Thanks so much for visiting my blog and reading my very first post. If you are here, you are probably considering self publishing. I hope you will! It has been a long journey for me, and I am so excited to finally be able to get my book out there. Every step of the way I had to read and learn what to do, and I hope some of what I learned will be useful to you. I certainly don’t know much as a first time self publisher, but I have some beginner tips that might save you some of the headaches I experienced along the way.
First of all, DEFINITELY GO FOR IT! You can absolutely do it, and it will be so rewarding when that first proof arrives, and you can hold onto that book for the first time. I won’t ever forget taking my proof out of the mailbox and ripping open the cardboard to see it for the first time. It took me a really long time to get to that moment when that proof arrived. At the top of the page is the first illustration I completed for my book. I wrote the first draft eleven years ago and created this illustration. Over the next eleven years I completed my illustrations, submitted to publishers, got rejected by publishers, and thought about the book almost every day. Still, I let my book fall into the background as my job and life’s other fun things took over: marriage, my two girls, buying our first house.
Pretty soon eleven years had passed and I had a manuscript, 15 illustrations, and a dream with a lot of dust on it. My daughter was looking at the pictures one day, and in her six year old, sassy way said, “Oh yeah, that’s that book that you never finished.” I decided that I had to publish it. I couldn’t let my daughters think that it was okay to start something so important and not complete it.
Self publishing seemed like my only option, but I was more than a little nervous about going that route. Would people take me seriously? Could I learn to use the book publishing software? Would my book look terrible if I made it myself? I have to admit that fear almost took over, but the fear that my daughters would think it was okay to give up on a dream without a little fight won out. I decided I would give it a try.
It took me eleven years to finally come to the conclusion that self publishing was for me. Once I made that decision, it took me two months to finish my book and get it out there. Believe me, if I can do it, you can too! Put those old rejection letters away and get started creating your book yourself. You will be so happy you did!
Well, that’s all for now. I am going to go and attempt to get my two year old (and myself) back to sleep. At least her recent bout of toddler insomnia has inspired me to start blogging at 2 am, Check out my next post for some simple steps to self publishing. I hope you feel a little inspired to get started!
Lauren Tortora 