I Made a Coloring Book for Amazon

Once again the mood music is set (breast pump and the baby's sound machine).

My coloring book is now LIVE on Amazon and I just about flipped out with excitement. It feels like a big accomplishment. I set a goal, worked towards that goals in small, manageable chunks, didn't beat myself up for missing a day here or there, and steadily reached the goal.

(Refer to my very first post that breaks down the steps I used for the project).

Along the way I posted free coloring pages from the book for my friends on social media. They asked to know when the book comes out. So I started a list of people to independently notify.

Once the book went live on Amazon I broke my social media fasting and sent private messages to each person on that list with a link to the book on Amazon.

Here's the note I sent:

Hello! I put you on the list to be notified when my coloring book is available. It is on Amazon now! I'm super excited. Please let me know what you think. I'm planning to make more in the future and would like any feedback you have. Hope you are having a great day.

(heart emoji)

(Then I posted the link below).

These private messages alone got sales. I just put myself out there, followed through, and was really happy that they decided to buy a few copies. I didn't expect them to and I didn't keep track of who said they would buy one and didn't. This would be a moot point and just not helpful in any way for me.

If I was a younger version of myself I would have doubted myself every step of the way.

I would obsess over each drawing not being perfect enough.

I would get upset at myself for not accomplishing my small goal on the days that I didn't do it.

I would be afraid to keep posting the free coloring pages for fear of people not liking them.

I would feel discouraged if there wasn't a big enough response and maybe give up altogether.

I would get frustrated and quit.

If I reached the goal, I wouldn't know how to promote it and it would feel forced.

I would have an internal dialogue telling me I'm being pushy and annoying and "no one wants to buy your stupid book!"

But none of these thoughts are useful.

None of these thoughts are based in reality.

I was raised to think this way and it took many years, a lot of therapy, and a yoga teacher training (yes, people say it's life-changing for a reason and I know it sounds cheesy and cliche) to change my thoughts patterns.

One thing I have come to realize in my 30s is to always assume the best. If you don't know whether a person really means it when they say they like your art, assume they're telling the truth. If you don't get the response you want, assume the other person has something else more pressing going on in their life. Especially, in the midst of a pandemic.

A lot of people are struggling in ways they may not even be aware of. Usually it has nothing to do with you, even if they say it's about you. It's called projecting.

It sounds like a segue, but I think this applies to creative people who make things for people to consume and interact with.

I won't ever appeal to everyone.

I might not appeal to the people I intend to.

Maybe I'll fail completely.

But failure isn't a bad thing.

Fearing failure is the bad thing.

Failure helps inform how to do things better in the future.

Or it tells me I'm on the wrong path altogether and need to switch gears.