Survivor Sherpa

Exploration of self and self-publishing.

I wrote a book about my journey with breast cancer. Now what? Well, it’s very personal and I am very scared to do anything else with it, to date my pile of papers, aka my manuscript, is in fact a paper weight.

But this year, 2025, is all about conquering a fear each month. It seems weird to have written about something deeply personal, in the form of a book no less, and not want people to read it out of fear, right? I don’t even know how to explain the fear, you know put into the right words. It might be about exposing vulnerability or ‘putting myself out there.’ But those seem too cliche for what this is. But cliches exist for a reason…

So, I did what any normal person would do, I wrote another book about a different personal journey to see what the self-publishing world is all about! You can find it on Amazon here: https://a.co/d/hQQVQGV, you should buy it a leave a glowing review, apparently reviews are key. (Consider this a bonus pre-tip!)

The book is small for the publishing world, Amazon calls it low content. But it’s cool to learn about self-publishing, it’s even cooler to see my work on Amazon. Although….

The interesting thing is there is so much more than the book! It really feels like when I read all sorts of books about pregnancy and the day my oldest was born, I looked into her beautiful angelic teeny tiny face and realized I read nothing about babies or parenting!

I guess the movie Field of Dreams had a big impact on my life: “If you build it, they will come.” Who knew there was more to it than that?

Maybe South Park influenced me just as much with the underwear gnomes’ business plan: Step one, steal underpants. Step two, TBD. Step three, profit! Clearly entertainment has had too big an impact on me!

I know there are people out there who write books, have blogs, vlogs and streams and make a nice living. That isn’t what I am looking for, although my kids do have to go to college, so I am not saying no to all of that. I want to reach the person who thinks they are alone and let them know they are not despite how it feels. Just like some books did for me when I was trying to figure out what was left after the doctor made whatever dire pronouncement. To put something into the world that could possibly be the thing on the night stand to have an answer or a glimmer of hope when everyone else in the world is asleep and no other answers are forthcoming.

It turns out that doesn’t magically happen there are things to be done after the book is written and even after it is put on Amazon, and some things that should even happen concurrently while writing!

First Tip: Start Building Your Audience Early One of the most important steps is to start building your audience even before your book is published. Share your journey on social media, create a blog, or join online communities related to your book’s topic. Engaging with potential readers early on can create a supportive network and generate interest in your book before it’s even available.

I don’t know about this stuff, but I do have the capacity to learn, so here’s to learning more about self publishing and myself as the process unfolds. Join me on this journey and pop over to Amazon to see what a ‘low content’ book looks like! https://a.co/d/hQQVQGV