Last month I shared that I was self-publishing a book in partnership with Blurb Books, and today I’m sharing more about this first book, the publishing process, and my future book-writing hopes! I absolutely love the finished project, and it’s such a thrill to have my own published book in my hands!

WHY A DAILY GATHERING
For this first book, I decided to share about some of my favorite seasonal gatherings over the past several years. Along with photos of each gathering, I wrote a short snippet about what made that gathering unique and tips to recreate it yourself. Since 2013, which was my first year of marriage and first time I had my own space, I’ve been hosting dinners, workshops, and retreats, from folks from around the world. I’ve hosted family and longtime friends. Strangers have turned into lifelong friends. These events have such a special place in my heart. Although I put a pause on hosting these events in 2017 during my pregnancy and Jojo’s early newborn months, I plan on resurrecting the seasonal gatherings this year. I’m even toying with the idea of hosting a creative retreat in the fall!

I knew that these gatherings would make the perfect content for my first book: the photos are pure magic, and remain to dear to my heart. And with my mom-brain, sometimes I need the photos to remind me of this magic! This book is a perfect little coffee table adornment for anyone who loves bringing friends and family together around the table!

WHY BLURB BOOKS
In case you’re not familiar with Blurb Books, they’re an independent, creative book-making and self-publishing platform. I knew that working with Blurb would be an extremely simple and rewarding process! For the design of this book, I decided to use their free bookmaking tool, Bookify, since I was using mostly photos. In the future, I want to try out the Blurb Adobe InDesign plug-in, to have even more creative control over the look and feel of my book!

The actual bookmaking was a cinch (that is, after I lost my first version because I hadn’t saved it…make sure you save your work, folks!). I loved being able to play around with their free, professionally designed book templates, and the quality of the final product is incredible! I was so excited to unwrap the books and feel the yummy, premium matte paper between my fingers! The paper options at Blurb are great; after receiving their swatch kit (which you can order one before you publish and then apply the cost of the kit toward your book purchase), I chose the premium matte paper for this book, because I thought the mood of my photos would feature best on this paper. However, their proline pearl and premium lustre were equally delicious to look at and feel, and I need to find a use for these in the future!

THE FUTURE
Speaking of the future…..I have lots of hopes and dreams for A Daily Something + publishing books! Now that this first book is done, my eyes have been opened to the joys and ease of self-publishing! Ideally, I’d write a more comprehensive guide to seasonal gathering, with a small selection of recipes included. I’d also love to write about [more] intentional living with young children. Basically, I’d love to take most of the topics I blog about here, and turn them into books.

What book topic would you MOST want to see me write? Have you ever self-published? If so, what was your experience? Do you have any tips or tricks?

ALSO, in case you’re wondering, the book will be available to purchase via Amazon in a few days! I’ll update this post (and share on social) when the link is live!

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Sponsor Note: Although this post was sponsored by Blurb Books, all content, words, and ideas are my own. Thanks for supporting the partnerships that help keep A Daily Something running. 

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