Cover by Jojo Teckina
My eyes welled with tears while reading the comments on Jojo’s essay about the cover design. In the days after she published it, I made a point of going to look at the comments daily. I knew I wouldn’t get any notifications. It’s not my essay.
But when the comments stopped coming, I stopped looking.
I didn’t realize they’d not stopped. Just slowed.
Looking at them yesterday, six months after Jojo published it, handed me a gift that’s hard to describe.
Imagine sitting on a toilet in an office bathroom of a media company. You’re the author of a new book and subject matter of a recent photo shoot. While sitting on the porcelain throne, a group of photographers, designers, and writers at the company stroll in together. They’re discussing the sesh and the recent article all about it.
That setup feels like the makings of a Three’s Company episode or the plot for an 80s romcom where the character in the bathroom is about to get their ego crushed.
This setup is a peek into my psyche before reading the comments on Jojo’s article. But what I took in was diametrically opposed to the critic in my head. Every word was love and praise. It was for Jojo and her amazing work. It was for the team at Parasol Pubs. And, yes, it was for me too.
I’m all welled up again, right this second, fingers navigating the keys.
The essays that fill the pages of my book feel shallow when compared to the deep sea of relationships I’ve made and the lessons I’ve learned. The pages are static. Set in print. The relationships are growing. The lessons are evolving.
The Who in My Head is not only ‘Andrew’s first book,’ it’s Authbition’s first book.’ And in many ways, that’s the more important news. The process of publishing this compilation opened a gateway to shining a spotlight on human creatives.
Creating a publication arm of Authbition is a step in that direction.
When I bought the ISBN from Bowker, I didn’t buy one. I bought ten. It wasn’t for a plan to self-publish nine more of my own books. The idea is to give a publishing option to the guests of the Authbition podcast.
I recently tweeted:
I'm an Amazon-using, self-publishing hypocrite.
I posted it after a full day of setting up a KDP account. A significant hurdle among many hurdles cleared while nearing one of the finish lines of this publishing process.
The justification in my head:
The book itself may be published by my own company. However, most of the essays in it are not self-published. They’ve been vetted by editors, real humans, or originally published on Medium.
By making myself go through this print publication process for “The Who in My Head”, I learned how to do it for others. It’s now a publication route for Authbition podcast guests.
Published by Authbition.
There are pros and cons for a world where self-publishing is possible. (There’s a Whole Mind Game in there somewhere. Who wants to play? Let’s get you booked on the podcast.)
One of the cons is self publishing AI slop.
I love how ‘cons’ has two meanings there.
On the flip side, there are so many pros to get something into a quality publication. ‘Quality’ being the operative word.
The relationships.
The feedback.
The personal growth as a writer.
The blockchain of humans verifying the writing came from a human.
My investment in Authbition is grounded by a mission — by a movement that celebrates authentic and ambitious human creativity. It’s an investment in designers, artists, and writers. And it’s a returned investment of time, talent, and treasure by those very same humans.
Human artists are integral to the economy of human writing.
The Who in My Head is a party. It celebrates a journey of writing on Medium. It’s a festival of community and collaboration. It’s a disco ball of light beams shining on all the pieces that come together to put a book on a shelf in the homes of friends, relatives, and strangers.
It’s an inflection point for Authbition!
Play The Whole Mind Game.
Pick up a copy of The Who in My Head.
There’s so much more to come.