Elena

Todays interview is with indie author David Blaze.

David Blaze is the author of several highly imaginative children’s books, including the popular My Fox series (My Fox Ate My Homework, My Fox Ate My Cake, My Fox Ate My Alarm Clock, My Cat Ate My Homework, My Fox Begins). His goal is to create children’s books that are fun, hilarious, and honest for kids of all ages and from all backgrounds.

David is doing great with his chapter book’s on Amazon and here is his sage advice to other authors:

• Know the mission of your book before you sit down to write it.
• Make the first 10-15 pages of the book the best they can be, so when people use the “look inside” feature they love your book.
• In the first chapter, present the main character, how they feel and how things happening are directly affecting them. This helps kids related to the character and hopefully buy the book.
• Follow other authors you look up to.
• You can attract reluctant readers to your book if you reach the kids on an emotional level, through topics like friendship and school issues.
• Use Amazon ads. This helped David level up when it came to increasing sales substantially.
  • write original copy each time you make a new ad, rather than copying an old one.
  • he runs 22 ads at any one time, and prunes them daily
  • if he doesn’t sell a book in 15 clicks then usually the ad won’t perform any better
  • he uses 25-35 cent bids
  • KDP rocket is awesome for finding new keywords
  • the best success with keywords has been through finding keywords from Also Bought, and other author names and titles similar to his own
  • he advertises all his books even if they are in the same series
• David recently started using Billboard advertising. It’s hard to measure how successful this approach is, but he measures the visitors on his website. He suggests using five words or less on the billboard and having a great image. Here is his billboard image below….
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• This and so much more in the interview.

You can find David and purchase his books at www.davidblazebooks.com , follow him on AMAZON, and get social with him on FACEBOOK.

Enjoy the show.

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Todays interview is with UK author Karen Inglis.

Karen has sold over 10,000 books during her author career. Her stand alone book titles are proof that you don’t have to write a series in order to make it as an indie author. Her books include The Secret Lake, Ferdinand Fox’s Big Sleep, Henry Hanes and the Great Escape, Walter Brown and the Magician’s Hat and Eeek The Runaway Alien.

Her most recent book, a work on non-fiction is How to Self-Publish and Market a Children’s Book. We had Karen on the show back in Episode 15  and she’s back again in this interview to tell us all about her new book, and what awesome strategies we children’s book authors can use to sell more books!

In this interview Karen covers:

• The importance of having print books available when you publish children’s books. They still vastly out-sell the ebook versions.
• How to plan and execute successful school visits, and make more book sales in the process.
• The importance of having a mailing list, and how to encourage teachers, librarians, and grandparents on to your list.
• And lots more great tips for authors…

You can find Karen and purchase her books at www.kareninglisauthor.com , follow her on AMAZON, and get social with her on FACEBOOK.

You can find Karen’s incredibly information rich ‘info blog’ at www.selfpublishingadventures.com. Karen gives an overview of the process she went through to get her books to market on a modest budget and offers high level and very detailed publishing information and links to various resources.

Enjoy the show.

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Todays interview is with teacher and author Dr Terence Shipman.

    

• How he used Kickstarter crowd funding to raise the money for his first book.
• How he cemented an audience for his books using an education theme, sharing family values and building relationships with families.
• How he uses social media to find his team of supporters.
• The importance of testing your books with the right audience…. kids and teachers.
• How to launch your book in a way which encourages other people to share your book.
• Advertising and Goodreads giveaways.
• And much more.

Enjoy the show!

You can follow Dr Shipman on AMAZON, Facebook, Instagram and on his website www.terenceshipman.com

Enjoy the show.

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Todays interview is with Australian children’s book author Melanie Schubert.

Melanie has made quite a splash with her first book release, utilizing some innovative new marketing techniques she shares in her interview today.

• Melanie won a competition and had her book published by New Wrinkle Publishing. The innovative team there did her illustrations as well as create a unique soundtrack for her book. Each chapter features unique music that can be played while reading the book aloud to children.
• In order to get initial reviews for her book, Melanie searched for small publishing houses via social media, and approached other reviewers on their list, asking them to review her book.
• She reached out to National Geographic Kids Magazine, and got an advertising space there.
• She sent 100 paperback copies out to reviewers to encourage more reviews.
• She printed 1000 sticker and stuck them all over Melbourne City where she lives, to help get the book attention.
• She printed “Bockles” (you have to read the book to know what that is!) and hid them around the city, and then let instagram followers know, creating a Bockle hunt! Whoever found nine bockles, photographed themselves and shared this on social media, received a free paperback copy of the book.
• She sent out the book to well thought out places, such as the Children’s Book Council of Australia, who then subsequently reviewed it.
• Melanie uses Instagram wisely for book promotion, boosting certain posts world-wide, and sharing genuine and authentic posts about the book, and her own journey with panic attacks and anxiety.
• You’ll hear all about this and much more in this episode.

You can follow Melanie on AMAZON, Facebook, Instagram and on her website www.melanieschubert.com

Enjoy the show.

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Todays interview is with children’s indie author Laurie Wright.

Laurie Wright is the writer and creator of the Mindful Mantra’s children’s book series.  The series is designed to help boost a child’s mental health, which is a subject Laurie is super passionate about. She also help other publish their books and teaches people to actually SELL their books!

                  

In today’s show you’ll find out how Laurie:

• Had the idea for her first book I Can Handle It, found her illustrator on Fiverr and ran a successful kickstarter to fund the illustrations.
• Discovered Amazon Advertising from Brian Meeks and began running ads. This changed everything! She details how she runs her ads, keyword tips and copyrighting advice.
• Has now published another six books written to market and is making 5 figures per month in sales.
• Has gained lots of reviews for her books and how others can do the same.
• Finds great keywords, sentences and words to use in book descriptions from reading her reviews.
• How she helps other authors create books from the start that can and will sell.

You can follow Laurie on AMAZON, Facebook, and on her website www.lauriewrighter.com

Enjoy the show.

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Welcome to Episode 42 of the Indie Kidlit Podcast. On this episode Elena and Marti discuss their recent interviews (36 to 41), and what they’ve learned from the advice and experience provided. 

Here is a quick reminder of the last six interviews that Marti and Helen discuss in today’s show:

1. Tracy Babbler on connecting with book bloggers
2. Jessie Suire on Writers Festivals
3. Nathaniel Wyckoff on book launches
4. Andi Cann on your first year as an author
5. Elena Paige on writing your first novel
6. Rebecca Laffar-Smith on live book launches and other mindful approaches to selling books

Enjoy the show.

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Todays interview is with children’s indie author Rebecca Laffar-Smith (Bec J. Smith).

Bec J. Smith is the writing trio of Rebecca Laffar-Smith and her two children. Rebecca is a dyslexic author who loves writing science fiction, fantasy, and romance novels. Eighteen-year-old Kaylie is a fantasy novelist who also loves role playing games. And fourteen-year-old Joshua, their inspiration, is an avid gamer (as well as a penguin and ant enthusiast) who is both dyslexic and autistic.

Inspired by the challenges her son faced learning to read and write, Rebecca began the first P.I. Penguin book with her children as a homeschooling project. When that book arrived, Josh cherished it and in the simple words of a child, hoped that other kids would love it too. That’s what inspired Rebecca to publish the books more widely and their passion grew. Now, together, they love planning, writing, and storyboarding children’s books, especially more in their popular P.I. Penguin series.

Rebecca covers these various topics:

• How to make your books dyslexia friendly
• How to write the best book possible for your target audience
• Reaching out to schools for sales
• Launching a book with a live event
• Press releases
• And more!

Rebecca has brilliantly provided the best links ever, so I’m going to add in her links here as part of the show notes:

YOU CAN FIND REBECCA BELOW…

Enjoy the show.

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Todays interview is with Elena Paige – normally one of the hosts, but today Marti interviews Elena on how she wrote her first middle-grade novel and did all she could to set it up for success. 

Join Elena Paige as she talks in depth about her journey to publish her first middle grade novel, The Magicians Convention. 

Also mentioned on the show are the following books on writing fiction, which you may also find useful:

• Story Engineering by Larry Brooks
• Layer Your Novel by C.S Lakin
• Million Dollar Outlines by David Farland
• Take Off Your Pants by Libbie Hawker
• How to Write a Novel Using the Snowflake Method by Randy Ingermansen
• The Story Equation by Susan May Warren

Enjoy the show.

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Todays interview is with children’s indie author Andi Cann.

After a robust career in business, Andi has returned to her first love by creating books that make a difference for people. Andi, the mother of two grown children, lives in Arizona with her husband, chickens, a chocolate lab named Willow, and countless free range bunnies. She loves art, animals, traveling, and reading good books! She began her publishing journey in July 2017 and in less than a year (at the time of this interview) has already published six books which include Mr Hoopeyloops and His Amazing Glass, Mr Hoopeyloops Meets Rex A Very Clumsy Boy, Alabama Oh, Alabama Oh and the New Boy,  The Magic of Friendship Snow, and The Adventures of MerryLyn.

We talk about her author journey in writing and publishing so many books in less than a year. The ups and downs of the author journey. How she managed to get a level of success in less than a year. How to think like a business person and more!

You can find Andi on her website at www.AndiCann.com, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and follow her on AMAZON.

Enjoy the show.

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Todays interview is with indie middle-grade author Nathaniel Wyckoff.

Nathaniel Wyckoff was born and raised in the beautiful San Fernando Valley of Southern California. From an early age, he was profoundly interested in reading, writing, telling, and listening to stories.

Though he works in a technical field, he counts storytelling among his favorite activities. Nathaniel’s storytelling career took flight with the births of his children. His children enjoy all kinds of stories, but most of Nathaniel’s stories for them involve zany adventures and confrontations with wacky bullies. Nathaniel’s first novel, Yaakov the Pirate Hunter, was inspired by his son’s request for a story about robots. It combines elements of science, adventure, and Nathaniel’s beloved Jewish tradition. As the Peretz Family Adventures Series continues, Nathaniel’s children continue to serve as a source of inspiration.

In addition to writing, he also enjoys studying his Jewish traditions, reading, playing the accordion and the piano for his family, playing games and sports with his children, and taking his family on hiking trips, daring explorations of winter snow, and other assorted adventures.

Nathaniel talks to us today about how he improved his book launch with every new book he has released. Nathaniel put his first book out seven years ago. He talks in depth about his early attempts to launch versus his latest attempt. With book 4, he utilized advise from Chandler Bolt and Monica Leonelle: he created a great cover, engaged with his audience from the start, recruited people for his launch team, wrote out his own story and communicated it through a four email sequence, and shared more on social media. And as a result, he got better results than with any other book launch.

You can find Nathaniel online at www.peretzadventures.com and follow him on AMAZON.

Enjoy the show.

LISTEN HERE

WATCH HERE