How technology helped me to produce it, all from New Zealand

Two years ago, I decided to write my third book. My first, Why Lawyers Should Eat Bananas, was self-published ten years ago and went on to sell nearly 10,000 hard copies worldwide. My second book, an adaptation of the first, titled Why Entrepreneurs Should Eat Bananas, was published by a publishing company in London and Singapore and also did well. It was subsequently translated into Portuguese and Spanish.

My third book was to be a challenge because it involved me in interviewing sixteen lawyers of different persuasions from around the world, from Honolulu to Ghana, from Rotorua to London. It would have been a daunting task to interview them all face to face! Fortunately, thanks to Skype technology (and a few trips), I was able to produce the book mostly from my base in New Zealand.

Anyone who has self published will know that it can be quite an exercise in project management. First you have to gather the data; second you have to write it up; third you have to get it edited; fourth it helps to get advance reviews; fifth you have to have the graphic design completed; and finally you have to have the book printed (unless of course, it is an ebook!)

Then the hard work starts: promotion!

In completing my first stage, I was able to interview approximately half of my subjects via Skype or via the telephone. The other half I met personally in Los Angeles, Manchester, Boston, Rotorua and Auckland.

Having completed the first draft, all subjects were emailed their interviews for correction and approval. Then the draft copy was emailed to my proof-reader, Gael Lewis, who lives in Australia. Once she had cast her eye over it, advance copies in Word format were emailed to various colleagues in my network for a sneak preview with a view to submitting a comment for inclusion in the printed version of the book. Advance praise is not only reassuring for the author; it also helps sell the book!

After helping to guide my graphic designer (the design arm of a well-known New Zealand magazine) through some design imperatives, I was able to piggy-back off their buying power and engage their printer who was able to print my book in Auckland at a bargain rate that one might expect from a Chinese publishing house.

Finally at the end of October, I took delivery of a couple of thousand copies. Since publishing my first book, technology has transformed the ebook market and so, in promoting my book, I have now made it available also as an Amazon Kindle book. I have also built its own website, www.legaleaglesbook.com, using www.weebly.com. I have found this service to be excellent – very user friendly, inexpensive and effective. Interested parties can now read all about the book and buy directly with their credit card via PayPal from my website – all very simple and secure. From my point of view, no need now for clumsy zip-zap machines at my office to process payments.

Overseas, it is a must to have a distributor. In the UK, I have been able to build a very good relationship with Hammicks and so their representation will help the book to establish a foothold in the UK.

My next challenge will be to make use of social media to alert the world, something that my stepdaughter is very proficient at. Well, I guess I will just have to learn! If you had told me ten years ago I’d be designing my own websites and producing my own book from New Zealand, I might have been a little sceptical!

In another ten years who knows? Maybe hard copy books will be a thing of the past. Perhaps my next book should be a Richard Susskind-inspired title The End of Books?

Simon Tupman (www.simontupman.com) began his legal career with a small London litigation firm in the mid-80s before deciding he wanted a life beyond the law. After completing an MBA in London, he spent two years with a leading advertising agency before moving down under in 1992. Since then, he has lived in Australia and New Zealand where he has developed a reputation as an authority in law firm leadership and management through his speaking, consulting and writing.

Email simontupman@gmail.com.