Writing an Ebook for the First Time: My Experience
18th December 2025 - New Experience Number 36
Writing an ebook for the first time was one of those ‘quietly terrifying’ new things – exactly the kind that fits perfectly into my challenge of trying 52 new things a year.
Inside those virtual pages that I created, you’ll find gentle nudges, quiet courage and tiny sparks of confidence, and the kind of encouragement that whispers “go on…give it a try”
Whilst the new experience was relatively straightforward, imposter syndrome kicked in at the final hour. But that’s one of the things I love about trying 52 new things a year; sometimes it’s the unexpected things which can feel the most uncomfortable, but can be the most rewarding.
Why I Decided I’d Try Writing An Ebook For The First Time
I’ve been asked a lot if I’ll be writing a book about trying new things. This isn’t it. But it IS a book that I hope encourages people to do something different.
Since trying 52 new things each year I’ve discovered how encouragement can come in all shapes and sizes, and how it can do amazing things.
Motivational words from instructors and teachers, kind comments from friends, inspiring remarks from relatives, can all have a big impact on us. Whether that’s for us to keep going, to believe in ourselves or building confidence to achieve more than we thought we could.
I wanted to share the power of encouragement to help give people a gentle nudge if they’re unsure about trying something new or doing something different, however big or small, and settled upon the idea of writing a Little Book Of Encouragement; a small book of wise words.
Writing an ebook has less hurdles than writing a book for traditional publishing, so I decided that this would be a good entry point for a first book.
Writing The Book
I’d been collecting ideas in the notes on my phone for months. Whenever a moment of inspiration came to me, or I heard something that sparked an idea, I’d type it in.
Ready to put it all into something resembling a book, I sat down at my laptop and copied all of the notes into a google doc.
There were a lot of words. They were ok, but very rough around the edges. So to get started, I went through all of the notes and tried to polish them into something a little more meaningful and a little more coherent.
At this point, the book was just a long list of encouraging quotes and phrases. It needed breaking up to become something a little easier to digest. And so began a lot of cut and pasting as I moved quotes together that seemed to have common themes and ideas.
Now, with similar ideas grouped together I created section titles to tie them all together. This was an overarching introduction to the types of quotes that fell into the section, to let readers know how these words of encouragement can be useful. Creating these section introductions felt so affirming that I had multiple examples for each, and it even inspired me to add some additional words of encouragement.
Designing The Appearance - Writing An Ebook For The First Time
Like many people, I used Canva to help me design the book. I found a free template, although I pretty much abandoned all of the designs that were in it, only keeping the size of the pages the same so that it would work as an ebook.
Aesthetically I wanted the book to look reassuring, confident and timeless. Which is quite a lot to ask of some static pages.
For ease of reading, I picked a fairly safe font and made sure there was plenty of blank space around the words to allow them to breathe.
I added a header and footer for consistency and clarity. It was clear on each page the title of the book, the author, the page number and the section of the book the page was within.
I had considered adding in some images, but I couldn’t decide on a consistent theme. Inspired by another template I found in Canva, I opted for simple line drawings, which I felt didn’t detract too much from the words.
Lastly, I wanted to include a little colour in the book. I added in a few pops of orange, which I use a lot on my website and on instagram as the psychology behind it suggests it symbolises adventure, creativity and enthusiasm, which is what Challenge Fifty-Two is all about.
Finishing Touches
Feeling happy with the design and content of my book, I needed to top and tail it with all of the pages you’d traditionally find in a book; a cover, publication page, introduction, contents, thank you, about the author, and a back cover.
Not all of these are necessary, but I wanted my first attempt at writing an ebook to be as professional as I could make it, and I wanted to look authoritative about the subject. Whilst I consider myself a bit of an expert in trying new things as I’ve been doing it for so long.
Editing
Finally, I had reached a point where I felt everything was in its place and the book was complete.
But, I wanted another pair of eyes to have a look over it for any pesky spelling mistakes that I hadn’t spotted, or any grammatical mishaps.
I asked My Other Half if he would mind having a look over it for me, and wow, he was brilliant. He meticulously checked it all for me and paid close attention to detail. When you’ve spent a while working on something it’s easy to miss obvious errors, and he was superb at spotting things that needed tweaking.
Putting his suggested edits into place, I was finally ready to launch.
Selling The Ebook
It was all very well having finished the ebook, but I needed to put it somewhere so that people could buy it.
Amazon seemed like the obvious choice as it is the go-to place for many people to buy their ebooks. Whilst I appreciate it has a huge audience and it is so quick and convenient, something just didn’t sit right with me helping to make Jeff Bezos even more wealthy, even if it was only by a very small amount.
After a little research, and asking a connection on LinkedIn who I knew had written and sold some ebooks, I decided to use Gumroad.
It was incredibly easy to set up an account, and once I’d completed all of the fields I needed to, I uploaded the book, wrote a description, added a price, and nervously pressed publish.
It was out there!
Promotion
Whenever I try something new I always post about it on Instagram. I felt really nervous posting that I’d written an ebook. Imposter syndrome was very real that day; Who am I to write an ebook? Why would anyone want to read my words? What if they thought my writing was rubbish?
Crafting the words of my post, and adding in some cheesy pictures, I pressed ‘share’ and hoped for the best.
Anxiously anticipating any responses, I felt a huge surge of support from some incredibly lovely comments. Whilst I hoped my Little Book of Encouragement would build confidence in people reading it, I was receiving little nudges of confidence from people leaving me such positive replies; and I made my first sales!
The Highs And The Lows Of Writing An Ebook For The First Time
I loved getting into the flow of working on the book, and the culmination of months of jottings and notes being turned into something coherent.
Although the editing process was a little slow going, that moment when the finish line came in to sight and I knew I was almost done made me realise how much I had achieved and gave me the boost I needed to persevere.
I’m a big over thinker and I feel like I often get in my own way. Deciding not to use Amazon is probably a good example of this, and I’m trying to be bolder and braver in 2026 and beyond, so let’s see how that plays out!
I experienced imposter syndrome many times during the process. From the initial concept I heard my inner voice asking what made me an expert on offering encouragement. When I asked My Other Half to check over my work I felt very sheepish and nervous about what he’d think of my words. Putting the book out into the world where potentially anyone could read it made me feel uneasy about how they would perceive it.
Uploading the ebook and pressing ‘publish’ was a moment I felt proud of. I’d seen my project through, I’d completed the book, and I felt proud of how it looked. Now I just hoped it reached people who needed a little nudge or spark of confidence to try something new or do something different.
Creative Experiences Can Be Rich In Learning
Following a creative process from start to finish can be quite time consuming, but it can teach you so much if you complete it.
From creative thinking and coming up with the initial idea, to perseverance and diligence to bring it to life, to practicing vulnerability when you do share your creation, and building confidence when you make sales or receive positive reviews.
Writing an ebook for the first time had been more of a mentally challenging experience than I had originally anticipated. But it was also hugely rewarding in so many more ways than making sales, and an opportunity for personal growth. It’s given me the encouragement and the confidence to start working on some other book ideas I’ve been incubating.
Experiencing imposter syndrome and doubt is part of the process, not a sign you shouldn’t try.
So if you’re sitting on an idea that you keep talking yourself out of, consider this your nudge to give it a go.
Pick Up Your Copy
If you want to pick up a copy and enjoy the words of encouragement yourself, visit this link to gumroad
Want To Try It Yourself?
- There isn’t a particular tried and tested process for this, but you can always follow the way that I wrote my first ebook.
- The main thing is to just do it!
Cost Of Experience
- It’s free! Setting up a gumroad account is free to do – however, they will take a percentage of each sale.
Recommendations
Don’t overthink it. Imposter syndrome may well rear its head, but keep going. You can do this!
Ask someone to read over it. It’s so easy to miss pesky typos and grammatical slip-ups if you’ve been working on something for a while. A second pair of eyes can really help, and can be a good centre check for how your work lands.
Your words are worth sharing. Your perspective, your experience, and your view point is all unique to you. There’s only you who can tell your story.
Manage your expectations. It’s unlikely you’ll make a fortune by writing an Ebook, but it’s worth giving it a go to understand the experience, and you can keep perfecting what you put out, and who knows where it might take you.
Good luck, and have fun! Let me know how you get on if you give it a go.