Episode 34 why are you keeping your children's book a secret?

Be a podcast guest with over 35 children's book author podcast episodes, I'm on track to produce a new podcast every week.

I'm learning that becoming a children's book author is driven by passion and love, not by fame and fortune.

Most children's book authors don't have a formal business plan and are not concerned about generating sales revenue or breaking even on the publication of their children's book.

The average indie and self published book sells between between 100 and 500 copies in its entire lifetime.

This got me thinking why?

There's a vast void when it comes to children's book authors understanding the sales and marketing side of their business.

They don't think of publishing their children's book as a business.

If you don't think of your children's book as a business, it's easy to justify spending thousands of dollars to publish a children's book.

As long as you are a published children's book author, you've reached the pinnacle of your book authorship.

Getting a children's book self published is easy in today's world.

If you have the money, you can work with many hybrid book publishers in the publishing world.

They are happy to take your money and help you bring a children's book to market.

Before you think I will give a negative rant about these hybrid services, I won't.

These hybrid services excel at creating a beautiful finished children's book.

I will link to three different books in the show notes that utilize hybrid publishing services.

Have a look at each of these books, decide which one looks the best to you, and do your research on hybrid publishing companies that might work best.

The one thing you are responsible for is finding an illustrator.

But once you've secured an illustrator and the illustrations get produced, these hybrid services bring your book to market.

The services provided include online courses, editing, book formatting, and everything else needed to bring your children's book to life, except illustrations.

Most of these hybrid book publishers also help you to get your book distributed by uploading your files to Amazon and ingramsparks.

However, most don't offer any sales or marketing Support.

In episode 35, children's book author Cody Bogart uses a hybrid publisher.

She likes.

This hybrid publisher does, however, offer marketing and sales services for a fee, but it's not inexpensive.

You might say, wow, I don't have to do any work to publish, distribute, sell and market my book.

Yes, that is true.

The only thing I I ask you to do is contact these hybrid companies Obtain all the costs of the services I've mentioned and calculate the total investment you will make before selling one book.

If you are a regular listener to our podcast show, I encourage you to take on more book publishing.

Work yourself with a team you manage.

It's a viable option.

If you listen to episodes 29, 30 and 31, you will learn much about how to assemble your own indie publishing company.

I've been tracking the average selling price of soft covered books of children book authors.

The average is $13.70American.

If the average indie book or self published book sells between 100 to 500 copies over its lifetime and you net between $1 to $5 over the lifetime of your book, your net return would be between 500 and $2,500.

In most cases, using a hybrid publisher, you own all the rights and files to your children's books.

However, additional charges apply if you want to change the files.

If you listen to episode 33, you'll hear that my guest, Ferrielle English, author of children's book Charlie and Sophie's Great Escape, has earned several book awards.

I asked Ferrielle why didn't she add these award icons to the front of her book cover.

She said it would cost $500American to make the edition.

She wasn't sure she would recoup this expense.

Once you have completed a book through the hybrid services, understand that any changes you want to make to your book files will cost more money.

Here is where the rubber meets the road in children's book publishing.

You are responsible for the sales and marketing of most hybrid published books.

Most hybrid book publishers offer no sales and marketing support for your children's book.

Why sales and marketing are the most challenging aspects for you.

No one has a magic formula to create profitable sales for most indie or self published children's books.

Be cautious.

Of all the social media and marketing gurus, 99% of these individuals are the only ones profiting from your book.

After you've approached every family member friend, most children's books find that their children's book sales have maxed out.

I belong to several groups of children's book authors or aspiring children's book authors that number in the thousands.

I write a supporting blog each week to promote my latest podcast with a children's book author.

Approximately only 15% of my book podcast guests have found and reached out to me to be featured as a guest on the show.

Another 15% I have actually sourced and I've reached out to them via social media.

70% of my podcast guests are referrals, which I love.

The children's book author who makes the referral often introduces me.

As you can see, only a few of my guests contact me directly.

These individuals are true trailblazers of their children's books.

They realize it's entirely up to them as authors of children's books to promote their work.

I always tell people that it's tough to receive an order if you don't ask for it.

What are you doing each day to create a children's book order or sale?

Aren't you proud of your children's book?

If you're proud of your book, how are you letting the world know about it?

One of the sales and marketing techniques that I suggest is Be a guest on a relevant children's book author podcast.

These podcast services are free and you get listeners interested in your authorship, story and your children's book on our podcast show, Adventures in the Heart of Children's Book Authors.

We have listeners in over 19 countries, with the United States and Canada having the most extensive listener base.

On June 13, I will be a guest on Chelsea Story Nook Podcast, a YouTube podcast promoting our book the Adventures of Caboose the Rocky Mountain Bear.

I'm walking my talk and will become a Children's Author Podcast guest and I thought this was an ideal time to challenge you to step it up and reach out to me and be a guest on our podcast show the Adventures in the Heart of Children's Book Authors.

You should use our podcast show to become comfortable being a podcast guest.

It will serve as a tipping point for you to reach out to other shows.

You might wonder, how can I you might be wondering how can I appear on your podcast show as a guest to promote my children's book?

Please know I'm about to provide you with the steps on becoming a guest on my podcast show.

It is essential to remember that most podcast hosts follow a similar process to have you become a guest on their show.

I have four easy steps for you to follow.

Step 1 Listen to several of my podcast shows and see if we are a good fit.

Is my podcast relevant to promoting your children's book?

Step 2 Find the Host Contact Information in my case, please visit our children's book website caboosetherockymountainbear.com and navigate to the contact page to send me a message indicating you'd like to be a guest on the Adventures in the Heart of Children's Book Authors podcast.

Step 3 Currently, we host our podcast show on our children's book website for two reasons.

First, to encourage you to consider our book for your home library and know that we are a children's book author.

Second, to maximize the cost and time required to operate a website, if you visit the Adventures in the heart of Children'sBookAuthors.com, you will find that we own the domain name which directs you to our children's book website.

In the future, we plan to establish our own podcast show as a standalone entity with its own dedicated website.

For now, we will use our children's book author website and develop our children's book business.

In your pitch to us, please mention a few things you like or have heard on our podcast show.

Do you have a published children's book or multiple published children's books?

A link to your books and a link to your children's book website.

What are your social media links to support your children's book?

We have a standard question format that we follow, but if you prefer to send us a few additional questions, we are happy to accommodate that.

Our booking link for your episode will include a section for you to fill in on your bio, social media links, website and other relevant details such as links to purchase your books.

If you listen to our episodes, you'll notice that I like to interview you before creating your intro to our podcast show episode.

Additionally, if you would be willing to offer something in return for us having you on our show, such as promoting the show on our social media platforms and website and leaving a five star review for our children's book the Adventures of Caboose the Rocky Mountain Bear, all of this support would be appreciated.

One huge thing I'm most proud of is that we use your book cover as the podcast cover for for your episode.

One of my guests reached out while she was in her car and our episode played with her book cover displayed on the video screen in her vehicle.

She texted me a picture of it, immediately said this was so cool and appreciated the support.

What's stopping you from reaching out and booking a podcast guest interview?

Let's shine a light on your children's book authorship adventure out and enjoy the listen.