It is because Prince Harry officially turned 30 last night. I was not invited to his party so I only heard it from the news this morning (not that I would have time anyway :>).

I should have discussed it before, but now is a good time to mention it.

The target audience of my book is people of 30 years old and beyond. That accounts for over 60% of the total population in the G10 countries. However, I think the book’s basic framework in approaching learning from 3 angles, namely psychological, practical and problem-preempting, is still applicable to learners of ALL ages :>

It is to strongly “persuade” your friend to BUY your book!

It was a close call for me last week. I got 200 copies of my book delivered to me last Tuesday. Out of over-excitement, I contacted a good friend of mine who had promised to buy a copy from me (she will remain anonymous till I have obtained a clearance from her). She told me that she was actually preparing for her trip to New York this weekend and had no time to purchase my book. In reply, I suggested that she could buy a few more copies of my book and use them as gifts for her American friends. I added that my book is actually quite light so it would not a problem fitting it into her luggage. It would make a good read on the plane! I even offered hand-delivery by my very self over lunch time or after work whenever she got a few free minutes.

I did not think it was that much of a hard-sell, right? But I did not hear from her for 2 days. I was wondering why!!! Fortunately, she came around (not physically) and agreed to let me drop off 3 copies for her :> However, with my sense of direction (or rather the lack of it), I was late for 20 minutes. She was furious – not sure of my “excellent” salesmanship or my tardiness. Will find out if she still talks to me after her New York trip!

Yes, my colleague Andrew told me yesterday that he had read my entire book! He gave some feedback verbally which I would not mention it here.

No, not that was bad! That is not what I meant, people (stop giggling now). Listen, it is because he promised me to write a PROPER review. You see – my interpretation of what he said might be difference since I had my subconscious filter on and might “tilt” his feedback to my favor. That would not be fair, right?

Sorry for throwing out a teaser. I will report later. In addition, he gave me good advice that I should sell my book to libraries. I will check that out as well. Thanks Andrew.

Some people asked me what my expectation on the sales of my book is. My next milestone is 1,000 paid copies in the first year. Then I would consider the book as a success (in my opinion as an unknown author). That is the sign that I have sold my book beyond my circle of friends and family which is the core and my base.

My goal is to be able to excel and reach out to a wider audience propelled by the encouragement, support and help from friends and family.

Folks, we can do it, right? Alright then – let us show the world what we can achieve!

I could not contain my excitement. I received the first batch of my books this afternoon. YES!!! Lulu.com sent them ahead of the schedule (Thanks guys!). The book looks great [of course – I am not biased at all 🙂 ] even better than the pdf that I reviewed before printing.

I have already sold 11 copies to my colleagues. I was so “thick-skinned” beyond my own imagination. Apologies to those who suffered from a bit of hard-sell from Raymond.

The book is now available via Lulu.com (please see link below for ordering before my official launch).

It will be available (both paperback and e-book) at Amazon soon.

The breakthrough arrived when I attended a coaching and mentoring training workshop early last year (2013). During an ice-breaking session, the topic was “a project that you abandoned that you wish you could have continued”. The book project came to my mind (the word Botox did cross my mind :>) and I brought it up. My workshop partner suggested me sending my book draft to a few close friends that I think would be objective to give me proper feedback. I followed that sound advice and they unanimously told me that there is true value in my book.

Such encouragement coupled with regular yet gentle reminders of my book from my lovely niece Vivian, I spent another year “fleshing out” the content of my original draft and started to look for a friend that is willing to take on the project as my editor.

In Jan this year (2014), I approached my friend Geoff who is an excellent writer and by sheer kindness (perhaps madness in retrospect from his point of view :>), he agreed to take on the project and the rest is history (or for future blogs).

After that decision, I spent the next 2-3 years working on my very first draft. I showed it to some of my family members. The feedback was mixed.

Some of them said, “Well, what you wrote is logical and of common sense, but it is not ground breaking.” On the other hand, my niece Vivian, a medical doctor, was wise beyond her young age (she was still in her teens back then) made a counter-argument. She said, “Though it may be true, did you find a book in the market discussing the subject matter in the precise and systematic way that you wanted it? If not, you definitively have a market! You did not have a phd in adult education, and one should not expect earth-shattering new discoveries from you.” She even spent the time giving me the first unofficial editorial advice!

Nevertheless, I put the project aside for 2 years :< So how did the project get “revived” later? *** Will be revealed in the last part (part three) of this blog soon. ***

Yes, indeed. Some people were wondering why it had taken seemingly, shall we say, a bit longer than “normal”. Let me try to make the long story short here. For part one of this blog, let us talk about how on earth I came up with this book-publishing idea.

I started learning French about 10 years ago and found it quite frustrating when I did not pick it up as smooth as I had expected. Being a bit analytical by nature, I began to try different ways and spoke to (close to tears in a few such occasions!) different people about it. In the process, I took some notes for myself, a bit like a journal. A few years later, it suddenly dawned on that it might be a good idea to share my experience with other people that may face similar problems. There were at least two problems that I was facing. The first was learning a new language at a later stage in life (In short, “older”. I will never use the “o” word again!). The second one is an Asian learning French. My book focuses on the former issue. By sharing my experience through the book, I hope other “more mature” people can benefit from it.

Stepping into September, I am in officially in the “counting down” period of the book publication.
Time for a bit of reflection on this journey of self-publication! I have embarked a different journey from writing a book which took me 8 and half years. Hopefully it will be shorter if I meet the deadline in a few weeks’ time.

I felt like the process has taken a whole village of people (in a good way). Since I don’t have a publisher (by choice and by default), I am literally doing everything myself and “recruit” people (as many as possible) from my circle of friends and family. All in all, it has been an extremely rewarding experience for me particularly, from the perspective of personal development and self-discovery.

First of all, professionally, I have always been part of a much bigger “pie” and quite specialized in my work in large corporations. Self-publication and promotion (more my book than me as an individual) has prompted to look at the bigger picture as well as various aspects of a business (in my case, selling my book is my small business). For example, I signed up to Twitter a month ago to “get myself out there” in the social media is in itself an interesting experience. In addition, I have worked with my 17-year nephew Damian to come up with the book cover and business card in conjunction with consultation of other FFR (Friends and Family of Raymond!). My 12-year niece Cameron has been helping me on market research. My super-loyal editor friend Geoff took on the task of building this very website for me. My photographer friend Yvanne took my profile photos for the book and website. My friend Gary who helps me on what he called “executive assistant” work (vs. personal assistant work which apparently makes a HUGE difference in his mind).

I can go on and on, but you got the picture. It is indeed a village of FFR (Friends and Family of Raymond). For that and more, I am very grateful for all of you giving me a hand and/or a pat on the shoulder (I am sure “a kick on the back side” will come at some point :>) The journey continues…..

First thing first, a flurry of inquires asking me to clarify.

“Is it a typo?  Do you mean a great(excellent) nephew?”

Well, for the record, I do have a 4-month great-nephew (the son of a great nephew Edwin) whose name is Ethan!

He is adorable as you can see in the picture.  I held him for the first time in July and refused to let go for 3 straight hours!

Silly great-uncle but he could not help it :>