Author Interview: Joyce Dickens

How would you describe the type of books/genre you write?

My first book, The Exotic and the Mundane is a travel memoir. However, my hope is not to just tell my own story, but to inspire others to live their own adventures. Right now I also write more how-to style articles on our blog LearningToTravel.com, and that style will likely make it to book form someday as well.

What motivated you to start writing?

After my husband, Daryle, and I returned from a 14-month epic trip, we found ourselves answering a lot of questions about where we went, which places were our favorites, and how we managed such a large scale trip. We found summarizing in 30 minutes over coffee frustratingly inadequate and a desire to share the trip that changed our lives in so many ways kept resurfacing.

Add to this, a collection of friends who kept asking if I was going to write a book (to which I repeatedly said “no”, by the way) and I eventually gave in and started writing. Worst case scenario, I figured I’d have a way to remember the trip myself and to share it with close friends.

Tell us the journey you went on to get your books published (e.g. direct on your website, self-published, assisted-publishing, traditional publisher)

I started writing about a year after we returned from our trip and the writing and editing took about two years. Once I had a complete draft, self-edited as best I could, I enlisted several friends I thought would be honest to read and give me feedback. Luckily, I’m also blessed with a friend who is a former copy editor and enjoys liberally marking up manuscripts in her free time. She let her red pen fly.

I settled on self-publishing after a conversation with a friend who had taken the traditional publishing route indicated the chances of having my book out in less than another two years would be a near miracle. I now have a Kindle edition and paperback available on Amazon.

What publishing elements do you most enjoy and most like to avoid, and why? (e.g. design, marketing, formatting etc.)

On this first book, I’d say I just enjoyed the learning experience. I enjoyed the writing, editing and formatting, but am finding the marketing a bit more challenging. There’s a lot to learn!

With the hindsight of being a published author, anything you would have done differently?

The only thing I feel like I would have done differently is to learn more formatting specifically for Kindle up front, to avoid massive unnecessary edits later. The biggest single challenge I had was formatting photos. My book includes over 200 photos that make the download especially large. Ideally when I initially edited and saved my photos, I would have created two versions one high-resolution for print and one for digital.

What tips or advice would you give an aspiring indie author who is looking to self-publish?

Absolutely do it! Along the way, it may feel like it is never going to happen, but if you keep identifying the next step and doing it – you will get there. When I got stuck, I set myself a requirement that I work on my book for 25 minutes every day and slowly but surely I finally got that last bit done. Publishing a book has never been as accessible as it is now. If publishing a book is a dream you have, there’s nothing standing in your way, but yourself.

What marketing or promotional tools or techniques do you use to reach your readers?

I had done a bit of research that indicated getting off to a strong start was important, so I offered my book free for a few days after the launch. During this time, I promoted it on several “free or cheap Kindle book” Facebook groups as well as a few relatively inexpensive e-mail lists. For email lists, FreeBooksy, andBargainBooksy was one of the few that had a specific travel category.

What impact do you want your books to have on your readers?

I want my books and our blog to inspire others to get out and explore, whether it’s near home or on the other side of the world. My main goal is to influence more people to make the decision to travel and through those experiences to become more engaged with the world. I want people to see that travel is not something for other, “richer”, “braver” people, it’s accessible to everyone and valuable for far more than just “taking a break”.

What’s next on your writing journey?

My next book was pretty well built into my first since The Exotic and the Mundane covers only the first half of our 14-month journey. My next book will be “Part 2” and will cover our time in Europe and return to the U.S., along with a good dose of “lessons learned”. Additionally, Daryle and I have some big plans for LearningToTravel over the next year.

About the Author

Joyce Dickens is the co-creator of Learning to Travel, a blog she and her husband Daryle have developed to help others identify and realize their dream trips, after taking one of their own.

Ten years into their marriage Joyce & Daryle started to really assess their dream of “travelling more” and what that meant. The result was an all-in life-changing 14-month journey to 23 countries and 23 US states. After hearing more “I wish I could do that” comments than they could stand, they realized that most people need a little push to believe their dreams are possible and a little guidance to turn them into reality.

Joyce’s first book, The Exotic and the Mundane is intended to inspire the traveler in all of us while Learning to Travel seeks to take the reader beyond inspiration to action by sharing helpful hints and the structure to turn those ideas into action.

Ultimately, Joyce writes to inspire others to pursue their dreams, to travel, and most of all to believe that anything is possible if they decide it must be so. When she’s not writing and traveling, Joyce enjoys running, event planning and volunteering on her local search and rescue team.

Connect with Joyce

• Website: https://learningtotravel.com
• Facebook: @LearningToTravel
• Instagram: @daryledickens
• Twitter: @daryledickens