5 lessons I learned from self-publishing 'The Secret Army'

If the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, the journey of a published book begins with a single idea.

“There has to be a better way”.

For millennia human beings have found innovative new ways of solving problems. The secret of our success as a species lies, in part, in our ability to collaborate. It also comes down to our ability to communicate. As someone fascinated by both collaboration and communication I began writing The Secret Army: Leadership, Marketing and the Power of People as a way of aligning these concepts in my own mind. I also started writing it because of a compulsion to make sense of the world, my world. 

“There has to be a better way to lead people and inspire them, to make them want to come to work and to collaborate because it’s not just the right thing to do, it’s the only thing that makes any sense.”

That was the single ideal that compelled me to create a book that has everything, and nothing, to do with communication, collaboration and a Secret Army of individuals who, together, are more than the sum of their parts.

I wanted to inspire people to own their power at work, to catch hold of the tide of positive thinking that is sweeping our Facebook pages and WhatsApp groups, and to share some stories that may inspire others who know that they can find that better way, and make change happen.

But, like any journey, it wasn’t easy. In the end it took just over a year to go from a first draft to a final, print-ready publication. And, like any journey that’s worth taking, I learned a lot on the way.

5 things that I learned during the process.

For anyone who is interested in self-publishing a book that looks as good as anything you’d find on the shelves of your local bookstore, I hope you'll find this helpful.

1. It takes longer than you ever imagined

If you want to write and self-publish a book you’ll find a lot of advice on the internet on how to do it, and how not to do it. The most important thing that many authors don't say is that you really need to decide how important it really is for you to be a published author before you begin.

Is this interest in being published a burning desire or just a ‘nice to have’?

Where do you rank on a scale of 1-10 where “I need to get this book done, published, and being read by people” is a 10 and “I just want to be able to call myself an author is a 1”?

If you rank yourself as anything below a 9, write, by all means, but realise that the chances are that you are unlikely to turn that writing into ‘a thing’.

2. Just when you think you’re done... you’re not

How long do you think it takes to write a book?

My first (unpublished) fiction novel took me 7 years. My non-fiction novel took 2 months. Or did it? No. In all honesty, I’ve been preparing to write The Secret Army my whole working life. The stories included in the book come from my very first full-time job and a plethora of good and bad experiences that I’ve had or learned about over the years. But the writing is only the very, very beginning.

If you’ve written the book that’s great! Now what?

If you think you’re finished once you’ve written the book, you have another think coming! That’s just the beginning. Of course, non-fiction books require a different kind of rigour, but any good book takes a lot more effort than the novice would anticipate. Here are just a few of the steps in the process:

1. Writing it
2. Re-writing each awkward bit or chapter
3. Getting others to read it (sometimes called ‘Alpha’ readers)
4. Making more changes
5. Checking it for logic, flow and accuracy
6. Making more changes
7. Editing spelling, grammar and style for consistency
8. Making more changes
9. Getting a different set of people to read it (sometimes called ‘Beta’ readers)
10. Making more changes
11. Doing the layout
12. Checking the layout
13. Re-checking the layout
14. Checking the sources are accurate and that quoted people are okay with being quoted
15. Getting endorsements from others to use in publicity
16. Building a marketing plan
17. Getting proof-readers to re-check the book for errors
18. Making more changes
19. Preparing the book for print
20. Seeing it, finally, become ‘a thing’

These 20 steps are just a snapshot of the process, and the main reason why no matter how long you think it will take you to complete the book, it will take far longer than you ever could have imagined. You have to be patient and dedicated but, most importantly, you have to have a burning desire to see it published. Otherwise it's too easy to give up.

3. (Most) people are kinder and more helpful than you’d think

It’s not all doom and gloom. Writing and self-publishing a book, like many other tasks that require the contribution of a Secret Army of people to help you achieve your goal, can bring you many surprisingly good things. 

For me, one of those lovely surprises was the amazing support of people who helped me get there. 

There’s a reason that books almost always have an acknowledgements page. It’s because no man is an army, and no good book is the product of only one brain.

Sometimes a Secret Army isn’t just a combination of your employees, leaders and customers – it’s also a group of people who pull together to provide help and support in amazing and unexpected ways.

For me, it was the published author who wrote a blog post to help me promote my book, the photographer who took my author photo and offered me her studio as a venue for the launch party, the colleagues-turned-friends who let me quote them in the acknowledgements page, and every single person who surprised me by being genuinely excited to read the book.

I didn’t expect to have my own Secret Army but what I realised while writing this book, as anyone who has ever worked towards a massive goal that they can’t do on their own has also done, is that we each have an army of people behind us all the time. Sometimes it’s just hard to realise they’re there, especially while we’re in the midst of the massive project.

Never be afraid to ask for help. It can come from the most surprising sources, if you’re open to it.

4. Spare time? A life? What’s that?

Any project takes time. Major projects take more time than you bargained for. Writing a book is even worse.

It will test your patience and those of your spouse, family and friends. It will steal your free time, and then some. It will invade your thoughts and your dreams. Be prepared for that.

If you’re writing a book or attempting any challenge that will, ultimately, be life-changing I hope you have strong foundations in place because it will take a toll on you, your family, your relationships and your ability to do things for other people. 

Ask yourself how confident you are that the important people in your life will still love you if you ignore them, abandon them, and put them off when they need things from you while you focus on achieving that goal? If the answer is a really confident, 'Yes!', go for it. If not, realise that sacrifices will have to be made and sometimes people might get angry or resentful that you’re choosing this project over them.

5. Resilience

Whether you’re training for an endurance race, raising a child, or writing a book there will be times when you are exhausted – mentally and physically. Something needs to keep you going. 

Any momentous achievement requires guts, courage and strength. But mostly it requires fortitude: the ability to keep going beyond what you thought were your own limits.

Ask yourself, how strong is that desire to reach the goal? Is the medal at the finishing line, a child who you can be proud to call your son or daughter, or the book that you’re okay to sign your name to, worth many, many hours of pain, sweat, tears, worry and hard work? Are you prepared to find yourself curled up on the kitchen floor crying in sheer frustration and exhaustion and then shake yourself off, and carry on going? If the answer is yes, then do it. If not, realise that you might not reach the end goal, but you will have learned more about yourself in the process than you ever could have imagined.

So what does it look like in the end?

Well, The Secret Army: Leadership, Marketing and the Power of People looks like a real book in the end. It's quite a feeling, to finally see the idea available in print. But what it feels like is something far more tangible: it feels unreal and, at the same time, a huge relief. But it also feels like having finished the book is just the beginning. The next step is finding people who want to read it, talk about it, share the ideas in it and create a movement from it.

That's where you come in. If you like this post, please share it. And if you're intrigued by the book's title, please buy a copy. But even if you don't buy a copy please check it out on Amazon. You can 'look inside' to see what it's all about.

Then share your own thoughts about how your Secret Army has helped you get through tough times, and spare a few moments to be grateful to them.