Ever wanted to own your own Book Publishing Business but you keep doubting yourself that you can? Or maybe you have never considered it, because you always thought traditional publishing was the way to go … no, and in this post I reveal why, and how you can stop doubting yourself for good. If that sounds like something you want to know more about, read on…
From 2nd October 2020, I went through hell, with mental, physical, and emotional trauma. It took me a year to leave a day job (October 10th 2021 was the day I officially left), that made me really poorly because of things that went on which I wasn’t expecting and didn’t deserve, and I was off sick from for a long time (so been able to self-isolate a lot more than those who work and keep myself safer). I can’t currently discuss more about this publicly for legal reasons and might never be able to, but I think you get my point.
I went back to therapy for the first time since 2014, and was unofficially diagnosed with PTSD – I got an assessment score of 49. A score of 32 and above means you have the condition. Furthermore I was diagnosed with complex PTSD (CPTSD) as I have had uncontrollable emotions, and was crying almost every day I woke up, until 16th of December – when everything changed for the better, for good.
In November last year (2021), I went out clubbing for the first time ever since March 2020, for 5.5 hours, this was the first time since I broke my ankle back on 17th of April 2021 and I’ve done extensive physio to walk again and regain strength in that ankle enough to go clubbing. It was the longest I had clubbed for, since I went to Ministry Of Sound in London, in 2014. 2 days later I got sick with a respiratory/chest infection and lost my voice. I had to have 3 lots of antibiotics in 6 weeks and was still coughing on Christmas Day and on New Year’s Day I was battling with severe rib and chest pain – like someone had stabbed me with a knife in-between my ribs and left the knife in (even though they hadn’t), to the point where the next day it hurt me every time I breathed in (and felt like I was being cut with glass, on top of the feeling I had a knife in my ribs), and later I went to A&E on the advice of my local NHS Walk In Centre and Devon Doctors on call, who suggested a rib and chest XRay respectively. But instead of having an XRay I ended up in a Covid hot room, about to have a bed made up for me, a monitor hooked up to me, and blood tests taken, when I didn’t have Covid and all my tests for that had been negative. I was horrified! It was like something out of a surreal horror movie. They put my life at risk unnecessarily, because I had purposefully been keeping myself safe from getting it as I have a low immune system (which I take good liquid bacteria for) and too many allergies to have the vaccine. And there was a patient who was in the same room as me that I heard them diagnose with Covid right before the Doctor saw me, and I told them all my tests were negative for that – including the one I had done at 8am New Year’s Day, before visiting my parents and my guinea pig daughter Angel who lives with them. Their reasoning being I was in the hot room they said before the Doctor saw me, was because I had had a cough – I already told them I don’t think I coughed once that day, and the Doctor I saw before Christmas who said I had a chest infection, with some infection still in my lungs, said I would still be coughing after I finished the antibiotics she gave me and I had some rib pain then, just not as severe. They also said it was because many people have Covid and I am not vaccinated, which I felt were ridiculous reasons, just because lots of people have it and I am unvaccinated, doesn’t mean to say I would have it.
During the time I got sick (I got my first lot of antibiotics on 16th of November), I was forced to rest during that month as much as possible – although I did do some work on my Asexual Guide To Sex book, and take stock of my life, reflect on it, and what I really want to do with me life and make some drastic changes to it. For years I have had a voice in my head being a coach to myself that said, if you only just focused on writing books for the next 1-2 years and nothing else, what do you think your life would be like? And how much better it would be. But I was always crying, upset, and in pain from this, because I hadn’t made the decision to go all in before, I kept going off on tangents because people kept telling me I am not making enough money from my writing and I kept telling myself that. They told me I can’t make enough money from writing books, that basically it’s an add on to a business, not the business, and that I need to do something else to make money, because otherwise I will fail. And some of the people have years of business experience and made hundreds of thousands of pounds, one has even made billions, and published his own book. But… these people do not specialise in a book publishing business, they don’t focus on book publishing, they just use it as one asset in their tool box. For me, writing is my life and soul purpose, and my destiny given to me by God is to have lots of books out and publish by the time I die, so I can continue to save lives long after I am gone. I see that in my destiny and soul purpose (along with helping asexuals and getting asexuality recognised as a sexual orientation in it’s own right, so that no asexual has to live in fear of ridicule ever again. – That’s why I loooove writing books for asexuals. As it’s both my life and soul purpose in one).
As the beginning of December, I started working my way through the first 2 module of Ray Edwards – How To Set Up A Copywriting Business, video training course, that I bought on a late Black Friday deal. This course teaches you how to start a copywriting business and get clients. But… I only finished the first two modules, which apply to any writing business. That’s when it hit me twofold in the most profound way, and I love Ray for helping me figure this out.
- He said to, never be influenced by those who say you can’t do something, influence yourself enough to know you can. (This is because he was talking about copywriting is all about influencing others, but first you must be able to influence yourself – that’s it! The thing that changed the way I think.)
- Writing is a business and you can make thousands of pounds from it.
I didn’t need any more of that course, because that was enough to know I don’t want to work for someone else and write copy for others. I want to write more and more non-fiction books that change lives and leave a lasting legacy. And the 2 things I needed to do to accomplish that, is to influence myself enough to know I can make thousands of pounds and a full-time living as a writer. And to focus on book writing as a business.
I had a wobble…
Self-doubt crept back in…
But on 16th of December 2021 my best friend Andy took me for a meal in Nandos as an early Christmas present. (He also bought me some pressies too for Christmas Day.) Before we went out, we discussed my self-doubt and I was trying to understand why I didn’t fully believe in my intention, when I did the previous week. But then it hit me as I came out of the toilet in Nandos, what made the difference, so I was able to go all in… It was a mindset shift, from I am a Writer and Author, with my own publishing imprint of Quirky Books, which is fantastic, to I am the Writer, Author, Manager, Promoter, And Marketer, of my Book Publishing Business. But the most important thing to remember is Writer, Author, Owner, Manager, Promoter – (which involves far more self-promotion as part of a marketing strategy to sell more books), of my own Book Publishing Business of Quirky Books. And that’s when I decided to go all in and commit 100% to creating a successful book publishing business, rather just seeing myself as an Author and Writer.
I don’t think it’s the books that’s the problem – why I have lower sales than I would like, I think it’s me and my mindset that needs to change. I think I need to ensure that I promote myself and my books far more and get a lot more publicity going forward. Such as get on more podcasts, be in more online magazine articles, get more radio interviews, and so much more. Which I will be doing with my Asexual Guide To Sex book – so watch this space for that. I’m so excited! I think mindset is so overlooked when it comes to book sales, or lack thereof.
Last year I studied an expert in mindset shifting. He said instead of affirmations, you need to look for confirmations. Which is proof you can do it or have done it before. Which I am able to do with writing non-fiction books. I am a successful Author and writer who can make money from writing and publishing books, because I have consistent monthly income from once book since 2017, and another since 2019, even though I would like a much higher income from those, it’s still proof I can make consistent sales for years, when some people don’t make any sales at all. Also, a couple of years ago, a traditional publisher that had been in business for 35 years, found my Asexual Perspectives 47 Asexual Stories book in an LGBT shop in London and approached me on Twitter to tell me they were interested in publishing my book under their publishing imprint, but…:
- They wanted to remove half the stories (because the ones including any mention of sexual abuse, would not be suitable for their publishing style and image, and it would make the book cheaper to sell, and they had a maximum price they would sell the book for.) Bear in mind the book is called “Asexual Perspectives 47 Asexual Stories“, it would mean changing the title also, and my audience getting less valuable stories.
- They also wanted all of my reviews I had built up myself over the years. (Now I am not sure if that would have been possible anyway, because if they removed some of the stories and the title changed, it would have in essence made it a different book, and I don’t think KDP would have allowed that.)
- I would have to ask their permission to quote from my own book (no thank you). I sell a lot of my books by quoting from them – so if you haven’t already tried to do this, I highly recommend it.
- They wanted me to read another book to replicate that person’s style (no thank you, I want to keep my own style).
- I would have got a maximum of 12% commission on book sales, even after the representative from their company had just told me on the phone I would have got 15%, he then reduced that figure in the follow up email. (Which immediately made me trust them less.) I get up to 70% through publishing my books myself using KDP.
- In the end they agreed with me not take that book on themselves as they spoke to their marketing team and said because I have so successfully published that book, they doubt they could meet my marketing expectations.
- They refused to take on my Asexual Sex Guide To Sex book, which they wanted to consider, and I had to apply to them to consider, because again, it has some stories which include sexual abuse and they thought the content would be too risky, but told me their marketing team said there is a market for it, and it will definitely sell. I was very happy and grateful I had this positive feedback from a company with 35 experience.
- They were interested in publishing my next 2 books, after Asexual Guide To Sex, and years ago it would be my Author/Writer dream to have a traditional company publisher my book, but now I want to build my own book publishing business and get my Quirky Books imprint portfolio increased. I have no desire to work for someone else, when I am so super successful at publishing my own style of books, in my own voice. Raw, real, authentic.
I just need to write more books and focus on having an actual book publishing business and stop going off on tangents with things that have nothing to do with writing, publishing, promoting and selling, more books, because people keep telling me you can’t earn a full-time living from writing books alone – which simply isn’t true, because others are doing it, so why can’t I? Remember what Ray Edwards said, he said to: never be influenced by those who say you can’t do something, influence yourself enough to know you can.
So after all of the heartache and pain, and everything I have been through over the last year and more, I am so happy to now be focusing on Quirky Books as a book publishing business and accelerating my Author journey to another level entirely, and feeling much happier now I have clarity and focus on exactly what I want to do for the rest of my life and beyond. God has given me the precious gift of writing and made it my mission to write books that change lives, from pain to gain, so I am going to fulfil my destiny. He also gave me the mission to help asexuals, so by doing both it’s my ultimate bliss and happy place. I am also on my way to creating my Children’s Book publishing dream too, with immense help from the Children’s Book Creator course and the support group which comes with it. I would highly recommend it, if you want to write, illustrate, and publish your own Children’s books yourself. Although I have been working my way through the video training course, I am focused on finished my Asexual Guide To Sex book as a priority. Read more about the Children’s Book Creator course here: Calling All Would-Be Children’s Book Writer’s, Authors and Publishers – How To Write And Publish Your Own Children’s Books And Save Yourself Hundreds Of Pounds and remember, don’t let yourself be influenced by those who say you can’t do something, influence yourself enough to know you can.
Until next time, embrace your quirky and write soon
Sandra xx
Quirky Books 
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