The Frustrations of an Author

I recently started advertising my new children's book, The Cloud Show, on Facebook. My book's potential reach is up to 120 possible purchasers. The demographics of those potential purchasers are women between the ages of 25 and 65. After doing research on demographics of mothers, I left the demographics broad since everything I do from now forward will be tests. And, I included older women because they're grandmothers or grandmothers-to-be. I didn't include education or interests or target parents because – again – everything is a test. My total budget for seven days was $5.

That was the easy part. The hard part? Ah... The hard part was trying to figure out why Facebook (FB) didn't accept my attempt to publish my ad. The worse thing about that is they DIDN'T TELL ME WHY I couldn't place my ad. I didn't know if it was my ad, my demographics, my credit card or the amount of money I was spending.

After working for probably 30 to 45 minutes reading and re-reading the application page, I finally threw my hands up in the air and signed out. I know when to stop, catch my breath, calm myself and take a day.

The next day, I signed into FB and headed to the ad section. Again, I attempted to place the ad. Nope. Ain't gonna happen.

Fine, let's play with the budget slider do-hickey. I slid the button to $8 and voila! The action button high-lighted allowing me to click it. Why didn't they just tell me my total reach for the budget was too low? Why?

Honest to gosh, I've had so many trip-ups self-publishing my books. Ingram doesn't furnish an ISBN number. You have to buy one. Amazon doesn't allow their ISBN numbers to be used in other print-on-demand sites. Barnes and Noble along with Google Play didn't like my meta data nor a couple blank pages. Amazon told me if I wanted to use the cheaper paper, I'd have to publish at least 72 pages. It was only after I researched that I found their paper type minimums. Again, they don't tell you outright. Amateurs don't know that crap.

If you want into a library, you need their wholesaler and an ISBN number. If you want to get into Walmart, you have to have a business license and an ISBN. If you want to go through Walmart's wholesaler, you need an ISBN number.

I know I could hire a marketer/publisher, but then I'd have to split my royalties with him/her.

Yes, yes, I know it's a choice I've made. I'm just telling you that selling your self-published book isn't as easy and simple as bloggers say it is. There's a lot that goes into getting your book on shelves and into certain print-on-demand sites.

I'm not giving up, though. I'm a tenacious sort. I won't be beaten. I'll find a way to make the money I need to buy an ISBN number, find a way to get my books into Google Play and Barnes and Nobel, and – by golly – I'll get into libraries. When? Well, it won't be soon, but that's okay. Working towards those goals gives me something to do.

Please check out my children's books for ages 2 - 5. They're beautifully illustrated and in rhyme. Both are available in POD or eBook.

The Cloud Show

The Little Bear and the Lollipop Tree

 

Adventures in Self-publishing and Marketing My Book, The Little Bear and the Lollipop Tree

I'm going to make this as brief as possible. This is basically an outline of all that I've done since finishing my first children's book June 3, 2023. I've never self-published before so I had to learn everything from scratch.

I wrote a book and illustrated, The Little Bear and the Lollipop Tree. I uploaded it to Amazon's Kid's Direct Publishing, Barnes & Noble and Kobo after satisfying the different formats each company demanded. It wasn't easy, but I got it done.

JPG Cover Image

Now I'm marketing my self-published book rather than going through an aggregator/marketer. Aggregators/marketers take a percentage of the profits as does each of the previously mentioned companies. Remember, those companies also charge you for printing so price your book accordingly.

Researching marketing ideas was overwhelming. Where do I start? I don't have extra money to advertise so I need ideas that cost very little to nothing. I'm retired and live on Social Security.

On a phone call with my son, I told him I was a bit overwhelmed with all of the marketing research for self-publishers I was doing; that I didn't know where to start. Well, my 42-year-old is wise. “Take one at a time,” he said. With that advise in mind, that's exactly what I did and it helped a lot.

First, I hit all of my social media and registered on those that I wasn't a member of. One day, I put a picture of my book cover and wrote an announcement that I had written and published my first children's book. My friends were thrilled for me. First one friend then another then yet another bought my book.

Two days later, I took two sample pages of my book, turned them into PDFs and placed them on all of my social media. A couple of more sales came from that.

I also used the same steps with all my blogs that I had done with my social media.

Next, in my research, it was suggested that I create a website. For about $12, I created a website on GoDaddy. Creating a website is daunting and very slow. For every one thing I did, I had to wait a few seconds for the task to complete. It wasn't instantaneous as I had hoped it would be. Add several seconds to each task on GoDaddy and it adds up to many minutes.

My website, Visages Gift Store, is still in construction, but I've published the pages that I had created thus far which includes announcing my book.

Next on the list was creating a video. Again, I had to research free video-making software. I settled on Microsoft's Clipchamp.com since I'm a member of Microsoft. I spent hours learning the web-based software, but at the end of the day, it was done. I introduced myself and added illustrations from The LittleBear and the Lollipop Tree.

The following day, I added the video to all my social media (or those that allowed it. One or two didn't.) as well as to my blogs (posted here on June 19, 2023) and website.

A couple of days ago, during my research, one of the “self-publishing experts” suggested using hash tags. Since I didn't know anything about hash tags and how they work I had to read about hash tag application and usage. I headed back to all of my social media and blogs. I have to hash tag!

Now I'm writing this blog outlining my adventure. I'll copy and paste it to all of my blogs as well as my website.

If you're on this same adventure, be sure to leave me a comment about your experiences. I'd love to hear from you.

One last thought: You have essentially started a new business. You'll spend eight hours a day reading, learning and applying what you've learned. Don't forget to take breaks and eat.

 

 My New Children's Book, The Little Bear

and the Lollipop Tree

My new can now be printed on demand. For just $2.99 you can order the eBook
here to see if you like it. If you enjoy the colorful illustrations and the bedtime story, the print-on-demand version is just $7.99.

Here are a couple of sample pages for you to see. My bio follows the sample pages.

Deborah Miller is a retired commercial artist, former Art Director of automotive magazines and Operations Manager of a wristwatch magazine.

She's an artist who has been commissioned to produce a variety of art. Several of her art pieces are displayed on print-on-demand products that she has sold all over the world. She has won contests for her designs and her writing.

Deborah spent the first 15 years of her life on a farm in Kansas but then moved to Lawrence, KS, with her mother who was a High School English teacher.

She has two children, three brothers, one grandchild plus four step-grandchildren. She's the aunt of five nieces and nephews, and great aunt of one.

She wrote her first short story when she was 14 and has dreamed of writing books ever since.

Children's Book: A Great Gift for Kids

It's finally published and up on three book sites now. I'm so excited.

Let me introduce The Little Bear and the Lollipop Tree. I hope you consider purchasing it for your 3 to 5 year old. It's available for $2.99 at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Kobo. Soon, it will be available on Google Play Books.