Investing in Your Dreams

I was asked, "What is your dream?"

I answered, "My dream is to be able to hold a copy of my own book."

As I thought about that answer, my mind suddenly flooded with the million tiny steps that it would take to eventually reach out and touch that holy grail.  Since I will most likely self publish, I have a lot to invest before I can expect royalties to start rolling in.  The bulk of that investment will be focus, hard work and time, but there will be a point when I will have to pitch in some of my hard earned money as well, if I ever expect a tangible book to appear. 

I immediately thought of the book, You, Inc., by Harry Beckwith, in which he writes that one of the top mistakes that small businesses make is, "They didn't invest enough."  He continues, "As a result, their execution looked half-baked.  They looked tenative, as if they feared their idea was flawed and lacked the faith to put their money behind it."

It's true.  Money is a huge piece in the process of starting a small business, which I easily consider self publishing no exception to the rule.  

In self publishing Children's books, 

an author must first write the story,

then storyboard it,

find and pay the right illustrator, 

find and pay the right graphic designer to organize it all in the right format, 

choose the right publishing house, yep, pay them to print it the way you like...

...and finally, one may hold their own book in hand. 

Beckwith concludes with this thought:  "You have to invest.  The investments you make, of both time and money, demonstrate your confidence in what you are offering.  The premium prices you pay are literally that: premiums.  They are your insurance in your success."

It is so important to invest in our dreams.  If we don't think it is worth it, no one else will. 

And, even though the above mentioned half of the process doesn't directly speak about investment in marketing and selling a book, I feel that the money you spend before the product is complete, will directly effect the chances of it selling, too. 

Andy Warhol once said,

Personally, I am not focusing on selling it just yet.  I really just want to hold the culmination of my hard work in my hands and have the ability to ship it off to my friends so they can share Ms. Panda with their kids finally!

All of our dreams are unique, but they do all share one common thread - investment.  The point here is:

Don't cheat yourself!