Welcome to the first blog post for my author site – I’d thought I talk a little about my self-publishing journey so far. If you had told me this even a year ago I would have thought you were crazy. Me an author? It was the last thing I thought I was capable of. However, after reading numerous books to my two girls and having to tell my eldest daughter a new made up story each bedtime, I decided to have a go at writing a children’s picture book.
I’ll freely admit I had no idea where to start. Naturally, I thought that writing a story was where you began, so I did that. But after studying the process, I discovered that the first step is research into what customers want to buy. Lesson number 1.
Secret School Spy Squad – Mission 1 – Lost Lunchboxes was my first attempt. After having other children review the story, give me feedback and go through the editing process – it was time to take a leap. I found an illustrator and finished assembly of the book. A couple of months later, I had an eBook ready to go. I published it to Amazon and was away. My book was there for all to see – exciting and scary at the same time! Within the next 3 months, Mission 2 – Germs Galore and Mission 3 – Shrinking Students where released. What a ride!
I enjoy writing and creating books, and am excited to come home at night from my day job to work on more stories. Now I’ve been bitten by the writing bug there are more stories in progress. Subscribe if you want to be notified when they are released.
The next step is to further seek feedback and advice to become a better writer. The big lesson I’ve learned the hard way, is that it’s not just about writing the book. The promotion, marketing and launch matter too if you want to do this for income. That’s going to be my focus and I’m going to blog about this as I learn and develop my skills.
If you’ve ever had an interest in writing your own children’s picture books, follow me on my journey…
