After Five Years of Self-Publishing, I Finally Had Enough
Why I changed my perspective on writing books
I am not a purist or a traditionalist when writing and publishing books.
I've always thought it is silly to spend months and months writing a book (though I see why you might need to for a novel). Yet, when it comes to writing nonfiction, I think there is no reason to take forever to write and publish a book.
Yet, that's what I started doing with my books. My second book took over a year to write and finally publish. It has done well, and I love it. But the follow-up in the series only took me a few months to write, and it is better than the one I took a year to write.
The same goes for the next book in the series, which took even less time to write.
Self-Publishing Needs Unconventional Authors
As I write and publish more books, I realize that self-publishing in today's climate needs more unconventional authors. Yes, we need books from people who are excited about writing books and passionate about their topics.
There are plenty of people cranking out AI books trying to make money. This isn't what we need. We need genuine authors with ideas and solutions to problems to write their books.
And I know many of those types of people are out there. I am one of them. I have ideas, answers, and solutions. But I don't have much time, and I don't think people want to read as many 300-page books to get their answer.
We need to start turning self-publishing upside down by creating systems and books that are short, to the point, and super helpful. This is where the idea of the Minimalist Author was born.
The Minimalist Author's Mindset
After self-publishing for five years, I've had enough and came to some new conclusions about writing and publishing books:
You don't need to take months and years to write a book. I think it should take days and weeks.
I don't think you need to spend tons of money to publish your book. You need to spend on the right things, and that's it.
You don't need to write a 300-page book to communicate your point. Your length can be 100 pages or less, so people finish your book.
I don't think you need to limit yourself to so many books a year. You can write and publish one a month and still have quality, helpful books.
The Minimalist Author does things on their terms. And that means you don't have to do what everyone says you should. Sure, we all have ideas on how to do it. But it isn't one size fits all.
J.R. Heimbigner is a #1 Bestselling Author on Amazon who writes about faith and writing books. He has self-published 10 books and has some great resources. Check his book on using Substack to write books:
P.S. There may be sales or affiliate links in this post. So, I might get a little kickback if you purchase anything. Thank you in advance!
I like this idea, J. R. Thank you!
It's the year of the Minimalist Author! Scratch that... the decade!