How hard is it *really* to publish a book?

Hi Destiny,

Many thanks for your question!

I'll share with you a little about my own experience as an educational writer. 

I have two books published: one about Education and Literacy and another in the field of Neuroeducation. The most difficult to me were not the process of publication, because for this you can count with editorial´s assistent as well as virtual guidelines on Amazon, for example, that can give you the step by step on how prepare your book to be published. 

For book´s promotion (nowadays) you have social media that can spread and divulgate your book for many communities, Organizations, professionals and target public interested in your literature. You don´t need necessarily to participate in events, meetings or cocktails to present and divulgate your book for a group of people. There are many websites that accept promote your book for free and some of them post a litte interview of the author presenting their work.

For me, particulary, the most difficult is deal with your own expectations. When you publish a book, you desire feedbacks in short time (such as people buying your book, talking about it or giving reviews indicating their reading). But this not happens from day to night. It´s a long and continuous process of patience, motivation and perseverance...

You most believe in yourself, in your capacities, in your work even when you see no results (in short time)!

I hope help you with this sincere testimonial.

All the best and success!

It is not hard to publish a book on Amazon. Digital publishing has put it within reach for all who really want to and can afford to get any help they may need. But actually selling any number of books can be quite difficult. The more books that hit the market, the harder that can become. It's become harder since I published by first e-book in 2010.

If you are talking about having a traditional publisher pay you because they're planning to publish your book, that is altogether something else. The digital revolution has changed the game for them and I believe they are less likely to take a chance on an unknown writer. And so, writers who have a lot of chutzpah get out there, publish themselves, build a social media/web following, and become known. Then, they might get picked up. Not all authors are skilled marketers, however. It takes a lot of time opening up accounts and maintaining them by sharing regularly. I got the feeling I was just interacting with other people who were trying to sell their books too. Over the years, I have seen these authors get day jobs if they didn't have them. Or decide to sell services to other authors.

Thoughtful writers should consider whether people really want to read books as much as they want to write them. More people seem to be reading on the Internet and watching videos, TV and movies. Are they making time to sit down with a book? Some are, but we do have a lot of other options. Writing scripts or blogs might be a better plan.