Speed versus quality. What’s most important?

Some argue that going fast is the most important thing. Just get ‘er done. Ship it! Others say things should be done right the first time. After all, if you don’t have time to do it right now, when are you going to have time to come back later and fix it? Good point.

The ongoing debate of speed versus quality is as old as time. And it’ll probably never fully be decided.

People usually want things done fast and done right. But speed and quality can’t always be achieved at the same time. Sometimes you have to pick speed over quality. Other times you have the liberty to go slow and do it right.

When it comes to self-publishing your book, should you take your time and slow-walk it? Or should you just publish the dang thing and move on to your next book?

At Publishing.com, we’re firm believers that people who want to self-publish on Amazon should start quick and dirty. In other words, start small—with just one short eBook. Learn how the process works, make a few sales, get the early mistakes out of the way and then move on to a full-length book.

So if you’ve ever wondered, “How long does it take to publish a book?”, we’re about to show you how quickly it can be done. (Spoiler alert: really quickly!) We’re not talking years here to go through endless rounds of polishing your book. (Plus, if you’re on Draft 37 of your memoirs, it’s probably time to publish it and start a new project.)

We’re going to show you how to write and self-publish an eBook in just seven days. Sounds too good to be true? Nope. And there’s also a pancake analogy coming up that’s going to make you really hungry for iHop. Consider yourself warned…

No More Gatekeepers

Once upon a time, if you wrote a book, you had to shop it around to literary agents in the hopes they would take you on. Then, if you found an agent (and this could take years), they would have to shop your book around to the big-name publishing houses and cross their fingers and hope that they would give you a book deal.

Next, let’s say you land the book deal of your dreams. Amazing! But wait… They own the rights to it, meaning they can now tweak your book, edit it to fit whatever vanilla standards they have, pick whatever ugly book cover they want, and even put your book on the shelf for a few years before they get around to publishing it. Not cool, people.

Yes, you would get an advance, which would be sweet—and you would have the book-deal street cred—but there would also be a lot of disadvantages to this path.

Even with a book deal, your success wouldn’t be guaranteed. And the publishing company may or may not put a lot of marketing money behind your book. If your book doesn’t sell, you probably wouldn’t get another deal and you would kind of be back where you started. Working on your next book and starting the process all over again. Like a gerbil. On a wheel.

This is all less than ideal for the author. It’s a tiring process that can grind down even the most dedicated writer. It also doesn’t come with any guarantees of a pot of gold at the end of the book-deal rainbow.

Thankfully, there’s a better way…

Enter the Jungle

The Internet gods have blessed us with the e-commerce giant Amazon. And Amazon is a big believer in independent authors, in large part because of their early years as an online bookseller. They’ve built up a massive ecosystem and platform for self-published authors just like you to share their work with the largest audience possible, market it easily and effectively, and actually make money on their work. And boy are we thankful.

The main platform for self-publishers is called Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP). It’s totally free to publish your book on KDP and once it’s live, you have tons of ways to make money by selling it in multiple different formats. If you have all your files and information ready, you can publish in just under five minutes. That’s fast. Let’s hear it for speed!

Okay, now that we have some context about the history of publishing, and where the industry is today, let’s look at why self-publishing your first eBook as quickly as possible is the best route.

Let’s Make Some Pancakes!

Remember we mentioned that pancake analogy? Well, self-publishing books is a lot like making homemade pancakes for the first time. Maybe you can remember the first time you made one. Or you’re currently trying to teach your 4-year-old to make them. (Stop licking the spoon and eating all the chocolate chips!!!)

You’re not going to get the first pancake right the first time. It takes practice. You have to figure out how hot the pan should be. How thick the batter should be. How long should you leave the pancake on the pan and when should you flip it. Lots of important executive decisions.

The first one might come out a little burnt and you have to try again. Or maybe it’s undercooked. It’s just not right. Your dog doesn’t even want to touch it.

But then you try again and make another one. This one’s better. It’s actually edible. Maybe your friends and family would even be willing to eat it. Maybe.

This is the perfect analogy for how it works with self-publishing books. (Plus, we just love pancakes.) Your first book isn’t going to make the bestseller list. It’s not necessarily going to sell a million copies so you can retire early and move to Panama and buy that beach house you’ve always dreamed of.

The 7-day Challenge

But it’s a start. You’re going to write and publish a short eBook (we recommend something around 5,000 pages) and figure out how the process works. This way you’ll be that much more prepared to be successful with your first full-length book. Your first book isn’t going to be perfect or as good as it can be. And that’s fine. You’re going for speed—not quality.

This is why our AI Publishing Academy program starts with a 7-day challenge. We want you to get your first book out of the way and move to the next one as quickly as possible. Don’t overthink it. Once you start strategizing too much, and planning and researching, etc., you’re going to probably talk yourself out of the whole thing and go back to your day job. This is why we say just do it.

Publishing something quickly is going to teach you so much about the process that you will then be able to carry over into Books 2, 3 and 4. And we’ll walk you through every step of the self-publishing process so you know what to expect and exactly what to do.

The 7-day challenge is the perfect place to start. We’ve found that students who start quickly have the most success in the long term.

Head over to our free webinar to learn more about how to start your online publishing career.