How I Wrote and Self-Published a Poetry Book in 4 months (and you can, too!)

It was June 2020, roughly 3 months into lockdown for the COVID-19 pandemic. Two specific and important things happened for me between March 2020 and June 2020 regarding the realizations I had for what my future held. Number 1) I realized I wanted to finish my bachelor’s degree. I wasn’t far off from the bachelor’s degree goal and it had been ten years since I dropped out. I knew through some wild internal gut instinct that this time being at home was the perfect time to pursue the degree. So I did. June 2020 I began the journey to finish my degree.

Once I began my pursuing my degree, I had my second realization. Number 2) I realized that the writing and reading I was doing for my classes were NOT fulfilling me emotionally. Academically, yes, I was enjoying it but the creative inside me needed more. Knowing I had little time to work on my novel due to my writing-intensive courses, I took up poetry. I started writing and couldn’t stop. The words were spilling out of me all day long. I would write in my journal, I would write in my iPhone notes, I would write in my head and repeat the words out loud until I had a moment to get them down on paper or tech.

All the while, I decided to share my poetry on my writergram/bookstagram account @lisakarsenwrites and it really took off. I made a whole new community of poetry-loving friends and I found that I really enjoyed and loved every moment of it.

Before long, I completed the writings of well over 100 poems. I decided to put them all into one document to save. However, I recognized that many of these poems shared a common theme: Love. I also realized if I ordered these poems in a specific way and rewrote a few of them, I could easily have a storyline, of sorts.

So, I went for it.

I spent hours combing through my poems, not writing anything new at this point unless an additional poem was necessary for the storyline. I edited and organized, added, and deleted. Let me tell you, it was FUN.

My initial thought process was NOT: I am going to make a poetry book and market it like crazy and sell hundreds of copies.

My initial thought process was: I am going to make this book for me, as a remembrance of the year 2020 and what it taught me. I am going to make this book for my kids so that one day they can read it and maybe see into my soul juuust a little bit.

It took some time before my thoughts evolved into: I want to share this book publicly, I want to share these words to resonate with others. To bring back memories for people who may have once felt a love like I had written in this book. I wanted others to feel the same Nostalgia I felt while writing it.

All that being said, here are the steps that taken to write and self-publish a poetry book in 4 months (and you can, too!):

Started writing
- I wrote well over 100 poems in about 2 months
- Having a large collection of writings was the first step
- Feeling a sense of passion and being on fire for the words I was writing was an essential part of this step
- Sharing my words with others as I wrote them empowered me to create a book
Understood my WHY
- WHY was I writing? To have a creative outlet while pursuing the completion of my bachelor’s degree
- WHY did I want to turn it into a book? For me to remember 2020. For my kids to one day read.
- How did my WHY evolve? I wanted my words to transport others to a Nostalgic place in time.
Compiled and Edited
- I compiled all of my poems into one document and combed through them, organizing, editing, adding, and deleting to create the book that was quickly forming right in front of me.
Took a Self-publishing course
- I used PoetPossibilities course How To Self Publish (use code: lisakarsenwrites for 20% off) to help me understand how Amazon KDP works and spent SEVERAL weeks formatting the book to get it JUST right.
Beta Readers
- Using a few trustworthy readers that I had met through my instagram account, I allowed them to read and provide valuable feedback before I submitted the book for self-publishing.
Lastly, I submitted my work on Amazon KDP
- In October 2020, I submitted my book to Amazon KDP. It took longer than I expected to be accepted due to a slow-down from COVID-19, but it DID get published!

I couldn’t be more proud of the work I published! Over the next few months, I sold more copies than I imagined I would and have received beautiful reviews which I am forever grateful for. Going back to school was a great decision but writing and publishing this poetry book was even better for my mental health and fulfilled the creative outlet I needed. For those of you who have read it, THANK YOU! For those of you who haven’t, Nostalgia is available now on Amazon!

(P.S. Remember that bachelor’s degree I talked about? I’m graduating on August 1, 2021!)
You can do hard things!