Author.
That title, at least for some, is an awesome one to have.
I became a self-published author when my book went live on Amazon.
My book, titled Here’s Why I Failed, which goes through the mistakes I made while running two businesses, went live on Amazon worldwide, last year. It started as a simple Notion note, that later became a long blog post series and eventually the ebook.
Here’s How Here’s Why I Failed happened
While going through a rough patch, I badly needed something to motivate me, to get back on my feet. Signing up for productivity courses and workshops, joining bootcamps, listening to an endless stream of TED talks and whatnot, I did it all. That enthusiasm was still missing.
That’s when a friend suggested, doing a mind dump to clear my head and get some clarity on what to do and prioritize stuff. I did it since it sounded like a great idea and I was looking for anything that could motivate me to keep going.
During the mind dump, one thing I noticed was the number of things I started, but never finished. A marketplace website for fresher jobseekers, an ebook that’s stuck at chapter three for the past 2 years, and more, among the list of unfinished projects. That secondary to-do list was a graveyard of all those half-done projects.
Giving myself a challenge to finish the tasks in 3 weeks, I got started. About halfway through working on the first task on the list, another idea came up. To write a short ebook in one week. There was no other way but to do everything from start to finish, to create the full manuscript, get edited, design the cover, and list on Amazon.
One week gradually became five.
In 5 weeks, I had the full manuscript ready, with the book cover.
The next task was to edit it.
That’s when the editor(my schoolmate with an unending love for books) casually pinged me like we do once in maybe 2 months.
She then worked at a publishing house, as an associate editor and seemed like the best person to do it.
Though apprehensive at first since it was her first independent project, she budged and agreed to edit the book
In another 2 weeks, the final copy was born.
And in 2 days, got listed as a Kindle version on Amazon since the KDP paperback options weren’t available in India.
Fast forward a year and while catching up with a friend in the USA, he bought the Kindle copy. That’s when he mentioned the paperback was available in India.
YES!
The paperback was listed on Amazon India, by a third-party seller.
Till then, I was shying away from posting anywhere about the book, thinking how people would take it.
The editor was happier than me, seeing the book as a paperback.
Can’t wait to get my hands on the book.
Waiting!
did self-publishing go well?
As a first-time author, I was going through YouTube videos on how to self-publish with Amazon KDP. Even with all the YouTube prep, barring a few mistakes, it was a fairly easy process.
Will I do it again? Yes!
Amazon makes it easy for all the authors to publish their work.
Can I self-publish for free?
Yes. Self-publishing with Amazon KDP is free! There are other self-publishing platforms like Notionpress, but I would always prefer KDP since the process is seamless.
Once published, promoting on Amazon is easy with the Amazon Ads integration. That’s the best part of KDP where you get access to Amazon’s ad suite.
more books coming up?
Maybe. That story resting on Chapter 3 for years, is still waiting for a chance. Since I have a business to run, the first book could be the next active side project for a while. Till I find the next shiny thing.
WRAPPING UP
Go buy my book(of course).
Thank God.
Thanks a ton, Krishna, for staying super patient while editing the raw copy. Awesome things await you.
Thanks, Nishanth, for helping me design the book cover.
Thanks to all the ups and downs in life for making me a better person.
Thanks to my procrastination for nothing. Let’s break up.