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This episode comes from questions I got from several members of my course and Facebook group– is it really possible to make money as a self-published children’s author? Is the income consistent? How much are we talking here? All good questions, and all get addressed in this episode. Earning money as a self-published children’s author is totally different from how you earn it as a traditionally published author, so I thought it was important to tackle the money-making side of the process. I also give some of my most hard-earned tips for earning more from your books! In this episode, I cover: Whether it’s really possible to make money as a self-published children’s author What factors determine how much you can reasonably expect to make My tips for earning more from your books The kinds of books that usually sell the best Why you should publish even if your book isn’t likely to sell a lot Just how “passive” the income is And much more! I hope you enjoy the episode! Keep Listening: Subscribe on iTunes – Please leave a review if you enjoy the show! It just takes a second and really helps get the word out. Check out more episodes Subscribe to Let’s Make Kids’ Books – Get emailed whenever I release new episodes or blog posts, and get my free “6 Steps to Self-Publishing a Children’s Book” checklist! If you’d like to publish your own children’s book but don’t know where to start in finding an illustrator, formatting the book, or getting it up for sale, check out my 6 Weeks to Your First Children’s Book training course! It’s got everything you need to know to publish your own children’s book and start making sales.

In this episode, I talk about a topic that trips up many self-published children’s authors: how to price your book so it actually sells. But beyond just selling, it’s important that you actually make some money from your books so you can keep creating more! Sometimes selling (or giving away) as many copies as possible means less money for you in the long run. That’s why in this episode I talk about the best price points for your book on Amazon, how to find the “sweet spot” between low prices and maximum profitability, how to use pricing strategy effectively (don’t worry, it’s easy), and when to use “non-standard” prices for your books. If you’ve been stressing about how to price your book, or want to revisit the pricing on books you already have up for sale, don’t miss this episode! Everything I share is based off of my own personal experience of pricing and selling my own books, as well as what I’ve seen other successful authors do and what Amazon recommends. It’s a quick but powerful episode. If you have any questions about pricing, or want to share your own results with different prices, please leave them in the comments! Keep Listening: Subscribe on iTunes – Please leave a review if you enjoy the show! It just takes a second and really helps get the word out. Check out more episodes Subscribe to Let’s Make Kids’ Books – Get emailed whenever I release new episodes or blog posts, and get my free “6 Steps to Self-Publishing a Children’s Book” checklist! Want to self-publish your children’s book but feeling lost or stuck? Want to shortcut the learning process and get your book done quickly and easily? Check out my online course 6 Weeks to Your First Children’s Book! It’s got everything you need to know to complete and self-publish your first book (and many more!)

On this week’s episode, I cover a question that many aspiring children’s authors ask themselves: is self-publishing the right choice for me? As you’ve probably gathered by now, I’m a big advocate of self-publishing, but the truth is that it’s not right for everyone. In this episode, I talk about the 5 questions you should ask yourself before deciding if self-publishing is the right thing for you. Thinking through these questions before deciding which route to go can save you a lot of time, money, and frustration. And if you go through them and are still excited to self-publish, then they’ll give you the confidence you need to move forward and set expectations for what the process will actually be like. I hope you enjoy the episode! I’d love to hear any further questions you have about whether self-publishing is the right choice for you, or your take on the questions I asked in the show. If you’re enjoying the new solo episodes, please leave a review on iTunes! It’s a huge help to the show and keeps me motivated to keep publishing new episodes for you. Keep Listening: Subscribe on iTunes – Please leave a review if you enjoy the show! It just takes a second and really helps get the word out. Check out more episodes Subscribe to Let’s Make Kids’ Books – Get emailed whenever I release new episodes or blog posts, and get my free “6 Steps to Self-Publishing a Children’s Book” checklist! Want to self-publish your children’s book but feeling lost or stuck? Want to shortcut the learning process and get your book done quickly and easily? Check out my online course 6 Weeks to Your First Children’s Book! It’s got everything you need to know to complete and self-publish your first book (and many more!)

On this solo episode of the podcast, I’m tackling a topic that’s a little controversial in the indie children’s book world. You may have heard other self-published authors talk about giving away copies of their book for free and wondered, “Why the heck would I want to give away the book that I put so much work into?!” It turns out that there are several good reasons to give away your book for free from time to time, as long as you do it strategically and have specific goals and outcomes in mind before you start giving your book away. In this episode I not only share why you should consider doing free promotions of your book, but also how to make sure you get the most out of the promotion, in terms of both short-term downloads and long-term audience-building and sales. If you’ve wondered whether free promotions are right for you, or struggled to see how they can help grow your audience and make you more sales, this is the episode for you! After you listen to the episode, leave me a comment and let me know what other questions you have about free promotions, or tell me your success story/horror story about a free promotion you ran! I’d love to hear about your experience with them. Keep Listening: Subscribe on iTunes – Please leave a review if you enjoy the show! It just takes a second and really helps get the word out. Check out more episodes Subscribe to Let’s Make Kids’ Books – Get emailed whenever I release new episodes or blog posts, and get my free “6 Steps to Self-Publishing a Children’s Book” checklist!

My guest on the podcast this week is Lynelle Woolley, self-published children’s author of the fantastic series Flower Girl World. I reached out to Lynelle after running across her books in the Kindle store and being extremely impressed with how attractive, polished, and professional they are. Her books looked like they were produced by a traditional publishing house, which is a very big compliment in the indie world! I wanted to know how she came up with the idea for the series, what she’s done to make it such a popular and well-received “brand” in the children’s book space, and what tips she has for other indie authors who want to create their own popular series. In this fun, wide-ranging interview with Lynelle, you’ll learn: How Lynelle came up with the idea for the Flower Girl World series, and why she thought it could be a hit How her background in the corporate world helped her create and shape her brand Who her ideal customers are, and how she came to figure that out Some really unique and creative marketing strategies she employs to get her books in front of the perfect audience How she uses merchandising to make her series and brand even bigger and better—I haven’t seen anyone else in the self-published world doing this stuff! And much more It was really fascinating for me to hear the thought and planning put into her series, and there’s a lot that every children’s author can take from this interview and apply to their current or upcoming books! Don’t miss it. Also, be sure to check out her site listed below! It is without a doubt the best author/book website I’ve run across so far. More from Lynelle: Flower Girl World – Lynelle’s popular book series. The website is beautiful, and well worth checking out from a marketing standpoint! Keep Listening: Subscribe on iTunes – Please leave a review if you enjoy the show! It just takes a second and really helps get the word out. Check out more episodes Subscribe to Let’s Make Kids’ Books – Get emailed whenever I release new episodes or blog posts, and get my free “6 Steps to Self-Publishing a Children’s Book” checklist!

My guest this week is Catherine Driscoll, self-published author of the hit book “The Town Turkey.” Catherine wrote it based on a funny event that happened in her town, and ended up turning the idea into a very successful first book! In this interview she shares how she came up with the idea, what led her to self-publish and self-print (rather than using a print on demand service like CreateSpace), how she launched and marketed the book, and much more! You’ll hear: What gave her the idea for the book in the first place Why she chose self-publishing over going traditional How and why she contracted with a printer, instead of going print on demand Her exact marketing strategy, which includes tons of ideas and techniques you can use too How she leveraged the local angle to sell more books and build her fan base Her brilliant tips for getting the most out of school visits and readings And much more! Catherine is a very smart marketer and promoter, and the advice she shares in this episode will be a big help to you if you’re struggling to put together a marketing and launch plan for your books! Be sure to check it out and leave a comment below or a review on iTunes. Mentioned in this episode: The Town Turkey – The official site for Catherine’s book Ingram Spark Bookmasters Red Communications – Catherine’s marketing and communications company Keep Listening: Subscribe on iTunes – Please leave a review if you enjoy the show! It just takes a second and really helps get the word out. Check out more episodes Subscribe to Let’s Make Kids’ Books – Get emailed whenever I release new episodes or blog posts, and get my free “6 Steps to Self-Publishing a Children’s Book” checklist!

Author’s Note: Although I wrote this article for children’s authors, and there are a few things that are unique to children’s books, these methods work for any author in any genre who needs to get more reviews! Please share it with any authors you know. One of the best ways to start selling a lot of books as a self-published author is to have a lot of positive reviews of your book. The social proof that comes from having lots of reviews shows potential buyers that they can feel confident taking a chance on your as an unknown, independent author. This is especially the case for children’s books, since you probably don’t have the possibility of somebody discovering your book in a bookstore and flipping through it to figure out if their kids would like it. A lot of authors struggle to get reviews of their books, though, so I thought I’d share some of the “tricks” I’ve used that have helped my books get a lot of reviews in a relatively short amount of time. (PS – I also recorded this as a podcast episode if you prefer to listen! Listen below, or keep reading) 1. Hit up your personal and social networks directly I know some authors feel weird about reaching out to friends, family, social networking buddies, etc, to get help with their work, but here’s the deal: the vast majority of people you’re connected with want to help you as an author, and are excited for you. This is especially the case when you put out your first book—they’d love to help you get the ball rolling on sales and promotion, but they usually don’t know how. If you give friends and family an easy way to support you (by leaving a review of your book), there’s a very good chance some of them will take you up on it. Some tips for making this strategy work: Email a select group of people you’re close to, and post on Facebook/Twitter/etc announcing your book (if you haven’t already), offering free copies to anyone who’s willing to read it and write a quick, honest review for you. Ask for their email so you can gift it to them. Mention that your book only takes X minutes to read (the shorter the better), and 2 minutes to leave a review on Amazon. Set a limit in the number of free copies you’re giving out, to encourage people to jump on it and make them feel guilty if they don’t follow through with a review Send a “gift” copy of your book to them through the Amazon product page. These don’t show up as a “verified purchase,” but they count towards your sales ranking, you’re guaranteed that the person will get the book, and you get back part of the sale price on the book in commissions. For this reason, I recommend doing this technique while your book is inexpensive, like $.99. If you’re not getting reviews, you can follow back up with people you sent books to to gently remind them Keep track of people in your network who are really good about reviewing your books, and make sure to contact them directly each time a new book comes out and offer to send it to them! 2. Ask for reviews in the back of your book This one should seem obvious, but a lot of children’s authors don’t add anything at the end of their book asking for reviews if the reader liked it. If you don’t ask, you don’t get! Feel free to let people know that you’re an indie author and that reviews are a huge help in supporting your work. Some readers don’t realize how important reviews can be to authors but would be glad to leave a review if asked. Finally, be sure to link people directly to your Amazon product page (or other place where you want them to leave a review) whenever possible. Make it as easy as possible and remove any roadblocks to them doing it. 3. Build a “mastermind” group with other authors If you’re not familiar with the concept of a mastermind group, it’s basically just a group of people who get together and help each other with business issues and personal growth. They share ideas, ask for advice and support, share what’s working for them and what’s not, dig into each other’s businesses to produce better results, and more. I highly recommend trying to form a group like this with other authors, too. (Side note: the inspiration for this post actually came out of my free Let’s Make Kids’ Books Mastermind Facebook group! Click here to learn more about it.) There are lots of author groups out there that you can join, both online and in person, but most of these groups just focus on writing critiques, brainstorming, and creative aspects of writing and publishing. But why not also focus on helping each other with other parts of the business of writing, such as offering to provide honest reviews of each other’s books, promoting each other’s books when they’re on a special promotion or when someone releases a new title, and more? By forming a group of other like-minded children’s authors, you can join forces to create better results for everyone! 4. Reach out directly to top Amazon reviewers This is one of my favorite “tricks,” and one that I’ve used for all of my books! Amazon has a list of their “Top Reviewers,” which are people who’ve reviewed lots of products (both books and otherwise) and have had their reviews voted as helpful. A small sub-set of these reviewers read and review children’s books as parts of their reviews, and since children’s books are usually very short, they can read them and leave a review very quickly. One thing I love about working with Top Reviewers is that they’re FAR more likely to leave a review than other people, because each review they leave on Amazon gets them higher up the list! Here are my tips for finding and reaching out to Top Reviewers: Browse through the Top Reviewers list on Amazon, looking at profile pages to see who regularly reviews children’s books See if they include their email address or website on their Amazon profile page (it will be on the left side under their name and other info) Contact them, mention that you noticed they review lots of children’s books, and offer them a copy of your book(s) in exchange for an honest review Include a link to your book’s page on Amazon so they can check it out in advance Send them a gift copy through Amazon If they like your book and leave a positive review, make sure to follow up with them each time you release a new book! I’ve had great success getting Top Reviewers to leave reviews of my books, and I’d highly recommend reaching out to a few of them to get some reviews for your books. To make it more likely that they’ll want to review your work, make sure your book looks appealing on the Amazon product page, with an attractive cover, well-written, engaging description, and preferably a few positive reviews already in place. One of the best things about being a children’s author is that it’s much easier to get reviews of our books, because they’re short and easy to read (compared to long works of fiction or non-fiction). The key is to ASK for reviews, because otherwise you probably get them! I hope this article was helpful for you—if you’re looking for more book creation and marketing strategies like this, be sure to check out my training course 6 Weeks to Your First Children’s Book. It’s got everything you need to create and self-publish a children’s book, and the final week of the course is all about marketing and promotion, and goes into a lot more depth about getting reviews and getting the word out about your book. If you’re releasing a children’s book soon, or have an existing book that’s struggling and you need help getting it selling, check out the course! If this article was helpful to you, or you know authors who would like more reviews of their books, please use the social media buttons to the left to share it with others and help more authors get the reviews they deserve!

This week my guest is Carol Ekster, who taught children for 35 years before retiring in 2009 and devoting herself full-time to writing children’s books. She has written around 50(!) books so far, and has 3 books published through traditional publishing, including Ruth the Sleuth and the Messy Room and Where Am I Sleeping Tonight?, a book that tackles the tough topic of divorce. In this episode, Carol shares her story, along with some of her best tips for marketing yourself as an author. You’ll learn: How Carol got started writing, and how she was able to get published within a couple of years of starting Why children’s authors need nerve How Carol uses social media effectively- including Pinterest! Why it’s so important to get out into the community to get the word out about your books How to do Skype classroom visits to share your work with kids How to find out what agents are looking for from children’s authors And much more! Although Carol comes from the traditional publishing world and doesn’t participate in self-publishing like I do, there’s a lot of useful info in this episode on promoting yourself as an author, and how to keep hustling and writing new books! Don’t miss it. Mentioned in this episode: Carol’s website, with info about her books and more 2014 Children’s Writer’s and Illustrator’s Market book The Essential Guide to Getting Your Book Published Carol on Twitter Keep Listening: Subscribe on iTunes – Please leave a review if you enjoy the show! It just takes a second and really helps get the word out. Check out more episodes Subscribe to Let’s Make Kids’ Books – Get emailed whenever I release new episodes or blog posts, and get my free “6 Steps to Self-Publishing a Children’s Book” checklist!

I’m back with a fun new episode for you this week. I recently interviewed a really fun couple named Rosemary Rivera & Mario Menjivar, who are a husband and wife team who create and self-publish children’s books! Rosemary is the author and marketing/PR person, and Mario is a former Disney animator who made the transition to illustrating his own books instead. They’ve released one book so far, called The Girl Who Couldn’t Draw, and are hard at work on their next book. I sat down with them to talk about how they got started creating and publishing books, why they chose to self-publish, how they work together as a team (without getting divorced!), and much more. In this episode, you’ll learn: Why they switched from their original idea of animated shorts to a children’s book Why they decided to self-publish instead of pursuing traditional publishers or TV studios Their advice for other aspiring authors who are afraid of the technology and tools required for self-publishing What they learned from their first book that they’re doing differently with their second book Where to focus your marketing and promotional time, and how to avoid wasting lots of time How marketing and PR play a key role in your book’s success How their process works as a husband and wife team Their goals for the future, and how they’re getting there And much more! More from Rosemary & Mario: Moonbearcc.com – The home of Rosemary & Mario’s books The Girl Who Couldn’t Draw – Their first children’s book StoryCub – Recommended by Rosemary & Mario as a great promotional tool for your book! Keep Listening: Subscribe on iTunes – Please leave a review if you enjoy the show! It just takes a second and really helps get the word out. Check out more episodes Subscribe to Let’s Make Kids’ Books – Get emailed whenever I release new episodes or blog posts, and get my free “6 Steps to Self-Publishing a Children’s Book” checklist!

For this episode I did a quick little solo update about some interesting info I ran across this week in the world of children’s publishing. Listen to the episode, or you can read through my notes below, which cover most of what I talked about on the show. Please let me know if you’d like me to do more of these “in the news” updates! I like sharing this stuff with you since I know it’s hard to keep up on everything going on in our industry. Hope you enjoy! Show Notes: I have 2 interesting trends/updates to share with you today, and they’re especially exciting for self-published authors! The first comes from an interesting article in Publisher’s Weekly. It has all kinds of sales data for children’s books over the past few years, and I noticed some interesting trends I wanted to mention. 1. The move to online buying of children’s books The first is that in 2012 & 2013, the #1 place where children’s books were purchased was e-tailers. This is a huge shift from just a couple of years ago, when big bookstore chains dominated. Obviously part of this is Borders going out of business, but the move to buying online has finally reached children’s books. Similarly, the % of children’s books bought online or on a device went from only 19% in 2010 up to 27% in 2013, and it’s growing every year. One reason this makes me very happy for self-published authors is that the prevailing wisdom has been that if you’re not in bookstores, you’ll never get discovered. With more customers taking to Amazon and other e-tailers to buy their books, there’s a much better chance of you getting discovered. Customers may not go looking for your book, but one thing Amazon is really good at is showing customers other books or authors they may be interested in. If you can get your book showing up in Amazon’s “also boughts” or if you take advantage of their KDP Select promotional tools, you can get in front of those customers who are finally making the switch to buying online. There’s still a ways to go before we’ve reached the market penetration that self-published authors have seen in other genres like romance or thrillers, but we’re getting there. 2. Smashwords has a new way for self-published children’s authors to get into libraries A big challenge for self-published authors has always been getting into libraries, but the indie distributor Smashwords just announced that they’re partnering with Overdrive, which is the country’s largest digital library distributor. Overdrive currently works with about 28,000 schools and libraries, which is a huge amount of reach. Now even though this doesn’t mean that being on Smashwords will automatically get your book bought by libraries, the idea they’re talking about is to offer curated lists of bestselling Smashwords titles to libraries so that librarians don’t have to be familiar with authors to be willing to buy their books. This opens up a ton of opportunity if you can make headway on the Smashwords platform and get into their bestsellers lists. Personally, I’ve never looked into Smashwords much because I’ve always felt that Amazon’s KDP Select promotional programs get you in front of the largest number of readers possible and make it worth forgoing other sales channels like Smashwords. But this is making me think that combined with the other services they offer, it’s worth giving them another look and really making a push to get into their bestseller lists. I plan to do a lot more research into this Overdrive and Smashwords program, so make sure you subscribe to the blog at http://letsmakekidsbooks.com/subscribe so you can keep up with what I’m learning and sharing about their platform and this program in particular. So those are two really cool trends that are making it better and better to be a self-published children’s author. I for one am really excited that the industry is shifting into the self-published author’s favor like other genres have done, and I’m glad that we’re getting in early instead of waiting until it’s too competitive and saturated to be able to make a splash. That’s it for this week- I look forward to talking with you again soon! Keep Listening: Subscribe on iTunes – Please leave a review if you enjoy the show! It just takes a second and really helps get the word out. Check out more episodes

In this episode of the Let’s Make Kids’ Books podcast, I’m joined by the talented and funny Tara Lazar, who blogs at TaraLazar.com about writing children’s books and shares a ton of great info from the traditional publishing side of the business. She also wrote the fantastic picture book called The Monstore, and has several more books in the process of being published. I invited her to come on the show and talk about lessons she’s learned from years in the business, and share advice for aspiring authors on how to perfect their craft and become a thriving author in today’s publishing world. Even though she at children’s book publishing very differently than I do, there’s a lot of great information to learn from in this episode! You’ll learn: How Tara left the corporate world to become a children’s author How she started blogging as part of becoming a published author Advice on getting an agent and shopping it around to get a book deal How she overcame her fear of rejection Why marketing for authors isn’t “slimy” and how to do it the right way How to get readers to care about your marketing and want to hear from you Tara’s advice for authors who want to go the traditional publishing route The importance of your book’s concept, and why “message books” are so hard to do correctly How to create books that kids really love and beg their parents to buy Why Tara started the awesome PiBoIdMo writing event, and why I’ll be participating every year Tara’s view of self-publishing children’s books Advice for aspiring authors who haven’t gotten started yet And much more! Tara’s a really fun and funny guest, and has a lot of great info to share with you in this episode! More from Tara: TaraLazar.com – Tara’s blog on all things related to children’s book writing and publishing. Very entertaining and worth checking out! The Monstore – Tara’s wonderful picture book PiBoIdMo – The annual Picture Book Idea Month even that Tara created. I can’t wait to sign up and participate this year! Keep Listening: Subscribe on iTunes – Please leave a review if you enjoy the show! It just takes a second and really helps get the word out. Check out more episodes

It’s the dream of every children’s author to see their book in print and actually hold a copy in their hands. I can’t tell you how exciting and satisfying it was for me when I got the first printed copy of one of my books in the mail and showed it to my kids. They squealed, “That’s you!” when I read them my name on the cover, and I nearly died from an overload of pride In this episode of the Let’s Make Kids’ Books podcast, I talk all about using Amazon’s fantastic CreateSpace service to print and distribute your books. “Print on Demand” services have become a great tool for self-published children’s authors, because they allow you to offer print versions of your books without any overhead or inventory. I share why I ended up choosing CreateSpace over other printing options, and share a ton of information about using CreateSpace for your own books. In this week’s show, you’ll learn: Why print on demand is important Why I chose Amazon’s CreateSpace program over other printing options A cool “trick” Amazon does that encourages sales of your books The “cons” to working with CreateSpace so you can decide if it’s right for you What you need to think about when creating your book and getting it ready for print What’s different from publishing ebooks How much it really costs to do CreateSpace printing, how pricing works, and how much you should charge What tools to use to get your book ready for CreateSpace The minimum length your book has to be to be printed The exact steps and options to take to publish your book Amazon’s Expanded Distribution Channels, and whether to use them And much more! If you’ve always dreamed of having your own printed children’s books to share with family and friends, sell to fans and readers, and gaze proudly at on your bookshelf like I often do, this is the episode for you! Mentioned in this episode: CreateSpace book size options My Book Cover Example – This is the exact cover size you’ll need for a 8.5″ x 8.5″ print book of 24-25 pages. On the image you’ll see a thin black vertical line near the middle. This shows where the actual square cover ends, with everything to the left being the spine and back of the book. Note that I don’t actually include this line on my cover- it’s just there as a visual guide for you! Sign up for the CreateSpace program Keep Listening: Subscribe on iTunes – Please leave a review if you enjoy the show! It just takes a second and really helps get the word out. Check out more episodes Want to self-publish your children’s book but feeling lost or stuck? Want to shortcut the learning process and get your book done quickly and easily? Check out my training course 6 Weeks to Your First Children’s Book. It’s “Pay What You Like” (really!) for a limited time! Check it out here.

This episode of the Let’s Make Kids’ Books podcast features the brilliant and entertaining children’s author Bolaji O, who writes a series of great fantasy adventure books for kids called Brave Little Heroes. Bolaji started publishing his own children’s books a couple of years ago, although he’s been writing and making up stories since he was a kid in Nigeria. In this episode, he shares how he got started self-publishing, and how he’s brought skills and strategies he learned as an online marketer to his children’s books, helping him grow his fan base and increase sales of his books. The episode is packed full of production and marketing tips you can start using to create and sell your books, as both Bolaji and I share what has worked for us and what we recommend to other authors. In this show, Bolaji shares: How his love of technology led him to try self-publishing early on Why you shouldn’t tackle every part of the publishing process yourself, and what he outsources Where Bolaji found fantastic illustrators for his books Why he doesn’t just release books as soon as they’re done, and “launches” them instead How getting super-specific about his perfect customer helped increase his sales and made his job as an author easier How to get people excited about your book before it’s released Why building a mailing list of readers is absolutely key to your success Freebie ideas you can offer to your readers to grow your mailing list and create rabid fans What to actually mail to your list once you’ve built it, and how to get readers to take action Why you shouldn’t imitate the marketing practices of big-name authors How to maintain a healthy balance of personal life, creativity, and business growth Why creating a series or brand can be a great sales booster And much more! No matter what stage you’re at in the writing and publishing process, there’s a lot of great advice in this episode. Bolaji is one of the smartest self-published authors I know when it comes to sales and marketing, so don’t miss this episode! More from Bolaji: Brave Little Heroes – Bolaji’s awesome series of books for kids ages 6-12. In addition to checking out his books, be sure to look at what he’s doing from a marketing and branding standpoint, and subscribe to his newsletter to see the kinds of stuff he sends out to his readers. There’s a lot to learn from watching what he does! Keep Listening: Subscribe on iTunes – Please leave a review if you enjoy the show! It just takes a second and really helps get the word out. Check out more episodes

Today I’m really proud and excited to introduce you to my new Let’s Make Kids’ Books podcast. I’ve been podcasting for years, and knew when I started this site that I wanted to create a podcast on the topic of writing, publishing, and selling children’s books. For the past couple of months I’ve been recording episodes for you, ranging from solo shows where I cover one specific topic or strategy, to interviews with other amazing authors and illustrators, getting them to share what they’ve learned from their own careers and sharing their best tips for creating books and selling as many copies as possible. My goal with doing a podcast is to give you an easy way to learn more about creating children’s books when you’re on the go. For years I had a 90 minute commute each day, and podcasts were my favorite way to pass the time. Instead of listening to the same songs over and over, hearing all of the bad news in the world, or listening to talking heads blather on about politics or sports, I spent that time learning about marketing, business, and personal development. I gained so much incredible knowledge from the podcasts I listened to, and I hope that Let’s Make Kids’ Books does the same for you! In the future I plan to add even more kinds of episodes, including Q&A shows where you send in questions and I answer them, or multi-part series on a big topic like marketing. If there’s anything in particular you’d like me to cover in an episode or a question you want answered, please leave it in the comments below or send it to me using the Contact page above! I’ll be releasing several episodes right off the bat so you have more than one show to listen to, so please Subscribe on iTunes so you don’t miss any! New shows will be coming out regularly. If you enjoy the show, I have a big favor to ask: please leave a review on iTunes. It really helps get the word out about the show, which lets me help more people like you. Thanks for listening, and enjoy the show! Keep Listening: Subscribe on iTunes – Please leave a review if you enjoy the show! It just takes a second and really helps get the word out. Check out more episodes