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Oh wow, I didn't realise that photofunia is still running strong after for more than a decade!

I'm digressing 😂

Maybe I am hitting my Jubilee year soon!

What a journey of 12 days... an unplanned side trail that my Almighty has redirected me while I am still drafting and re-visiting @the3rdcord of the wire since its inception more than a month ago.

Publishing a book was never in my bucket list.

But over 2 decades ago, my older brother an I once wanted to become story publishers for others to have a digital platform where people can just come and share their story.

Well, that went to the shelves when my brother got married, and I went on in a roller-coaster ride of relationship, faith, and life hurdles to cross

Until ... now(?)

I have always wondered how easy would one be able to write a book and be published because often time I kept seeing podcast interviews that usually ties to an author; but publishing this book isn't really about fame, but about something that many people like me, who have been living and "surviving" in Malaysia (with many roller-coaster rides) usually do not want to speak out loud... and if it does, it often comes with frustration.

And I truly hope, I heard His voice correctly

To see things in a different way, and to be grateful in the midst of turmoil and frustration.

Moreover, to arrive to this stage requires a steep learning curve for 12 days.

Learning how to write backbones of a book.
Learning book cover design.
Learning to use different tools including AI to generate illustrations.
Steep learning of grammar faults; when Malaysian English is not truly acceptable to international audience.
Learning how to generate epub books as fast as possible.
Learning the consequences of falling into Amazon's new writer's marketing TRAP
Learning the VERY STEEP tax from the US—even if you are not a citizen there. And how low priced e-books will eventually earn me nothing except a few cents per copy.
Learning to mentally prepared how to file income tax, even as little as $50 USD when it happens. (Probably for a really long time)
Learning that Amazon Kindle is VERY hostile to users who do not have Amazon sub site running there—ie. Malaysia.

And all these are just technical—excluding the emotional journey writing this book.

I can't say this is a bad book to write, just something that requires realisation in order to have internal healing.

That being said, if anyone here actually resides in non "Amazon bookstore tariffed" country and would love to help me to test if the pre-order kindle version works, I will reimburse you the profit I will get (which I have no idea how much it is yet) back into your HIVE account in HBD—straight into savings.

I need a pool of people to help me test whether it truly works.... Especially people in US and outside US (like Europe, Canada, or Australia perhaps...)

If you do happen to help me pre-order it successfully, do snap-shot and post in the comments here, so that I will be able to keep track when it officially launches. There is a tiny bit of (politically correct) typo that I probably need to update, but I guess that's just an err for the locals.

Hit me up at the comments if you are game to help me out—and my launch date should be on June 4th, 2026 UTC (?) with an "early bird" price for about 60 days.

I am currently unable to multi-platform launch because I was trapped in their marketing gimmick... I hope I can disable it in 36 hours time haha...

Until Then

Stay healthy, stay curious and learn new things, and stay happy!

If you would like to give some encouragement outside HIVE with some fiat backing, please feel free to visit: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/littlenewthings

You can also support me in HIVE

The things and hurdles learning to ✅ an unplanned bucket list | Ecency