Hi All,
For my first ‘Trying To’, I thought I would try something I have always talked about doing, but never did – . Publishing a Poetry collection.
After all, that is what this series is all about – doing things I only talked about, so why not start with something I have talked about the most.
Since my college days I have always identified Poetry as my distinctive feature among friends – something that I would bring to the table, something that I want to be known for, even though it’s something I have never really pursued seriously. Hopefully that will change with this series.
I always feel at a loss when thinking of starting a new thing – where to begin, what to do first etc etc.
One would think with all the ‘How To’ help on the Internet it would be easy, but for me it actually does the exact opposite – I become overwhelmed with the plethora of information and the amount of work that needs done.
I tried following different tutorials, blogs, courses online to come up with an outline but failed miserably.
So I just went with something I already had.
Below is an attempt at a list of “Tasks” needed to publish a poetry collection.
I had written this on a 16-hour flight to Toronto when I was returning from India in December, 2021.
I thought I would make something of it in 2022, and here we are – in March of 2023!
Every week, I intend to publish a progress update on this blog through the ‘Trying To’ newsletter series.
Overall, I estimate it would take about 40 weeks to finish the whole thing – this includes defining the structure and layout of the book, writing and gathering content, publishing and marketing.
At first that would seem excessive, but I have my procrastination built into it (see above).
Let’s take a look:
| Task# | Task | Duration | Comments |
| Preliminary Tasks L3 – Length, Language, Layout | |||
| 1 | Research Ideal length: – How many pages? – How many poems? | 3 days | |
| 2 | Decide Language: – English? – Urdu? – Both | 2 days | |
| 3 | Decide Layout: – Where to put poems?Left/Center/Right aligned? Left page? Right page? – How long do poems need to be to stay consistent with the book aesthetic (and yet not compromise on the content) ? – To include pictures? Sketches? Translations? Commentary? – Book size? Layout? Margins | 2 full days – Weekend | May take longer*. If this slips into 2nd week – overlap and finish with Task# 4 |
| Get and Gather Content | |||
| 4 | Decide on Themes and Structure:- List the themes and topics that you want to cover in the book. – Work out a sequence of themes/topics to form a coherent structure of the book | 1 week | |
| 5 | Write Poems! This depends a lot on what is decided above – especially the length of the book. | 8-12 weeks* | Averaging 2-3 poems a week* |
| 6 | Get Images/Sketches – if needed.Consider contacting other artists for collaboration | 2 weeks | Can be overlapped with Task# 5 |
| Publishing | |||
| 7 | Decide Title | 1 week | Can be overlapped with Task # 5 |
| 8 | Finalise Book cover | 2 weeks | |
| 9 | Research Kindle Direct Publishing. Decide if just ebook or hard copy as well | 2 weeks | |
| 10 | If hardcopy, figure out logistics/shipping | 1 week | |
| Marketing | |||
| 11 | Digital Marketing Nanodegree – Udacity.This degree has projects at the end of each topic.Use your book as your product for the capstone project | 4 months | May have to rethink this. At the time this looked like a good idea, but 4 months is too long of a commitment + cost of the Nanodegree is high. |
| 12 | Instagram Marketing: Research and decide on a tool/app to use to put poem snapshots and reels.Trial and test different products | 1 week | This should be ongoing as you are writing and working to publish your book |
| 13 | Instagram Marketing: Decide on a layout of pictureTrial and test different products | 1 week | |
| 14 | Instagram Marketing:Figure out a posting scheduleTrial and test different times/days. Also factor in the amount of time and effort to compose one post/reel.Go through past poems to ensure you have enough content | 1 week | By the end of 3rd week of Instagram Marketing, you should have a final schedule finalised. |
| 15 | Research Pinterest and other Social media marketing | 2-3 weeks | |
| 16 | Physical marketing (after book is published):- Have placards with barcodes of links to purchase.- Research and find local shops/cafes/events to post | 3 weeks | |
As I revisit the list, I feel some of the tasks could be combined – shrinking that overall 40 week timeline, but let’s err on the side of caution and keep it as it is.
The Duration of a task is purely based on available time during a typical work day i.e. 2-3 hours max. per day.
I usually tend to think of time in terms of Pomodoro sessions (25 minutes of work + 5 minutes of break = 1 Pomodoro session)
So, even though Researching Ideal length of the book is listed as 3 days, technically it is only about 6-9 hours of work i.e. 12-18 Pomodoro sessions.
As I go through the tasks each week, the list will evolve no doubt, but at least this gives me a starting point to work off of.
Here’s hoping that I stay motivated throughout this journey and not drop off in the middle because that would be embarrassing.
You can follow along by subscribing to this newsletter.
Ilyas