The Labour Pains of Self-publishing
This is it. I have given birth to my first ever book! Can I say that? Yes, yes I can because I have been through both childbirth and "bookbirth." And it does compare. Perhaps the latter is not accompanied by physical pain, but the mental anguish nearly drives you to it. Believe me.
Us people who write face the same dilemmas as parents. What kind of world am I bringing my "baby" into? Is it the right time? How will it do? Will there be another?
I'm sure many will agree that the writing process is an emotional rollercoaster ride through the peaks of inspiration and the valleys of self-doubt. Some days I feel like I have a message to share, other times I can't get through a page without thinking this is the naffest thing in the whole wide universe.
What I definitely didn't realise when I first decided to self-publish my book, was how much work it involves. And that's after you've finished writing. Honestly, you need a team. I can't afford a team, so I am the team. This has its perks as well as its downfalls. And the downfalls really do take you down the dumps. How many times have I cast my editing eye over my book? Five? Definitely. Six or seven? Maybe. At this point, I'm not sure if I can tell the difference from one sentence to another. Here was me thinking one time would be enough.
What? I have to write a blurb as well? Choosing a title was hard enough. You want it to speak for itself and to stand out, so you end up overthinking it.
The latest bane of my life is formatting. I almost regret not writing my book in a proper format in the first place. Although striving for formatting perfection would no doubt impair my creative flow. There is no software that can replace the human factor. I have to decide how to separate my paragraphs, whether to indent the lines or not and where to put all the punctuation marks. When I tell myself I've done 30% of the formatting, it seems that I'm on track. But when I realise it translates to 5 out of 15 chapters... I'm feeling overburdened again.
At least creating a cover was a breeze (once I had the title and subtitle). There are some free and straight forward options online. I recommend watching some videos to learn the dos and don'ts of cover designing.
Please don't get the wrong message. I'm not saying all this to discourage you, but to prepare you for a bumpy yet rewarding ride. I haven't given up and neither should you. If you have an off day, put it away and get inspired again.
With every formatted page, I look forward to releasing my "baby" into the world and seeing it fly as opposed to crash down like a clumsy eaglet. It's been quite a journey, and it's only the beginning... I hope.
No one could have put it better than Roald Dahl:
"A person is a fool to become a writer. His only compensation is absolute freedom. He has no master except his own soul, and that, I am sure, is why he does it."
Please check out my first novel:
Purple girl life sometimes can be really purple🙂 Keep up the good work 👍
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