@thaonguyen225 Wait, what? You just upload an epub and you’re done. It’s super easy.
My first e-book made $7,500 in 7 days
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thaonguyen225
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@thaonguyen225 Great work Simon! Love the high-level breakdown of time/effort spent. 16 hours to write your book is pretty fast, even if you are an expert on the subject. Any tips/tricks on how you managed that?
Would be cool to see a one month update or something like that too.
Would be cool to see a one month update or something like that too.
thaonguyen225
New member
@finbar Yes, I think a couple of tips I used:
As mentioned, I picked a topic I know a lot about.
I chose to write an opinionated book, rather than explaining fundamentals. A book that would teach JavaScript fundamentals would require much more fact-checking and being careful about phrasing, etc. It would have taken much longer.
A book where you share opinions, preferences, and observations is much easier to write, and everything is much more up to debate. It doesn't lock you down as much.
Thirdly, I didn't overcomplicate stuff.
Google Docs, standard font, no spending time on formatting standards, etc.
And as mentioned: I outsourced the book cover and proof reading.
The proof reader came with a bunch of suggestions on how to phrase things differently, and helped me streamline the writing style.
That allowed me to dump text more freely on my part
As mentioned, I picked a topic I know a lot about.
I chose to write an opinionated book, rather than explaining fundamentals. A book that would teach JavaScript fundamentals would require much more fact-checking and being careful about phrasing, etc. It would have taken much longer.
A book where you share opinions, preferences, and observations is much easier to write, and everything is much more up to debate. It doesn't lock you down as much.
Thirdly, I didn't overcomplicate stuff.
Google Docs, standard font, no spending time on formatting standards, etc.
And as mentioned: I outsourced the book cover and proof reading.
The proof reader came with a bunch of suggestions on how to phrase things differently, and helped me streamline the writing style.
That allowed me to dump text more freely on my part
jambles3332
New member
@thaonguyen225 That is amazing. Thanks for sharing the details. Congrats.
I have been working on an e-book idea but keep dragging and never get it done, so this is inspiring.
Having an idea is easy, getting it done is a whole other thing. So kudos to you.
I have been working on an e-book idea but keep dragging and never get it done, so this is inspiring.
Having an idea is easy, getting it done is a whole other thing. So kudos to you.
@thaonguyen225 Great tips and video! Looking forward to part 2.
thaonguyen225
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@thaonguyen225 Just wondering: when do you think part 2 will drop?
shantaedavis
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@thaonguyen225 Thanks for a great post!
thaonguyen225
New member
@shantaedavis You are very welcome!
@thaonguyen225 Kudos, Simon, and thanks for the tips!
Keep doing what you do, and don't mind the nay-sayers around here.
Keep doing what you do, and don't mind the nay-sayers around here.
thaonguyen225
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baruch7777777
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@thaonguyen225 Also, just curious, why didn't you choose gumroad to sell the product?
thaonguyen225
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@baruch7777777 I didn't have a good experience with Gumroad.
They couldn't verify my business, and froze the money that I earned earlier (which I still haven't gotten).
Besides that, they have issues with supporting a long range of countries, which caused a lot of extra work in manually sending out products.
Also - I'm a HUGE fan of Stripe, and use it for my SaaS product as well
So for me, it was a no-brainer to set up my own website and integrate with Stripe for this one.
They couldn't verify my business, and froze the money that I earned earlier (which I still haven't gotten).
Besides that, they have issues with supporting a long range of countries, which caused a lot of extra work in manually sending out products.
Also - I'm a HUGE fan of Stripe, and use it for my SaaS product as well
So for me, it was a no-brainer to set up my own website and integrate with Stripe for this one.
baruch7777777
New member
@thaonguyen225 Oh wow thank you for this information. Will keep in mind. Also, amazing YouTube channel and guide to the e-book. 
I'm not a developer so don't know how to build my own website. Is there another way to sell digital products? Like shopify or someway?
I'm not a developer so don't know how to build my own website. Is there another way to sell digital products? Like shopify or someway?
thaonguyen225
New member
@baruch7777777 There are a few places similar to Gumroad - but I would still recommend building your own website.
You can use Webflow with a template and integrate with Stripe.
Or for that matter, use Shopify which also has a website builder.
There are many great no-code choices for this, and having your own website just seems much more exclusive and nice
(some people will argue that you're then missing out on Discovery features from e.g. Gumroad, but honestly... it's negligible).
You can use Webflow with a template and integrate with Stripe.
Or for that matter, use Shopify which also has a website builder.
There are many great no-code choices for this, and having your own website just seems much more exclusive and nice
(some people will argue that you're then missing out on Discovery features from e.g. Gumroad, but honestly... it's negligible).
baruch7777777
New member
@thaonguyen225 That's very good! I should definitely look into them. Thank you Simon 
@thaonguyen225 Have you noticed an easier/harder time converting via your own website vs. Gumroad? Also, if you could do the process over again, what would you do differently, if anything?
evowoman24
New member
@thaonguyen225 Congrats! Though I don’t believe that it’s possible to write a worth-reading book in 16 hours unless it’s 20-pages book. Maybe I’m just a slowpoke though. 
P.S. Nothing offensive.
P.S. Nothing offensive.