Well, as of last night my first book has been published on Amazon and is available on Kindle. The writing itself was kind of easy because I was writing from memory. However, the publishing was a different thing altogether and I could not have done it by myself. First I had to find an editor.
I had some well meaning offers from some of my friends, but then we somehow lost contact and so I decided to retain a professional. Since English is my second language I knew that I also need a proof reader.
By sheer luck I found ‘Wanda’ of “Desert Transcription” who was extremely supportive. With her many corrections and also with her pertinent questions, she made it possible for me to write what I was trying to convey. Not an easy task, I assure you. But, she did it and I am very thankful for her support.
Next, I was wondering about what kind of software I needed to buy and what I needed to learn about the publishing process.
Everyone I asked about it assured me how easy it was nowadays to get published on Amazon. Maybe it is for someone who is completely computer literate, but there were also accounts to create and many other things. All in all I realized that I had a steep learning curve ahead which did not exactly scare me, but I just wanted to write my story.
So, I stumbled around and while I declined the well meaning offers from friends I found the professional services from “Zenith Business Solutions“. The owner of this company, a lady by the name of Chris, turned out to be exactly what I was looking for. She offered to format my book, create my web site, (the one you are reading right now) establish my accounts with Amazon, provide the copyright symbol, and finally publish the book. She also offered to do the promotion for my book. But most of all she offered all the above, just like Wanda, for an extremely reasonable fee. Oh, I almost forgot her services also included the creation of the book cover.
Actually, their services are for me as a writer, invaluable. I mean, what price tag can I set on the time I saved? Plus, why should I reinvent the wheel?
So, here I am, happy to be a first time published author and unencumbered by the publishing details, ready to write the next books.
