The 23 Paths for Authors – Beginner Self Publishing Course from WriteZero – Success Guide for Authors & Publishers (WriteZero)

This post is part of the Beginner Self Publishing Course from Write Zero

This post is part of the ‘What is Your Aim with Your Books’ Pillar. This is the Second Pillar of the Beginner Self Publishing Course (there are 23 Pillars in all)

Every Author must Choose a Path

The Books & Publishing Ecosystem is Huge and there are a wide variety of paths you can take through it to get what you want

In the First Pillar of the Beginner Self Publishing Course, we figured out our Internal and External Motivations and prioritized them. If you have not done that, please do so now

We came up with our The One Thing Motivation and our Top 5 Motivations, for our External Motivations

These (The One Thing Motivation, Top 5 Motivations) will determine which path you take, out of these below 23 paths

Please do the following

Read through each of the 23 different paths
Pick the 1 or 2 paths that best match what you want from Books and from Your Writing
1. Ideally, you want to pick The One Best Path for yourself
2. If that is not possible, it is fine to pick two separate paths and choose both
3. Under no circumstances must you pick more than two paths. It’s very difficult to work with 3 or more paths. The ideal is to pick 1 or 2 paths and work on those
Reread the Path (or 2 Paths) you have chosen and write down why that Path matches with your The One Thing Motivation and your Top 5 Motivations

By the end of this post you want to have

Clarity on What is Your Chosen Path (or what are your Top 2 Chosen Paths)
Confirmation that your The One Thing Motivation and your Top 5 Motivations are things which you will get from Your Chosen Path (or your 2 Chosen Paths)
Greater Clarity on your The One Thing Motivation and your Top 5 Motivations

Fundamentally, your Chosen Path must match very well with your Top 5 External Motivations and your single most important External Motivation (your The One Thing)

Let’s get started finding our paths

The 23 Paths for Authors

These are the most common paths authors choose

Path 1: I’m like Alice in Wonderland and Not Quite Sure What I’m Looking For

Unfortunately, a shockingly high number of Authors choose this path

They never actually decide what it is they want
As they never decide, they amble around aimlessly
They never get what they want, because they don’t even know what they want

Please read the Review0Zero Page for Path 1 – Alice in Wonderland, if you are not quite sure what you are looking for

It’s critical to DECIDE ON SOMETHING YOU WANT, ANYTHING if you don’t want to end up adrift in a sea of aimlessness

Path 2: I Aim To Sell Books (Regardless of whether or not it makes me Money and Profit)

This is an interesting path. It is also quite a popular one

Many authors gently dip their toe into the Sea of Publishing, and their focus is simply on selling their books and getting it into readers’ hands

This is completely OK, and in some ways this is the most pragmatic path –

The single best thing you can do as a new author, is to start selling books
In the beginning it is best not to spend a lot on marketing
In the beginning it is best not to worry too much about making money
Focus on writing very good books
Focus on polishing them very well, and packaging them very well
Focus on selling them to readers and getting the sales started
Focus on finding the right market for you
After finding the Right Market, focus on creating the right product for the right market

If you do not have any big pressure (money requirements, lack of patience, time constraints), then this might be the best and least painful path to go down

Please read the ReviewZero Page for Path 2 – You Aim to Sell Books (Regardless of whether or not it makes you Money and Profit) to learn more about this Path

Path 3: My Aim is To Sell Books & Make a Good Amount of Money

This is a really tough path. Contrary to what many people believe, it is not very easy or straightforward to make a good amount of money from writing books

Lack of Stability
1. Many professions are very stable. You have a certain amount of money you will almost certainly make each year
2. Being an author is the exact opposite of Stable. There will be times when a book does well and you make a good amount of money. There will be stretches when earnings are low or non existent
Need to Keep Producing Hits
1. Most professions are a one time ‘qualification’. You get into college, get a good degree, get a good job. After that you can keep building on your career. You will, most of the time, have a steady job and a steady, dependable paycheck
2. Writing books is rather different. You write a book. If it becomes successful you start making a small, steady amount of money. After a year or two sales slow down. If you don’t write another book that is a success, your money runs out
  1. This is an absolutely critical aspect – you have to keep delivering hits if you’re an author
  2. Contrast this with any other professions where you don’t have to keep producing hits. Once you ‘qualify’ as good enough to be part of the profession, you usually have a pretty steady job
Very Few Authors make a Large Amount of Money
1. There are professions where a very high percentage of people make a very comfortable living. Writing is not one of them
2. Writing is very skewed towards
  1. A very small number of authors becoming very rich
  2. A small number of authors making a good amount of money
  3. A small number of authors making a decent living
  4. The vast majority of authors making very little

Basically, what we are trying to say is that

If you were entering a dependable profession where 90% of people become well off or wealthy, then it would make sense to set an aim of ‘Making a Good Amount of Money’
In reality, you are entering a profession which is very unstable and a very small percentage of authors will become well off
1. If only 5% of authors are making ‘a good amount of money’
2. If there a lot of instability
3. If you have to keep writing new books and keep delivering hits
4. If there is a large amount of competition for a small number of dependable jobs
5. Then, perhaps, it is not the best idea to set an aim of ‘Making a Good Amount of Money’

It’s fine if you still want to choose this Path as Your Path. Just be prepared for the amount of adversity you will face

There is good advice at the ReviewZero Page for Path 3 – Your Aim is to Sell Books and Make a Good Amount of Money

Path 4: I Want to Get Rich Quick

No Such Path Exists

‘Getting Rich Quick’ is a dream. It’s a dream everyone wants to believe. Who wouldn’t want to believe such a beautiful dream

Let’s consider all the people selling the ‘Get Rich Quick’ dream

The unambitious ones who are selling $25 and $50 courses on how you can get rich quick
The somewhat ambitious ones who are selling $100 to $500 courses
The ambitious ones who are selling $1,000 to $7,000 courses
The really ambitious ones who are selling $10,000 to $100,000 courses

They are not selling courses. They are not selling the secrets to success. They are selling you a Dream

It’s fine to buy it, provided you understand you are buying a little bit of happiness, a sweet Dream

Why did all these people choose to sell courses?

They stumbled upon a mountain of gold
Instead of digging for gold themselves
They are instead selling maps to this mountain of gold

Does that make sense to you? If you found a mountain of Gold, would you start selling directions to it?

It only makes sense to sell maps to a Mountain of Gold you have found if

There is actually no Mountain of Gold
It is far easier to sell maps than it is to mine for Gold

That leaves us with two inescapable conclusions

You’re extremely unlikely to ‘Get Rich Quick’ from buying a course on Getting Rich Quick
You can, however, get rich quickly by selling Get Rich Quick Courses

Please read the ReviewZero Page for Path 4 – You Want to Get Rich Quick to get additional insight

Path 5: I Want to Prove that I can Write

This is a very interesting path. Different people have a different idea of what it means to ‘prove they can write’ –

Selling 1,000 books
Getting a very good review
Winning an Award
Becoming a Bestseller
Making a certain dollar amount from selling books

The easiest way to prove you can write, according to us, is

Polish your book a lot
Get some paid sales, to prove people are willing to buy it
Get 1 or more voluntary reviews, to prove people liked it enough to review it

That’s enough. It’s fine if you want more validation. However, people buying it and reviewing it should be more than enough validation that you can write

Please see the ReviewZero Page for Path 5 – You Want to Prove that You Can Write for some more perspective

Path 6: I Want to Share My Story

This is a surprisingly popular path. The majority of people who start writing a book, just want to share their story

There are two ways to approach this

If you just want to share your story and don’t care much about what impact it has
1. Make sure you write out your story well
2. Do a bit of polishing and publish it
3. Do a little bit of a marketing push and see how it does
If you want to Leave a Legacy
1. Make sure you put a lot of thought into exactly what your story is and exactly what message you want to share
2. Figure out who your target audience is, and how and where you can reach them
3. Work very hard to create a very, very polished book
4. Make sure to package it very well
5. Do some small scale marketing and see how the market responds to your book
6. If the market responds well, then gradually start ramping up marketing
7. Keep refining your book’s focus and marketing

Perhaps the most important thing to keep in mind when sharing your story is -> Write something other people will want to read

Please read the ReviewZero page for Path 6 – You Want to Share Your Story for additional advice

Path 7: I Want to be a Full Time Author and Make a Good Living

This is a difficult and doable path

3 most important things if you want to make a good living as an author

It has to be a full time job and you have to give 100%
1. It is possible to have a day job that you work 40 hours a week at, and still become a successful author
2. It will, however, take you 30 to 50 hours a week of writing and marketing your books and doing market research to make it as an Author
3. When writing becomes your main job, then you will have to give 50 to 80 hours a week to it, until you have 10 or more books which each make you a good amount of money
The more books you have the higher the chance you will make a good living
The more market research you do to find Product Market Fit, the higher the chance you will be successful
1. Find The Right Market
2. Find The Right Product for this Right Market
3. Create The Right Product
4. Polish It and Market It Well
5. Create more ‘Right Products’ for this Right Market

3 very important things you should also keep in mind

Focus on profitability right from the start
1. It is a pipe dream to think that you will keep losing money for the first few years and then magically flip a switch and become profitable
2. Be profitable right from the start
Focus on Taking Control of Your Destiny by Building Direct Channels to Your Readers
1. We’ve been in this market for 11 years
  1. Successful authors always get taken out
  2. Sometimes it is by other authors
  3. Sometimes it is by the entities that control the market
  4. Sometimes it is by people jealous of their success
2. You MUST build direct channels to your readers
3. You MUST test and confirm that these direct channels actually work
See Reality As It Is
1. The people who built the inner chambers of the Pyramids were buried with the Pharaohs
  1. Yes, the Pharaohs were scared of grave robbers so all the workers who worked on building the inner chambers of the Pyramids were buried in the Pyramids
  2. The same is going to happen to every author who does not build direct channels to readers, or starts thinking the book stores and large companies are their friends
2. The only people in the entire ecosystem who want you to become very successful and self reliant are the readers who love your books
  1. They are the only people you can depend on
  2. Therefore, owning channels to them, so you can reach them easily and cheaply, is imperative

Becoming an Author is not easy, and at the same time it is doable and very satisfying

Please read the Review Zero Page for Path 7 – If You Want to be a Full Time Author and Make a Good Living to read up on a lot of additional useful tips and advice

Path 8: I Want to be a Full Time Author and Make a Very Good Living

Firstly, everything in the previous section (Path 7) applies

Secondly, if you want to make a very good living then you have to attain MASTERY in one or more of the 3 Core Skills for Authors

Please read the post on Levels of Mastery (3 Core Skills for Authors)

Thirdly, you have to get into the Top 1% to Top 0.1% of All Authors

Writing is not like other professions where the Top 10% (perhaps even the Top 25%) can make a very good living
Writing is a Hits driven business and there are a very small number of authors that make a very good living

While Making a Very Good Living as an Author is definitely something you should strive for, you should also recognize that it will take a lot of hard, smart work and that very few authors (1% to 0.1%) reach this level of success

Please read the Review Zero Page for Path 8 – If You Want to be a Full Time Author and Make a Very Good Living for additional critical information

Path 9: I Want to be a Full Time Author and Become One of the Biggest Authors in the World (Top 100)

Well, we don’t know what this takes

You would have to talk to one of the Top 100 Authors in the world

Please read the Review Zero Page for Path 9 – You Want to be a Full Time Author and Become One of the Biggest Authors in the World (Top 100) which basically says the same thing and adds a few interesting points

Path 10: I Want to Use Books to Build My Brand + Then Make a Good Living Selling Services like Consulting and Courses

This is one of the best ways to leverage books to make money

There are a few distinct steps

Firstly, figure out exactly what products and services you are selling and what your Unique Selling Proposition Is
Secondly, figure out exactly who your customers are and exactly what they are looking to buy
1. Your success is going to depend primarily on whether you can create products and services that your customers are looking to buy
Thirdly, create a book whose main function is to help you acquire Customers of Good Intent
1. Customers of Good Intent – Will download and read your book and go on to buy your products and services
2. Acquisition is the primary aim
Fourthly, polish and perfect the book. Your future customers are going to decide whether or not to get your services, based on the quality of your book
1. If you cut any corners in your book, you are cutting your future revenues
2. The book must be well written, very polished, and well packaged
Fifthly, stay completely focused on your The One Thing
1. Your The One Thing (your main aim) is to Acquire Customers for your ACTUAL products and services you are selling
2. The Book is simply a loss leader/attraction to acquire these customers
3. Make sure you leverage the Book as a customer acquisition channel

This Path is well worth considering as it’s a very effective way to make a decent amount of money and/or build up a viable business

Please read the Review Zero Page for Path 10 – If you Want to Use Books to Build Your Brand + Then Make a Good Living Selling Services like Consulting and Courses to get additional insights into this path

Path 11: I Want to Build a Large Reader Base and Don’t Want To (or don’t have to) Think About Money Right Now

This is a very interesting path. In some ways, this is the ideal path for authors who have a day job that pays the bills

If you have the luxury of not having to worry about money and can focus purely on customer acquisition i.e. building a large reader base, then we would recommend the following strategy

Having 1 or 2 books as loss leaders
1. Though it is very painful to some authors to give away 1 or 2 ebooks for $0, it is far less painful than readers never finding you
Having 1 or 2 books as the ‘ramp up’ discounted books
1. Go with $0.99. For the strategy to work, the ‘ramp up’ book must be $0.99. Trying to go from $0 to $4.99 is too much of a jump
Having 1 or 2 books as the lower priced ones
1. Go with $2.99. $1.99 and $3.99 does not work
2. Some ‘gurus’ recommend $3.99 very strongly. It’s a terrible strategy to use $4.99 or $3.99 because the two magic price points are $0.99 and $2.99
Having remaining books at a decent price, which is win-win for both you and the reader
1. Depending on your cut, your costs, etc. the ideal price for you might be $4.99 or $2.99 or $0.99
2. Over $4.99 will very rarely work
This strategy is pretty much unbeatable
1. It’s the exact strategy that authors like Amanda Hocking and John Locke used to get to #1 in the Kindle Store
2. It’s also very similar to the strategy that we used to get our Kindle eInk Notepad App to #1 in the Kindle Store, and keep it at #1 for 2 weeks

There are a few requirements

The most important is to have 3 or more books so you can build the Ramp – First Book Free, 2nd Book $0.99, 3rd Book $2.99
1. If you have 5 or more books, then build a more gradual Ramp – First Book Free, 2nd and 3rd books $0.99, 4th and 5th books $2.99
The ability to let go of greed and fear
1. Once the strategy starts working do not get greedy (perhaps I could make more) or fearful (perhaps I’m leaving money on the table)
2. Stick with the gradual ramp
3. People becoming fearful and greedy and not sticking with what works is the entire reason other genres are not able to do as well as Romance Authors
  1. Romance authors will have their books free for 5 days, not just 1 day
  2. Romance authors will usually have 1 or 2 books permanently free
  3. Romance authors will not switch from $0.99 to $4.99 the minute the book jumps in sales rank
  4. Whereas there are categories like Thriller where authors will switch from $0 to $3 (or even $10) the minute the book starts moving
  5. If you’re playing the long game, then ACQUIRING customers is much more valuable than maximizing how much money you make from your loss leader
    1. Trying to make money from your loss leader is being penny wise and pound foolish
    2. Let your loss leader do its job
Do not listen to the experts
1. Some genres have failed to get traction because they listen to ‘gurus’ in their genre, instead of what actually works
2. How do you know that the ‘guru’ advocating that
  1. Instead of using $0, $0.99, and $2.99 to completely take over the market
  2. You, an unknown author, should be trying to take on Stephen King and Dean Koontz with $3.99 and $5.99 and $7.99
  3. Has your best interests in mind?
  4. Do you really think that you, a self published unknown author, can go toe to toe with King and Rowling and James?
  5. You have to use your competitive advantages – being fast, being able to use $0 ebooks as the loss leader, being able to price at $0.99 and $2.99 and undercut the established authors on price

It is all about making your books The First Option and The Best Option for readers

The Two big question we would ask you to think about are –

Can you take on King and Koontz on branding, writing, distribution, backing of powerful partners such as Publishers and Book Stores? Perhaps Not
Can you take on $5 and $10 and $15 ebooks from King and Koontz using $0 loss leader ebooks and $0.99 and $2.99 ebooks? Most Definitely Yes

What are the answers to those two questions for you? Please take your time and convince yourself of the answers

If you have the luxury of focusing on Customer Acquisition, then do EXACTLY THAT. Acquire customers. Put aside your fear, your greed, your ego, and focus on acquiring Customers of Good Intent who will

Try out your $0 ebook loss leader
If they like your writing, buy your $0.99 ramp up ebooks
If they continue to like your writing, will buy your $2.99 higher ramp up ebooks
If they continue to like your writing, will buy your $4.99 ebooks and your paperbacks
The Ramp Up from $0 loss leaders to $2.99 and $4.99 is Your Best Friend
1. It allows you to even take on Leviathans
2. And make no mistake – you are David taking on Goliath

Please read the Review Zero Page on Path 11 – If you want to Build a Large Reader Base and Don’t Want to Think About Money Right Now

Path 12: I Want to Help Other People and Also Make Money

This is a very difficult path. These are two things that are competing priorities. It is much better to pick one main priority and focus on that

We would recommend that you focus on making money from selling books FIRST

After you’ve made a good amount of money selling books, or established a steady revenue stream from books, then you can focus on ‘helping people’

5 critical things to keep in mind

Selling people books which they enjoy, is itself ‘helping people’
1. Are they not enjoying your book?
2. Is not reading a much better use of their time and brains than playing video games and watching TV?
Selling is a very valuable skillset. As learning to sell books is very tough, learning that skillset gives you the option to sell anything at all
1. Once you have learnt how to sell books and make money
2. You can sell other things and make money (or you can keep selling books)
3. Then you can help a lot more people
People do not appreciate what they get for free
1. You think you are helping people by giving away your book, or making it very cheap
2. However, they are just not valuing it properly
3. Please Note: It is completely OK to have 1 or 2 books free or cheap as loss leaders
  1. This gives people a taste of your writing
  2. This gets them to buy your other, more reasonably priced books
  3. However, under no circumstances should you have all your books free. People just won’t value them if they are all free
‘Helping People’ by giving your book away for free or for very cheap means you cannot produce high quality work
1. To sell a book for $2.99 or $4.99 or $9.99 you have to produce a high quality book with very good writing
  1. If you don’t, it won’t sell, and you instantly know you have to improve
2. People will download free books without a second thought
  1. It doesn’t force you to improve book quality
  2. You don’t even know quality is an issue
3. People will sometimes buy $0.99 books without a second thought
  1. Again, it will prevent you from making your book as polished as it should be
  2. Again, you are clueless that your book quality needs improving
Helping People and Making Money are very, very different priorities
1. Most of the professions that are all about helping people pay very little
2. It’s completely fine if you primarily want to help people. In that case look at the next path
3. However, we would be doing you a disservice if we told you that focusing on helping people with your books is something that is likely to make you a lot of money

You can see this for yourself. How many businesses are there that are ‘doing lots of good in the world’ and are also big, profitable businesses. Almost none

On the other hand, you can do what Bill Gates and Warren Buffet did (the Billionaire giving pledge), which is

Become very good at what you do
Make a lot of money
Then start a big charity

People who start off prioritizing ‘helping others’ mostly end up creating Non Profits (whether they realize it or not). That’s fine. Start a Non Profit and focus on helping people and making zero profits if that is where your heart is. Just make sure that is really where your heart is

Finally, you should want to become well off from your writing. In the end, no matter how much we fool ourselves that we are purely altruistic and are only living our life to help others, we are all most motivated either

When something benefits us and those closest to us
OR When something benefits both us and the world at large
There are very few people on this planet who would work all their lives just to make the world better, while they themselves get nothing
1. It is not a noble thing to sacrifice yourself for the other people on the planet
2. It would be if 80% or 90% of people were doing the same
3. They are not

Focus on selling books and making money. Then you will be able to help people a lot more

Please also read the Review Zero Page on Path 12 – If You Want to Help Other People and Also Make Money to get additional insight

Path 13: I Want to Help Other People and Don’t Need To (or don’t have to) Make Money

This is a very noble path. It is also a brutal path

8 things to keep in mind

No one is more brutal and has higher expectations than people who got something for free
1. If you make your book free, not only will people appreciate it less than something they had to pay for, they will also be horrible when reviewing it
No one expects more for their money than people who have very little money
1. You think you are making your book $0.99 and it will engender gratitude and patience in readers
2. No, on the contrary, they will expect $10 worth of reading
3. People who buy for $4.99 and $9.99 are much more forgiving and have lower expectations than those paying $0.99 and $0
Most people don’t want to be helped
1. This is the thing that stumps most authors who set out to help people
2. The primary thing that people want is to be entertained
3. To be saved from the brutal reality that they no longer have to work in the fields all day for their food and instead have no idea what they should do from 5 pm to 9 am
  1. What do you do when you are not at work?
  2. Nobody teaches that stuff
The most skilled authors, who wanted to help people, did it in very indirect ways
1. Many books are incredibly powerful
2. Yet almost none of them are ‘very obvious’ about wanting to help people
3. If you truly want to help people via your books, you have to reach a level of writing skill where you can entertain them, while the message just eases into them in the midst of all that ‘saving them from dying from boredom’
You should make money, even if you don’t need to make money
1. Learning to sell, and learning to make money from your books, adds a certain discipline to everything you do
The more people pay for something, the more they value it
1. Whether it is in terms of time, or effort, or money
2. People value what they have to work harder for
If you want to help people with your books, you need to consider multiple aspects
1. To reach a lot of readers, perhaps $0.99 and $0 are the best means
2. To have readers take things seriously, higher prices are better
3. Is there a way to adjust pricing based on what people can afford?
4. Is there a way to adjust pricing based on what people in different countries can afford?
5. Is there a way to filter people for seriousness, and offer cheap pricing only to those who will still value your book highly?
What is the ‘help’ you want to give people?
1. Are books really the best way to spread your message/help?
2. Should your books be combined with other means of reaching people? Videos? Blog Posts? Podcasts?

Please do keep in mind that No Good Deed goes Unpunished

If you set off to ‘help people’ without understanding Human Nature and Human Psychology, you will be punished

As paradoxical as it sounds

Readers who get your book for free, without doing anything, will benefit less from it, and will appreciate it less
1. They are also very unlikely to get the ‘help’ you want to give them
Readers who have to make an effort to get your book (whether it is money or time or effort), will benefit from it more and will appreciate it more
1. These are the people who you will actually help

If you want to help people and don’t need to make money, figure out a way to reach people in a powerful way where they still have to work for getting the wisdom/book you are sharing

Work with human nature, and never against it

Please also read the Review Zero Page on Path 13 – If You Want to Help Other People and Don’t Need to Make Money

Path 14: I Want to Become a Bestseller for Business or Commercial Reasons

There are two ways to Become a Bestseller

Gaming the System – The Quick Way to Becoming a Bestseller
Doing it the Right Way – The Hard Way to Becoming a Bestseller

In this post we are not going to talk about Gaming the System. We have a very quick overview of it, in the very first section, at the Review Zero Page for Path 14 – You Want to Become a Bestseller for Business or Commercial Reasons

Please do keep in mind that Gaming the System has several downsides in the long term, and we strongly recommend not gaming the system and instead becoming a bestseller the old fashioned way

The Hard Way to Becoming a Bestseller

There are four basic steps

Step 1: Become very good at your work and become an actual subject area expert
1. If you really want to build a business, then why not become actually good at it
2. When your book drives business to you, you will be able to do a great job and build a strong business
Step 2: Write a book that is very well written and adds lots of value to people in your area of expertise
1. It must be high quality
2. It must be very well written and very well packaged
3. It must all a lot of value to everyone who reads it
  1. It must add value for the people in your area of expertise
  2. It must add value in the area/subject in which you want to become a bestseller
  3. It should have compelling value, so that people reading it feel that they must hire your services
Step 3: Polish Your Book and figure out The Right Market for your book
1. You must figure out The Right Market for your book
2. You must make sure your Book is the Right Product for this Right Market
3. You must make sure the follow on products and services you will sell are the Right Products and Services for this Market
  1. This is by far the most important part – You can only build a business if the people your book attracts are the right clients for your business products and services
Step 4: Market and Sell your Book and become an Actual Bestseller in the Best Categories for Your Book
1. You must become a bestseller in the categories most relevant for your business
2. Even more importantly, your book must become a bestseller in, and must be present in the book categories, which your ideal clients look for books
3. You are building a business – make sure you have the right credentials for your client base AND make sure you are in the right categories to reach your client base

The Quick Way to Becoming a Bestseller takes just a few weeks to a few months. If you prefer that, even though that leads to much weaker long term results, you can peruse the details at the Review Zero Page for Path 14 – You Want to Become a Bestseller for Business or Commercial Reasons

The Hard Way to Becoming a Bestseller takes 6 months to 2 years if you are already a subject area expert

If you are not yet a subject area expert then it might take you 1 year to 5 years to become a subject area expert. You can write your book in parallel, and would have to keep updating it as you become better at what you do. After becoming a subject area expert it would take 6 months to 2 years to finish the book and launch it to bestseller status

Path 15: I Want to Become a Bestseller so as to Sell More Books in the Future

There are lots of similarities between Path 15 and Path 14th. Again, there are two ways to Become a Bestseller

Gaming the System – Becoming a Bestseller in a small category that is a sub category of your main Book Category. Then positioning yourself as a Bestseller based on that
Doing it the Right Way – Becoming a Bestseller in your main book category by mastering 1 or more of The 3 Core Skills for Authors

In this post we are not going to talk about Gaming the System. We have a very quick overview of it, in the very first section, at the Review Zero Page for Path 15 – You Want to Become a Bestseller so as to Sell More Books in the Future

This post will talk about becoming a REAL Bestseller

Becoming a REAL Bestseller

There are 9 Steps to Becoming a Real Bestseller

Step 1: Becoming a Master at one of the 3 Core Skills for Authors
1. It also works if you become very good at 2 or more of these 3 Core Skills for Authors
2. You have to master one or more of
  1. Knowing What to Write – Doing very good market research, finding a great market, and then figuring out what is The Right Product for this great market
  2. Writing Very Well – Learning how to write very well, and polishing your writing very well, and then polishing the book
  3. Marketing Very Well – Being very good at getting your polished, high quality book in front of the Right Readers (the readers who are the Best Fit for your book)
3. This step can take 1 to 10 years
  1. Yes, it really does take that long
Step 2: Identifying a very strong Market
1. A market where demand to buy books is very high
2. A market where competition is low or non-existent
3. A market where you can produce a high quality product for the market
Step 3: Identifying what is The Right Product to make for this great Market
Step 4: Writing a very good book, then rewriting it until it is close to Perfect
1. At every point, you must make sure you are writing what sells in the great Market you have identified as the market you are writing for
Step 5: Polishing your Book very well and packaging it very well
1. Make sure you have a great cover
2. Make sure your book is proofread and edited
3. Make sure your book page, website, author profile are all immaculate and free of errors
Step 6: Creating a Marketing Plan and identifying how you are going to market to your ideal readers
1. Make sure your marketing plan is set up well in advance
2. Make sure it revolves around Your Ideal Readers – the readers for which your book will be The Right Book
3. Basically, you have identified a great market, and you have written a perfect fit book for that market. Your marketing should be focused on reaching the readers that comprise that market
Step 7: Creating a Plan to get reviews for your book, to ensure the Marketing goes very well
1. Ensure you have reviews very soon after book launch, so that your marketing gives you good results
2. Please remember that a book with good reviews, will sell 2 to 4 times more than a book without reviews
Step 8: Identify the Perfect Categories in the Book Store and make sure your book is in only those categories
1. The Perfect Market you have identified, for which you have written the Perfect Book
2. The store has certain categories that match that Market
3. Make sure you book is put in only these categories, and in all of these categories
Step 9: Do the actual launch, and the actual marketing
1. Make sure everything is going according to plan
2. Monitor and Measure everything
3. The 2 to 4 weeks after launch are absolutely vital. Make sure everything works fine

If you follow these 9 steps, you are almost sure to become a bestseller

Please also read the Review Zero Page on Path 15 – I Want to Become a Bestseller so as to Sell More Books in the Future

In future posts we will discuss related topics i.e. Becoming a Bestseller in the Book Stores, Becoming a New York Times Bestselling Author, Becoming an USA Today Bestselling Author

Path 16: I’m a My Way or the Highway kind of person and want to Succeed doing everything Exactly in My Way and Prove My Way Works

If you want to be singing ‘I Did It My Way’ like Sinatra, Books & Publishing are just about the worst markets to choose to ‘prove your way works’

Firstly, it takes a lot of different skills to pick the right market, find the right product for the market, creating that product (the book), polish it, and then market and sell it
1. Do you really think you can master all of the following skills – market research, market analysis, writing, storytelling, editing, proofreading, cover design, type setting, choosing the right store, marketing, sales
2. You would need a few lifetimes to become very good at all these skills
Secondly, there is a lot of competition
1. This is not an area where there are very few people and most people are unstructured. You can’t just come in and ‘do it your way and beat everyone else’
2. Well, you can if you set some very low bar like ‘selling 100 books’, or ‘becoming a bestseller in an obscure category’
3. However, in general you have a lot of competition
  1. Large Publishers
  2. Medium Size Publishers
  3. Companies like Amazon and Barnes & Noble that have their own publishing imprints
  4. Indie Publishers
  5. Established Independent Authors
  6. Big Brand Authors
  7. Upcoming Independent Authors
4. In our 12 years in this market (Jan 2008 to Apr 2020), we have not seen anyone who ‘did everything their way’ and succeeded
5. Most of the authors who were able to succeed were standing on the shoulders of giants
  1. Learning from authors who came before them
  2. Getting help from the best editors and cover designers and marketers
  3. Learning from other people’s experiences and mistakes
Thirdly, readers are absolutely brutal when a book is not ready for prime time
1. If you’re ‘my way or the highway’, you are going to produce what you think a finished, polished book looks like
2. That will clash with the reality of what a well polished book is actually like
  1. The level of hard work and polish that is required to succeed will shock you
3. Readers will be brutal when your half baked book lands in their hands

You are going to cause yourself an immense amount of pain if you’re a very ‘My Way or the Highway’ kind of person and want to do everything your way. You would be much better off finding another market where that sort of approach works

Please also read the Review Zero Page for Path 16 – You’re a My Way or the Highway kind of person and want to Succeed doing everything Exactly in Your Way and Prove Your Way Works

Path 17: I Want to See My Books out in the World and Want to Prove They Sell and are Worth Reading

Please read the Review Zero Page for Path 17 – You Want to See Your Books out in the World and Want to Prove They Sell and are Worth Reading

It covers some critical aspects very well. In this post we will build on that

5 Critical Things to keep in mind when ‘Getting Your Books out in the World’ i.e. publishing your books

Publishing your book is now very easy, very straightforward, and FREE
1. There is absolutely no need to pay anyone to get your book published
2. There are lots of ebook stores such as Amazon Kindle Store, Barnes & Noble Nook, Apple iBooks, etc which will publish your book to their book stores FOR FREE
  1. In return they will take a cut of your book sales
  2. They do not charge anything to publish – only a cut from your book sales
  3. The cut is usually 30% to 35%
3. There are also lots of digital distributors which will publish your book For Free. The big ones include Ingram Spark, Draft 2 Digital, and Smashwords
  1. In return they will take a cut of your book sales
  2. There is absolutely no charge to publish
  3. The cut is usually 10% to 15%. This is in addition to the 30% to 35% cut the book stores will take
All Legitimate Publishers give you money to publish your book and get a cut of your book sales . They do not ask you for money upfront
1. If you are looking to get a Publishing Deal with a Publisher they will invest in you
  1. They will bear the cost of creating a finished, polished product (your book)
  2. They will sometimes give you an advance
  3. They will have a marketing budget to promote your book
  4. What do they get? They get a cut of your book sales. Usually between 50% to 85%
  5. What do you get? An advance (usually), your cut of book sales (usually 15% to 50%), and the backing and financial support of a Publisher
2. Anyone asking for money to publish your book is usually a Vanity Publisher
  1. If you want to use a Vanity Publisher, that’s fine. Just be aware of that sort of publishing agreement you are actually signing up for
3. Anyone asking you to pay expenses such as editing, proof reading, and cover design is not a Publisher
  1. If they are taking money to publish your book, they should under no circumstances get a cut of your book sales
  2. Ideally, you want to go with an established Publisher who pays you an advance to publish your book, and in return gets a cut of your book sales
    1. Additionally, they will cover all the costs of creating the book and publishing it
  3. If you’re going with someone who is asking you to cover the costs, it is a Vanity Publisher, and you should make sure they do not get a cut of your book sales (since they are not investing in you financially)
There is always a CONTRACT when you publish your book
1. You will have to keep to the terms of that Contract
2. Read the Contract because you will have to stick to that Contract, no matter what happens
3. Be very careful who you publish with, because it is like a marriage, except there is no option to get a divorce
Publishing is so easy and so cheap (free) now that Getting a Book Published is no longer a big deal
1. It means nothing that you published your book and ‘sent your book out into the world’
2. A caveman could do it
You should never allocate more than 10% of your budget and time to ‘Publishing a Book’ as it is now very easy and very cheap
1. Just make sure you pick the right book stores, or the right digital platforms
2. Just make sure you read the Publishing Contract
3. Just make sure you aren’t paying someone a lot of money to do something that is now Free and Easy to Do

8 Critical Aspects of Proving You Can Sell Your Books

The single most important determinant of sales success is – Writing the Right Book for The Right Market
The second most important determinant of sales success is – Reaching the Right Readers – Those who are part of The Right Market – Those for whom your book is The Right Book
The Third most important determinant of sales success is – How well polished your book is, and how well written your book is
For continued success and to get good reviews – You must write a very high quality book, and you must polish and package it very, very well
1. Additionally, you must market and promote it to The Right Readers
Do not spend even a nickel on marketing until your book is written and rewritten, and polished and polished some more
The only way to prove you can sell your books – is to actually sell them
1. You can only sell them, if you write a book that people are looking to buy
2. You can only sell them, if you reach those people willing to buy it
3. You can only sell them, if the writing quality and level of polish convinces those readers to take a chance on you
The more books you have, the higher the chance you can sell your books
Proving you can sell your books is the Key Aspect, not the price you sell your book at
1. The gap between Free and $0.99 is a Mountain
  1. The gap between No Sales and Sales is the Himalayas
  2. Get paid sales at any price and you have conquered the Mountain and the Himalayas
2. Don’t fixate on selling at full price
3. In the beginning sell your ebooks for $0.99 and your paperback at $7 to $14
  1. Getting sales is the Key Aspect

3 Critical Aspects of Proving Your Book is Worth Reading

Your Books are worth reading if readers love your books and/or are moved by them

If you are getting good reviews, then your books are worth reading
1. First positive review that comes in from a person who paid money for your book – You’ve proven your book is worth reading
If those readers are buying your other books, then your books are worth reading
1. If a reader buys one book, and then goes on to buy your other books – That’s proof your books are worth reading
2. Of course, if you have only one book then you can’t get this data/proof
You have to get 1,000+ sales before reviews will start coming in
1. If you’re lucky you might start seeing reviews after 50 to 100 sales
2. For most authors, reviews only come in after a few hundred to a few thousand people have bought your book

Path 17 is a very interesting path, as there are lots of aspects to Proving Your Books are Good, and wanting that validation that readers love your book. If this is the path you choose, make absolutely sure you really, really invest into making your book high quality and well polished

Path 18: I Have Valuable Lessons or Wisdom that I Want to Share with the World

This is a really interesting path. There are 4 very critical aspects to consider because everyone and their mother are writing books and pretending to be world renowned experts

If you want to share your wisdom and lessons, you have to prove you know what you are talking about

Ethos – You have to show you are a real person, you have experience in the area you are talking about, you have success in the area you are talking about, and you have demonstrated results when helping people
1. This is good: After 30 years experience of being a CPA and working with multiple Fortune 500 companies including Ford, General Electric, and Nestle, I’ve written a book on the best practices for filing your taxes, saving money, and managing your investments
2. This is not good: After learning the secrets of personal finance after a long and difficult 3 years, I have found the secrets to becoming wealthy. Now at 19, I am going to share these amazing secrets with you. Learn how you too can become a millionaire within 6 months in just 15 minutes a day
Pathos – You have to target the right people and when they are in a state of mind where they are willing to accept your wisdom
1. This is good: Talking about your Personal Investing and Personal Finance book at a Finance Conference
2. This is good: Marketing and Promoting your Book on How to Maximize Your Tax Return during Tax Season
3. This is not good: Going down to Florida during Spring Break and marketing your book on How to Start Saving during College to spring breakers
Logos – The message itself has to be powerful and it has to be battle tested. It has to be something that grabs the reader and reels them in
1. This is good: Learn how to achieve financial independence and retire early, using common sense strategies built on 30 years of experience of a CPA who helped GM and Toyota with their accounting and taxes
2. This is not good: Work just 4 hours a week and retire in the Bahamas within 3 years. Look at me doing 27 interviews a week and claiming I work only 4 hours a week
  1. Actually, in some cases the latter message can be really good. If the message you are selling is very powerful (make lots of money while working just 4 hours a week) then people will buy the message (and your book) even if it makes zero logical sense
Kairos – The right environment to deliver the message in. The right time and place
1. This is good: Advertising your book on taxes and personal finance when they are at the bank, or checking a personal finances website, or searching on Google for ‘how to save on taxes’
2. This is not good: Advertising your book on taxes and personal finance when they are searching for ‘baby pandas falling’

The biggest problem with Books & Publishing is that absolutely anyone can publish a book on anything

For every 1 author who is actually qualified to write on a topic, there are 100 people who have no experience or expertise or passion and are still writing on that topic to ‘get rich quick’

So you really, really have to stand out

Establishing credibility (ethos), reaching people when they are in the right emotional and mental state (pathos), having a powerful message (logos), and reaching people at the right time and place (kairos) are the 4 magic keys to succeeding

Please also read the Review Zero Page on Path 18 – You Have Valuable Lessons or Wisdom that You Want to Share with the World for additional valuable information

Path 19: I Have Valuable Skills and Business Lessons that I Want to Share with Companies and/or Entrepreneurs

This path is very, very difficult

It requires an extremely high level of work and trust to sell successfully to Companies and Entrepreneurs. Make sure you are willing to put in the work if you want the huge rewards associated with selling business books and business consulting

Firstly, everything from the previous Path (Path 18) applies

Secondly, everything from the Review Zero Page on Path 19 – You Have Valuable Skills and Business Lessons that You Want to Share with Companies applies

Thirdly, there are many additional aspects. Let’s cover a few of them in this post

You are operating at a Completely Different Level when selling to Companies

You will be able to make ten to hundred times more money

At the same time, you will have to do ten to hundred times more work to establish credibility

Ethos – The Critical Importance of establishing Credibility

When selling to Companies and Entrepreneurs, you need a lot of polish and credibility

The book cover and book page must be flawless
Your Author Profile must be very well done and the profile photograph must be professionally done
You must have a website and it must be well made
1. There must be testimonials and reviews
2. There must be a Bio or About page with lots of specifics about who you are
You must not have low pricing
1. This is absolutely critical
2. All the services and products on your website must be high priced or at least medium priced
3. If discounting your book, you must clearly indicate it is a Limited Sale for X Days
  1. Also, make sure the regular price is between $4.99 and $20 for the ebook
You must have industry relevant experience
You must be an expert in what you are writing about
If offering Consulting Services make sure they are not cheap
1. If a company sees $50 per hour or $100 per hour consulting prices, they will run away
Whenever possible you must have videos of you giving talks to actual companies or to entrepreneurs
You have to have Press Mentions, TV or Radio Interviews, Magazine Articles either written by you or written about you

Make it absolutely clear that you are an expert, are a professional, have tons of experience, have a history of helping people succeed, and that you get things done

The Most Important Thing after Credibility is Finding the Right Clients

Who are the companies and entrepreneurs who can most benefit from your unique expertise and skills?

If you can answer that question, and then reach those clients, then you are bound to succeed

Logos – The Message (Your Book) must be incredibly powerful

Consider some of the books that have become very popular in the business world

Good to Great
The One Thing
Getting Things Done

They have a very simple and very powerful message

Those titles are deceptively simple. The amount of work that went into creating something that was very succinct, very simple to understand, and yet incredibly powerful was years, not a few hours

You have to find a really powerful message

You have to refine and polish your message

You have to make it very, very simple to understand

Pathos – Reach them when they are in the right state of mind

In an economic downturn, books about saving money, being careful with finances, and similar topics are a natural fit

During an economic boom, books on rapid growth, books on innovation, and books on raising money are a natural fit

To that, you have to add the state of mind of each particular company. Has it just raised money? Has it just laid off people? Has it just taken over control of a market? Has a dangerous new competitor emerged?

You must make sure you understand the state of mind of the company

You must make sure your book is the right product for that particular state of mind

Kaitos – Reach them at the right time and at the right place

Zoom, the video conferencing app, grew from 17 million users to 200 million users in 3 months due to the Coronavirus epidemic

They had the right product and they were able to make the most of The Perfect Moment for their product (of course, they did not have the security part well polished – that, however, is a completely different tale)

You have to look for Your Zoom Moment

What is the right time and the right place to massively grow your business?

Please also read the Review Zero Page on Path 19 – You Have Valuable Skills and Business Lessons that You Want to Share with Companies

Path 20: I Just want to understand this Market & this Ecosystem & How Everything Works

This is actually a very smart Path to take, especially if you don’t have any time constraints

If you’re brand new to the Books & Publishing Ecosystem, some of the best things you could do are

Put away your wallet until you understand how everything works
Wait for a month or more (perhaps even for 6 months) before you even start writing your book
1. Spend that time to understand the Ecosystem
2. Most of all, search for The Right Market for your book
3. Patiently see which authors are succeeding and which are not
  1. Try and figure out why
Read a lot
1. Read Publisher magazines and blogs such as Publishers Weekly
2. Read Author magazines and blogs such as Writers Digest
3. Read all the news you can find on Publishing and Books
Familiarize yourself with the big book stores (Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble Nook, Apple iBooks)
1. Search through them and see what books are selling
2. Understand what the different categories and genres are
3. See what books are doing well and which are not
  1. Try to figure out why
Keep your wallet far, far away from all the people who will separate a fool from their money
1. At the beginning, when you have absolutely no idea about the market, is the worst time to spend your money
2. At the beginning, when your book is unpolished and you have not done any market research, is the worst time to buy marketing
3. At the beginning, when you don’t know what works and what doesn’t work, is the worst time to buy services

Additionally, please try your best to avoid what we consider The 5 Fatal Dysfunctions of Authors

Spending all their money at the start, on marketing a half polished book
1. Would you run a 100 meters dash at the beginning of the marathon? Before you have even put your running shoes on?
2. Why would you spend 100% of your marketing budget in the first month, when you know absolutely nothing about marketing books?
3. Equally importantly – Why would you spend 100% of your marketing budget when your book isn’t even ready to be marketed?
Believing they know everything there is to know about Books & Publishing
1. In your first year as an author, you’re at the same level as a first year Pre Med student
2. Don’t be walking into the Operating Room and operating on a patient
3. First, you need college and medical school and an internship at a Hospital
  1. In your haste, don’t forget that the patient is your Happiness and Your Career as an Author
  2. You do not want that patient to die just because you think in your first year of Pre Med you can start operating on people
Giving in to Fear
1. Unless you have time constraints, you lose absolutely nothing by waiting and first understanding the market
2. There is nothing to Fear
Giving in to Greed
1. There is no one who has ‘the secret’ which will turn you into a successful author
  1. They are appealing to your laziness and to your greed
2. There is no one who can give you shortcuts so you can skate your way to quick, overnight success
3. There is no ‘Get Rich Quick’
  1. Perhaps this is the harshest reality about books
  2. There is no one getting rich quick from Get Rich Quick courses, except for the people selling them
  3. Heck, even they are having problems because everyone is selling Get Rich Quick courses these days – there is just too must competition
Spending a ton of money on services that are unnecessary
1. Authors spend most of their money on ‘Publishing’, even though publishing is free
2. Authors spend the second most on marketing
  1. They are in such a rush they do not check if their book is ready to be marketed
  2. They spend on marketing services without first checking what works and what doesn’t work

Just taking the time to understand the market, and how everything works, is one of the best things you can do as a new author

In fact, the majority of existing authors would benefit from taking a month or two to step back and improve their understanding of how the market works

Path 21: I’m Just An Author

It’s completely fine if you are just starting off and have no idea what you want

If you’re just an Author and not sure exactly what you want, just take your time and understand how books and publishing work

Then you can pick out your path later

Path 22: My Path isn’t listed Here (Let Me Enter What My Path Is)

If your path isn’t listed here, you can write us using one of the options below –

Leave a comment, lower down on this post, detailing what your path is
1. If we have an answer for you, and if time permits, we will respond
2. We might even add it as an Author Path to this post
Email us at NGB1@outlook.com
Contact us via the Contact Us form at Review Zero (https://review0.com/author/contact/)

We will respond to you IF we have an answer for you

Path 23: I’m Above the Fray and All This Doesn’t Matter

In the end, the world outside is just a reflection of the world inside

If you are supremely happy writing what is in your heart, then nothing else matters

Extra Credit on 23 Paths for Authors

You can read the corresponding page for Your Path at ReviewZero to get more insights into Your Path –

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