Someone recently emailed me some questions, and I thought I’d answer them here.

I was thinking about your books, and wondered if you would be willing to share the successes you have had with them?

In today’s world of children’s books, it is very difficult to be successful as an unknown. My books are self-published on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Self-publishing is great, in that you can get your book out without years of submissions to publishers and editors in the hopes that someone will publish your book. But with the advent of self-publishing, there is a mountain of independent books being published every year, so the dilemma is how to promote your books.

I entered the National Indie Excellence Awards with my first book. They offer a Winner and Finalist awards (not 1st, 2nd, 3rd). I was a Finalist with that book (Rose to the Rescue) and was very pleased with that result. I read that having awards, and having at least 3-4 books, was necessary for successful marketing. So after I published my 4th book, I joined a group of local children’s authors that focus on marketing, the Independent Kids Author Network. This was in January of last year. I learned a ton about marketing from these people, but ultimately decided that spending my days doing social media and planning ad campaigns was not for me. So I resigned at the end of the year.

Not being an educator myself, I was thinking that getting children excited about reading would be a critical first step?

I totally agree with this premise. Ideally of course, you have parents who spend time every day reading to their baby and toddler to help them develop that excitement. Even when that’s true, some children still have problems “decoding” words and sentences. So finding a book that they have a real connection with (either the subject, language, or pictures) is really important for them to want to make that effort. You have to get to know the child and see what sparks them.

You have taken a slightly different approach with your book?   Is it particularly attractive to girls or all ages or?

The most noticeable difference with my “Dollhouse Adventure Books” is that I use photography, and some graphics, to make the pictures for my stories. I’ve found that kids like that the characters are toys (Calico Critters) which they may have at home, and because of that, girls seem to like them the most. 

I wrote my first two books with the idea that children aged 2-6 would enjoy them. Those books are short (24 pages) and have a simple storyline. The second two books are longer and geared for slightly older children, but I’ve found that children up to 4th grade seem to enjoy them, especially “Candy Cottage”. 

One thing that I keep in mind when writing my stories is that research shows that books for young children that have characters who behave badly, followed by learning their lesson, don’t work well for young kids. Think of “The Berenstain Bears” books, where the children are naughty, like Brother teasing Sister, or lying to get what they want. At the end the children learn why this is wrong, which sounds good, unless you understand that preschool children don’t have the capacity to hold the entirety of the story in their mind at one time. So if most of the book is about teasing or lying, they start copying that behavior, which is the opposite of the desired effect.

As a result, my books have the brother and sister model the desired behavior. The older brother is supportive of his little sister in his actions and words, such as allowing her to have a turn to add to the make-believe game and play the hero.

Thank you for your questions. I hope this wasn’t too long as I appreciate your interest!