EB: Tell us about your book. What is it about? 

It is a reference guide for expats who move to Johannesburg, providing them with everything they need to know about preparing for their move, settling in easily and quickly, and having the time of their life as an expat in Johannesburg.

EB: Why did you write it?

Because I wanted to help fellow expats.

EB: What qualifies you to write this book?

I’m an experienced book author (this was my fourth book) who has been living in Johannesburg for several years as an expat. For the book, I could use my own experiences, information I got from my many expat friends and my local network and contacts, and I did extensive research – for instance into the legal aspects of visas or employing domestic workers.

EB: Who do you think will read your book? What made you think that there was a market for it? If your book has been out for a while, what proof do you have that you were right?

My Guide to Johannesburg is unique and fills a desperate need. It is being read by other expats who are about to move or have just arrived in Johannesburg. The clients’ feedback is very good!

EB: How did you publish your book? Did you find an agent, a publisher or did you publish it yourself? Please describe your process and tell us how you found the experience. Is there anything you would definitely do again or never do again?

My book was published with Expat-Living.info, a company that is setting up a series of high-quality expat guides. My Guide to Johannesburg is the first to be published, and other Expat-Living.info Guides are being written right now.
The Expat-Living.info books are published as eBooks because they need to be available everywhere and because they are constantly updated. They are only exclusively on the Expat-Living.info website.

Writing this book was easy and very satisfying, and the positive feedback is so encouraging.

In the next months and probably years, I will also help other authors writing an Expat-Living.info Guide for their destination, because the company is still expanding.

EB: What was your biggest challenge regarding the writing of your book? How have you overcome that?

Developing the concept was the most difficult. I read studies on expats and asked fellow expats to find out what they wanted and needed.

EB: Now you have written this book, what has writing it done for you, your family, your self-esteem or your business?

Writing is just the perfect activity for me, the accompanying spouse: I enjoy the freedom of being able to work around my family’s schedule, I love the actual writing process, and seeing the finished books makes me very happy.

Well, yes, it IS very good for my self-esteem to know that my first two books (legal textbooks) are used by every bank and insurance company in Switzerland and can be found in every university library, that my novel is still going strong after more than 2 years, and to read and hear the positive feedback to my Guide to Johannesburg.

Shortly after my expat guide was published, a very renowned relocation company asked me to do expat training for them. So writing is definitely good for business, too.

EB: If you were to give advice to someone else who is thinking about writing a book, what would be your number one tip?

Start somewhere!

Start: Don’t think about it too much, just write down the words that are floating around in your head.

Somewhere: Not once in four books did I start with the beginning. It doesn’t matter! Once you have a few text fragments, you will find a way to add them together and finally form a beautiful book.

The Expat-Living.info Guide to Johannesburg is exclusively available from www.expat-living.info.

The first chapter can be read for free with this link:
www.expat-living.info/johannesburg-chapter-1

The Guide to Johannesburg is an eBook that consists of 4 parts:
1. A reference guide of more than 200 pages
2. A collection of interview with expats in Johannesburg
3. A report on successful expat living, based on international research
4. A personal consulting service

It costs 147 USD, but it is for free for most expats because they can charge it onto their expense report as work.

With your purchase, you will get immediate access to your Expat-Living.info Guide to Johannesburg. It can be purchased here:
/www.expat-living.info/buy-johannesburg

 

 

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