Change of direction
I’m always nervously exciting starting a new venture, never knowing where it will take me.
The pandemic has caused a lot of people to assess their situation, I’m no exception. Having returned in October 2019 from living in the Canary Islands I was fully expecting to continue my freelance design work. I did, but Covid had a say on how successful that would be. However, it didn’t deter my love of being freelance. Primarily, I’m a graphic designer and support that with photography and film making plus timelapsing which is always a satisfying process.
Self-publishing
I stumbled up on self-publishing watching various videos on YouTube. It occurred to me as something I could do. Afterall, I could draw, an had professional skills using design software such as Adobe InDesign, Photoshop and Illustrator. Hopefully these skills saw me as a one-man operation not having to rely on other people to produce books in what ever form or guise. I’ve always sketched and doodled. Irealised I might have a knack for it copying eye make-up adverts in mum’s magazines. I loved the colours and shapes. Shapes have always fascinated me in a strange way. SO things like propellers tend to make me drool on the inside but don’t tell anyone. The fact I was raised on RAF bases might have had something to do with it as well.
Low content books
With skills in tow I taught myself on the process and workflow of how to self publish using the KDP platform and sell books on Amazon. As with anyting, it is always good to take baby step to gain experience of the system. So my first designs were ‘low content’ books. These are basically notebooks and notepads with lined paper. The main part which needed some design thought were the covers. I chose some photographs I had taken which meant no problems with copyright and voila!
I have a number of handy notebooks and notepads available on Amazon and this list will grow over time. Being a plane lover, the first book I produced was a simple notebook for aviation enthusiasts. It’s available here: