Less than 90 days until I’ll be holding that book in my hands. Feels wild, surreal and a bit overwhelming if I am being totally honest. The bulk of the work seems to be done – the actual writing. But there is so much more to be done, and so little time it seems. Here’s a bit of a snake peak as to the process, the way it flowed, and what’s to come.

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Planning

Ask any author, the planning stage for a book happens well before the pen is put to paper. It either all starts with an idea, or for others a desire to get a book out into this world. My planning started when I saw a need for women to be guided with expert-backed advice in the menopause transition. Amongst a sea of confusing, often non science-backed information on social media and the like, it was just too difficult to cut through the noise. What supplements do I need? Do I need to double my protein intake? And do I just stop all cardio now and do weight training? Women were coming to me in a mass state of confusion, and I wanted to make this easier for them. That’s where my planning started. If I’ve learnt anything – you have to have more than an idea to write a book – you need to have a solid purpose. Mine, being to help women in this life stage, was strong enough to get me through the hard evenings and weekends of writing, re-editing and re-structuring what felt like a zillion times. If the purpose is not strong, it will be hard to keep pushing when times get tough. 

Writing, re-writing and re-writing

How do you even start? I googled a few things and worked out I needed about 40,000 words to have a self-help style book. Then I just sat down and planned out the logical flow in my view. Looking back, I probably started the actual writing part a bit too early. I was eager to get words on the page, and I had some life circumstances that meant I had some time sitting idle waiting around. So, I wanted to use that time, keep distracted and get to this manuscript draft. But that meant, I ended up waffling a bit, and had all these words, but no logical flow or process to guide the reader. So, I did have to go back and do all that set up work, then re-write/ re-arrange the words. And I did that 3 more times. Apparently that is not uncommon…

Finding the perfect publishing partner

The publishing world is a tad overwhelming and confronting for a newcomer. But once you do your research, and speak to experts (I had all the guidance I needed with EAC) you start to see it like any other industry. At the end of the day, commercial realities are real, and you may not be the right fit for a publisher’s strategy, budget or genre. I found this part really challenging. To be told, ‘you’re not famous enough’ to get a contract was super disappointing. While you look around and see less qualified authors writing on topics related to health – which runs the risk of confusing people even more. Once I got over it and the ego hit (I mean, I do know I’m not famous, but I am well qualified) I decided to find a path that authentically met my needs. One that just felt right. Incoming the kind press – I knew from the moment we spoke that Natasha was the person who would do my book justice, saw my vision and would do this all with the ultimate level of kindness – as her business name suggests. 

Editing

There is something so daunting about sending over 40,000 words that you spent so much time and energy on – over to another person to read it, edit it and come back with all the feedback. I had some colleagues and peers read a few sections along the way. But that seemed easier as they were known to me. Having a professional editor review your work was a bit nerve wrecking for me. I’ll long remember a call from Natasha to say – the book is really good! Phew, as I was going down a rabbit warrant thinking the entire thing needed to be reworked…

Preparing for launch 

You’ve written the manuscript, you have your publisher, the book is edited. Tick, tick tick. If only it was that easy. Now you need to do a body of work to ensure the world knows ALL about your book, and how it will help them improve their lives. This part was more time consuming than I allowed for, so my tip would be to seek help and start planning earlier than you think you need to. 

There’s a tiny taste for you, of the book publishing journey. I am far from an expert. Hopefully my novice approach, and my naivety and learnings can help another budding author somewhere. Now back to launch preparations.