Hey there,

It's been a long since I wrote anything. Was busy figuring out life. Well, I guess no one really figures it out. I was bust trying to live a life I think. So, I got my first book published. - Live the Change!

What a whirlwind of a feeling. It got overwhelming as soon as I started sharing it with friends and family. Will people like it, will it be boring, will people read till the end, is it too big. When I started writing it, nothing like that came to mind, I just enjoyed the process of writing, words, incidences, they all started coming up. And I just sat there and typed the flow.

But then came the daunting process of finding a publisher. Well, it isn't easy, especially if you don't know anyone in the industry or don't have money to pay for an agent. I wrote to one agent and she replied there are these mistakes and I charge 1 rupee per word. My book would have cost about a lakh just to get edited that way. And there was no guarantee of publishing after that either. None of the publishing houses replied and well, I then heard about self-publishing.

I thought it wouldn't be nice, this was for those who couldn't get a publisher. but guess what, I couldn't get a publisher and I started looking up options for self-publishing. I came across one called the Pencil app which seemed legit. So I wrote on that website and after spending a month entering all chapters, correcting spelling mistakes in that small screen of theirs, when I clicked submit, it said my book was 400 odd pages long and would cost 500 to print. Now, who on death would pay 500 to buy a book by me? A nobody?

That's when I came across another site called Notion press and they finished my book in 300 pages and said it would cost 340 rupees. I set the price at 350, which seemed reasonable. Well as a begger I couldn't be choosy and get them to reduce the font size and make it a smaller book.

And I pressed submit. And three days later, I got a mail that my book was published. I couldn't believe it. I ordered one online through their site, to check for spelling mistakes and a week later, it arrived.

I opened the parcel with my fiance and what a feeling it was. I was smiling like a fool, holding the book in my hand. The book which I had written, the sketch that I had done, the cover that he and I had designed. It was there, a physical paperback copy. And all in good quality too, I was super impressed with the quality of the binding and the sketches. Everything had come out perfectly well.

My passion for writing and travelling had finally got me to get a book with my name on it published. And then came another fear, will people like it. Will they read it? I slowly started sharing it around and people were happy to receive it. At least my friends were. And then a friend of a friend ordered a copy and she was the first one who did not know me to order the book and I was so surprised when she said she found it interesting.

I guess when you follow your passions, it does work out well. I didn't become a best seller or anything, I am still a nobody but at least I have a book with my name on it. I tried it and I have to say, it felt pretty good.

Go chase that dream of yours as well! 😀 - Live the change or on Amazon.