Memories are made of these
And so the journey of creating and publishing my Sudanese memoir begins.
This trip down memory lane is part of a longer-term objective to discover new ways of creating multiple streams of income using the internet as the platform. Without a doubt it will be filled with trial and error, many imperfect moments and possibly even some blood, sweat and tears.
I have been researching this ‘possible future’ on the side over the last year or so and to be honest am quite dizzy from the hundreds of rabbit trails I have travelled down. Having previously shunned social media and cynically viewing any ‘make money online’ articles as coming from snake oil salesmen it has been slow going learning about this e-world.
I view many things with a solid sense of scepticism and this can make research a bit slower.
Having a full-time job and a young family also means very little spare time in the first place. However, from what I have seen so far I do think that it is worthy of continued pursuit. Exciting times lay ahead methinks.
The idea for writing a memoir, in particular, came as a result of two things:
- I had two old handwritten journals (themselves covered in blood, sweat and tears) from my time as a newbie aid worker in South Sudan in 1999. They were gathering dust under the bed and I planned to save them onto the Cloud in case my house ever burned down! I also thought it would be nice to have them in book form for my kids when they are older.
- I signed up to a quirky, online ‘wantrepreneur’ course in January and it’s first big task was to validate a business idea in 48 hours. So I thought of using my journals as the ‘product’ in the form of a memoir and went from there.
A handful of brave souls were willing to pre-order through Paypal in the knowledge that the book had yet to be written but that was enough to prove that it would be worth a try. My minimum target was just 3 sales and if only a couple of people ordered then I would have thanked them for their trust and refunded their purchase.
The race is now on to get a product to market (as they say) and I am under no illusions that the book will be a golden goose. No fairy tales here. Instead, I will achieve a goal of turning my often brief and rambling handwritten journal entries into a physical book (as well as an e-book) whilst attempting to do so with only the few dollars of pre-order cash as my budget. Gulp!
The book will become a tool within my arsenal akin to a business card as opposed to a bestseller. Obviously though I hope some readers will enjoy it as well!
Jason is currently an emergency humanitarian supply chain specialist and budding side hustler. He writes a small blog called A Little Bit Every Day and is the creator of the daily humanitarian focused journal Aid Memoire.
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Originally published at www.alittlebiteveryday.com.
