The subject of death is morbid, but it’s something that needs to be dealt with. At the moment, I am fine. I’m in good health, and I have full control of my mental faculties. After hearing stories about authors dying and what a hard time people have of managing things afterwards, I feel it prudent to make a plan for my eventual demise.

As a self-published author, I am also the publisher. No one has the rights to handle my books but me. I love having full control over my books. If I had the option, I’d self-publish all over again. Even so, I’m aware that there’s a lot of things that goes into this business. It can be daunting for people who have never published a book before. I wasn’t surprised that most of my family didn’t want to do deal with this. Fortunately, my son Eric said he’ll take over for me when I die.

Right now, I am working on a packet giving him detailed instructions on what I do when my time comes. I expect this packet will take a few months to complete, and I’m sure there will be things I’ll need to update as time goes on. These things include (but are not limited to) a full list of my books, the retailers I publish them on (and how to change prices, covers, etc in case he needs to do any of those things), what I collect for the accountant at tax time (and how I do it), what to do in a case of copyright infringement (that will take the longest to explain), what I do to market my books (including this blog), my bank information, and where to find all of my accounts associated with my books and the passwords that go with them. I’m also going to create a letter to grant him full rights to my books.

I’ve been doing this stuff since 2009, and I have gotten so used to it that I no longer think of all the details anymore. I do remember that it took me a good couple of years to figure out. So I know there is a learning curve involved. The good news is that once I teach Eric what to do, it should be pretty smooth sailing for him. Since I’m doing this while I’m alive, he’ll have a foundation to bounce off when it comes time for him to take over the business. I am glad he accepted this role. If he hasn’t, I would have had to write out a letter telling my family how to contact the retailers so that all of my books would be unpublished. I don’t remember for sure, but I think Amazon has a policy where it will unpublish books automatically when they know an author dies. It makes sense. If there’s no one living to contact to manage the books, what retailer would want to keep the books up for sale?

I am going to create a post that I’ll put in draft on this blog. When I die, I will have Eric publish it. That way, you’ll know when the time has come.

For now, just know that I feel very blessed that God has allowed me two dreams I had when I was only 12. One was to be a wife and mother. The second was to be a bestselling author. I realize I’m not a bestselling author anymore, but back in 2011 and 2012, I was, and I’ll always be grateful for that. In the meantime, I get to continue writing books I enjoy and be a part of a family I love. It’s been a wonderful life. I have no regrets.