Today I finally pushed the “publish button” for #Leadership and #Wisdom - How to #Motivate Yourself and others. Both the ebook and the paperback is now out there. You who have been close to me during this process know how relieved I feel right now but also nervous. Will the book be appreciated on the international market? Will it be visible among all good books out there? I will know soon enough but for the moment I am celebrating. As I say in the book - you should take every opportunity to celebrate - if it’s not a success you have at least had a good time celebrating. And if it’s a success you can celebrate again!
What did I learn? Plenty! It was much more difficult than I expected. And yes - some people told me it would be - but I was, as always, an optimist. Without strong drive and a lot of motivation I would have given up months ago. So I learnt that it was possible. Next time it will be so much easier. I already look forward to publish my next book, probably “Mother and daughter travelling in Cambodia and Thailand”. Title to be decided and the manuscript is being reviewed right now.
I also learnt that a file that looks ok on your screen can show up in many different ways when uploaded. I am fortunate to have a good friend who is really good at these things. We learnt that processes can be so streamlined and automatic that they become almost impossible to master. But if you can’t master the process you have to buy support….
I learnt a lot about how to use Word to create a book. I had never even been close to setting headers and footers in different positions on even and odd pages and other, to me, advanced settings. But I learnt also that I can learn! I managed to create the ebook all by myself. But I also learnt that its better to know how pictures, bullet points and text boxes will appear in an ebook before you decide the layout in your book.
I learnt that the best way to self-publish is to first learn the publishing process on Amazon and Createworks - and then write the book. So if you want to follow my example test the process. Learn how your manuscript appears as a book, learn what different categories there are to put it in and what key words you can use. Check out books similar to yours. There are plenty of books about writing and publishing. I have read a few of them. You might get a bit depressed since most of them suppose you have thousands of followers and a substantial email list but my advice is GO GO GO. Take the obstacles as you run into them - you will be able to handle them as long as you stay motivated. Keep me posted!
