Tips for writing eBooks from a self-publisher who made over $1,100 in 25 days: from 1 eBook

I recently conducted an email interview with an eBook writer who decided to go the self-publishing route. One of his ebooks sold 541 copies in just 25 days. On Amazon, you get 70 percent of the sale price. He priced his at $2.99, which means he earned $2.09 for every copy he sold. That’s why, she made over $1,100 in just over three weeks.

His e-book was a short romance story of about 65 pages, which took him just over a week to write. You have to have a good story to sell fiction, so I asked him to give some fiction writing tips that aspiring self-publishers might have. The following are five that she gave.

Writing an eBook that Sells: 5 Fiction Writing Tips for New Authors/Self-Publishers

I write: “Writers write, “he said. So the first thing you need to do is get over the idea of”I do not know what to write” and just start the eBook writing process.

It’s as simple as opening a Word document and starting to pull that book out of you. This brings me to your second piece of advice, which is…

II. Don’t stifle your characters. As in, give them free rein. “Trust me,” she said, “they’ll guide you. Sometimes they’ll even get you out of bed at night because they’ll be ‘talking’ to you.”

third Don’t worry about the order. She explained this by saying, if you already know the ending, for example, write it down. Your ebook does not have to be written in order. You have to edit it anyway, so you can patch up holes or things like that during the editing phase.

IV. SHOW instead of TELL. This writer had taken a writing class at the New School of Social Research in New York City years ago. She said that one of the most valuable tips the instructor gave was to avoid using descriptive words that end in “ly.”

To enforce this, in one exercise, she, the teacher, prohibited the class from using LY. For example, instead of saying I was walking slowlystudents had to illustrate it somehow… (i.e., the turtle was moving faster than its feet … ).

He advised that while this isn’t always possible, in most cases the LY can be replaced with descriptions to enhance the scene.

V. Write, first; edit later. Using the above tip as an example, he said, use “LY” words all day while writing your story. The idea is to get the story out of you first. But, she advised, when you return to edit, remove as many of those pesky goofballs as you can.

Read more of the fiction writing tips this self-published author gave. And, good luck with your self-publishing dreams.