Le voyage de Merlin and Merlin's Voyage: the books

I wanted to write something which would last a little longer than a post on this blog.

I wanted to write something which could simply reveal the wonders of Nature, the discoveries and experiences that we had on board during our cruising time.

I wanted to write something which could show that Merlin was not just a boat but a real traveling companion.

I wanted to write something which could inspire kids to have dreams. Dreams can be small but it is nice to have big dreams too. I started dreaming of sailing offshore when I was a teenager, reading  Bernard Moitessier’s and Joshua Slocum’s books. I wanted to live this dream and with Greg we made that dream a reality (the fact that he had the same dream was just perfect).

I wanted to write something because I had all these words in my mind and I wanted to share them.

Writing the story in French about 2 years ago was relatively easy and words flowed out. It seems the story was just meant to be told. Once “Le Voyage de Merlin” was written, I send the project to few French editors/publishers. One was keen to jump on board but retracted when he had his new budget which was much tighter than he intended.  The others, most of the time, didn’t even bother answering my letter, emails or calls.

I then decided to self publish the story and started some research on the subject. There is a lot of information out there so it takes a lot of time to learn and digest the right one.

I also wanted the story to be available in English. Unfortunately, my translation was harder to accomplish as I couldn’t express the feelings with the same shades. My friend Jenny and her mum helped me to have something more fluent so “Merlin’s Voyage” started living in English too.

I was hoping to have some illustrations which were more kids friendly. So Sarah, another friend, started working on the book incorporating a little seagull in some photos. However, she got too busy, embark on her own adventure and the project didn’t materialised.

I don’t have the right software to work on such a book. So I started thinking of outsourcing and asked around for some help (Internet is amazing for that). I had quotes which all seemed too expensive.

Then my friend Desire offered to help with her designing skills (in exchange of a sailing week-end on Merlin). We worked for few weeks together whenever we could find free hours in our busy schedule.

I was getting closer and closer to have the story ready.

Having exactly the right files for Amazon can be a tricky step too. So I ask a professional company to help me. The different files had to go back and forth few times between them and myself, chewing drastically our Internet data. Frustrations came fast. I also had to deal with copyright issues with the charts: more frustrations. My ISBN numbers were also a source of small problems. Self-publishing (mainly working after hours) is not a clear and easy path. However, I am very happy today to have the story live, ready to be shared and read. The books are available in English and French.

I will now be learning about marketing...

Thanks to Greg, Victor, Felix and Clea who really supported me along the way and thanks to my very helpful friends. So enjoy the book(s)!

PS: you are welcome to leave feedback comments in Amazon.