I once tried to publish a book for a friend of mine. At the time, I had a rudimentary knowledge of book publishing. I had a manual, and I made sure to do everything the manual asked me to do.
I followed every step in the manual and filled all the different forms required to not only publish my friend’s book, but to proclaim myself a publisher.
Then I got to the point of setting up an account to receive royalties, and I was stumped. This is because I live in a region where certain services are not allowed, and transacting in foreign currencies are limited, and subjected to a plethora of stringent procedures. Now, the books I read had not made provision for people in blacklisted regions neither did the tutorials, so there was nothing in there to help me with my dilemma.
I began to scramble, looking for a means to set up a PayPal account so my friend would be able to receive his royalties. To cut the long story short, that project fell through, much to the disappointment of my friend. It began to look as though I had just collected his money and not given him value.
Fortunately, I had only billed him for book formatting. I had opted to publish the book for free.
So, the book was published, but it became lost among the plethora of books that are published every day, by the ton. Now, imagine if I had billed him heavily for the book publishing, believing I had all the required knowledge solely by studying the manual. I would have collected his money, and given him very poor returns on his investment.
Now, if I had signed up for proper coaching on digital publishing, and engaged the services of an expert in the industry, I would have fared better in my publishing journey, and my friend would have got better returns than he eventually did.
Our friendship would have improved, because not only would I have created value for him, I would have also put money in his pocket.
What is the thrust of this story?
If you are interested in being a digital publisher, it is good to study manuals before you begin.
It is better to watch tutorials showing you what to do, and how to do it.
It is best to engage a coach who will not only talk the talk with you, but also walk the walk with you, with the result that you will always be able to put your best foot forward.
A very good place to start this journey will be to sign up for a digital publishing course at Virtual Business School, our online training platform.
You can sign up by clicking here.
