My name is Jessica McInally, and my book is Birdie's Picnic, A tasty take on food safety.

Thanks, Jessica, for appearing on the Adventures in the Heart of Children's Book Authors podcast.

I purchased your book.

Thank you, Rick.

I appreciate that.

Yeah, no, my pleasure.

So there it is.

The listeners can't see that.

Very vibrant, the colors, of course.

It's on my iPad.

You know that I've read your book, Birdies Picnic Party.

Jessica, before we get into the details of your book and your children's book authorship, can you tell us what it means to you to be a children's book author?

It has always been a dream of mine to be a children's book author.

And I was having a milestone birthday coming up last year that I made a list called 50 Things to Do Before I Turned 50.

And good for you.

One of those things was to finally write my children's book.

And so I wanted that children's book to represent my family as well as my professional background.

And so that's why I chose a book on food safety.

Terrific.

Tell us about the inspiration then, behind your book.

Who inspired this whole journey for you?

I know you talked about the significance of it being on a list 50 for 50, but tell us, who actually inspired the book.

Like I mentioned, my background was in food safety and public health, but my inspiration is my own daughter.

She inspires me every day.

And her nickname is Birdie.

And so I built the character around her, making her a bluebird and.

And took it from there.

And so Birdie is my inspiration.

When I finally told her, I actually kept the book a secret for a whole year while I wrote.

And then I did meet with her and told her all about the background, and then I named it Birdie after her.

And it really touched her a lot.

She's actually in the public health field as well.

She's applying for medical school right now and graduating from college.

And so it really touched her, making her the main character.

Was there a significance because the nickname of your daughter is Birdie?

Is there a significance of the bluebird?

The bluebird, Actually, my grandmother that has passed, she collected bluebirds.

And bluebirds always meant friendship in her family and.

Or in our family, she would always have an open door policy.

She would have big dinners on Sunday where everyone was invited to sit around the table and meet and visit about the week that they've had.

That's why I took Birdie being my daughter's nickname.

But then combining my grandmother's love and open door policy of friendship and fellowship around a dinner table and making it a bluebird to be a throwback to her as well.

I love that.

Yeah.

It's always interesting because I talk to a lot of children's book authors and their grandparents specifically.

It tends to be a grandmother has a lot of influence on us.

And my mother's mother had a huge impact on my life.

She was very outdoorsy.

I think of her as a woman ahead of her time.

I love that.

Have my grandmother's cookbook because she was known for her recipes.

And so I have all of her family recipes that pass down to me being the oldest grandchild.

And I still cook those and think about her daily.

Nice.

I'm also interested in knowing this may take us in a little bit of a different direction, but that's part of.

I. Hopefully that's the fun part of the.

Yeah, the fun of it.

The attraction of the show is I'm always interested in your children's book business, but I noticed that you wrote it because of your product profession.

I'd like you to expand on that.

You've written this children's book.

It's about food safety.

But what's fun about it is it's also your profession.

Tell us how you're tying your book into your profession, your children's book into your business profession.

I would love to.

I am a registered dietitian as well as a registered sanitarian, and I have worked in public health.

Can I just back up for one second?

So when I read the word sanitarian.

I thought garbage man, right?

No, I actually didn't go there.

But is that like a sanitation?

So can you explain to the audience what a sanitarian is?

Okay.

Sanitarian is a fancy name for actually a health inspector.

So I know the viewers can't see, see or what I have, but here's actually for you, here's my old health inspector badge.

As I would go in at the food police as well.

You would.

As a sanitarian, you are certified by the state that you work in.

And I'm in Texas, and we actually go into different restaurants and do health inspections and get all of the employees food safe certified and teach them how to be healthy in their kitchen.

So I have the dietitian side of it, where I teach people how to eat healthy.

And then I also have the food safety side of it where I keep a kitchen clean and safe for you to go for you.

And I could go eat and not get sick.

Is there a grading system?

And the restaurant has to post their grade.

There is the background of being a Health inspector, you actually can take people to court because you do want to keep the public safe.

Safe.

So if there is a restaurant that we have gone to and there are some major red flags of food safety issues, you can issue a ticket to that restaurant and take them to court until they can get safe again for the public.

Let's pick up on the business side of it now because you're no longer doing the inspection side of the business.

I am not.

I do keep my licenses current and I am still a dietitian and a sanitarian.

But the background of being in that field for 30 years, I wanted my book to also reflect that background of mine.

To that, tell us how your book is allowing you to pivot your business.

One of my passions right now is I'm a board member of the Education foundation and we provide grants into the classrooms of Omal ISD system and teachers.

Unfortunately, like a children's book writer, they.

It's not a financial reason that they get into teaching.

They get into teaching because they want to make a difference in a child's life.

And so I wanted to give back to all the teachers that are given to my children by joining this board and being able to provide grants to these teachers in the classrooms.

I'm combining that with my book.

I've just gotten my book approved for the district, and so now it's going to be in all of the libraries for Comal isd.

And then I've also donated a lot of books to teachers because I'm working on creating curriculum that goes along with the Birdie book to teach food safety to young children.

It's a combined love of paying back to what has been provided to my family as well as teaching a really valuable lesson.

Because you're never too young to learn food safety.

Absolutely.

And it's interesting, my.

My wife gave me heck the other day because I was actually using the wrong cutting board.

Oh, that's a good one.

Oh, yeah.

Quick one, Rick.

Oh, yeah, she.

Oh, I got my hand slapped.

So you'd be.

You'd love to meet her.

I would.

She knows her food safety.

She does.

She does.

Tell us with your books, your book formats, you have a soft cover and of course you have an ebook format.

Talk to us about why you started with those two book formats First.

I wanted it to be a reasonably priced item that people that it wouldn't hold them back.

I do have a hardback now, but I know hardbacks are more expensive and I didn't want that to hold somebody back from getting my book.

And learning about food safety early on.

I researched before writing the book, this type of book, and I could find tons of children's books on nutrition, but I actually could never really find anything tackling food safety.

So I thought it was a special niche that I could shine and show my background as well as make a difference.

I hope that the book is taken and used as a whole family, not just with the child.

I think a child mirrors what their parents do at home, and so if their parents are also showing how important food safety is, a child's gonna pick up on that as well.

I'm hoping this book is being purchased and used together and then hopefully maybe even planning family picnics together.

And that's what I loved about the book, is that you made it fun through a picnic.

Demonstrating food safety through a picnic.

It's a very cute idea.

And Rick, it's really fun.

When I go read at schools, I actually lay out my picnic blanket and the kids all gather around and I have my picnic basket.

So we read the book and then we pack a picnic together.

I use, like, food examples of what's safe and not.

And if the kids think the food is a safe item to pack, they flap their birdie wings and we pack it into my picnic basket.

What a terrific idea.

It's a lot of fun.

You know what?

I'm always looking for these nuggets that we can share as children's book authors.

What a great idea.

So I hope that nugget in itself hopefully aspires even the children's book authors who are currently published.

I hope that kind of stretches their way of thinking.

So thank you for sharing that.

Thank you.

It makes it fun.

It's just inviting, too.

Instead of making it a formal environment when I go and read to children, just gathering around the picnic blanket brings us all together.

Absolutely.

I'm going to make an assumption.

I don't like doing that, but I noticed you have a publishing.

It's Birds Bends Publishing.

So I'm guessing that is your own publishing company.

It is.

I did think about or going the traditional route and trying to find a literary agent and getting on with one of the big publishing companies.

But I'm having fun learning this whole process.

And like you mentioned, a lot of people listen to your podcast that want to write their first book.

This has been fun for me.

I now have two individuals that have come to me as well, and I'm guiding them through the process of either self publishing or finding a literary agent and going with a big publishing house.

And it's fun that I can pay it forward.

And I like doing that because I've learned a lot over this last year.

I've learned what not to do, and it's just been fun.

So I'm taking off this next back to your question about Bird's Bench Publishing.

I now want to help other authors get their books published.

And so that's why I came up with that name.

And again, it's a throwback to Birdie, keeping it all in the family.

It's interesting because the name of our first book, we have two published books, is the Adventures of Caboose, the Rocky Mountain Bear.

I saw that.

I love it.

I love it.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And we named our publishing company Caboose the Rocky Mountain Bear Publishing Den.

Like in a chair.

I very.

I love that.

That's part of what I'm trying to do with this show is how people decide.

Do I try the traditional route?

Do I do self publishing, which generally includes a third party that helps you bring your book to market.

And then, as you've done, you're an independent book publisher where you're like the general manager of your book business and you bring your own book to life.

Yes.

Hats off to you for doing that because that's a big undertaking.

And the reason I can say that is that we've done it so far with two of our children's books.

We've actually gone the independent publishing route.

Got to be a jack of all trades, a master of none, in a way.

So true.

Very true.

But you can be a jack of all trades and actually publish one or two children's book.

This is our second one, the Hijinks from the Big Head Folk Music Festival.

And I've co authored this with my granddaughters.

Caboose is my oldest granddaughter, and the Beaver is my middle granddaughter.

Bailey and I love it.

Yeah.

And they get their names on the front of the book, too.

That's true.

Because they help co author it.

It's amazing.

Middle granddaughter has got the perfect voice and she.

We've done the audiobooks, and she voices the audiobooks for both our first two books.

That's a great idea.

I haven't even thought about audio.

That's a really great idea.

It's a lot of fun.

I'll just share this with you.

And I know our audience has heard this before, but we have this bookmark, and we did this in Canva, so if you scan the QR code, it actually is the audiobook.

So it's a free audiobook of our first book.

And then what it also does is my oldest granddaughter, Kira, because she's the inspiration behind Caboose.

She tells the story about how Caboose came to life.

I love that.

I love it.

A lot of fun.

And I love that you have the bear, too.

That's special.

Thank you.

Yeah, it definitely has been quite, quite the journey, that's for sure.

Are you doing Print on Demand?

Are you ordering through Amazon?

Like, what's your printing process?

I am doing the print on demand.

I am trying to secure a distribution deal currently.

Right now I'm hitting Texas mainly, and I'm truly feet on the ground, or boots on the ground, as they say, going to bookstores and pitching my book.

And so many have been very receptive to Birdie and are already having Birdie on the shelves.

But I do ultimately want the goal of a bigger distribution deal so I can reach more of an audience.

I'm on Amazon.

That's why I like being on your show, too, so I can reach more people.

But I am on Amazon.

I'm on Barnes and Noble book, baby.

So that's true.

Ingram Sparks.

It is.

Okay, terrific.

Again, I just like to share that with people to understand that Amazon, they say it's about 70% of book sales and then the other 30%, like on the online business.

Ingramsparks.

Really, once you get your book listed on Ingram Sparks, it gives you that touch points to Barnes and Noble and other online retailers like Apple Books, for example.

It's nice just to know that you have that distribution of people want to.

Go and order your book, because that's kind of interesting.

From the marketing, you can run the reports for future authors.

You can run the reports and see who's actually picking it up from different locations.

And that's a nice tool.

Absolutely.

Through the ingramspark.

Yes.

You said you've now recently done a hardcover because I didn't notice it on your website yet.

So you.

Are you about to put that on your website?

I'm about to put it on the website.

You can get it currently on Amazon and hardback as well as Barnes and Noble.

And how did you develop your hardcover?

Because I know Amazon doesn't do a hardcover unless you're.

They do not.

Unless you're sending five pages.

Yeah, yeah, they've got.

Ingram helped me.

And then if you go through Ingram and give permission, then Amazon can sell the hard.

Okay.

And that's what you've done.

And that's what I've done.

And then I just designed with my illustrator, because that background I did interview about five illustrators.

I did not want AI Generated artwork.

I wanted real illustrations.

And I wanted to see Birdie come to life by my different illustrators.

I found somebody that I really enjoyed, and she brought Birdie to life.

And we've tweaked the COVID for the hardback.

Okay, terrific.

Because I noticed that's one of the questions I was going to ask you.

I always talk to people about their relationship with their illustrator.

And you know what?

Most people have a very intimate relationship with their illustrator.

I noticed on the front of your book, it says a company name.

Doesn't say her name.

It's her company and it's Sketchco.

But that is her company, and she wanted it that way instead of her name.

But, yes, we work together.

We're actually working on a second book right now together, bringing Birdie's characters back, but this time in the kitchen.

And we're still talking food safety, but we're throwing in a little bit of the nutrition side of it as well.

I noticed on the inside cover, you do have her name as the illustrator.

The one thing.

And I know you didn't want AI Generate.

And this is just my impression.

You know what?

Now my children's book library is large.

The one thing.

When I saw the Illustrated by the name of the company.

Yes, I know.

My personal opinion is I would convince your illustrator that you should put her name on the front of the book instead of her company.

Because I was going to ask you, is this AI Generated because of just that fact?

And that's what I get worried about, too.

And I've run into that before because I specifically did not want the AI and by doing her name that way as her company, I did worry about that.

And she is from India, and I know a lot of the Indian companies do a lot of AI Generated.

But she does send me all of her sketches and we tweak it and I get it down to what I want.

And if the face doesn't look right or if there's something that looks off to me, she's probably sick of me with all of the revisions.

To be honest, that's just a comment.

I appreciate that.

I love feedback, especially this is my first time out the gate, so I want to learn from other authors as well with illustrators.

I've NOW interviewed over 50 children's book authors, and all of us have this unique relationship with our illustrator.

Finding an illustrator, like you said, you went through five different people to finally settle on someone that you thought you could work with.

And I generally find that and our illustrator is in the uk.

And I didn't look to have that happen, but that's just the way it happened.

And I've talked to a lot of people, American children's book authors who use Canadian illustrators.

So you just never know where your journey takes you.

But today's technology allows us to do.

That, and that's very neat.

And I did want to, like, when I did interview all the illustrators, I wanted the bright, vibrant colors as well.

That would make children want to see the characters more and engage more.

And that was fun when the illustrators would send me sketches on how to choose who I wanted to go with.

And then my illustrator has done a few children's books before, and I wanted someone that was established as well.

You're printing your hardcover through Income Sparks?

I am, and I don't have one here to show you, but they're really nice.

But I really love the hardback.

When I've given them as gifts, I have found these little bluebirds.

So I tie them up and I stick a little bluebird on the top of the book and to have a nice little author's note from my picnic basket to yours inside, and they make a nice gift.

As a hardback, are you currently doing all the distribution or how's the distribution working for the hardback?

I am currently doing, like I said, boots to the ground.

I'm doing all the distribution right now.

It's building those relationships with those indie bookstores.

I have not hit the big bookstores.

I am online, like we mentioned, but I like giving back to the indie bookstores because they are giving me a chance as well, and they want to see us thrive as authors.

So I want to create and build those relationships.

And that's where I've been doing a lot of my author events, my story times, and they've embraced Birdie with open arms.

I'd like to go that route again.

My goal is to be distributed across the United States, but I'm starting small and building from there and learning as I go.

You're on Amazon, so you actually have worldwide distribution.

That's true.

I did Google it the other day, and I was like, oh, there it is.

Spanish UK and located in all sorts of different countries.

Amazon is amazing.

And it really helps because you know what?

When I started this podcast, I was thinking primarily it would be North American listeners.

I never thought about listeners outside of North America.

And the other day I counted.

We're in over 28 countries that we have listeners.

That's amazing.

Congratulations.

Yeah, thank you and.

But you know what?

You just never know where it takes you in the world.

If you have worldwide distribution through Amazon, someone who's listening to the show in the UK or in France or wherever they have a chance to buy your book locally.

And that's exciting.

And the people that we would meet from overseas as well, just to know that they have your book, that's exciting to think about.

I love.

I want to pick up on your unique feature of the food safety aspect of it.

Take us on a little bit of a journey because I love how you've introduced different characters.

Each character, you take them through a food safety tip.

And then at the end of the book, and I don't want to give the whole thing away, you have the checklist.

So tell us about how you developed this whole story.

I wanted food safety is a technical issue and I needed to relate it to a children's level.

And so I needed to have a language that a kid would jump on board and love and enjoy my characters.

So I did a lot of the rhyming.

I actually interviewed some speech therapists so I could work on the alliteration on how to make the story flow.

Because I'm not a writer, I'm definitely more of a technical person and a science Brian.

So the writing part now to say author after my name is sometimes funny to think about, but it shows that anybody can do it if they put their mind to it.

Absolutely.

I want, like I mentioned earlier, I wanted the colors to be bright and I wanted the characters to be inviting.

Each character is very warm and friendly and does bring an item to the picnic and that item does have a food safety tip to go along with it.

And at the end, like we said, we won't give it away, but it also brings it all together and stress the importance of friendship as well.

So you're not just getting food safety, you're getting friendship as a combo.

It's so cute.

And I love how your cover.

Yeah, the COVID shows the picnic going on in process.

So that's a lot of fun.

I always talk to authors about their website.

Now when I went to look at your website, I don't want to say I got confused, but I found two websites.

You found two.

I know there is one floating out there.

I mentioned that I am trial and error and learning.

I did hire a public relations company right in the beginning of the process of my book.

There is another one floating out there that's got a green background and that's the public relations one.

And it's going to actually expire soon.

The main website that I am using is also through IngramSpark and it is a nice tool for authors.

It's very inexpensive and you are able to build it yourself.

And so I do all the uploading.

I've added like coloring sheets so it's interactive for kids to print off and color at home.

With the book I'm able to put all of my events or my speaking engagements and book signings that are coming up.

And that's the first one I actually went to.

Which one did you like better?

I really like the vibrant green.

I don't see that's what I'm torn on everybody.

However content is.

I think you only had three tabs on the whole.

There's only three on the relations one.

And then you had a much more extensive looking.

You have.

It's like a children's book author or author's website, the one that you're talking about.

So definitely more professional, more tabs, more content.

All of that kind of good stuff.

Only because I saw your other one, the public relations one.

I like some of the fonts with your name and I like the background.

I agree.

And I have asked a few other people and they do.

They said that the green one is very children friendly and inviting and the other one is just a basic.

But I can get more information.

So I'm going to have to learn how to tweak that as well.

Going to be one of the processes.

Absolutely.

And the one thing is that they always talk about colors and if you notice like on the front of our children's book we use very earth tone colors because ours is.

Our books are all about outdoor recreational activities.

In your case, I'm not sure what color is equated with food safety, but I bet if you did the research you'd find out there's a specific color that goes with that.

I don't know.

When you developed your book you may have already incorporated that.

I actually did because I had spoken to some other authors and even like the fonts, there's research on font that will bring you in and all sorts of stuff.

That's another deep diving.

Absolutely no doubt about it.

Even if you have a raised cover that can bring some more appeal.

It's so interesting.

It really is.

What is the website that you want to direct us to?

I personally would like you to go to jessica nicolemcanally books.com okay, that's the.

One and we'll get the other one.

And you can actually have it redirected to that yes.

And that's what we're working on.

Okay, terrific.

And just so everybody understands, the nice thing about today's technology is if you've got a.

In Jessica's case, she has two websites.

What's the name of the one with the public relations.

That one's just Jessica McInally book.

Okay, so what Jessica is going to be able to do is actually redirect that one to her main website.

So if you click on that, you're going to get redirected.

That's your plan?

Yes.

And they are both active right now.

You can still purchase the book from both websites, but ultimately it's going to be The Jessica Nicole McEnally books is the main.

We'll make sure we put that in the show notes.

That can only go to one or we'll only send you to one.

I'm sending you to one.

Oh, good.

That's good to know.

When you said that Ingram Sparks, when you started looking at Ingram Sparks, that's where you really got the idea to develop this more comprehensive website.

Is that correct?

Perfect.

That's exactly built around your book.

Correct.

And now that I'm working on the curriculum to go along with it for the school district, that website was more feasible to do so as well.

Excellent.

When you say curriculum, are you looking at a lesson planner that lasts for a couple of hours or like, what's the intention with your curriculum?

The intention is truly just a lesson for the week.

In Texas, it's called the teks, the education board that you have to follow.

And in the teks, you have to hit so many different topics for it to actually be a lesson that Texas recognizes.

And so I'm working with the teachers on getting that curriculum to go along with the book.

It would just be a week lesson within a classroom and to build on the food safety lessons.

And then I have been working with Girl Scout troops and Boy Scout troops as well to incorporate that into earning a badge, even for the kids, because that is another topic that they don't necessarily cover.

They cover cooking and nutrition, but not food safety aspects.

I never even thought of that.

And it's funny you should mention that, because yesterday or the day before, my oldest granddaughter texts me.

And she said.

And I went.

She had a swearing in of the first year.

She went to Girl Guides, I think.

Yes.

And she said to me, oh, can you send me the pictures?

And I was thinking, oh, yeah, sure.

Anyways, I sent them to her and she just wanted to share them.

And I just happened to get lucky being the only person that could go that night to watch your swearing in.

Yeah.

So it's special.

But I didn't realize that you could actually build a program.

You can.

Oh man, you truly can.

There you go.

Another incredible nugget.

And they can earn a patch for it.

Yeah, I.

That'd be fun to have a patch especially, you know, we built our books around outdoor recreational activities.

You could totally do this.

I'll have to check in.

I wanted to talk to you about your social media.

I noticed you use Instagram LinkedIn and I went to your website.

I clicked on the TikTok icon but it said private.

Yes, I have been approached by a few people wanting to do TikToks and the new book talk phase.

But being a children's book, I have not done enough research on if that's a great market for me yet.

That is on my list to do.

But I do again private with my family and if I do a TikTok route, I will make it just for the book.

Instagram looks like your biggest platform, is that correct?

That is my biggest and it is reaching a lot of people.

I've booked a lot of speaking engagements through my Instagram, so that would probably be my most targeted.

I'm still not up there on a lot of followers yet, but I'm still new.

The book just got published in August.

Talk about that.

Because I'd like you to share your journey here.

So did you use your Instagram followers to help you get the word out about your book?

I did.

And as well as just my community network as well on Facebook.

Now my Facebook is just my private Facebook, but I do believe that when a friend shares and vouches for you, it does help.

And so that's gotten the book out and as like I said on IngramSpark and Amazon, you can see all the traffic coming to the site and who's purchasing and who's not.

And it is very interesting that social media does really push sales for doing like the podcast for example.

I will probably log on when it's just is aired and you will see the spike in sales.

So it does really help being on social media for any of those new authors that is.

And I have to thank you by the way, before I forget because I know I we're moving away from like going to move into some other areas.

But on your website.

I went to your website like right away to learn about you and the first thing I noticed is I went.

Oh, here I am.

You had.

You had already posted that we were going to have our conversation today.

And I thought, good for you.

You're the first one that's done that, and that's terrific.

And what I'd been sharing, and I learned this from a gal out of Chicago.

Her name is Lori orlinski.

She's episode 48.

She's not only a published children's book author, but she also works for Yorkshire Publishing in the publicity and marketing side of the business.

But she shared to me what's called earned media.

You know what?

Earned media.

I do not, no.

Please tell.

This is important for all children's book authors.

Earned media is where you go out and hustle media for free.

So in other words, you get a hold of the local newspaper and you say, hi, I'm Jessica, and I have this children's book on food safety.

And the local newspapers, they eat this stuff up.

They're looking for stories, human interest stories, and they'll give you.

For example, when I went to the local newspaper in our area about Caboose, the Rocky Mountain Bear, they loved it.

And they gave us 3/4 of a page in the newspaper with my photo, the picture of Caboose, the picture of the book, they said where it was available and that, and they took the whole story.

They ate it up.

And that led to us getting onto two radio stations.

Oh, I love that.

Yeah.

And that.

So that's called earned media.

And you just never know where it's going to take you.

By you actually posting that, you're coming on the Adventures in the Heart of Children's Book Authors.

It just has that spillover effect, and you never know where it's going to take you.

It's true, it's true.

One thing leads to another.

And I have done a little form of that.

The Chamber of Commerce that's embraced everything.

And then I did contact all the organizations.

I'm very active on boards in the past, from being on Junior League to being a part of the garden club.

And they have all done postings for me as well.

So I would tell a new author as well to reach out to their own community in that similar way of your recommendation and have those organizations help grow for you as well.

Yesterday I reached out to the tourism department in the area that our books are.

That's an excellent idea for your book.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So again, I haven't heard back yet, but you know what?

You just keep sending out feelers and these ideas and see where it takes you.

It's true and it's interesting.

I'll check my inbox.

And someone else has heard about the Book and wants to know more.

And so it does just grow from there.

And that's the exciting part of the whole process as well.

You know what?

As I get more guests, we gain more listeners, which probably makes sense.

The thing that I find is when we get new listeners, they go back to older episodes.

True.

I went back and looked at some of your episodes, too.

Very interesting.

And you can learn a lot.

Exactly.

If you think about it, children are a renewable resource because they just keep coming.

Yeah.

And they're little sponges.

And that's so true.

And you get a new audience every year.

True.

You talked about your daughter as part of the motivation behind the character.

Was there a specific event?

And I know you said the 50 for 50, but were you thinking about if you put it on your 50 for 50 list?

You must have been thinking about this children's book for a little while.

A long time.

Yeah.

So tell us what triggered that.

In all honesty, it really was the 5050 list.

I live by the motto of you are never too old to chase a dream.

And so I really do preach that I'm adventuresome on the outside, too.

I for literacy.

Last year, I rappelled down the side of a building.

And a lot of people don't realize that, but the public library was hosting a fundraiser, and if we could have more books in the world, it only makes a better world.

And I said, I want to help.

So I signed up.

And I am scared of height.

Majorly scared of height.

I hate flying, too.

But I went over 26 stories, repelling all in the name of literacy.

So there was a combo of being adventuresome, hitting 50, being in the field for 30 plus years.

And then also I became an empty nester for the first time.

My son also went off to college and I had some time on my hand to actually do something for myself.

So that probably was the biggest inspiration of it all.

Terrific.

We also talked about character.

We talked about Birdie.

And you were inspired because of your daughter.

And then the blue bird because of your grandmother.

When I looked at it, the only character that really had a name.

I know you called Mr. Fox Mr. Squirrel.

Yeah, yeah, exactly.

So talk to us about that because.

So your main character has a name.

We get a feel for that.

Tell us about the other characters.

And I know you didn't name them.

Is there intentions in the future to name them or what's the point?

No, because as I write new books, I'm building on the characters.

So the new book, we actually add a rabbit to the mix.

And I Just want to keep them general because, again, it's about friendship and anyone is welcome at my table.

Just like I reverted back to my grandmother that was welcome at her table.

Anyone's welcome at Birdie's table.

And so I want to have that inclusion that this book is for everybody.

So I didn't want to name the other characters and have you identify with them.

I just wanted you to feel included in the picnic.

Okay, let's discuss your theme a little bit further now that you're developing this curriculum.

So did you have this whole idea of developing a curriculum with your food safety theme all along?

I actually did that.

That was the plan from the start.

Again, when I was researching the books, like I said, I could not find anything that targeted children and food safety.

I can find all sorts of things.

Eating healthy, making fun snacks, but not the food safety aspect.

And I really don't think we teach children that early on.

We do stress washing hands a lot because just in general, that is the number one way to stop germs from spreading.

So I know the kids in preschool are hearing, wash your hands.

But I wanted to teach or have a book that taught these lessons early on because like you said, we're going to keep having kids and kids, but these kids are going to.

And they're going to start going to elementary school and maybe packing their own lunch, and then they're going to have their own families.

And I want that message to start early and continue on into adulthood.

It's neat that you thought about that, because I was talking to a guest the other day, and she had mentioned she's a preschool teacher, and she had developed a lesson plan to go with her book.

So I'm finding more and more people actually developing a lesson plan or a curriculum to support their book.

And I think that's a great idea.

It's hands in hands.

And then it just keeps enforcing the message that you're trying to portray in the book.

So with that lesson plan on top of it, and then having an activity, like I had said with packing the picnic basket, when the kids are doing that with me, I have actual.

From being a dietitian, I have food models.

And so I'll hold up a carton of milk, and the kids will either flap their wings if they think that milk is safe because it's been sitting out all day, or if they think it's.

I'd say they'll make an X with their hands and we'll put that to the side.

And then I might bring out a banana and Explain to them that this banana has that protective covering and that we do not have to wash that banana.

And they'll flap their hands and we'll put it in my basket.

So it's a lot of fun way even to the hand sanitizer.

If there's not a bathroom or a sink at the park that they're having their picnic, we'll pack in a little hand sanitizer and teach them how to properly use that as well.

That is, you've mentioned you're going to.

I don't know if you've written it or you're going to start writing your second book.

I have written it.

Can you share some insights into your journey, your development of your second book?

Did you do any additional research and what's the writing process?

Can you also explain what lessons you learned from your first book and what you have now incorporated into that whole process for your second book?

That's a lot, Rick.

I know, isn't it?

I'll try and remind you.

And Part B.

To be honest with you, I wasn't expecting to have.

But when you said you had the second book, I thought, okay, how do.

What do I do now?

You have the second book.

I am not in love with it as much as I am with the first book right now.

So it is still in revisions.

The first book, I really had a main vision for it and it was truly food safety.

And I really wanted those tips in the book that you've seen at the bottom, I wanted those tips.

I wanted a family to really embrace the book.

I wanted kids to go home.

I want to pack a picnic and plan a day at the park with their families.

So this next book, after reading Birdie's Picnic Party, two children, I have seen how much they want to learn about the nutrition aspect of it as well.

And they do, Birdie, and they do enjoy the bright characters and they want to jump in.

They are little sponges and they want to learn more.

So this next book, it is Birdie and all of her friends from the first book, then inviting a new friend, Mr. Rabbit, and they are learning how to fuel their bodies to make them stronger with protein and to cut out junk food.

Again, it's still got that underlining message of friendship and working together.

Teamwork is important and it also has the underlining message as well on the food safety building from the first book.

So it's just taking them to a whole next level as they grow and learn to be active in the kitchen.

And families do like to be in the kitchen together.

So to me, this book is encouraging them to sit around in the kitchen, plan a meal together, and then bring back that family meal of us all eating together.

Because now the world is so crazy busy that you've got your sporting events, you're here and there, you've got the social media and the cell phones and the iPads.

I want to bring back that wholesome, I'm an 80s kid.

That's how we grew up in the 80s.

And you sat around and you talked as a family.

I was hoping these books would throw back that with the message as well.

I want to pick up on something you said.

You said, I'm not as in love with the second book yet as the first book.

Yes.

Expand on that a bit.

I'm still finding as.

Because, like I said, I'm not an author.

And so I'm still trying to find that bridge of the technical side of it, but to also make it fun and engaging.

And when I read the book to myself over and over again, it does have the nice alliteration, it has the great rhyming, it has the sweet characters.

But I'm not getting that impactful message that I want you to walk away with at the end.

And so that's why it's not ready for release yet.

Okay.

No, thank you for sharing that.

Because you know what?

That's the whole thing.

I've interviewed over 50 children's book authors.

Only one said to me, I'm a one and done.

And then as we went through the interview, the cracks started to appear.

And she did reveal that, oh, maybe I do have a son.

I want to do another.

But it's important because I find most children's book authors do have a second, a third or fourth book in them.

And it's nice for you to share as you're going through the process.

Process.

Sometimes you know what you've got.

It's like your first child.

They say you're not supposed to be your first child more than your second child.

Here we are, you've got your first book, you're in love with it, and I got my second book.

But there's something that just isn't delivering not.

And I want to be transparent, and I don't want to just push something out to be pushing something out.

I want that part of it in the book.

Did you have that, say, issue with your stock or no?

Yes.

It's funny you should mention that because I'm still having second thoughts about our second book in terms of some things that we might do differently.

I'M glad you brought that up because we have had multiple five star reviews, but a few comments where it is a little wordy.

The beautiful thing about being an independent children's book author is that you control the content.

If you decide that you're not happy with the phrase or the words on one page, you can actually go in and modify it and make the change.

Then you go back to Amazon or Ingress Bars, you just upload the files.

It doesn't cost you anything to do that.

I'm still playing around with the second book because I think I may have rushed to market because we were looking to hit a specific date, we had a specific event that the whole story was about, and we were asked to come and launch the book at that event.

And I just think maybe we got ahead of ourselves.

I understand.

I couldn't delay it because it would.

The next time would be a year from now.

It's that old saying, done is better than perfect.

However, we recording the second book and it sounds great.

Are we overthinking this?

That's the beautiful thing about your book or our books is that.

And when you're, even when you're coaching people, you can always say, look at done is better than perfect.

And you can always, as an independent children's book author, you can always change the file a bit, upload it, doesn't cost you anything, and make those improvements.

And so the next person that purchased your book, they don't know that you've made the changes.

That's true.

That's very true.

That's great advice and thank you for asking.

I want to talk about success.

You're how you envision success.

And now that you're on going on to your second book.

So talk to us about how you envision success for this book, your first.

Book, not by the sales of the book.

I did not enter this adventure for the sales of a book.

I think authors, if they research, they know that is a hard business.

This was a true passion.

I'd always said I want to find my passion and purpose later in life.

And this seems to be the route I'm taking now.

And so the success for me, or how I measure success, when I'm reading the book to an audience and I'm seeing the smiles and I'm seeing them excited.

And just the other day we walked out of a church, I rented a church, and the kids all flew out of the building with their wings.

And to me that is success.

They love the story and they embraced birdie 100%.

I also measure success by if it's taught a lesson and it's brought joy into somebody's life.

And I feel like this book has done both of those things.

It is teaching a lesson that is very important for us, and it's bringing joy into children's lives and hopefully families lives.

I hear from the kids side of it.

I would really love at some of my upcoming events to hear from a family on how they've incorporated it into their lifestyle.

But the kids right now are feeding my soul, and I'm loving that.

And to me, that that means the book has been a success.

Is that success that you're having maybe putting a little pressure on you for the second book?

I think so, yes.

Because again, I want to put something good out there.

I want something that is educational and I want it to be able to spark conversations and important conversations, no matter what age you are.

I know the book is a children's book, but again, I want a child to come home and sit at dinner with their and ask, can we have colored cutting boards like you and your wife have talked about or for different things.

I want to spark those important conversations.

And yeah, that second one, I just.

They talk about that writer's block, I guess you would call it writer's block because I want it to be perfect.

And it's just.

It's not there.

It doesn't have that message to spark as conversations.

It's gonna get there.

Oh, I have full confidence you're gonna do that.

Let's talk more about the role of writing in.

You've got this professional aspect of your life, which I love how you've incorporated into your children's book writing and you're continuing that theme, which I think is really important in a fun manner.

How do you see your typical day going in terms of how much time are you devoting to writing and how much time do you see yourself devoting to actually supporting your book and the curriculum of your book?

That balance is hard with the second book coming out.

I will say with Just Birdie's Picnic Party, I was able to devote a whole year to the writing.

Usually my evenings were spent to that, working during the day, spending the evenings focusing on the book.

And then with just having the one book, you can really target your audience and your marketing on that book and spend a lot of time getting that out into the public.

But taking on a second book so early after the first has had me play the juggling game because I want to give that same love that I gave to the first book.

But I'm still promoting the first book and then still trying to find that punchline for the second one, that take home feel of it all.

So, yeah, the balancing is hard to figure out.

Again, that's what's fun about this whole journey of being a new author.

I think maybe at the end, maybe I could do a TED Talk when we're all done, say I could teach the new authors how to go through this process.

But that's what's so fun about it.

And like I mentioned with the two other ladies that have approached me, now I'm helping them.

I actually ran into one last night and she goes, okay, when's our next meeting so you can teach me more?

I said, call me, let me know.

Fit you in.

Excellent.

There's one to Steve upstairs.

My family, we do something called a rose and a thorn.

And.

Or when my family would always eat at dinner, we would end the day and you would say, one thorn of your day.

But you had to end with a rose with positive things.

And so I'm doing that with the books as well.

Of what was my thorn today and what was my rose.

And it helped you keep it all balanced.

The credit for actually taking on a second book so quickly, because with us, it took us about 15 months to launch our second book.

And part of that was learning about how to get the first book in distribution, those kinds of things.

And so it certainly can take some time.

I give you a lot of credit for working on your second book.

And it's interesting because I tell the story of my granddaughter and I.

She's what I call our first digital baby.

And what I mean by that is there's no film.

A lot of us, depending on when you were born, there's actually film and negatives, right.

And then you transition, and then all of a sudden, guess what you get to a generation and there's no film.

It's all digital.

And her and I went to a coffee shop and we were looking at all the adventures that we had done together in the Rocky Mountains.

And she said, papa, can we turn one of these into a story?

And then that's how it all started.

I love that.

But the beautiful thing about it, we wrote the first story, and then instead of writing the second story, her idea was to write down all these ideas that could be stories.

So we ended up with a list of 38 stories that.

So you have 38 books coming out?

We do.

And when I hit you, lottery winnings, I'll tell you all about that.

Yeah, right.

And I love her Creativity of brainstorming, that's like a gift in itself.

You know what ends up happening.

You put all the 38 ideas down, and then we've written at least, I'd say around 20 of those 38.

Wow.

And we've turned them into audio books.

About 15 of them are already audiobooks.

I don't know how we can market that and maybe create some revenue so we can bring out another book.

That would be neat.

Yes.

Jessica, you've shared a lot of nuggets, but I'm interested in advice for aspiring authors.

And it's cool that you're actually coaching, so it's probably top of mind.

So advice for aspiring authors.

My first would be like, your granddaughter is Brainstorm.

If you really want to become an author, you need to actually have some time to clear your mind and think about what you want to talk about and your target audience.

Who are you wanting to reach with this book?

And it doesn't have to be a children's book.

If you have always wanted to do a romance novel or a thriller, a chapter book, you can do it.

I believe at any age, you can do.

You can make that dream come true.

But you first need to actually get your thoughts in line and find that target audience.

And that's what I've told the two that I have been guiding along the way.

One of them wants to compile some old family stories together, some memories, and the other one does have a children's book with a character in mind.

And then from there, you actually have to learn how to write.

So I like being a scientist.

I had to go to a workshop.

So I went to an author's workshop that was being held in San Antonio to hear how to even start that process, and that was very beneficial.

That's.

That's great advice.

Yes.

And then from there, I did a lot of research online to find my illustrator.

Once I got my pen to paper and worked on that, and I'm still in the learning process.

So you've taught me things today to look into.

And bringing up the audiobooks.

I hadn't even thought about doing an audiobook.

Thank you.

But that would be a lot of fun, and I think that would help me get my message out and reach even more people.

So.

So it's fun having that network as well of other authors that you've mentioned to learn from them, and your podcast is a great tool for that, to hear these other authors journeys.

I'm just one of those authors that can maybe bring a little nugget to the table, but if you take all these little nuggets, it can just build from there and make you a stronger author in it.

Thank you for sharing that encouragement for readers.

I tend to keep this towards the end, but if it wasn't for children's book readers, yes, we would be speaking.

We wouldn't even be here today.

Exactly.

So why should children's book readers purchase your book?

My book is warm and inviting and fun and interactive and again, brings in topics that need to be learned at an early age, such as the food safety, but also combining it with that ultimate goal that we all look for is friendship and family.

And to me, that reader of my book is going to walk away with all of those things.

Terrific.

We can purchase your books on Amazon through Barnes and Noble Online virtually.

We can purchase your book on any online stores, right?

Yes.

And your hardcover, when will that be available?

It's available now.

I have a box here at home right now that, oh, I'm about to go donate to one of the local schools.

In terms of availability online, though, is it available through Amazon?

It is now on Amazon hardback as well as Barnes and Noble.

Jessica, final thoughts.

Is there something that you said?

I wish Rick would have asked me that.

Or is there something burning that you say, oh, I'd like to share this?

That's a tough one.

I don't know.

Let me think now.

I think that you've done an excellent job, Rick, of introducing Bertie to your listeners.

And I hope they fall in love with Birdie as I have.

And I'm already flapping right wings.

Clap your bluebird wings.

And I hope really, that adults and kids take all my background of food safety and walk away learning something and incorporating into their daily lives.

Jessica, thank you for being a guest on the Adventures in the Heart of Children's Book Authors podcast.

Your generosity of time and your insights.

There were so many nuggets in there.

I hope people listen and then they go back and listen again.

In terms of some of the neat things that you've shared, I just love that picnic theme.

For example, going into the classroom, we promised to provide our audience with Jessica's social media links and the links to her website.

And if you've enjoyed this episode, please hit the subscribe button to listen to our future episodes and feel free to share this episode with anyone inspired by who enjoys hearing about Jessica and her children's book, Birdie's Picnic Party.

And let's flap our wings out of the interview.

Thanks, Jessica.

Thank you, Rick.

And from my picnic basket to yours, have a wonderful rest of the week.