It’s been awful quite on this blog for a couple of weeks and for this I apologize. Truth is told I’ve been quite busy with getting the last couple of details about my book sorted out.
Originally I had the goal to release the book in late 2012 (or early 2013) something I didn’t quite manage.
The actual manuscript was pretty much done late 2012 but then the whole editor phase began. Because let’s face it, English is not my first language (as you’ve probably noticed if you’re a regular reader 
) so I needed someone to step in and help get the voice of the book just right.
So these past months have been a tour the force in both book editing but also the whole process of doing the layout of the book and getting the final illustrations done.
If you’re on my newsletter list (you can join by filling in your name and email in the box to the right) you’ve already heard about the book as I told you guys a little early on. Since I’m giving away 1000 copies of the book for free (you just have to pay for shipping and handling) I wanted my regular readers on my newsletter list to get the offer first.
At the time of writing I still have free copies to give out, but notice that since this blog post will probably be online for a long time, I cannot guarantee that I’m still giving books out when you read this.
I have chosen to self publish the book, simply because it’s so damn easy to do so. However I also wanted a product that I was proud of which is why I hired a professional editor (and author) to help me get it absolutely perfect. I also hired an illustrator and got my book a professionally layout.
In today’s book market most publishers still require the author to do most of the marketing anyway and a first time author as myself would probably not have gotten much attention once the ink on the contract was dry.
So my process has been
- Writing the raw manuscript
- Getting an editor on board
- Starting up the illustrator
- Doing several passes of the book with the editor
- Getting drafts of the illustrations and providing feedback
- Final approval of the manuscript
- Getting the finalized illustrations in high resolution
- External proofreading
- Starting layout and find that we’re missing a few illustrations
- Getting the final illustrations and finalizing the layout
- Ordering first physical printed proofing copy
- Finding a few gotchas in the printed book, more editing
- New layout because the illustrations didn’t fit just right in the existing layout
- Finally a book that I’m happy with, approve the book
- Book live on Amazon.com 5 minutes later, damn that was quick!
- Getting the book formatted for Kindle (the original manuscript had a few glitches on the Kindle platform)
- Kindle version online a few weeks later
As you can see, there’s a lot of back and forward and stuff like this just takes time.
But I wanted to share a few resources with you if you’re planning on writing and publishing your own book.
Self-publishing platform
When it comes to self-publishing I first heard about it with the arrival of lulu.com and I think that they really showed people how easy it can be to do your own book out of the established system. However I ended up using Amazon.com’s self-publishing platform CreateSpace.com.
They have excellent integration with Amazon’s platform and they are also super easy to work with. While it’s free to use, they do sell additional services if you want help with editing or illustrations (and cover and such).
I didn’t end up paying for any of these services beside the expanded distribution that costs a one time fee of just $25 (read more about it here)
Editor
I cannot stress the importance of a good editor and to be honest I don’t think I would have had a book if it wasn’t for my editor L.A. O’Neil. If you’re a new author I cannot stress the fact enough to get someone with a book track record in your corner .
She even did the entire layout of the book and helped me find someone who could do a professional cover.
And speaking of which, let’s look at the kick ass illustrations in the book.
Illustrations
Because most of the cover art and all of the illustrations in the book are done by ûber cool German artist Mars Dorian.
I met him in the spring of 2012 in Berlin and instantly knew that if my book ended up having the word “Rock Star” in the title, he would be the guy who should do all the illustrations.
So check out his stuff, this guy is going places.
A long process
So because this was the first time for me, I’ve clearly had a hard time planning the entire process. But my main strength has never been detailed planning 
but at least I now have a clear path to how I should go about my next book.
“What Rasmus, will there be a next book?”
Yes I’m pretty sure there will, however now I need to start working on the hard part with the first one: Marketing.
But I will probably update you about how that’s going in a future post.
Get the Book
If you’re among the first 1000 people you can get it for free here:
http://LifestyleBusinessRockstar.com
If not (or if you just want it quicker) you can order it directly from Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk.
It’s now also available on Kindle.
If you’ve ever written a book (published or not) or a just secretly dreaming about writing one, let me know in the comments below. Would love to hear about what challenges you’ve met and how you overcame them
The post The Lifestyle Business Rockstar! – My First Book is Finally Here appeared first on Retire My Ass.
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