It was 2020, the Pandemic year. I was extremely broke, stuck in the house. With two children and no income, I decided to make something to sell. The only valuable thing I had was my poetry. So. I decided to take out my books and compile all my poems into one. Most of the poems I had were the love poetry type and hence the major theme of Sibuor; my African love story.
Sibuor is my first book, it was going to be my only one but I got an idea of another one a few months after publishing it.
The process.
- I compiled all my poems, the 50 chosen ones into a Word document then proofread and edited them.
- Draft2digital was my choice among the self-publishing sites I search for. It has no upfront charges. However they do take a percentage of approximately 10% of your book sales.
- Using Draft2digital, you will be able to format, convert your manuscript into an e-book , enjoy distribution networks and track sales.
- I used Canva to design my book cover (see image above). It is easy to use and has numerous templates to select from. It is free too and they also offer a 30-day free pro trial.
With that I had my complete e-book which I sold to friends, families, acquaintances and basically everyone I had a chance to sell to. The hard copy of it was published in November 2020 by Dayanka Publishers. It was not as life-changing as I thought it would be but it is one of the things monumental for me.
You can get it from Kibanga Books and reach out to me to get your copy. The e-book goes for Ksh 250.
It was different things to different people but to me it was a confirmation of a dream fulfilled. I do hope it will touch you in your won kind of way.
