Quote from: planingkoala on March 22, 2025, 11:15:29 PM

I’ve been toying with this idea for a while now, and figured I’d finally throw it out here – has anyone here ever written and actually published their own book? I’m not talking about some ghostwritten business eBook or crypto whitepaper (though that counts in its own way, I guess), but more like a personal project – stories, essays, maybe even poetry or fiction? Something that really came from you.

Lately I’ve felt this weird urge to pull all the scattered texts I’ve written over the years together – some are half-finished, some are just thoughts that never made it past the note app stage. But I keep wondering: what does it take to turn all that into something real? Like, how do you go from idea to book without totally losing steam halfway through?

I’ve read about self-publishing, or doing a small print run with local presses, but I’d love to hear real experiences. Did you do it all yourself? Hire someone? How did you even know when it was done?

And maybe most importantly: how did it feel? To hold the thing in your hands, or to send it out into the world? Was it worth the hassle?

Would love to hear your takes – no matter if you’ve published once or ten times, or if you’re still stuck somewhere in chapter two. Let’s talk.

I've written three books so far, fourth in the works. The first is collecting digital dust on my harddrive, the second and third didnt get a publisher so went on Amazon, and the fourth is slowly coming along.

""Like, how do you go from idea to book without totally losing steam halfway through?""

I discovered the answer to this early in my second book. It's all about the outline. The outline is the fun part. You can do it in two or three days if you have most of the story worked out. It doesn't keep you from losing steam later (that happens to everyone) but it gives you clear direction. For example, "today I'm going to write the chapter where dude breaks his leg snowboarding, simply stepping off the ski lift".