Away We Gooooo ! Book #2 "Sheep Dreams" How To Self Publish A Children's Book

Busy holidays really put a chaotic spin on being a children's book author/ Blogger. WHEW !!!
With the launch of our new book coming in just a few days I have really amped things up .
So I plugged baby into videos and away I go.
As I spoke of in my previous post, I had made a few mistakes in the launch of my first book " The Rainbow Roosters" and from those mistakes I have learned. I am sure mistakes will be abound in this new adventure but I continue to read all I can about writing, marketing and blogging. I will be sure to bring everything I learn (good and bad) back to you my readers.
So today I started the voting campaign on the cover . Take a look and see what I have :

Which one would you pick ? Feel free to share in the comments below.

My current project is to push the voting campaign and to launch a book trailer video to build excitement and awareness. I have spread the voting campaign all over social media and Pinterest . I will also add that I have created independent pages for Rainbow Rooster Press on all the social media platforms. So Rainbow Rooster Press is its own entity.

I got to tell you, I am really excited about "Sheep Dreams" as now I am not completely flying by the seat of my pants( Maybe just a little ) . I am feeling a bit more confident. Not to mention THIS LITTLE BOOK IS AWESOME ! Wait to you see the illustrations !
 I do need to admit that my illustrator is a very well known Maine Artist, her name is Elaine Niemi  be sure to double click on her name and check out her work on Facebook.
So as I sit here and type this I am feeling very optimistic, I'm having fun and I know regardless of the outcome or how many books we create or sell this is already a huge success !

Marketing a children's book

Some more on marketing. I am becoming enlighten to the facts when it comes to being a children's book author. First comes the fun of creating the book, next comes the work.
Not being Dr. Sues or any of a handful of children's authors who have struck it big means that I also don't have a advertising agency or a publisher who spends a billion dollars on marketing. So whats a girl to do ?? At this point in my career I am still working it out.
The last few days I have discovered a herd of people who promise to give good reviews if I join their groups or like their pages ect.. So far I joined a few million groups and posted my book for review on every one of them (I'm tendentious if nothing) and so far no reviews. Maybe there is a turn around time, or maybe there are more people on these sites or pages that are seeking reviews rather than giving them, I'm not sure but hey its worth a try right ?
The second thing I have discovered is homeschooling sites, now I think I might be on to something with the home schooling crowd. I'm going to keep plugging away at that and I will let you all know how that is working out.
The other thing I have discovered is free or sale sites on facebook. Because I am offering my book for free for a limited time to kind of getting us known, this seems to be a relatively productive venue and will also boost my listing placement.
Next I will be launching my new book. Armed with what I've learned with this book ( mistakes and all) I will start before my book even comes out and build anticipation. My first thought is to pump everyone up by asking people across the social media world to vote on a cover, FUN, then send the book trailer out to the crowds (this is going to be a good one ).
I am also developing bunches of funny quotes and pictures with the website (www.rainbowroosterpress.com) and my social media addresses attached to them. Now I'm not sure if these are all new ideas or if I am recreating the wheel but this is where I am at for the moment.
I would love to hear your ideas, critiques or advice !! See you tomorrow :)

My blogging initiation

So far I have been working in the evening as much as I can because quite honestly multitasking is not one of my strengths (as much as I would like to think so ). Yes its hard to run after a rambunctious three year old while teetering my laptop on one arm. Its not ok to be typing on my iphone while jr is hanging helplessly from the monkey bars. I get this ! What is this magic that work at home blogging /book writing moms have ?
Since I've started this venture my house looks like its been inhabited by apes. My husband is beginning to get that neglected, survivor husband look (that's the worst) and baby has been living on a steady diet of cheeze its and Veggie Tales.
With all of that said, though this is a LOT of fun, it is also a LOT of work.
I mean really ! Who actually spends 60 hours in four days working their tooshie off to only possible get paid ??? Crazy I know !
BUT then again who gets to pull nothing out of thin air and make it into something that may make them a paycheck ? OR BETTER, who gets to create whole new worlds out of thin air and then introduce those new worlds to the masses ? ME !! Well at least I hope me anyway :)
Now I'm not saying I am all that, and when the grammar police finally get a hold of me then I am sure the battle will begin BUT I'm not wondering anymore if I can do this, I'm just doing it.

  

Rainbow Rooster trailer

How to self publish a children's ebook

Ok I admit it ! I am flying by the seat of my pants here ! 

 My first call to action was to put together a great book with an awesome story line and pair it up with  colorful,dynamic illustrations.
 Amazons Kindle kids book creator was the perfect platform to pull this all together, but beware if you have never published a book before using this very useful tool it may make you cross eyed (it did me) . REALLY, maybe I'm just not the sharpest tool in the shed BUT it took me three online seminars, four different editors, one crashed computer, a full day to fix it and finely mixed diet of coffee, and chamomile tea to pull it all together ( I will break it down for you in a later blog entry).

So now my book is on Amazon and my millions will roll in right ? Well that's what I thought too ! I mean why wouldn't The Rainbow Roosters be just flying off the shelf ? I had a famous, amazing illustrator( Elaine Niemi ) I had a great story line but as I sat there intently looking at the stats page on the night of our book release, the harsh reality was we had 6 views and only one sale( bought by my brother), we were ranked 258,000 on the viewers list....and had made a whopping 1.73...What was going on ??????
That's when it hit me, NO ONE KNOWS THE RAINBOW ROOSTERS EVEN EXISTS !! Now like said before I am not the sharpest tool in the shed BUT I'm no the dullest either.

Let the Campaign begin !!!  

First my apologizes to my Facebook friends who have all been inundated with my very HIGH spirited advertising campaign. 

Facebook is an excellent venue to spread the word, I mean everyone on your friends list is your friend right ? Its also a good place to get your feet wet. They will happily go to Amazon and download your book AND leave good reviews for you on Amazon  but 185 friends will only get you so far . Here are some other things I did to get the ball rolling :

1. Start your own website. Your material needs a place to live where your followers an come visit.

2. Create Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and other social media pages you can find.

3. Keep your pages active and interactive, engage your readers ! 

4. Promote your book, build up anticipation with your audience before you launch your book.

5. Keep fresh relevant content on all your social media feeds. Create inspiration/fun quotes to share and include your website information on each of them.

6. Start a blog to keep traffic coming to your website. PLUS if you love to write its a win, WIN.

7. Start campaigns, have people vote on your next book cover. Offer free downloads or give aways for your book launching.

   

These are all things I am either doing or wish I had done for "The Rainbow Roosters". If you have more ideas I would love to hear them !! AND please visit us at :

www.rainbowroosterpress.com

Click here to get  THE RAINBOW ROOSTERS  free until 12/19/15

                        

                          Check Out My Trailer

Where to begin

This is my first entry in the Rainbow Rooster's blog. So please forgive me if I seem a bit nervous. I'm really not even sure where I should go with this, so I am going to start by saying, WE ARE SO EXCITED to have the Rainbow Rooster finally published !!! 

​ Now we just need to figure all the "other" stuff out ! I mean do I even have this blog in the right format ?? 

I'm really not sure but one thing I do know know is this, I will let my readers in on the secret of how to publish a book with a very, very, very (should I say it again) small budget once I know myself .

Until then you are all welcome to join our journey.