The playlist

I’m sure I’ve said it a few times already, but here it comes again: I finished writing my first novel. Since then, I’ve been haunted by one single and dreadful thought: now I have to learn how to publish it.

Until a few days ago, when I suddenly realized that I’ve already published a book: it’s a collection of short stories I wrote on Medium during the summer. I had to choose a topic tying them all together and write a post/story each day about it. It was funny, actually.

As a theme I chose “Song titles”: each one of the stories I wrote is inspired and named after a famous song title. Music is another storytelling medium, after all. But instead of focusing on the lyrics, I based my stories only on the title.

I’m proud of these stories, both the best and the worst ones. When the challenge was over I picked them up, reviewed them, and published them. I have to say that the publishing part was easier than I thought because I relied on a service such as Draft2Digital to create the ebook files. I just had to sign up, upload my docx file, and nothing else. I didn’t have to pay anything upfront because they charge only a percentage of the money you make selling the book through the digital stores linked to them, and since I’m starting out I prefer not having to spend too much money to obtain the book. Especially since I don’t want to charge people to read it.

But I’m missing the point, let’s get back to the book. I called it The Playlist because looking at the chapters list it looked like a Spotify playlist (which, by the way, is a thing).

And the ease with which I obtained the ebook made me realize that I’m not worried about publishing: I’m worried about distribution, about sending my book into the world and have people read it. It won’t be easy for sure, but after making it through 2020 every tasks looks like an easy one.

And I’d like you to come with me on this trip because journeys are better when you’re not alone.

Oh, and don’t forget to download my free Playlist ebook!

Talk soon,

Zanna