Don’t forget to nurture your soul
…
You lost your pieces
Those that made you, you
And now you wander
Forgetting what you loved
To do
Don’t forget to nurture your soul
…
You lost your pieces
Those that made you, you
And now you wander
Forgetting what you loved
To do
My name is RJ Zarkani, I recently self published my book on Amazon with zero money down!
Hope this post helps you bring your book to life!
If you are wondering “Can I do this?”
Here’s a list of what you need to get started
You can always hire someone on Fiver or other websites like Fiver to help with editing & book cover design
What I did:
Now you are ready to PUBLISH!


You can choose to create a Kindle eBook, Paperback, or BOTH! I did both as you can see above
Clicking on on the “+” to the eBook or Paperback you will see a form that you need to fill out


Description is so important! Having a great book with no or little description is tragic. Readers will never know why they should invest in your book, out of the million books on Amazon. Give them a taste of what they’ll be buying, entice without giving it all away! I suggest looking up other books on Amazon and seeing their description. Mine is seen below:

When choosing keywords, make sure to be specific and to not reuse words that are already in your book title, description, or category (these are already used by Amazon to direct readers to your book). Keywords will help readers find you when they search Amazon. The category selection will help readers find you as well!
Keywords tips: go on Amazon and write what you would lookup to find your book, let’s type “books” and see what pops up, you can get an idea of what is frequently searched on Amazon
Example:

My book is a poetry collection so I also searched “poetry”

You can also search the category of your book and see what pops up
Use this tip as a general starting point. You can edit your keywords later!
Click save as draft if you need to come back to finish it later!
That’s all for today’s post, stay tuned for the next post!
Best of luck on your new adventure!
Time to make your dreams a reality 🙂
She said she wasn’t hungry
The things that could never fit within a bag, are the things I desperately wanted to pack
💛
My color is a puzzling one
Golden like the sun
Forged from the womb of the first civilization on
Earth
Sumerian
Between Tigris and the Euphrates
I thirst
I used to trust the shield
I’d create around me
As she told me
سلام و قول من رب رحيم
I told myself those words
Over and over
As I passed a terrorist stop
As I passed the bombed car
As I closed my eyes to sleep
…
But now I’m safe
Away from it all
And I say those words again
Salamun wa qaulun min rabin raheem
“Peace from a merciful God”
And I hope to rest
Forgetting what I can not forget
Can you truly be you
Unafraid
No make up
No filter
To alter your face
Can you find it
In your heart
To let them see
Who you truly are
For no other has been made
In exactly the same way
My first poetry collection is published and I’m so excited to share it with you all!
Here’s a look inside Stranger Paths, The Magic in The Madness Poetry Collection by me, R.J. Zarkani


Available for sell on Amazon and Kindle
For more information click HERE
Stranger Paths, The Magic in The Madness Poetry Collection Paper back can now be ordered on Amazon ! I am beyond excited!!!

Click Here for to be linked to Amazon
I designed the cover using Photoshop and a photograph I had taken on a beautiful foggy winter day. Used KDP to self publish and here we are!
This book is 10 years in the making, maybe longer.
Starting from the Iraq war and my childhood, to moving to America and living the best life I could.
It is a spiritual journey about war, hope, and inspiration.
Reviews so far describe it as:




To list a few
I am overwhelmed with community support and so grateful to be a part of this world.
A world where an Iraqi woman can have a voice. This is so much bigger than a book being published!