In this detailed and revealing case study, Jo Parfitt shows you how a self-published book can go through many phases as it evolves.

The Idea

By September 1996 I had been living abroad for 9 years and was now living in Stavanger, Norway, after time in Dubai and Oman. My husband is in the oil industry and every few years he gets posted. Now, I love to work too, but not just any work, I like to run my own business. Now, when you keep moving, it means that all your hard work building up a client base (particularly pre-Internet) goes down the tubes and you have to start from scratch in the new location. Still, I didn’t let a little thing like that stop me and by 1996 I had managed to work in a variety of areas, all based on my passions for writing, teaching and sharing what I know to help others to grow. Over the years I had:

• Taught word processing, French, creative writing, desktop publishing and trained others to teach for me.
• Made and sold date chutney, Christmas tree decorations made out of local produce and Dorling Kindersley books.
• Written computer handbooks for mainstream publishers such as Macmillan and McGraw-Hill, a cookery book on dates, called Dates (this presentation has a sister presentation all about that one, too) creative writing anthologies, articles for local and international press
• Run a CV writing service

But it was in Stavanger that I first learned about networking and joined the local expat professional women’s network, called WIN. They were stunned to hear about my success at creating, maintaining and adjusting my portable career to fit both my passion and my location and asked me to be their monthly speaker. So, I did. It was my first, ever keynote speech and I was terrified. The audience, however, loved what I had to say.

Soon after, I realised that I did have something to share that helped and inspired others and the title Career in Your Suitcase just popped into my head.

I had already published the first edition of Dates, in Oman, and had seen how much more money there was to be made when you did it yourself and could target the market easily. I had been an expat for almost a decade and knew what publications expats read and where they hung out. I reckoned I would be a fool not to do it myself. So I did.

The Plan

I would ask the people I knew, who also had an inspiring portable career story to tell, to contribute to my book. Some would write a whole chapter, others I would interview and use as case studies. Good at networking by then, I knew of Laura Westbury, who did cartoons for the Shell spouse newsletter, Destinations. I would ask her to do me a cartoon for the cover. I would edit the text myself, desktop publish it myself, find a sponsor to underwrite the printing costs and pay a designer to create the cover. I’d have a two colour cover to save costs.

I had met an American journalist at WIN, who offered to be my assistant in the project for brainstorming purposes. She had lived in Paris and knew of a conference that was to be held there in March 1998. She would try to get us a slot, running a Career in Your Suitcase workshop together and we would launch the book there.

What Happened

I found a removal company, called Andy’s, to sponsor the print run and gave them 250 copies of the book and a full page inside cover advert in exchange.

In June 1997 we repatriated to England and I continued working on the book there, ready for the Women on the Move Conference deadline.

The Internet had arrived and I was able to liaise with my interviewees and contributors by email.

In February 1998 I printed an initial print run of 3000 copies of A Career in Your Suitcase and stored them in my loft.

The First Edition

This is the first edition of A Career in Your Suitcase.

How I Promoted Career in Your Suitcase

• I sent review copies to expatriate publications
• I pitched related articles to expatriate publications – that I was paid for!
• I pitched related articles for free in exchange for a box about me that included details of the book
• I invited journalists who wrote on expat and career issues to interview me
• I offered the book as prizes in competitions
• I offered myself as a speaker to ladies lunch groups, business networks and expat clubs in England as long as I could talk about the book and sell it afterwards
• I offered myself as a speaker or workshop presenter at HR conferences, expat and entrepreneur
• conferences and events. Sometimes for a fee, sometimes not, sometimes just with travel expenses all allowing me to sell the book afterwards
• I organised, promoted and ran workshops to individuals on topics related to my book
• I gave a free copy of my book to libraries
• I formed a website www.career-in-your-suitcase .com
• I did author signings
• I took a job as editor of Woman Abroad magazine, who bought 200 copies to giveaway to new subscribers.

I Sold Out

It took four years to sell out of copies, marketing it solely myself, without the help of Web 2.0 or online networks. However . . .

What I Learned

I should have paid for an editor – it was full of mistakes

I should have paid for a professional designer – it looked rubbish

The amount of books I sold was proportional to the effort I put in

When you have written a book on your specialist subject people think you are an expert and pay you more money for other things, like training and consultancy. I became the only person to have a book on portable careers in print.

Career in Your Suitcase is Reborn

By 2002, and with the deadline of being a speaker at the Women’s International Networking conference in Lausanne, I had the second edition ready to go.

It was completely rewritten, professionally designed, professionally edited and had a super cover. I filled it with testimonials I had received after the first edition.

I found a wonderful sponsor, again to underwrite printing costs, in the world’s leading spousal career’s counselling service, American, Ricklin-Echikson Associates. I gave them the foreword, an advert and asked one of their best counsellors to write some brand new chapters.

I printed 1500 copies lithographically and started selling. An expat magazine in Belgium, called Away (www.awaymagazine.be) bought 250 copies as a subscriber giveaway.

I started an online newsletter, called The Inspirer and focused on building my subscriber base at every opportunity.

Reality Bites

That bringing out a second edition is harder to promote than bringing out a first. I’d already written and sold all the articles I could think of. Promoting it was hard.

Bookshops do not have a section for expat careers or expats and so it was hard for them to place it. Further, bookshops want at least 35% commission and then, what with the postage and the personal cost of selling it to them, bookshops were not such a good idea unless they were expat bookshops in overseas locations.

That selling on Amazon was great – except that they took 55% commission and I still had to pay to post the books to them.

Changing Tactics

When Career in Your Suitcase 2 sold out I recognised that times had changed. Not only did the book deserve another complete rewrite and to be updated, but the world had changed too. I’d lost faith in bookshops and in doing my own order fulfillment. We’d moved abroad again, to the Netherlands, and I needed to simplify my life. Online was the place to sell books. I needed to use print on demand technology and get someone else to do the distribution. When Lean Marketing Press offered me a contract, to publish, design and distribute my third edition, I jumped at the chance. A Career in Your Suitcase, 3rd ed, was published in May 2008.

Final Learnings

• That you can target a global market through the Internet and social media tools but that being a speaker and getting an online presence and coverage in the press is invaluable.
• That the best place to sell my book is on Amazon, but that I make most profit selling ‘at the back of the room’ – to at least 25% of the audience – and by direct sale. I sell in bulk to careers trainers and coaches.
• Sometimes it makes sense to publish yourself, and sometimes it doesn’t.
• If bookshops and libraries do not have a section for your specific type of book it will be hard to persuade them to buy it.
• If you want to sell a lot of books you have to keep on promoting, promoting, promoting. Belong to online networks, Facebook, Twitter, have a blog and send a newsletter.

That I’m still the only one to have a book on portable careers in print but if I don’t keep on promoting my book it doesn’t make a blind bit of difference.