Book Publishing Secrets with Gina Heumann, Author of Love Never Quits

Gina Heumann is a true Renaissance woman: wife, mother, architect, designer, instructor, author, speaker, and sales rep for an award-winning Napa Valley winery. She and her husband, Aaron, adopted Landrey in 2001 from Guatemala and then went back for Maddox three years later. Gina’s love of learning and dedication as a mother inspired her research of different treatments and therapies that eventually led to this inspirational success story about conquering Reactive Attachment Disorder.

Her latest book is Love Never Quits: Surviving & Thriving After Infertility, Adoption, and Reactive Attachment Disorder.

WEBSITE & SOCIAL LINKS:

Website Link: www.ginaheumann.com

Facebook Link: https://www.facebook.com/loveneverquits

BOOK BLURB:

WHACK… At three in the morning Gina was sound asleep, yet somehow she was smacked in the head. She looked over at her husband, thinking perhaps he accidentally rolled over and flopped his

arm on top of her, but he was sleeping soundly and facing the opposite direction. She turned to the other side and glaring back at her was her eight-year-old child.

“Did you just hit me?”

“Yes, and I’d do it again.”

“Whyyyy?”

“Because you took away my video games.”

“That was EIGHT HOURS AGO. And you’re still mad about it?”

“I wish I could kill you.”

This is the true story of the hell one family lived through parenting a child with reactive attachment disorder, a severe diagnosis related to children who experienced early-childhood trauma.

This inspirational story covers over a decade of daily struggles until they finally found resolution and made it to the other side. The family remained intact, and this once challenging son is now achieving things never thought possible. 

ORDER YOUR COPY:

Amazon

Thank you for your time in answering our questions about getting published.  Let’s begin by having you explain to us why you decided to become an author and pen this book?

Gina: It’s a funny story, but I actually saw a woman who was a hand analyst – not a palm reader who foretells the future, but a scientific hand analyst who works with Fortune 500 companies to help them customize jobs according to the strengths and weaknesses of the employee. Apparently the lines in your hand mimic the neural pathways in the brain and can give clues to what you’re destined to do. This lady insisted I was meant to be a writer. At the time, I didn’t consider myself a writer, as I wasn’t an English major and didn’t even keep a diary, but she insisted I give it a try. I had this idea of sharing our story once my son was in a better place so we could highlight our success after struggling with such a rare and serious condition, and I wanted to inspire others. The timing was right so I just went for it!

Is this your first book?

Gina: Yes, it is… but now that I see how easily I am able to tell stories, I have ideas for more.

With this particular book, how did you publish – traditional, small press, Indie, etc. – and why did you choose this method?

Gina: I self-published this book, because I am a designer and wanted to have full control over the cover design, interior layout, and editing process. I also wanted to maintain rights to my own story, in case I wanted to use it for other things in the future.

Can you tell us a little about your publishing journey?  The pros and cons?

Gina: I self-published through a consulting firm called “My Word Publishing” and highly recommend them. They assigned a project manager to my book, who helped connect me to three different editors, each of whom provided a sample edit and a proposal. I was able to choose the one who spoke to me. We went through three rounds of editing and then a round of proofreading, so I know it was a thorough job.

My project manager also walked me through the bookstore to get ideas for cover design, and sent me to several different cover designers’ websites to view their portfolios and choose one that seemed to fit what I was looking for. I had actually designed my own cover, so I just needed someone to pull it together and make it look professional. I liked working with my cover designer so much that I kept her on to do the interior layout as well.

I really liked having ultimate control over the look and feel of my book, and it was important to me to maintain the rights to my story. I was also able to somewhat control the schedule and complete the project faster than I would with a traditional publisher. I would say the only “con” to self-publishing is that I had to pay for it up front, rather than getting an advance check.

What lessons do you feel you learned about your particular publishing journey and about the publishing industry as a whole?

Gina: I learned that there are so many steps to creating a published book. I never knew there were so many decisions involved! When my designer asked me where to put the page numbers, I was a little taken aback – that’s a thing? I also didn’t realize that an editor and proofreader were different people looking for different things in the story.

Would you recommend this method of publishing to other authors?

Gina: Absolutely. I really enjoyed the entire process.

What’s the best advice you can give to aspiring authors?

Gina: I would say if you have an idea and you like to write, just do it! And if you have a consultant like My Word, someone will guide you through the entire process and help make it a professional job, teach you how to market the book, and more.