Don’t skip Look Ma, No Hands! Passive Income | Part 1 – Planning — you’re gonna need that!

Okay, so you don’t get to add the title without the work. Sorry, but you will actually need to publish something to be an author. Wait, don’t click the back button yet! I promise it’s not as scary as it might sound.

You have so much knowledge to share, and one of the very best ways to share that is with a book. A published book gives you:

  • Instant expert status
  • Access to an audience you might not otherwise reach
  • The opportunity to fill your sales funnel with interested, engaged readers

Here’s how:

Start by publishing on Amazon (Kindle). If you’ve been blogging or creating other content for more than a few weeks, you likely already have everything you need to “write” your book. Simply gather your content, organize it in a consistent book format, do some light editing to make it flow well, and you’re done! It doesn’t have to be War and Peace — in fact, making it a shorter, easier read may help it appeal to more readers and give you opportunities to expand with more “advanced” editions later.

Before you hit the “publish” button, create an offer just for Kindle readers! It can be a landing page with an opt-in offer of related checklists, an additional resource guide, or even an audio version of your book. You’ll want to be sure it’s closely related, so downloading it is a real no-brainer for all your book buyers, and follow up with a relevant autoresponder series (don’t worry, we’re getting to that step, too!).

Pro tip: Add a link to your landing page in the front of your book, so that those who are browsing on Amazon will see it, even if they don’t buy.

Once your landing page is finished, and your book published, you can offer it for free through Kindle’s KDP Select program. Promote it heavily on social media and to your mailing list. The more downloads you generate, the higher your book will climb in the rankings (if temporarily), driving more traffic to your book—and your landing page.

Follow up with a second (and third, and fourth) book to keep the momentum — and list-building — going. That might sound a bit intimidating, but you’re always learning and growing, right? It makes sense that as your knowledge expands and your experience grows you’ll have more to share.

Answer these questions to start brainstorming:

  1. What content do you already have that you can repurpose into a book? (hint: you can totally pull together a few blog posts on a single subject!)
  2. What will you offer your readers as a freebie?
  3. What related topics and offers will you add to your autoresponder series?
  4. Where will you promote your ebook? (some ideas: Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube, mailing list, blog, interviews/podcasts, bio)
  5. Will you do any paid ads to get the ball rolling?

See the rest of the series:

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