A few weeks ago I shared Part 1 of my experience self-publishing with Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP — formerly known as Createspace), and I’m back with Part 2 to cover my experience with the platform after the book went live, such as sales reports + tracking data, Amazon rankings, royalties + payouts, and some surprises and hiccups that popped up along the way.
So good news, I self-published a book! I still can’t believe it’s out in the world, making it’s way into mailboxes and hanging out on nightstands and stashed in purses for carline reading. Launch week went amazing, and I’m still amazed that this little book is having such a big impact on readers, and connecting with their stories right where they’re at.
Today, I’m gonna cover all things book design! We’re talking the cover design and the interior layout. All the things. As a designer (and a former book designer), this is the part I’ve been most excited about in this process. So let’s dive into a lil’ behind the scenes of my complete book design process, plus some release date info, a quick Q+A on some common things you guys have been asking me, and what’s coming up next in the self-publishing process.
Long time, no book update! I’ve been hard at work behind the scenes on the next few phases of the book writing process. So let’s chat about how I finished my writing process with a writing retreat as my motivation AND reward, how I hired my editor, and what the next few steps look like in the coming months.
My last (and first) book update felt like a lifetime ago, but alas, it was just shy of 3 months ago. I had “Book Update #2” on my calendar for this week’s blog post, and thought, well there’s nothing new to say except: I’m still writing it. But then I jotted down some notes and it turned into paragraphs and it appears I have more updates than I realized, so here we are. Funny, that writing thing. It works.
So I’m gonna write a book. There, I said it on the Internet, so it must be true. This post is really different than my usual content, and this entire book writing process seems like it will be really different than my usual projects. And, spoiler: I’m not very far into the process! But I want to blog about the process (because writing a whole BOOK just wasn’t enough writing for me??), for two reasons.
What does your day-to-day look like? How do you schedule work around being a mom? When the heck do you work with a toddler running around at home?! All questions I got in a recent mid-year survey I did for my email subscribers, and it got me thinking that I should do a second edition of my popular post that was published a little over a year ago – a day in the life of a single mompreneur with no babysitter.
Hi my name is Kelsey, and I’m a workaholic. How does that saying go – entrepreneurs work 80 hours a week for themselves, so they can avoid working 40 hours a week for someone else. Couldn’t be more true! I’ve always been a workaholic, whenever it’s work I’m passionate about. So when Paper + Oats got off the ground in 2013, the workaholic in me was in overdrive. The day I became a mother (and a single one, at that) was the day I knew my workaholic schedule was about to change forever.
A lot of people ask me how I get any work done with that cute pig-tailed girl hanging out with me all day. That’s a great question. Some days I don’t get a lot done because of all that cuteness. Some days I don’t get a lot done because behind all that cuteness is a strong-willed, feisty girl who tests my patience. Some days I do get a lot done because she’s in a good mood and entertains herself well. Some days not. That’s the beauty and curse of being a single, work-at-home mompreneur: every day is different.
If you're a mom and a business owner, you've felt it. You've been up at the crack of dawn powering through emails and cups of coffee. You're trying to get as much done before that little voice starts chanting from the other room. But then you hear it. The kids are up. But you've got 3 more emails to reply to, so you sit on the floor of the playroom while they drop toys next to you and reach for the keyboard. They're like little adorable vultures, aren't they? If you ever stop and look around at a moment like that, there's another monster lurking in the room, and its name is Mommy Guilt. And it's the worst.
Business + personal crisis. This is a topic that has been on my mind since the day I decided to launch The Oat Bar. I knew I wanted to write about it, but every time I sat down to do it, the words just weren’t quite there. The more I put it off, the more I saw posts popping up inFacebook groups with other boss ladies – women asking for advice on how to keep running their business in the midst of a tragedy that was just dumped on their lap. Most of the time, the comments poured in and it was so encouraging to see strangers come together to give support and motivation to a struggling fellow business owner. They shared their stories of heartache and how they managed to keep their businesses afloat – strength in numbers :) After a few of these posts, and not a lot of writing flowing in my camp, I decided to turn the tables around and ask a few ladies to jump in on the topic.
I’ll be frank, single parenting is lonely. You don’t have a built-in helper, you don’t tag-team it, you don’t get many breaks, and not many other mamas really "get it." One thing I’ve learned in my first year as a single parent is that it’s super important to make memories with your kids and document them somehow. Today I’m going to share a few reasons why it’s so important to have a record of these seasons, and then a few practical ways you can start doing it right now.
As I write this, today is Monday, March 30. A couple hours ago, I stepped outside, barefoot, and threw the frisbee a few times with my dog. Inside, my 8-month-old daughter, Penelope, was screaming her tiny head off in her room and frankly, I couldn’t take it anymore. I needed air. I needed to breathe. She cried for half an hour attempting to take her usual afternoon nap. She cried the whole time I made dinner and she cried the whole time eating her dinner. I put her pajamas on against her will, cradled her in my arms, held that binky in for dear life, and rocked. And rocked. And rocked. And she finally drifted off to sleep. In moments like this, I am so clearly reminded that I am a single mother to this sweet pea, and I have been from day one. Literally.
