It may not seem like it when you first think about the idea of publishing your own book, but you are at poised on the brink of a revolution. Never before has it been easier to become a fully published author.

You know that old joke about how the first step to becoming a millionaire is to get a million dollars? The step to becoming a published author is to write a book. After you have crossed that hurdle, the rest is a matter of simple procedures. It takes a work and a lot of patience, mostly with yourself as you learn the submission process and find the most advantageous category placement and marketing strategies. The very recent past has shown that ebooks now routinely surpass print books in sales. The popularity of Kindle, Nook, and Kobu coupled with the availability of books for under a dollar or even at no cost has caused an incredible increase not only in book sales but in reading itself. I would hazard a guess that we have never had as many active readers in the world as we do now. Quality books are available for little or no investment and easily returned if they do not meet the expectations of the reader in terms of quality or functionality. There is nothing to lose and everything to gain. The number of books available to the world at little or no cost is staggering and this ensures that there is literally “something for everyone.” Regardless of your topic of interest, there will be many, many books on the market about it and there is always room for one more.

In the book, On Writing, author Stephen King talks about “the nail” near his desk where he would peg all of his rejection notices. Most of the authors you think of as “successful” or “classic” writers faced rejection many, many times before finding their niche and achieving the degree of fame they ultimately found. Many did not come to any degree of success until after they died and their works became popularized. In this rare time in history, the necessity of acceptance by a prominent publisher or an agent has been by-passed and it is ridiculously easy for an author to publish his or her own books and begin making money right away. Unless you are determined to move forward with traditional publishing, the days of waiting weeks or months for a determination from a major publisher and spilling tears over a rejection notice are gone.

Does it take work? Yes, it does and yet, at the same time, it is easier than you would ever believe. You can literally go from submission to holding your own printed book in your hands in less than one month and with little or no overhead expense.

This guide explores the underlying principles that will encourage success in the ebook and print book industry. I will address the issue of how to best invest your time, money, and energy to become a published author who actually how potential to make money. Isn’t that what we all really want to know?

In the interest of disclosure, I am far from the best-paid author on the planet. In fact, it does not take much research to find that I am still climbing, still learning, still producing on a regular basis, and still rising in the author ranks on Amazon.com. In short, I am you. The most likely difference between the two of us is that I have books published because I took the time to do it. It is not because I am necessarily a better writer or have a Secret Squirrel password that got me into “the club.” It is no more than the fact that I took the time to sit down and write and then learned how to publish what I wrote. One of the greatest benefits to our current literary market and the flood of books that has come as a result is not only that there is a book written about absolutely everything but also that there is a market for absolutely any book. You just have to write the book, then find your niche and market it to high heaven.