Good Morning! I have received many emails the past few weeks and months asking for advice on writing books, printing and publishing…so I thought it was about time I put “my journey” here for you…
Please know that there is NO right or wrong, as you will see in todays blog, I stumbled my way blindly through making & self publishing CUT OUT THE CRAP! My hope is that if you are out there writing a book or considering it, that something I write today might be useful to you, even in one small way. Every journey is individual and there are many avenues to go down. You simply have to do what sits right for YOU and YOUR BOOK!
I went from being a Mum of 2 and a Receptionist to being able to Self Publish a book (or 2 and soon 3!) …. I had NEVER had any experience in cooking or writing….so it’s fair to say my journey had many ups and downs……I hope you enjoy reading this….
my journey of self publishing….
For those of you who have my books, you would know that around ten years ago I was diagnosed with multiple food allergies. I ate boring and tasteless food for months. At that stage in our lives we were trying for baby number three and my hormones were going crazy. Our big girls were at school and preschool and I needed something to do on my “spare days” …. so to occupy my days and control my emotions, I cooked….and created….and cooked….and created….. I set on a journey to make scrumptious food that I could eat, even with all of my allergies, and even more importantly, that my entire family could sit down and enjoy, without me having to cook two meals everynight.
I bought myself a notebook, folder and plastic sleeves. I wrote a list of what food I missed and I started creating. When they were successful I typed them up, printed them out and popped them in my folder. When they were failures I would either keep trying or if the dog wouldn’t even eat them then I would move on! It never entered my mind at this stage that I was “writing a recipe book”.
Months went by and my personal recipe folder was filling up….I had well over 100 when I decided to get them bound together in book format and get “a few” copies printed for my family and close friends. I had two life changing moments of being encouraged to write a recipe book during this time, one I mention in the front of Cut out the Crap and the other, when a good friend, Fiona, called over for a cuppa…..she TOLD me to dream big and get 1,000 copies printed (now people that know me, know that I despise being told what to do …but this was something I needed to hear, because I could actually HELP OTHERS and that meant a lot to me and she knew that!)
One of my favourite quotes – By Benjamin Mee
Late one night I jumped on “Ali Baba” www.alibaba.com (no I wasn’t ordering Kebabs) and started getting quotes on printing books. I contacted many companies in Australia (as I wanted to keep it local) but unfortunatley the cost was higher than I could afford. I also had in my head that I wanted my book to be affordable. I was a “no-one”, I couldn’t charge the same price as Jamie Oliver and other Celebrities for books…especially when it seemed every Tom, Dick and Harry was releasing a recipe book!
I narrowed it down to 3 printers, overseas, based on professional emails, websites and overall customer service. I asked for a list of other books they printed. I went to my local book store and looked at the quality. I got quotes (at that stage I didn’t know exactly how many pages my book was going to be but it gave me an idea) and my “gut” helped me decide. Out of the 3 quotes I didn’t go with the cheapest price. I went with the quality of the books I liked the best.
Funny story….On a call to China one day I was asked if I wanted “perfect” binding for my books….my answer “well of course I want them perfect” (in my head I was thinking ‘der why wouldn’t I want them perfect’ ) …. later to find out that there are different ways the books can be bound together and “perfect” binding is the name for one of the ways!
Next I decided to look around and find out about a Company Publishing my book. Ok…..I’m going to put it out there….I am a slight control freak….so after some research I found that an outside company publishing my book didn’t sit well with me at that stage. I wouldn’t have a say in the photos, the layout and all those ideas I had in my head and any copies I would want for myself, family and friends I would buy at a discount. My book was my “baby” whilst I was trying for a baby and it had a far bigger emotional connection to me than: “I am wanting to put a book out there to make money or a career” …. some would say I was naive but I just wanted to see a book with my name out there that could help “a few people” and it kept me busy and focused on something other than baby making!
I believe that getting a book publishing contract is not an easy feat, but for me I didn’t even bother sending companies my book proposal. This was my “baby” and I was going to do it my way. So that is why I decided to “Self Publish” eg do everything myself and get it printed in China.
So I had my quotes and decided on a printer. I have used this company 6 times now and have been more than impressed with their service and quality.
At the moment I am dealing with the lovely, Yumi from the printing company I chose. Here are her details.
Shenzhen Xinlian Artistic Printing Co.,Ltd
Next step was to test all the recipes again and I also had a few friends and family test them. All the recipes in my books are tested at least 3 times. Next was editing (spelling, full stops etc) which hubby and I did. People have asked me if I hired someone to edit, or if they should hire someone, but honestly it never even crossed my mind. As I said, hubby and I did my first book and hubby, myself and a friend did the second book. I think this would depend on what kind of book you are writing though.
Then it was a matter of taking the photos…. whilst books are more expensive to print with colour and pictures, photos of the recipes was super important for me as in the past the recipe books I owned without photos I never cooked from! I also wanted people to see that if I can cook these recipes in my little old kitchen at home, with no cooking experience, then anyone can cook them! I decided on taking them myself even though I only ever enjoyed Photography as a hobby (really just taking pictures of my children!) I would take 1-3 photos a day and we would have a lot of food to eat … often cold meals as I fiddled around getting the “right’ photo !!!!!! Keep in mind that this was a fun “project” for me…it never once crossed my mind of how many books I would actually sell, or I didn’t know at the time that professional food stylists spray the food to make it shiny and look more appealing!
Sorting through the photos one day for COTC for Kids and getting them in order!
So at this stage of my journey, in my hands I have recipes – all typed up and tested. Photos of all the recipes. Printing quotes. ABN and Business name. Barcode and ISBN (which you need if you want them in bookstores).
Funny story…. Filling out the form online for my barcode. Question: how many barcodes would you like? Me: 2,000 (well I have 2,000 books coming right?!) Total: 2,000 at $50 = $100,000 ….. Me: mmmm….something isn’t right here (after restarting my heart!)…..ba ha ha ha ….. ONE barcode PER BOOK TITLE
Next came the big question……
HOW ON EARTH DO I TURN THIS INTO SOMETHING THAT LOOKS LIKE A BOOK???????
So I bought the book “Self publishing for Dummies” ….. and read it from front to back, back to front, middle to end, highlighted parts, stuck post it notes on parts and I still had no idea what to do! Clearly I was struggling!
Trust me….I was tempted to go to Officeworks and get them printed and bound…..but as well as being a control freak I am also slightly stubborn. I had come this far….I wasn’t giving up.
I started asking around and it seems all I needed was a “Graphic Designer” …. I found one through a friend of a friend. We had many meetings, I gave her all my photos and paperwork and all my ideas in my head for what I wanted it to look like I ‘exploded’ onto her. She came back to me with different design layouts which I could mix and match and decide on. After many opinions from friends and family I went with the cover that made me teary and say “WOW I never thought I would have a book out that looked this good”
Front Cover of CUT OUT THE CRAP
After a few more meetings, lots of phone calls and what seemed like millions of emails later my book was ready to go to my printer…..so off it went….
I ask the printer to email me pictures of the books before they leave their warehouse.
Whilst the book was being worked on with the Graphic Designer I organized my website. If you are not computer savvy then I suggest you go with a company that not only sets it up but is also there for the “after service”.
A week later I get an email asking which company I am using to get the books back to me…..CRAP…..BUGGER….POOP….EEEKKKK……and many other words escaped as I thought this was something they organised for me! But no! Another step along the way when it was so very clear that I had never written a book before!
So I jumped on the phone and called couriers, they said I needed a carrier, I phoned carriers and they said I needed someone else….20 + phone calls later, HOURS later, MANY tears later and an email to my hubby saying I CAN’T DO THIS ITS TOO HARD….(can laugh about it now!) I finally found someone that could help me. They picked up my books from the printer in China….and got them all the way to my door in NSW!….simple….easy…..hassle free….and certainly not worth the tears I shed!
This is the company I use to bring my books from the printer in China, back to me!
Seafreight Operations
International Delivery Service Pty Ltd
1/221 O’Riordan St Mascot NSW 2020
Tel: +61 2 97009499
Fax: +61 2 93135717
www.idsaus.com
Once CUT OUT THE CRAP was at the printer it was then time to wait….in that time I found out I was blessed to be expecting twins….so the timing, as I said, was perfect. I was quite sick with “morning sickness” (or all day sickness) and couldn’t stand the smell of food cooking! Imagine the pain of that if I was still cooking and creating or taking the photos! The waiting was hard in many ways, as much as I now had something else to focus on (keeping my bubbas healthy and safe inside of me) I was eager to see my book finished and so petrified that no one would like it!
SO excited….the truck arrives with my books!
Here they are…..and we are ready to celebrate…..(with sparkling apple juice!)
Me with my sister, Jes….I was around 12 weeks pregnant with the twins and not everyone knew….one friend thought I must have been eating a lot of crap to have that belly!!!!!!
Excited much??!! With my good friend Melody!
My worry subsided when I sold my first 2,000 copies of Cut out the Crap in 3 months, was contacted by a distributor to have them in bookstores and when Cut out the Crap for Kids came out I sold the same amount in the same short time frame. I was overwhelmed (and must admit I still am today!)
Signing books at my book launch in Sydney (20 weeks pregnant with the twins)
When writing CUT OUT THE CRAP FOR KIDS it was a lot easier in many ways as I had the contacts and “kind of” knew what I was doing. My biggest hurdle was when my Graphic Designer took on a fulltime job that didn’t allow her any spare time to work for me with my Kids book. A blessing some would say, as I put and SOS out there to the world of Facebook and was reconnected with a friend I did dancing with 20 years ago (eek I feel old saying that!) …… Bec went above and beyond working for me putting my book together and was encouraging and supporting every step of the way. Not only do I now have an awesome Graphic Designer, but a new/old friend too!
Bec Bennett – Director of Designery
ph: 02 4336 4915
www.firefish.com.au
studio@firefish.com.au
Cut out the Crap for Kids arrives!!!! YAY!!!!!!
As I sit here typing this I am working on CUT OUT THE CRAP #3 (NO NAME STILL) …. it’s going smoothly and on track to be released in October this year.
I have greater knowledge of what I am doing this time around, not only with my contacts but also with my “timetable”. I picked a time I wanted it to be released and worked backward with when I needed to get things done by. Little things I have learnt along the way help also like, this time around I edit as I go (there will still be editing to do at the end but not a months worth of correcting tblspn and tablespoon and taking out fullstops like I did in COTC for Kids!)
I get one copy bound together and sticky tape the photos in, so I can see what it will look like and it helps with editing.
I am also giving myself more time. I like to push myself slightly (ba ha ha ha I sound crazy I know) but on the same hand I pushed myself last time too much, especially since I am now a Mum of 4….so I am trying to be realistic. The Kids book I gave myself ONE month to take all the photos, this time I have 3 months. You need to do what suits you and your family best at the time.
I quickly learnt to take photos whilst the twins were asleep, if not I had helpers!!!!!!
From start to finish CUT OUT THE CRAP took me 2 years. CUT OUT THE CRAP FOR KIDS took me a tad over 18months and CUT OUT THE CRAP #3 is on track for 18months.
If you are wanting to write a book whether it be recipe book, childrens book, science fiction or something completely different…..my personal opinion is “go for it” …. just do the research first to see what’s best for you and your needs/wants and family. From a financial side you don’t need to get carried away and buy every “extra” that goes with books to start with like bags and banners. Work up to them one step at a time so the initial financial outlay is not as large. I would also recommend to think strongly about how many books you get your first print run.
Whilst it is cheaper ‘per book’ to buy more I was recently told 97% of people that self publish don’t sell 200 books. Statistics like these need to be considered and self publishing is a big committment. Whilst my distributor gets my books into book store 90% of sales are run through my website.
So thrilled to see my book in David Jones!
I am recipe creator, tester, editor, food stylist, photographer and publisher when creating the books. Once the books arrive I am marketing manager, secretary, accountant, wrapper of books, storeman (putting all the orders together) delivery person (daily trips to the post office), I run and work the stalls at large fairs I attend and I answer countless emails per week. I often get asked what I do all day which I have learnt to laugh off. There are many benefits from working from home (how many people get to work in their PJs!) but there is the flip side also, when I can still be working at midnight, which is then all about time management and priorities. I am also a loving wife and fulltime Mum of 4. Who, it may sound crazy, but my family always come first!
I spend many nights wrapping books, to protect them when they go on their journey to their new homes!
Me with my hubby Josh and friend Jo. At the Gluten Free Expo Sydney 2012. Just got my banner and love it!
Whilst I am often exhausted from restless nights sleep dreaming about recipes, I truly do love this journey my life has been taken on. I never imagined the satisfaction I would get from writing my books. I never thought I would sell so many copies and touch so many lives and hearts. I get emails weekly of gratitude from “strangers” and this touches my heart more than I knew possible. The thought of someone opening one of my books for Christmas that they were bought as a gift or families sitting down at the dinner table having quality time together catching up on their day, laughing and connecting over a COTC meal makes me smile!
A beautiful card I got in the mail from a new COTC friend!
I self published because that was what felt right for me but there certainly are other options out there and many good Publishing Companies.
I recall the first time I saw my CUT OUT THE CRAP book….I had one book sent to me to make sure it was ok before I went ahead with the 2,000 initial copies….when it turned up I remember saying to hubby ever so factual and non emotional “the colours are great, the paper quality is perfect, I love the size I chose, the margins are perfect, I’m glad I went the slightly thicker cover…..”
He looked at me and grinned and said STOP…..have a look…you are holding a book with YOUR NAME on it….forget about everything else and think of that for a moment…..
All the hard work, 2 years, countless tears, highs and lows and there it was….in one little neat package! Quite possibly more tears came….but without a doubt they would have been tears of pure joy!
Take Care of You,
Collette x
My journey of self publishing....
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