I wrote my first book from scratch in only four days, released one more book the month after, and then wrote my 3rd book one month later. All while having a full-time job at Amazon, writing a new article and Twitter thread every day, and eating, sleeping, and exercising like usual.

In this video, I will tell you how I accomplished such a feat and the 5 key takeaways I learned along the way that you can incorporate if you are a new content creator.

How I wrote my first book: Effortless Republishing

It all began in April this year when I got access to the exclusive course Zero-to-$1 created by Dickie Bush and Nicolas Cole, the founders of the very popular online course Ship30for30.

In that course, they gave away a step-by-step formula on how anyone could create an ebook and earn the first dollar on the internet. All from finding your niche, figuring out which idea to double down upon, how to structure the ebook, and some proven tips on how to publish and market it.

When I started to go through the modules very quickly, I was hooked. I wanted to be the very first one in the advanced community who finished the entire course and started earning on the web.

So I sent out a public tweet that I would create a book from scratch and finish in under a week. Seeing how straight forward their advice was, I was certain that it would be possible.

The key was to pick a very superniche product. One idea, for one specific audience, solving one problem. I was also encouraged to double down on an idea that was already the most popular, going from article to book.

In my case, my most popular essay was this one, which detailed my routine of publishing every day to 24 different platforms. Thus I set out to expand on it, giving the full setup guide.

During those four days, I worked like crazy. I spent up to 6 hours per day just writing. I also felt a lot of impostor syndrome because it was my very first product. It felt like being in an ice bath in foggy weather.

Fortunately, the work itself was never tiring. I had learned to enjoy sitting there and not needing to write, which then sparked my creativity further. If you can genuinely enjoy the feeling of being stuck, you can write a ton without major effort.

At the end of the fourth day I was finally done. I had written 35 pages from scratch, filled with instructions. I still remember the moment when I uploaded the book to Gumroad and then officially announced the record. One whole book written in only four days.

And the book sold. 50 copies in the first two days. It was life-changing to realize that it was that simple to become a self-made author. Now I just need to keep up, producing the next ones and beyond.

How I wrote my second book: The Barbell System

One thing that I learned from the Ship30for30 courses was the following: repurpose whenever you can. If you have written something in the past, update it and repackage it in a very comprehensible format. People are happy to pay for neatly packaged information that otherwise exists for free in the web.

By then, my 15-part article series about a unique productivity system that I created was by far the most popular piece I had written. People seemed to value it, so I decided to base my second book on it.

During a period of two weeks, I spent every day assembling all the articles I had and editing the whole thing to a logical structure with the most important information. Since I did not write from scratch, it required a new skillset for me. From being the writer to being a ruthless editor.

But 1st of May this year, in a hotel room in beautiful Romania, I released it. To this day, it has been my most popular book so far, and it is still selling.

How I wrote my third book: The Ultimate Guide to Total Living

Compared to the other ones, this book was unplanned. At the time in June, I was working on another book which I ended up putting on hold to focus on this Youtube channel.

By then, I was focused on kicking off my newsletter, which you can find in the description. I learned about lead magnets, which were free products people get if they sign up to a newsletter. I figured out that I should have one too, to show some gratitude for the person who was willing to let me in their inbox once a week.

During that month and three months prior, I wrote exclusively about a lifestyle called Total Living. It is the grand sum of best practices that allow anyone to be their best selves every day while enjoying every second, which I have made a video about here if you are interested.

So with my third book, I wanted to be very clear with how to achieve this lifestyle, through five steps. First, become totally present, then adopt the mindset of personal antifragility, then become hyperproductive through the barbell system, eliminate trivial activities and then acquire more leverage by exploring, optimizing and finally delegating.

Because the topic was so fresh in mind, because remember, I was writing about that topic every day for my blog anyway, I wrote the book very quickly. I paraphrased many of my previous articles and made a common thread that was easy to follow. Plus a cheat-sheet with all the steps.

This book ended up taking 58 pages and two weeks to write. At that time, I was more proficient with writing fast and overcoming writers block. Then I officially announced it through my Twitter, as a lead magnet to my newsletter, and the subscriber-count started to grow again.

And yes, you can get the book and cheat sheet totally for free if you sign up via the link in the description.

Key takeaway 1: Formatting is everything

By now you might be wondering, “how do you write so fast Oscar?”. But if you take nothing else from this article, remember this: formatting is everything.

A book is nothing more than a big idea, which is split into chapters, then split into subchapters and then make an outline for each and then write. Because you have the formatting so clear set up, you only need to think about how you can express what you are going to say. Especially if you have low stakes because you can edit afterwards, your fingers will be moving at the speed of thought. Literally.

This is way different than most beginner writers do, who simply open up a blank page and try to write a book from beginning to end. This is too much to handle at once, which is why they quit afterwards.

But as Nicolas Cole says, define the higher levels like the title, chapters and outline and then go down, you will inevitably see where you are unclear and can correct it. This momentum feels extremely great and keeps you going.

Key takeaway 2: Write all your thoughts down to get unstuck

This is probably my most secret hack to fast execution. It also allows you to never get stressed or low energy, at the same time.

It works because of a fundamental principle of productivity coined by David Allen: Your brain is for having ideas, not for holding them.

Our brains are naturally associative and will draw lots of connections, especially if you are very creative. But our working memories can only hold up four things at the same time. This means that if you are trying to remember your ideas and what you want to say just in your head, you will literally run out of room while feeling stuck in the process.

The key is to write the thoughts down so you can safely forget them. When you can look at them right in front of you, you get more room in the brain to get new ideas and become unstuck. If you write every thought down, either in your outline or somewhere else, you are collecting ideas rather than trying to create them from scratch. It will result in you becoming extremely fast with no effort, such as falling from high ground.

Being a collector of thought is how you can 10x your writing speed without effort, which I will cover more in-depth in a future article.

Another thing I do is also to remove things from the outline when I am done with it. This is to allow me to think less and write more. So whenever you see me writing, you have the text on the write, outline on the left and jumping back and forth between the two.

Key takeaway 3: Enjoy the feeling of sitting in your writing chair

Most people have not thought about how they actually sit at all. They look down at their computers while research shows that looking down with a forward head posture causes a lot of strain and lowers your energy. Combined with an inefficient method of writing, writers block is inevitable and they tend to procrastinate.

But if you make yourself extremely comfortable, use the effortless writing techniques I previously mentioned, listen to good music and do not judge what comes out, there is no reason to procrastinate anymore. This feels instead like play, something that you want to do as much as possible.

This also applies if you are making Youtube-videos like I do. There is no need for creative burnout if you simply show up and enjoy the experience like a spa. The flow state itself is extremely invigorating, producing many laugh attacks afterward.

Key takeaway 4: Expect imposter syndrome

As I said before, when you are doing something the first time, could be your first video, first book, first public speaking gig etc, you will feel tons of imposter syndrome. It feels like everyone is watching you at all times, with a smirk.

The key is to expect it and not think about it. If you obsess over it, you give it power and it distracts your work.

Best of all, if people actually criticize your work, it is a good thing. You get attention which is good for the algorithm. Plus, you either know what to improve upon or learn more about the commenter itself.

Key takeaway 5: Improve your typing speed

The last tip is relevant only if you have got everything else right. Only then can you think about how fast you actually type on a keyboard.

For me, it was not an issue at all since I have worked part-time for a transcription company for 1.5 years. I understand, however, that many still type quite slowly.

The two recommendations I can give you are to learn to touch type and then practice. Take some time to figure out where each finger goes on the keyboard, and then do not look at the keyboard. You want to build up muscle memory which will also speed up your thinking. It will also give relief to your eyes since you do not need to look all the time but can just close your eyes while writing extremely fast, something I did a lot during my 7-hour shifts of constantly writing.

Other than that, continue to write. Just like running and everything else, the more you do it better you become.

So this is how I wrote three books in only three months, and this is also how I can upload consistently twice a week while working full-time at Amazon.