On a separate topic, I cover how research saved my life from going down a path of ignorance and misery. I share how I used research to enhance my worldview to break myself out of that narrow mindset that held me as its prisoner and steered the ship to open seas beyond my local harbor.

This topic focuses on the primary purpose of research: to inform action, gather evidence for drawing theories or decisions, and contribute knowledge in various domains while acting in the world.

Research doesn’t just belong to scientists in white lab coats or grad students writing a 100-page dissertation. Using it deliberately in our lives and with open dialogue can improve an individual’s life and society.

It is a resource for increasing knowledge and promoting learning

Broaden’s one philosophy

Since childhood, we’ve been taught by authority figures (parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents, teachers, government, etc.) about the philosophy of knowing what’s real, what is true, and what is good and evil, right and wrong. We’re born naïve and unsocialized, yet, if we’re loved or abused by these role models, they can either enhance or taint how we navigate life.

And with the introduction of school, we’re taught how to think and, hopefully, think for ourselves and engage in healthy dialogue, challenge ideas, and convey sound arguments to add to the well of knowledge.

Nothing is more dangerous than deadly ideologies festering without scrutiny and criticism. So with research, we can go deeper and study the various philosophers’ timeless bodies of knowledge:

• Plato’s Republic: I learned about the allegory of the cave, which is about education, about leading the soul from darkness into light, through stages. I interpreted this concept as a development from being naive to enlightenment.
• Stoicism: I learned within this philosophical system the dichotomy of control, telling the difference between what we can change and what we can’t. What we can control and what we can’t. Instead of getting worked up over something we can’t change, we may respond differently, avoiding negative repercussions.
• Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics: I learned about the “golden mean” as an ideal compromise between two undesirable extremes (excess and lack). For instance, too much courage results in foolhardiness, whereas lack of results in cowardice, and the purpose of the individual is not to precisely balance the state of courage; instead, fluidly display the courage to protect loved ones or retreat from a situation they cannot win but perhaps fight another day.

The etymology of philosophy from the Greek ‘Philo,’ love, and ‘Sophia,’ wisdom, Philosophy is defined as “the love of wisdom.” And with wisdom in Old English for “knowledge, learning, experience.” Philosophy allows us to expand our worldview to help figure out what is real, true, and good by studying great thinkers’ contributions to humanity’s body of knowledge.

Furthermore, we can look through historical records to grasp why the Roman Empire fell and not repeat its fate. Moreover, it helps understand why people’s drives and motivations lead to irrational outcomes. Also, wisdom can be gleaned from myths — such as the fall of Icarus about the danger of hubris, poetry — William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, a story about revenge for his father, or fiction — 1984, a story about a dystopian society under a totalitarianism and communism rule.

Therefore, developing an openness to broaden one’s worldview to navigate reality with an editable map and live the best possible life authentically and virtuously in a fast-moving, complicated world.

It’s a way to comprehend problems and raise people’s consciousness

Understand and navigate current issues

In today’s age of technology, a connected world where before the world felt enormous, now we’re connected to a person across eastern Asia within seconds! In this linked world, there is so much information available that gathering it all and using it to make the best decision with a particular goal in mind is an insurmountable challenge. However, this information age’s gold mine, which is dripping with a library of content, on the one hand, contains valuable knowledge. Conversely, it mainly exists to deceive or troll for a reaction.

The research discipline can help us sift through the fool’s gold and, with patience and awareness, identify what biases and fallacies are preventing us from seeing what needs to be seen! Politics has always been an uncomfortable topic anywhere we go, whether with family or co-workers. It’s something we often avoid, which I did for a long time because of the position of power it puts people in; it always seems to corrupt.

It’s only in the past few years I gave it more attention when I kept hearing about this person being Hitler, how this person is “not my president.” I thought to myself, why are people losing their minds!? The more and more research I conducted on this topic, I began to see the pollination of various sources with edited clips to create sensational headlines or narratives. The only conclusion is that most people subscribe to a belief and allow it to steal joy from their life; understandably, humans, like all things in nature, follow the path of least resistance (conservation of energy). Thus, people get caught in lazy dualistic thinking and latch onto the most accessible information to validate their confirmation bias.

It’s rare in a society for the masses to have civilized dialogues with different opinions or screaming in their echo chambers to feel and confirm their righteousness… It made sense that they weren’t doing enough research that’s open with healthy skepticism. Yet, we just sympathize because there is so much information to dissect. When an individual’s life is filled with so many responsibilities. In that case, it’s easy to see why it’s complicated, and it makes sense why we rely on knowledgeable people in their fields with the promise that they will provide unbiased information. Still, they should check their contradiction at the door for not prioritizing it if they genuinely seek the truth in their self-proclaimed skepticism.

An apt phrase goes like this, “most people say they want freedom and truth, but they don’t; what they really want is security and free stuff.” As a citizen living in a nation with a national debt of 30 trillion dollars, history may not rhyme. Yet, it rhymes a lot like the Roman Empire. Try to figure out how that will play out with time.

It helps us succeed in business

Marketing research and branding

For many who run a business, it’s critical to hone in on their message to target the ideal audience they’re looking to solve or add value to their life.

Instead, crafting an avatar of an ideal audience from a personal brand view seems wasteful. Is this the only method a creative entrepreneur can identify and attract people to their content?

We’re in a unique space where personality and authenticity reflected in the values we project in our work reveal that the audience almost mirrors us in some regard. If a content creator is well-read, driven, always open to learning something new, values personal growth while learning to live in harmony with reality, and is fascinated with the wisdom, gleaned from stories to help them navigate the ebbs and flow of the sea.

What are the chances many people like that person will share similar interests and values? Very likely! Therefore, by taking an honest assessment of an individual made in their discoveries of reading fiction or poetry — they would guess that someone else must have the same interest. In return, we hope others will produce something of value we can learn from their perspective to broaden our own. So long as we build our personal brand, what we create comes from a place of curiosity, integrity, and passion.

Sometimes individuals who aspire to branch out in public get sucked into the habit of perpetually spinning their hamster wheel of research, planning, and strategizing. Being stuck in the motion than balancing it with action. Thus, without that leap of faith, They’ll never cultivate the voice to identify content worth sharing through their personality. In large part, there is fear of being ourselves with a perceived notion that we’re not someone worthy of someone else’s attention.

There is some truth to that. If someone has nothing of value to add because of the idea that the individual deserves it, well, good luck not going to happen, but if the person comes from a genuine place with experience, perspective, and openness to wisdom, then whatever they create: books, blogs, podcast, YouTube videos it will shine through the brand without the deception.

Researching essential marketing is a wise approach to understanding people’s psychology. Still, in the end, we don’t always have to follow the formula. It’s ok to question many standard methodologies often spouted on the web.

It enables us to refute lies and uphold the truth

Challenge the narrative and dogma

History is complex. Only some people who experience first-hand accounts of significant events can reach us today. Even if we have records, they’re not perfect depictions. Multiple observers isolated from each other will record the event with slight variations. While we ruminate over the horrors of the Inquisition or how the media today are supposed to be truth seekers for the public and not some biased source pushing the agenda of some ideology festering behind the curtains.

History may not repeat itself precisely, but damn, it sure knows how to rhyme and stay in rhythm. Research can come through to save the day and put us in a position to not fall into a destructive narrative. Dogma is inclined to raise more harm than accomplish its lofty goal.

For instance, the Catholic Church established the formidable Inquisition to combat and punish heresy across Europe and the Americas. The Inquisition, which began in the 12th century and lasted for hundreds of years, is notorious for the brutality of its tortures and its persecution of Muslims and Jews. Its harshest manifestation was in Spain, where the Spanish Inquisition ruled for more than 200 years and executed almost 32,000 people.

Locals could confess to heresy when inquisitors entered a town and made their presence known. Confession-related penalties ranged from a pilgrimage to a beating.

Those who were accused of heresy had to provide testimony. Torture and execution were unavoidable options if the heretic refused to confess. Heretics were frequently the targets of false accusations and were not permitted to confront their accusers or receive legal counsel.

Some of the most notable moments were when thousands of Knights Templar were executed due to the inquisitors’ involvement in France’s 1307 mass arrest and torture of 15,000 Knights Templar. Over a century later, the most well-known victim of this branch of the Inquisition was Joan of Arc, who was burned at the stake in 1431.

When Pope Paul III established the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Roman and Universal Inquisition in 1542 to combat Protestant heresy, Rome revived its own Inquisition. The most notable act of this Inquisition was the trial of Galileo in 1633.

The Spanish Index, a list of books from around Europe deemed heretical and outlawed in Spain in 1545, was based on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum of the Roman Inquisition. The Spanish Inquisition concentrated on the growing number of Spanish Protestants in the 1550s as another gesture to Rome’s worries.

The Inquisition, established in Mexico in 1570, spread throughout the Americas as Spain grew. The Inquisition traveled to Peru, where Protestants were similarly tortured and burned alive in 1574 after Lutherans were slaughtered at the stake.

Napoleon ruled over Spain in 1808 and ended the Inquisition there.

Ferdinand VII attempted to revive the Inquisition following Napoleon’s defeat in 1814. Still, the French government ultimately blocked him, which helped Ferdinand put down a furious uprising. Dismantling the Inquisition, which had been abolished by 1834, was a requirement of the deal with France.

Sadly, with its divided political landscape, the United States struggles to hold itself as some people of influence are making statements such as, “this person or party is a threat to our democracy.” Mainstream media only enflames the fire positioning people in a state of fear and apprehension instead of encouraging civilized discourse over complicated topics.

Thus, will today’s events soon rhyme with yesteryear’s tragic events?

Are fact-checkers unbiased and honest?

Since we’re on the topic of disproving lies and supporting truth. When the integrity of truth is compromised with election tempering and fact-checkers supposed to be unbiased, and news outlets like Politico, politically left-leaning, are not distributing both sides of the political aisle equally to help the everyday person make informed decisions. Are we surprised by the rise of alternative news outlets?

It’s no wonder why people are turning to alternative news outlets. As often mentioned in this post, research is the answer to combat the ills. However, many people will only have the time to investigate if the information directly impacts their livelihood. For instance, every poor and middle-class citizen is affected the most by the cost of inflation. At the same time, the upper class often gets richer during economic dishevel.

Yet, somehow it has nothing to do with our current administration: spending, abandoning the keystone pipeline, and fracking as we invest in alternative energy, and we should always invest in alternative energy. Instead, everything else has to do with the Ukraine war, the rona, and its lingering effects — it’s all these things. It requires an open mind to view many perspectives: democrats, republicans, news media outlets with political leaning, fact-checkers bias, and alternative news outlets. It’s challenging to make time and perform all this research when information is constantly thrown at us. Still, if an individual values truth, they’ll question their beliefs and check against the sources to make an informed decision on navigating this uneven landscape.

Admittedly, it’s scary to sound controversial and upsetting to people. Understandably, For the vast majority of human history, our forebears have resided in smaller tribal groups, and the worst possible outcome for an individual was to act independently of the tribe. Ultimately resulting in ostracization, and to be alone in the wilderness usually meant death from a predator or being killed or enslaved by another tribe. Therefore, it’s a natural response for humans to not challenge the status quo lest of being humiliated, alienated, or worse, death.

Ultimately, is the person putting stock in what other people want them to believe rather than finding their own truth to better themselves and the world? The point is not to side with extreme views. Instead, welcoming healthy dialogue is like someone leaning on a good friend or family member to discuss complex topics that offer multiple perspectives.

Remember, people engage in this type of exchange because it’s out of the love and trust they hold close to others. So why not extend that compassion toward our fellow citizens? Society can only improve by occasionally stepping outside our echo chambers; alas, an unexamined dogma will make prisoners of fools and create the very misery people were trying to avoid.

What has entrepreneurship taught me about opportunities

When I made the mental shift towards building my online business as a writer, I primarily created assets with words. I developed these words into different forms: books, blogs, and email newsletters. As I researched and devoured content, whether business-related or not, I started seeing the opportunities serendipitously.

After publishing my first book, I learned that I’m a nobody. I don’t have the clout of others with an existing follower base and am perceived as a credible source. Marketing my book with Amazon’s free day with promotional sites would get thousands of downloads, and it did with just free ebook downloads. I ask readers to leave an honest review. Several months later, it got some reviews, but not at the low count to drive more readers to the book.

From my research of successful authors, most authors will see a rise in readers, followers, and fans once they have published several books. And here’s the thing: writing a book takes months for the average writer. So, I had to pivot while writing a book remains part of my goal. I had to adopt other ways to build my brand.

I knew curiosity led me to research many topics to expand my knowledge, create content, and solve problems in my own life. Yet, it was selfish of me to have all this knowledge and experience and not share it with others from my perspective. Then the emergence of ideas revealed that my writing skills could open up to podcasting, scripts for videos, freelance content writing, and creating courses. These additional opportunities build credibility and brand awareness.

I get to perform one of my passions — researching: how to podcast and create videos for YouTube, improving the quality of content with each iteration, and putting together a high-quality course that educates and empowers others. At my day job, I felt limited. When we know we earn x amount of money from week to week, it’s easy to take the path of least resistance and get caught in our comfort zone: not pushing ourselves, losing morale when team members are not as driven, management not seeing or compensating for the value we provide, and we wait until the following annual merit increase to find out how much value they believe we supplied with a measly 2 to 4% raise as generous. Whereas entrepreneurship:

1. Our enthusiasm for work increases. The key to being successful as an entrepreneur is to follow our passions.
2. We approach everything with skepticism. Being in charge forces us to consider everything, from the placement of our living room furnishings to our daily cup of coffee.
3. Brand-new experiences become commodities. Because we know that new experiences open the door to fresh insights, we yearn for them.
4. Anything can become an idea. Everything, circumstance, and experience become a potential foundation for a fresh concept.
5. We’re always looking to expand our skill set. The realization of how much more we have to learn excites us.
6. More than ever, we have an increased appetite for reading. We enjoy learning new things from books, blogs, and YouTube.
7. We’re never bored. We may keep ourselves amused even in dull situations with challenging ideas and creative brainstorming techniques.
8. We experience self-determination. Our life feels genuinely in our hands.
9. We start a teaching career. We wish to impart to others our wisdom and experience.
10. We improve as a student even more. Anyone who wants to teach us something new can count on our eagerness to learn.

The value we get to create can scale much faster than waiting a whole year or hoping for that promotion. We drive the results, producing a great sense of meaning and purpose.

It encourages a love of reading, writing, analyzing, and sharing insightful information, as well as confidence

Research facilitates comprehension of topics

Deliberate research, yes, deliberate research — not the kind by which we look up all the features of a smartphone product page, then search for raving reviews in articles and videos to reaffirm our buying decision.

Instead, how does this product compare to competitors? How has it innovated from the previous version? Read and watch both praise/criticism reviews. What opportunity cost are we giving up, what value is it adding to our short and long-term life, and is it filling a need or want?

That was a simple example of how researching facilitates decision-making in alignment with our values. Maybe, that was a bit simplified, so how about a topic a bit more high-level, let’s say, “doing what you love and creating purpose in the world doing it.”

Let’s say 30-year-old Joe has a good run in his career with Mid-Senior level experience kicking butt, taking names, and being praised by his peers for his contribution. Yet, subconscious angst eats him from time to time. The job is comfortable, he does it well, and there is peace of mind of a recurring paycheck cycle. Still, he has a love for knowledge of how to live a good life:

• How the world works, how to navigate it
• What biological, psychological, and societal limitations impede one’s progress
• Why stories and myths have profound resonance over literal explanations
• How can I share my experience to help others not repeat my mistakes

The list continues, and this process of identifying and sharing is an exploratory phase of research, contemplation, writing, rewriting, and mulling over the details with openness and criticism. And putting into practice to validate and reevaluate what sticks and speaks to Joe. The research process can include assessing her strengths, values, passions, and what purpose is more prominent to him.

From this, he is cultivating meaning. He goes deeper into his history to discover what he enjoyed doing as a child, how much his parents and society influenced specific thoughts and behavior, and whether these authority figures contributed to any self-limiting beliefs.

He takes it further by mapping out a timeline of his growth from childhood into now and how much his personality changed. Compare what he believes with family, friends, and co-workers’ views of him, and are there any parallels or contradictions? If there is a mismatch, the key lies in the subtleties in his persona or projecting a shadow not aligned with his values and conveying something primal and suppressed.

Joe pulls out from this invisible bag of dark energy. He finds a way to constructively acknowledge and harness its creative potential. As Socrates says, “know thyself” is crucial to living an authentic life. After confronting his shadow, he moves on to areas of interest worth sharing.

What does he often consume simply for the love of it, and what does he absorb to help him make the best choices, develop plans, and set up structures to build the life he wants? And if there are knowledge gaps, what are some great resources to glean from? While researching and contemplating with scrutiny, he is also writing and revising the biography of his life.

Joe realizes there are quite a few topics he wants to share. It’s complex at this time to know which one’s will have the most resonance for him and his audience, so he tests it out over time — and then he has to figure out which platforms serve as the best carrier for this message: blogging, podcasting, YouTube videos, books — yet, he is interested in all these, so Joe explores them all systematically by starting with blogging, and once in his groove he introduces scripting for videos (remixing blog content into videos), then integrates podcasting, and by some point, he has compounded enough data and weekly reviews to inform the next step.

It nourishes and challenges the mind

Wedding creative and critical thinking

It seems poetic the two can dance alongside each other where the creative (fed with the chaotic potential) dancer lets go of the mechanical nature of the dance and flows with it and, within that boundless imaginative space, perceive the innate harmony of potential.

Meanwhile, in their mechanical yet fluid movement, the critical (fed with observational data through logic) dancer sees a sequence of patterns and its rhythm and, with that discerning mind, judge and manipulate the essence of dance and invent new styles from it.

This tango to wedge the two whose different styles and ability to dance to the same tune is the fulcrum by which generates new ideas and solutions, innovation meets practicality, seeing the unseen and making it visible and tangible for the betterment of all.

Stave off mental and physical health issues

This one is quite personal and hits close to home. It took courage to stare with unblinking eyes in the dark recesses of the mind, an ambiguous place of great horror and revelation, to raise my unlifted sight.

I witness first-hand accounts of the danger of an unexamined life not complemented with openness, compassion, and criticism, which perpetuates and reinforces unhealthy thoughts and behaviors.

On the surface level, we all understand why smoking is bad and eating a balanced diet is good for us. The erosion of our well-being from chronic depression or anxiety. Also, looking at both sides of a story because we know biases, fallacies, and lack of judgment pollute our thoughts.

An examined person is prepared to tread uncomfortable places, welcome contention between loved ones and strangers, and see which shadows are kept away. Recognize the capacity to be divine or hellish, learn and practice to align oneself with the values and virtues in a world’s sometimes contradictive, deceptive, and unfair landscapes. While having the ability with discerning eyes to capture the joys, waves of laughter, beauty, and rarity for life to exist and cherish.

Thus, research can help by empowering us with knowledge. Explore why eating a balanced diet is good for us by understanding what carbohydrates are, how they affect our glucose levels, and the side effects when our diet is primarily composed of refined sugar. Not just in weight gain but also in mood and energy level. Ultimately leading quickly to a situation of malnutrition and increased risk of diabetes.

Yet, our emotional, psychological, and social well-being are part of our mental health. It influences our thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. Additionally, it affects how we respond to stress, interact with others, and make decisions. Every stage of life, from childhood and adolescence to maturity, is vital for mental health.

I grew up with a scarcity mindset and experienced numerous bouts of self-criticism and fear of writing a blog post to share it publicly for two years since the idea’s inception.

I was riddled with voices that whispered, “you’re not good enough,” “no one cares what you have to say,” and “people will find out the fraud you’re.” These voices paralyze me from taking action. I knew the benefits of putting myself out there. Still, my first blog draft remained private in my Google Drive for months. I would cope by binge-watching on Netflix, sipping on my 40th Dunkin Donuts cold brew coffee for the month, and feeling guilty for being a coward.

Then depression lingered for days. I was robbed of living the potential joy awaited when I hit publish. I was missing the opportunity to alter someone else’s life with my post, even if it was small. Then one day, I got tired of feeling defeated, and my desire for growth was more profound than my fear of ridicule.

It was a gradual process that started with several books on self-help. I had to explore uncomfortable places and study human nature’s effect on belief and behavior. I noticed the jealousy toward successful people and wanted to understand why I was projecting these negative emotions. I began understanding how stories moved me and showed how characters like Harry Potter and Simba represented the hero’s journey and how mine was lacking.

Bit by bit, the concepts learned from many books introduce insights I put into practice in day-to-day activities and interactions. I struggled in the beginning, but I knew I was making progress. And since then, I have found the courage to publish not just two books and several blog posts but also broaden into other forms of content.

The Gist

Although I continue to have occasional doubts yet excited about sharing my thoughts with content. It comes from an authentic place, and with research, experience, and perspective, I know someone else can benefit. There is joy in knowing that research improves the quality of life even if it only impacts one person.

• Philosophy isn’t exclusive to philosophers with degrees and years of experience. Suppose we value wisdom for the benefit of the art of living. In that case, we owe it to ourselves to glean knowledge from ancient to modern sources to broaden our minds to inform how we navigate life. And embrace the moral and allegorical lessons found in many works of art.
• Before a technology-connected age, information was scarce. People had to rely on trusted sources (people with inside knowledge such as newspapers, news outlets via radio or television, and flyers). They were the purveyors of information. In today’s age, we are littered with mixed information from trolls to get an emotional response to biased news pushing the agenda of a small few. This has resulted in leaning towards other data sources to be equipped with the knowledge to discern what is true. And encourage open discussion to arrive at a solution together than polarizing and demonizing the opposition in our echo chambers.
• A rule of thumb for finding one’s market is to craft our ideal audience considering all the demographic information about these individuals. I have a different approach, mainly when I’m the brand itself and less relevant to entities like companies composed of hundreds to thousands of employees in niche markets. When we take an honest view of ourselves, and it’s shown in our work by the passion and curiosity that fuels it, then we’re both the brand and the ideal audience of it.
• I’ll repeat it: history is complex. I’m grateful for the historical records society collected and for understanding how people, cultures, and society evolve. There are lessons to be found; not every outcome ended with a happy ending, as there were as equal as many sufferings. Research of these events should not just fall on a select few but open and encourage all individuals to inform and guide their life by looking into the past for insights.
• And to build on the preceding point, we recognize that when conducting our research, not all of a person’s time is available to check various sources on a subject. Thus, the public sincerely believes that the news media and fact-checkers look out for the average person’s interests. However, when there is a disruption in our life, such as a sharp increase in the price of groceries and gas or growing hostility between people holding different viewpoints, this hope is dashed. Maybe the sources we trust are lying to us or aren’t giving us the complete picture, so with the research, we’re empowered to identify the root cause of the cracks in the foundation.
• Most people have some entrepreneurial spirit; they have something helpful to share with others that is a value add. It can be simple, like creating a startup or storefront business, but an online business to either educate, inform, inspire, or entertain. People shouldn’t rely on one source of income, especially if that person has a drive or knowledge that others could benefit from, so why withhold this? Once we make time to think like an entrepreneur, whether full-time or as a side hustle, we start to see opportunities to share what we love and add value to people’s lives in return.
• Research has tremendous power to facilitate comprehension of a topic, whether it’s an exploration of ourselves to make better decisions and live the best possible life or a better understanding of people and the world around us. And like a curious child who keeps asking why and is often lost in adulthood, we can take our curiosity further beyond watching some videos on YouTube on how gravity works or why people project different masks in specific environments (family, friends, workplace).
• Also, reading Ovid’s Metamorphoses and William Shakespeare’s plays can teach us about the human condition and glean wisdom from these stories. Equipping ourselves with knowledge can take us further from a surface-level view of topics to delightful conversations about those particular topics with others.
• Like a dance between chaos and order on one side, a deep well of creative potential, and on the other giving form to that potential and wedding them, the two produce the emergence of life. Whether we are writing that next blog post, solving that issue at work, or looking for unique ways to teach someone a concept in a fun, not-so-boring, long-winded descriptive way, we have wedged the harmony between creative and critical thinking.
• Research can stave off mental and physical issues through generations of great minds contributing to the knowledge domain of philosophy, psychology, science, technology, and more by giving us the tools to live a better and healthier life. And with the wealth of information available to us, we can examine our own lives to remove the wool from our sight, curb the high-sugar diets affecting our energy, or even set boundaries for people who don’t want the best for us.
• The more we examine ourselves, the more compassion we have for others in their narrow perspective on how to navigate life and the better equipped we’re to have honest conversations in support of each other and discover a purpose to keep humanity pushing forward and recognize the stained history of humanity still holds lessons we can learn from and pay it forward into future generations.

Revelation

Many years have passed since that moment in college. This ambitious individual fantasized about the impact they would make for the betterment of humanity through the corporate system. After over a decade in the pipe dream, he felt the stagnation under the corporate machine and simmering beneath a lifeless feeling growing monstrous with time. Deep down, he should have addressed it weeks, months, if not years ago!

All that time spent driving it down only for it to resurface, the call to action he kept ignoring by coping with daily consumption of excessive coffee. A trajectory in his life changed him forever as his world was upended, and he saw the world more clearly than before. After so many years in the employer environment, he hoped to find fulfillment.

As he tried, he grew more unsatisfied with office politics, being a cog in the machine, and the superficial interactions. His untapped potential disturbed him, and it grew distant from him. He was foolish to believe he could delegate his purpose to others, believing they knew what was best for him. How naïve he was to think this would ever be the case.

He has sought new ways to renew his passion for work. Yet, the same monotonous task repeated the next day… artificial job titles were changed. Still, the duties remained the same, a meaningless trade-off for money and for what else?

He realized he was expecting too much from the job to fulfill him — and failed to explore the entrepreneurship path. Whereas before, he was stricken with fear of all the risk it connotes. He and many embellish the job security narrative that employers offer. Conversely, the experience of the 2008 crash and rona events painted a different story. However, deep down, he knew better. Yet, he lives in quiet desperation and only embraces the fears about failures and successes.

Failing to see with courage that alternative paths uncover the potential for growth and fulfillment that awaits everyone who partakes in the journey into the unknown. Then one day, he researched how to blog and create YouTube videos because he wanted to share what he learned from all the books he read about how to live a better life by understanding human nature. With every blog and YouTube video he published, he began to see its impact on others and recognize its possibility. He found a purpose in life beyond the noise of office chatter inside a box.

Rise of the Gig Economy

This short story is written for those who have tried or are still in the 9 to 5 lifestyle. People who demonstrated patterns in their creativity and drive dabbled in hobbies or side businesses that they were willing to share with others, who found value in their work, and are still determining their ability to earn a living off it in the current environment:

• The exorbitant cost of college tuition has grown by 1200%, while CPI inflation has risen to 231% since 1980. A person with an engineering degree will have an easier time paying student loans than someone with a liberal arts degree.
• Productivity levels went up to 64%, while compensation has grown to 17% since the 1970s. Most of the profits are funneled into the higher spheres in a company as corporations either offshore labor or replace most tasks with automation keeping the growth of wages minimum.
• While many companies are filled with bullshit jobs, many of these high-pay roles, such as taskmasters, just create or delegate more work to others while in meetings, most of the time serving no real purpose but to fill the time.
• 70% of North American workers are disengaged from their jobs.

Nobody is born or trained to run their own business. Since the advent of the internet and websites like YouTube, Etsy, and Fiverr, many creators can now support themselves through their work in ways unrelated to the traditional career route. This resulted in a growing breed of creative entrepreneurs in what we call a rise in the gig economy.

No longer beholden to one source of income and their time to a fixed schedule and commuting in horrendous traffic as more employers force employees back into the office in the name of “collaborative culture.” Furthermore, weak labor laws in the U.S. lump sick days with vacation days as earned time off. While many workers are mostly disconnected or indifferent about their jobs.

We observed the usage of tools like Zoom during the rona event. As a result of telecommuting, people no longer need to live in densely populated urban areas. Communal groups of people who share similar interests can be formed. Since the internet makes it easier for people to share information, it has the potential to increase democracy and decentralize authority.

Therefore, encouraging more people to seek alternative paths to cultivate purpose and meaning in their life by having the flexibility to explore beyond fixed boundaries. This is quite visible as more Millennials and Gen Z freelance for flexibility and autonomy. One of the downsides of corporations, as they grow more prominent to become more efficient, ultimately removes the employee’s individual identity. People want more control over their lives, and creative entrepreneurship fulfills that desire.

What is a creative entrepreneur?

So what is a creative entrepreneur apart from an entrepreneur? Isn’t all entrepreneurs creative? Well, yes, as they see opportunities in the market and find a unique way to solve people’s problems or fulfill their desires. However, the emphasis is on creativity, and this definition helps describe the meaning from The Balance Small Business website:

The creative entrepreneur uses their creative or intellectual knowledge and skills to earn a living, usually in a business or as a freelancer. This differs from traditional entrepreneurship, which mainly focuses on manufacturing and industrial products.

With the thought of creative entrepreneurs, we can envision YouTube content creators, authors, bloggers, painters, musicians, and graphic designers. These entrepreneurs create value, whether it’s information, inspiration, education, or entertainment. These folks tap into their creative intellectual assets to make money hence the entrepreneur part. There are several reasons to venture into creative entrepreneurship, either as a business or side hustle:

• Get paid to do something you love and to take it further and excel at
• Control over your work
• Flexibility
• Designing a profession that fits your lifestyle goals and values

Of course, we don’t live in a fantasy world, so there are potential negatives:

• The tedious and often monotonous business tasks
• Inconsistent income from each source unless you were wise enough to develop multiple sources of income to make it feel like there is consistent cash flow.
• Turning a creative passion into a “job” could drain the fun factor.

It’s a matter of perspective with some of those negatives around this lifestyle, so for an author, both the positives and negatives of this path with creative entrepreneurship:

• Creative expression
• Satiating the demons within and slaying the dragons
• Personal and professional development, by nature, requires imagination, curiosity, and creativity combined with reflection, courage, and logic to venture into the unknown and create something of value from chaos.
• Carving a lifestyle around something they enjoy and am skilled at by giving value to others
• Building their dream rather than someone else’s

With the negatives, they may not see so much as negatives except paying taxes that are hardly ever fun:

• Business tasks are features securing aspects of the business and offering peace of mind, e.g., submitting and paying copyright fees to protect their assets over a lawsuit. Plus, they feel productive when they complete a task. They are small wins that compound toward long-term goals.
• Monetizing a passion feels like a “job.” The author could have several passions: writing, studying mythology, philosophy, psychology, and playing video games (treated more as a relaxing activity than monetizing it), so the author is never doing one singular thing that would entail removing the joy from their work.

Frankly, to each their own, everyone has their ticks. Suppose someone is in that phase where the passion feels like a job. If that’s the case, it’s recommended to branch out to other interests, explore new hobbies, or mix them up to add variety and shuffle the scheduling for each task.

How creative entrepreneurs are destined to leave the world a better place

Creative entrepreneurs are not just individuals who seize an opportunity that’s filling a gap in the market creatively. They also provide value to others by educating, informing, inspiring, or entertaining. On a philosophical level, they’re innovators, cultural preservers and progressers, soothsayers, and jesters; they raise a mirror on humanity in all its forms, warts and all.

The impact of these folks on the world ranges from an amateur author who plucked the heartstrings of love with poetry to a Twitch streamer who brought joy and humor into the sometimes mundane lives we live as forms of escapism. Also, pioneers like Elon Musk challenged the status quo in space and automobiles to progress humanity than uninspiring new releases of iPhones each year.

Life can be daunting, boring, and even meaningless when you don’t have an established belief system that guides you to something larger than your ego. Creative entrepreneurs provide many people the comfort or solutions to make life more enjoyable.

As social creatures, we’re moving towards an ideal future for the betterment of humanity while preserving cultural values and traditions. As creative entrepreneurs, our value is direct, tangible, and immediate. In the corporate machine, it’s challenging to see the big picture or how your work is affecting the world in a better place than you left it. Many jobs in that bureaucratic landscape are filled with bullshit jobs where people don’t even see the meaning and impact of their job.

Those who work bullshit jobs are often surrounded by honor and prestige; they are respected as professionals, well paid, and treated as high achievers — as the sort of people who can be justly proud of what they do. Yet secretly they are aware that they have achieved nothing; they feel they have done nothing to earn the consumer toys with which they fill their lives; they feel it’s all based on a lie — as, indeed, it is.”―David Graeber, Bullshit Jobs: A Theory

Whereas creative entrepreneurs offer products and services that come from understanding human nature and its condition, these folks recognize their creative work’s value and effect. Thus, with that understanding, what types of creative entrepreneurs exist.

The types of creative entrepreneurs

By looking far and wide at how many types of creative entrepreneurs exist, there are many, and it’s quite an exhaustive list, and newer types come into the scene. It’s a better idea to place creative entrepreneurs into four categories:

Artist

Someone producing something intangible with visually striking imagery, such as graphic designers, photographers, writers, and illustrators.

Makers

Someone produces something tangible by curating or molding natural elements to create aesthetics, such as florists, jewelry makers, painters, and chefs.

Movers

Someone motivating others to use their body magically, whether self or with an object, such as folks that are dancers, musicians, fitness trainers, yogis

Shakers

Someone educating, inspiring, entertaining, or informing: coaches, therapists, bloggers, educators (thought leaders), creative consultants, video game streamers, comedians, and podcasters.

It doesn’t mean one person is one of these distinct types. Instead, it’s far more common that the creative entrepreneur encompasses multiple types. Because there is a drive within these individuals to extend their reach, improve the quality of their work and give more value to others.

That becomes the natural course when the creative entrepreneur wants to scale a business.

For instance, an author is both an artist (author) and shaker (blogger), expanding their reach by scripting videos for YouTube, podcasting, and developing courses because they believe in the entrepreneurial spirit: individuals motivated by the core values of curiosity, growth, imagination, creativity, passion, and autonomy.

As Sahil Lavingia states in his book, The Minimalist Entrepreneur, “if you’re always learning, you’ll always have something to teach others about their own next best steps.” Many would identify with his message because curiosity is human nature. It would be selfish of us not to share what we know, have learned, or have experienced that can help guide, inspire, and amuse others to help them advance toward the life they picture.

Furthermore, creators, as Sahil Lavingia points out, “you don’t have to be a genius or pretend to be a genius. You just need to be a step ahead of your audience in at least one thing.” So why feel guilty if we know we’re authentically sharing or teaching something important that moves us and inspires someone else.

The Gist

Since 1980, tuition at private universities has increased by 1,200%, while consumer price inflation has reached 231%. Productivity levels climbed to 64%, while compensation grew to 17% during the 1970s. Businesses now either outsource their labor to countries with lower labor costs or replace workers with machines, meaning most of the profits go to the organization’s upper echelons. As a result of the rise of e-commerce platforms like Etsy, Fiverr, and YouTube, many artists can make a living from their creations. At the rona event, we saw people using technologies like Zoom to communicate with one another. Since many jobs may now be done remotely, suburban and rural locations are becoming viable alternatives to city life.

• A creative entrepreneur uses their creative or intellectual knowledge and skills to earn a living, usually in a business or as a freelancer. This differs from traditional entrepreneurship, which mainly focuses on manufacturing and industrial products.
• There are always pros (making money doing what you love and are skilled at) and cons (turning your creative passion into a “job” could drain the fun factor). It’s recommended to have multiple passions and variety to offset this feeling.
• Creative entrepreneurs leave the world in a better place than it was before at any scale, whether with a book that hits the heartstrings about love, a twitch streamer who brings joy into people’s banal life, or pioneering humanity into the forefront of space and innovation into the automobile.
• Creative entrepreneurs come in many flavors, and it’s easier to organize these types into four categories: artists (authors), makers (painters), movers (dancers), and shakers (bloggers).
• As creative entrepreneurs, it may sometimes feel we’re imposters to monetize a creative talent for a service or product we provide as value for others. When in doubt, just ask yourself, “are you a better person today than you were yesterday? Whether you learned a new skill, acquired a new experience, or developed a perspective that better informs your decisions?” if the answer is yes, then you have something of value to offer by sharing or teaching it. So, don’t feel guilty about it.

The title is hyperbolic on the surface but is it? In truth, the concept of research saved me from going down a path of ignorance and misery, an end road where nihilism and defeat awaited.

The awareness and ability to use research effectively can make all the difference in one’s life. Before sharing my story, it helps to understand its meaning by looking at its etymology:

1590s, “investigate or study (a matter) closely, search or examine with continued care,” from French recercher, from Old French recercher “seek out, search closely,” from re-, here perhaps an intensive prefix (see re-), + cercher “to seek for,” from Latin circare “go about, wander, traverse,” in Late Latin “to wander hither and thither,” from circus “circle” (see circus).

In short, to seek and study closely while revisiting to learn something new with a fresh pair of eyes.

Researching doesn’t just imply gathering information on a particular topic you plan to write and help make your argument, what features the following product will offer, or satiating your curiosity to better understand the world around you. There are, without a doubt, degrees of research far more involved than which version of an iPhone to buy.

Research is an integral part of life, a human experience in individual development. It extends to the family, community, and society. Given the nature of this topic, I can walk away with a dissertation on the various benefits of research as a whole…

I won’t torture you with that now, which I plan to cover in a separate post. Instead, I’ll explore in this post the intimate relationship I have with researching how it has enhanced my life and how it has imprisoned me. What methods I’ve used to minimize the trap of falling into a perpetual research loop.

What’s important is that you examine your life with care and wander hither and thither in a circle. Each challenge, obstacle, experience, response, joy, and sorrow is an opportunity to glean wisdom. Now, without further ado, research on!

The road from darkness to light

Let’s get the juicy bit out of the way, the part of the tabloid people want to read about before hopping towards the happy ending — you have to read further on to find out.

A few years ago, I decided I wanted to publish a book. I had several ideas but needed to determine which one to explore. Then it dawned on me one day in my journal entry I had a plethora of literature archived on DVDs I had stored over the years since high school. Why not gather all I wrote and organize and identify which bodies of work make the most sense to publish?

After grueling hours of reading through many of them in their original state, the cringe I felt with each one I read but respectfully just as much the progress I forged over the year showed an improvement in writing quality. I decided my first book was going to be a poetry collection.

However, to reach that decision, it took a pivotal point in my life to cross that juncture. If it wasn’t for the development of looking inward and wandering back into my history to dig deeper and the courage required to undertake this journey by putting the proverbial pencil to paper. A dark place in my life.

Down and out

I had a falling-out moment in my life in 2013, and I was, as you would say, stuck between a rock and a hard place for a couple of years — I was my worst enemy. I was unemployed — although getting job interviews but I was turned down each time. This struggle to land a job, partly because of my hubris, also put me in a dark place of shame, a feeling of inadequacy.

The stigma behind if you’re not contributing to society — you’re lazy, incompetent, freeloader, the list goes on, and I stayed hushed for months while it eroded my mental health.

A shame to reveal a self-stain to others in my weakest moment and be looked down upon. In hindsight, I should have sought help even though I kept applying for jobs, tweaking my resume for each one. Society has another stigma around people who seeks professional mental health service as an outsider they don’t want to associate themselves with.

While getting turned down for job offers and withholding my situation from friends. I kept trying to make something of myself rather than nothing. Yet, I was caught in a negative spiral believing I was a loser.

Glimmer of light

I continued to move on while feeling ashamed. I found some hope when considering whether my bad luck might have something to do with my personality: how I see and navigate life. I questioned whether I was not expressing who I am as an exciting person or if I needed to improve in some essential skills.

I ventured to learn more about myself and no longer be pulled around by the whims of my mood and impulses. This led to exploring other career options to see the best fit for my personality. I also reflected through journaling and taking up arms with books that probe into my childhood, identifying unhealthy patterns in my relationships, thoughts, and behavior.

While also broadening my knowledge of the world through history, philosophy, mythology, and psychology. The most practical change I could make was in my profession and my development as an individual.

I’d invested my education and experience in the I.T. industry. The most straightforward approach was acquiring extra credentials to validate my technical skill sets. So I studied and earned two certifications while pursuing web development as a hobby.

Crossing the thresholds

I scoured the web to identify the best way to enter this field as an amateur. Viola, all sorts of online code schools popped up, and one click away from empowering me with a sought skill; thus, I stumbled upon Treehouse, Codecademy, and others.

After accomplishing a few hired projects in the I.T. field, I finally struck gold! After two years, I landed a temp role with a global brand, thanks to a man named J.P., who allowed me to prove my worth. Meanwhile, I needed help grasping coding, so I gave up and switched lanes to web design and branding. And, with all new ventures, I experienced momentum in this newfound hobby while building rapport with associates at the workplace to raise my marketability in the career landscape.

After my temp job ended, I was back to square one, and job searches were unsuccessful for months. Then in the next project cycle, the same company rehired me again for the same project in due part because of the reputation I earned. By this time, I had built my website and hired to redo my cousin’s business website by making it look more kid and SEO friendly.

In my upward trajectory, I landed two more clients, and like a cliff drop, the temp role ended once again. A rollercoaster of emotions flooded me; yet, undeterred with an eager face, I kept pressing forward and filled the gap by volunteering for a non-profit as a web developer for their WordPress sites. Finally, three months later, I received good news the same global brand company hired me as a full-time employee, and what a relief it was then…

And the excitement held firm for two years, all those years to reach this point from that dark place, and I’m grateful for all of it. Yet, an unsettling feeling kept nudging me. I grew more dissatisfied with my day job and more aware of why some people struggled in corporate environments. When unhealthy office politics reared its head as upper management made poor decisions, did not prioritize the fundamental issues, or when good ideas were shot down. Showing up to work grew debilitating.

So, I sought new ways to renew my passion for my work, and I recognized I was banking too much of my well-being on the job to fulfill it — in hindsight, never a wise choice. I hypothesize that when you’re driven and creative, finding fulfillment in projects, you don’t see any meaning within the constraints of your role in a company. A vacuum is filled in its place.

I did not see any other possibility as I believed the entrepreneurship mountain was too steep to climb at this juncture of my life. In this ambivalent stage, I landed another client to help clear my mind off the day job drama for some period.

Peering within the soul

In my journal entry, I philosophically meditate on my day-to-day experience. Like picking on a scab like a hound to a fox chase, I scrutinize my psyche, peering deep into my shadows as Carl G. Jung would dub it.

I sifted through the B.S. and blind spots I have created, what narrative I bought into and how I could challenge it, and it unraveled itself.

Unraveling itself with each introspection, with every self-assessment of the personality test. One note about personality tests they’re great for uncovering your current personality type and providing guidance. Yet, with time it’s more likely some aspects will change or should evolve.

The uncertain future demands us to adapt to unforeseen events that require us to transform. The danger of always believing you have a fixed personality can do more harm than good in the long game of life. Thus, by exploring my personal branding: my values, my passions, and what purpose I wanted to cultivate.

What task or endeavor gives my life more explicit meaning than arbitrary ones in some menial work activity? Once I lifted the wool from my eyes, I began seeing the patterns between all my self-assessments. I still believed biases and fallacies were at play and related them to my childhood joys and the similarities between all activities.

So like a detective, I saw the motive; as an author, I saw the motif, and like a cliche, I saw the writing on the wall. This required deliberate time and effort by venturing into hidden places I was ashamed to face. I suppressed many uncomfortable discoveries for years, and it only enlarged my shadow!

I discovered I was seeking autonomy and control over the type of work I get to do than have to do and I wanted to feed my creative side and satiate the demon; also, I wanted to share and provide value for others in whatever format: entertainment, information, education, and or inspiration and if I’m lucky, build a community of like-minded folks.

And in one of my journal entries, I pivoted to pursue a lifestyle in writing, which started with a book. A vocation in writing where I get to provide value for others and explore many sources of income that writing skills can offer: freelance writing, courses, books, blogging, and scripts for videos, to name a few — rather than one where I was trading my time to push the agenda of someone else’s dream in some hollow cubicle in the office punching away the keys I was withering away daily.

I respect people who thrive in an employer environment, able to detach from a job to support their life outside of work. Still, there is a subset of folks who have a creative entrepreneurial drive and prefers to mark their path. Yet, although common knowledge, the fear of losing it all in a layoff without other sources of income to compensate, such as emergency funds, is not sustainable. The uncertain future still makes people dread when no cash flow comes in. I knew the pain of being unemployed very well, and it was up to me to regain control of my freedom and make sacrifices.

New horizons

I shut down my web design business and switched over to writing. Before I could write a book, let alone go through the process from idea to publication. I had to identify what I lacked and fill in knowledge gaps to publish a poetry book. Research how other authors started, and from one search into many, I stumbled upon many blog posts, podcasts, and videos about writing, publishing, and marketing.

Then I found a few authors who have written on the topics I was seeking and devoured their free content. I needed to continue satiating my hunger for knowledge from their content. I bit the bullet and bought their books.

Ordeal

I realized one day while glancing at my excessive notes, bookmarks, highlights, etc. I was caught in a nasty loop of planning and research. What James Clear points out in his book Atomic Habits:

“Being in motion and taking action.
The two ideas sound similar, but they’re not the same.
When you’re in motion, you’re planning and strategizing, and learning.
Those are all good things, but they don’t produce a result.”

An endless void of research, and this delayed any writing I could have accomplished for almost a year… yes, you read that right, an entire year of obsessive research and planning. On this long-winded journey, I had to address other behaviors that prevented me from making consistent progress in publishing a book in a reasonable amount of time.

I am what my uncle diagnosed me with an “addictive personality.” Oh no, not with a substance, but more when I discover a shiny new toy. I passionately dedicate all my energy to it; until one day, that once fancy toy is no longer fancy, and a new one fills its place. This underlying behavior prevented me from taking risks for various ambitious endeavors.

Thus, this notion, this behavior I was struggling with, I would scrutinize the root causes, and many there were, such as imposter syndrome, fear of failure and success, and public criticism, to name a few.

I snatched up books with exercises that helped me look deeply at these obstacles in my psyche. I would run across various philosophies to help me reframe my outlook on life and embrace both the good and bad aspects of human nature.

A lot of the wisdom I found in Stoicism, Aristotle’s Golden Mean, and living daily by the motto “Amor Fati” helped me develop a resilient mindset. Furthermore, the awareness and acceptance that my natural responses to my environment hold valuable insights about my belief and the circumstances I face daily.

I learned many situations are outside my control, and dwelling too long about that fact did not progress a healthy outcome. Still, I can reframe my responses and trust in faith that the road ahead is littered with imperfections and unknown obstacles but venture resolutely amongst it all.

And by this point, I developed strategies around habit formation, many from Atomic Habits, living intentionally with digital devices with Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport. And many more after that. Recognizing a structure in one’s life is far more liberating than the freedom to be jostled by your impulses and moods.

Finally, during the pandemic, I found that steadfast, eager face to write and revise for months, connect with an editor and book designer, and ultimately publish my first book, The Cool and Warmth of Hearts, on February 14th, 2022.

The elixir

What purpose did this chronological account of my life serve in terms of research leading up to my choice to publish a book as a guide for creating the lifestyle I desire?

Through my research, I recognize how my earlier years kept me small and diminished. With awareness, acceptance, and deliberate research, or some would call it reflection. I took the reins over my life and have lived intentionally since this transformation in my journey.

Investigating my own life equipped me with knowledge about the world and myself while navigating it. It also gave me the skills to survive and improve one percent daily in the art of living. I saw and connected how the various research between my thoughts and feelings informed my decision-making. Also, how I responded to the environment and processed the external world, which was all incongruent with each other, like a freaky hive-mind.

Feeling safe and believing you’re “doing something useful is easy.” Still, you need the opportunity to share your creation with the world. It takes courage to acknowledge that confronting your demons will break you out of the perpetual darkness and embrace the creative energy of your shadow while moving toward the light.

Thus, living an authentic life doing what you love with the intention of your values, passions, and purpose molded into it.

The Gist

As dramatic as this may sound, research saved my life and saved me from the ignorant reality of a wandering zombie over many days. I don’t believe I’m near to saying “I’m enlightened” and living the perfect life. The flaws were insights into becoming an evolving virtuous person.

I do enjoy the kaleidoscope range of emotions. I do enjoy the cognitive challenges I face often. I recognize the ability to follow your bliss by trusting in your inner wisdom and the spontaneity and beauty of life, both its good and bad aspects. Especially how my shadow can teach me how to use its creative energy in developing individuation (wholeness).

“There is no light without shadow and no psychic wholeness without imperfection.” — Carl G. Jung, Psychology and Alchemy

I needed clarification that it was about more than just the destination. It’s about the journey and the experience you cultivate and share with others along the way. However, remember that the destination is there to help you aim and develop the awareness and presence to enjoy the ride of the journey even with their bumpy roads and all.

In a future post, I want to share a more general view of how research improves the quality of life. Until then, Amor Fati.

• Deliberate research equipped me with the knowledge about the world and skills in both personal and professional settings to survive, thrive, and improve in the art of living.
• Research expanded my horizon to scrutinize and challenge my bias and the fallacy of myself and others. Whether there is an overarching narrative or the status quo at hand.
• Research taught me by probing, we can recognize how valuable time is and how wasteful we’re of it. Living intentionally, as a result, helped me find, gauge, and seize opportunities in designing the life I’m creating.
• It has reinvigorated my passions and confidence in pursuing the activities I enjoy and sharing them with others.
• It has provided me the nourishment and exercise of the psyche as I continue learning to live with my shadow and harness its energy while adhering to divine nature.

In This Post, You Will Discover

• Monitor success and failures for the next book project and adjust
• Reevaluating existing assets, strategies, and life goals
• Remembering why all the effort

Why do anything at all when some project or task exhausts more energy than others — is it all just a means to an end to fulfill some desire or distract from some angst? When it comes down to writing, publishing, and marketing a book, is it done on a surface level value like money? Do you think it would hold an inch of motivation in the long game of life?

So, I ask what you would rather have on your deathbed, a pile of toys paid for with money or experiences of a well-lived life that gave others value.

It’s easy to lose sight of where and why we started. We can implement reflections to foster gratitude and purpose by scheduling weekly, monthly, and annual reviews that reinforce why we’re here and where we’re going next and enjoying the ride.

Monitor success and failures

Monitoring success and failures take great courage in the face of one’s expectation for all the effort to create a book. From the time I started writing, I was having bouts of fantasizing about how many copies the book will sell and how much money I will earn. Then the negative voices spoke louder: “you’re a fake, an amateur,” “you don’t have writing talent,” and “expect to receive low star ratings and nasty criticism because you suck!”

Those voices never left me throughout the book’s writing journey, and now they’re much more tempered after months from release. If you wrote a book from a genuine place, you would be open to growth, and you can discern the praises and criticism from reviews as an opportunity for learning. I’ve learned I sold many copies from free promotional days and made some money. My goal is to build brand awareness rather than money as the focus.

I knew way before the book’s publication this is a similar story experienced by other authors — starting you’re a white noise overshadowed by the radio background noise. It takes months to be seen and recognized for something of value.

It takes patience and awareness of why you’re on this path and celebrating the wins and losses because those are growth opportunities. Opportunities to evaluate what worked and did not, detach your emotions for a moment, and objectively identify where to glean the lessons and apply them.

Suppose you’re genuinely making the authentic effort to improve and provide value with each iteration. In that case, it will speak for itself, and readers can spot a fake from a mile away. I evaluate the following areas to better position my next book and my business as an author:

• Sales report with promo sites and without them
• Read reviews from editorial, Amazon, and Goodreads to extract insights
• Social media posts to identify which type of content has the most engagement and capitalize on it

Only a little to work with, but I am learning bit by bit and adding something new to the repertoire as I expand my business.

Reevaluate assets and strategies

Periodically evaluating assets and strategies ensure they stay consistent when considering opportunities or shifts in the industry that require adapting to changes. Regarding assets, it’s not just the book. It’s also the words, and how can I repurpose them elsewhere? Phrases from the book can be repurposed as quotes shared on social media. The inspiration behind the book project can be converted into creating scripts for videos and blog posts; it does take deliberate creative thinking on how to repurpose existing assets.

Furthermore, after some experience with published books, that’s an opportunity to share this knowledge in a blog post and/or video and even create high-quality courses. It takes great effort and stumbling to fill in the void of knowledge gaps and experience to grasp what it takes to take an idea to market. Something like a course can shortcut efforts made for those who want it. As an author, there are several strategies to remember and revise as the business grows. At the foundation, you have your broader author business plan that encompasses the essential aspects:

• Business summary: a summary of what intellectual properties you will focus on, goals, brand, publisher, genres you write in, reader avatar/s
• Production: the products you will produce, not just books but also courses, freelance services, writing process, schedule, publishing and licensing, and pricing, and systems to bullet-proof the workflow
• Marketing: organic promotion (Instagram and GoodReads). Paid advertisement (Amazon and BookBub ads). Author website with an email service provider (MailerLite, ConvertKit). Content (blog, videos, podcast, email book updates, etc.) and social media marketing (inspirational quotes, book excerpts, polls, updates, live feeds, etc.). Networking with writers, publishers, communities, conferences, and meetups
• Financial: money mindset (discerning if this is a hobby to supplement your current income or creating a path towards making a living from your writing skills). Revenue model and income — whether to go exclusive or wide or start out exclusive for brand awareness and then go wide after getting some exposure. Initial investment (website, email service provider, budgeting for editing/design collaboration, publisher fees, and marketing budget with book promo sites and ads) and ongoing cost (ads, book promo sites, budgeting for future projects, and expenses in resources and education)

Determine how often you will review the broader business plan and identify any improvements that can be made in the business systems to ensure its operation runs unhindered without wasted effort. If so, develop contingencies for worse-case scenarios — always document every process because you need to delegate some task that others can do better. At the same time, you focus on what you’re really good at.

The Gist

• After publishing a book, celebrate it.
• Monitor the success and failures if the game plan is to publish more books and whether you choose to be a full-time author or a side hustle.
• Develop a mindset that the uncomfortable parts you consider are failures in the author’s business or a book’s sales. Use the information as an opportunity to learn than attack your character.
• Review sales reports, book reviews, and social media engagement. Evaluate whether any criticism is valid or whether someone is not particularly fond of your book style and writing. You cannot satisfy everyone, and you’re not supposed to because your goal is to find more of your ideal reader.
• As you gather, collect, and assess the success and failures, determine if you need to adjust the marketing or publishing strategy. It’s a good rule of thumb to reevaluate an author’s business even if you plan to pursue a different path than a full-time author.
• Suppose you want your books to do well and reach the ideal readers. In that case, you have to be deliberate about promoting not just one book but many if your goal is releasing a series or a variety of books. I recommend every six or 12-month review, and if you can throw in a weekly or monthly check-in, then do it. It will further help with micro-adjustments, whether in the systems with your writing process, marketing, getting into the flow, and even scheduling and adapting to life’s unexpected events to stay within deadlines.
• Be honest with yourself; why do anything at all? Do you prefer to binge-watch a show after a long workday and not pursue hobbies and goals that could enrich your life? As lovely as extrinsic values are, such as a book hitting the best-seller list, earning a six-figure income, or having several thousand followers on social media, these euphoric feelings will wane. You will question one day why you feel lost.
• When you remind yourself regularly why all the effort crafting a book or writing hundreds of blog posts or scripting, recording, editing, and publishing YouTube videos. The intrinsic motivations will remind you why you chose to show up to write daily, why you schedule your weekend, and sacrifice all that free time carving a path towards a lifestyle that aligns with your values, passions, and purpose.

In This Post, You Will Discover

• Marketing is not always what people think and how to embrace the proper marketing mindset as a writer
• The book metadata: description, categories, keywords, and pricing
• Author platforms and email list
• Book launch strategy: social media, launch content, and email

Marketing is a concept I have feared for a long time. It still holds negative connotations among consumers of the way it pervades our life where it’s ubiquitous and within view, whether email, social media platforms, billboards, ads in retail, or commercial breaks. The only recluse from it is venturing into nature.

I’ve done my best to block out ads in the landscape of my phone, web browsing, or cruising down the road. I have yet to venture for more than 100 feet without some ad copy welcoming me with some epic deal that touches on my psyche of FOMO. So, I thought for a long time until I stumble on a gem who reframed my outlook on it ever since:

• Marketing is sharing what you love with people who will appreciate hearing about it. — Joanna Penn, How to Market a Book

I still remember all the folks who tried to upsell me on a product without consideration of what I needed based on my values. It’s an education issue, assessing if they have understood and empathized with the other person’s wants/needs and discerning if it’s a superficial or intentional value add.

One of my philosophies in the art of living a good life: is when I acquire or consume an experience, whether it’s information, education, entertainment, or wisdom, I ask myself does it provide temporary relief or adds value to living a better life. Basically, am I reading a book because everyone is reading it and it’s tied to the feeling of FOMO, or is there an area of my life where there is an explicit value gained? When you share something that you find of real value, do you consider how valuable it is to others (what effect are you hoping it will produce)?

And this makes marketing hard to master, as I ask before releasing content to the public space: am I authentically sharing what I love that will resonate with others? With that said, there is a lot of consideration to aligning this vision with a marketing strategy that touches the essence of that message.

Book Metadata

When it comes to the fact that marketing is literally ubiquitous and congested and how you even get seen by your ideal readers — sure, you have your avatar and all the information describing them. You have to curate and publish to the platforms they will hopefully find your book. From my experience, it’s both an art and a science.

I won’t get into the details of that process. There are so many resources available, and if you’re writing books originally from your own interest, then it’s likely you’re a description of an ideal reader for starters. Once you have an ideal reader in mind and understand your book, you must set up the book’s metadata: description, categories, keywords, and pricing.

Description

Whatever retailer you publish your book on, they all have a description field (also called sales description) of what the book is about. They’re just as important as the book cover and title. Here are some of the reasons from Kindlepreneur:

• They get readers interested in your book
• They can lead to increased sales of your book
• They are part of your book’s first impressions, along with the book cover and title
• They provide a reason someone should buy your book

And in physical retail stores, you need a solid book blurb on the back cover to attract your ideal reader. Unlike the book’s description fields on Amazon, you cannot change the print book blurb once it’s on the shelf in Barnes & Noble. One recommendation is to research top-selling books in your genre and study their book description, apply some techniques for nonfiction or fiction and run an A/B test. if you have the budget, hire a professional. As a creative writer copywriting is a different mindset and skill.

It doesn’t come naturally without practice. For my book, I wrote what the book is about and hired a professional poet who has written hundreds of book blurbs and descriptions. Then I sent the final book blurb to my designer. If you believe your book blurb is weak and improve it to increase sales, you can always take the book off the shelf, but that will come at a cost.

Categories and keywords

I’ll lump together categories and keywords as they’re closely related. When readers shop on a platform like Amazon, they know which genre of books they like. They are looking for new books to add to their repertoire, and the two ways they can accomplish this on Amazon: searching through category or keyword/phrase search; the former will look like this:

While the latter looks like this:

When you upload your book with Amazon, you’re only allowed to select up to three categories — however, you can contact Amazon and add seven more, totaling 10 categories. If you request categories not within your genre, expect those to get denied by Amazon. As for searching for the best categories to add, you can research similar books, check bestsellers in the book’s genre, and see a list of categories that match the book’s theme.

There are two methods I’ve used: I would research similar books in the theme and style of my book, e.g., I took inspiration from classical authors like William Shakespeare, Lord Byron, and similar poetry books and found out what categories they’re being ranked for and do they share these traits. I will use tools like PublisherRocket or BkLNK to identify additional categories they’re being ranked for. Then curate a list of these categories in my book project folder in a spreadsheet. And if you run a category search, you will get this for the Kindle version of The Cool and Warmth of Hearts:

• Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Poetry > Poetry Anthologies
• Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Poetry > Religious & Inspirational Poetry
• Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Poetry > American Poetry > Hispanic-American Poetry
• Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Poetry > Poetry Subjects & Themes > Poetry About Love
• Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Poetry > Contemporary Poetry
• Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Poetry > Love & Erotic Poetry

The print version has a different category structure, so I had to perform the exact search to identify which categories I would apply and request for my book. Having more categories creates more opportunities for readers to find my book than just three. The second method readers can find a book is through keyword search in the Amazon search bar, and you can have up to 7 keyword searches applied for the book in the KDP upload process:

And this is where it gets complicated. You can write up to 50 characters in each box, meaning each box doesn’t have to be single-word keywords but multiple keywords or phrases. The complication doesn’t stop; there are here six questions asked about this esoteric topic around keywords:

1. Does Filling In All 50 Characters Index Your Book For More Keywords? Yes.
2. Does Amazon Rearrange the Words and Index for them, or just use the exact phrase you type in? Yes.
3. If I have the Same Keyword More than Once, Does that Help or Hurt? No.
4. Does Targeting a Specific Phrase Help With Rankings? Yes.
5. Is it Better to Put My Keyword in the Title, Subtitle, or Keyword Box? Yes.

If only keyword search was kept simple, yet on the plus side. This helps readers find the book with targeted search phrases, especially coming up with unique keyword searches for a specific book. Here are the ones I applied for The Cool and Warmth of Hearts:

• romantic love poems book
• romantic love poems collection
• romantic love poetry collection
• romantic love poetry book
• romantic love pining heartbreak life nature divine
• love longing heartbreak nature divine life poetry
• romantic love stories
• romanticism poetry

I’ve used what the book is about, which encompasses its theme, categorized its book type and genre, and subthemes keywords found in my book.

Pricing

Unfortunately, there is no precise pricing for books, and there are several factors to consider when pricing a book. First is your publishing goal. There are recommendations if you’re a new author or have multiple books available. Some questions to consider: is your focus on making as much money as possible? Reach and sell as many copies as you can.

When you’re a new author needing to establish brand awareness, it’s suggested to price low and take advantage of features like Kindle Unlimited and free day promotion with promotional websites. Whereas with the author who has many books available, you could make the first book a series or earlier books in non-series priced low and scale up the newer ones.

It’s easier to experiment with ebook pricing because you don’t have to factor in the material cost to make a print book, and it varies between the paperback and hardcover with page count; also, if you have a book with illustration and color that adds to the cost as well.

My objective was to gain customers’ trust by keeping the price as low as possible and going exclusive with my ebook on Amazon to make use of their features since I was a new author without a sizable following on social media or email lists. Before all of this, I looked into the prices of books in the same genre that was in the same category. I found that many bestsellers had higher prices than mine to gain readers’ attention.

The combination of hundred to thousand reviews and the solid following of these best-selling authors have supported their decision to price their books higher.

The pricing became more critical on the print versions because of the publishing cost and Amazon royalty fee for each copy sold; so, I looked at similar books pricing as I did with the ebook and checked both their formats (paperback and hardcover), trim size (e.g., 5×8 or 6×9), and page count.

Once I found similar books near my book’s format, trim size, and page count, I would price $1 or $2 below that amount as the focus was brand awareness in the hopes of selling as many books as I could and hopefully gaining reviews to further increase my brand awareness.

Author Platforms and Email List

Different strategies for author platforms could include the social media landscape. Some have success on one or two platforms where most of their fans live. However, suppose you plan on playing the long game as an author. In that case, there are recommendations I will cover that are within your control than at the hands of another platform.

It’s possible to have a Twitter or Instagram account and do exceptionally well and build a following of fans. However, remember that those platforms could one day be gone, or your account could get hacked or deleted, and all that effort is gone. The same could happen with your website and email list, but this is less common than the others.

Additionally, most people who follow an author on social media are followers rather than fans. Fans are the ones who are more likely to support an author with the purchase of their books, courses, or donations made through a website like Patreon.

Fans are the ones who exchange their email address and acquire a freebie from a reader magnet because they find value in what an author provides.

Plus, engagement with email subscribers is much higher than on social media, so it’s worth setting up a website, email service provider, and Reader Magnet because people love free stuff. It’s a great way to invite them and peek into your world to see if they like it. My strategy:

• A WordPress website to showcase upcoming books, a catalog of books, a preview of the book, an about me section, and a free page with reader magnets
• Link my reader magnets with my email service provider landing page — MailerLite, to collect email addresses which I can provide them upcoming books, author life, book updates, and more
• A blog page if they’re interested in the topics I love to write about and hopefully find value in

That’s it so far, and one more consideration other essential platforms for authors are Goodreads, Amazon Author Central, and BookBub. Some readers prefer only connecting with the author’s work on these platforms than sharing their email addresses or following an author on a social media platform.

Social media

The common consensus is to focus on one or two social media platforms to drive the most traffic, as some of the downsides of managing multiple accounts will suck up your time and energy. Plus, your level of interest in that platform and the content you curate on it.

For example, I’ve chosen Instagram as my primary because I receive a lot of visual inspiration for my writing. And soon, I will add YouTube to that list, where I plan to release videos on topics I find value in and hope others will.

I have an account on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Medium. They serve different purposes, such as Facebook — it’s more of a personal connection with family and friends, and Twitter receiving updates about topics I like. LinkedIn, where I have a professional network from my career in the I.T. industry, and Medium to connect with like-minded writers.

Book Launch Strategy

The book launch strategy is unique to each book, with elements that pertain before and after its launch. The launch strategy will encompass timing in pre-launch, launch day, and post-launch tasks. The pre-launch window starts as early as two months before the book’s release, with subsequent tasks one month out, two weeks out, and days before. The focus I have had for two months before release:

2 months pre-launch

• Upload a barebone description of the book and set the launch date via Amazon KDP
• Setup Author Central page so I can
• Collect and upload editorial reviews to the book’s Amazon editorial review section
• Link book release on BookBub, and if within budget, pay for new release alerts
• Plan which promotional sites I will use for the book’s five free days and budget it and then schedule the date for each
• Contact and kindly request from book blog reviewers (read and provide a review on the book launch date) and bookstagrammers (showcase my book on their Instagram account)
• Create an inventory of promo images for social media posts and email campaigns, and some promo sites that require you to upload your own
• On social media, I will share excerpts from the book, book cover, and reader magnet linking a free ebook chapbook found in the bio section with a social link.
• Bonus: if you have an ARC team, this is a great way to gain a good chunk of reviews by sending that team an advance copy of the book and having them provide a review on the launch date

1-month pre-launch

• Kindly follow up with any book blog reviewers and bookstagrammer if they have not already touched base with you.
• Upload and publish the paperback and hardcover copies of the book

1-week pre launch

• Turn on the pre-order for the ebook and change the price to 0.99 cents on Amazon.
• Kindly follow up with book blog reviewers and bookstagrammers to remind them that the book is seven days from launch.
• Social media and email post books are almost out.

3 days before the launch

• Kindly follow up with book blog reviewers with an Amazon review link of the book and a kind reminder that bookstagrammer is three days away from launch.

Launch day!

• Book launches at 0.99 cents and a book promo site (BargainBooksy) will send out their email list of low-price book deals — my book being one of them.
• Social media, email post that the book is live!
• Contact Amazon to switch to preferred categories.
• Kindly let anyone who took part in the book’s review upload their review on Amazon’s link from book bloggers, the ARC team, social media, and email subscribers.

2 days post-launch

• Book’s Amazon free day and a book promo site (FreeBooksy and Awesome Gang) will send out to their email list.
• Social media and email posts about book deals being free
• Confirm Amazon put a book in the correct categories: tool

4 days post-launch

• Book’s Amazon free day and a book promo site (Just Kindle Books) will send out to their email list.
• Social media and email posts about book deals being free

6 days post-launch

• Book’s Amazon free day and a book promo site (The Fussy Librarian) will send out to their email list.
• Social media and email posts about book deals being free

8 days post-launch

• Book’s Amazon free day and a book promo site (Free Discounted Books) will send out to their email list.
• Social media and email posts about book deals being free

10 days post-launch

• Book’s Amazon free day and a book promo site (Awesome Gang) will send out to their email list.
• Social media and email posts about book deals being free

Suppose you’re wondering why I schedule free days every two days instead of consecutive days. In that case, it’s because of how the Amazon algorithm works, and I’m trying to ride and sustain high-ranking than spikes, and the best way to ride it is riding the slow curve. Launch to Market by Chris Fox.

With that said, this is a perfect strategy that will work with every book, but it’s better than shooting blindly and hoping my book is good enough to stand on its own. And my friends, that sums up the brief marketing aspect of my book. Marketing is a beast, and I covered the icing on the cake.

Of course, there is more detail around the topic of a book’s marketing I discussed, which I would not go into given it would almost take a short ebook to cover it all. That could be an idea for a reader magnet ebook promoted to authors.

The Gist

• Foremost, develop the mindset that “Marketing is sharing what you love with people who will appreciate hearing about it.” All the effort put into creating a book should not go to waste and never find its reader — you never know how much value it can provide to someone, even if it’s one — remember you’re bringing a new perspective into the world, yeah sure, nothing new about the theme and genre most books are found in, but that’s not the point as long as you attempted to write it in your voice readers will recognize it and praise it
• A book’s metadata cannot be passed if you want readers to find your book on major retailers — especially Amazon. Some research performed for developing a book description/blurb complements a book’s title and cover and invites the reader to preview it.
• Performing additional research to find the best relevant categories and keywords will ease the work for readers in discovering a new book. Competitive pricing and strategy make a difference whether you’re a new or an existing author and your publishing goals.
• If you want to play the long game as an author, it’s best to have the foundation: a website, an email list, and a reader magnet. You lack control over whatever happens to your social media accounts or the accounts on platforms like Amazon and Goodreads. Of course, setting up those accounts is painting in broad strokes, which leads to higher brand awareness.
• Although my book launch strategy has yet to be planned out in further months, as you typically find in your web search. Most of the basics remain the same, and every author has a strategy. Whether you go exclusive for an ebook to take advantage of Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited and free day promos and line up with promotional sites or prefer to go wide with all retailers, there isn’t no perfect science to it; however, there are recommendations: newbie author — go exclusive, price low for brand awareness or established author — go-wide, price competitively for more sales; you can always change up your strategy every three, six, or 12 months remember to give it time and see how the first strategy plays out.

In This Post, You Will Discover

• The boring paperwork every book project entails
• Some additional less sexy design aspects of a books
• How to come up with a publishing strategy

The publication stage of a book’s journey is the least enjoyable part of the process. However, ensuring the book meets the requirements for market success and safeguarding yourself from potential legal problems is still vital. There are a few components that I consider while classifying a publishing strategy. The order in which different steps in the book production process are completed can vary from author to author. My publishing strategy is divided into the following categories:

• Legality
• Book formatting (typesetting or book interior design)
• Publication platforms

Legality

First, the million-dollar question: what type of business entity do I want to publish the book under? Sole proprietorship, DBA — Doing Business As (if you’re not using your name), and LLC are the most common for authors. You can learn more about these business entities and more at NerdWallet. I was conflicted for a time between Sole proprietorship and LLC. I was concerned about a potential lawsuit where it’s not a unique place in America to be summoned to the court system.

I know I have nothing of concern to warrant this fear, but you never know when greed or disdain takes root for others to exploit. What ultimately helped me stick with Sole proprietorship, for now, was the Kindlepreneur article that cites if you meet any of the below requirements, they recommend you create a publishing company as an LLC:

• You make more than $2,000 a month in book sales
• You write in technical areas or health areas that could put you at risk of legal action
• You want to publish other people’s books
• You’re selling more than just books, such as courses, physical products, etc.
• You’re an American citizen, but you live outside of the US and want a base of operations.

Remember, when you operate as a Sole proprietorship, you’re using your legal name on the business and a book’s copyright page. If you decide on DBA or LLC, you can create any name that isn’t registered.

The next step involved registering copyright (critical and I recommend), registering an LCCN — Library of Congress Control Number (not required but essential if you want your book in libraries), and registering a book with an ISBN (you will need a unique ISBN for each book format: hardcover, paperback, ebook (technically not require but recommend you), and here some additional info when you need an ISBN or don’t:

• Situations Where You Need A New ISBN
• For any variation of the print books, for example, if you choose a 5 x 8 and a 6 x 9, you’ll need separate ISBNs
• If you decide to produce a book with large print, you’ll need a different ISBN
• Foreign languages need different ISBNs
• Any significant changes to text/content need a new ISBN
• The difference in the title needs a new ISBN
• Changing the binding requires a new ISBN
• When You Don’t Need A New ISBN
• Change of price
• Minor corrections to the text
• New cover
• Changing vendor who prints books

That would sum up the least glamorous part. Yet, there is peace of mind in completing these steps in a book’s journey and solidifying that this is a small part that contributes to delivering the published book to the hands of the reader one day.

Book cover & interior design

I go at length in the design collaboration post about the book cover & interior design with a designer. In short, you want a minimum of a title, author name (either full name, pen name, or abbreviated parts of the name), subtitle if nonfiction or optional in some fiction titles, and a description of what the book is about: book blurb.

Although you may first write the book for yourself, at least most authors do, the collaboration process is moving towards creating a visual language that the reader can understand what theme, genre, and mood the book cover conveys — especially when it’s accompanied with a book blurb, which I’ll cover in the marketing post.

The part I should have covered in the design collaboration post is the book’s front and back matter, which is required for the designer to complete the book’s interior design. This article published on Kindlepreneur covers all the essential parts found in a front and back matter. You don’t need some parts, and in my case, my book only included these bits:

• Title
• Copyright
• Publisher
• LCCN
• ISBN
• Collaborators
• Table of contents
• Dedication
• Epigraph
• Introduction
• The body content of all poems
• Acknowledgments
• Author bio
• Coming soon/read more
• Please review book

As per usual, the title is the first piece introduced in the front matter and followed by what I call the copyright page that includes additional bits such as who the publisher is; in this case, it’s me as registered as a sole proprietor, not my pen name but my legal name: Jose A Santana with the website address and physical location of publisher. The following pieces are ISBN numbers you assigned to each book type (hardcover, paperback, and ebook — audiobook if you have one) and LCCN. Finally, the name of the collaborators who have contributed to the book’s project, typically the editor and designer you worked with.

The table of contents is self-explanatory; the dedication and acknowledgment page are standard in the front matter. I preferred to push my acknowledgment in the back matter because it was lengthy. Plus, Amazon only allows up to 10% interior preview of the manuscript. So I wanted to give readers more content to assess than rob them with an acknowledgment page that adds less value to their buying decision. In short, the dedication says, “who do you dedicate your book to”? And I kept it simple by dedicating it to my family and friends.

They have been an active influence in my life, plus my muse, for allowing me to get into the creative flow during my writing sessions. Following that is the epigraph (I learned later that authors should not pen their quotes), in which I wrote my own succinct quote about what the book is:

• The vices of love are the scorching flames of the sun and the chilling frost of the poles, and the virtue of both is the basking warmth of sunrays and the cooling breeze of zephyr. — J.A. Santana

The introduction page is to help orient the reader about what to expect from the book, insight into the author’s sources of inspiration, structure, and theme, and their philosophy on the topics and why they wrote this book. Following the introduction is the body content, the bit readers came for and hope to experience, whether it’s entertainment, information, inspiration, education, insight, wisdom, or resonance.

This varies from reader to reader. In my book, I aim to convey love and its nuances by helping the reader relate, glean wisdom and insight, and develop compassion. How complicated and how much we need love can be no matter how old you’re and your experience with it. Now we reach the back matter, with the first being the acknowledgments. There is no limitation on who you want to acknowledge; I struggled with who to include.

Ultimately I decided on every source that has influenced, inspired, and informed my outlook on life. From there, I started with the closest members of my family to friends, contributors in the knowledge domain of humanity, artists of culture, the writing community, collaborators, and the divine.

The following section has a brief author bio of me. It links to my website, email address, and social media accounts. Following that, I offer a reader magnet link that invites readers to subscribe to my newsletter in exchange for a free copy of inspirational poems and information about my upcoming books and personal life.

The final section politely asks readers who read the book to leave an honest review on Amazon, positive or negative, as long as the review is constructive.

Publishing platforms

We finally reach the last topic of discussion, which I have mixed feelings about yet needs to be addressed: the publishing platforms and what strategy works best for you. There is no one size fits all solution regarding the publishing process. It varies where you’re in your author life — do you have a couple books published or several books with some in a series?

There are some general recommendations on going exclusive or wide (sell book on multiple platforms and global markets) with your ebook if your goal is brand awareness or more opportunity for cash flow. The former is great for new authors who need to build brand awareness and establish trust and word of mouth from readers by taking advantage of the fact Amazon is the largest ebook retailer, with a whopping 83% of US ebook purchases in 2016. You can use their free promo day up to five every 90 days if you wish to continue with their exclusivity. You can combine their free promo day and schedule with promo sites like BookBub and FreeBooksy, and blast on social media and email about the promo.

However, you cannot distribute the ebook on platforms like Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, or other markets. Going wide allows you to make the book available beyond Amazon with Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Google Play Books, and international markets. So you increase the chances to earn more money and take a marginal hit on brand awareness primarily because of the free ebook exposure with Kindle Unlimited and Free Book Promotions.

On the plus side, this does not affect print copies (paperback and hardcover) except for one minor detail when you publish print copies on Amazon KDP, there is an option to allow Amazon for extended distribution (Large book distributors can make your title available to other online retailers, libraries, universities, and booksellers) to various bookstores and markets; however, it’s preferable to use IngramSpark for two reasons: better print quality and not only they also handle extended distribution — you can offer a bulk discount which increases a retailer, library, etc. taking a chance to put your book in their store without a hefty upfront cost, plus most retailers and markets have some ire with Amazon being the dominant player for book sales and instead work with IngramSpark to find new titles (from my search I don’t believe Amazon offers a bulk discount).

Suppose you publish your ebook to the big five book retailers (Amazon, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and Google Play Books). In that case, those are five accounts you have to manage. Suppose you prefer to operate with Amazon only while delegating the other four. In that case, you will need an aggregator “that uploads your book to various retailers for you. In exchange, they’ll take a portion of your royalties or charge you an upfront fee. We’ll call the first type “royalty-share aggregators” and the second type “flat fee” aggregators.”

I have yet to go this route, and one day I will when I do go wide, as some aggregators have greater reach in specific markets. One more publishing option is an audiobook, with two major players: Audible and Findaway Voices; the former is owned by Amazon, while the latter was recently acquired from Spotify.

I have not published an audiobook version yet but what I know is Audible gives you their highest royalty if you go exclusive with them; otherwise, you earn less per sale, and Findaway voices like IngramSpark make it easier to make your audiobook available beyond Amazon Audible into platforms like Chirp by BookBub, Storytel, Scribd, and Kobo Audio to name a few. My publishing strategy was:

• Amazon ebook exclusivity for brand awareness is my goal by taking advantage of features: Kindle Unlimited and free promo day — I go into detail about the marketing strategy I use with book promo sites. Also, publish a print copy in their store.
• I’ve used IngramSpark to reach the remaining distribution networks with print which is well over 40,000 globally.

As far as registration goes for the book, you will have to, unfortunately, upload each book type — yup, the ebook, paperback, and hardcover on Amazon; paperback and hardcover on IngramSpark ($50 fee for each print type). Besides that, you have to set up one-time payment information with tax information, either your social security number (if sole proprietor) or tax ID (if registered as a business); I’m sure you want to get paid.

The Gist

• Although copyright law says when you create something on a tangible medium like the text on paper or in a digital doc like Google Docs, you’re the owner/originator of that work. However, we don’t live in a perfect world. There are plenty of lawsuits to show people go to court who owns the rights to a body of work, and unfortunately, there are a few bad apples.
• Suppose you want your books to reach libraries, universities, and colleges. In that case, you will need an LCCN from the Library of Congress, and ISBN is required for all storefronts that are not Amazon as they assign their ASIN number; plus, you want to have the rights to your book with each unique ISBN for each book type.
• I go into length regarding book cover and interior design in this post; the front and back matter is a component that cannot be ignored, and there are some mandatory parts like title, copyright, and body content — including bits like introduction, author bio, and reader magnet newsletter sign-up to encourage readers to stay in touch so they can be informed about upcoming books and more.
• When it comes to registering the fundamentals, such as payment information, and enrolling each book type, publishing is uncomplicated. However, it is vital to consider what goals are most important to you: brand visibility or increased chance for revenue flow. Whether you’re a debut author or have published a few novels already will rely on your experience level. If the former most authors recommend going exclusive with Amazon for ebooks, selling print on their store, and using IngramSpark for print for all other distribution networks, which is 40,000 strong.
• If you’re an existing author or prefer to go wide, then go for it; just remember you have to manage multiple accounts for each online retailer; whereas using an aggregator like Draft2Digital can take care of that for a small upfront fee or royalty-fee

In This Post, You Will Discover

• What type of designs do I need & what budget & timeframe
• What are trusted sources of platforms that have vetted designers
• Where can I find them?
• Book Design Brief
• Back and forth qualifying questions
• Selecting the best fit and understanding their collaboration and my expectations for this book and some guidance
• Reviewing feedback

Since childhood, I have knack for visual art with sketches of superheroes and video game characters. Still, when I dabbled in web design and tried my hand at graphic design — my hubris quickly caught onto me. Not so much about not having the capacity to do it, more so the time to develop sufficient skill with deliberate practice to create a high-quality visual design people will respect.

With that said, I was strapped for time and needed more time to produce a striking book cover as I was months away from the release date. I still had to draft up a publishing and marketing strategy: e.g., which publishing platform to launch my book and whether I go exclusive on Amazon for ebook or wide; while handling business tasks like filling out tax information, copyright, LCCN, and ISBN plus which social media channels to focus on and specific type of content to publish that’s not “salesy.”

In my previous post about the edit collaboration, where I chose the Reedsy platform to find and collaborate with an editor, I returned to the Reedsy marketplace to find and collaborate with a book designer. I thought I was prepared for the book design brief by referencing my book edit brief… well I was wrong, as the designers’ responses pointed out some details I did not consider, such as advertising material. Read on to learn more about the entire experience.

What type of book designs are available, and which do I need

While already familiar with the Reedsy marketplace, I went straight for the book cover design service — although there were a few other options that piqued my interest, which I’ll cover soon. In the selection boxes, I specify poetry as the genre. I sift through all the designers’ portfolios for a Gothic/Victorian book cover design. After the exhaustive narrowing down of the five freelancers I selected, I was ready for the next step, the book design brief.

Before I go into that topic, the other services included are book interior design, illustration, production management, and typography. I was sure about the book cover. I could handle the book interior design (typesetting) with Vellum or Atticus. I was wrong again after experimenting with the Atticus app; it needs to be ready for poetry formatting. I now still need help manipulating margins for poetry types of books.

As for illustration, I envision each sub-theme section with pining and heartbreak, for example, to have a beautiful sketch that encapsulates what those words visually symbolize. There was no need for production management; I preferred to manage the whole project myself and enjoy every bit. As for typography, I needed to find out where it fits in the picture.

I read that it’s mainly custom font designs like decorated drop caps. After some contemplation, I passed on this option as well. So that covers what services are available for design now, we can finally move on to the book design brief.

Book design brief

After the experience I had in the book edit brief, I was more comfortable filling out the design brief — until I found out I wasn’t. First, I specified the format I wanted: EPUB and Print-ready PDF. Then, moved on to the questionnaire, which had similar questions to introduce yourself and the book and provide details about the book. I gave the same introduction about myself and the date of publication for the book with similar questions to the editor’s brief.

• Set a deadline: when would you like the professionals to return with quotes?
• When would you like the project completed? (optional)
• Services required: book interior and cover design
• Which formats do you need? EPUB formats, print-ready PDF
• Trim Size: 6×9
• Genre: Poetry
• Introduce yourself and your book
• Book Details: describe what your book is all about.
• Target Market
• Book Cover Elements: title, author’s name, subtitle/tagline/review
• Design inspirations

The book trim size is 6×9 for both paperback and hardcover; also, I need an eBook and audiobook. Black text on creme paper. Amazon KDP for their ebook, paperback, audiobook, and hardcover on Amazon. IngramSpark for print on all else. I will use Draft2Digital for Apple Books, Google Play Store, B&N, and all else. I need seven non-color illustrations for section themes.

I will need graphics for my website (virtual book cover), Instagram post, LinkedIn banner, email promotion, and GoodReads (I wonder if it pulls from Amazon or requires its own graphic).

I will leverage Amazon, BookBub, GoodReads, and list services (FreeBooksy, BargainBooksy, and BookBub) for paid ads. I would like to learn more about your rate (book cover design, per illustrations, formatting [typeset], collaboration process, number of concepts, and revision.

Book Details

This collection has 64 poems with varied forms and style/language more akin to classical poetry 1600s in their sparse uses of old English words and romanticized sentiment found in the 1800s. Past poets: William Shakespeare, Lord Byron, William Wordsworth, and Andrew Marvell inspire this collection. The sub-themes include pining, being in love, love of life, power of love, temptation, erotic, regret, lust, fulfillment, carpe diem, heartbreak, grief, and sorrow.

Book covers I’m drawn towards are the ornamentals, clothbound-like designs that best represent classical bodies of work, and it fits the language of my poetry collection as well. I provided nine links to the book cover designs I like the most, and I wonder if these designs are pure illustrations. I envision my book covered with repeated hearts or rose patterns, primarily red with a couple of black ones to represent the pain of love (sorrow, heartbreak, etc.).

The title of my collection is called “The Warmth and Cool of Hearts,” where the “warmth” represents the positive attributes (stars, sun, light, heat, life, joy) and “cool” the negative (cold space, void, night, death, pain).

Then I could submit up to 10 book cover design inspirations; this part is where I nerd out a bit, given my love for vintage hardbound covers and mainly from classical literature. Here are some examples I included in the brief:

• Pocket Book of Romantic Poetry
• Love Poems
• The Sonnets and a Lover’s Complaint by William Shakespeare
• The Raven and Other Poems by Edgar Allan Poe

And that’s it; I submitted the book design brief and what awaited me next.

Interviewing the best fit

In a similar situation I had with the interviewing process with editors, I faced an eerily identical interaction with designers. Some went straight with an offer letter with their rates. At the same time, a couple was curious enough to learn more about the project. It provided their own questions to better facilitate the scope and need. In the end, what ultimately won me over was the same experience as before.

The one designer was patient and showed interest in the project even though it would be a couple of days between communication because she lived in Italy. There was a little language barrier, mainly around the colloquial use of phrases which I had to explain in further detail. She impressed me with her communication and asked me specific questions before settling on an offer and project scope. Once approved, we moved on to the collaboration process.

Collaboration process

It definitely helped kickstart the project by filling out her questionnaires, and my responses are in bold text:

Do you already know which will be your book’s trim size?

6×9

In which formats are you going to publish? (ebook, paperback, hardback, etc.)

ebook, paperback, hardcover, and audiobook

What about the type of paper? (white, cream, color, etc.).

Crème

Which publishing platform are you using? (Amazon KDP, IngramSpark, etc.)

Amazon KDP for their ebook, paperback, audiobook, and hardcover on Amazon. IngramSpark for print on all else. After I go through the 90-day Amazon KDP Select, I will use Draft2Digital for Apple Books, Google Play Store, B&N, and all else.

Is your manuscript already edited? I ask as the final page number affects the cover’s spine width.

The manuscript is currently proofreading and will be completed by 11/20. I don’t expect significant changes, as most of it was done during the developmental/copy edit phase. 107 pages on a 6×9 template but with consideration of illustrations as a one or two-page image spread with headings: prologue, pining, in love, heartbreak, love of life, power of love, and epilogue; would result in 114 pages or 121 pages in a two-page image spread.

As for the illustrations, do you have an estimate of how many poems you’d like to illustrate? You mentioned you have 64 poems, correct? The usual ratio of illustrated poems is 1 every 4–6, depending on their length. So a good number would be between 10–15 illustrations. What do you think?

I like the idea of illustrations, which I considered in the past where each section/heading theme opens in a one or two-page image spread; how much would it cost for 7 illustrations?

For the illustration style, do you have a specific approach in mind? Poetry books commonly use more minimal illustrations, only with the linework and a hint of color in grayscale. I’m attaching some examples from previous works. Let me know if they’re similar to what you had in mind!

I don’t want color for illustrations, but something that speaks to what the opening and closing poem conveys, especially each section’s themes like pining, heartbreak, and love of life. This leads to my question, is part of your process for visualizing the art by reading through the manuscript to find the visual language for an illustration by the poem and its title and section theme? I envision the book looking and feeling more like a Victorian/classical vintage than modern.

As for the cover, thank you for attaching the examples. Those designs are gorgeous! I’m attaching some examples of books I’ve worked on previously with this vintage. They’re mostly fantasy books (imitating an old tome or magic book). Still, we can use more decorative ornaments and frames around the title for your project.

Considering I chose the opening poem as my book’s title, the opening and closing poems have a cosmic sensibility. In contrast, the rest of the poems in the collection are more grounded and personal. I envision a Victorian decorative pattern or patterns combining heart, flower/roses, and/or flame motives with a corresponding typeface. Still, of course, I don’t want to restrict your expertise either to my vision. I love the penguin books’ repeating patterns and am curious to know how many concepts and revisions/refinements are included in the quote.

Besides the cover and illustrations, are you interested in other design services? I also work with manuscript formatting and advertisement material (social media posts).

I’d like to know your formatting cost. Because I initially planned to do it myself with formatting apps (Atticus.io), but I learned that given my poems are narrative-like in their length. After testing the margins, it didn’t sit well with me in my attempts so far, and I may have to consider 6.14 x 9.21 (let me know your thoughts on this). I will need graphics for my website (you can see some dimension examples on there for virtual book cover), Instagram, LinkedIn banner, email promotion, and GoodReads (I wonder if it pulls from Amazon or requires its own graphic). I will leverage Amazon, BookBub, GoodReads, and list services (FreeBooksy, BargainBooksy, and BookBub) for paid ads.

As you can see above, with my level of detail, a lot of what I planned to do with the book, such as illustration and publishing on multiple storefronts, I was going to do my own book interior design (typesetting). Atticus is not equipped to handle poetry formatting around margins did not pan out. I underestimated the project cost and timeline added to the illustration and an unfortunate lack of support for poetry formatting in Atticus. By this point, we’re in the middle of November, three months away from the launch date. I still needed to develop a publishing and marketing strategy, and I had no choice but to forgo the illustration.

Once we worked out the fine details, we finally got around bouncing ideas with the book cover design. The brief provided information about what I was looking for. I included various design elements based on the book’s theme in the communication. I described the top part as having icicles while the bottom contains flames and the center of the book feels this cool warmth at the center.

Then I shared with her the decorative ornamental designs I like to see in the book. I wanted the book to have a vintage appeal and emulate a classical poetry collection where most of my inspirations come from. However, initially, I envisioned a repeated geometric pattern of roses found in the Penguin classic clothbound books. Instead, I received my first design concept:

I was thinking of a slight variation, yet I really liked where this was going. I offered feedback that the red background color is a bit pronounced and harder to read the title and the choice of font style is thin and generic. I shared with her a few books and fonts that closely matched my visual language. Then she sent me a design update based on my feedback. Meanwhile, I provided her with the final draft copy of the manuscript for typesetting.

Next, I wanted to see several side-by-side fonts that convey a poetry book and received several copies to compare.

On the same day I received these designs, I went with version three (the one on the right), harmonized the best with the rest of the design elements, and shared this with her. Now the final front cover was approved and onto the back cover design.

I love the back cover’s contrast with the front and the emphasis on the back text. I gave her some feedback about placing a heart at the center with flames and frost to separate the top and bottom with a quote and book blurb, and I received this:

The heart was too large and different from how I depicted the flame and frost to encapsulate it. What I had in mind seemed harder to accomplish and required custom illustrations to show. Given the timeline, I couldn’t stretch the project further, so she updated the revisions I’d made in the manuscript. There were quite a few (Something I believe plagues many creatives in our work which never seems done, and in fear of falling into the perfectionist trap — I set a hard deadline date for final manuscript changes).

I shared with her an ornamental heart divider that matched the curves in the ornamental borders. Still, at the same time, I had doubts about whether I was requesting too many design elements on the back cover, so I asked her to provide four copies to compare and here are the result:

So carefully choose the heart divider and color contrast between the top and bottom text. Yet, something irked me, and I did not adore the different font types and requested to see a side-by-side copy of the two:

Even though the fonts are the same size, the one on the right appears larger and fills the space best with the overall book appeal. I asked several sources from family, friends, and designers in forums to ensure my bias was not affecting the overall image that best conveyed the book’s message for readers. The majority agree with the same font design I’ve picked. By now, you would think that’s it.

The book design still needs to be completed. Design inconsistency bothered me, mostly the letter spacing at the bottom. I shared this with her, plus I was not fond of my book blurb and hired a poet who has written hundreds of poetry book blurbs one last time. I requested to apply the latest book blurb and any letter spacing issues, finally receiving the final book cover design.

What made the collaboration process worthwhile was the ongoing bouncing of ideas. With each interaction, she helped carve from stone bit by bit the form and my language that spoke the essence of the poems in the book came together like a symphony. That is different from saying it was straightforward; the most challenging part of the collaboration was finding a place between my imagination and designer eye for design for the book. As progress was made in the cover design, I wondered about the book’s visual look. I sought feedback from others on Reddit and design forums.

Furthermore, I kept looking for imperfections in good faith with the manuscript and making final touches after another. I knew I was asking too much of my designer, and forever grateful for her patience and professionalism. If you’re ever at this stage of your book collaboration journey, take the time to pause and look deeply within if there are bad habits that are surfacing and affecting the project scope — if so, take time to sort out what that is because if not then it will continue to show itself in other areas of your life as well and take from you the peace enjoying the journey. It’s a matter of finding that balance and adhering to it.

The Gist

• I recommend preparing as much as possible and leveraging experience when collaborating with others on what to look for and expect in the project scope.
• The best measure of working with a professional on a book project is not just their level of engagement or communication but how thorough they’re about what you’re looking for and the patience to put themselves in your shoes, especially when you’re new to the book production process.
• The same recommendation applies when dealing with a marketplace like Reedsy by deliberately reviewing each designer’s portfolio. They have produced any design that touches the visual appeal you’re seeking in your book.
• Be specific in your brief, and it is okay to ask questions even when you think you’re being unsure it’s worse to get stuck in a project with someone where the collaboration is more of a hassle than a teamwork base collaboration for the success of the book for the reader.
• The collaboration is where the magic happens — don’t treat it as a one-way relationship where you hand off some ideas, give vague feedback with each iteration, and expect it all to go well.
• The book is ultimately for the reader, and it’s in the reader’s best interest that both the author and professional designer create the best quality experience for them, including asking questions, bouncing ideas, and finding harmony in the end.
• Even when you’re new to the game, feel free to share your feedback and learn more about the design decision the designer is making by trusting them. They’re the expert; giving feedback is okay, but only assume they know what they’re doing. Your feedback will play out better than you think if you are concise. A fun, collaborative process, in the end, should delight readers when they see it on a bookshelf.

In This Post, You Will Discover

• What type of edits do I need & budget & timeframe
• What are trusted sources of platforms that have vetted editors
• Where can I find them?
• Book’s Edit Brief
• Back and forth qualifying questions
• Selecting the best fit and understanding their collaboration and my expectations for this book and some guidance
• Reviewing feedback

If there are a couple of expenses worth paying for publishing a book, that’s professional editing and book design. However, we have incredible editing tools like ProWritingAid and Grammarly that catches many spelling, grammar, and style — with its evolving A.I. system and adapting to my writing style.

However, there are still nuances in the human language that requires a human to sniff out. Knowing where to start and where to look is challenging when you’re a beginner. As awesome as having the internet with its wealth of information, it’s also paralyzing to identify what’s useful and roll with it.

Luckily, I was already devouring the articles on Reedsy. Joanna Penn at Creative Penn recommended Reedsy for vetted professionals to aid authors of any experience level. It gave me the confidence to move forward with Reedsy. Then I stumbled upon a plethora of options with editing services on their marketplace.

What Type of Edits Are Available, and Which Do I Need

When I arrived at Reedsy marketplace, I underestimated the number of services available an author could feel overwhelmed by as I read through all the services available in these four categories: editing, design, marketing, and web design. I poked around and decided to set up shop and take my time to produce the perfect book if I had a massive budget. Unfortunately, that was not my current reality.

On the Reedsy marketplace, you get to choose up to six services for editing: editorial assessments, developmental editing, copyediting, proofreading, indexing, and query letter view; the latter two are generally not part of the direct editing experience, so the focus for me was the former four and a picture to convey the difference about each service:

I knew I needed copy and proofreading edits, given that grammar is not my most vital skill. Weirdly, at the same time, I score high on tests, quizzes, and exams but fall short in the practical landscape in my written work. I do make occasional efforts to improve my grammar skills. However, I prefer the help of a professional editor, and software like ProWritingAid does help to an extent; instead, I combine the two where I first process the edit with ProWritingAid before submitting it to a professional and another pass with ProWritingAid after my revisions from the editor’s feedback.

Although I knew I was creating a poetry book, I needed more confidence about its arrangement and, how to section it, whether the stories I was telling in some poems lacked cohesion. I needed a second pair of eyes. With time, I will understand the process well enough to judge better what is required and what I can handle on my own for a book. I proceeded with all four starting with the editorial assessment. I’ll go into detail about the collaboration process in this post.

So Many Options, How to Choose

If you still need professional help editing your book, I have some tips. If you’re already reading blog posts from a platform that offers the services, you’re seeking, that’s a logical place to start. You can ask within a writing community you trust or an author you follow as a referral. My experience devouring Reedsy articles and the Creative Penn recommendation: Reedsy has a vetting process to ensure you get the highest quality freelance professionals in the market, which ultimately influenced my decision to roll with Reedsy.

Book Edit Brief

Narrowing down a pool of qualified professionals to work with was foreign yet straightforward. I had never interviewed anyone before, so sifting through the collection of editors based on their ratings, geographical location, overview, experience, service offering, and portfolio was exciting and overwhelming. While I wanted to give everyone a chance, I knew this was unrealistic — I carefully analyzed their portfolios and overviews to determine whether they emphasized poetry. If they did, Reedsy allows you to select up to five professionals, and you fill out a book edit brief with the following criteria and questions:

• Book title
• Set a deadline to receive a quote by
• Set a deadline when you would like the project completed by
• Which services do you need?
• Manuscript length in word count
• Genre
• Introduce yourself and your book
• Book details
• Target market
• Sample work

One critical question that should have been mentioned was budget, and professional editors have different rates based on their experience. It’s something to keep in mind. The next part covers the interview phase.

Interviewing the Best Fit

As part of the nature of interviewing or researching and gathering enough information to make an informed purchase or decision, it comes along with making this additional effort to pay attention to both sides of the conversation. I have a way of asking many questions. I don’t easily part with my money until I’m confident enough to take the plunge on any commitment. As my first time working with someone on a book, I had no prior experience except articles and books outlining what to ask and expect to identify the right fit for both parties.

After several back and forth with five professionals, one declined the project because they believed I needed more time. I explained this was my first time, which implied they wanted someone with a little more experience and knowledge than I had assumed. The remaining four had different engagement levels to my questions, and a few had rates that were a wee bit outside my budget scope — which you rarely find on their profile unless they specify it there.

A professional who showed interest in the job rather than throwing in an offer letter became the deciding factor. This professional showed interest by asking well-considered questions. I felt the enthusiasm for their passion for poetry and several messages with questions I had. She always responded professionally and patiently, and we decided to proceed with the project collaboration.

Collaboration Process

Editorial Assessment

Before my editor received my manuscript copy, I provided a few expectations about the manuscript format, along with the poem title and poetic form, and then I released it to her. About 11 days later, I received an editorial assessment that helped me to come up with novel ideas for how to present the book to readers based on the details and recommendations concerning the arrangement of poems by dominant themes and sections under these sub-themes.

In her assessment, she included a recommendation for the title, which was the opening poem that helped introduce the rest of the collection. In the evaluation, there were also unpleasant parts, which is the nature of the profession; for example, some poems were part of a series where one was outstanding and overshadowed the other. She recommended a rewrite to bring it up to par with the complimentary poem.

She mentioned some of the poems were not up to snuff with the rest in the collection, but I learned that’s just what’s expected in creative-artist work. It’s like how every album an artist produces will have very few songs that are the best singles. And the rest will be lucky if they achieve the same renown as those golden gems that hit the billboard top 100.

In poetry, some poems resonate more on a visceral level than others, some are more philosophical in a message than pure emotion, plus there’s a level of comfort and skill the artist has with various forms and elements, e.g., I feel more comfortable writing a Villanelle and Sonnet than I do writing a Free Verse.

I understand the rules for the former, whereas the second depends on how well a writer knows their writing voice through style, diction, and tone. While my editor and I were involved in several exchanges about which poems to remove or keep in the collection, I tried to step back objectively to think about the quality and thematic relationships between the verses.

I then removed the few I would not include and revised some into their thematic section that plays into the overarching theme of romantic love throughout the collection. I open and close with poems about love on a cosmic scale. I then drilled down into more earthbound shared themes of love, such as pining and heartbreak, which are explained in the book’s introduction section. You can read a copy of it on my website. Now onto the next part, the developmental edit.

Developmental Edit

Developmental editing is odd to encounter when poetry is not focused on narrative, characters, and plot arc, to name a few. In contrast, poetry is often image-driven with an emphasis on visual description accompanied by figurative language like metaphors, meter, and sometimes rhyming.

Even though I had quite a few poems that told a narrative about mythological characters or stages of heartbreak, there were some good suggestions. Still, some of those that were recommended did not encapsulate my voice.

I saw the advantage of developing my poem if I was writing narrative poetry, primarily an epic poem like The Divine Comedy or on a smaller scale like Venus & Adonis by William Shakespeare. However, I included this type of edit with copy editing, which I’ll discuss next.

Copy Edit

This is where my weakness lies — grammar, grammar, and grammar. I love to meet authors who can equally edit their work with precision because that’s a skill I’m still developing. When I opened up her copy edit and saw all those red lines, I thought, wow: I suck at grammar, and an opportunity to improve with tense, punctuation, and more-of-the-mill grammar on word structure and style.

In the end, it’s a judgment call on what you keep or discard from the editor’s suggestion, and it’s learning what they see that you don’t; and most of the changes she suggested I revised. Also, I ignored some advice because I was experimenting with specific literary devices like asyndeton or colloquialism to develop my writing style. I was trying to convey an artistic message rather than be grammatically correct — it’s part of the sacrifice you have to make with art over what is literal in language.

Once this was worked, I was happy to move on to the last phase in our collaboration proofreading. Still, before doing so, I made several sweeping changes to the collection.

Proofreading

By this stage, there was a lapse between copy and proofreading of about two months. I could make additional revisions and get caught up in the next phase of book production, collaborating with a book designer and publishing and marketing strategy. In this last stretch, I tightened what I needed in that gap, and proofreaders caught any grammar, spelling, punctuation, and layout errors. I read through her red pen corrections and was happy with most of what she spotted. I finally closed the chapter on the editing collaboration that spanned over five months.

The Gist

• When searching for an editor to work with, it’s helpful to run through your edits with software like ProWritingAid to clean it up as much as possible before the handoff. With that said, some of the most popular places to find an editor are closer than you think by the blogs you read or recommendations offered from existing writing communities or authors you admire
• When dealing with the marketplace, you must identify an editor who matches you and your book well. It’s a bit more involved compared to a site that doesn’t let you specify multiple professionals to choose from. Be specific in your brief, and it’s ok to ask questions even when you think you’re being unsure it’s worse to get stuck in a project with someone where the collaboration is more of a hassle than a teamwork base for the success of the book for the reader.
• The collaboration is where the magic happens — don’t treat it as a one-way relationship where you hand off, the editor makes the correction, and you accept everything thrown under the sun. The book is ultimately for the reader.
• In the long-term interest of readers, both the author and professional editor create the best quality experience for them, including asking questions, bouncing ideas, and finding harmony in the end.

In This Post, You Will Discover

• Although the process is designed in sequential stages, it is not rigid; you can jump to any part that works for you.
• What I employ for transforming a poem into a work of art utilizes the lifelong process I’ve used since childhood, bringing together personal experience and instinct to shape the idea and enhance the poem.

“Genuine poetry can communicate before it is understood.” — T.S. Eliot

When I start writing a book, specifically a poetry book, I begin with two foundations to ensure its success: a poetry book outline and a poetry writing process with a template. The poetry book outline is the broader picture of the book, asking the following questions:

• What is the book about?
• What’s the overarching narrative or theme?
• How many poems will it include?
• What sources of inspiration and research will aid it
• What is the title of the book?
• How do I want to arrange it: alphabetical, chronological, or closely
• Related sub-themes, e.g., the book The Cool and Warmth of Hearts, is about romantic love with similar poems section together under a sub-theme of pining, in love, and heartbreak.

I go into more detail on how I answer these questions when planning a poetry book and before I map out each poem in the collection. However, when I came up with the outline, it was not something I found in a specific book… well, none I could find in my online search about the poetry writing process, not even on a poet’s website. Maybe, some creative/artist out there believes having an outline stifles creativity.

On the contrary, it helps me reign in some of the chaos in producing a quality poem because you’re not a prisoner to the whims of your muse, and frankly, when you show up to write and be clear about what you’re working on you’re far more likely to make progress once the writing flow of creativity takes its course.

I’m sure there is a superstar writer who can crank out a thousand words of prose or five poems in under an hour-I’ll take my chances to finish a book with my approach. Here are the steps in my poetry writing process:

• Ideation
• Freewriting in Prose
• Theme
• Structure
• Word List
• Poetic Form
• Sources of Inspiration
• Three Phases of Writing & Revision

Despite the linearity of the steps, there is a fluidity between them. For example, once I have a clear grasp of the book’s overall theme, I can seek which authors, books, poems, or other sources will serve as an inspiration throughout the process.

As I read through each poem, I remember the various steps in the writing process to stay focused and determine if I need to change a specific area, like working with a different poetic form or revisiting a poem’s structure.

Last, as you read through this post, it helps to reference the Google Doc poem template to follow along in the poetry writing process, which is also included in my free poetry writing process with examples, infographics, and more.

Ideation

There are many ways to generate ideas for your poem. Still, I suggest beginning with a list of words or phrases or drawing inspiration from various subtle sources, whether in real life or from media like movies, books, or poems. Then, write it down as soon as possible! Here are some examples with the help of Lady Muse, where to discover ideas:

• History — what you read and learn, e.g., maybe you want to write about the fall of the Roman Empire, your own, or someone you know.
• Emotion — what emotion/feeling is powerfully evoked in what context and pervades our life often enough to warrant scrutiny
• Location — Where are you looking? Are you looking at people in a cafe, on a seat in a park, or nearby ducks swimming in a lake? Or are you looking at things in your home?
• Phrases — watching a movie, reading a novel or poem, and a particular word sticks out as the impetus for something later.
• Philosophy — you could ask and address what is good, true, and real, why we are meaning-seeking beings — which can help you navigate life’s decisions and expand your point of view through a narrative or deliberate contemplation as you map it out
• Psychology — studying and observing how people think, act, and feel. Convey how personality plays into it or the meaning behind recurring dreams
• Mythology — creation, end of world myths, how sacred stories still resonate with us today; especially present in today’s books; The Harry Potter series alludes to many mythos through symbolism and the like — Myths explore mysteries; they do not explain them.
• Themes — for example, playing a narrative video game and discovering the overall theme that recurs in the play through symbolism/motifs or a hero’s journey in which they conquer their inner demons about the human condition and bring back the elixir of life.
• Narrative — relate a series of events and problems with a theme in an arc.
• Writing prompts — there is an array of prompts you can find online to kickstart a project.
• Serendipity — inspiration born from drifting
• Journaling — sometimes, unexpected reflection about life strikes an idea.
• Market research — write something about what people want more of or combine two disparate genres to pioneer it.

There are a few more ways to brainstorm or receive inspiration, but what’s important is you have methods for noting these ideas before they flee from your psyche. In my case, I use Evernote, Google Docs, or a notepad to take down notes, and when I don’t have access to these, I jot them down on a sticky note. Sometimes I find myself struck with inspiration in the middle of the night. I quickly jot it down on paper because we should never take for granted something that serves as an excellent source for our writing and, more importantly, for our lives.

Free Write in Prose

When writing poetry, the best place to start is with free writing. Free writing is a process where you write without stopping or editing, and it can be a great way to get your creative juices flowing. Here are some tips on how to get started with free writing for poetry:

1. Find a comfortable place to write where you won’t be interrupted. Then, set a timer for 5–10 minutes and start writing. Don’t worry about grammar or punctuation; just let the words flow.
2. Once the timer goes off, read over what you’ve written and see if there are any phrases or images that stand out to you. These could be potential starting points for a poem.
3. Repeat this process until you feel you have some material to work with. Do not think about figurative language yet; you want to capture concrete imagery.

What are some things to keep in mind during free writing for poetry?

When free writing for poetry, there are a few things to keep in mind to make the process more productive and effective. First, choosing a specific prompt or topic to write about beforehand can be helpful. This will give you something to focus on as you write and will help to keep your thoughts and ideas organized.

Additionally, setting a timer for yourself and trying to write non-stop for the entire time can be helpful. This will help get your creative juices flowing and allow you to produce a more cohesive piece of writing. Finally, don’t worry too much about editing as you go; just let the words flow out of you onto the page and worry about fixing things up later.

No matter what source of inspiration you capture, I believe in trusting both unconscious and subconscious and free-write without judgment. You need to find the gold nuggets and put them on the table like jigsaw pieces, like dropping words onto a sheet of paper to get them out of your head. Some words will make sense, and some will not. It doesn’t matter at this stage in the poetry writing process. What you want is the jigsaw pieces visible. From this fragmented soup of chaos, we want to achieve the following in this stage:

• Identify imagery, location, context, feeling, or theme.
• This applies to NEW and EXISTING poems.
• Stream of consciousness that doesn’t judge or error-correct
• Later on, we arrange, rearrange, and give shape.

Theme

What is a theme, and why is it significant in literature? Well, the folks over at Reedy’s blog have this to say about it:

In literature, the theme of a story is, broadly speaking, what a book is about. They are concepts that pervade and recur throughout a piece of writing and are often reinforced by motifs.

The theme of your story can be as broad as ‘love’ or ‘loneliness’ (a thematic concept) or as specific as the idea that “greed is the greatest force in human culture” or “human behavior is the product of upbringing and experience” (both of which are thematic statements, because they express an opinion about the main theme).

We are continually compelled to consider and evaluate thoughts, feelings, and ideas that need to be outlined, pictured, and brought into consciousness. Although the procedure is tiresome, a particular theme in your life and your mind, which you replay and feel, is important enough to write about. Even if you decide not to, it will eventually turn into another motif or a tale you must tell because it has worth for you and someone else.

Finding a theme

There is no one right way to find a theme for a poem. However, some common strategies that poets use to generate ideas for themes. One approach is to consider what topics and experiences you are passionate about or strongly feel about. Another option is to think about times in your life when you have felt particularly moved by something- either positively or negatively. Once you have brainstormed some potential themes, try free writing about each one to see which one inspires the most interesting and evocative ideas. Trust your instincts and go with the theme that feels the most natural and authentic to you.

Developing the theme

After you’ve brainstormed possible themes for your poem, it’s time to start developing those themes into a concrete message. This can be done by looking at the theme from different angles and thinking about how you can explore it in your poem.

One way to develop your theme is to consider what inspired you to write about that particular topic. What are your personal experiences or observations that have led you to this theme? How can you share these experiences in your poem?

Another way to develop your theme is to consider how it relates to the world around us. What current events or social issues does it connect with? How can you use your poem to comment on these issues?

Finally, don’t forget that a good poem needs more than just a strong message — it also needs interesting language and imagery.

Organize Structure

When starting to write a poem, it can be helpful to have an outline. This does not have to be a formal, detailed outline like you would for a school paper. Instead, a poetry outline can be more like a road map to help you get from the first idea to the finished product.

Here are some things to consider when making your poetry outline:

• The topic or central idea of the poem
• What feelings or emotions do you want to convey
• What theme or message do you want to communicate
• The poem’s overall structure (stanzas, rhyme scheme, etc.)
• What images (five senses) or symbols do you want to include

“One step at a time is all it takes to get you there.” — Emily Dickinson

Remember that a poetry outline is just a tool to help you get started. It is not set in stone; you should feel free to deviate from it.

The first step in creating a poetry outline is to determine the purpose of your poem. This can be one of the most challenging aspects of writing a poem, as it requires you to think about what your verse is saying and how it will express this meaning. Free writing is an excellent method to help flesh out what the poem is about and give form to abstract language. Once you have determined the purpose of your poetry, it is essential to decide on a theme or message.

This should be relevant and meaningful to you as a writer. Still, it can also be an important idea or concept in literature. With a theme in mind, you can choose your poem’s title. Poems often have titles that are descriptive or metaphorical. Still, it is also acceptable to give your poem a title that simply describes the emotion or feeling of the work. Finally, you will want to choose a form of poetry that suits the theme and purpose of your poem. There are many forms of poetry, but they can be divided into two broad categories: narrative and non-narrative.

Narrative poetry can be divided into narrative poems and dramatic poems. Narrative poems are poems that tell a story in chronological order. Dramatic poems, however, tell stories in a way that is not necessarily chronological. Saving story details for later in the poem might add to the drama or tension of the poetry.

Non-narrative poetry does not tell a story. Instead, it is intended to evoke an emotional response from the reader. The poet uses words, sounds, images, and other literary devices to communicate this response. Poems can be written in a variety of poetic forms. Some common forms are free verse, haiku, limerick, sonnet, and ballad. Free verse is poetry that does not follow any specific form or rhyme scheme. Instead, its structure is determined by the poet, and it can take various forms, and even a short poem can carry a lot of weight.

Narrative Arc

Narrative Arc can vary between the Hero’s Journey or Freytag’s Pyramid. Still, the most common and quite traditional is the Three Story Act, first observed in Classical Greece, most notably in Greek Tragedies, where the famous philosopher Aristotle analyzed how stories progressed, and in his book, Poetics; he posited a story has a cause-and-effect relationship rather than standalone pieces and broken down into three acts:

• Act I — Setup: Exposition, Inciting Incident, Plot Point One
• Act II — Confrontation: Rising Action, Midpoint, Plot Point Two
• Act III — Resolution: Pre Climax, Climax, Denouement

Character Development

Change

Life is a continual process of change, so just about any moment can inspire you to write. Throughout your life, you will experience overwhelming changes, like marriages, births, and deaths, and seemingly insignificant ones, like new tastes in food and variations in your appearance. Each of these events affects how you perceive and interact with the world — a timeline of major events when great changes have occurred. Changes, in turn, lead you to make discoveries and decisions (source).

Discovery

Moments of discovery occur daily; sometimes, these discoveries are life-changing, and other times they are much more subtle. Finding the courage to cope with situations may lead you to make another discovery or a very important decision. You can make informed and appropriate decisions by exploring the feelings surrounding a discovery, whether in writing or using another form of expression (source).

Decision

You have to make decisions every day of your life. Whether a decision is important or trivial, you may come closer to a solution or decision by assessing your feelings and releasing them in poetic language. And even if you don’t find the right choice this way, you will at least have created personal art (source).

Word List

When writing a poem, your chosen words can make all the difference. You want to select words that are not only evocative but also convey the meaning and emotion you are trying to communicate. But with so many options available, how do you narrow down the best words for your poem?

Here are a few poetry writing tips to help you select the most impactful words for your poem:

1. Use concrete language. Abstract words can be difficult for readers to visualize and connect with. By using concrete language, you can create a more vivid and relatable experience for your reader.
2. Consider alliteration and assonance. These poetic devices can add musicality and depth to your poem. Alliteration is the repetition of initial sounds, while assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds.
3. Be aware of connotations. Words can have different meanings depending on the context. Using universally understood terms and avoiding those with multiple meanings is essential.
4. Use figurative language. Figurative language allows you to be more creative with your language and make your poem stand out from other poems.

When you write a poem, create a list of terms and organize them according to their senses, sensations, feelings, emotions, or meanings. Start by extracting words or phrases from your free-write; if you have any good ones, stop there; if not, look up similar words or phrases that best describe the poetry.

A thesaurus can help if many words are weak, like looked or walked; instead, try gazed or sauntered. Also, prefer concrete nouns, e.g., the flag, over too many abstract nouns, e.g., freedom; easier to visualize a flag and symbolize it with freedom.

When appropriate, it’s acceptable to utilize abstract nouns. When creating a word list, I utilize two different approaches. Suppose I’m using a formal poem, such as an English (Shakespearean) Sonnet with a precise rhyme scheme of ABAB CDCD EFEF GG. In that case, I’ll arrange it as follows:

A: crashing, bashing, clashing, dashing, flashing, gnashing, lashing, slashing, smashing, trashing
B: stray, day, fray, gray, hey, may, pay, weigh, slay, way, sway
C: adore, bore, core, chore, door, floor, for, more, nor, or, roar, pore, pour, shore, war, wore, yore, your
D: love, dove, shove, of, thereof, glove, prove
E: me, be, glee, sea, see, free, flee, banshee, decree, crappy,
F: temperate, date, late, bait, fate, hate, trait, wait, weight
G: corazon, blown, bone, clone, cone, don’t, flown, known, groan, prone, own, sewn, shown, thrown, tone, zone

If I’m using a Free Verse or experimental verse without a rhyme scheme, then my focus is on finding the best words:

Jove, grove, cloud, perch, heart, patient, impatient, soul, complacent, mortal, drape, divine, nature, thee, hue, passion, hound, tusk, boar, fantasy, dream, drunk, placid, gaze, trophy, saddle, hunt, gape, flesh, bled, immortal, fallible, hurdle, myrtle, nourish, wound, lightning, rod, husk, death, underworld, green apple, rose, flower, red, bereft, bereave, Taurus, twinkle, star, night, light, clime, time.

Poetic Form

When choosing a form for your poem, there are a few things to keep in mind. First, consider the purpose of your poem. What are you trying to communicate? Once you know the purpose, you can narrow down your options. For example, a haiku might be the best choice if you want to write a short and sweet love poem. A sonnet might be a better option if you want to write about a complex subject matter.

Once you have considered the purpose of your poem, it’s time to look at the different types of forms available. Some common poetic forms include sonnets, haikus, villanelles, sestinas, and ghazals. Each form has its own set of rules regarding things like meter and rhyme scheme. Choose one that feels right for your poem. Then find ways to inject figurative language and literary devices that add depth to a poem without affecting its essence.

“Poetry and beauty are always making peace. When you read something beautiful you find coexistence; it breaks walls down.” — Mahmoud Darwish

Finding the best language for the poem is the objective of this process stage. If you’re an aspiring poet, I advise choosing a well-known form, such as a haiku, sonnet, or common meter, to teach you how to arrange and construct a poem. As you gain experience, it will come naturally to you to break the rules and experiment with different parts of the figure of speech or repetition of sounds that resonate best with the poem. If you’re working on an existing poem:

• Decide if it works well in free verse; if not, choose a form that best delivers the message or mix elements of different forms.
• If it’s new, which form best suits its style, texture, and tone of language? Sometimes, it fits a particular form’s original design, e.g., Petrarch’s sonnet, usually about unrequited love.

Sources of Inspiration

Inspiration for poets can come from many different places. It could be an experience, something they saw or felt. It could be something as simple as a walk in the park or watching the sunset. Sometimes, inspiration can come from other poets’ work. Reading poetry can help inspire new ideas and thoughts. Hearing a specific word or phrase can also be inspiring. There are no rules when it comes to where inspiration comes from. It is different for everyone.

Inspiration is often an overlooked great source of depth to the creative writing process; instead, the poet will emphasize the various figurative language, poetic elements, and literary devices for their free verse poem and wonder why they stare at a blank page. The most straightforward poetry writing tips are the simple ones, such as reading and collecting as many sources of inspiration as the writer does writing. Also, before thinking about which poetry forms to use, try free writing to test if you have enough information to pour out the abstract words into written words rather than bogged down by poetic elements in the first draft.

How to overcome writer’s block when it comes to poetry with inspiration

There are many ways to overcome writer’s block when it comes to poetry:

• One way is to take a break from writing and come back with fresh ideas, like taking a walk in nature.
• Another way is to read other poems for inspiration or different genres like fantasy or short stories.
• Try drifting, which involves other activities like playing a video game. At the same time, your creative well fills up and subtly receives inspiration from drifting activities.
• Lastly, try writing in a different style or form to break out of the rut, and for instance, write the poem in the sonnet form.

Read relevant poems that fall within the theme, mood, emotion/feeling, and meaning of your poem or collection. This includes both bodies of work by a single author or an anthology of authors. If you’re writing a love poem collection, find a collection of love poems.

I advise reading it aloud for pure entertainment on your first reading. Then, on subsequent readings, pay attention to the poem’s form, meter, line breaks, stanzas, words, and phrases. You should also research the poet’s life story and the poem’s context to understand their linguistic choices better.

Thus, this information will inspire and enhance your work with each revision where you subconsciously play with language. I recommend rereading the relevant poems throughout the poetry process until you have your final edited manuscript. Also, there is value to reading outside the genre, so don’t be afraid to take inspiration from other sources.

Three Phases of Writing and Revision

“Poetry is language at its most distilled and most powerful.” — Rita Dove

When it comes time to revise your poetry, there are a few key things to look for. First, check the overall structure of your poem. Does it have a clear beginning, middle, and end? If not, consider revising the order of your lines or adding new transitions.

Next, take a closer look at your choice of words. Are they precise and evocative? If not, try swapping them out for more accurate or vivid alternatives. Also, be sure to check for any spelling or grammatical errors.

Finally, ask yourself if your poem’s overall tone and mood are what you intended. If not, see if there are any changes you can make to achieve the desired effect. When you write poetry, here are a few poetic elements to finesse the editing process:

• Shaping your poem: line breaks, stanzas, etc.
• Sound and rhythm: making your words sing
• Images and symbols: creating visuals with language
• Truth and emotion: writing from the heart

Shaping your poem: line breaks, stanzas, and pacing.

When it comes to shaping your poem, there are three main aspects you need to take into account: line breaks, stanzas, and pacing. All these elements play a role in how your poem will be read and interpreted by your audience, so it’s essential to choose wisely.

Line breaks can help create a sense of rhythm or emphasize a specific syllable. They can also be used to create visual interest on the page. Stanzas can be used to group related thoughts together or to develop a sense of pause. And finally, pacing refers to the overall speed at which your poem is read. It can be fast-paced and energetic or slow and reflective.

Experimenting is the best way to determine which line breaks, stanzas, and pacing will work best for your poem.

Sound and rhythm: making your words sing

As a poet, you know the importance of sound and rhythm in your work. By now, you’ve probably developed a good ear for what sounds right in your poems. But what if you’re not sure how to make your words sing?

Here are a few tips to help you revise your poem for sound and rhythm:

1. Read your poem aloud. This is the best way to hear how the words sound together. As you read, pay attention to how the words flow and their rhythms.
2. Listen for areas where the rhythm breaks down or sounds choppy. These are areas that you’ll want to revise.
3. Experiment with different ways of saying things. Try changing up the order of words or substituting other words altogether. See how these changes affect the sound and rhythm of your poem.
4. When you are satisfied with the sound and rhythm of your poem, read it aloud. Often, the way you hear a poem the second time differs from the first. You may see something that needs to be changed or that you missed the first time.

Images and symbols: creating visuals with language

Images and symbols are an integral part of the poetry writing process. Poets can evoke emotion and create meaning in their work by creating visuals with language.

For example, by using sensory images, poets can give readers a vivid picture of what they are experiencing. Using symbols, poets can add depth and layers of meaning from abstract imagery into concrete words.

Both images and symbols are powerful tools that help poets create beautiful and moving poems. By carefully crafting their words, poets can create visuals that will stay with readers long after reading.

Truth and emotion: writing from the heart

When writing, the heart and emotions play a big role. For some, writing is all about getting their feelings out there and putting them down on paper. It’s a way to express themselves and get everything off their chest. And for others, writing is more about the joy and happiness that comes with it. But no matter your reason for writing, it will not be as effective if you’re not honest with your emotions.

If you want to write from the heart, you must be truthful with your emotions. Don’t hold back, and don’t try to sugarcoat anything. The more honest you are, the more impactful your writing will be. It might be difficult at first, but once you start, the words will start flowing out of you. Writing poetry from the soul will draw out a deeper meaning each time you write a poem.

With these things in mind, you should be able to revise your poem in a way that makes it more effective and impactful.

Example

Phase I

Once you have the poem’s idea, free write some content, identify its theme, curate a word list, poetic form (free verse), and the structure (narrative poem) in the way it will be told; now it’s time to add more details about the poem. The best way to describe a poem is to approach it like a blurb that captures its essence, helps you comprehend it from the reader’s point of view, and clarifies your thoughts for phase II writing.

The poem, A Great Loss I, is in The Cool and Warmth of Hearts. From the poem’s summary, the story: in medias res — “something tragic happens between two lovers when the speaker does not find his lover at his bedside. The speaker does not see his lover and cannot remember why she left him alone when he woke up. So he worries that this concern will draw unnecessary attention and suspicion. His worry and reason for not being at his side make him depressed. His thoughts spiral out of control into deeper misery and hopelessness as each minute devours him.”

Phase II

You will transform your free writing into a poetic form through its style and elements. This step will be somewhat chaotic and playful as you experiment with word arrangement, removal of words or phrases, swapping similar words, line breaks, and whether to use end-stops or enjambed lines.

In continuation of phase I, A Great Loss I, the original version of this poem, sometime written a decade or more ago, started out with this piece:

The one I love has vanished without a trace, as if she was banished beyond the universe; now my heart feels misplaced without her embrace as it fed me with warmth, never knowing when my broken heart is ever going to be replaced.

No one would never know how I felt inside, even though the impression on my face may show, and as my intentions let’s go, they may vision my action, above all they never knew how much I love her, as I endure her pondering welt, I tried to erase the pain she flown into me, but I cannot escape. She had lied to be with me forever, why? Now I wanna die, never having memories of her.

My mind is so torn, I wish I had never been born, now I drift to another world of complete blackness and lost composure, therefore I had nothing to compete with, so I shift into sleep and am unsure to wake from here.

Now I’m fading away. Who’s going to console my soul? Where would my heart depart off to, as this question stays hiding in Jose, I slowly laid into my eternal rest, my spirit would be nocturnal, as I explored for more requests to replenish my form just to see the one I love again?

I’ll always remember a day in September, October, November, and even December for those the season we shared most, for giving a reason to say I dearly loved her, and even though my words are few, but my heart will always be true.

And the poem developed into a version from prose to free verse:

The one I love has vanished without a trace,
Banished beyond this universe,
I am in a state of distraught,
Unsure how to carry on,
The warmth at my bedside is misplaced,
Never knowing when the shattered glass will ever get replaced.
No one,
Can know; she is
Gone.
At first, they would sympathize,
Then involve the police,
They will drown me with questions,
Not long they will mark me as a suspect,
In no time, they will exercise my rights,
Soon I’ll feel the neighbors menacing eyes,
It will drive me into further depression,
The onset impression,
Gone from their faces,
I cannot alarm others with this grim situation,
In good intentions it’s best to let go, and
Not involve others,
Let them envision my action,
With suspicion,
I’ll do what’s right,
I’ll search the high-heavens,
I’ll endure the savanna smoldering welt,
I can’t seem to put aside the loss,
“Why the fuck did, she not tells me how she felt.”
She lied to be at my side, why!?
Now I wish to die,
Dread, should I ruminate her kittenish face,
Now the house has an empty space.
My mind is so torn,
I wish I had never been born,
Charon, here is a coin,
Ferry us into the void,
Therefore, my atoms are not reanimated,
For another poor soul is jaded,
With my troubling baggage.
Throw me at the sea to float in an endless drift,
So I’ll shift into slumber and never wake from this tumble sea-drift.
I’m fading away,
Who will console my soul?
Where does the heart depart,
A raised question but no one answers,
I slouch to lay my head into eternal rest,
My spirit wanders into the nocturnal forest,
Can you take up my request to replenish my form,
Before the storm, sets in?
Leafs changing hue in September,
Temperature lowers in October,
Leafs brown in November,
And temperature plummets in December,
This will be a long winter,
They often cite seasons as a sign of hope,
Much into Spring the ground still covered in snow,
For reasons unknown,
Scientist baffled by the phenomenon,
Theologians shouting Armageddon,
Drifting in my blanket snow mound cover,
Few words,
Humming along,
As the cold winter fridges on.

After that, I felt confident with the form, rhyme scheme, line-break, end-stopped line, enjambment, and diction I chose. I was ready for phase three — the many revisions I would undertake.

Phase III

In this phase, you will continue to play and arrange words and more with scrutiny while reading aloud to listen to its meter and discover components that best represent it. The key is to return to a poem you’ve written with fresh eyes and take on an editor’s perspective rather than seeing it as your creation you kept close at heart. Take a break from it and give yourself some time before engaging with it again. In the interim, write other poems, watch a movie, or play a video game:

• Continue finding the best words.
• Refine imagery
• Get intimate with figurative language, literary devices, and poetic elements.
• Listen to the pacing of lines with punctuation.
• Is the poem’s tone set in the right mood?
• Read Out Loud! line by line and the entire poem with each revision.

The difficulty in the revision phase is knowing when a poem is done — right up to the few weeks before my book launch, I still make changes. A novel or short stories you can clean up elements like plot, scenes, and character development. However, poetic visual language makes it harder to discern what’s final! That’s the nature of writing poems it gets better but hardly ever easier just pay careful attention to how the poem progresses. (you can always release the 2nd edition as you get better with the craft).

“A poem is never finished, only abandoned.” — Paul Valéry

In continuation of phase II, I read the poem aloud several times, listening carefully to its meters, pace, homonyms, homophones, and tone. I want to point out both rhyme scheme and homonyms/homophones — in the former, the best way to determine if an end rhyme sounds forced is by reading aloud and listening for awkwardness in speech, then rewriting it until it sounds natural or removing it.

As for the latter homonyms/homophones, having a trusty dictionary and etymology source will help ensure you’re using grammatically correct words (this website is great for identifying common errors with words). After several reading-aloud sessions, I stepped back. I used to time apart to come back and see new perspectives and apply any inspirations I discovered until I reached the final free verse poem published in the book, The Cool and Warmth of Hearts.

The one I love vanished without a trace,
banished beyond this realm.
I am in a state of distress,
unsure how to bear forth and face
the warmth at my bedside misplaced,
never knowing when the shattered glass will ever get replaced.
No one
must know of this; she is
Gone.
At first, they would sympathize,
then involve the police;
they drowned me with questions,
not long from now, they will mark me as a suspect,
in no time, they will exercise my rights;
soon I’ll feel the neighbors’ menacing eyes;
it will drag me into further depression,
the onset impression
gone from their faces.
I cannot alarm others with this grim situation — 
in good intentions it’s best to let go, and
not involve others. Let them envision my action
with suspicion.
I’ll do what’s right,
I’ll search the heavy moss,
I’ll endure the savanna smoldering welt.
I can’t seem to put aside the loss,
Why the hell did she not tell me how she felt!
She lay at my bedside — but why?
While this dread hangs over me — I wish it to die;
should I ruminate her kittenish face?
But the house has a hollow space.
My mind is torn,
I wish this dread had never been born.
Charon, here is a coin; ferry us into the void
and do not allow my atoms to reanimate
for another poor soul is jaded with my troubled soul.
Cast me into the sea to float on an endless drift, so
I’ll shift into slumber and
never wake from this tumble sea-drift.
I’m fading away; who will console my soul?
Where does the heart depart?
A raised question, but no one imparts an answer;
I slouch to lay my head into eternal rest,
my spirit wandering into the nocturnal forest;
can you take up my request to replenish my form
before the storm sets in?
The leaf changes hue in September,
temperature lowers in October,
leaves brown in November,
and temperature plummets in December;
this will be a long, long winter.
They often cite seasons as a sign of hope, but
much into Spring, the ground is still buried in snow
for reasons unknown;
scientists baffled by the phenomenon,
theologians shouting Armageddon;
drifting in my blanket snow mound cover,
a few words, humming along as the icy winter takes over.

Process with Examples

If you’re someone who loves to read my entire poetry writing process with examples, then you can check out my free download, where I provide the following:

• I provide the entire poetry writing process with an example poem published in my book, The Cool and Warmth of Hearts, from start to finish.
• I provide this in several formats for free, such as a PDF and JPG with an infographic.
• Lastly, the Google Doc template I use for every poem can be downloaded in any other format, e.g., .docx, .odt, and more.

Here is the link to it, and I hope you enjoy it! Thanks — Poetry Writing Process

The Gist

“A good poem is a contribution to reality. The world is never the same once a good poem has been added to it. A good poem helps to change the shape of the universe, helps to extend everyone’s knowledge of himself and the world around him.” — Dylan Thomas

In your lifetime, you will grow so long as you are open to life and trust your inner wisdom. As an author, writer, and poet, you will transcend your former self by looking ahead to tomorrow with more potential than yesterday. The most helpful thing someone can do is to set a deadline for publication to free themselves from the bonds of perfectionism and let go of the poems for the world to read; and in your next writing project, you can pause at some point and reflect by revisiting old work and see how much you have grown and — how much your work has developed and instilled value in readers’ lives.

• When it comes to writing anything like poetry, prose, or even a blog post, it all starts with an idea — in the ideation process, there are several methods: brainstorming, writing prompts, and inspirations to draw from. Some sources can come from life, fiction, history, and poetry.
• After having a whit of an idea is one method to help visualize and help summon the imagery, location, context, feeling, or theme; let your unfettered mind explore without judgment the essence of a poem — this can also be applied to other forms as well through freewriting.
• Defining your message or your theme in a collection is helpful for you where the poems are relevant and more important for readers seeking specific thematic collections, whether about love or death; plus, it’s easier to market and categorize on retail platforms.
• Once you have a clear grasp of a theme, there are several ways to organize a poem, either as a narrative arc with traditional storytelling acts or character development that includes change, discovery, and decision.
• So now you have an idea, enough free writing to work out the theme, and a structure to organize. What’s next? A word list and you have plenty of golden nuggets to sift from in the freewriting, and this is a helpful step when you want to set a rhyme scheme or play with literary devices like assonance or consonance; remember, poetry is about choosing the best words in the best order, and that starts out playing around with words and their meaning.
• Depending on how comfortable you’re with forms, I recommend using formal forms like sonnets or couplet rhymes rather than free verse when you’re new and need to learn how to break the rules of language and, more specifically, the musicality of poetic language.
• When you have a good grasp of the overarching theme of the collection and each poem forms sub-themes, you can seek out relevant books or poets’ work to help inspire your collection or a specific verse.
• And like with prose, there will be many phases, first with the rough draft of prose, then the second phase of turning into a poetic form, and finally, many rounds of revision that may focus on imagery or pacing or perhaps identifying better words; what’s essential throughout is reading the poems out loud and listen to how they sound.

In This Post, You Will Discover

• Answering fundamental questions like “what is the book about” and “what is its underlying story arc or theme”.
• Ways to arrange a collection of poetry and how to keep a creative impulse to prevent writer’s block.

Sometimes I struggle with capturing the few ideas that are the best. The key to a great idea is how well you know about the topic or how many questions you have about the subject. I had intimate knowledge I accumulated over the years, writing and reading poetry.

In addition, I’ve been obsessed with the concept called “human nature,” “the human condition,” a universal trait we all share: the bias, the fallacy, evolutionary biology, and psychology features in the human condition that for most of human history are an adaptive survival mechanism: fear, fight or flight, empathy, nausea.

Thus, my curiosity to read widely and better understand this condition and nature of mine, I also wanted to share what I learn with others through art. I chose poetry as a form of art to express these ideas. For this book, I chose the subject of love, and given how nuanced and relatable it is, poetry was the ideal art to communicate my message.

After many trials and errors in my research, I devised an outline to write and publish a poetry book. When coming up with a book idea, one fundamental question is simply what it’s about.

What is the book about?

I had a glimmer of an idea of what I wanted to write. I knew I wanted to write and publish a book, which led to what message I was most interested in sharing and what genre would carry this message. It was easier to start with what I already have archived and identify what those are. I have compiled a decade’s worth of poetry, short stories, lyrics, and essays here. Then, I reflected and chose a poetry collection of romantic love poems because I felt more comfortable exploring these themes.

It was settled! I am writing about romantic love, a subject everyone can relate to, and poetry is the form to deliver it. When coming up with what to write about, I recommend you scour through all of your archived materials; whether physical or digital, there are gems you have you can transform into a writing piece and share with the world.

What Is the Overarching Narrative or Theme?

There are several ways to present the structure of a book from the narrative, subject, or theme. Given my poems were of different periods, stages, points of view, and accounts, I organized them by an overarching theme. It was obvious the book was about romantic love. Still stumbling on how to organize it, I didn’t learn until much later after several rewrites.

After communicating with an editor, she suggested I divide the collection into sub-themes. Aha! Of course, the book will encompass the most common tropes in the human experience of the facets of love:

• Pining
• Being in love
• Heartbreak
• Love of life (adventure, passions, living)
• The power of love it has over us

All the work you’ve written or ideas you thought of lately have a shared theme that needs to be manifested into reality!

How Many Poems Are in This Collection

A poetry book contains more than 30 pages or more than 30 poems; anything less or shorter is a chapbook. I researched the average page or poem count for poetry books on Amazon? To my surprise, most of them wrote or exceeded 100 poems, with page counts exceeding some 200 pages. With some additional research, I discerned several patterns. These books have short poems of less than 10 lines. Each poem is on a new page as some authors accompany their poems with illustrations on one side, giving the illusion of a book filled with many words with a high page count.

Regarding poetry, word count is less crucial than in prose genres like fantasy or romance. Poetry is not prose; poetry is choosing the best words and arranging them in the most effective way to convey the essence of the message. I know each of my poems will vary in length based on the different poetic forms, whether it is Formal Verse with its fixed number of lines, Free Verse where I can play with a variety of elements, or a Ballad to tell a story without the line constraints while adhering to poetic language rules.

So, with some back and forth with my editor, I moved forward with 64 poems, and with future poetry book projects — I found 60 poems to be my perfect balance of length and variety for the reader.

You don’t have to follow my formula, and you may come out with fewer poems, but by writing long narratives or many short poems, you can find your voice and style as you practice.

What Sources of Inspiration and Research

There are sources of inspiration from your own life you can glean from, and it requires a bit of courage to explore those depths. Also, second-hand observations, your philosophy on the topic, movies and TV shows with romantic scenes, the thrill of adventure, poems, books, music, and other mediums you have not considered are just as relevant.

I would curate a film list on Amazon Prime Video or Netflix and, with Spotify, a playlist of songs to help draw out those memories and emotions as I write the book.

Regarding sources of inspiration, my method when reading for inspiration is twofold: one for entertainment and the second for analysis. In the first reading pass, I immerse myself in the beauty and creative quality of timeless poetic literature such as the works of William Shakespeare.

Second, I analyze a poem by identifying the author’s biography and message in how they use figurative language and repetition of sounds. Throughout the book writing, I would read and digest and learn something new each time I revisited an inspirational poem and explore the author behind it by visiting their history and under what conditions they were living that produced a timeless piece of art.

For my book, I watched several films like Pride & Prejudice, a playlist of love songs. I read several books I kept referencing for inspiration:

• Love Poems by Barnes & Noble
• Pocket Book of Romantic Poetry by Barnes & Noble
• Love Poem Collection: The Greatest Love Poems and Love Quotes of All Times

Also, I drew additional sources of inspiration from famous love stories in mythology, fiction, and history, such as Venus and Adonis, Love’s Labor’s Lost, and more. As for additional research, I sought aid from the website LitCharts where they have not just literature guides but also poetry guides. Also, the Philosophy of Love, how famous philosophers throughout history perceived love, helped inform the ideas I injected into the poetry collection.

How Will I Arrange the Collection?

Even though I intended to section the poems by sub-themes, some recommendations made by my editor was putting your strongest poem first for every section, and that’s a great idea. Still, in the end, I chose to alphabetically organize the poems by title for each section. I did my finest to make sure every poem was the best version I could make it for release.

Extras

The extras include book and poem titles, poetic forms, symbolisms, and allusions to help relate and give depth to each poem in the collection. A good title is difficult to come by when you write a book. It’s usually something where I write a simple title, for instance, Romantic Love Poems. Toward the end of my editing collaboration, I will have a final title that emulates the collection. The opening poem, The Cool and Warmth of Hearts, inspired my first book title.

Poetic forms are tricky as they vary from writer to writer with their comfort level; when I wrote my first book, I wanted to experiment with all the tools under the sun in figurative language and repetition of sounds to where almost 70% of The Cool and Warmth of Hearts poems are composed in Free Verse.

There is nothing inherently wrong with that issue. However, I wish I should have mastered the craft of writing poetry well enough before breaking the rules too soon; this is common among many published poems where I see a variety of Free Verse, and they appear to have line breaks, enjambments, and end-stopped done haphazardly than with intention. Stephen Fry shares a similar sentiment in chapter three of his book The Ode Less Travelled:

“The poet who writes ‘free’ verse is like Robinson Crusoe on his desert island: he must do all his cooking, laundry, and darning for himself. This manly independence produces something original and impressive in a few exceptional cases. Still, more often, the result is squalor — dirty sheets on the unmade bed and empty bottles on the unswept floor.” Stephen Fry, The Ode Less Travelled

Symbolism has the power to convey more meaning without deliberate explanation. As far back as humans’ first cave paintings or road signs, symbolism has captured the essence of what we all understand with an image or metaphor we use to describe concepts such as “heart = soul” or “star = hope.”

Allusions in poetry are one of my favorite techniques to add Easter eggs. Still, they must be intentionally inserted in the right context without conceiting. When readers see it, they think, I know what that is! And when we relate, we’re paying respect for the art that culture has created under the banner of humanity.

The Gist

• The first step in bringing a book to life is thinking through what the book is designed to be about, the message you wish to convey, and what genre can deliver that message.
• Second, once you have the idea, it helps to identify what’s the book overarching narrative or theme that will communicate its message. By breaking it down, you can see how each story, poem, and element contributes to the whole, including sub-themes that bridge it.
• Suppose you want to produce a poetry book. In that case, it must be larger than a chapbook of over 30 pages or 25 poems. Usually, if you plan to compete in the marketplace, find out the range authors are putting out and find a balance for your message to the reader without forcing your hand.
• The biggest curse of writer’s block needs more knowledge or inspiration on the topic. Although you can work from experiences and second-hand accounts, a deliberate list of sources guiding you throughout your book writing will have lasting appeal.
• Although the arrangement is a matter of preference, it is paramount that you stay within the narrative or theme; otherwise, you will lose your readers. If you just want to publish a general anthology, then make that explicitly clear for the audience and what overarching theme these poems are hoping to share
• The last but just as critical bit — the extras: title, poetic forms, symbolism, and allusions help add depth and better create a resonance that helps readers connect to one of humanity’s enduring forms of arts