After years of running my nonprofit, that trains educators to deliver a curriculum that helps youth identify aligned career choices, I have been asked many many times by adults if I had anything available for them as well. Last year after a series of back to back requests I decided to blindly write my first book. I jumped right in without knowing what would follow when I completed my writing.
I did not realize the complexity of the journey I was about to embark on. There are many resources out there to help people figure out self publishing, but I found a lot of the advice was generic. Plus the guidebook I wrote is high quality, so can’t be printed on demand, which is far more simple to do. Luckily I had two great resources: Mo Seetubtim — who is the founder and publisher of the Happiness Planner and Lorna Johnson — of Lorna Johnson Print. Their guidance has been invaluable.
Did you know paperweight makes a huge difference on how potential buyers subconsciously perceive the quality of your book? Yup, I did not know that. Did you know that the newest trend is soft touch books? Soft touch books feel cheap like wrapped plastic books, yuck. At least in my opinion — no offence meant if you like them. Did you know that Shopify rocks?! It’s a super helpful resource for selling your book independently without Amazon taking a ginormous cut and it can also increase your brand quality. There are lots of little details, all which I am figuring out every step along the way.
If you are interested in following my journey I started an instagram page which is documenting my findings — you can add me @vekitapd
