Arghh!!!
I spent all day attempting to publish my book for pre-order. Used a suggested program and couldn't understand it, the pictures were either too big or too small, the text went wonky and after an hour or two I gave up. Then I went back to Kindle's guidelines and that looked horrible when I previewed it (but I was unaware of the preview feature so I had already uploaded it... argh!). Then I found a new Kindle publishing tool, Kindle Kids' Book Creator, and that didn't look bad but it wasn't great, it's basically a fancy PDF of the book, so the link I wanted to throw in at the end wouldn't work.
ARGH!!!!!
So I stumbled around looking for more programs, more advice, templates, etc. At one point my search was "I'm stupid, how to I format a picture book for Kindle?" No joke, I did... If I wasn't writing a picture book I think it would be much simpler, but the layout is important to me and so I've found it to be far more difficult than I imagined.
In the end I came back around to the Kids' Book Creator but now I have to figure out how to pull my original upload down and upload the new one (the screen doesn't show anything in the Other Book Actions column yet, maybe that takes a few hours... hopefully... the longer it stays there the more I stress). It's all just very nerve-wracking. The whole process is.
As confident as I was before I got to this stage, now all the doubts are screaming at me... what if your book sucks... what if your book is good but no one buys it... what if, what if, what if. I'm trying to shake it off... In about 8 mins I will be watching a webinar I signed up for with Lisa Nichols from The Secret, about Visualization. That should help take my mind off it and maybe reset my outlook a bit. And I have good friends who are there to talk me down off the ledge, one in particular is a real cheerleader for me and I appreciate her so much.
Anyway, hope all of you are having a good day or night, depending on where you are in the world.
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When things like this happen to me I find remembering the reason why I wanted to write/create/produce helps shut down the voice in my head, because the doubts tend to come from what you think other people would say or think about what you are doing. At the end of the day you are not creating something for them but for the kids (an assumption on my part because of the reference to kids book creators). Stay focused on why you want to write for the kids and be kind to yourself when you are learning the new technical stuff - you have to start somewhere :-)
Good point. But ultimately I do need people to like it because as much as I've enjoyed creating it, and as much as I want kids to enjoy it and (hopefully) have it encourage them to love books... I still want people to buy it so their opinions do matter to some degree.
True and a friend reminded my recently that your job is to write the book and then to promote it, you can't make them buy it. It was then that I realised that I was writing with them buying it in mind - this stopped me.
Educating people to understand how to like your book is part of the marketing process, teach them what it is about your book that they will love - rather than waiting for their opinion, tell them what their opinion should be :-)
That's a good way to look at it, I'm not entirely sure how to implement it, but I like the idea and will see what I can figure out. Thanks :)
Block that fear doubt and worry ... it serves no purpose ... except to hold you back. Tell yourself ... up until now ... I just haven't figured it out! No big deal ... I will keep on until I do! M
I know and it's still hard to block, isn't that crazy??? But thank you to you and everyone for the encouragement, I'm trying my best and I'm back in the groove for now. :)
I'm with Debbie. . . BREATHE!!! I won't tell you how many Kindle books I've bought that "sucked" and they cost me a bunch, too! I wouldn't worry about it. I'm sure it doesn't suck. You're just getting scared. Find the right way to get that book up and let it fly! You're birthing something new. I'm betting it will sell. GOOD LUCK!
BREATHE, just BREATHE and you did a good thing by stepping away for a bit. Sometimes it's just some simple thing that is right in front of us, but we're too stressed to see it.
You are doing the best thing.....walk away from the keyboard! Putting your mind into something else for a while is the best thing to do, believe me, I know, I understand!
Don't give up...
Good idea with trying to shake it off with doing something else to get your mind off of things.
All I can say to you is what I say to myself, "RELAX"! LOL, you are doing great! Listen to your cheerleader and go check out and remember the main premise of "The Secret". It will help keep you focused on the positive. Best regards and best of luck.
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Sounds like you have had a rough day, I have had many of those in my day. You did the best thing you could when you walked away. Sometimes you just need to rest your mind. Good luck with your book.