Tag Archives: Authorpublishing a book for the first time

How I wrote poetry- Part 2

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If you missed my first part of how I wrote my poetry books check out the blog here before continuing, or check it out after it doesn’t really matter. Everything is written. Now you may think, wow the bulk is over. No. It’s not even close! Remember I wrote them in a notebook by hand so I still have very much left to do! Just the typing them up in 3 separate documents for each book and organizing them as I go through took a bit of time. I also have 2 kids so time was limited and I would spend a few weekends in the afternoons or mornings to type them up.

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I now have to start the long process of editing and typing up every poem in the proper files, since I wrote 3 collections at once I need to take then time to get all of the poems out at first. Editing is something I did myself. I felt with it being poetry I could do it myself. If it were the short stories or novels I eventually would like to write that would more than likely require an editor. One that knows the details and rules. Now, is there spelling mistakes? Yup. And I am okay with that. I need to go through and re-edit now that I know more about what to do. Which is incredibly challenging but still. I knew editing was something I would want to try to save money on because I was spending money on other things. The fact is, I am a brand new author and poet. Not everything is going to be perfect in the very first book. There is, like much of life, going to be things that I will change or tweek as time goes on. This is no exception. But what I have put out I am proud of though.

Formatting was a very very unexpected expense. I thought I too could do this on my own and I was very wrong. I felt like formatting the books to look a certain way I was taking 1 step forward and 2 steps back. I ended up finding a great person with great reviews and they formatted the books from Fiverr and used them to format all 3 books. While it was an expense it saved so much time for me. I felt like in the end there was no way I could have done the tips and tricks for formatting. Not to mention if I were to figure it out I would more than likely need to have gotten another program which there was a good chance it was subscription based also. Which would have still been more money.

Covers were something I also paid to have done. The reasoning for this was due to the fact that I had a very specific idea for them. I wanted them to be custom made. And all 3 to have similar covers due to the fact that it was supposed to be a trilogy. I had found an artist that I liked their art style a pretty retro take. They did all 3 covers so they look together. The main thing when getting covers done is ensuring that you get the source file. That way in the future if you wanted to tweak things in the back etc, you are able to do so. Getting the source file is normally the reason why getting covers designed are fat more expensive than they normally would be but our family friend who has been giving tips along the way said this was a big thing to remember to get when having covers created.

Publishing seems to be the easiest step. Because once you have the formatting and covers, publishing to Kindle direct publishing like I did is just some answering questions and uploading. Though you do have to think of certain criteria like keywords and also a price point. Before uploading to KDP it would also do a lot of good if you have time (and if not should make some!) To browse the category you are using. See what other books are selling for that are similar. This also is HUGE when designing a cover and creating the ideas. You want to have a catch cover for the genre so people know what your trying to show. If you have a romance and a cover that isn’t hot and steamy people may be totally lost and have no interest to even read the little paragraph describing it. Much like crime books also have their own look as well with the cover designs. A bad cover can literally make your incredible book not sell. It has to grab the attention of readers.

Marketing is one of the hardest things I struggle with and on top of it I am just not being consistent. At the end of the day you have to market your books endlessly but if you don’t do anything no one else will. I try to do Instagram and also tiktok. Though I can admit I have been majorly slacking in all areas and need to keep hammering down and putting out info on different platforms. With 2 kids and a 3rd on the way though it really is challenging even if it doesn’t sound to be that hard to upload or record a quick little video. But that’s okay. Eventually I will keep plugging away. Same with these blogs, that is why I try to link the books via the posts in hopes someone reading may be interested in my other works too!

Overall, writing and publishing was not easy. I would be lying to you if I said that it was. I also had a lot of help from a friend of the family who had published things before. This was a great way for me to bounce ideas or even ask how things go. It can be overwhelming to google things like how to publish a book especially because everywhere around the world does things differently. Hopefully you have an interest peeked though and check out the first ones I published too!

Poetry, why this?

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If you have been following the blog for the past few months you may have noticed that I have been taking a deep dive into poetry. In fact, I even have a few collections releasing in the near future also. Though if you are familiar with how I write here you will find out quickly that this stuff is a little bit different, okay, maybe a lot different than here!

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You also may be asking yourself, why poetry? Well a love of poetry started when I was a younger teen. Learning poetry in school was a love that I never knew I needed but enjoyed myself. In Junior high I was bullied. I know, a lot of people are probably thinking “Sames, I too was bullied”. To the point that I even self harmed for a period of time. Writing poems and learning about different styles was something that I was actually good at.

I loved learning about limericks in particular. They were a bit weird and a bit funny while telling a mini story so to speak. I loved making different verses and making a rhythm scheme for them too. Thinking outside of the box to make even the most challenging words sound good together. My teachers even made remarks how I seemed to have a “knack” for writing them when it came to it.

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As I grew more and more through high school and finishing all together, i slowly stopped writing. If it wasn’t for an assignment for class I just never did it. Could be because I was a slacker or maybe it was because I never really needed to write how I felt. Regardless though, I stopped.

If you have also been reading some of my blogs, you will know that as a parent, myself and my spouse have decided that I stay home and take care of our kids. I even go in depth about it here, that being said I still have a need or a drive to find some sort of income making job while working from home. With Covid you would think that would be easy to do, it’s not because everyone wants to do it. However I dabbled with a few things. From making crafts and pins and enchains and things to putting an ad on 5iver trying to even do little things like that. When suddenly it came to me, Poetry!


I know, you are also probably thinking how random? Well not really. I have always wanted to be a write in some way, shape or form. That is a lot more of a challenge than you would think also too. I have many ideas for novels and things however when it comes to an editor, that costs money. But that kind of triggered my idea, why not poetry! I feel fairly confident that I can put out a poetry book and be able to edit it myself and have next to none if none in general spelling mistakes and things.

Ultimately this is kind of my gateway to writing. My hope is that by putting out a few collections this year, and maybe working on other ones as it happens, I can start to build some sort of passive active income. Where I need to just market and promote etc (I know I make it sound like it is easy but I realize that it really isn’t) and than I can work on writing other stories where as I have some income I can save for an actual editor for the longer and more difficult stories that I will in fact need the help.

I will say though, I am so very excited and nervous about this. I am nervous because I feel very exposed. In the first book with the hardest subjects I am writing about such as domestic violence. I find that this book was freeing in many ways. Some things I Had bottled up for a very, very long time and I am thankful to be able to keep my attention here and write. I am also scared no one will enjoy it either. I have given a few friends the collections to get their opinions and it has been challenging because I am so open with everything, some not knowing how I really have felt about the whole situations. They also say they love them which I know sounds crazy but I trust their opinions and also feel insecure thinking that are only telling me that because they are my friends.

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I am so happy to feel like I have found a bit of a calling though. Poetry is something that I have rediscovered as an adult. It is something I never knew I would enjoy again and if you asked me when I loved poetry in my younger years if I was actually going to write collections of books and things I dont think I would ever have guessed I would have had the drive or motivation to actually follow through with this dream.

Do I worry that I won’t be successful? To some extent yes. I do follow a few Facebook pages and I do see that they have various degrees of success. But I also see the range where some people have terrible launches and then they have good ones and how books are going over time. I am excited because I know that if I am not getting the launch I would like, there is still time for it to do well! I have a few ideas also that can help me have a smooth transition from being published to marketing and promoting.

I hope you too are excited, and who knows, maybe there will be some free books to give away too! Be sure to sign up for my email subscriber list by clicking the photo above for a free ebook “The Sampler” and your way in to seeing some book giveaways too!

If you would like to purchase the book you are more than welcome to do so here, though the link is for the Canadian site you may need to be redirected to the Amazon sited for your Country to be able to purchase a copy for yourself!