my first book is being published!

life update: I'M AN AUTHOR 😭

Time for my favorite news I’ve ever shared. But before I get into it, I wanted to say a massive thank you for the 300+ of you that joined this newsletter in the past couple of weeks, thanks to this post! I know this Substack is still small, but having over 600 people in this community now means the world. Thank you, thank you, thank you, to anyone reading. 💙

Now on to the more exciting part. I’ve been keeping a secret and I’m so happy to finally be sharing it: I’m an author!!

About a year ago, the publishing house Kogan Page reached out and asked me if I’d like to write a book. Chances are most of you follow me on Substack because of my essays that have nothing to do with what I do for work (the reason why I ended up writing a book), so I should share some essential context as a little introduction.

When I was 20, I started a company called The Z Link. I had a background working in social media marketing, and was studying art history in university. The idea was to build a company that would be the first Gen Z-led social media agency that helps brands effectively communicate with our generation. I started with maybe £200 in my bank account, no investors, and no team — I didn’t expect much but was vaguely hopeful that it’d work out.

Slowly but surely, four years later, The Z Link has grown to a team of 25 people around the world. We’ve worked with clients like the UN, IKEA, Deloitte, Hearst, and tons of startups with wonderful teams building impactful products. Aside from getting to do fun creative work, travel the world, and meet incredible people through my work, what I’m most grateful for is that The Z Link allows me to have freedom over my everyday life. My definition of success is less about making some unforgettable global impact, and more about making sure I can create a life where I have the freedom and flexibility to enjoy every day. The more I advanced in my (still very early) career, the more I realized that to me, success largely equals the luxury to have slow mornings, not be rushed, spend time with people I love, travel, and be able to pursue my inspiration and passions by having control over my time. This is what entrepreneurship has allowed me to build. I used to not think it was possible unless you started with money, had investors, quit everything else to pursue just one thing, etc., but my own unconventional journey showed me that none of that is essential.

When I was approached to write a book, I was ecstatic — writing has been my longest-standing passion ever since I can remember, and being an author was a distant dream. I had a call with the commissioning editor, my first glance into the publishing world, and we thought of what the book could be about. It was originally going to be a book targeted at employers about how to best work and collaborate with Gen Z in the modern workplace. I knew I could write it based on all my research, but also knew that there was probably something more useful that I could do. We started working on the book proposal, and afterwards we realized that there was another book waiting to be written: one about how our generation can create careers that provide them with freedom, ownership, and flexibility, using the infinite digital tools and resources at our disposal. It would collect everything I’ve learned in my four years of building a business and creating my own career path, eventually achieving my personal definition of success.

So, the proposal got approved by the publishing house, and the book started coming to life! Between November 2023 - February 2024, all I did was write. “Design Your Life: Your Career, Your Way” will be out on the shelves around the world this October!!

It aims to be the most useful book it can be on building a career on your terms as someone young and ambitious. It recognizes that Gen Z is the most entrepreneurial generation to date (56% want to work for themselves!), and that entrepreneurship is now more accessible than it has ever been. We have an insane amount of tools at our disposal to build careers we love — it’s a shame to not take advantage of that because we don’t know where to start or because we think we can’t. My own unconventional path has made me passionate about rethinking the way we work, and the way we consider and achieve success. I never imagined that I could have so much control over my life and my time at 24, and was definitely never taught that it was an option for someone with my background and skills. I’m incredibly excited to finally share the book with the world and hopefully help anyone who’s ambitious or even just a bit curious!

You can preorder the book below and have it in your hands in just over 2 months! If you live outside the UK or the US, you can also look up “Design Your Life Erifili Gounari [your country]” to find more retailers selling it. You can add it to your Goodreads TBR here!

📚 Amazon UK — Amazon US — Waterstones — Barnes & Noble 📚

Writing this book has been one of the most exciting, fun, and rewarding experiences. It has also been so interesting to see how the publishing world works as someone who’s always been so drawn to the idea of writing for a living. I still struggle to call myself a writer or an author, and am definitely terrified of the idea of the world being able to read a piece of work that is so important to me. But I keep reminding myself that the book was designed to be the most useful it can be, and I am so excited knowing that it could help even just a few people.

Thank you for reading this, and a massive thank you to anyone who is preordering the book! I will definitely be publishing some Substack posts in the coming weeks about what I learned in the process of writing a 65,000 word book in 4 months, what my author journey was like, etc. If you’re curious about any specific aspect of it, let me know! Stay tuned for more updates and all I can say once again is thank you for being here ✨