Almost two weeks ago, I wrote about the unboxing of 10 physical copies of the first edition of my first book. The unboxing wasn't done by me, here in Portugal, but by my parents, my brother and his girlfriend, in The Netherlands.
In case you missed that story, you can click on What's in the Box? to find out more...
Since that moment, I worked on a second edition a bit for some days ( let's say that I didn't feel entirely satisfied with the first print for a number of reasons ), then I took a break of a couple of days and lost the momentum.
These days, I have been trying to get back on track and I worked on the finishing touches of the second edition.
Today I had an insight. Nothing new but important anyway:
I should NOT overcomplicate things.
That, in fact, is what stops me - over and over again - from finishing things.
So, long story short ( and something I told to my parents, friends and myself ), it's mainly about getting a somewhat better looking and smaller sized ( A5 instead of A4 ) version than the first edition out into the world.
I plan to sell it to a bunch of friends, both in Portugal and The Netherlands as well as to a bunch of you ( that might be reading this ), Hive friends.
All in all, I can't shake the feeling that this book isn't great - content wise - I can do better - but that is was merely meant as a starting point.
I am probably being a little too hard on myself here but I'm also honest. I know I can do better...
I wanted to show that I can actually finish a book and get it out there, for people to read.
Now, in my mind, I am already working on finishing my second book ( and one I blogged about many times in the last 12 months: Hypersensitivosaurus and Cold Turkey )
It's just that I feel like I need to get the second version of my first book: 22 Stories of Hypersensitivosaurus and other Animals out there first.
If I don't do this, it would feel like I am leaving a house without cleaning up after myself first. It would keep gnawing away at my conscience and I don't like gnawing.
On a short walk, just now, I felt like I should go for printing 22 physical copies of the second edition ( A5 format ) and then sell them for 22 euros each. What else to do with a book that was finished on the 22nd of March of 2022 containing 22 stories?
I know I could sell it for less, but it's a special edition and I want to make some profit on it not just be a starving writer who only makes money from blogging. I have undervalued myself for way too long.
Although it would of course be nice to sell more than 22 copies - I am already considering a fourth print of 44 copies and selling them for 44 euros each ( just kidding ) - I kind of like the idea of having only 22 prints of the second edition.
Also, it will cost me a lot in printing, if I print way more copies than 22 and it's not like a 1000 people are screaming for a copy, right now.
Of course rhings might change, still, but I honestly prefer selling people my upcoming book(s) over doing whatever I can to get people to buy my first imperfect book.
Perhaps, in the future, I might print more copies of this first book when I have reached a cult status as a writer - haha! - it will be a chance for future readers to get to know the original characters of my dinoverse and read their very first stories.
For now, 22 physical copies of a second print will have to make do.
And then, I realized that the whole idea behind the second edition was to also make an E-book ready version of my book haha!
I had almost forgotten about that.
In all honesty, I care about the digital version a lot less. I already wrote about not wanting to use Amazon as a service, so I'll see about all that.
Right now, I really prefer to go for selling physical copies, in real life ( to people in my surroundings ), as much as possible, and perhaps sending a handful of copies to dear friends around the world if the shipping costs aren't too insane.
Let's see. Things might still change. I am flexible. I have to be flexible in Portugal and in the ever changing world we are living in. After all, change is the only constant in life.
End of this ramble, I have to get back to finishing that second edition ;<)
Sending you much love from Portugal