Behind the Book
My experience writing and self-publishing Snowbird Like a Pro
Writing Snowbird Like a Pro began with a simple idea: take what I had learned from my own snowbird experiences and turn it into something useful for others. What I didn't fully appreciate at the time was just how much goes into turning an idea into a finished book.
Writing the manuscript was only one part of the process. What followed was months of researching, revising, making decisions, learning unfamiliar technology, and paying attention to countless details before the book was finally ready for print. The experience gave me an entirely new appreciation for what it takes to publish a book.
From Experience to a Book
Once I began writing, I quickly realized that having years of experience to draw from was very different from knowing how to turn that experience into a book. I found myself thinking about the lessons I had learned, the situations I had encountered, and especially the details I wished I had known before my first season.
As the manuscript took shape, I began looking more closely at what was needed to turn those experiences into a useful, well-organized guide. Chapters were reorganized, sections were rewritten, information was researched and verified, and topics were added or removed as I worked to make the book as complete and useful as possible.
Then came an entirely different kind of learning: how to actually produce a book. Page design, typography, image quality, print specifications, ISBNs, cover production, and the requirements of self-publishing were all part of the process. That side of the project appealed to the part of me that enjoys organizing information, creating structure, and paying attention to how everything fits together.
A New Kind of Publishing Tool
One part of this experience that would have looked very different even a few years ago was the availability of artificial intelligence. I used AI throughout the project as a tool—much the way I used design software, online research, and other technology—to help me work through ideas, evaluate alternatives, identify areas that needed attention, and solve problems as they arose.
It did not eliminate the work. If anything, having more options often meant making more decisions. I still had to determine what belonged in the book, decide whether a suggestion sounded like me, verify information, rewrite material, choose the design and formatting, review every page, and ultimately decide what stayed and what went.
For me, AI was most useful as a way to ask questions, explore ideas, and get immediate feedback while I worked. I also learned quickly that its answers aren't always accurate. It can misunderstand a question, provide information that is incomplete or outdated, and sometimes present something with confidence that simply isn't correct. There were times when I questioned an answer, researched it independently, and discovered that my instincts were right. Using AI effectively meant learning not only what to ask, but also when to question the answer.
It was a useful tool for exploring possibilities and working through problems, but it still required my judgment to determine what was reliable, relevant, and right for the book. The personal experiences, decisions, and final responsibility for Snowbird Like a Pro remained mine.
The technology helped with the process. It didn't replace the process.
Becoming the Publisher
Before creating Snowbird Like a Pro, I didn't fully understand what the “publishing” part of self-publishing involved. I knew I would be responsible for writing the book, but I soon discovered that finishing the manuscript was only the beginning.
Self-publishing meant taking responsibility for decisions that would ordinarily be handled by a number of people within a traditional publishing process. I had to learn about book dimensions, typography and page layout, image resolution, ISBNs and imprint information, cover specifications, print requirements, pricing, distribution, proof copies, and the technical requirements involved in preparing files that could actually be printed.
It also meant becoming my own quality-control department. There was no publisher at the end of the process to catch a problem or make the final decision. Every page, every design choice, every revision, and every file ultimately came back to me.
What I came to understand is that self-publishing doesn't eliminate the publishing process, it shifts much more of the responsibility for that process to the author. That was probably one of the biggest lessons I learned from creating my first book.
A New Appreciation for Publishing
Going through this process gave me a much greater appreciation for authors and publishing professionals who have been producing books for generations. Long before today's technology was available, manuscripts were researched, written, edited, typeset, designed, proofread, printed, and brought to market through an enormous amount of human effort and specialized knowledge.
Self-publishing gave me the opportunity to take on many of those responsibilities myself. It also showed me why publishing has traditionally involved so many different people. Every stage requires attention to detail, and each one affects the quality of the finished book.
Technology will undoubtedly continue to change how books are created and published, just as computers and digital design changed the process before it. I appreciate having today's tools available to me, but using them has not diminished my respect for the people who created books without them. If anything, completing my first book has increased it.
What It Really Took
Over the months I spent working on Snowbird Like a Pro, the book became an almost daily project—often involving hours of work at a time. Some days were spent writing or rewriting. Others disappeared into formatting, moving text, adjusting images, checking page breaks, reviewing wording, researching publishing requirements, or solving one small problem that turned out to be much less small than expected. There were countless rounds of reading the same pages again and noticing something I hadn't noticed the time before.
I stopped trying to count the hours, but they easily reached into the hundreds. What surprised me most wasn't simply how long it took—it was how much persistence the process required. Finishing a book turned out to be less about reaching one big milestone and more about being willing to resolve hundreds of small details, one after another, until there was finally nothing left to fix.
From First Book to What's Next
When I started Snowbird Like a Pro, my goal was simply to create a book that could help someone else navigate an experience I had already been through. Somewhere along the way, the project became something more. I discovered that I genuinely enjoyed the process of taking an idea, developing it, organizing it, and turning it into something tangible.
Creating my first book taught me far more than I expected—not only about writing and publishing, but about what can happen when you're willing to learn something new and stay with it through all the frustrating little details.
Snowbird Like a Pro is the first book published by JRogers Publishing. I don't know exactly where this will lead, and for now, I'm comfortable with that. I'm open to the opportunities that may come from it—and curious to see what might come next.