How To … Publish Your Own Book

My super-clever Mum asked me a couple of months ago about a website she had heard of where you could publish your own books. I’d never heard of it, but we went to check it out.

It’s called Blurb, and I was extremely impressed with how user-friendly it is. You can write your book online with Bookify, or you can download the software to your computer with Booksmart. Then you upload the photos you want to include in your book, and just use the uncomplicated tools to lay everything out. It can be as simple or as complicated as you want it to be. You order as few or as many copies of your book as you want, and it’s posted to you very quickly. Even the prices are pretty good! As methods of self-publishing go, it’s really very straightforward.

And you can write your book about anything. If you browse around the Blurb Bookshop, you can see the books that other people have uploaded. There’s everything from children’s picture books, photo albums, art and photography books … all completely unique. 

So one day in late January, Mum and I put together a book of her designs, specifically about her inspirations around her home and her photography, drawings and embroidered artworks which resulted. The result was brilliant, and we had a lot of fun working on the project together. 

  

For myself, I’m thinking of putting together a photo book of my daughter’s first year. She’s seven months old now, so I’ve got time to consider it!

I would really recommend Blurb to anyone who is interested in showing off their work in a book. With just a little computer savvy and a bright idea, you could be a published author!

P.S. If anyone is interested in a copy of my Mum's (Carolyn Sullivan) book, you can email me at stitchesbykryss@gmail.com.