Becoming an author can help your business in many ways. If you’re a business owner, there are 3 reasons why you should publish a book or an e-book.

1. Why Becoming an Author Can Help Your
Business (and How to Become One, Easily)
By Lorraine Reguly, B.A./B.Ed., Author, Writer, Editor, Blogger, Self-
Publishing Aide, Consultant, Entrepreneur, Owner of Wording Well

2. Why Becoming an Author
Can Help Your Business
1: It adds credibility (+ several other
reasons)
2: If you don’t publish a book, you are
missing out on a huge market!
3: How to author a book within 3 months

3. 1: It adds credibility (+ several other reasons)
Authoring a book will add more credibility to yourself as an
expert in your field–whatever field your entrepreneurial skills
happen to lie in.
It adds prestige to your life and your business.
It also gives you bragging rights and allows you to truthfully
say, “I am an author!”
Plus, it can lead to other opportunities, such as creating more
books, having book signings, and even creating courses
based on your books, which will help you earn more money!

4. 2: You will earn extra passive income by
selling your e-books!
Passive income is defined as money you can earn on an
ongoing basis that doesn’t require any effort except for the
initial work, such as rental income, affiliate income, or
book/e-book royalties.
It’s always nice to receive an email notification saying that a
deposit has been made into your account! If you become an
author, this will definitely help your business profits
skyrocket!

5. 3: If you don’t publish a book, you are
missing out on a huge market!
A lot of people are on Amazon as readers, not as consumers of
your product. But you can easily convert them to consumers if
you publish and sell an e-book.
As a business owner, you are probably already on social media
(Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.) and you already have a
bunch of people on your email list… so you are already reaching
a ton of people. That’s great, but you still aren't reaching the
Amazon audience.

6. There are millions of people on Amazon who are readers. They
like digesting stories and learning new information. (People buy
books for many reasons.) And if you don’t have a book to sell on
there, you’re missing out!
If you publish a book that is based on something related to your
business, then you can put it on Amazon and tap into that
market. You can use your e-book as a funnel to take those
readers from Amazon and funnel them to your website to your
products, to your services, or to whatever it is that you're
offering!

7. How to author a book within 3 months
 Write a book or an e-book. (This takes the longest… weeks!)
 Write a blurb/description. (This takes less than a day.)
 Format your book files. (This takes less than a day.)
 Get a cover made for it. (This takes a while, at least a week or
two. You will need to work with a cover designer, and go
through several revisions until you are happy with your cover.)
 Create an account where you want to sell it, and upload them to
that site. (This takes less than a day. It takes a few days to
connect your bank account to KDP, however.)
 Proof your print copy (if you are making your e-book available in
print). (This can take you a while… unless you hire me.)

8.  For more details of the steps involved in
publishing a book or an e-book, read How
to Become a Self-Published Author on
Amazon/KDP.

9. How to Write a Book
1: Decide what you are going to write about and why.
Figuring out your WHY will help you immensely, as it will give your
book a purpose.
Is your book’s purpose to inform, to entertain, to chronicle your
memoirs, or to simply share your experiences?
I recommend answering these questions:
Why do you want to write your book?
What is it that you have to share with others that others are going
to want to hear about?

10. Once you have answered these, you will have the clarity
you need, and the rest will flow naturally because the
actual writing of the book is really all you have to do.

11. 2: Organize your ideas.
A lot of people have a hard time getting started because they
are scared. They also get stuck because they don't know
how to organize their thoughts or organize their ideas into
chapters or they don't know how to actually get their ideas in
their head to go from “idea” to “creation.”
To solve this problem, brainstorm all the key points you want
to cover, and jot them down. Organize them into a coherent
manner so that one idea will flow to the next. In doing this,
your outline and/or Table of Contents will be created!
During your brainstorming session, write down all the
different points that you want to include.

12. To brainstorm, there are different tools you can use, although using a pen and
some paper is the easiest way. Or you can make notes on your computer.
If you like tools such as mind maps, where one idea is connected to another
and another (picture one big idea in the middle, with about ten or twenty
branches sticking out of it), you can use each of those branches as a chapter
of your book. Each sub-branch would be what you talk about in that chapter.
The writing of the book is not as difficult as you might think, especially
with this type of “road map” to help you!
You can also create a main folder in your computer, and then create a bunch
of sub-folders, which would be where you put each chapter. By doing this,
you can work with your book more easily, instead of having one big document
to navigate! By keeping it separated instead of being one whole messy file,
you can also envision the overall book easily.
You will also have a sense of accomplishment after you finish writing your
thoughts in each of those chapters! And, before you know it, you’ll be finished
writing your book!

13. 3: Write your first draft.
Just write.
Write each chapter.
Don't worry about grammar. Don't worry about
spelling. Don't worry about putting things into proper
paragraphs. Just write what you want to share.
Your goal here is to just get your words out!
Editors are for the other stuff!
 (When Max sent me his first chapter it was one long paragraph. That's
all it was! It was just words he wrote, to get it all out. Then it was up to
me to organize it into proper sentences and paragraphs with correct
punctuation and spelling.)

14. 4: Let it simmer.
Once your first draft is complete, leave your book alone for a
while.
You need time away from it so you can approach it again with
fresh eyes, to begin the self-editing process.

15. 5: Start editing your book (and create
your second draft).
The editing process will begin with yourself.
You will look at what you’ve written and decide to change it
or improve it.
You will also check it for typos as you proofread it.
You can use 5 Self-Editing Hacks to Boost Your Blog Writing
(+ a FREE Checklist!) to help you.

16. 6: Get feedback on it and then create
your third draft, based on that
feedback.
After your second draft has been created, you will want to
know if what you’ve written is any good.
At this point, you will ask your friends and colleagues to read
it and give you some feedback (AKA constructive criticism).
You can also ask others in whichever writing groups you
belong to, groups on Facebook, or Google+ communities.
Then you’ll use that feedback to create your third draft (AKA
your final rough draft), making sure it's as perfect as it can
be.

17. 7: Get it edited by a qualified person.
Not everyone knows English well, but professional editors do!
Once your book is as good as you can make it, you should send it to a
professional editor, who will polish it to perfection! Your editor will give you
professional feedback, correct your grammar and punctuation, and make your
sentences and paragraphs absolutely perfect. Your editor might also rearrange
some sections (especially if it’s a non-fiction book) so that your ideas flow
coherently.
Editors are those people who will wave their magic wands and turn your book
into a work of art – YOUR work of art! An editor's job is to not rewrite your whole
book for you; it is to take your words, your meaning, and what you want to say
and convey to everyone else and put it in such a way so that it's presented
properly with proper punctuation and grammar, formatted with the right amount
of sentences in certain paragraphs and, as an overall picture, broken down into
the correct chapters.
Once your book is perfect, it’s almost ready to sell.
You still need to create a cover for it, format it, and write a blurb/description for it.

18. 8: Create the cover.
You can create the cover yourself if you are graphic-savvy, or
you could get someone to create it for you.
Because each site has its own cover specifications for size
and file type, you need to make sure you know what you’re
doing. Most people don’t, so they hire a cover designer who
does. (I had to!)
I know a few really good designers who will work for
extremely affordable prices and are good. (Ravi Verma
created my book cover for From Nope to Hope and he did a
fantastic job! He even added a rainbow to it, upon my
request!)

24. 9: Format your book properly.
Format your book for the site to which you are submitting it
for others to purchase it—Selz, Amazon/KDP, etc.
Every site has its own specific guidelines for formatting, so
make sure you follow them. (You might have to hire an
author assistant to help you do this part too.)

25. 10: Add your front and back matter.
Front matter includes those things like the copyright symbol, the year in
which you’re publishing your book, the book’s ISBN, and a few statements
and/or disclaimers. A dedication, if you have one, will go towards the front
of your book too.
The back matter includes an About the Author section, Acknowledgements,
references (if you have any), and suggestions for the reader about what
other books he/she should read (yours, or someone else’s, if you have a
Suggested Further Reader section). You can also include any contact
information there, if you want to hear from your readers, or a
preview/teaser of your next book!
Take any novel or book you have bought at a store. Look at the stuff it
contains. Make your book look like that. Trust me, this is easy stuff.
By including all this information in your book, your book will look
professional.

26. 11: Create Your Accounts Carefully,
Following the Law
Once you have all of your book files (text files and cover files), you
need to create accounts on the sites where you want to sell your
book. You might also want to purchase an ISBN for your book.
(You can use the free ones assigned to you, too.) Check the laws
of your country to see what you are obligated to do!
Of course, you will need to fill out your taxation information and
bank information, so that you can get paid when you sell your
book!
Then, once everything is done, you just simply upload your files to
those sites. In some cases, you will have to wait 12-24 hours for
your files to be approved. Once they are, your book is ready for
others to buy!

27. 12: After Your Book Has Been Published,
Submit Your Book to Legal Deposit
In Canada, if you write a book or an e-book, the law states that
you must submit a copy to Library and Archives Canada (LAC) to
help preserve your Canadian heritage.
(The Library and Archives of Canada Act is a federal statute of
Canada that legally empowers LAC to collect and preserve the
nation’s published heritage.)
E-books can be submitted by following the steps on their website.
Print books must be mailed to them and accompanied by a form
For physical books, you have to print out a specific
form (the appropriate form found on the Legal Deposit website that
applies to your type of publication) and then ship it to LAC.

28. Additional Information: Printing and
Formatting Your Digital Book
Print-on-demand companies such as KDP (Kindle
Direct Publishing) can print copies of your book for a
relatively low cost.
Your book files need to meet their formatting
requirements, too.
For example, KDP requires that your text file is
specifically formatted and that your cover be
submitted as a printable PDF.

29. To create a printable PDF of your book
cover for CreateSpace:
 1. You need to first choose a size for your book.
 2. Create your book’s text file by formatting it according
to KDP’s submission guidelines so that you know how many
pages your book will contain. You need this information so that
you can calculate the dimensions of the spine of your book.
Your cover designer needs this information, too.
 3. Create your cover. (I use the services provided by Ravi
Verma AKA rdezines. He is awesome!)

30. Becoming and Author is Easy if You Have
Help (and Patience)
Writing and publishing a book or an e-book might seem like a
complicated process, but it’s not. There are just a lot of steps
that need to be taken.
I’ve been editing books for years, and now I help others
through the self-publishing process too. (I still do tons of
editing!)
I have helped quite a few people publish their books on
Amazon via KDP and also to Selz. I have also published a
couple of books myself, and I'm not a technological person,
so if I can do it, anyone can!

31. That's the wonderful thing about technology and the age that
we’re living in now—anyone can become an author! All you
need to have is the desire to write a book and sell it!
I've been helping people throughout the various stages/steps
since 2014 and it’s really exciting to see an idea for a book
actually come to fruition, to see someone’s dream of
becoming an author come true!
Do you want this to be you?
Do you need some help?
If so, let me help you!

32. This presentation has been brought to you by:
Lorraine Reguly from Wording Well
EMAIL: lorraine@wordingwell.com