How KDP Let Me Choose Myself to be a Professional

From the latest Kindle Newsletter:   KDP Author James Altucher: How KDP Let Me Choose Myself to be a Professional

James Altucher, author of Choose Yourself!, shares his experiences with KDP. "I have a confession to make. When I was 21 years old I thought that writing a novel would help me meet women. Then I thought it would help me get a job. Then I thought it would help me make money so I wouldn't have to get a job. "Who wants to get a job? Why not write? "Four unpublished novels later and 500 rejections later I had to get a job. Then I hated my job so I started a business. Then I started 20 businesses and most of them failed. Then I wrote about it and now I had enough experience in life to actually say something. "I was published by traditional publishers for my first five books. Then I switched to self-publishing. I can go into publishing vs. self-publishing but I won't. I have many times on my blog and even gave details on advances, copies sold, etc. and why I made the switch to KDP, which has made me infinitely happy. "What I learned most was not Traditional versus Self, but Professional vs. Non-Professional publishing. With my latest book, Choose Yourself!, I finally decided to be as professional as possible in my publishing effort. Whether or not you use a traditional publisher or KDP, you could easily produce a non-professional book. "You might think: a traditional publisher would not put out a non-professional book. This is not true. And with KDP, the beauty and the beast of it is that you can upload anything and now you're published. This is what is great about KDP. "But I like to write. That is what I am most professional about. I don't like to design covers. So I hired one of the best cover designers in the world to design my book. "I like to write, but every writer needs a good editor. I found an editor by finding which authors I liked and who edited their books. Then I hired him. We went through 20 rewrites where he not only helped me with correcting grammar but helped me with the entire structure of the book. He helped me organize where chapters go, which sections needed to be stylized differently, which sections needed more material to flow more smoothly into the next chapter. And so on. Even long after he was paid the final installment he kept working with me on rewrites. "I've never done an audio book before. But I did one and used the same studio President Clinton and JK Rowling used for their books. Then uploaded through Audible, an Amazon company. It just looks good to have an audio and Kindle and print book all on the same page. "I find out who marketed some of my favorite best-selling books. I don't know how to market a book. So I used the best in the business to market my book. As part of my marketing I offered to do guest posts, speak at conferences, write for other publications, whatever I could do to help other people and get my name out there to their audiences. "My book is called "Choose Yourself!" because I feel in every way we have to choose ourselves for success and happiness. The rules we think are "normal" are all man made. If we are not the writer of our rules, then someone else will write them for us and the results will not be pleasant. I feel like Twitter is the new "choose yourself" media compared to the old traditional newspapers and other media outlets. So I asked (which was very difficult for me to do) Dick Costolo, CEO of Twitter, to write the foreword of my book. He did. Which also gave a feeling of professionalism to my book. "KDP is the "Choose Yourself" way to publish a book. You choose the book you want to publish. It's yours completely. Nobody can force you to do "this" or "that" when it goes against your entire gut. KDP is the First Amendment meets Technology. That's why I will always use KDP. "Self-publishing doesn't mean lack of professionalism. Professionalism comes from you, not your platform. I chose myself to be as professional as possible. "The first week Choose Yourself! was released, it was in the top 100 on Amazon all week. It was #1 for all of its categories. There were even two days in the first week that it was #1 for all of non-fiction on kindle. I'm even wondering if I'm the first person ever to be #1 for both "Religion & Spirituality" AND "Business & Investing" at the same time. The success has continued and it's been a blessing. "KDP helped me choose myself for publishing success. I'm really grateful, which at the end of the day, is the only thing you ever want to be." --James Altucher