Updated January 18, 2023

Subtitle
How to create a quality book that can provide an ongoing stream of income

Synopsis
Creating your first book might seem like a daunting task at first glance. But by devoting some time and effort to it, you should be able to fearlessly create a quality book that can provide an ongoing stream of income. Keep these ten commandments in mind while you begin to develop your first book, and you will be well on your way to creating a financially successful self-published book.

What You Will Learn In This Post
1. You will learn the ten most important things you can do to create a financially successful book.
2. You will learn the things to avoid that will destroy your book's financial success.
3. You will learn why writing your book is only a tiny part of your book’s financial success.

Introduction
There are now so many companies on the internet devoted to helping you publish your first book. Most will cost you a substantial amount of time and money. But, by researching how to self-publish your book, you should not have any trouble making a quality book that sells on major book-retailer websites.

So, with that said, here is my list of the ten fundamental truths of self-publishing to help alleviate your first-timer fears about self-publishing. These commandments should help you avoid wasting time and money on your way to publishing your first book.

Commandment #1. Publish Ebook First
Start with an ebook (pdf, epub, kindle). This ebook is the easiest and fastest way to get started. Creating an ebook first (with companies like Smashwords and Scribd) will also allow you to get feedback from your readers and adjust your book accordingly. After you get your ebook online and get all the kinks worked out, add a print-on-demand paperback edition.

Commandment #2. Stick To Your Niche
Your book should directly align with your market niche. Success comes from focusing their book and marketing on their particular niche for many self-publishers. Part of sticking to your niche is that you must learn about and understand the subject of branding.

Commandment #3. Design a Great Cover
Spend a lot of time developing and designing a great cover. Design several samples for your book. Especially look at books that have a similar topic as yours. If you are not creative and have the money, pay a professional to create the cover.

Commandment #4. Perfect the Contents
Spend a lot of time perfecting and editing the contents of your ebook. Make improvements and corrections even after it is published. Having grammar and spelling mistakes will make you look amateurish.

Commandment #5. Get Testimonials
Make great efforts to get testimonials and endorsements. You must never stop asking other gurus, celebrities, and readers to write them for you. Keep adding them to your book and your book’s blog. Convince one of these gurus or celebrities to write your book’s foreword.

Commandment #6. Set Up Blog
Set up a blog to support your book. This blog is not difficult or expensive. The best way to do this is to create a blog with a big company like WordPress. Their blog software is designed to be user-friendly and works very well with search engines like Google. And through your blog, you can start to build up your email list of readers that want to follow you. Use an email marketing service like MailChimp to help you manage and exploit this list.

Commandment #7. Max-Out Third-Party Websites
Take advantage of everything Amazon has to offer the self-publisher. Max out your use of the major websites that list your book. These websites, such as Amazon, allow you to add much information about yourself and your book. Doing this will give your book another website devoted to you and your book.

Commandment #8. Avoid Bookstores
Do not waste your time getting your book into the bookstores. Bookstores sell very few books – especially those written by self-publishers that are not b...