LIFE LESSONS

My thoughts after self-publishing my book

Paghilom Book is live on Shopee! As of this writing, I have signed and written personal dedication on 103 books. 103 orders is definitely unexpected. When I planned about this self-publishing thing, I only estimated about 50 orders. But, I’ve received more than 100 orders here! Unexpected.

Photo taken by @anjnttms on Instagram.

What are my thoughts about self-publishing? Here are some musings about it.

I don’t know anything about marketing or what, but I think, true friends will support you no matter what you sell. Whether I sell or I initiate a fundraising, my friends are there to support. I believe I am surrounded with a good circle of friends and community. Everyone has spectators, but still, some will appear as supporters. Promise.

I told myself that profit is not the main reason for this passion project . My main objective is simply just to release the ideas I have in mind. If I don’t do it, it won’t make me sleep. If I don’t have this book released, I am not me.

Collaboration is important. I am eternally grateful to the artist who drew the illustrations for the book. Check his shop on Lazada. Kuya Dar is one of the best artists I know. He’s from Antipolo and he has a lot of ‘ambag’ to society in terms of sharing his art. Also, huge thanks to Ate Beth for continuously pushing me to self-publish this book.

There was this day when a Lalamove driver texted and thanked me for the transaction. For me, it’s just an ordinary thing I did because I need to ship something, but for him pala, it’s already a good thing. He thanked me for booking Lalamove. Wala lang!

It feels good to know that when we support local artists, we also support locals in their job. When I had my book printed, a worker in the printing house has something to do. When the books were shipped at home, a courier just earned some bucks. When I coordinated for sticker printing, I was able to help a small business grow his shop.

If you are still on this part of my blog, you should check out my book, too.

Here are some feedback I received from Shopee! 🙂

It’s extremely worth the read. The pains that you hide from your deepest shelves will be slapped to you, forcefully. Very brilliant. Congratulations to the author…keep up the good work..@jmariearagon

Ang ganda!!! Nakaka-excite basahin sa RD! 🥰🤩 May reading list ako pero mukhang aagaw ito sa pila 🤣 @dianneisabel

I didn’t expect for this packaging to be so beautiful just like the book itself + the art and designs makes it so way attractive 🥺 Thank you, Ms. Kim for creating this wonderful book and sharing it with us. I love reading your works. Congrats sa Paghilom! -@chloeegonzales

Photo from Fatima Miya on Facebook

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