I am going to do a series of posts about my experience writing my first eBook. It has been, so far, a very fulfilling experience. The eBook and a print-on-demand paperback will be published using Amazon’s digital platform in the next couple of weeks. I started in late June. So, it’s been about three months from idea to birth. The book is 21,000 words. Research shows that this is a good length for ADD-type people like me (it seems, according to Kindle research, that most people do not finish non-fiction books.) I didn’t want to write one of those 75,000 word books (think 250 pages) that repeats itself in order to deliver a “marketable” page count.
During this process, I’ve learned that I have a big idea for the book; that I am a fairly good writer; that writing takes real effort, concentration and time; that I needed partners (editor, cover and book designers, supportive wife); lots of coffee; that there are costs involved; that I need a very smart marketing plan (critical, more on this later); that there is a huge growing world of digital publishing (I kinda knew this but actually getting down to business showed me that its booming.)
The book:
I had been thinking about the concept of committing what I call rational suicide as soon as I left my financial planner’s office. His advice that I had three variables to consider when planning my financial future didn’t sit right. After all, as he said, I could control my income (to a certain extent) and my budget but not how long I would live. This one variable, a significant one, as in longevity, “what if I lived to 95, how could I support myself?” was simply too variable. That idea was the genesis of the book. As I began writing, the book morphed into adding a detailed discussion of the act of suicide, the world of physician-assisted suicide and the retirement saving deficit – a major issue for all of us.
Stay tuned.