As I write, I have progressed on my upcoming book, A Living Label. I am writing this post as an update of how far I have gone with the book. Several things have happened. I had promised to share the details of how I am working on this book with my followers and readers like you. And, if you are new to the Insider’s club, you are welcome to join by clicking here.

A Living Label Book: An Update for the Insiders

Since the last email I sent out to my Insiders, I have written additional chapters and have had two professional editors work on the manuscript. One of them actually did not just read the book, but also offered copy-editing service. I opted for her free offer in a Facebook group. You can check her out here. She charges $3 per page for editing and $4 per page for copy editing. In case you are not in and will like to become an Insider, click here. Now, I am at chapter 10, however, chapter seven and ten are not fully written.

I stopped in the middle of chapter seven to plan for a trip to Washington DC and Virginia. During the trip, I wrote chapters eight to ten while on board Delta Airline to Ronald Regan International Airport.

I understand that some of you were inspired to join the Insiders’ Club to write your own book. Aside from writing an update on how far I have gone on the book, I also want to share the steps that I have taken. This will be useful for you if you are working on your book. I will like to thank some of you who have responded with your critique on my book. I also have critiqued the manuscript of one of the Insider who shared her work with me. So, as you can see, I am taking this journey in partnership with you all.

The Steps you can take if you have not

1. Set up social media pages – Facebook, Periscope, Twitter, Instagram, etc. Begin to talk about your upcoming book on these social media platforms. Tell people why you are writing the book and what you hope to achieve when the book is published. In my case, for example, I am writing my book to empower women who have gone through domestic violence, human trafficking, sexual assault, and female genital mutilation. Proceeds from the book will be used to help individual survivors in various parts of the world, starting from the U.S., Nigeria, and Kenya.
2. Set up a mailing list service – MailerLite, MailChimp, Aweber, Infusion, ConvertKit, and so on. A mailing list service will help you capture people’s email addresses. These people will be your VIP members.  You can reserve the best of your sneak peek to them by sharing more with them are you continue to write. You can ask people to sign up to join the list by providing a link to sign up on your website or social media platforms in case you do not have a website. However, I encourage you to set up a website, even it if is through google platform like the Blogger. You can do that by getting a copy of my book, Quit Your Day Job: Five Steps to Turn Your Passion to Money Using Social Media and Blogging here. You can also download it here for free if you are a Kindle Unlimited member. The good thing with Google Blogger is the fact that you don’t need a lot of money to start a professionally looking website. See a Blogger site that I helped to build called Wedding Trends. Mind you, for my mailing services, I am using MailerLite and will recommend it for a starter. It has features that other free account like MailChimp does not have. For example, you can set up an auto-responder to your list so that when someone signs up you can send email the person automatically. Also, to manage your time, you can schedule email to send out to your subscribers. They also provide customer service with free account, which you cannot get with MailChimp. I have both, but I prefer MailerLite.
3. Use Fiverr: Fiverr is an online platform where you can hire someone from anywhere around the world, but not for $5. However, you can get your work done for a reasonable amount of money. I went there to search for book editors and after contacting two or three people on the site, I settled for one. I was satisfied with her editing job. Her user name on Fiverr is Florabrown and you can hire her here. While I was working on this manuscript, I was also doing researches on how to work get my book edited without frustration. I watched a YouTube video, where I learned that it was a better idea to send sample editing of about 5,000 words, rather than my whole manuscript to an editor. According to the YouTube video, the sample editing will help me know if the editor will deliver within the specified time. Florabrown blew me away with her timeliness and professionalism. I paid her $25 to have my sample editing done. That means that I can rehire her and still have my book ready by the deadline.
4. Hire a Book Designer: Another person that I had hired and I hope to rehire on Fiverr was my book designer. The Fiverr username is Bookdesign. I hired Bookdesign and was also impressed at the first job which cost $20 because it was for a paperback book entitled, Imprisoned: The Travails of a Trafficked Victim. The picture on the cover has a metallic feel to to the touch. So, I will recommend this seller on Fiverr, as I will rehire bookdesign for the cover of A Living Label. With Bookdesign, you can get the cover of your e-book done for $5. Click here to hire Bookdesign.

I will stop here for now. If you have any question, kindly let me know in the comment below or join the Insider’s here to send me direct questions.