In the early part of 2024, I spent weeks (perhaps, months!) trying to figure out the difference between traditional and self-publishing. Both have their perks and challenges, but I eventually figured out that self-publishing was the right choice for me & my first book Inspired: The A-Z of Creative Unblocking.
If you want to know a bit more about my journey, read on! đ
Why Self-Publishing?
â Creative Autonomy! ⨠In my own book-writing journey, I caught a glimpse of the ârulesâ that publishers impose. And when youâre writing about creativity and breaking the status quo, those rules just donât sit right.
I absolutely love the autonomy that personal projects give to creatives, and self-publishing takes it to the next level. It lets you share your story without censorship. No waiting for approvals, no compromising my creative vision. I get to share my work exactly as I intended.
â I could get help where I need itâlike editingâand I was willing to learn anything that I needed to do myself (coordinating prints, marketing, etc.).
â I have a design background, which meant I could create the full book myself or confidently collaborate with someone else if needed.
â Marketing was always going to be my responsibilityâregardless of whether I self-published or went traditional. As a first-time author, publishers rarely invest heavily in promotion and authors need to give a big push to the marketing of the book.
â I actually enjoy the business side of things. Instead of seeing it as a burden, I treat it like an experimentâfiguring out what works and what doesnât.
The Biggest Challenge: Getting Into Bookstores
One of the hardest realities of self-publishing? Many of my favorite bookstores donât accept independently published books, and prefer working with established publishers because it simplifies logistics for them.
Someone asked me if this âunfair situationâ angers me, and my response is: I donât think itâs unfair. Every organisation and business needs to consider what works for them. Specially with the smaller bookstores, I fully believe that they have good intentions but itâs operational constraints which limit them.
So instead of worrying about that, Iâve shifted my focus to online sales, direct-to-reader marketing, and event-based promotions. And honestly? I love the idea of meeting my readers directly, whether through social media, pop-ups, or book fairs.
A learning from this situation: Someoneâs inability to stock my book is not a reflection of my bookâs quality or demand. I try not to get demotivated and remind myself that âthis is about their constraints, not a comment on my workâs qualityâ.
Update: Itâs November 2025, and currently my book is available in 2 bookstores â one in Bangalore & one in Vishakhapatnam. Both found me through events. One has taken 15 copies from me on consignment (which means, theyâll pay me for the copies which get sold and return the rest after 3 months) and the other has outright bought my books for stocking at their end (which is of course the most convenient option for me). So hey, I guess itâs just going to take time!
The most fun part: Designing the book cover!
As a designer, I knew the cover had to be eye-catching, clear at small sizes, and true to the bookâs essence. Iâll take you behind the scenes of how I designed it and the decisions that shaped the final look.
I turned the cover design process into a conversation with my creative community (and future audience for the book). I shared a video showing the 4 options at the time, and hundred of people commented and voted for different options.
This process helped me overcome my biases & design for my readers, instead of just designing for myself.
How I used AI in the process
I know thereâs a lot of debate about AI in creative fields, but Iâve found it to be a great support tool. Here are three ways I used AI while writing my book:
Overcoming Blank Page Syndrome: Staring at an empty screen is the worst. Jamming with AI on quick prompts helped me break past creative blocks and get ideas flowing.
Level 0 Proofreading: AI became my quick editing buddy, helping catch grammatical and spelling errors in my writing. This meant that my editor Bala could directly move onto the more valuable parts of editing which really needed his time.
Reducing Eye Strain: Long writing sessions can be exhausting. Having AI read my drafts aloud helped me catch errors and gave my eyes a break.
My expenses for Self-Publishing
The biggest resource spent was time. I did a lot of the work myself, beyond the writing of the manuscript. I was also responsible for designing the cover, doing the complete book layout, conducting market research, figuring out pricing, getting test prints from various print houses, coordinating the printing of the final copies, marketing the book on an ongoing basis and more.
I was in a position to spend more time than money because of my background in design & business. And so, I could manage the entire self-publishing process at a lower ârupee-costâ compared to what would be required for producing a book of a similar quality. (If I think about the âopportunity costâ of that time, itâll run into lakhs. And so, I wonât think about it. đŹ)
When it comes to rupees cost, there are the one-time expenses & the recurring expenses.
The one-time expenses included:
Purchasing the software for book layout
Editorâs fee
Multiple rounds of test printing
Printing the first 200 books, which was the largest batch of books I printed in one go.
Purchasing a âSticker printerâ (non-essential, but really wanted to!)
Iâm quite grateful for the fact that I sold 130 books within 2 weeks of launch, and that helped me recover all my one-time expenses. :)
My guess is that this was made possible because I had a knack for being active on social media and I made a special effort to talk about my writing progress throughout the process. This kept people engaged and they were already warmed up to place pre-orders closer to the launch date. So, marketing efforts also count.
The recurring expenses include:
Packaging material
Shipping fee
Reprints of books, in batches of 50, 100, 100⌠and so on.
Occasional fee for participation in book fairs (I experimented with this 2-3 times, and have stopped doing that since)
While this post is about what made me choose self-publishing, there are some additional fundamental questions about timelines, pricing, inspiration & accountability which Iâve been asked time & again. Most recently, these questions came up last week, when I was at the Vizag Junior Literary Fest in Visakhapatnam, where one of my sessions was about my self-publishing journey.
How long did it take you to write your book?
In a way, 4 years. In a way, 4 months. Allow me to explain.
This book started taking shape with the beginning of my research in May 2020. The only form of writing I did at the time was short-form caption writing to go with my art project Vaccines for Fear, where I created artwork and wrote a bit about overcoming creative fears and mind-blocks.
The Instagram-art-project grew into a series of letters called Brain Food in 2022 where I started writing in-depth long-form letters to a small set of email subscribers. This allowed me to go deeper into the same topic of creative unblocking.
Finally, in 2024, I sat down to bring all my work thus far in the form of this book: âInspired: The A-Z of Creative Unblocking'. It started with ideation on the format of the book and that took a couple of months. But once I was locked into the A-Z format, I went into a deep 4-month writing (and editing & designing & formatting) mode and re-emerged into social life only once I was ready with a print-ready book (in June 2024).
So, the idea had been brewing since my research started in May 2020, but the active & deep work on a book started only in early 2024, and ended with a book launch in June 2024.
Reminder: Your timeline will be unique to you & your journey thus far.
How did you decide the pricing of the book?
I looked at the other books on this topic, such as The Artistâs Way & Big Magic, and made sure that the pricing allowed my book to belong to their category.
I had prior experience selling visual art & written material (my digital letters), and that had given me an understanding of my audienceâs mindset as well.
Finally, I had to consider the costs Iâd have to bear for each printed copy of the book â printing, packaging, shipping (or Amazon fees). I gave a small discount on pre-orders as well, and I know Iâll continue giving discounts at in-person events (simply because I save on packaging & shipping in that case, and want to pass that benefit forward to my customer). And so, the pricing for my book accounts for all these foreseeable deductions too.
Where did you find the inspiration to write this book?
At the time I started researching this topic of Creative Mindblocks, I was already a trained architect and practicing, self-taught graphic designer. I knew how isolating it can be to feel creatively blocked, with no vocabulary to share & work through that experience. And so, I started creating art & writing around this topic. Over the next 2-3 years, the conversation grew through social media and I realised how every creative I met wanted to talk about this in more depth.
This insight, coupled with my own love for books as a medium of sharing knowledge, became the inspiration behind finally writing a book on the topic.
Did you have a mentor who kept you motivated?
Writing can be a very solitary journey and yes, motivation throughout the process is essential. I didnât have a mentor, but I had an accountability partner. My friend Juneza, who had already published her first book on the topic of Service Design, became the one person who received regular updates about my writing. In fact, you could say that the very first manuscript existed in parts on our WhatsApp messages.
So, are you looking to self-publish?
I hope that all this information helped!
If you have more questions, ask away in the comments and Iâll try my best to answer them all :)
I love the self-publishing route but I wonât blindly recommend it to everyone. Because it isnât for everyone. But if you love creative freedom and are willing to learn, experiment, and adapt, it can be incredibly fulfilling!
If youâre looking for further guidance and a brainstorm specific to your journey, Iâd like to also introduce the option of booking a 1:1 consult with me to get more clarity.
Happy writing!