I can’t believe it. After six months of super hard work, my book is officially complete!!!
https://www.cyclingabout.com/bicycle-touring-book/
After cycling 31,000km through 30+ countries, I had acquired a whole bunch of knowledge about how to do this big crazy thing, and so I felt like people should KNOW how they too could do the same. I didn’t ever plan on writing a book, it kind of just happened.
At times the project seemed far bigger than I was capable of, but bit-by-bit I stuck to it, starting with words which I expanded and refined until I could justify every single one of them. I then went about teaching myself Adobe InDesign which is a ridiculously complicated layout program for the book’s design. I watched hours and hours of tutorial videos until I felt confident enough to start playing with my own layout – my first layouts turned out VERY average! Luckily I have rad friends who were able to help me through it. 🙂
The photos were one of the hardest things to organise as I have 20,000+ that can qualify for a place in the book. It took me weeks to sort through them all to find the optimal photo for each slot. While I was busy finishing off the book, I was trying to work out how to best sell and market the book. I found a rad company that allows me to take payments from inside my website (which I’ve secured with SSL certs) and then sends you a link for downloads. Not only did I make an interactive PDF version of the book, but I spent this week giving you access to eReader versions too (mobi and EPUB).
This book owes me a HUGE amount of time, but ultimately I am now equipped with heaps of amazing new skills to use in the future. Can’t wait to put them to use!
I look forward to hearing your feedback on the book.
Alee x
Big thanks to:
– Kitty, Ruth and Larry for the word editing and refining
– Dylan for the sweet imagery in Australia
– Greg for the design and layout, Ash for the final design critique
– Everyone who supported me along the way – you all rock!!!
