What's a good read?
Being on lockdown for so long, I mustered the courage to sit down and write. I’ve considered doing WattPad in the past, but I was too busy with schoolwork, which was the priority. After a few days of being at home alone with my laptop, I decided it’s now or never. I’ve already written a few chapters, so I decided actually to publish it as an eBook. So I opened the Word document again and started writing. It didn’t take me too much time to resume writing because I knew I had all the time in the world. However, as you will tell from this article, it was still tough for me to do this.
After completion, I was shocked at how good my eBook was, considering it had so many errors. I thought they weren’t that bad since it will be my first published one. Now I want to share my journey, my struggles, step by step, how I published my first eBook on Amazon. It was a feat. I wrote, published, and distributed my book in just 16 days.
I Want To Be A Writer
As a young kid, I’ve always wanted to write and publish my book. Although I don’t consider myself an expert, I’ve been practicing a lot. I’ve found that there is a lot of work involved, but it’s worth it.
I wanted to introduce myself just in case you don’t know me already. My full name is Marlo Rene Gertrudes, and I’m currently living in Quezon City. I live with my parents and two siblings. I’m only 14 years old.
My love for reading books started when I was about 6. When I was 10, I knew exactly what I wanted to be. My ultimate dream is to be a writer. I’m not sure if I can be famous, but I can certainly live my dream as a writer.
I wrote my first “book” when I was 11, entitled “Dog’s Love.” It was just pieces of paper stapled together, and it was about my dead dog. I remember writing the book because my dog will always be in my heart. Nobody has ever read it, but it is something that will forever remind me of my dreams.
What EBook to Write
When writing an eBook, the number one thing to think about is what do you want to write about? And if you are researching this topic and reading my article, you probably already know what you want to talk about. For me, it was something very personal, and it was something that I felt could give value to others.
My eBook is all about a young man’s yearning to quit high school during a pandemic. I wanted to write about something that will offer value to other people because that’s what young readers are out there searching for and something that you would be searching for yourself.
Start Writing
Just start writing. Right? Right. That’s how any book is eventually going to get written. Don’t worry about the grammar. Don’t worry about spelling just yet. My number one tip with this aspect of publishing your very own eBook is writing in a Word document because I have found that that is the easiest to convert over to the Amazon Kindle eBook format.
The EBook Cover
Make your cover. I used Canva for Education to create my cover for a book about dropping out of high school, and I’m not sure if there’s a bit of irony in there. I use Canva for pretty much any graphic I need throughout any of my projects, school or otherwise. The ideal dimensions for an eBook cover are 2,560 by 1,600 pixels. There is a minimum and a maximum, like outside of those ranges, but ideal for image quality.
How Much Is An EBook?
I also want to earn from sales of my eBook. Declare what you would like to charge. There are a few factors that can go into play here. What’s your mission? How long is your book, how much effort went into it, and what would you personally pay for it? For me, my mission wasn’t necessarily the money. It was more to help people. So I did the bare minimum that Amazon allowed me to price my book at, and that was about ₱150 ($2.99). But if your mission is more on the money side of things, price it higher. It’s totally up to you.
Long or Short?
How long does your book have to be? And the reality is it doesn’t matter. My eBook is only 85 pages. It was almost like my own personal journal, which is why I only price it to $2.99. It’s a sit-down, read-in-one-sitting type of book, and I wrote it to get myself published. So again, what’s your mission?
Convert, Convert, Convert
There’s more to the process than a Word document manuscript. For eBook conversion, I used a service from BookBaby, and it cost me only ₱5,000. I figured I will get my money back eventually after selling about 30 books. Not bad. My mission is to get published and fulfill my dream as an author. Checkout BookBaby.com’s eBook conversion services – just ₱5,000 which includes a digital ePub formatting proof – something no one else does!
You’ll require conversion if you wish to publish an eBook. You could try one of the many automated meat grinders on the market now, but there’s no guarantee you’ll be satisfied with the results. BookBaby converted my manuscript into a high-quality, eBook-compatible file for smartphones, tablets, and any major eReader, including the Amazon Kindle, Apple iPad, and Barnes & Noble Nook.
Worldwide Distribution and Promotion
When you join up, choose eBook Distribution. In the Project Center of your BookBaby account, select Kindle Select + BookBaby eBook distribution. For the first 90 days, your eBook will be available exclusively on Amazon, where you can use promotional techniques to boost sales.
I don’t have to think about distribution. Everything’s been taken care of by BookBaby. I’m excited because I chose the Free eBook Promotion, which allows my readers to download my eBook for free for a limited time. And there’s the Kindle Count Deals, which will enable me to discount the book for a limited time while still earning royalties of up to 70% on sales.
My eBook will be available in 90-day increments through the Kindle Select program, but I can opt-out at any time. Also, my eBook will be distributed to a network of 60+ stores, including Amazon Kindle, once I have opted out of Amazon’s KDP Select program. Not bad for a dreamer teenager!
Tell People About Your EBook
Once it is live and published on Amazon, it is free game for anybody. Post it on your TikTok. Post it on your Facebook. Please post it wherever people follow you, let them know. Get the word out there. Anybody can write an eBook. Things don’t need to be perfect.
A Teen Author’s Advice
I just published my eBook, and I’m not at all the best at giving advice. After all, I’m just a teenager who dreamed of publishing a book on Amazon. If there is one thing that I would say to young writers like me, it would be, “don’t give up.” It may sound cheesy, but sometimes life is hard, and few things are as hard as writing a book.
Every writer has problems. Mine is that I’m not very good at grammar. I know many people don’t like my writing style because they think it’s too messy, and I even hate how it sounds to me sometimes, but that’s how my mind works, and there is no way to change it without losing my ideas.
I also have another issue with a lack of self-control when writing, not just those scenes or chapters where my main character starts dreaming about murdering all of his classmates in some crazy murder-suicide spree. I also have trouble writing about my own life, and I often want to withdraw into a fantasy world with its own set of rules.
Make Your Own EBook Now
Writing is hard, and staying in the present is needed to keep us from getting lost in our minds. When we try to write something that doesn’t exist, it usually causes a lot of problems. If you are worried about doing it because you are not good enough or just because coziness is more fun, then please don’t overthink about it and do it.
Keep writing because I know how much you love stories, and your publishers will love you for what you wrote, even if it’s not perfect at first.
I hope to see you on the other side of the publishing process, and writing is not as hard as it looks. I’ve been there, done that, and I know how it feels.
Thank you for reading!
About the Contributing Writer:
Marlo Rene is a Grade 9 student from Quezon City. Gamer. Food nerd. Internet geek. Passionate thinker. Wannabe pop cultureaholic. Falls down a lot. General travel aficionado. Writer.
