Authorpreneur Magazine - Issue 2

Around this time, e-books started to enter my
radar. I knew about Amazon’s Kindle, and e-books
in general, from friends and colleagues in the United
States. But Australia was a few years behind in
this technology; only the faintest murmurs about
e-books were heard down under. It struck me as
an excellent opportunity to get into this area early
on, so I learned how to design, format and distribute
e-books for my American and Australian clients.
It was a great move because digital publishing in
Australia (and everywhere) has grown steadily, and
I was lucky enough to have a head start.
A year ago, one of my digital publishing clients,
Michael Wilkinson (Wilkinson Publishing), saw a
gap in the market for printed resources geared
to consumers wanting to learn about e-books
and e-readers. This type of content was readily
available online, but only the tech-savvy would
know where to find it. Michael decided he wanted
to publish a printed non-techie’s guide to e-books
and e-readers, that would be written in easy-tounderstand
language. He asked me if I wanted to
author the book.
I was surprised by his offer... I was no techie. I
hated learning to use the computer during my
undergraduate days and learning new software
never came easily to me. I told Michael all of this
and he replied by saying “That’s exactly why I want
you to write it. You’ll explain e-books and e-readers
to people who struggle with technology in a way
that is clear and easy to understand”.
I quickly agreed to write the guide. Aside from
the fact that I’m passionate about the subject of
digital reading, I also thought it would be a great
opportunity to ‘get my name out there’ as an expert
on the topic… especially in Australia where I’m still
building my professional reputation and network.
Authoring E-Reader Digest would give me the
foundation upon which I could continue to build my
career. It would allow me to gain recognition in my
industry and online. How could I say no?
Writing E-Reader Digest was hard work... way tougher
than any book design project I had undertaken. And
I was doing it on top of my normal workload! The
writing took more time than I anticipated, involved
a lot more research, and was quite frustrating at
times. But Michael Wilkinson, the publisher, was
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encouraging and patient with my questions. His
confidence in the book made me feel confident
about it too, and pretty soon I had written the entire
draft manuscript and submitted it to the editor.
After the editor’s review, the manuscript came back
to me so that I could design and lay out the book.
(That’s right, I designed my own book!) I wasn’t
sure if this was going to be a smart idea or the
biggest mistake I ever made... It turned out to be
a good move, as we saved a lot of time by keeping
the design with me instead of an external designer.
Since E-Reader Digest covered the latest technology
in digital reading, we couldn’t afford to spend much
time on the editorial process. The technology
continues to change all the time and wasn’t going
to stop because my book was on press. It needed to
go to press fast!
E-Reader Digest was published in November 2012 and
is also available online and in stores in Australia, the
US, the UK, and various other countries.
It is early days for the book, of course, but I’ve
noticed an uptick in Tango Media’s website traffic
since the book came out. And I’ve been able to take
advantage of being a published author by serving
as an ‘expert’ for journalists to ask questions about
e-books and e-readers. Only time will tell what else
E-Reader Digest will bring my way...
One area worth mentioning here is promotion. Many
authority authors, myself included, need to handle
the book promotion and publicity themselves.
At times, this felt more challenging than actually
writing the book because I quickly needed to learn
everything I could about how to promote a book. I
learned how to correctly write my own press release,
how to navigate the world of newspapers, TV and
magazines, and how to make the most of online and
social media promotion. None of it was easy, but
the lessons learned in this area were all extremely
valuable and I can apply them to my business.
As for publishing a book to set one’s self up as an
authority, I realize I was lucky that an established
publisher approached me to write a book AND paid
me to do it. Often, authors who wish to write a book
to promote themselves as an expert must foot
the bill themselves... either by self-publishing or
working with a vanity press. But I think the benefits
are the same regardless of the path you take: Your
March 2013
AuthorpreneurMagazine
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