How I self published my own Art Book
99% interiority + 1% action.
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I’ve been interested in inspirational quotes since I started looking into self-help books to overcome social anxiety disorder as a man in his early 20s. Those three bolded words above bother me nowadays. After many years of reflection, the self-help movement and inspirational quotes have been bastardised and overused in social media.
The term, social anxiety disorder, plus having a bee in my bonnet about mental health labels in general. It’s a double-edged sword, I found it very useful to have a label for how I felt, but then that label became my identity.
Hold on, this is supposed to be a post about how I published my art book… Let’s get back to that.
As I said, I enjoy reading quotes. So in late 2020, I decided to create a book of my art from 2019-2020, with inspirational quotes that accompany each piece. I had a real fire under my bum and started putting the book together at a rapid pace in my spare time. I chose a square template from Amazon KPD (Their self-publishing platform) and started putting the book together.
Sounds simple? I’m quite au fait with creating graphic designs, laying things out, using software etc… I used Canva as it’s so easy to use… So, the main issue was with my darn mind, doubting that the whole thing was worth doing. The graphics are the easy part, trust me!
We can do anything we want if we are the master of our minds.
Things that stopped me in my tracks.
I realised that the whole book was too big in file size and felt annoyed that I would have to do it again. You have to use a Word template that’s uploaded to the platform.
Doubting that anyone would read the book.
Doubting if the book would be any good.
Thinking “Who am I to publish an art book?”
You know, the usual self-doubts
manymostall of us have.
My thoughts got the better of me and I stopped the project dead.
I believed my thinking. ‘Life got in the way’; creativity stopped.
“The only way to discover the limits of the possible is to go beyond them into the impossible.”
Arthur C. Clarke
18 months later, after I had my second kidney transplant, I hit publish on 1st August 2022.
A ‘little sneak peek, a few images from the book…
The page below wasn’t allowed in the book! Amazon doesn’t have a sense of humour, eh?
I had a renewed sense of vigour after having the transplant, mentally, physically, and spiritually. I thought “What the hell? Let’s publish it and get it out there in the world”
But you don’t have to have a life-changing event to publish your own art book.
I think every artist should publish a book of their art. If they want to that is. Even if no one buys it, it’s part of your legacy, your family will see it in years to come and they’ll be so amazed that you published a book of your art.
Many things seem tough and not worthwhile from our self-limiting point of view. But try and think of how you’d react if a friend said they were publishing a book of their art, you’d be like “Wow, that’s so amazing, good for you, you can do it!” Unless you were a jealous arse of course. But you’re not! None of my readers are.
In September 2022, not long after the book was published, I was at an open studio event. A man who happened to be a lawyer turned up and bought one of the books, he said “I’m going to pop out and get a coffee, and read this” then left the building. He came back an hour later with a big smile on his face. “I really enjoyed that, thank you” I thought it was incredibly sweet of him to come back and share that with me. He said it was a relaxing read. This was my intention, a meditative book and a book to inspire people to be creative!
If you’d like to be amongst the first people To buy my book online:
Oh, and 10% goes to Kidney Care UK.
Another thing I did with my book was send it to people in the art world I wanted to connect with. Although I haven’t got any replies as yet, it’s still out there in the world. I even gave Dan Jarvis MP a copy, which he awkwardly received in person. Having a physical book is a cool “real life” thing you can share with others. It is a refreshing way to share your art with someone, especially in a digital age.
Before you go, here are a few ideas on what you could do with an art book of your own.
Write a book of poetry and create illustrations to go with it
Share your paintings and write about each one
A how-to book on how to crochet with cool drawings
Create a book of your photos over the past year
Just a few ideas to get your creative juices flowing, it doesn’t have to be an art book, it’s just as simple to publish your own book book without illustrations if you wish!
The possibilities are endless!
Thank you for reading,
Best wishes,
Resources on how to self-publish your art book
Amazon KDP Tutorials.
Play around with the KDP Bookshelf and get familiar with the tools. Create your own account.
Canva - you don’t need this, but I wanted to keep my SLART font for my quotes. I exported images to go into the book. But you can type directly into the Word template and add your art images.
Me! I’d be thrilled to walk you through how to set this up for a fee. Reply to this email to discuss.
I haven't published it yet. I'm somewhat stuck in the "material organization" phase.
Thank you, Steven. You gave me a very good next-level idea about what to do with my paintings.