Saturday 12 September 2015

What do you know? I'm a children's book author!

Big news, guys!!! As some of you might know, I've been in the process of self-publishing my first children's book since January. It started out with my Kickstarter campaign - which was a roller-coaster of emotions all on its own - and went on to finding a publisher, working with my amazingly talented brother-in-law Mat Dubé - who has created the wonderful Illustrations for my book - to working with a team on everything from editing to design and, at long last, printing. It has been an exciting, wonderful and emotional journey but at the same time, I have never felt so uncertain, nervous or frustrated. When I first wrote the story for 'Helen May Saves the Day', I did not realize that writing the book would be the easy part of the self-publishing process.


I have been dreaming of becoming a published author for as long as I can remember, and finally being able to take that final step was, and still is, a huge deal to me. As an author, you want to give the public the best work possible. You want to make sure that the very thing you've been dreaming about for such a long time, won't be a disappointment to the people you know or even strangers. People are now paying their hard earned money to read and share my story with their children, and I want them to love and enjoy it. Maybe I am a little bit of a perfectionist, but the whole process took a lot longer than planned, because I kept pointing out little errors and kept changing things. (Apologies to my campaign supporters who have been patiently waiting for the first edition copy, but I'm sure you'll understand that I didn't want to publish something that I wasn't one hundred percent happy with). 

I have hit a few potholes on the road to self-publishing and I guess, as with everything else in life, it has been a learning experience for the future. Up until now, I have never dealt with traditional publishers or self-publishing services and had no clue what to expect. Of course I did my research online before choosing my best option, but let's be honest, until you finally throw yourself into the deep end, you won't know whether you'll sink or swim. 

 
I had an amazing time working with Mat. Seeing the characters and the story come alive in colorful images has been the most wonderful experience. Piecing the whole book together, figuring out the layout and text placement and what each image should show, has been a lot of fun and has without a doubt been my favorite part of the process. Every time Mat sent me a new character sketch or, later on, a completed image, I felt like a child on Christmas morning. It has been surprisingly easy to work with him and have him draw exactly what I wanted, despite the fact that I didn't even know what it was that I wanted ;-) He just seemed to know what I had pictured while writing the book, and not once did he sent me something that I didn't immediately fall in love with. 

The next part of the process was a lot harder for me. I'm very impatient by nature and after the images were finished, all I wanted was to hold the finished product in my hands and share it with everyone. But there is a lot more to publishing a book than I ever thought possible: tons of paperwork, a lot of back and forth with my publishing team, little hiccups, and misunderstandings and sometimes I just wanted to pull my hair and scream. But after weeks of blood, sweat, and tears my book is finally ready to share with the rest of the world, and I really hope this lovingly created work of art is going to be loved by little and big children alike. A special thank you to my wonderful partner, Adrian, who always supports me in anything I do and always encourages me to go for it. Thanks to all the people who made a donation to my Kickstarter campaign. This book wouldn't have been possible without your help. I will send out the rewards (books, bookmarks, postcards etc.) very very soon. Promise! So here's the sentence I've been dying to say for months now. My book is ready for purchase and you can order your very own copy of Helen May Saves the Day at Lulu.com.

W3Schools

To ensure you're going to get the best deal possible, I highly recommend ordering your paperback, hardcover, or eBook on the American site. Since Lulu.com is a US-based company, you would be paying a premium to have it printed in another country. Your best option is to order in US dollars and only pay the exchange rate. If my link does not send you to the US store but the Canadian or any other store instead, you can change the store setting in the top right corner between Login and Support on the lulu website. 

My book will also be available on other retail sites, like Amazon, Barnes & Nobles and Kobo; However, it won't be available for another 6-8 weeks, since it entails a lot of legal blah blah that I don't want to bore you with. Just know that I will inform everyone as soon as it becomes available elsewhere.  


I still can't believe that I am an actual published author. This seems so surreal, because I always kind of thought the whole thing was a little far-fetched. Like a lot of big dreams we tend to think that it will probably never happen. But since my dream has come true for me, simply by taking a little step in the right direction, I would like to end this post by saying this: Reach for the stars everyone, pursue your dreams and never give up on something you really, really want. Who knows? It might just happen faster than you think.

PS: This is for all the hardworking moms out there. Yes, raising children is tough, especially when they're little and yes, everything you do is just a little bit harder, when you're trying your best everyday to keep up with them. BUT, don't leave your dreams on the back burner. I can speak from experience now when I say that you can still do anything you want to do, and even though you might have to work a little bit harder in order to reach your goal, it will be all the more satisfying when you get there!