ON THE WAY TO MY BOOK LAUNCH …Episode #1

The book is coming soon … WOW … has it been a journey!

I’ll soon be giving you a LAUNCH DATE!!!

I am waiting for two more things to get us to the final step!! I’m getting so impatient. Especially since I am not in control of the timing. One thing I am waiting for is with the federal government!! Yikes … we all know you can’t control anything to do with them!!

I’m not being cryptic … it’s the Library of Congress Number. LCCN in the publishing world. It’s put on the copyright page of the book. I know, such thrilling stuff. Problem is, you have to get other things before you can get this thing and it’s like a vicious circle of things and dominoes which become out of your control at some point and you become sidelined at the mercy of others. Not just people …. Governments!! Wish I was kidding!!

Who said, “We can always publish on Amazon!” Right … that was me! HUH, I had no idea what that involved and the vast learning curve I was plunging into! It sounded so doable and “people do it all the time.” Right? Right!

Naivete can be a motivator, pushing you forward. If you really knew, you’d be overwhelmed and perhaps frozen in time. It’s not a bad thing, but prepare for a roller coaster ride into the unknown. Fortunately, there are lots of YouTubers who give fabulous advice and step by step. It’s helpful if you speak “publishing” or “Amazon publishing” first. More specific KDP publishing to figure it all out! Problem is, it seems to be a hidden dialect learned only by immersion.

Yeah, so publishing on Amazon is not even called that! It’s called KDP. Lesson #1. Kindle Direct Publishing, even though you don’t just publish on Kindle, you can also publish to paperback and hardcover on KDP.

I’m not lifting the curtain any further today for fear of terrorizing you or passing on some publishing trauma. I value you too much!! But, honestly, you can write a book on writing a book which has already been done. But, until you do it, it makes little sense.

Believe it or not, I took a publishing course when I started this journey. It was about traditional publishing by a very well known publishing guru. Well, you may have never heard of him, if your toes have never dipped into the ocean of publishing: Michael Hyatt. The course gave 10 weeks of information about the traditional publishing world.

It was quite informative and overwhelming. I retained some language, concepts and details which have helped me on this journey. I’m glad I did it, but it wasn’t about self-publishing. I didn’t know how things would go.

My college degree is not in writing, English, media or any such thing. My degree is in nursing! That is not an immediate crossover, to say the least. It’s a major leap. Of course I wrote papers, care plans, medical notes, etc. These things are far different from written words for public view. Where it helped me on this project is all the medical files. I read hundreds of pages of medical files before starting this book.

This book is a family’s true story. They asked me to write it. At the time, I had a column in the local newspaper and was writing Bible Studies for our church. They had a friend who went to our church. She recommended my name when they were trying to find someone to put their story to print. I refused it the first time. I had too many projects on my plate. About five years later, they asked again.

This time, God prompted me with chills and conviction to take on the task. I did not know what I was doing. I could write words on a page, but there is so much more to writing a book.

At one point, I took another course in writing Memoir and Biographies. This book is not really either. “Biographies are written by somebody other than the subject of the book – whereas memoirs are written by the subject of the book.” I suppose it is technically a Biography, but it’s not about a person’s whole life. It’s about a monumental event that changed their lives. By the way, it has changed mine as well. AND, it could change yours!

This course had a little more nitty gritty about the writing. It provided inspiration and encouragement, yet had a focus on writing your own story. My book is writing a family story from four people’s viewpoints. That differs greatly from just writing about yourself.

Nevertheless, we are moving forward, waiting for a minor detail to appear in my inbox!! Then, we can set the release date or “launch date” as they say in the industry. Books get launched into the world, in case you wondered.

Have you felt overwhelmed?

Started anything new?

Launched anything?

Or learning another “language”?

Share with us in the comments below!

By the way, YOU WILL BE INVITED TO THE LAUNCH PARTY!!!
Stay tuned!!!
GET READY!!!

Trying to be patient,