Bookcraft

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by Nathaniel

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Bookcraft

Indie publishing, 2014A State of Mind

http://astateofmind.eu

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by Nathaniel

Bookcraft: Insights Into Successful Niche Self-Publishing in Theory and Practice © 2014 by Nathaniel.

FIRST EDITIONIndie publishing, 2014

ISBN: 978-83-64699-00-9

All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical articles and reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the author.

Self-published under the A State of Mind brand, an official website of the author.Website: http://astateofmind.eu Email: nathan@astateofmind.euWegierska Gorka, 2014

facebook.com/astateofmindblog

Support Indie publishing by sharing your reviews of this work on Amazon.com and Goodreads.com. The author appreciates your support.

Additional Credit:Primary font for A State of Mind's Logo: Fertigo, by Exljbri. Title's font: Droid Serif.

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Bookcraft

Table of Contents

Everything Begins With a Dream...........................................9

Blog, Blog, Blog it All!.........................................................15

Overcoming Problems..........................................................23

Becoming a Newsman..........................................................33

The (Nearly) First Ebook......................................................39

Collecting Books: My Own and Those of Others.................53

Crafting Books, One Step at a Time.....................................63

Marketting.............................................................................89

Launching the Business........................................................99

Going Open Source.............................................................111

Expanding Business Further...............................................115Resources 120

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by Nathaniel

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Bookcraft

Foreword

This book is not a guide to self-publishing an e-book. It is not a guide to becoming a self-publisher either. It is a story of a self-publisher, a person who writes and publishes books for a living. This person is a mixture of an author and a publisher that handcrafts his works and shares knowledge and entertainment with his readers. Self-publishing is a new way of sharing wisdom and happiness through books. Consider this work as inspiration, and not a how-to manual.

Although this book is a personal story of my journey, I try to provide many useful tips, suggestions and advice for any self-publisher or an aspiring self-publisher who will read it. Also, I try to provide you with useful apps and tools which I use in my work so that you may find them useful for yourself. Because, as you should find out soon enough, the book is never about the author – it's about the reader, or at least for the reader.

Four years ago I was merely a dreamer. I had dreams of being a full-time author, writing books and making money this way. Today, that dream is now a reality.

So far, I have published over 13 books. Most of them are effects of my self-publishing efforts. I wrote some of my books in Polish and most of them in English. Also, I published through classic publishers in Poland, as I have landed a publishing deal thanks to my previous self-publishing efforts. I have studied librarianship and publishing arts, both at University and privately, throughout recent years, so I do know the craft. And a craft it is!

I'm not going to guide you through the writing process, because is your job. My task is to inspire you and, in a way, show you how you can write books for a living, make money through books and your hobby. Then you can settle down and enjoy your life more, as a writer, publisher, author, artist, or a teacher.

This book is a story, one that will inspire you – this is what I hope for you. This book is a story of my personal journey that started with a dream, and ended up with micro company owned by me. I don't have the exact numbers, but I have sold thousands of

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my books – that's thousands of readers. A lot of these books, I guess so, were pirated and read by even more people :).

I wrote this book so that more people can learn the art of crafting self-published books. Also, I hope that after reading this book, you will increase the number of interesting books on the market, self-published by you. More books mean more knowledge and insights into the nature of the world you can share with readers. Someone said once that collecting knowledge is the first step to wisdom. But sharing knowledge is the first step to community.

We all have something to say – words have power either to create or to destroy – use them wisely. Sometimes, I say that writing is like being a messenger of God. It's not being a prophet, of course. Neale Donald Walsch in his famous series of books, Conversations with God, mentioned that every single book has been inspired by God himself. Maybe it's true. If it is true, then every single writer, author or blogger is a messenger of God. And they all carry the sacred words to people who will read them when the time is right to change their lives forever.

I do not write novels. I do not shape plots. I tried that once, twice or thrice. Well, maybe a dozen times. It never worked. Each and every time I put my work on hold after few chapters. Somehow, I wasn't able to continue. So I gave up this kind of book.

I began to write non-fiction, focusing on the matters of mind and spirit. New Age, you may say. But I have published, as well, a book about on-line business, here in Poland. As I slowly begin to write more about primal spirituality and psychology of spiritual growth, I also intend to focus on so-called "New Economy" and sustainability in my future books. If I can succeed in a niche like spirituality and psychic stuff, then surely you can also find success in the niche of your choice.

You can read a lot of success stories related to self-publishing, and most of them deal with areas of fiction and novels. But I'm an example that you can be a successful self-publisher, even if you're simply writing non-fiction. Write what you love! That's important.

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Bookcraft

Everything Begins With a Dream

Things always happen for a reason, and things always have their source in the past. Some people might say that it was always their dream to become a writer. But the word always is misleading, I believe. There is always a reason stuff happens. Our behavior is being shaped by our beliefs, lessons and experiences. And, of course, by people who meet throughout our lives.People have a great impact upon us. Such people came to my life. I can't say I always wanted to be a writer. Perhaps it was my destiny, perhaps I was meant to become a writer, who knows? For the purpose of this book, let's put the mysticism aside, and let's focus on the real world.And in the real world, whatever your destiny is, it must be awaken first. And it never awakens on its own, there's always that initial spark. It may be an experience or a book, but quite often, it's another person.

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Going Back to School

Modern education is failing our civilization. It teaches us how to be a corporation slave, and not a creative, free human being. There are countless books on the failed educational system, and this failure is happening everywhere that the capitalism is making its way. It is happening in Poland, as well, and I'm not happy about it.I don't have too many positive memories from my school days. Usually, the memories are full of bullying, boredom and feelings of wasted time. But there are few memories that I recall as important for my current writing career.

Back in the school days, around 2002, we were writing a paper – I'm not sure about what, the human memory can be tricky. I pushed this memory deep into my subconscious mind, because it's not a nice memory. Suffice to say, I haven't written a single word! None at all. As far as I recall, this was the very first time we had to wrote anything at school. I was maybe 13, or 14 years old, and for some reason, earlier at school we never wrote anything. If we did, then it must be a bad memory because I can't remember it.

Well, there's the first time for everything, they say.So I haven't written a single word on the paper. I can still

remember the angry and disappointed eyes of my teacher. She wasn't pleased. Well, she was quite angry at me, as until then, I was a good student. After all these years, I still remember why I hadn't written anything. It may sound funny, but honestly, I didn't know how to begin. I knew what I wanted to say and write in the middle and conclusion, but I had no idea how to begin. I had no idea for a single first letter. And that put me on hold throughout the entire paper.

Years later, I read a suggestion by a popular writer, whose name I can't recall right now, but I do remember the words. The author received a question: "how to begin writing?" His answer was simple:

Start with the first word, place it in the upper left part of the page.

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Bookcraft

Honestly, there is great wisdom in these words. When you deal with the first letter, and then the first word, everything becomes easy. Just write the first word! That first step is the most important aspect in writing – whatever you write.

Back to the story – the teacher wasn't happy with me, but what could she do? Obviously, I received the lowest possible grade. But I wasn't the only one – the whole classed failed the teacher's expectations. So, she began to teach us about writing, and some time later, we had to write another paper during classes.

This time, I had paid attention to her teachings, and I conquered the fist word! I wrote a nice paper, and received a pretty good grade. Then, the teacher told me something. She told me that basing on my writing style, comparing it to my age she could see that I had potential. She asked if I could write a paper on a random book of my choice and present it in front of the class. You would think that I'd be scared, but I was excited!

The book I read was “The Hunt for Red October” by Tom Clancy. I chose it because I had enjoyed the movie many years earlier. I have never read the book before – but I went to a public library in my town, borrowed it and read it. And I enjoyed it! Never before had I enjoyed any book so much. That is probably the moment that my love for books was born.

As I said, the word always is not the case. Everything must be awakened – back then, my love for reading was born, and it stuck with me to this very day. Right now, I own a large book collection – something every writer needs. But we'll deal with that later.

So I read the book (if you have read it, and you enjoy cold war thrillers, then you should read it right after finishing with this book), and I wrote the paper. I walked to the front of the classroom, book report in hand and read it to the group. They all loved it, so did my teacher. She praised me in front of the class, and that was the moment when my dream of writing was born.

Going to High School

But, as I said earlier, in most cases school is not a place for

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talents to be born. Talents are born within people, not within the school. And usually, the talent must sit back and wait until the school time is over – then it can blossom! If you're lucky, you will meet people that will persuade you to pursue the skills and talents you have, and with time, you will awake your personal genius. For me, beside that one teacher, there was no one to support my in my writing. So I was simply writing papers, enjoying it, but nothing more.

Then, I went to high school. There, a new teacher kicked open the doors to my writing world. A teacher who enjoyed ordering the class to write a paper after paper. The class didn't like it, but I enjoyed it. We had so much fun with that teacher, who was simply awesome! And he praised my writing, too.

This was a time when I began writing my novels and short stories. None of them was ever published. Well, none of them was ever finished, for that matter. I was writing in my mother tongue, and most of my early stories were lost along with my old computers. But I was writing thousands of words every week. And the more I wrote my stories and the more I wrote papers at school, the more I enjoyed it. And when I was standing in front of the class, reading my papers, everyone had so much fun. I wasn't just reading. I was intoning, playing the roles, turning myself into a character I wrote about.

Once, our teacher asked us to write a politician speech. While everyone was reading from their seats, I was the only one, as far as I recall, to walk out and stand in the front of the entire class, and I read my paper. And I wasn't just reading – I sounded like a politician. I think that with time, I had developed the skills to feel truly what I was writing. When I was writing novels, I was able to play the roles of my characters – I knew their style, they way the spoke, the way their psyche worked. I knew their stories, their positive and negative sides, so I was able to turn into an actor when reading the stories to people.

This is important when you write, whether you write novels or non-fiction that you must know who it is you're writing about. You must know how to write and how you wish your words to sound

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Bookcraft

when someone else reads them. This is how your personal style and skills develop.

Someone said that if you wish to be a writer, you have to write. There is no exception. Write! Write papers, essays, notes, stories, novels, non-fiction, reports, blog, anything! Writing is an essential skill, and it is developed by two types of activities: writing itself and reading works of other people.

I went through high school writing: papers, notes in my personal notebook (Moleskine rocks!), stories, novels (well, first chapters anyway). I also spent some time writing about paranormal topics, which I enjoyed. Writing became the part of my life – and it was meant to stay.

By the end of my high school years, the dream was born. The dream of becoming a full-time writer. When people asked me about my future career plans, I had none but a single dream of writing. I didn't know where was it leading me, but the future seemed quite interesting.

Summary

1. There are always people in your life that have a great impact upon your dreams. A dream is realized only with the help of other people, even if you're not aware of this fact. Remember the people that changed your life.

2. Everything begins with the first letter, then with the first word, and then with the first phrase. Repeat until the book is done.

3. If you find people who will support your talents, stick to them. If people try to suppress your talents, defend them - even if it means losing contact with those people.

4. If you want to be a writer, you have to write a lot.

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by Nathaniel

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Bookcraft

Blog, Blog, Blog it All!

In 2005-2006, I wrote a series of articles for an on-line discussion board focused on paranormal subjects. Writing the articles, a couple of thousand of words long each, was the very first time that any of my writing went public. When I look at them now, truly, I smile – my style evolved over time, thank God! The texts I used to write were silly, definitely not something you would like to buy and read.

Becoming a Blogger

Between 2006 and 2007, I caught a virus. Its name was “blogging”. At the time, blogging was becoming very popular in Poland. A lot of Internet trends used to become popular in Poland a couple of years later than in the West. It was quite normal back then – these days, things happen much faster, because the Internet became FAR more popular than it was six to seven years ago.

I was inspired by Darren Rowse's Problogger.net and I decided

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to become a blogger! I wished to become a professional blogger so that I could make money. Honestly, back then money were my primary goal – things changed over time, and my priorities are different these days, but let's get back to the story.

So I launched my very first professional blog, SajFaj.pl – its subject: science fiction movies and TV shows. Including George Lucas's saga, which is not a sci-fi (since it lacks science element), but an awesome opera set in space. These days, this science fiction website no longer functions. It closed down in 2009.

And guess what – I had been writing. But this time for my websites again and again, and this time, I wrote essays and reviews, too, not just short stories or how-to articles. And I loved it!

In 2007, I launched my second blog, A State of Mind, still on-line (at astateofmind.eu), which focuses on psychic phenomena and spirituality. More blogs and articles had been written down and published. So now, I had two blogs where I had been publishing my texts. I believe those two blogs were my very first places where I could publish anything on such great scale, making my writing truly public. Apart from mentioned discussion board articles, until 2006, I wrote mainly for school and class, and everything landed on my hard drive or in my desk. But now I was able to reach people with my writing in a great degree.

I see it now as a big milestone, but it didn't seem to be one back then – after all I thought I merely blogged. My goal back then was to make a lot of money out of blogging (well it didn't work out). Nevertheless, today I consider it to be a milestone. At first, you may write for yourself, your family or your friends. No one else will see your writing. But at some point, you have to get out of your comfort zone, and you have to face the public – your readers, who will review you, make opinions and often criticize you. Critics are normal – get over it with a smile on your face.

But sometimes, it is easier said than done. There are many types of critics, but I may say that I have encountered the following types most of the time:

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Bookcraft

1. Useful critics – that pointed my mistakes, errors or lack of skills in a friendly, or at least neutral way, at the same time it provided me with tips that would make my writing better. This is a good type of critics, those who made me the writer I am today.

2. Disappointed critics – readers or fans that were simply disappointed with my work, but they never provided me with any useful feedback. Read their opinions and figure out your mistakes then try to do your best, but understand that you cannot make everyone happy.

3. Internet trolls – people who have their emotional, psychological or sociological problems, and they simply look to make people angry so they can feel better. They do so by the process of trolling, which is an Internet slang word that translates as “make the life of other people miserable”. Just ignore them – it's never about you or your writing, but about them and their problems. Leave them with their problems, and your life will be better.

Those are the things I had learned when I published my first blog articles, and later on, when I begun to work as a newsman and a writer for professional technology blogs. The very same types of critics apply to books.

Making Blogs Awesome

I can't remember how many blogs I used to write for – I owned almost ten blogs in my life. Currently, two blogs are archived, and two blogs are still active, a few has been deleted entirely (I have merged their content into a free, promotional e-book and published it on the Internet). Most of my blogs weren't big, but few of them had tens of thousands of page views per month. If you never blogged, then know that those are not big numbers. Most people would consider my blogs small. Nevertheless, I managed to use them to market my books by engaging the readers and providing value to them.

While at first I was trying to make money with my blogs, I gave

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up the idea later – meaning, I decided to switch my focus from money to providing value. Since 2008, I began to make my blogs awesome with great articles and real interaction with readers. But it took me two years to provide truly complex and valuable articles that were useful to people, along with free audio recordings or free small e-books.

If you wish to learn how to blog professionally and make sure that your blog is awesome, then read over all possible free articles on ProBlogger.net. I never read Mr Rowse's books or e-books, but his free articles should be enough to learn to blog like a pro, attract a lot of readers and provide value. His knowledge of blogging is far greater than my own.

I never became a problogger to be honest. A problogger, which stands for a professional blogger, is a person who writes blogs and makes money out of it, enough money to make a living this way. I never did. In my life, I was a computer technician, a newsman, a designer, a PHP programmer (PHP is a computer script for making interactive websites), and a blogger, but never a professional blogger. Thank goodness – otherwise, who knows, maybe I wouldn't become a professional writer ever – it's not like problogging is bad. No, it's awesome! I guess it just wasn't my destiny...

Providing Value Through Guest Articles

Owning a couple of blogs taught me the great importance of guest articles or guest posts. Both are a great way of marketing. Today, I do not have a blog to market each of my books – but I still write and publish guest articles on other blogs and websites. Here in Poland, I publish printed magazines, as well.

A guest article/post is a normal article, which you do not publish on your website, but you publish on someone else's website or blog. This way, you can reach this person's audience. Writing guest articles became a very popular method of promoting your blog in the last couple of years. By writing valuable content for websites owned by other people, you attract their audience to your blog. It's a normal practice to put a backlink leading to your website or book

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page on Amazon at the bottom of such guest article.The thing is – there are countless websites in the global net.

Most of them are blogs, and a lot of blogs have a huge audience interested in very specific topics. You can use this, by reaching this audience and interest the people in your work and books.

If you wish to publish an article there in order to attract an audience to your work, you cannot do this with a simple marketing article, no longer than 300 words. The website's owner won't allow that in most cases – and if he will, then I'm sorry, but the person doesn't appreciate his readers. You need to write a great and long article that will provide value to the blog's readers.

In addition, there are many websites that are not blogs, but allows people to publish articles there. Websites like Squidoo or Hubpages, different how-to websites, like Wikihow, even bigger sites like The Huffington Post, and many professional portals allow people to post articles for free. Use them to publish valuable articles there, as well. In addition, you should give it a try and publish in classic printed magazines. I did so – in many niches it is worth it.

If you're a self-publisher, then write valuable guest articles – it's a great way of marketing your books.

Do We Really Need a Blog?

When you read about self-publishing, almost all guidebooks and articles tell you that you need a blog. Well, I do have a blog that is archived, when it comes to English books. They still sell well. I do have other blogs when it comes to Polish books, and they're quite active. On one of these blogs, the book promoted there does sell well. But I also had a blog for my other book, which never sold good enough. So there is no rule. You may be a successful self-publisher even without a blog.

I wrote a couple of titles that are not promoted by books, but merely through guest articles, and they sell nicely. Right now, I own only two active blogs – one is used to promote one of my books, the other one is merely a hobby. Just to make a note – that first blog “promotes” the book as a side effect. As a blog on its

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own, it provides readers with tons of free and valuable materials.But I have something else to tell you.My sister runs a handcrafted business – she crafts bags, wallets,

laptop cases or similar, made of felt, with hand cut and sawed cute little made-of-felt cats. She doesn't own a blog, nor a website, but she does have a Facebook page with nearly 2000 fans. This is enough for her to drive sales to her products sold through Allegro (something like eBay) in Poland. She does all of this simply by interacting with her fans, posting photos of cats (which is the main theme of her craft) and photos of her products. This is a proof that you don't have to own a blog, just find a way to interact with your readers.

Perhaps if you travel through the USA, one day you may find funny felt wallets or bags with a cat on them and a name Catoo placed somewhere on them. Well, that's my sister's work. She already exports her craft to US :). By the way, here's her page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Catoo-decorative-handcrafts/227836794011546

The thing is – do not try to create a blog to market yourself. Never consider the blog to be merely a promotional tool, because it is not. Create a blog only if you truly and honestly wish to share a lot of useful free content with people. In reality, everything – your blog, your interaction with readers, this is not marketing – this is providing value, and this is the process of being there for your readers.

A blog is only as good as its educational value or cultural value, for that matter. You can't just blog about yourself or your books. You need to offer value to readers. Educate, provide inspiration, provide value. Teach both theory and practice. If you're a novelist, use a blog to give away extras! Tell more about the world you've created, or about your characters. Offer bonuses and extra materials to your readers. On my blog about spiritual healing, I share knowledge with free articles. There, I also provide free audio recordings and guided meditation for spiritual healing. For my readers, it's a great value, not because I say so, but because they say so, and they're coming back for more.

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Then, your blog will be useful for your self-publishing efforts.

Summary

1. Face the people – start publishing your work for free. Use free e-books and blogs to share your writing with people. Writing for public will improve your skills further.

2. When you provide value, money will follow. Never focus on the money – focus on providing value, because it is what really matters. It's what people want – something awesome for themselves. Give it to them and feel great about it. Everything else will follow.

3. Write guest articles and provide value through them – it's a great way to attract more readers to your works.

4. You don't need a blog – you need a way to promote your writing. It's a difference. If you need a blog to promote yourself, and then write a blog. But if you have ways to promote yourself without a blog, and it works, then the blog itself is not mandatory.

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by Nathaniel

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Bookcraft

Overcoming Problems

I had been blogging for a while in English before I wrote any book, and that proved to be quite difficult. There had been many problems that I had to face in order to succeed. But from every problem that is solved, a lesson and experience flows to support you in your efforts. You, too, will have to face your problems and learn to solve them in order to be successful in life. Life is never free of problems, but as some wise person said:

Life is not about surviving the storm. It's about learning how to dance in the rain.

Every problem you face while trying to become a self-publisher can be solved. You can learn things, overcome things, or find helpful people, that will make your dreams turn real.

Grammar

The biggest problem was the grammar. I'm a Pole; my mother tongue is Polish. It is a very complex language, and one that is very difficult to learn, as most experts agree in the category of the

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grammar complexity.1 But, guess what, while Polish is a complex language that is difficult to learn if your mother tongue is English, it works both ways, especially when it comes to grammar. English grammar is very different from Polish grammar, and quite often, entire new concepts of space and time must be learned to write in English properly.

Let's be honest, English grammar is very complex. The language itself is very easy to learn if you wish just to communicate both on-line and off-line, but the grammar, with all the tenses, conditionals and such, is difficult. If you're a non-native English speaker, then known that I used to talk to few editors, copywriters and writers. Most of them agree – even the native speakers have trouble speaking properly, and there are many foreigners who know the English grammar better than natives! It was a huge healing step for my self-assessment, I believe.

I learned English in three ways. Some things were taught at school. Other things – that is, most of my current skills – are the result of watching films and TV shows in English and reading through hundreds of English books – novels, manuals, guidebooks, etc. I also read a lot of blogs and articles on-line. In addition, I used to chat with people on the Internet, and in the real world when they visited Poland. Watching TV shows and reading books in the language you wish to learn makes the process of learning a lot easier!

Anyway, I was never a big fan of grammar. I tried learning, and I tried switching to the English concepts of time and grammar rules, but I never succeeded. So, I gave up! I said to myself, OK, I had learned as much as I could, I had improved my writing, but it seems that at this point, I can't do anything more.

I gave up learning grammar further. But I kept writing, because my readers from all around the world, even from the USA and Great Britain, were telling me that my English is not perfect, but it's good enough. So, I kept writing. In 2010, I began using a

1 Still, I'm sure that whether Polish is or isn't difficult, it depends on the point of view with countless factors included. Still, if you decide to learn Polish, know that this language belongs to the difficult-to-learn group.

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software called Grammarly, available on-line. It's not perfect, but at least it allowed me to fix a lot of things with my grammar – some elements of tenses, some elements of punctuation. Again, my writing improved, and I use the same software for some of my books.

Now, there are many “styles” you use on a daily basis. There's a different style when you talk to a friend, there's a different style when you talk to a barber, there's a different style when you write an official letter, and there's a different style when you make a speech at University.

The more you read, the more styles you learn – and all of them may have a different grammar, use different words, etc. That's what I did – I read through books and articles written in English, and through that, I improved my skills, and I expanded my vocabulary. My English is not perfect – but it works. Most of my readers and that is about 99%, never complained. Some of them praised my skills, which, in their words, are quite higher then the skills of most native speakers. Well,

I don't know about that, but I'm doing my best.So far, only one of my English books has been checked by a

professional editor/proof reader. Oh, that was a shock. I mean, there were many changes, but most of them were related to small things: “a/the”, “if/while”, “on/in/at” and similar. I talked to a lot of foreigners knowing Polish to some degree – hearing how they make small mistakes helps me to understand how many of my readers, who are native English speakers, feel. Each evening I offer them my gratitude – thank you for being so forgiving. But guess what – I often use a proof reader for my Polish books, too. With time, more and more of my books are getting a professional proofreading and editing work because investing money in proper grammar proved to be a great decision.

Still, the entire situation with my books proved me that your English doesn't have to be perfect. It should be – for the sake of the language and people who look for educative examples – but it's not that mandatory. Here are some tips: don't try to make complex sentences. Make it simple. I try to make my writing as simple as

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possible. In a way, it allows me to share my thoughts in a very simple way, so it is easily understood and available to more people. Use Grammarly to fix as much as possible in your book. And if you can afford it, pay the proof reader to do an awesome job!

In the end, do your best! You can't just screw it, or ignore it completely! Try to do your grammar as best as possible. Remember that even the bestselling authors make mistakes.

Learning First, Making Money Next

Between 2007 and 2010, I wasn't able to make money out of my writing – besides few jobs as a newsman and a translator somewhere around 2009. I had to make money somehow to pay the bills and such, so I decided to create my workplace.

But in 2007 I begun to work as a freelancer doing complex websites: coding, designing, etc. Since I was already blogging and building my websites, I had the skills necessary to become a freelancer designer and website developer. The next few years were full of learning that proved to be very beneficial to me.

As I was creating my first blogs, I had stumbled upon PSDTuts – back then under different domain, these days it can be found under a design tutorial site of Envato: tutsplus.com. With it, I had found the owner's another website, FreelanceSwitch.com – these days archived, but back then it was a huge website for freelancers. The Tuts Plus network evolved over time. These days, the company of the PSDTuts owner, Collis Ta'eed, called Envato, owns dozens of blogs and marketplaces selling stock website themes, photos, scripts, apps and so on. And they also have a publishing initiative, the Rockable Press.

Truly, these websites were full of knowledge and inspirations – they show how a blog can truly provide a great value to the readers. I have begun to read the content and learn more of coding, designing, building websites, even writing, copywriting, marketing, promoting. I had learned more about Social Media and more on blogging. The period between 2007 and 2010 was a time of learning, when most of my current skills developed.

Today, I design my covers; I design my books – I craft them by

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hand using the skills in designing and coding. I build my websites, promotional pages and blogs. When you're a self-publisher, you have to be prepared to learn. In many cases, you may not need that many skills. But if you truly want to be a self-publisher, then skills are necessary, because they will allow you to do most of the stuff by yourself. This will cut down the costs, and increase your income. And, in some cases, it will be fun! Surely I have fun because I can craft and make most of the things myself (besides grammar of course).

Engage with the spirit of learning – enjoy learning, learn and gain new knowledge. It will be useful. Back then, I had learned:

• How to code HTML for the purpose of making websites – later on, this skill became essential for handcrafting e-books and converting text to MOBI and EPUB formats.

• How to design graphics – again, for the purpose of websites. Later on, this helped me design book covers.

• How to market content – that helped me with my promotion efforts in the future.

While the skills I had learned back then helped me with becoming a successful self-publisher, back then they were useful to make money. I became a freelance website developer, and I was doing custom work for clients from all around the world. In the meantime, I was designing stock themes to sell on ThemeForest.net – that helped me create a source of passive income. For the next three years, I was doing this kind of freelance work, but it wasn't something I enjoyed – rather, it was something that gave me money, that's all. I love making websites for myself, but I don't like working for clients.

It's something everyone should understand – you can't always land the job of your dreams just yet :). Quite often, you have to make the first step, and do something you don't love. But it gives you the opportunity to learn some skills, gain knowledge, or change your behavior. To walk the path of inner transformation so

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that one day, in the future, you can become who you want.Keep the goal in your mind and live your life. As long as you

focus on your ultimate goal, the life will guide you from one place to another, but every place you visit will be meaningful in some way. You may not understand how, you may not see it, but some day in the future every piece of the puzzle will come together to form a large picture. And you will understand how the past years prepared you to do what you truly enjoy!

Keep in mind that it's not about the destination, but about the journey!

As the time was passing by, I had learned new things, and I had created a decent passive income from selling stock themes on ThemeForest.net. At some point of my life, this has helped me stop worrying about money. I wasn't making millions of dollars, but it was enough to pay my rent and pay for food, so in 2009, I was able to write my first real book at peace.

But there was one more thing that I had to deal with. Something I already mentioned in this book, and something that a lot of writers will have to deal with before they can achieve success.

Self-assessment

The biggest problem that you may face, in any area of your life, is the problem of your belief. Your self-assessment and self-confidence may be low because people won't believe in you. This is something I have experienced and from where I stand now I understand that you have to deal with your self-assessment issues. You have to fight in order to achieve your dreams.

We have created a society in which it is very difficult to receive support from other people. Others usually try to suppress us, suppress our creativity and our personal expression along with our talents and personal genius. Often, they succeed, especially if we don't have anyone to tell us how valuable we are. After many years of studying the path of spirit, from Huna to Animism, from Reiki to Buddhism, I stand by the opinion that deep inside, each one of us is valuable. So are you! You're valuable; you're awesome! If you don't believe it, it simply means that you have been hurt in the

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past, even if you can't remember it. Recall it, find the memories, and heal them – because once you're done with healing the bad stuff, you find yourself – an awesome, valuable person you are!

I managed to do so; I managed to heal it. Healing took me many years. It included, but was not limited to, receiving professional help from psychologists and coaches, long talks with friends, reading of self-help books, exploring spiritual traditions from all around the world. And even learning from shamanic healers – who, one way or another, did psychotherapy instead of magick. That helped me write for public – and then, the public offered me positive feedback, which improved my self-assessment and made me believe in myself. The more I wrote, the more positive feedback I was receiving, and the more healed I was.

I have learned that everyone has something to say and share with people. Not everyone can be a writer, but if you can write, you can try to become a writer, especially if you dream about it. And there will be something you can share with people.

There's a great movie with Whoopi Goldberg called Sister Act 2 – it's not made for Oscars, but I love it! In the movie, sister Delores, played by Whoopi Goldberg, tells a young girl that if you wake up in the morning and the first thing you think about is writing, then you should become a writer. It was a funny, yet quite inspiring movie dedicated to young people. It was another thing to inspire me. And I totally agree – if you wake up and think about writing, then become a writer. Maybe you'll heal someone, or inspire someone, with your book – you never know.

If you feel bad about yourself, then know that your self-assessment and self-confidence are both low. Accept it. Understand it next. And finally, find a way to heal it and improve your self-assessment. When you begin this process of healing your inner self, at least with the help of a psychotherapist, you're on the path to success!

If you seek a way to inspire yourself and learn more about writing, you should definitely watch a great movie with Sean Connery, called Finding Forrester. By the way, in the movie, one of the main characters, Forrester, complains that people didn't

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understand what he was trying to say in his book. Or, that their interpretation of his book was completely wrong. As a writer, you may experience something similar But here's what's important. People will not always interpret your book as you would like them to. Quite often, they will interpret the book only as they understand this. Their reactions to your book and their interpretations are reflections of their current inner states. Readers always interpret a book in their own, personal way, just as it feels all right for them at the present moment.

For example, a series of books by Terry Pratchett, with Ankh-Morpork Guards (a part of Discworld series) may be interpreted in many ways. For me, it's a story of coming of age, and the story of becoming a real man (a man must do his thing!) of the main character, Samuel Vimes. It's perfect for me at the moment, as I study the archetype of the male psyche, initiation and coming of age. My interpretation of the book's main theme is a reflection of my current psychological and spiritual states. For another reader, the book might have a different interpretation. Let people interpret the books you write on their way – whether you have something wise to say in your book or not, don't worry. Those who are meant to find something more than entertainment in your books will find it.

What I think of writing is my opinion. Every writer has his or her opinion. And these opinions are different. We all write for different reasons, and I don't pretend to understand why other writers write or what they want to say with their books. It doesn't matter - what matters is the basic aspect of our psyche – the fact that we always interpret the written words more or less because of our inner states.

There was another book that helped me with my self-assessment. “The Way of Peaceful Warrior” by Dan Milman, that helped me understand an old Taoist saying: to the mind that is still, the whole Universe surrenders.

Today, when people come to me to tell me that I have a unique way of sharing things is a simple, easy to understand way, my self-assessment doesn't grow. I simply understand that I'm good at what I'm doing. Well, I don't know if this is unique, and I don't care – I

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simply enjoy writing and sharing knowledge and skills. If people enjoy it, then I'm glad they do and that they like my writing.

With my self-assessment healed, I was writing more and more, but the time to make money out of writing was still to come.

Making Notes and To-Do Lists

Since 2006, I have been a big fan of paper notebooks. I used them to make notes, draw mind maps and write down ideas for books, companies or products. Later on, as I was learning designing and coding, I used my notebooks to design websites and architecture of my on-line apps. It was 2007 when I learned about a great notebook – Moleskine. It's probably the most popular notebook in the World, popularized by artists, geeks, nerds and great minds of modern times. There's something wonderful in this specific type of paper and black hardcover.

Today, I make a lot of notes of a different sort in my Moleskine. I write books on computer, but I make a lot of notes on paper, because I enjoy it. Quite often, I also use an audio recorder to make notes and record ideas, but notebooks are always near.

Each of my book ideas begins with few notes and mind maps in my Moleskine notebook. Only then, the idea evolves further. Here's a tip, always have a notebook with you, even put it near your bed. You never know when an idea may strike! Many times I used to wake up in the middle of the night just to write a great idea or a whole paragraph!

Along with Moleskine, learning designing and coding introduced me to a great on-line app, called Basecamp – it allows users to make to-do lists and manage projects, by creating notes, to-do lists or milestones. It's an awesome app that helped me write down things I had to do. As the time passed, I began to use Basecamp to coordinate the way I run my company and write books. When you are a full-time self-publisher, and you own a company, there is a lot to do. You have to pay taxes; print documents; meet with people; coordinate editors and graphic design; make short statements for things to do (like make sure to put an e-mail address in that e-book!); buy envelopes for paperbacks if you sell them

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personally, etc. That's a lot of work, and you have to coordinate it somehow.

Basecamp proved to be the best possible app to do so. If you wish to become a full-time author, learn to use Basecamp – it will make your work easier.

Summary

1. English grammar is difficult – learn it well, and don't be afraid of paying for additional tools and services that can improve your grammar. And if you're not a native speaker, then make your book simple.

2. Self-publishing requires a lot of skills from you. Don't be afraid to spend many years learning new skills. If you won't learn, then most of the stuff will have to be done by freelancers, and that costs money.

3. You're full of value – there's a value everywhere around and inside you! Don't let others suppress your talents and your inner genius. Explore it and express it. Do what you love and never give up!

4. TO-DO lists are quite useful, and apps like Basecamp make your life easier – trust me ;).

You've reached the end of free sample.

If you like it, get your full copy today from Amazon. If you own a Kindle device, you can purchase the Kindle edtion, and if you prefer the old school, the book is available as paperback, too!

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