My journey as an author.
“Write a book. You’ll get instant credibility!” is what so many people, including nationally known recruiter “Absolutely Abby” Cohut, have said. And, boy is it a true statement!
Now that I have two bestselling books on Amazon, people frequently ask me for the why, what, where, when, and how of my journey as an author. I would be lying if I said I set out to be an accomplished author; I initially wrote to give my clients additional tools and for the potential monetary gain of promoting my business. But what evolved was a personal journey that taught me how to multiply my knowledge to help others through the psychological minefield of unemployment.
If you are curious about what it takes to produce a book, here is my unwitting journey to becoming an author.
What is the “WHY?”
Before embarking on this journey for each of my books, I first had to consider why I wanted to do it. I had to pay to get them published. So, I needed to understand the value that the book would bring to the reader (and is there enough value for the audience to buy it?) and if the book would generate the return on investment of time and money I would put into it. I needed to know what my goals were, and my definition of a successful book.
For all my books there are three main driving factors in this order:
- I want to make it easier for job seekers to do the hard work of finding a job. I have learned that my business is only as successful as my desire to help my clients.
- I wanted a way to help me become better known and more credible as a career coach. I have a dream of being the person career coaches turn to learn how to be better coaches.
- I hope the books become ongoing income streams or help increase my other income streams. Each book has a limited shelf life before the material will go stale, so I needed to know I had a plan to capitalize on that lifespan.
My First Attempt: The Simple Booklet and Self-Publishing Basics
My first project, Work Search Buddies, was small—only about 6,500 words and less than 50 pages. It was a great “loss leader” for my business, costing only $1.75 per copy to print and use as a giveaway.
Naively, I started by taking a popular PowerPoint presentation I gave and typing out what I would normally say. The step-by-step process looked like this:
- I organized the typed presentation into segments essentially taking one or two PowerPoint slides for each chapter.
- I corroborated my ideas with other experts and peppered in quotes from a few clients.
- Because self-publishing on Amazon was less intuitive at the time, I hired someone to help with the publishing mechanics: securing an ISBN, designing the layout and cover art, and handling copy editing.
The total timeline was 6 months (3 months writing, 3 months editing/publishing), and it cost me less than $1,000.
2nd Book: Upgrading to a Professional Publisher
For my first true book, Take Control Of Your Job Search, I used my existing career coaching handouts and worksheets as the foundation. I thought compiling them into a step-by-step methodology would be easy, but the reality was much tougher.
- The Formatting Struggle: It took a lot of work to format the worksheets for consistency and write instructions from the job seeker’s perspective. I had to rewrite and re-format them multiple times.
- The Editing Hack: I got so tired of fixing grammar that I almost gave up. To save time, I used the Microsoft Editor function and ran the manuscript through AI for copy editing, helping to improve my writing style without taking my voice or personality out of the book, and dramatically reducing the workload for my professional copy editor.
- Hiring the Pros: This time, I didn’t self-publish. I hired Prominence Publishing, a boutique publisher in Vancouver, who handled internal copy editing, layout, and cover design. Alongside my marketing team at Brand & Tell, we set publication dates and pushed it to become a #1 Amazon bestseller in 48 hours.
Book 3: The Traditional Writing Method and My Most Personal Book
My newest book, The Lonely Job Search, began because I wanted to expand my first booklet. During 2025, I kept hearing how isolated clients felt in their job search, so I dug into my 41-year-old BS in Psychology and my own experiences with long-term unemployment to address this period of isolation lost personal value.
To have enough content to make it a full-length book, I needed to quadruple the word count to over 25,000 words, which also meant I had to adopt a more traditional writing method:
- The Outline & Research: I started by just asking job seekers and coaches about the topic to get some concepts for new material. Then, I developed an outline, did research, gathered client stories, and interviewed career development professionals to fill in my own knowledge and experience gaps.
- Time Blocking: I blocked out one to two hours several times a week, tackling the book chronologically. My goal was to write one complete chapter (1,000 to 2,500 words) in a single sitting. This way I ensured I had an entire and cohesive thought completed.
- The Iterative Process: Writing for me is highly iterative. I often went back to reread, revise, and change what I thought was already complete. There were times I felt like every two steps forward was followed by at least one step back. Each of the 23 chapters took an average of one week to write.
From idea to publishing, this latest book took 17 months of coordinating a writing plan, a marketing plan, and a publishing plan.
Off to Market!
What this blog does not go into is the fact that the writing and publishing is the easier part – for me. Books from unknown authors don’t get published by big publishing houses that do the promotion and marketing and give the author big advances on sales. That is all up to me as the author. Fortunately, my publisher does have processes in place and educational tools to help make the promotion part easier.
Anit-loneliness or Networking solution?
Interestingly, while I see the book as a salve to the isolation and loneliness of job search, many of the reviewers see it as primer on networking. My goal in writing this book was to give the reader some practical and tactical solutions to effectively use the people in the job seekers life during their job search.
I, like many job seekers, fell victim to the “honey do list” during unemployment often leaving little time or less effective opportunities to look for work. After a while, even my colleagues, friends and past bosses did not want to hear from me because all I did was ask for help. Even though I intellectually knew others were seeking work and having the same problems as me, I did not know anyone else out of work from my sphere of influence. I wrote this book to address these issues.
It turns out that the best way to combat these things is arguably to be a better and more effective networker! That is to say, to improve your ability to seek out and build relationships with people in general, and especially to offer to help others even more when you most need their help. This book addresses those concerns with specific and actionable steps to take. Hence, people see it as a book about networking!
The True Joy of Writing While the books generate great business, the true joy comes from seeing the “Aha moments” when people realize my humble guidance can make their job search more effective. Knowing I had a part in helping people get through the miserable feelings of a job search more quickly is what it is all about.
Let’s Connect
f you are tired of navigating the psychological minefield of unemployment alone, let’s talk. Order your copy of The Lonely Job Search today, at my online store, www.cecalacareer.com/store. And, join me for a Book Launch Party at the Parsippany, NJ, Public Library, 7 p.m. EDT, on June 30, 2026! You can register to attend in person or online at http://www.cecalacareer/booklaunchparty.
About Paul Cecala
Paul Cecala, a Global Career Developmental Facilitator (GCDF) certified career coach, is a principal at Cecala Career Consultants with decades of experience as a career coach helping individuals with finding career success. He has taught over 500 seminars and workshops on conducting successful job searches. Mr. Cecala can be reached at pcecala@cecalacareer.com .
Follow him at: https://www.linkedin.com/company/cecala-career-consultants.
Paul Cecala can help you navigate to your success.
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Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters