It was weird for me when I was writing a dream interpretation workbook. Why? I am not accustomed to that style of writing.

Think Like a Student

I needed to think like a student when writing the dream interpretation workbook. This would have been easier if I hadn’t been interpreting dreams for over thirty years!

The instructions were easier for me to do because I have done this with my blogs and books. However, I needed to think hard about how to write the questions for the exercise to be easy for the students to understand. Even more importantly, I wanted them to integrate each exercise into themselves so they would use it for a lifetime.

For an analogy of this, let’s use driving a car. When you learn how to drive, you need to think about adjusting the seat and mirrors, starting the car, looking both ways before pulling out, having enough space between cars, …

Today, you don’t even think about it. It’s automatic. You might even drink coffee and have a conversation with someone on a hands-free device while driving.

Think about instructing how to drive. Now, come up with questions the student might have while driving. Maybe this is easy for you to do, yet it was a challenge for me.

Beta Readers

In case you don’t know what a beta reader is, let me explain. A beta reader is someone who reads a book before its publication. For nonfiction, they will give feedback if they find any concept confusing or hard to understand.

What an author understands in their head and transfers their thoughts to the written words might not make sense to the readers who read them.

Thankfully, over half of the people who said they would give feedback did. They understood the majority, and I corrected what they didn’t get.

What Format?

It would have been easy to just have the workbook in a PDF format for people to buy. I’ve seen plenty of business owners sell PDF workbooks and courses on their websites from $25.00 to $50.00, and even higher. Personally, I’m not a fan of PDFs because they can be difficult for me to read.

An eBook would be better than a PDF, yet the students would need to write or type their answers elsewhere. A regular paperback doesn’t work well as its difficult to handwrite when the pages won’t lay flat. Awkward!

In a Facebook poll, most of the people prefer a spiral workbook. This validated my thoughts. So, I began the research as I was writing the dream interpretation workbook.

Research Findings of Spiral Books

IngramSpark and Amazon don’t print spiral books. In fact, most bookstores won’t buy spiral bound books. Why? Shoppers can’t see the title on a bookshelf, and might not bother pulling it out to see what the book is about. Making it harder for the bookstore to sell the book.

Bookvault does print spiral binding books; sadly, only in the UK. Maybe one day their US printers will print spiral books?

There were other book printers who would print them, yet I had to buy them in bulk. I got bad vibes from a few other companies who did print-on-demand.

People have mixed feelings about Lulu. My gut felt this was the place to go, and I ordered two different authors’ spiral workbooks. They were really nice.

What I also like about Lulu is that they have their own store. This gives my customers a choice of buying an autographed copy from Pamela Cummins’ Bookstore or from the Lulu store.

Formatting

My father is in the middle of formatting the dream interpretation workbook. He has never formatted a book to Lulu’s requirements. Although he has formatted many books with IngramSparks and Amazon. It’s a learning experience and a challenge for him, which my father enjoys.

Once I have the formatted PDF, I’ll order a proof workbook from Lulu. Then proofread the proof. And we might have to make corrections, then order another dream interpretation workbook.

Final Thoughts on Writing a Dream Interpretation Workbook

What an adventure this has been for me… so different from writing my other eight books! I’m doing my best to be patient for the workbook to be published.

Just a reminder that when the spiral dream interpretation workbook is published, it will only be available at my bookstore or Lulu.

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