Six lessons I learned from authoring a book

I recently published my first book on Amazon. Actually, I’ve tried to write a book many years ago. However, I gave up halfway after finishing around 100 pages. This time, I finally made it. Unlike most authors, when the book was released, I didn’t feel super excited, instead, I just felt relieved — oh finally it’s done! I had been working on the book for over a year, which almost took all my free time. When I reflected on the journey, I realised that I did learn a lot from the process, not only about writing but also about how to manage my time and energy. Here, I share six things, hoping to inspire authors alike.

1. Never underestimate the effort required, but don’t be afraid to start

This statement is a bit of a paradox. Writing a book is absolutely a huge project. Even though I often write blogs and articles, I still underestimated the effort required to write a book. It’s not just about writing more words than an article, but also about the structure, the mind flow, the consistency, and the coherence.

When I write blogs, I can write whatever I want, I can complete it at any time, and I don’t need to worry too much about the background or the context, as I can easily add a link to another blog post or official documentation. I don’t mind if the blog post is not perfect, because I can always come back and edit it…