Great question nostr:nprofile1qqsdvckpplxm9wvsevfln6f573ucmx7snyvhn5p64gzjejmy0rgrntcprdmhxue69uhhw6r9v96zu6rpwpc8jarpwejhym3wvdhj7qgmwaehxw309aex2mrp0yhxummnw3e8qmr9vfejucm0d5hsfuzwul

My first step was writing the draft. That was the easy part and was done in a quiet afternoon. I tried using Dalle AI to generate artwork but it didn’t have any soul. I saw some of the work nostr:nprofile1qqs9n2vvq3u5faj75s8nwe24tmjcn06sxcl57lw02k2vxkzthvfl7espzpmhxue69uhkummnw3ezumrpdejqzxthwden5te0faehyuewfehhxarj94kxzcnn9eu8j7srgyvlv was putting out on Nostr and realized it was a perfect match for the story. He agreed to take the commission and we worked together for months to get the artwork right.

Next I tried using self publishing tools to turn my story and his art into a book and it was clear the tools suck for diy. I happened to hear a podcast from nostr:nprofile1qqs2rlzal4lleatrezg4tdrxw5d4srg3tcfkutuvjr5fzvu9h0kmrncprfmhxue69uhkummnw3ezummjv9hxwetsd9kxctnyv4mqzyrhwden5te0dehhxarj9emkjmn9pgg7rk of The Survival Podcast interviewing Matt, @thelibritarianbookdesigner who had helped him format his self published book. I reached out to him and he agreed to format the book and take payment in sats. Could not be happier with his work.

Then we ran into a problem because we had formatted landscape and neither Amazon KDP or IngrimSpatk had hardcover options in the right aspect ratio. Luckily Matt (the designer) found a solution with Lulu self publishing. They had a photo book that was the right size. More expensive than I had planned but even higher quality than I had hoped for.

Finally I needed a way to sell the book so I built a cheap website with WIX AI and set up an account with nostr:nprofile1qqsv8fus0eeygg3k4mzlv9y5j9x5jka6pzvyfgkcyrug38hmutnfd5spzemhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuurjd9kkzmpwdejhgqg5waehxw309aex2mrp0yhxgctdw4eju6t0ae4uvy to accept Bitcoin direct to nostr:nprofile1qqsqxqmml7j56x4lrylqm4h2ce9etmrmeunyqfheu8kjewdsuwn7mkqpzemhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumn0wd68ytnzv9hxgqg5waehxw309aex2mrp0yhxgctdw4eju6t0ayw9ws. I give away the e-book for free and will only sell the hardcover for sats. I recorded a video of myself reading the book and edited it with CapCut and then some nice folks on Nostr helped me figure out how to compress it.

The entire project was paid for in sats (except wix and lulu who don’t accept them). It’s unlikely to ever break even (I’d need to sell 300 and as of today I’ve sold 6) but I learned so much and got to work with some amazingly talented and freedom minded people. It was a great experience and my kids are proud of it so I would do it again in a heartbeat.

nostr:nevent1qqs86du0xmvr8uvrkraw3n6kxwdd89f5qg8nsj0jfdz5sx3vadazrhqpzemhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumn0wd68ytnzv9hxgk42qcl

nostr:nevent1qqs86du0xmvr8uvrkraw3n6kxwdd89f5qg8nsj0jfdz5sx3vadazrhqpzemhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumn0wd68ytnzv9hxgk42qcl