Over the past few weeks, a couple of men I admire passed on at an early age. Steve Jobs, founder of Apple, passed away at the age of 56. Jack Layton, a Canadian politician whose charisma and blue collar work ethic captured the hearts of many Canadians, died at the age of 60. Despite the unexpected news of their deaths, Steve and Jack did some remarkable things in the short time they were here on earth.
So, I asked myself what do I need to complete right now?
I started looking at all the incomplete projects sitting in my office and on my laptop. Manuscripts I started, but didn’t finish. Programs I wanted to launch, but never did. While I’m still years away from the ages that Steve and Jack were when they pa ssed on, I do not know how much time I have left.
I found two completed book manuscripts on my laptop.
Two!
One has been sitting on my hard drive for 2-years.
So, I polished them both off and instead of waiting for the right time to get the book cover designed and to get permission from someone somewhere in some lifetime to publish it (in other words, no one), I submitted both titles to Amazon Kindle and one is now published as an eBook while the other will be published as a Kindle Single.
And now, Amazon.com is cutting out the middleman – the publisher – and is signing book deals directly with writers.
According to the NYTimes.com, Amazon.com recently announced that it “will publish 122 books this fall in an array of genres, in both physical and e-book form,” putting it “squarely in competition with the New York publishing houses that are also its most prominent suppliers.”
Tim Ferriss, Bestselling Author
The first writer Amazon.com signed was Tim Ferriss, author of the bestsellers The 4-Hour Workweek and The 4 Hour Body. His next title signed directly with Amazon.com will be called The 4-Hour Chef. It will be published as a hardcover, an ebook and an audio book.
Now, there’s no excuse to get your book published, especially if you’ve been shut out by publisher after publisher, agent after agent. For more inspiration, read Michael Hyatt’s 4 Reasons It’s Easier Than Ever to Be an Author.
