How I wrote a bestselling book for mothers
By Julia Jones
I’ve always believed that the last thing parents need is another book.
From my work in postpartum care, I know firsthand how endless experts, advice and judgement can undermine maternal intuition and confidence. Information overload isn’t always the best solution if you feel isolated, exhausted and overwhelmed.
Instead, exhausted new parents usually need a hot cup of tea, a good night’s sleep and a laundry fairy. Sadly, these things can't fit inside a book!
And yet, for many years, I found myself obsessed with writing a book. I saw a need for a book that wasn’t about birth or parenting, a book that helped prepare mothers for the enormous journey ahead. The idea took hold, and I couldn't let it go.
I had a vision for a book about doing less, not more. I wanted to write something that changed hearts and minds and culture. I didn’t want to write about how to change a nappy – I wanted to write about how motherhood changes you from the inside out. I wanted to answer the kinds of burning questions my clients kept asking me on their journey to motherhood, including:
Is baby brain real? Am I losing my mind?
It “takes a village” to raise a child, but what does that look like in the 21st century? And how can I build mine?
I was told these are the best days of my life. Am I the only one finding it this hard?
I knew parents desperately needed this kind of book.
And so, this is the story of how I wrote the book, tried to get it published, failed, tried again, failed again and eventually (spoiler!) ended up with a surprise bestseller.
Writing my book
As a business owner and a mum of three, writing this book took a very long time! But I’m a huge believer in starting before I’m ready and taking small steps towards my dreams every day.
So it began unceremoniously as a bunch of thoughts scribbled down on index cards and popped in a box that cost me about three bucks from Officeworks. Whenever I shared a story or an anecdote with a new parent or answered a question with evidence-based information, I’d go home and jot it down on an index card and put it in the box.
Whenever I had time, I intentionally gathered more information by going through years of old blog posts and adding those ideas to index cards.
And finally, when my youngest child stopped breastfeeding overnight, I started booking myself into hotels for writing retreats. My husband would bring the baby to me to feed during the day, and I spent the rest of my waking hours turning those ideas on index cards into pages for my book.
I set myself a target word count (very low!) and used NanoWrimo’s free tools to track my progress and plan how many more writing sessions it would take to finish.
After many months, I had my first draft.
But I knew I needed more help. I wanted my book to be concise and easy for sleep-deprived parents to read, so I needed a good editor. I wanted my book to be accurate and based on evidence, but I’m not a scientist, so I needed a science editor. I also needed someone to design the front cover and someone to help with page layout and formatting.
And all of that was going to cost a lot of money!
Trying to crowdfund the book
I decided to crowdfund the project and attempted to pre-sell enough copies of my book to cover the costs of publishing my first print run.
I had successfully crowdfunded $7,000 to publish my first book and crowdfunded $15,000 to launch my first online course, but the cost of publishing the new book was $22,000, which was a lot more than I’d raised in the past.
I chose all-or-nothing funding, meaning supporters only pay if the project succeeds. I didn’t want to end up with half the money and an unfinished book.
It was nerve-wracking!
In November 2017, I told my social media followers,
“Oh gosh! I’m so nervous! Crowdfunding is all or nothing, meaning if I don’t reach my target then I don’t get the funds to print the book and record the audiobook and pay my editors.”
A couple of days later, the campaign went live. Talk about nerve-wracking; that first week was a whirlwind, with my internet breaking down and my computer needing repairs. I ate my body weight in chocolate!
Nearly 200 people supported my book campaign, but it wasn’t enough. Despite two successful prior crowdfunding campaigns, despite the hours of work I’d put in, despite the encouragement from many people who shared my passion for postpartum support… it was over.
The campaign had failed.
Trying to find a publisher
After all that, I needed a good lie down.
But eventually, as Bluey’s mum Chilli would say, it was time to pick myself up, brush myself off and keep going! The show must go on!
So, I began sending my manuscript to publishers, which involved a lot of waiting and not much else. None of them even replied and as the months went by and my energy was restored I decided to be more proactive again.
So, I was back to bootstrapping.
Self-funding the book
Bootstrapping is growing a business without external funding, and I was very familiar with the process!
I started my business with a personal investment of $2000. I taught myself to build my own website and used low-cost and free tools to launch my first product – in-home postpartum care – and I used the profits to keep growing and expanding my business.
Find out more about my own journey starting my business.
There are lots of great things about bootstrapping – I highly recommend it! But the downside is that it can be very slow. Every time I wanted to take the next step towards publishing my book, for example, paying an editor or designer, I would have to wait until my business profit allowed it.
It took me a year to self-fund and finally publish my book.
Designing the artwork
I want to tell you about one step of this journey in a bit more detail because commissioning the artwork for the front cover of my book was one of the most fun things I've ever done at work!
I envisioned creating a book cover that showed a mother being supported and loved. I wanted to inspire people and show them what was possible; what postpartum could look like rather than what it often does look like!
I wanted to find an illustrator who had a lot of experience drawing women, and my friend Cristina Londono – who created my brand – put me in touch with Michelle Mildenberg. I knew I wanted to use warm spring colours, bold and bright. And I used one of my favourite images as a starting point.
It all came together beautifully and we ended up with something really special.
I love the illustration so much that I have a framed print on my wall. After lots of enquiries from readers who also fell in love with the design, I made it available for purchase at Redbubble.
This is not my actual desk; I’ve never been that tidy or had coordinated beige stationery!
If you want to learn more about the process of self-publishing, listen to this podcast interview with my editor.
A bestseller is born
I was so exhausted by the end of this process that I quietly published my book without much fanfare during the Christmas holidays of 2018.
Then I went camping with my family. I was offline and did not check social media, emails, or anything else. What a relief to have a break after the intensity of the past twelve months…
And then, one morning, I woke up to texts from everyone I knew.
My book was #3 on the Amazon Best Sellers list!
As soon as I could, I got to a computer and opened a browser so I could see for myself.
There it was: next to the Barefoot Investor and…MICHELLE OBAMA.
What makes a book “successful”?
I think just finishing a book and getting it published is a triumph in itself! If you have gotten even halfway there, pat yourself on the back.
But as an indie author, how many copies of your book need to sell for it to be a “success”?
According to most publishing houses:
“...a general rule of thumb in the publishing industry is that a book that sells more than 5,000 copies ever is considered successful.”
When I first self-published my book, it was really hard to find out how many copies had sold. The information wasn’t available in one place, so it was a bit of a guessing game!
The reporting has now improved, and it’s much easier to get an accurate idea of how many copies of a book has sold.
So the other day, I checked on my book...
And I've sold 3656 copies!
That's pretty encouraging news, given how little I’ve done to promote it. I've never done a book launch or signing. I’ve never spoken at a library or bookstore.
3656 is getting pretty close to 5000.
I’d LOVE to hit that magic number in 2025…so if you’d like to be part of this goal, you can click here to find the best price plus shipping for Newborn Mothers: When a Baby is Born, So is a Mother.
If that’s not possible for you right now, that’s okay. I’d love to gift you the first chapter! You can read it or listen to it as an audiobook.
Click here to read the first chapter of Newborn Mothers for free.
And if you enjoyed this behind-the-scenes post but are still wondering what the heck the book is actually about, click here to find out more, plus read some of the beautiful testimonials I’ve received.
