All of us have a book in us.

It's a book about the things we feel most passionate about.  It's what we would tell the world if we just had a microphone loud enough.  It's what we go on about when we get on a roll, when we're feeling loquacious or drunk or truly listened to by someone.  It's highly personal, full of life experience and truth and the things we wished someone would have told us when we were younger.

YOU can write that story.

But will anyone read it?

It's a fact of life that print books cost an enormous amount of money, and most books that are published actually lose money.  Like the music industry, it's only the big bestsellers that turn enough of a profit for a publisher to finance worthy but less commercial works.

As most writers know, the things we want most to say aren't always things that will set the bestseller lists on fire.

I'll never forget the author of a series of popular children's books (about moles) telling my writing class about a semi-autobiographical novel he wanted to write.  He proposed the book to his publisher, explaining with great passion how close the topic was to his heart.  His publisher told him to stick with moles.  Moles sold; semi-autobiographical novels (as we all know) didn't.  Plus, writing an adult book, when he'd established himself as a children's author, would just confuse his fans.

So the disappointed author wrote another book about moles, and another, and another.  Each time, he kept pestering his publisher about this other book.  At last, his publisher told him that the company had made enough money off the mole books that it could afford to take a loss on a more experimental book, if it would make him happy.  He was ecstatic.  He dove into his new project about growing up as a boy on the rural coastland with great gusto.

The book didn't sell.  If he were honest with himself, he knew why.

He went back to writing about moles.

How You Can Sell Any Book

If you want to tell people about something you feel passionate about, even if your writing isn't the best...

if you want to have a book with your name on it that you can give to people...

if you want your voice to be heard more than you want to be paid for the privilege of the telling...

Forget right now about "commercial potential."

Traditional publishers will take your manuscript and turn it into what they want it to be ... if they accept it at all.

What you need is an audience - without the middle man.

What you need is the internet.

The internet has changed the publishing industry as surely as the printing press.  On the internet, it costs absolutely nothing to distribute a digital document.  With more and more people investing in e-book readers like the Kindle, it's a done deal that later generations will feel as comfortable reading a book off a screen as the printed page.

So imagine this:

You stay up late at night, typing your masterpiece into the wee hours.  Maybe you get it done in a week of frenzied inspiration.  When at last you're satisfied it's done, you add a cover page and type your name below the title.  You sit back and look at this incredible thing you've created ... but what do you do with it?

Do you painstakingly craft a query letter and send it out to publishers?  Do you experience rejection after rejection, rewiting it and editing it until it meets a publisher's taste?

Do you email it out to everyone you know and share it with all your friends, most of whom won't admit they didn't read it unless you press them?

Or do you turn it into an e-book and put it up on a website to sell to an international audience of thousands if not millions, getting 100% of each sale than instead of the small cut you'd get with a publishing contract?

I'd choose the last option.  Wouldn't you?

What It Takes to Sell a Book Online

When I say it's easy to publish a book online, I mean it.  If you have some degree of web proficiency, you'll find it a breeze.  If not, you'll easily be able to find other websites or even friends who can help you through each task.

Here's what to do:

1.  Format your document. If you don't want too much bother, you can just add a table of contents and page numbers to your book.  But it's a good idea to make your book look as professional as you can.   Don't use fancy fonts; the most readable font online is Arial.  Remember that images will increase the size of the file, so use them sparingly. Include chapter headings, an "About the Author" page, the website URL, and contact information.  Be safe: never put your personal phone number or home address online.  The contact email address will probably get flooded by spam, so I recommend setting up a separate Gmail account just for the purpose of handling your book correspondence.

And please don't forget to spell-check and read over your book one final time to check for any mistakes.

2. Turn your document into a PDF.  If you've written your book on Microsoft Word, this will be easy.  Just type "free PDF converter" into Google.  You can download any one of a number of software programs that will take your Word document and turn it into the gold-standard format of e-books, PDF.

For those of you who aren't familiar with PDFs, a PDF is a type of document (such as mybook.pdf) that can be read with Adobe Reader, a free software program.  Almost everyone has Adobe Reader installed on their computer, but there's always the chance that someone doesn't.  That's why it's a good idea to provide the link to download Adobe Reader alongside your file.

3. Decide on a price.  It's a good idea to research the cost of similar e-books online.  Price your book too low, and people will assume that it's poor value.  Price it too high, and people won't buy it.  Then again, you might just want to distribute it for free.  Many professionals distribute free e-books that give away valuable information in exchange for the possibility that the reader might want to use their services at a later date.  A well-done e-book is good advertising.

4. Set up a website to sell the book or upload it to an e-book distributor.  This is the hardest part of the process.  If you're a complete novice online, then the best bet for you is to use an e-book publisher like Smashwords.  Smashwords will host your e-book online and help you with marketing; in exchange, it takes a 15% cut of sales.

If you're more experienced, then you can set up your own website.  This does require specialized knowledge, as you'll have to buy a domain name, purchase a hosting plan, and set up a website.  GoDaddy can help you purchase your domain name and buy hosting for it, but, to actually make sales off your site, you'll need what's called a "third party payment processor" or a "digital products retailer."  The one I know best is Clickbank.  Just send your customers to your personalized Clickbank sales link, and they'll collect the money from your customers, send them to the download page you've set up, and take a small cut for their trouble.  You get a check in the mail every other week.  Nice!

Incidentally, Clickbank and most other digital retailers allow you to offer refunds to your customers.  A money-back guarantee strongly increases customer confidence, so make sure to mention it on your sales page.  In a bookstore, a customer can pick up a book and glance through it to see if they'll like it.  Online, they can't.  You may have a higher refund rate than you'd like, but at least your customers will be happy.

Lastly, don't forget to factor in time for customer support.  You should always have an email address that customers or potential customers can use to contact you on your website.

5. Market your e-book.  Marketing will make the difference between a few dozen sales and a few thousand.  The more you market your book, the more money you'll make, and if you're lucky you'll even gain word-of-mouth advertising from satisfied readers.

If you have a blog, flog your book on it mercilessly.  Advertise it on your Facebook or Twitter account.  Invest in learning how to write good sales copy.  Write a few articles for free article sites like EzineArticles and include a short sales pitch for your book at the bottom.  Make a video about it and post it on YouTube.  Contact people or organizations who might have a particular interest in your book.  Or just Google "market my e-book."  You'll discover endless articles and courses helping you to market your book.

Do You Have What It Takes to Be a Published Author?

I feel so lucky to be living in a time when anyone can get their words out there and read by an audience of millions.  Massive companies no longer control the free flow of information.  Rather, private individuals like you or me can develop a following just by taking the time to write down our thoughts and post them online.

When it comes down to it, there's only one thing you need to ask yourself:

Can you be asked?

You may have a desire to write a book, but is that desire strong enough to harness you to the computer for the endless hours it takes to write it?

Is that desire strong enough to take you all the way through the finish line, or will you abandon the project once it no longer interests you?

Will you have the confidence to expose your fledgling words to the big bad world and put a price tag on their value, or will you feel too shy to do anything with your book?

Everyone has a book in them.  Not everyone has what it takes to get that book out into the world.

Do you?