Outskirts Press, INC.

Essential for First-time Authors!

Have you always wanted to write a book? Have you written a book and aren’t sure what to do with it? Are you an avid reader, interested in how people write books and get them published? Birthing A Book is a humorous, fascinating look at the ins and outs of writing and self-publishing by someone who’s been in the trenches. Anderson describes her journey as a novice author from deciding to write a book, The First Year: Coping With Widowhood, to writing it, choosing a self-publisher, and going through the demands of publishing. She found herself comparing the experience with having a baby. This idea intrigued her, and she was inspired to write another book all about the writing and publishing processes—hence the title. What began as a sort of diary of writing and publishing her first book evolved into something more. Using the periods of downtime during publication, Anderson began working on additional writing projects, one of which became another book. Frustrated with her publisher’s complicated software, she sought a different publisher for the new book. That decision effectively took her out of the frying pan into the fire! Ultimately, Anderson restructured and revised Birthing A Book into two parts, the first dealing with the writing and publishing of The First Year: Coping With Widowhood. The second part became a combination of a cautionary tale and a mini-manual on writing, choosing a self-publisher, and keeping it all organized.