When I signed myself up to independently publish my first book, AFTER THAT AUGUST, I was under the impression that it was going to be great because:
I could set my own deadlines and work at my own pace
I would have the opportunity to learn every aspect of the entire process — from design to production to distribution and fulfillment to marketing and PR and more!
(And, here’s the big one: )
No one could tell me “no”.
I had a fear of rejection that was so powerful that, in order to avoid such an event at all costs, I chose to do this whole dang thing myself. Even though I knew nothing about publishing.
But I do love challenges. And I wanted to see: could I make a real book and how far could I take it? After years of waiting for the perfect moment or the perfect opportunity, I was ready to just try something, even without a plan. It’s taken step by step by step by step — times a million — but hey, things are happening!
(For launch event details, please scroll to the end!)
In case you missed it: a brief RECAP of 2019 so far
The Kickstarter Campaign
After months of work and preparation and not much sleep, on April 30th, I launched a 30-day Kickstarter campaign. Thanks to the support of 211 amazing backers, together we crowdfunded $23,350 USD (!!!) for the production of AFTER THAT AUGUST.
It was a marathon to pull it off and then, after it was all over, it took another several months for the whole thing to sink in. I have never attempted to do anything like that before, ever. It was a way bigger (and much more public) goal than anything I’d ever tried previously.
To give some sense of how incredible this was, according to Kickstarter’s statistics, only about a third of campaigns reach their crowdfunding goal. Of that third, only approximately 18% raise over $20,000 USD.
For me anyway, this felt like a pretty big deal.
Post-Kickstarter
After the campaign ended, I eventually remembered that I still had a book to produce and turned my attention to the last bits of the book that remained unfinished.
The book was 97% done before the campaign started. The time it took to finish that last, itty-bitty 3% really stretched beyond what I thought was possible. I tried not to to be the archetype of the tortured-artist-who-agonized-over-every-little-detail-because-it-was-my-first-book but in the end, I might’ve been, a little.
Certainly, there were other challenges and delays and life things that happened along the way but also I needed time to consider every detail. I wanted to create something that had the power to stir something inside someone somewhere. I wanted to communicate feeling. I wanted to create something that you could hold with your hands, something that could be touched, felt, and held.
I have found myself out of my depths intermittently (okay, frequently) throughout this process. There have been a lot of things that I could’ve done a lot better. Luckily I now believe it is a gift to be able to see those things. In mistakes, we learn what doesn’t work. And because I’ve been working on my mindset, I now believe that any information is valuable information. Win or lose, I’ve learned to let it be all good. It’s amazing to win and learning from the losses can be priceless.
All that said, I feel very fortunate. I have been receiving so much love and support throughout this whole process from all corners of my life and I am so grateful. I’m learning and making it up as I go and basically doing it all in real-time. Having encouraging and kind people with me on this journey makes things fun.
Yet-Another Cross-Country Move
Then, this past August, I made it official. I packed up the life that I drove all the way from Toronto to Brooklyn and sent it all to myself in San Francisco, where I now live.
While all my worldly things were crossing the US in the back of a trailer, I sprained my knee — which turned out to be the perfect opportunity to, literally, slow down and think about what really mattered.
Like rainbows. I would love to see rainbows a lot more often. This one was seen on a recent vacation to Turtle Bay Resort on Oahu, Hawaii. September 23rd, 2019.
And now it is mid-October.
At present, the book is in one of the final-final stages before it officially goes into production. All of the finishing details have been decided and a one-off “dummy” book is being produced. This is the last step and my last chance to make any changes.
In the meantime, plans are also in the works for the Toronto and San Francisco book launch events. I’m feeling that fluttery feeling in my belly just thinking about it. Once again, I’m having to remind myself constantly: exciting things are happening.
Book Launch Events
That said, if you happen to be in either Toronto or SF or even both, please join me in the celebrating the launch of my first book, AFTER THAT AUGUST (!!!!).
Toronto - Thursday, November 21st, 2019 - 6-9PM - Orchard Lyceum Gallery
San Francisco - Sunday, December 8th, 2019 - 1-4PM at The Ruby SF
What’s Next
In this journey of learning how to become an independent author, my ever-growing To-Do list on its own could be a whole other book.
A lot of completely new information has been thrown my way and with all of the change from the last two years alone (first, from Canada to the US, then from Brooklyn to SF), some things have taken longer and become a bit more challenging to complete than I first thought.
One of the next items on my list is to make online pre-ordering / purchasing of the book available; the plan is to make that magic happen soon so stay tuned for that.
Exciting times!