This blog explores the emotional aspects of first-time publishing to help you navigate this life-changing experience.

It’s with the highest hopes after reading about my personal journey to self-publishing, you’ll be able to rekindle motivation for reaching the finish line with your book!

I self-published my first book—and became a new author—April 2025. I chose to self-publish on Amazon KDP. It was a 2 year writing journey but I had no idea it would be as long…

Writing can take you on an emotional roller coaster! That’s especially true for self-help authors.

My first self-published book, “Gambia Through Our Eyes” https://a.co/d/0YqIoXK is a self-help book for families. The story of how my husband and I moved from the USA to Gambia in 2021—with 8 children—without having visited the country before. 

My book compliments our YouTube channel  “Summers in Africa” https://www.youtube.com/@summersinafrica where I share our family’s journey of relocating from America to Gambia. I was so excited in the beginning of my writing journey, I told over 10K subscribers about the upcoming release of my new book. 

That was before I realized it would take two years before I was ready to publish it…

 I often wondered if announcing it was a mistake because my excitement quickly turned into fears that my book wouldn’t hold up to certain expectations from our followers…

The Spark of Inspiration: Beginning Your Author Journey

The initial excitement of starting my book fueled the late nights, early mornings, and countless hours spent pouring into my writing. In writing my first couple of chapters, I felt hopeful, excited, and optimistic about the new writing process. 

In the beginning you’ll experience an array of positive emotions surrounding writing, even while you’re uncertain of the direction you’re going in with your book.

Emotions you may feel:

– Excitement and motivation

– Creative energy

– Purpose and direction

– Optimism about your book’s future

Many first-time authors may put out a lot of writing during the “motivated phase,” as writing comes naturally while excited and motivated. Soak up these moments as best as you can—it will help sustain you through more challenging phases of the publishing journey. 

It’s easy to write when you feel motivated but like most other things in life motivation for writing wears off…

Then you may find yourself stuck staring at a blank page wondering whether you’re really meant to be an author or not. 

My motivation to write wore off by chapter 2 of my 11 chapter book…

 Maintaining Motivation While Writing Your First Book

As days turn into weeks and months, the initial excitement often gives way to the reality of sustained effort.

This is when writing transforms from a burst of inspiration into a marathon of discipline and perseverance.

What you might experience:

– Fluctuating motivation

– Creative blocks and self-doubt

– Isolation during long writing sessions

– Pride in watching your word count grow

Midway to completion I remember going through feelings of hating my book! I thought about giving up and just changing my mind altogether about starting a writing career.

Life gets in the way: 

Initially I had a writing schedule and when I fell off of it I was devastated. I remember clearly it was when I was pregnant with our 9th baby.

My motivation dropped drastically because my overall experience in the new country—I was writing my book about— changed. I went from being head-over-heels to almost hating Gambia, due to the challenges of being abroad while pregnant. 

Between the frustrations of being pregnant in a new country and being too tired to write during the odd hours of the night—as I was doing before pregnancy—I fell off of my writing routine.

I really beat myself up about it and it was a major set back with months of no writing…

To get back on track I ended up committing to a simple 10 minutes of writing a day.

The most important thing with staying on track with writing is being consistent, the time length isn’t as important as consistency.

Set Clear, Achievable Goals

Break your writing project into smaller milestones. I had to trick myself mentally during rough writing periods.

I stopped thinking about my book as a book and looked at each chapter as a stand alone piece of work. There were even times I pretended I was writing a laid back blog post, just to calm my nerves.

whatever it took to get me through each chapter… sometimes I looked at my chapters as being long articles that required research. That mindset helped a lot!

Completing these bite-sized tasks provides regular doses of accomplishment that fuel continued progress.

Establish a Consistent Routine

Writing at the same time each day trains your brain to enter a creative state more easily. Even 10-15 minutes of daily consistent writing builds momentum. It’s what helped lead to me actually finishing my book. 

You may sit down with the intention to write for 15 minutes but get lost in the process to find yourself sitting for 30 instead. It happened to me a lot.

Overcoming Common Motivation Killers

Perfectionism and self-doubt often sabotage motivation. Remember that first drafts are meant to be imperfect—editing comes later.

Focus on getting words on the page rather than crafting perfect prose immediately.

I learned from my book coach, one of the biggest mistakes you can make is reading back over your work as you’re writing.

When you write, you should only write. Leave editing and fixing/restructuring paragraphs for another day. The two shouldn’t be done simultaneously—as one requires creative energy and the other is a critical eye.

Critiquing your words as you’re writing will put you in a negative head space. 

You may wonder how you’ll know when you’re finished your book. There are two ways to determine that. One, if you’ve reached your desired word count for your book and you’ve shared all of the intended information. 

And the second way is if you have given your reader everything you have of value to give, because no one wants to read “fluff” just for the sake of you stretching the page count.

Developmental editing for first time authors

The absolute hardest part about writing my first book was that my family was in the midst of living the story I was writing.

I was writing as the experiences were happening. 

That came with pros and cons… the pros were that I was able to write from a place of authenticity and fresh memories.

The cons were that my perspectives on the journey kept changing, which led to me throwing out some chapters. Yeah… those chapters I wrote while I was pregnant absolutely went into the trash. 

I used to beat myself up about “wasting chapters/time” until I read about the fact that best-selling authors trash multiple manuscripts sometimes.

It’s all part of the creative process.

Once I felt like I wrote my book to the best of my ability I hired a developmental editor. This made the biggest impact on my readers thoroughly enjoying my book. 

My editor had me elaborate on all the things I tried to get away with leaving out. She peeled back the layers I was hiding under and asked me the same questions my readers likely would’ve been wondering about. 

I do believe this is a service that is absolutely necessary.

Your developmental editor will help you tell your story in ways you never imagined would be so helpful to your book.

Those editors will suggest including and removing certain information. I ended up with 3 additional chapters that my editor suggested including, which never had even crossed my mind as an idea. But because of it my readers raved about how helpful my book was. 

At the end of the day our books aren’t just to tell our story, they are to help others sort out specific problems in their own lives.

This is at least true for self-help authors.

The worst part about developmental editing is that I went from feeling like my book was completed to feeling like I was telling the story all over again.

I don’t want to scare you away, but developmental editing is much harder than the writing you do in the beginning, which was fueled by motivation and excitement.

By the time you get to developmental editing you may be more than likely burned out from working on your book.

Unfortunately, burnout doesn’t mean done. But it could mean you should take a break…

There was a 2 month gap between me receiving my developmental editing suggestions and when I incorporated them into my book, which required restructuring the paragraphs for flow.

My editor wanted me to include things that provoked emotions I wasn’t prepared to go through again.

So I procrastinated and tried to mentally prepare to talk about the difficult things like “How our move from America affected our marriage.” My editor pushed me to share past the “surface level” I couldn’t get myself through. 

She kept reminding me that choosing to write on the topic I had chosen required me to “get personal” and share things that would help my readers navigate similar paths. The best thing I did for my book was listen to her.

It was hard! But the first good reviews I got from my book were worth all of the effort. Your book reviews won’t always be public. I had some message me privately on social media, sharing the wonderful experience they had reading my new release.

Your readers are looking for a transformation through your book.

Readers of self-help pieces want to know the difficult things you’ve overcome and how you did it.

They want to know how you managed to do it so they too may obtain similar success. Getting your readers to that place will require editing and more editing… going through revision after revision…

The Revision Wilderness: Finding Your True Story

“The first draft is just you telling yourself the story” ~Terry Pratchchett

The editing phase often causes the most dramatic emotional swings for first-time authors. Facing feedback and making substantial changes requires courage and humility.

It’s not easy having someone “tear your work apart” after you struggled so hard to get a book off of your heart and onto paper. 

Emotional challenges during revision:

– Defensiveness about criticism

– Overwhelm at the scope of changes needed

– Frustration with the seemingly endless process

– Growing confidence as the manuscript improves

Remember that even bestselling authors go through multiple revisions. Each round of editing brings your book closer to its fullest potential, though the process rarely feels linear or predictable.

During those days I felt like I would never finish my book. 

In the beginning I didn’t realize the book I wrote wasn’t the version I’d be publishing. The first draft was the foundational work.

That’s why it was so hard getting the words on the page. I was trying to imagine my book being read by others, whilst I was writing it *facepalm* major mistake!

That wasn’t even the version of my book that would be published. That’s why it’s so important to get the first draft out of your head and onto paper as soon as possible. 

Being stuck on the first draft is the one thing that gets in the way of becoming a self-published author. 

I missed my publication deadline due to the editors still having my manuscript. I announced to everyone that I’d be publishing in January 2025, but I didn’t actually get to publish until April 2025… 3 months later! And it tore me apart but wasn’t the end of the world.

Had I published sooner than I did, my book wouldn’t have been the story it is today.

You don’t only want to be published. You want a book that people will love reading. 

Those reviews are the best! When people say “I finished the whole book! I couldn’t put it down.” That made me feel like a very proud author.

Those reviews will make everything you went through worth it. And they’ll better prepare you for the negative ones. Even best-selling authors get some negative reviews.

It’s a blessing to receive good ones first!

Don’t rush to publish if you feel like more work is necessary for your book to be a great book! Only publish when you feel like your book is ready.

Before You Hit Publish: Emotions Surrounding the Finish Line

Pre-launch emotions commonly include:

– Impostor syndrome (“Am I a real author?”)

– Fear of negative reviews or criticism

– Excitement about reaching readers

– Pride in your accomplishment

– Anxiety about marketing and promotion

Many first-time authors report sleeping poorly in the weeks before publication as their minds race with both worries and dreams of success. I was up at 12 midnight to see when my book went live on Amazon.

Publication Day: The Emotional Peak

The day your book becomes available to readers—the moment when your private creation becomes public art.

What to expect feeling:

– Surreal disbelief that your book exists

– Pride and accomplishment

– Vulnerability as readers begin forming opinions

– Relief that the process is complete

– A strange sense of both closure and beginning

I released the eBook version first. It really took the edge off of waiting for Amazon KDP to release my paperback for ordering.

Take time to celebrate this milestone. Many authors report that publication day passes in a blur of emotions, so planning meaningful ways to mark the occasion can help you fully experience this once-in-a-lifetime moment. 

On the day I published the eBook version, I went for lunch on the beach with my family and celebrated with my husband, our children, and my grandmother.

I chose to publish on our wedding anniversary. It was the biggest deal I possibly could’ve made out of my publication date.

I released it on one of the most important dates in my life. 

Now my heart is full of beautiful memories of my publication date.

I was surrounded by a lot of love that day. I really needed it because I was nervous about what was to come next. 

I think the next big worry is book REVIEWS!

Common post-publication feelings:

– Heightened sensitivity to sales numbers and reviews

– Uncertainty about your next writing project 

– Growing confidence as a published author

– Perspective on the entire journey

I couldn’t believe my eyes when the sales from my eBook were coming in. The fact that people were eager to read my book even before the hardcopy was available, really boosted my confidence!

I would absolutely choose that method again—to publish the eBook version first. Something about it prepared me better for announcing the book could be ordered on Amazon. 

The identity shift from aspiring writer to published author is one of the best feelings ever!

The day your dream of becoming a published author comes true.

It’s so worth it! Keep going, no matter how long it takes. 

Leave a comment below and tell me all about what stage of the writing process you’re in now. 

 Happy writing!