30 days to write and sell a book: the landing page

Hi, I’m Kovid, and 30 days ago I decided to write a book.

I envisioned that before this month was over, I would co-author it, edit it, promote it, publish it and sell it. Throughout this month, I have attempted to do the same, and in my endeavors, I have learned a lot.

The hustle of finishing and selling a book isn’t just about discipline. It requires communication, to ensure you and your co-author are always on the same page. It requires organization to keep track of everything. It requires research to find out the best ways to publish and sell your book. It demands a keen sense of marketing, for good promotion.

There are a lot of lessons to be gleaned from attempting to write and sell a book, and this month I’ve tried to learn all of them. On this page, you will learn all that this month has taught me, and what my process has looked like.

The timeline

Week 1- Organization and writing: Ensuring all the organization systems are in place. Week 1 was all about creating the necessary organizational systems and planning ahead. Read the weekly recap to know more!

Week 2- Promotion and writing: Starting the promotion of the project itself. In week 2, I start to generate demand for the product by creating interest in the process. I use an Instagram promotional page for it, and document my design and organization process for the same.

Week 3- Writing, editing, and publishing: Getting everything ready and publishing the book. By the end of week 3, I had finished writing, editing, designing, and publishing my book.

Week 4- Promotion and sales: In week 4, with the final book in hand, I try to go all-in on trying to sell it. I research, execute and analyze the best ways I can find to sell the book and then share my learnings in the recap.

Documentation from my project-

1. Using Airtable to outline the entire project
2. Demonstrating how Miro could be amazing for creative collaboration, and my own process of using it
3. Creating a social media content calendar for the promotion of the project.
4. Breaking down the design of a promotional post using Canva
5. Re-creating the cover page for my book, and detailing my thought process behind it
6. A guide to using KDP to get your book published
7. A guide to different promotional methods offered by KDP

And the final result

It’s been a very exciting journey through these past 30 days. At the end of it, I’ve got(most of) what I initially set out to do done.

“Mentality Software & Environment: A one stop guide to productivity” is my all-inclusive handbook to getting things done, live on the Kindle store. I managed to write and publish the book along with my co-author in 21 days.

To date (March 28th, 2021), I’ve managed to also sell 7 copies of the book, across 2 countries, and am currently rated 5 stars.

My Instagram promotional page titled “30daystoabook” has 37 followers right now. My posts, however, typically have a pretty high engagement rate. My latest post engaged 19 profile visits, 5 website clicks, and 32 likes from about 70 views.

What I would’ve done differently

This journey has taught me quite a lot. I’ve come to realize all the different elements that go into the production and sales of an ebook apart from just writing it. Documenting all that I’ve been doing has also given me a chance to get some more insight into what exactly the entire process looked like and prepared me to tackle projects like this better in the future.

One thing that stuck out to me was how early promotion and marketing planning should begin while writing a book. In my project outline, I had started promoting my process from week 2 as part of my “30daystoabook” Instagram channel.

However, by talking to people who’ve done 30-day book writing challenges before, and looking at my sales numbers, I have realized there should’ve been some more planning and execution in that department.

If doing this again, I would start thinking of marketing and promotion strategies before I even set out to write. Making an emailing list, thinking of a launch team, and promoting my process more effectively would be higher in my priority.

What’s next?

For the past 3 months, I have been working on creating and documenting multiple projects to provide tangible value to real-world business. From projects dealing with operations tables to advertising, analytics, and lead generation, I’ve tried to learn everything.

This month’s project gave me an insight into a complete life cycle of a product- from its ideation and inception to its publication, sales, and after-sales services.

And now, I’m looking forward to using these skills to create value in real companies.

I’ll spend the next few months reaching out and trying to land a role at a business.

If you liked this project and would like to know more, you can reach out to me at-

Email: iamkovidbhaduri@gmail.com

Website: kovidbhaduri.com

It’s been an absolute pleasure these past few weeks, and I look forward to the upcoming months.

Thank you for being here.