuscript and had it professionally edited, I outsourced the formatting to a professional. I found the outsourcer on Upwork and he was situated in the Czech Republic.

The outsourcer prepared the two files according to the guidelines laid out by KDP and CreateSpace. As I was totally inexperienced at self-publishing online and hopeless at the techie side of things, he helped me by uploading the files to my Amazon account.

I used the KDP Cover Creator to design the book’s cover. Eventually, after the book had been published for some time, I realized this cover was very average and ordinary.

My next step was to outsource the design of another cover. I went to Fiverr and chose an outsourcer from India. He made a new cover for me and he uploaded the cover file to my account and for this, he only charged me a few dollars.

Need for professionalism

While it is relatively easy to list your book both as a Kindle eBook and as a Paperback on Amazon there are certain areas where mistakes can be made and you risk having a badly published book.

This is where professionalism comes into play.

Unless you are expert yourself outsource the services of professionals to help you with

1. the cover
2. editing
3. formatting

It is possible to find professionals to help you with these services and to get the help you need that is affordable.

Do not risk publishing a book that looks amateurish and unprofessional. It can result in bad reviews and little or no sales.

You must produce a professional looking publication.

The process of listing your book for sale on the Amazon platforms is fairly straightforward. You just need to follow the prompts.

The Amazon market place

And it is quick to do. You can have your book published and listed for sale on the Amazon market place within 24 hours.

Just think how you will feel seeing your book published and out there in the market place, listed for sale, and for all the world to see.

It’s certainly exciting! It’s a time for celebration!

And into the bargain when you make that first sale, experience the most incredible feeling of euphoria. It’s sensational! What a high!

No longer do you need to go through painstaking efforts to land a book deal with a mainstream publisher that can lock you into tough deadlines and where you can only generate around 5% or 10% in royalties.

Self-publishing on Amazon means you are in control. You control the content, the interior design, the cover, the price, the marketing, and the distribution. And you can generate up to 70% in royalties.

But it is at this point where the next and challenging part of the self-publishing process starts. To become a successful author and a successful seller you must master the fundamentals of publishing and marketing on Amazon.

Marji Hill

Founder of Fast Self-Publishing Online 

Facebook group:  Fast Self-Publishing Online

The Power Of The 30-Day Writing Challenge

Self-publishing

The biggest challenge for most would-be writers is to actually complete a manuscript. The challenge is to get that first draft finished.

All motivated and fired up they start the manuscript. A few pages are written and then for one reason or another they derail. These writers never complete their manuscript.

They may talk a lot about the book they are writing but that’s as far as they get.

Or they want to write a book but they feel lost and don’t know how to start.

What derails a newbie author?

The “Why”

The major problem is that their desire to write a book is not strong enough. It comes down in essence to the “Why”.

It’s knowing their reason for writing and wanting to produce a book. Producing that book is way down on their list of life’s priorities.

If the “Why” is not strong and compelling enough to drive a newbie writer forward then they very quickly and easily fall into the trap of procrastination and it’s associated list of excuses: not enough time to write, life gets in the way, lack of focus, not feeling expert enough, and lack of confidence. There is no plan of action.

Momentum

The power of the 30-day challenge, that is to write a book within 30 days, is that it creates momentum. It helps speed up the self-publishing process.

Momentum in the writing process is very powerful and can help a person reach their ultimate goal. Once they make a start they are fired up to reach their goal and as they work towards a 30-day deadline and keep writing more and more, motion is generated.

It becomes unstoppable. Inspiration springs up and fresh ideas abound.

What seemed originally impossible is suddenly possible.

So the power of the 30-day challenge is:

• the momentum it breeds
• the self-publishing process speeds up
• a new belief system is set up – “I can do this”
• it’s proof that they can produce fast
• that they can publish sooner rather than later
• get closer to generating income
• that it builds a sense of achievement
• and, establishes self-confidence

If the “Why” is not compelling enough then completing that manuscript can easily fall victim to procrastination and a whole set of excuses.

The first thing a newbie author must do is work on their mindset and sort out why they want to do it. Once there is clarity here they can set their goal for completing their manuscript and then plan to make a daily habit to write.

By writing something every day and working to a plan it will be easy for the newbie writer to complete their manuscript within 30 days.

Marji Hill

Founder of Fast Self Publishing Online

JOIN THE FACEBOOK GROUP

Fast Self-Publishing Online

Steps to Building An Author Blog

Author’s marketing strategy

While an email list should lie at the heart of an author’s marketing strategy an author blog, on the other hand, can help you to build your email list. A blog can be a host to a lead magnet that attracts people to your list.

So both the author blog and email list are central to an author’s marketing strategy.

An author blog is a website. As well as hosting a lead generating machine a successful author blog can act as a hub of valuable content for the author’s growing list of subscribers.

WordPress

I recommend building an author blog with WordPress. There are a lot of other platforms out there in the online space but WordPress is recognised as the best and easiest platform to use. 

When I refer to WordPress I mean WordPress.org which is the most popular and the number 1 platform in the world. 

Setting up a WordPress website is not a steep learning curve; you can easily learn to build a website yourself and manage it yourself.

I did, and I’m not a “techie” type person.

WordPress platforms

WordPress has two platforms (1) wordpress.org, and (2) wordpress.com.   

With wordpress.org you arrange and pay for the hosting of your website.  With wordpress.com, on the other hand, it is all done for you.

With wordpress.com you don’t have the same freedom that you have with wordpress .org, you cannot monetise it, and you cannot install Plugins and Themes beyond those already there.

WordPress.com has its limitations. Primarily with wordpress.com you do not own or control your website.

Take it from me wordpress.org is the way to go.

The learning curve

The experience I personally had learning to build my own websites was one of the best online learnings in my online education.

These are the benefits that I enjoy:

• I am in control of my websites
• I own my websites
• I can delete a website or build a new one whenever I want to
• I do not have to go to a web developer to do this for me
• This means a saving of thousands of dollars
• I am able to maintain my websites myself
• I have the freedom to build whatever site I want to and whenever I want to  

Once you learn the fundamentals of building a WordPress website you can go on from there. You don’t have to start out with all the bells and whistles or anything high tech or fancy.

A website grows with you as you grow in your knowledge and its application.

Build a basic website and get it up and running. That’s all you have to do.

With an author website (or blog) you will be able to

• market and promote your books
• provide links to your books
• build an email list
• get ranked on search engines like Google
• become an authority in your field of expertise
• and, even make an additional income by incorporating affiliate links

Steps to set up your author blog

So how do you go about setting up your wordpress.org platform?

A person would good technical ability can easily build their own WordPress website. 

Even if you are not a “techie” type person you can still learn to build your own website. It is not rocket science.

I, for one, am not known for my technical abilities. Yet, I know the basics of building a wordpress.org website.

Once I learned the fundamentals of doing this, I quickly went on to build 10 in the space of one week! Mind you, I did make some serious mistakes and I did have to rebuild those websites that I attempted to build. 

But you do learn from making mistakes.

I eventually went on to build about 20 WordPress websites.

I learnt to build WordPress websites by having my coach hold my hand. On Zoom she walked me through the steps that were needed to set up my sites.

Building a website

I shall now share an outline of these steps.

• Domain Name   Research and register a domain name. I use Go Daddy. The current cost is around $13.95 although you can probably get a cheaper promotional offer if doing it for the first time
• Hosting  Choose web hosting and select a plan. Again I use Go Daddy which starts at $4.95 month. I was advised to choose the Deluxe ($6.95 month) or Ultimate (10.95) plan as there is greater flexibility and more options.
• Installation    Install WordPress. This is free.
• Theme  Choose a Theme which controls the visual appearance of your website.
•  Pages – Create static, one-off pages. You will need to set up several pages with text and images: 

• Static home page
• About page 
• Blog page
• Contact page
• Privacy
• Terms & Conditions

• Posts   These are your blog posts
• Menus for navigating the website
• Widgets If you have ever been to a website and seen in the sidebar a lead magnet, a video, references to your latest blog post a Widget is what you use to put these things there
• Plugins   Plugins are like an App, a piece of software, that performs different functions. Plugins are added to your website and they do whatever functions you are seeking to install. Thousands of WordPress plugins are available for free.  
• Security – SSL Certificate, GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation)standards, reCapture
• Social media links
• Mobile responsive

Options for setting up a website

• 1. Hire a web developer which may cost you anywhere from $500 and upwards (literally thousands of dollars). 
• DIY if you have plenty of technical talent
• Enrol in a course
• Learn to do it yourself but with a helping hand to guide you.

If you would like to build an author website feel free to have a no-obligation strategy call with me.

Marji Hill

Author and coach

JOIN THE FACEBOOK GROUP

Fast Self-Publishing Online

The Power Of An Email List For Authors

I’m sure you’ve heard the saying “The money is in the list”. 

To have an email list would have to be the most important asset any author could have. It would have to lie at the heart of any author’s marketing campaign.

The idea is to have an email list of people with whom you can communicate. The people on your list is your audience with whom you can build relationships and trust.

They want to hear from you and learn from you and they are happy to receive your emails. Their permission has been given to you to connect with them.

If they don’t want to hear from you they will unsubscribe. As your email list grows you are building a following that is pleased to read the content of your email.

The old names list

Prior to the advent of the internet and the concept of email marketing we talked about the Names List. If you were in sales and marketing you’d be asked, “How big is your Names List?.”  

The old concept of your Names List has evolved in the online space to the email list. It’s this list that you can ultimately sell to.

As an author presumably you want to be able to sell your book. You’ve put so much love, sweat and tears into it that it would be wonderful to be renumerated for the effort that you’ve made.

So don’t put off building your mailing list! 

Let’s look at some of the reasons for building an email list.

Benefits of having an email list

You need a list of people who could be interested in buying and reading your book. If these people have given you permission to contact them then when you release a new book you’ve got a list of raving fans to promote to.

With an email list, you can develop relationships with members of your list and they become your followers. As this author-audience relationship evolves it eventually becomes a relationship of trust.

The email list is about building your own audience. Over time this audience gets to know you and they decide if they like you they will start to trust you.

If you build a large audience, for instance, let’s say you build a list of 5,000 or 10,000 people there is every chance that you will sell many copies of your book. Think of the difference if someone is trying to sell their book but they have no email list; they will be struggling, but if you have a large email list that you’ve been nurturing you will inevitably be successful.

Even if you build large lists in social media you still need to build your own email list. The problem with having large lists on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest you don’t own those lists.

So often I’ve heard that accounts have been blocked or suspended and you find that you have no access to your followers because you did not abide by their rules – you did not play their game and you’ve been relying on these platforms for your success. As a priority, you need to direct your contacts to your email list the list that you own.

With an email list, you can build a list of reviewers. These become your review team. Whenever you release a new book you can tell the review team about your latest book.

You can source people who would be interested in joining your ARC (Advance Review Copy) team. These are readers who would like to receive an advanced copy of your book prior to its publication. Then when the book is published on Amazon they post a customer review.  

Once you set up your autoresponder, that is, the software for handling your email list, you can send out automated emails on a regular basis. This way you keep your audience up-to-date with your latest book, or that book you are currently working on, or share fresh ideas or anything else that is relevant or of value to your people.

You as the author are in control of your marketing. You are not dependent on a Publisher’s distribution system, or on anyone else to do your marketing for you.

How to build an email list in 8 steps?

To successfully build your email list you will need to invest in a few tools: 

Step 1. Build an author website so that you can host a lead magnet

Step 2. domain name

Step 3. autoresponder

Step 4. lead magnet, that is, to have something that will give people an incentive to provide you with their email address.

Brainstorm what could be useful to your target market. Think of something that could be really useful in the form of a:

•       free chapter
•       free ebook
•       report
•       article
•       checklist
•       free online class
•       webinar
•       page in your book inviting readers to join your list
•       video

Step 5. Start an email campaign, and do this on a regular basis, to provide your subscribers with valuable content

Step 6. Educate your audience and then promote whatever it is you are selling

Step 7. Have a Call To Action at the end of the email 

Step 8. Analyse the results

When should you start building your list? Start now. If possible start even before you’ve written your book.

What is your biggest takeaway from this?

1. Find an autoresponder that is right for you. When starting out the most popular one is Mailchimp. It’s a good place to start. And its FREE.  Aweber is low cost, there’s Get Response, ConvertKit and Active Campaign. I use Keap which is part of Infusionsoft.
2. Set up a website or landing page
3. Offer a great incentive with your Lead magnet

Remember, the idea is to build a list and communicate with your people on a regular basis. These are people who have given you their permission to do so.

Give them valuable content because if you don’t they will unsubscribe.

Don’t put off building your mailing list! It has proven to be one of the best assets authors can have when implementing a marketing strategy.

Fast Self-Publishing Online is designed for those who want to create a book, self-publish it on Amazon, and market it to the world.

In my Facebook community, I’m taking people to the next level so I serve you with more free tools, information, tips and inspiration to help you play a bigger game.

If you haven’t already done so, Click here to become a member of the Facebook group.

Marji Hill

Author and Coach

JOIN FACEBOOK GROUP

Fast Self-Publishing Online

Self-Publishing Paperbacks On Amazon And Implications For Australians  

Australian authors

You are an Australian and have just published your first ever book on Amazon and you find it’s a great place to start your career in self-publishing.

You are desperately wanting to hold that paperback in your hand and glory in the excitement of having just published your book.

You decide to order in some Author Copies.

In the Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) Bookshelf you click Order Author Copies and then discover your paperback is not being shipped to Australia. Bumber!

My solution to this problem is to have Amazon ship to my virtual address in the United States. 

I use ShopMate which is connected to Australia Post. This organisation receives your parcel from Amazon and then forwards it to your address in Australia. Extra costs of course. They collect the GST and you have to pay for the postage to Australia.

Once you receive your Author Copies, which by the way can take several weeks, you can resell the author copies that you ordered from KDP. Royalties are not paid on these Author Copies.

Australian customers

I’ve given you a solution for getting your Author Copies but what about Australian customers?

Getting Amazon paperback copies in Australia is expensive because of the wicked exchange rate and the postage often costs the same if not more than the book.

How will you ever get customers in Australia to buy your book?  

On your book’s listing in KDP, you selected Expanded Distribution and when you viewed your listing on Amazon Australia your paperback/s were priced very high. 

This is very off-putting for an Australian customer wanting to buy your paperback and it’s also very off-putting for you as an author living in Australia.

If an Australian customer is a member of Prime they can “Get FREE Expedited Delivery on Domestic Prime eligible items in as fast as two business days AND Free International Standard Delivery on Prime eligible orders over $49 from Amazon US.”

So I guess it is in the interests of Australians to take out Prime membership on Amazon otherwise the costs of buying your paperbacks on Amazon Australia is very expensive.

Is there another solution?

Way Forward

One of the great benefits of publishing on Amazon is its domination of the world book market. Customers are there ready to buy and pay for books with their credit cards.

With just a click, your Kindle eBook is delivered immediately to the Free Kindle app on your device.

Amazon is a gigantic sales platform.

Because of its Expanded Distribution both your paperback and eBooks have access to global markets through the Amazon distribution channels. 

As an Australian Author, your focus should be on these global markets because in comparison the Australian market for paperbacks is small. You can be selling your paperbacks in the United States, the United Kingdom and many other countries.

However, within the Australian self-publishing landscape an Australian author’s focus should be on marketing Kindle eBooks. There is no major issue with the selling of Kindle eBooks in Australia.

Another option 

To attract Australian buyers another option is to publish your paperback with Ingram Spark.

IngramSpark is one of the largest book wholesale distributors and it can be used in conjunction with Amazon. 

Publish both your Kindle eBook and Paperback on the Amazon platform. 

Publish your Kindle eBook and participate in KDP Select for Amazon exclusivity.

As well as this you can publish your paperback on KDP but do not select Expanded distribution.  

Get an ISBN from Bowker and use this both on the Amazon and the Ingram Spark paperback.

So for your paperback, you can utilise both the KDP Print on Demand(POD) without Expanded Distribution and have the identical paperback with your own ISBN and same ISBN on Ingram Spark.

IngramSpark has a print facility here in Australia so this means there are massive savings to be made on shipping costs for Australian customers and authors.

Marji Hill

Author and Coach

To access my regular FACEBOOK LIVE MASTERCLASS join the Fast Self-Publishing Online community

JOIN FACEBOOK GROUP

Fast Self-Publishing Online

10 Benefits Of Self-Publishing On The Amazon Platform

Where to publish?

If you’ve written a book the question is: where should you publish it? 

This is one of the problems that authors face, that is, trying to decide how to go about publishing their book.

That’s a big issue. Yes?

With physical bookstores closed and with everyone staying at home you must have a strategy to reach readers online. You need to sell your books online if you want to have any chance of a successful career as an author.

The Amazon option

This week I’m going to be talking about self-publishing and the 10 benefits of self-publishing on Amazon. This will be a Facebook LIVE presentation.

You’ll learn about:

• Amazon the game-changer in the publishing world
• Limitations of working with traditional publishers
• Problems of self-publishing in the past
• 10 benefits of publishing on Amazon
• Need for professionalism

To access this LIVE presentation you must be a member of the Facebook group Fast Self-Publishing Online.

If you are not already a member you can join the community by clicking on the link here.

Being a member of the Fast Self-Publishing Online community means you’ll have access to all future LIVE training.

I am going LIVE on Thursday, 30 April at 11 am.

Love to see you there.

Marji Hill

Author & Coach

JOIN FACEBOOK GROUP

Fast Self-Publishing Online

Feeling Fearful About The Self-Publishing Process?

Could it be that you are close to finishing your manuscript and are fearful at the thought of publishing your book yourself?  This fear is stalling your progress. Yes?

You are feeling a bit confused and feel scared about diving into this unknown world.

Steps to self-publishing your book

If your dream is to write and self-publish a book I have created a guided journal with 101 prompts to help you overcome your worries and fear.

This guide is for someone who wants to independently publish on Amazon and who wants to learn the steps involved in self-publishing.

A Create & Publish Toolbox is a low content book. This category of book usually requires some form of engagement.

The reader might need to perform an interactive activity such as writing, drawing, doodling or colouring; and, the number of words is low when compared to that of a standard text-only book.

101 prompts

A Create & Publish Toolbox with its 101 prompts is a checklist of steps you need to take  to

• research a profitable niche
• create a manuscript
• prepare it for publication
• launch your book, and
• market it to the world.

Each of the 101 prompts has its own dedicated page so that when you turn to the next page there is another prompt.

Beneath each prompt is space for you to jot notes. This is so you can record the action you need to take, respond to a question, brainstorm ideas, or simply reflect on the prompt.

If reading the Kindle eBook version of A Create And Publish Toolbox you will need to write your responses into a separate notebook or journal.

This author’s resource will help you to work through the publishing process sequentially, it will help you to stay on track, and it will assist you in your taking precautions against becoming distracted or from suffering any feelings of overwhelm.

Let these 101 prompts be your inspiration to create a book and self-publish it on Amazon.

Marji Hill

Author and Coach

JOIN FACEBOOK GROUP

Fast Self-Publishing Online

Are You Ready To Go To The Next Level?

Are you someone who is hungry for more of life?

Do you have a desire to achieve bigger goals and dreams for your life particularly as an author?  You aspire to create and self-publish your books and have a passion to make a difference in the world?

Are you ready to take it all to the next level?

As you’ve been receiving my emails now for some time, my guess is that you are more than ready.

Fast Self-Publishing Online Community

Join me as a foundational member of our community Fast Self-Publishing Online. Some of you are already members and I thank and appreciate you for this, but I’m now taking this online community to its next level – to the status of a “tribe”, a true community that hangs out with one another.

Fast Self-Publishing Online is designed for those who want to create a book, self-publish it on Amazon, and market it to the world.

In our community, I’m taking everything to the next level myself to serve you with more free tools and tips to help you play a bigger game.

If you haven’t already done so, Click here to become a foundational member and join our community.

Marji Hill

 Author and Coach