Today, almost a year after starting this writing project, the book “Life Cartography” launched on kindle.
I love to write. I’ve been writing for fun since high school, and was blogging before blogging was a term in our language. Twice now, I’ve self published my works and sold them at speaking engagements. I’ve probably sold a few thousand books over the years. But this latest project, an ebook on Kindle, has me on a whole new learning curve.
Here’s what i’ve learned so far.
1. Writing a book is hard work.
My ebook is around 12,000 words. These authors who crank out multiple books a year have teams of writers working with them. They have paid researchers, paid assistants, paid editors. I have none of those.
Once the initial rush of excitement is over, putting together a book is far different than blogging. Blogging allows me to indulge my ADD. Book writing forced me to focus.
2. As hard as writing the book is, that’s the easy part compared to editing.
The says goes that an artist never finishes. He/she just stops. The same could be said with editing. I’ve had 2 professional editors work through my book, plus a slew of other friends. I have not looked at the book once that I didn’t find something I wanted to change.
Last night at midnight, just as the book launched in Kindle, I uploaded another series of edits done by my wonderful friend Tabby Finton.
3. Uploading to Kindle is easy.
I used a program called Vellum that did all the formatting for me. But I found amazon’s KDP program super easy to use.
Deciding on digital rights and all that was a little bit intimidating, but its fairly straightforward.
4. Promoting your book feels awkward.
The dirty little secret of the publishing world is that you are really the only one who cares about your work. Publishers expect authors to do most of the promoting of their own work. Your friends and family are happy for you, but if the book is going to get out there, you’ve got to risk being annoying.
5. Its not always the best content that makes a splash.
That’s the truth. I’ve stumbled on amazing articles buried deep in the web. And I’ve read viral articles that were basically a few pictures and … nothing.
So there you have it. Have you written a book? Do you have any experiences to share?
I’d be honored if you’d hop over to Amazon and check out Life Cartography: Don’t follow your dreams and 39 other Life Lessons I’ve learned along the way.