My Adventure in Making BREASTFEEDING: A Journey Worth Taking Available on Amazon Kindle

"Your book is available in the Kindle Store!"

 

That's the email I received in my inbox a few hours after I uploaded my book's file on Amazon.

I didn't expect to receive feedback from Amazon right away. I read in their website that it would take around 12 hours at least to review the book before they could review and approve a book. This email was a welcomed surprise!


It was surreal to see my book on the list of new releases
on Amazon that night!

I started preparing for this project of releasing a Kindle edition of my breastfeeding book around April after my celebrating my birthday. Around that time also, I found out that I was pregnant again so I chose to hire a project coordinator. I hired Judith, my friend who is also a freelance writer like myself because I know she wants to publish her own book someday. I didn't want to hire just anyone because I want the job to add value to the person I will hire for the project. I was so glad she accepted my offer. And because she's my friend, she exhibited a strong commitment and dedication in helping me meet my goals.

 

I thought that hiring a project coordinator would spare me from a lot of stress. But stress still found its way to me quite well. First, Judith and I had a hard time looking for a layout artist who is available to do the revisions on the layout based on our timeline and budget. Then, when we finally found one, the layout artist that we hired made us believe things were on track for around a week only to tell us around the time she was supposed to submit our expected end result that she didn't get all the required files that we sent. She also began asking questions which she should have asked at the beginning. She couldn't assure us when she'd be able to deliver the expected output. When she finally communicated with us (after some lull), she gave a date that was way beyond my target date of completion for layout revisions. Thus, on the weekend that the layout artist gave us these problems, I decided to do the work myself with the help of my husband. I asked my husband to convert the Pdf file of my book's first edition into Word. Then, I did the updating, editing and required revisions myself. It was very stressful weekend for me! I worked double-time to meet my deadline. I wished that I had worked on the files myself and chose not to outsource to someone else since I ended up doing it under so much time-pressure and stress. Sadly, I didn't know or expect that the person I will hire would be so unprofessional to give me and Judith problems at the last minute. In the end, I was still grateful to God for enabling me to accomplish the task which I initially didn't think I could do.
 

 

One of the posters I made.

I thought that my problem with artists stopped when I finished the revisions on the layout. I was wrong. I experienced problems again when I hired artists for the next steps I needed to do in preparation for the Amazon release. Again, I had difficulty finding an artist to revise the back cover of my book. Then, I had hard time looking for an artist to make the posters and other promotional materials for the campaign/release. When I finally found artists who will do the job for me, they turned out not skilled and professional enough to deliver the results I expected. Another disappointment! After a lot of exchanges and headaches, the graphic artist I asked to revise my book's back cover finally delivered the output I required to my satisfaction. But the graphic artist I hired to do my posters wasted a week of my precious time only to tell me that she can't deliver my requirements. At first, she submitted work that did not follow my instructions. Naturally, I asked her to correct the work since these did not meet my requirements. We had a number of email exchanges. I was getting frustrated because simple instructions like what to put behind and what to put in front were not carried out. I had to test my instructions on my 5-year-old boy and our helper to check if my instructions were simple enough to be understood. Unfortunately, the graphic artist failed to understand my instructions even after I translated my instructions in Filipino, unlike my eldest son and our helper who got what I meant. I tried giving the artist a lot of chances by giving additional instructions but after a number of exchanges, the graphic artist emailed me that she's quitting on the job. She even complained that I asked too many revisions on the images. That the amount of work she has done is not commensurate to the rate she gave me. I was terribly disappointed! Honestly, I got mad at her for wasting my precious time making me believe that she will make the corrections/revisions eventually. Imagine, I spent 6 days of communicating with her trying to make her understand what I wanted her to execute when she initially said (before we closed the deal) that she can work on the design concepts I shared in just a few hours. I told her that it was very unprofessional of her to quit after committing that she will make the corrections/revisions and that she will help me meet my deadlines. I also told her that there would have been no need for corrections or revisions had she followed my step-by-step instructions. I even shared with her links to the images I wanted her to use as reference or guide in each poster/image that I wanted her to make. Once more, I had another stressful weekend because of an artist! I decided to do the required work myself because the artists I used to work with were all busy with projects and the good artists I found on Fiverr.com had a long line of clients waiting for them to finish their current gigs. It would be too costly for me to hire them. I would need to pay rush fees if I hire them to meet my deadline. By God's grace, I was able to do the work I wanted the graphic artist to do for me. 

In the end, I thanked the Lord for enabling me to do the work required even though the people I hired failed to deliver. The blessing behind these unexpected problems was that I was somehow able to save some money since I didn't have to pay for artists. I just regretted that I chose to hire/outsource these services. I should have done these things myself at an earlier time. Sadly, I didn't expect/know that the people I will hire would be unprofessional. The good news is that I was able to overcome these obstacles.

 

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. – Romans 8:28

 

Judith and I found someone on Fiverr.com who will convert my Pdf and Word file into mobi (one of the formats needed to upload your book in Amazon). Praise God for this person that we hired was very professional. She even went the extra mile to help me get the best Kindle version of my book. It happened that there were a lot of formatting errors even with repeatedly proofreading and corrections. My patience was being tested once more. Thankfully, Beth (the one whom we hired) patiently corrected all the errors I found. When I found additional errors that needed to be revised (which were no longer within our agreement), I offered to buy at least 1 extra gig from her. To my surprise, she declined. Instead she did some more revisions. In the end, she even gave me additional instructions so my husband and I can eventually do the corrections ourselves in the future. Wow! What great service! Thank God for sending her our way!

 

I spent many days and nights proofreading the book after each revision/correction from my converter. What I expected we'd finish in 2-3 days, we finished in over a week. I'm still grateful to God though that we got to upload the file and get approval before our deadliest deadline. My book finally went live on Amazon on July 24 (Philippine time) after much hard work and challenges! My husband and I praised and thanked God for this achievement and milestone.

 

Actually, doing the administrative stuff before finally getting the approval from Amazon was also not a breeze. We had internet connection problems the whole week. Our country (and city) was hit by a typhoon, which caused power interruption in our area and in other parts of the metro. We had not electricity for three days. Then, when we finally had electricity, we suffered from intermittent internet connection. These slowed me down even more in meeting my targets.  What I could have finished in a few minutes took me almost the whole day. Actually, I started working around mid-morning. I finished uploading after dinner. I felt like I was inching my way to the finish line!

 

But ALL the negative feelings and thoughts were replaced by joy and thanksgiving when I finally saw my book on Amazon! Praise God! I know that God paved the way for it to be available in Kindle edition despite the many obstacles I had to overcome. I know that it was His grace that sustained me in all these hardships.

Click here to go to my book page on Amazon.

 

I hope and pray that this development would help me achieve my goal of inspiring and empowering more moms around the world through my book BREASTFEEDING: A Journey Worth Taking. Just like my breastfeeding adventure with my kids that was replete with challenges, I still consider this adventure and journey towards having my book published on Amazon a journey worth taking. ;)

 

Are you also an aspiring author? Are you also going through difficulties in making your dream a reality? Don't quit! Don't give up on your dream! Sometimes, the Lord allows challenges and hardships our way to increase our skills and to stretch our capacity to receive more blessings from Him and to expand our reach and ability to touch more lives. Most of the time, He allows these things to happen to us to help us grow in faith in Him and to draw us closer to Him. May your challenges bring out the best in you in the same way that my challenges brought the best in me! 

 

Download my BREASTFEEDING: A Journey Worth Taking's Kindle Edition now and get at least 20% savings! Click here to avail of this offer.  

Check out these posts from other bloggers and sites about this piece of good news!

Filipina-Authored Breastfeeding eBook Now at Amazon.com, FREE on Aug 1-3! by The Nanay Notebook

Breastfeeding: A Journey Worth Taking (Download for Free) by Pinions and Plumage of Love

Filipino Author Releases Breastfeeding Book on Amazon Kindle by Sumptuous Style

Free Download of Breastfeeding Book in Support of World Breastfeeding Week 2014 by Sumptuous Style

Activities for August Breastfeeding Month by Chronicles of a Nursing Mom

Free Download of Breastfeeding Book in Support of World Breastfeeding Week 2014 by AllPromosPH

Filipino Breastfeeding Book on Amazon Kindle by Life of Que

Inspiring Breastfeeding Book and Stories to Mark World Breastfeeding Week 2014 by Nanay's Trip

Free Download of Breastfeeding Book in Support of World Breastfeeding Week 2014 by Lally's Reflections

BREASTFEEDING: A Journey Worth Taking - Free for a Limited Time by Little Pieces of Happy    

Free Download of Breastfeeding Book in Support of World Breastfeeding Week 2014 by Joys of a Wife and Mom

Breastfeeding: A Journey Worth Taking (FREE EBOOK from August 1-3!) by Snap.Play.Love

Awesome August Activities for Moms by Tina Rodriguez for Philstar unBlogged

Free eBook download in support of World Breastfeeding Week by Blog Watch

August is Breastfeeding Month! Dr. Jack Newman is Coming Plus a Free Book by Apples and Dumplings