📖 It’s 6 years since I self-published my very first book.

Writing as a “normal person”, a mid life woman with young kids, with a working class background who came to writing later in life…although there’s an argument we’ve been writing since we were 4 of course. So we’re all writers…

I see myself as a a creative who also writes and I squeezed it in for YEARS before anything took hold. Oh and it was also voted for as a topic by YOU!

I’ll take you back…

In 2020 I decided to write a book.

I also decided I would write a book a year for 10 years on the way to a traditionally published book. (That one is written in the stars).

I don’t have more confidence than anyone else, I could fail. I know I’ll learn loads along the way.

One of our many lockdown trips to the local beach - so so lucky - it was like heaven on earth!!!

What happened in 2020?

Oh apart from that you mean?

The short story then… the one where I took up space online outside of blog posts and instagram captions and claimed something NEW.

I wanted to work from home. I was tired of work environments, listening to staff teams plan parties or away days without being invited. (Hard for a Projector with rejection sensivity I can tell you).

I met an online mentor, bought her course - money manifesting and multiple streams of income and decided to create an ebook as an online income stream and test to see how I felt selling something.

I had an email list of 300 people who liked my writing and chat about the Northumberland coast and creative projects and a small instagram following.

It seems mad to admit but I had NO clue how to create an ebook - I just started writing in microsoft word and centred it around my personal development programme for artists - ‘The Artist Boat’.

I was struggling with AWFUL all day sickness while pregnant with my daughter. Once it eased around 14 weeks there was no stopping me.

I published it as a pdf and commissioned my American friend Shannon to draw the cover.

She did a gorgeous job look. ⤵️

I still remember how I felt opening the email from Shannon - wow, just wow!!

I had a wordpress website at the time and googled how to set up a shop on it. A few clicks later and I’d bought and paid for my own ebook!! It arrived in my email inbox - I couldn’t believe it had worked!! ✨

Then I told a few people about it - people bought it and I felt so so lucky. I could see a bigger vision where more people bought my work online - I could see this was ONLY the beginning.

I made £350 and I was totally hooked. I couldn’t believe I could create something one day, make it a thing people would buy and then they would buy it and I would have money in my bank account.

I think people enjoyed it - I was scared to ask. There were probably typos in it - my writing has got a lot better since…

I’m SO proud of myself for doing it.

Is there something you’d like to feel proud of bringing to life by the end of the year? If you’re thinking of doing it? I’d highly recommend it.

Claire

📚

My top tips for producing an ebook and getting it to market in 2026 (it got a little easier).

• Think about your audience first - you can send pdfs to kindle so that’s always an option - no one is reading a pdf on their laptop these days - it’s too tiring. Full disclosure - if there’s a pretty ebook as part of a programme I buy, I either print it and read it like a book or give it to Claude and ask it to give me it in plain type. It’s a personal thing I know but my eyes get tired with too many design features/ colour palettes/ font combos.

• Decide on whether it’s an ebook to read, a workbook to scribble on and make more space if you need to - you can add blank pages or even some cute boxes for people to write on.

• Canva has a tonne of customisable ebook templates - here’s one I like - https://www.canva.com/templates/EAE1TZ3D5nY

• You can download your Substack posts as pdfs and collate them together as an ebook. For example I could make an ebook of this series - how meta of me.

• Add page numbers

• Add an introduction, contents page and a wrap up page

• Add credits - you’re a writer babe!

And getting it to market… you have MANY options…

• You can paywall it here on Substack and drag and drop the pdf.

• Use stanstore, podia or a plug in for your squarespace or other website.

• You can set a stripe link and have people pay you that way.

Some photos/ screenshots from that time… how cute!

Look how cute I was… that red door was the last project photo I took as the world went into lockdown.

remember link tree - what a time!! my profile pic was taken in the seat JK Rowling wrote her Harry Potter books.

Inspiration is everywhere…

Dreaming about being at sea…

A final note - no one has done it the way you will - just write your heart out and see where it takes you? I’ll be cheering you on!! ♥️