Last week, Jennifer sat down with Laura Backes, founder of Write for Kids and Children’s Book Insider for a discussion on overcoming self-doubt and finding the courage to put our work out into the world.
Speaker: Laura 06:19
Okay, I am now going to hop right in to introduce our wonderful guests tonight. Jennifer vessel is the author and founder of I am Unique, a children's book series and self-love brand aimed to inspire kids and adults to rise above their insecurities and share their unique gifts with the world. Her interest in entrepreneurship peaked when she heard a life changing sermon on New Year's Eve in 2012. So I'm going to ask her to tell us about that. In 2014, she published her debut book titled My Channeled Energy, which is a collection of poems and short stories written from the age of six to twenty-six. And that became an Amazon number one bestseller in two categories, in two different categories. So her main focus now is building her I am Unique Brand, which we will talk about. And she's been featured in all kinds of national online publications such as Forbes, Black Enterprise Thrive, Essence, Good Daily. So clearly, what she has created here has really touched a nerve and has influenced people all over the world. So what she's most proud of though, is being able to inspire others to tap into their natural gifts and live life with purpose and intention. That's what we're going to be talking about tonight. So Jennifer, welcome. Please join me on screen here.
Speaker: Laura 07:52
Hi. All right. Well, thank you so much for being here tonight with us.
Speaker: Jennifer Vassel 07:59
Thank you for having me.
Speaker: Laura 08:01
And this is such a great topic. I'm really excited to talk about this because we all could use inspiration, motivation, advice into tapping into our natural gifts and living a life with purpose and intention. And I think especially as we're starting a new year, there's a lot of sort of new things happening now And I think this is a great time to talk about this. So let's start out, can you tell us a little bit about your own journey to becoming a published author?
Speaker: Jennifer Vassel 08:33
Yes, so my journey has definitely been very checkered. I have such a checkered path. I've always exhibited that natural gift of writing or being a creative. I wrote my first poem as six, my first short story at eight, and was published by nine. But growing up I didn't see anyone who looks like me who was writing books or creating something that they could make a living off of, like writing as a living. A lot of my family are healthcare professionals and so I just didn't see people who looked like me in that close proximity doing the thing that I was naturally good at. So because of that, I ended up shifting careers and I ended up getting a bachelor's and a master's degree in business administration. But all that changed New Year's Eve 2012. New Year's Eve 2012 was the moment that, it was my aha moment that changed the trajectory of my life and career. Because I live streamed a sermon from Bishop Dale Bronner and he said, don't die with your gifts on the inside of you, impart to others what was entrusted to you. And that for me, was like my aha moment, I could not let another day go past without doing what I believe that I was created or placed on this earth to do. So at the top of 2013, I compiled poems and short stories that I've written from age six to twenty-six, and I ended up publishing my first poetry book called My Channeled Energy in 2014. And then in 2015, I thought, oh maybe I should write my story in the eyes of a child, to share how I overcame my own insecurity of having a birthmark. And I started that in 2015 and it was published in 2016. And I've been working on the I Am Unique Brand ever since and building it to be, positioning the character to be the face of self-love.
Speaker: Laura 10:29
That's wonderful. Now, your first book, My Channeled Energy, your work of poetry and short stories, I have read. It's quite moving and profound, I think. And it's very personal and includes, you know, work you wrote from elementary school through college, so those formative years and even after college, but from, you know, sort of late elementary school through adolescence, young adulthood; they’re very raw, vulnerable emotions that we experienced during that time, and you laid a lot of that out on the page. And that's a very brave choice for your very first book. So how did you get the courage to put yourself out there like that as a new author?
Speaker: Jennifer Vassel 11:16
Right, going back to that quote that Bishop Dale Bronner said, I really felt like I was playing small prayer. And the fear of playing small and staying the same was more painful than me actually cancelling out the naysayers and tapping into what I believe I was placed on this earth to do. The feeling of putting something out there that I mean, I'm naturally a private person, and I really don't share outside of, back then I was only sharing my poetry at open mic nights, here and there occasionally, and maybe my close friends and family members, but for me, I hit a point where I wanted to do more and be more and I felt like I had to put that fear aside. That fear of the critics, the naysayers, like I felt like I had to be more and become more and have that courage. And so that's what I did, I did it scared, I didn't let the fear cripple me and honestly Laura like when I got the proofs in the mail, that was such a, I was overcome with so much emotion, because it’s something that I have kept within for so long. And for it to materialize in my hands, like I had it in my hands, that piece of work, I couldn't care less now, if someone had something negative to say about it. As far as I'm concerned, it wasn't meant for them. You're not serving everybody, like not everyone is going to take to poetry. So it was more of like that, it was more of a test for me to see, will I act on what was placed on my heart to do.
Speaker: Laura 12:57
Well, and that's a really great point about, it's not for everyone. And I think you could say that about any book ever written. And I think a lot of writers, especially when they're just starting out, and they're putting their first work out there, they want to please everyone with it. And they get a negative review or even someone from their critique group who says I don't quite get this, which might be a valid criticism, but it also could just be they're not the audience. And I think it's so important for writers to embrace that idea because the people who need your book will get it and the people who don't need it might not, but that's okay. Just becoming comfortable with that, I think is very important. Do you feel that that kind of, once you embrace that, did it feel empowering?
Speaker: Jennifer Vassel 13:50
Oh, yeah, it definitely felt empowering. Like, there's this special on Netflix, I don't know if it's still up there. But Brene Brown has a special up there called The Call to Courage and she was talking about how when you're in the arena, when you're doing the work, there are always going to be naysayers. There's always going to be someone who buys cheap seats, cheap tickets to sit in the front and boo at you, critique you, but guess what, those people are not brave enough to go in the arena to play bigger and that's why they're on the sidelines. They're just watching and they're probably hating themselves because you're not limiting yourself to or you're not letting fear determine your destiny. And so, yes, it was a very empowering to understand that and embrace that. That yes, I can do it scared, but I shouldn't let fear cripple me.
Speaker: Laura 14:43
That's so true. Very often the naysayers don't have the courage to put themselves out there and they just criticize others who do and so you have to remember that no. So I mean, some criticism, constructive criticism is valid, but there's a difference between people who just want to cut you down and people who actually want to build you up, but with the constructive feedback.
Speaker: Jennifer Vassel 15:06
Right. And I'm all for constructive feedback. Sure, but if we're talking like haters and things like that, and whether or not I would let them deter me from doing the thing like writing or doing, I wouldn't like those kind of folks deter me from the overall goal. But yeah, absolutely.
Speaker: Laura 15:25
Sure, sure. Well, and that kind of leads us into your book, I Am Unique. There's a lot of similar themes in that book of having the confidence to put yourself out there, not worrying about what other people think. Can you tell us a little bit about this book and kind of how this came about?
Speaker: Jennifer Vassel 15:44
Yes. So I Am Unique stemmed from my childhood insecurity of having a birthmark. It covers a quarter of my back, it's a different tone than the rest of my complexion, so it stands out. And I was so insecure about it growing up, I wouldn't wear certain tops or dresses that exposed them. And I remember from my high school prom, I had the makeup artists cover up my birthmark with foundation because I wanted to look absolutely beautiful that night. But fast forward to today, I realized that no one should feel so insecure that they cover up a piece of who they are. And so I wrote, I Am Unique, because I wanted to, now that I've overcome my insecurity, of course, I wanted to showcase a little girl named Erin, who has a birthmark on her face and a passion for acting. And the story goes, just a brief synopsis of the story. She has a passion for acting, and she wants to try for the leading role in her school play. But when her best friend tries to discourage her, she has to figure out if she's going to let that get in the way of her dream.
And the message of I'm unique, that message lives within all of us whether it's a birthmark like Erin's or mine, a childhood scar, or maybe something that we can't physically see. But the overarching message is to, whatever that insecurity is, to overcome it and share your gifts with the world.
Speaker: Laura 17:02
That's great. Do you have some tips for writing a book like this, that you have a very specific message that you want to convey through the story. But you still have to create a story that stands on his own as an interesting story, so it doesn't sound preachy to the reader. How do you go about sort of crafting something like that? Did you start with the message or the theme and then brainstorm a story around that? Or did you come up with the character first? How did that happen?
Speaker: Jennifer Vassel 17:37
I was inspired by my childhood experiences that kept me back. And now that I'm an adult, and I can look back and have that awareness, I'm talking to the little girl in me. And so that would be my advice to a children's book authors or aspiring writers. To look at your childhood, there might be a slew of lessons that you could pull from and use that as inspiration and when you think about the characters in the story, pull from those as well. I didn't, Erin isn't exactly me, but the themes of what I went through are similar. So I would say, the best advice I would say is to pull from your childhood experiences or even if you're not doing a children's book, pull from your past and write that into the story.
Speaker: Laura 18:27
Because that gives it that authentic emotion that you need in the book.
Speaker: Jennifer Vassel 18:33
And I think like coming with the up with the theme, I knew I wanted to talk about the birthmark because that was something that was insecurity that I held on for 10 years. So that's a long time to remain hidden. And the birthmark is supposed to be taken, you could take it figuratively or literally, but figuratively, like whatever your birthmark is. So I wanted to speak to not only people who are birthmarks, I don't want them to get hung up on that, but whatever that thing that you think is a flaw, and you're covering it up because I covered it up for a long time. And I was not playing at my fullest potential.
So I think coming up with that theme, it kind of fell into place because I was thinking about the lessons learned now that I'm over it, and I'm a lot older.
Speaker: Laura 19:23
Great. So you chose to self-publish both these books, and especially your I Am Unique that has such a universal theme. It's the kind of thing that traditional publishers are always looking for. So was this a decision from the beginning that you decided to do, to self-publish? Or do you submit first and change your mind?
Speaker: Jennifer Vassel 19:48
I've never submitted a manuscript before. Both of the books that I've published, I went in with the intention of self-publishing. And the reason for that is because one of my values is building a legacy. And leaving something behind that people, when I take my last breath, my family can still see it and still access what I built while I was living. And also, it was important to me as ownership, I created my own publishing house so that I can house my creative works. And because you mentioned before, like how personal my Channeled energy is, well, both books are very personal. And I have it's so I was so vulnerable in both pieces that I wanted to have absolute creative control. I did not want anyone, with all due respect, but I didn't want anyone like coming in to tell me Oh, maybe you could tweak this or you can, you know, maybe change that. My vision was so strong for both books that I wanted it exactly how it was playing out in my mind. I wanted it materialized with the nobody's saying yea or nay. So that was very intentional. That's not to say that I would never traditionally publish because, in fact, I can totally see myself writing a memoir and having that traditionally published. But for this, I wanted to create a publishing house where I can house everything that I'm working on, and then to build that generational legacy and have something to pass down to the people who come after me.
Speaker: Laura 21:18
Okay, great, great. Are there some lessons you learned during this process that you wish you'd known going in?
Speaker: Jennifer Vassel 21:28
Yes. I'm thinking back to when I first published My Channel Energy. So for me, that was something that was a goal, I always wanted to be published. I didn't know how until that aha moment came about. And in my mind was that, you know, the easiest part is to get the book out. No, no, no, not that I thought that all I had to do was write the book and the customers would come. That's what I was thinking. I was like, Oh, well, the book is out, alright, where are the customers. So the first mistake that I made, I didn't target my audience, I didn't have an audience, I didn't build an audience. I didn't build a community beforehand, before launching, all in my mind was just writing the book and putting it out. So that was the first mistake, not finding my audience. I only went to two events that year, it came out. So it came out in 2014, I went to two events which really weren't where my audience was. So it's a poetry book and it has short stories in there, I should have been looking for spaces where people appreciate poetry. The two events that I went to, were more, were really not my target. And as a result of that, I only made two sales at one of the events. So I could have done my homework. I didn't know what I didn't know, of course, so that was my trial run. With I Am Unique, I was way more intentional and way more strategic. So I would say someone starting out, make sure you identify who your ideal reader is. And then also build that community, build your mailing list before you launch the book.
Speaker: Laura 23:02
Great. Yeah, that's very good advice. And something that a lot of writers don't do. They think I stick it up on Amazon and people will find it but they don't.
Speaker: Jennifer Vassel 23:17
It gets buried
Speaker: Laura 23:18
Yes, it totally gets buried. Yeah. So how can authors get the courage to put themselves out there to tell the stories of their hearts and to share their gifts with the world as you have done?
Speaker: Jennifer Vassel 23:31
Yes, I have some slides for that, like three tips for how you can build your self-confidence while you're on your writing journey.
Speaker: Laura 23:39
Let me share my screen here, and we will, okay.
Speaker: Jennifer Vassel 23:46
And so I created a visual so you all could see. But I feel like this is the best way, or one of the best ways to build your self-confidence because it's really not easy. It's not an easy thing to be vulnerable and to put yourself out there. So on the next slide, I'll talk about the first tip that I have. And that's to tell your story. The most common thing people ask me is what inspired you to write your books? Like they want to be on your journey, when you tell your story, you're bringing your followers along with you, they're able to see what inspired you, how you were able to do what you do, and that inspires them to set out on their own journey and it gives them an opportunity for them to dream bigger. So always be open to telling your story and sharing your story because people want to have access to your journey and learn more about you as you go. And the second thing is to share your big scary goal. And it's daunting, right? It's daunting to share your goal, you can share your goal with your friend or a confidant or you can do it publicly. But the reason why I have this here is because when you share your goal publicly, it is releasing that energy out into the world, that you have something that you want to do, and you want to share it. Depending on your writing journey, you may want to become a New York Times bestseller, you may want to, whatever your goal is, if you're sharing it, you don't know who's out there who will be able to get you closer to that dream. And I have this image here. So this is something that I do to help me with my big scary goals. So one of my goals is to become a keynote speaker for Oprah Winfrey's Leadership Academy for girls in South Africa.
I want to do a keynote there and I photoshopped The I Am Unique book into the hands of each and every girl, including Oprah's hands, because I feel so strongly about speaking to these girls, that message of self-love and not being afraid to be exactly who you are and be authentic in your and hone in on your power. And that is a message that I want to share with those girls. And I posted it on Instagram, it was scary, it was nerve wracking, but I posted it because I wanted to have it out there to hold me accountable to this goal. And to keep me working on that goal and keep on taking the steps toward it. And naturally, people didn't read the caption. So they thought that it already happened, and so they're like, oh, congratulations, oh, this and that they're so excited, but that's the kind of energy I wanted. Like it's no, I'm holding myself accountable, I've told a lot of people that this is what I want to do and who knows what will happen after this. But if I keep pursuing it and keep taking the steps toward this goal, who knows what will happen. And so I share this with you, because this could be something that you do, whatever that big goal is. You can create a graphic and post it in one of your common areas, maybe above your desk or in the kitchen, wherever or bathroom, post it so that it’s a constant reminder of what you set out to do. You can also have it on your phone, save it on your phone, so that it’s the first thing you see on your home screen. So yes, share your big scary goal and as you share, it's building confidence, it’s building that muscle.
Speaker: Laura 27:17
Well, and also it gives you momentum, like you said, if you tell people that this is a goal, you don't necessarily have to put it on social media, if you don't feel comfortable with that. But tell your friends, tell your family, tell the people in your critique group, and then it's out there. And then you have to do something about it, because you told them you want to do this, you can't just let it go. And so it forces you to start taking those steps moving forward because you've told people about it. I really like that.
Speaker: Jennifer Vassel 27:49
It's that accountability. And the last one is to keep going. You never know how far you'll come if you quit. That's the worst thing that you could do. Right. And I love this illustration because it depicts that, look at the man at the bottom. If he had had to wait one more time, he would have gotten those diamonds, those gems, but he quit, he turned around. And then if he had, if he was like the gentleman up top, you know. If he kept that same energy and kept packing away at that goal and kept going, going, even when the going goes tough, he could, you know, if he continues the same energy, he's going to ultimately achieve his goal. So the third thing about building that self-confidence, it's really not something, it's not a muscle that you can build overnight like with anything. You can't get up one morning and be like, Oh, I'm so competent. This is an exercise that you have to do every single day to build that momentum using that word that you used earlier, but to build that momentum, because knowing that helps you to build that confidence. And I think the last slide if you if you use all three of these steps, and you do it consistently, that will help build character and the confidence that you need to continue sharing your work and your art.
Speaker: Laura 29:07
Great. great. And these are not complicated ideas here. They're actually pretty simple ideas, but it's doing them consistently. Like you said, that is so important. Terrific. Well thank you for that very much. So do you feel that practicing this self-love and doing these things to help overcome your insecurities, helps an author not only write their best work, but also be more effective in marketing it to the world. Because the writing is just half the job, you got to get with your readers. So has that helped you? I mean you've been in some pretty high profile places with your book like Forbes magazine and you've been on television interviewed and all kinds of you know, great places. So clearly this has helped you
Speaker: Jennifer Vassel 30:06
Yes, I absolutely believe self-love and mindset is a big thing. If you don't have the right mindset, you're not going to get the results that you deserve. You know, especially when it comes to marketing. And I think the number one thing for authors is to figure out how to get your book, or books into the hands of your ideal readers consistently, so that you can make sales. But how can you do that if your ideal readers don't know you exist? So you can do that through effective storytelling, always sharing your story. And through effective marketing, those things won't happen, you won't be able to sell or market or share your stories, if your mindset is, oh, I'm an introvert, I don't like marketing, I hate marketing, when you're putting that negative energy out there, of course, it's not going to work for you. I always get and I can speak directly to this because I'm an introvert myself. This is difficult to share, to always be on a hunt like 100%, and sharing a lot of yourself, a lot of your personal work for critique or praise, whatever it is. But it's a muscle, it's something that will stretch you. And if you go in positively knowing that this is, if you take yourself out of the center and realize that you're doing this for the reader and for your mission. And imagine if you never share a bit of yourself, you're robbing other people from getting to know who you are and getting to know your work. Because what you're doing is supposed to be impacting the readers, right? And so we can't get hung up on what we don't like doing or we don't like video, or we're uncomfortable. Marketing is an opportunity for you to stretch and rise to the occasion.
Speaker: Laura 31:55
Mm hmm. Yeah, that's so true. And for those of you who want to hear more about that part of it, Jennifer is really a master marketer. And she's going to be doing a webinar for us on March 18. Just about marketing, and she's going to reveal a lot of her tremendous secrets. And we are tentatively calling it the non-marketers guide to author marketing. So she is going to address all of your fears and your insecurities about marketing, and help you get over that. So we'll be talking more about that. We'll let you know about that as we get closer, but I just wanted to alert you to that so you can keep an eye out for that announcement. So if you guys all have questions for Jennifer, please put them in the Q&A. She can talk about self-publishing, she could talk about marketing, she could talk about mindset, which is so important. Talking more about mindset here, are there certain words that we tend to use when we talk to ourselves as creative people that maybe we shouldn't be using that are you know, cutting off our ability to rise above our insecurities or to love ourselves? Things like, oh, you're an imposter, you know, you can't do this. People are all going to find out that you're an imposter, you’re a failure, anything like that. Did you have certain self-talk that you had to get rid of when you were going through this journey?
Speaker: Jennifer Vassel 33:36
Yes, like I'm not good at video, or I don't like public speaking. So it's saying not or I'm not good at this, like that was limiting for me. That was something that I had to get over, because I realized that if I'm going to make anything move, I need to speak, I need to share my story. Or another one, I don't like listening to my voice, I don't know who does but that was one thing I had to get over too, because I don't really like hearing my voice on podcast or seeing myself on camera, it makes me uncomfortable sometimes, or it made me uncomfortable. And so what I had to do was not have those thoughts and not let those thoughts keep me from the ultimate goal. So say not or saying like putting yourself down or saying oh, well, comparing and saying such and such does this way better. Well, such an such might have been doing this five more years than you. So looking at your own track record and seeing how far you've come. That's something that I do to see. I wasn't like this in 2014, I've grown significantly. So just appreciating the journey along the way.
Speaker: Laura 34:43
Absolutely. That is so important. And you know, I mentioned the link earlier for all the award winners from the American Library Association. It's wonderful to see those books. It's also very intimidating, especially if you are a new author and you think I can never get there. Well, the people who have won these awards, like you said, a lot of them have been writing for 20, 25, 30 years. I mean, at one point, they were also brand new and knew nothing. And so remembering that and I think it's useful sometimes if there's authors you admire, to go to their websites and read their bios, and authors, especially children's book authors are really generous about sharing. How many rejection letters they got, how long it took them to get their first publication, how many manuscripts they wrote, that are still sitting in their drawer, and you read that and then you go, Okay, I can do this too, it helps it actually helps boost your confidence. So check out the bios of your favorite authors. Okay, so a couple questions here. So mg, I don't know who mg is, but wants to know about publishing e-books on different platforms. Kindle versus Apple, KDP, book baby Ingram. When you created e-books, for your books, what sort of platforms did you choose to use?
Speaker: Jennifer Vassel 36:18
So I use Kindle Direct Publishing, that's Amazon's publishing platform. So there, I've been happy with their publishing solution. It's a print on demand model. So I don't really have to get involved in the fulfillment, unless people buy directly from my site, which is great, too. So I've used that. I also use iBooks. And so that iBooks is Apple's e-book component. But I've used those two and been happy with the experience.
Speaker: Laura 36:51
Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you, continue.
Speaker: Jennifer Vassel 36:54
Oh, yeah, that might be a delay on my part. But I was also going to suggest to, if you do sell e-books on your personal website, one thing that I've done is create it into a PDF and just sell it directly to my customer. So that's another alternative to cut out the middleman because Apple and Amazon do take a cut of your royalties.
Speaker: Laura 37:16
That's an excellent point, create a PDF. And then I imagine, that's often easier if teachers want to use it in their classroom. And they're like, projecting from their computer onto a screen or a television in the classroom, a PDF is something they can easily use. And they don't have to worry about having, you know, a Kindle reader or anything like that. So that's a great point.
Alice is saying, can you talk a bit more about how long it has taken you to get where you are now, how long did it take to write and publish and set up your web presence? So you know, you work a lot on marketing, I know. But from start, you know, you said 2014 is when you published your first book?
Speaker: Jennifer Vassel 38:06
Yes. And so this, how long that took, well, I started in 2013, I compiled everything that I had written. So I spent the year or so learning how to self-publish, because I've never self-published before. So 2013, so call it a year, compiling all the work, figuring out how to get this up and running. And then I published it in 2014 and then with I Am Unique, it took me about a couple weeks to write the book to self-publish it. And then I would say from start to finish, because picture books are a little bit different than writing other types of books because you have to engage an Illustrator, and you have to get on their project timelines, and there might be delays and then there's also a back and forth. Sometimes you are looking for a specific look and they might not have delivered it the way that you needed it. So you have to give that that timeline there. I think from start to finish, from the start of me writing the book to it being in my hand maybe took six months. What was the other part of the question? Was it the timeline of publishing or-
Speaker: Laura 39:21
Sort of setting up your web presence and you know, all that now, did you have a lot of that before your first book came out? Or did you learn as you went along there?
Speaker: Jennifer Vassel 39:32
I did not have a web presence in 2014, I did not have a website, a mailing list. I did so many things wrong and the only reason why I got on social media outside of Facebook was because I was like okay, well maybe I need to like have Instagram or something to push My Channel Energy but I really was not online. And so for me as I started learning more, and becoming more comfortable with being online, I did bits and pieces. Like so I started building the website and I learned how to do that. And I learned who I could go to, to build the site that I was connected to, or the site that I that would speak to my messaging. So I think it's hard to say as far as like how long all of this, it didn't take, like, I didn't start from like, 20, I can't say I started from like 2014 and 2016. I did it in spurts, as I had income coming in, and I still had my nine to five. So as the money was coming in, then I worked on something else, then, you know, then I got another sum of money coming in, then I started working on building my mailing list. So I don't really, I don't have like a timeline per se. And I think that it really depends on the person. Sure, sure.
Speaker: Laura 40:54
So there's another question here about with self-publishing, did you receive many different contracts with different costs? I'm guessing Cal's asking for printing the physical books? Did you choose print on demand? Or did you actually get a quantity of books printed at once?
Speaker: Jennifer Vassel 41:12
No, I did print on demand, Amazon course or otherwise known as Kindle Direct Publishing has a print on demand model. So that's what I wanted to have. I wanted the freedom to have someone else be responsible for the fulfillment. And I have not, the only time that I would order a bulk of books is if I was doing an event before lockdown. So I would order a large sum of them and then sell it at that vendor event.
Speaker: Laura 41:42
And that's really been a boon for Self-publishers is that print on demand. And I think that takes a lot of the pressure off you, you don't have to put 3000 books in your garage, after you know, come up with a big chunk of money up front, print 3000 copies of your book or whatever, store them in your garage, and then figure out how to sell them so you can pay yourself back. You can kind of grow bit by bit as a self-publisher these days, because you don't have to lay out a lot of money upfront for the big inventory. You still have to pay your illustrator and do some other things, but it does take a lot of the pressure off financially, I think to be able to do print on demand. Makes it a lot easier.
Speaker: Laura 42:28
So Chrissy says, first of all, that marketing seminar sounds awesome, it will be extremely awesome. Until then, what are a few steps you recommend pre-published authors should do to establish their presence out there in the world? Can you think of one or two things that are sort of really good for, before authors get published that they can start creating their name out there?
Speaker: Jennifer Vassel 42:56
I would say start with, one of the things that I'll likely be sharing is about video marketing, and how important video is. I read this article that said, how little our attention span is, like our attention span is getting less and decreasing by the minute. I think it said that we have less of an attention span than a goldfish. And so you want to get people's attention really quickly. So one thing that I would suggest is getting on video, sharing, you don't have the book yet, which is fine, you can start introducing yourself to your ideal reader. Share who you are, what your mission is, what your values are, what your book is about, or your potential book. And then the other thing that I would suggest is building that mailing list as well. You can, there's a thing called lead magnet where you can create a document, a PDF, a checklist, or something pertaining to your book and then link that as an opt in. When someone signs up to your newsletter or your mailing list, they'll get that free PDF or whatever it is that you're sharing with them in exchange for their email. And you can do that way before you have the book out. You can even share depending on what type of book you have, maybe you share a chapter of your book, but the key is to build that community before you launch your book.
Speaker: Laura 44:32
That's very true. And again, we'll be getting into a lot more details on this in the marketing webinar. So stay tuned for that. Terry says you're pretty brave but also very skilled, which is true. It must have been difficult to learn about publishing. Did you take courses, read books, talk to people, so how did you kind of acquire your knowledge?
Speaker: Jennifer Vassel 44:57
I went to YouTube University and Google University. So I was literally online, just searching, researching, seeing, like, there's things out there that are like, there are some people who wrote about their experiences, there's blogs, who posted, like checklists and different steps that they've taken. And so while I was doing that, while I was reading and rereading, I looked into Amazon. And someone suggested to me that there's this thing called self-publishing, and you don't really need to go to a publisher, if you want to own your work 100%. And so at the time, Amazon was using CreateSpace, Create Space was the solution that they have now, they merged to Kindle Direct Publishing. So someone mentioned CreateSpace and I looked into it, and they had documentation there that helped you along the way. But it really, it took me doing a lot of internet research to figure out how can I get this out there?
Speaker: Laura 46:00
Mm hmm. That's great. So really you just did a lot of searching and did you get a sense of, was there a way to tell which information was good and which was maybe not so good? You know, there's so much out there online, how did you know who really to follow for the right information?
Speaker: Jennifer Vassel 46:24
That's such a great question. So what I did, like I know it can be daunting to just research and look at so much stuff online. And so what I started doing when I was reading, I was looking at the commonalities of the posts.
So that's how I learned and then it really, my first book was really, it was a testament to how much I wanted this, and how much like I was willing to do the research to figure it out. But one thing that I do have is a resource where you don't have to go and search all these multiple sites, but I do have, I can give you the link later, Laura. It's a self-publishing guide. And it's a 10 page checklist of all the steps that I took to publish both my books. So after I did the scouring, and comparing and getting the, doing the trial and error, I made my own process, so that I could hit all of them. Because what I noticed was that one person had maybe like a well, here's what you do here and then another person had this. And so what I did, going through it myself, I tweaked it a little bit and found out what works best for me and how I could get this out there. So yes, I'm happy to share the self-publishing guide if anybody needs it.
Speaker: Laura 47:41
We appreciate that. So we'll include that link with the replay. So look right under the replay, which will go out tomorrow. And we'll have the link to your self-publishing guide. Thank you. That's wonderful. Yolanda is self-publishing and she said she is already awaiting some revisions on the illustrations she contracted for. She said, I can't begin my marketing until I get a good cover image for her book. Is that correct? Is there something that she can be doing before the cover to kind of get the word out? Well you had already mentioned about maybe creating a video? Could you, is there some way to kind of tease the book with your potential audience if you don't yet have a cover? Or is it best to just wait until she has a cover?
Speaker: Jennifer Vassel 48:36
No, I would say, you can still promote your work without having the cover done or most of the book done. I mentioned before the video marketing aspect of it. People want to see the person behind the pages, right, and how interesting is that to learn the story behind it. So you can get on camera, I know that is something that not everyone is comfortable with. But remember how I shared there is some elements of stretching and getting out of your comfort zone. And so this would be a great opportunity to get on camera and share what inspires you, share a little bit about the book. The other thing that you could do if you want like graphics, maybe you have some of the characters, your illustrator has already done some of the characters, maybe you can tease that a little bit and show that off if you're comfortable with sharing that online. If you're not then I would say using Quotables, like pulling quotes from the book or pulling like FAQ things that you know people would most likely ask you about the book and answering it creatively, either on video or with a graphic of some maybe some illustration that you don't mind sharing online.
Speaker: Laura 49:46
Great. great. Now we have a lot of questions here about how you found your Illustrator. How you paid your Illustrator. I don't want you to divulge any details you don't feel like sharing. But was there a particular place you went to find the illustrator that you ended up using?
Speaker: Jennifer Vassel 50:05
Okay, so the way I found my illustrator was, how I shared before, like, my vision was so strong, and I knew exactly what I wanted. And so what I did was Google Search representative artists. Because I didn't want my illustrations to look cartoony. And that's not to shame anybody who uses cartoons. I'm just talking about my preference and what the vision that I had for my book. I wanted the characters to look exactly how they were depicted in real life. And so when I searched representative artists, my illustrator came up, Penny Webber. And her website came up, she was on a, I do not remember the form that it was on, it was a children's book illustrators forum. You can easily search that on Google, and they have a slew of illustrators that put their work up there. But when I did that search of representative artists, I found her website and I told her what my goal was, this is what I'm working on. And then she directed me to her agents, and then we negotiated from there.
Speaker: Laura 51:15
Great, great. And then as far as you know, payment, that's something you work out with the illustrator, there are various ways to do that. There is a flat fee, where you just pay them one time, it's like a work for hire agreement, there is a royalty. There's a lot of different ways to do that and I believe, I may be wrong here, but I believe the Authors Guild website might have some information on working with illustrators, if you are an author, self-publishing. I would go to their website and just look because that seems to, I may be wrong there. I think SCBWI Society of children's book writers and illustrators, if you are a member there, they have information as well.
Speaker: Jennifer Vassel 52:04
Yeah. To add to that, like, yeah, I mean, the SCBWI, I always say ‘squee’, because I can't say that. But with them, they have, I am a member with them as well. And not only do they have children's book writers, but illustrators are there. And some of them are looking for work. So that's another opportunity. You can connect with professional sites, professional networks, like SCBWI, you know, to find people. And you know how I said earlier, share your goals with people. So if your goal, share with people hey, I'm looking for an illustrator. I'm looking for this type of artists, this type of style, who do you know? You never know what might come up.
Speaker: Laura 52:46
Mm hmm, exactly. And I would suggest that if you are contracted with an illustrator, you pay a publishing lawyer for an hour of their time to help you write up an agreement. And we are actually going to have a guest in two weeks, I think who is a publishing attorney. And she can answer some questions about that. So be sure to come back for that one. But you just want to make sure that everything's legal, so that everybody's happy. Everybody's protected, I think that's really important. Okay, just a couple more questions here, because we're getting up to the top of the hour. We have a great question here from Dory, she's asking, she's writing picture books series. Do you have any tips on building your audience and marketing to parents? Because they're really the ones who are going to be buying the picture books, the parents, the teachers, the adults in the kids’ lives, if you're writing for young children, so that's really who you're trying to reach with your marketing?
Speaker: Jennifer Vassel 53:48
Yeah, so one thing that has helped me a lot with targeting parents is going where, the key is to go, where your readers are. When we're talking about children's books, they don't have the buying power, it's the parents. So where are parents reading? What are parents reading? Where are they on and offline? Because we're in this pandemic. We can't necessarily go offline per se, but there's so many resources online where you can go. For example, PBS Kids, they have a great organization there where they have a lot of tips for parents. One way that you can market is, if you're positioning yourself as, I'm just giving examples, because I don't know this person's particular situation. But if they are an expert, you're positioning yourself as an authority figure or a credible person in your industry, you can reach out to them and guest blog and talk about a particular topic that they need. You pitch your idea to them, they might want to work with you and then you write the article for them at the very end, you can link to your book or share that you have a book coming out and link to your newsletter or sign up for the mailing list. That's one way. And then another way that you can find parents, facebook has been really great. There are a lot of Facebook groups for children's book writers, for people who are really looking for diverse content for specific types of books. You could go to Facebook, go to the group section and search by using key terms of, you know, certain interests, and you, nine times out of 10 will find a group pertaining to that specific interest. So finding out what kind of parents that you're trying to market to, what topic will help a lot, but those are some of the areas. Magazines, kids magazines, or parenting magazines, you can get in front of parents that way and market and I'll definitely teach you strategies on how to pitch to media, because that's something that I've been able to master.
Speaker: Laura 55:52
That’s great, in your marketing workshop. That is wonderful. If you were you know, this nonfiction picture book, Dory that you wrote, series, I would also suggest you look at, there are bloggers who and websites for homeschooling parents. And writing an article for them on how your book can be used as part of a lesson plan, as part of a unit on whatever the topic is. Especially if your website has downloadable stuff that the parents can download and use as a teaching tool that connects with your book. That's another great way to get in front of the parents there. So okay. I would say last question here, because you've been so generous with your time. Marsha asked about-
Speaker: Jennifer Vassel 56:44
I’m happy to stay on a little longer to answer the questions.
Speaker: Laura 56:48
Okay. Well, thank you. That's wonderful, then we'll do a few more. How do you explain to the librarian, where your books should be shelved? Now are your books in libraries? Is that a market that you are pursuing as a self-published author?
Speaker: Jennifer Vassel 57:05
No. Okay, well, I have not, I'm open to libraries and getting it there. I have not targeted libraries because there's so many other ways that people can access my book. So unfortunately, wouldn't be able to answer that question or offer feedback for that one.
Speaker: Laura 57:19
Okay. How about, have you done any sales in specialty shops? Have you pursued debtors? Are your sales mostly online? I that where you're focusing?
Speaker: Jennifer Vassel 57:32
It's mostly online. So the main sellers is my website, iamuniquebook.com, and then Amazon. There has been instances where I had short stints in bookstores. And we did it on a consignment basis. Consignment basis where my book was there for a limited time and we saw how we did. But really, people are on Amazon around the clock. So a lot of my sales are e-commerce based.
Speaker: Laura 58:05
Okay. And have you noticed, print versus e-book? Is there a big difference in the sales? Your children's book versus your book of poetry and stories? Have you sort of tracked that at all?
Speaker: Jennifer Vassel 58:24
Yeah. The children's book, mostly print, people are buying print mostly with that I have had a few sales with ebooks. But I think with kids or parents when they're buying the books, for their kids, they want the child to be able to feel the pages and things. So I'm noticing that there's more sales for that, I've seen more sales for e-books with the poetry book because it's more of an older audience. And they're trying to get a handle on having so many books in their library, so they just want to have it digitally. But for kids I've seen, absolutely seeing more physical books. And going back to the previous question about like where I'm seeing sales, or am I doing specialty. Specialty I think was partnerships or I can't remember what you said, official sales. So we are available for like opportunities to connect overseas. Like for example we have I Am Unique in French. And we had a woman reach out and say well, there's a lack of books that talk about this in France. So we'd love to get a set order of books. So we do have, we are open to contracting with people overseas if they want to have the books in their bookstores, but mostly it's e-commerce for us. It’s really where things are at.
Speaker: Laura 59:47
Great. Great. I will ask a couple more questions of Jennifer. I want to let you all know the chat box is open if you want to leave any comments for Jennifer. And also Cal if you're still here and you want to repost that link to the slack group, feel free. So you can all get together and chat. Okay. Cheryl asked, Cheryl's an artist, she's saying, is it a good idea to get an artist for your first book in order to get it published faster? If you are an artist, but you are struggling to get the images exactly the way you envision? So I think really the question here is, is it better to wait and have your product truly match your vision, even if it means having to hire an illustrator, instead of doing the art yourself? I have an opinion on that but I want to hear what your opinion is.
Speaker: Jennifer Vassel 1:00:50
Yeah if you're a professional artist, then sure, by all means, and I've seen people do that. Vashti Harrison, she has a book called Little leaders. And another book as well. She is an illustrator and an author. So her work is impeccable on both fronts. And so if you are a professional artists, or you are very good at visually portraying things, then sure, by all means. But I think also what you should be cautious of, is putting, I'm not saying that this is your situation, but putting subpar work out there. Because remember, this is your brand and this is your name. So if art is not your thing, and you, by all means wait, wait till you can hire that artists or wait till that illustrator is available to do the work because this is your name and this is your brand and it’s going to live on forever. Why put out subpar work when you can get it, you know, get it out at a later time and it'll be just exactly how you envisioned it.
Speaker: Laura 1:01:58
I agree. And especially with picture books, the art is so vital, it's vital to the cover image. The title are what draw people to your book and remember, even online, that's what they're seeing first. If you are printing hard copies, and you do want it carried in libraries, or bookstores, it is going to sit on the shelf next to, think about winning artists or professional illustrators, people who have been doing this for a long time. And so you want your book to look just as good. And if that means having to wait a while you save up a bit and hire the illustrator, you really want that is often the best choice. Rather than putting out subpar work, like you said.
Speaker: Jennifer Vassel 1:02:45
Right. And if you do, like say, say you draw, you draw, I’m losing my train of thought. So you have the artwork done and you wanted, like if you want to use your artwork as a reference point for the illustrators, that works, you know. But again, like if that's your profession, and you are skilled at doing the art and you can double up as an illustrator and writer and save money. Sure. But if that's not your lane, then I would say respect the illustrators zone of genius and save up for it if that's what you want or budget for it and wait for it. Wait till you can get it done exactly how you want it.
Speaker: Laura 1:03:22
Great. Okay, my last question for you. But I want to just mention, Liz posted a question in the chat box to Cal. But Liz, you just clicked all panelists, so Cal can't see it. You have to pull down the little menu that says to all panelists and attendees above where you type the chat, and then Cal can see it. So why don't you repost that. Okay, we got connections going on here. All right. Last question. Do you do school visits? Of course this is you know, once we're all able to get together again in person. Is that part of your promotion plan? Is that something you do?
Speaker: Jennifer Vassel 1:04:00
Can you say that one more time like I was getting a bit of a glitch?
Speaker: Laura 1:04:03
Do you do you do school visits?
Speaker: Jennifer Vassel 1:04:07
Yeah, I was doing that before we went on lockdown. And so that was a great way for me to, one thing that I noticed too, is like, it's not often that kids see the people who are writing the books they read. I had something happen, so in 2016, I went to this conference, and this woman bought the I am Unique book from me and then a couple days later, she called and left a voicemail and was like, Jennifer, I'm so happy that I bought this book. My daughter was so excited, she was shocked. She's never met an author before. She was excited that I actually know you, she thought all authors were dead. I was like that is the craziest thing. But when you think about it, though, we're buying books. We're not really thinking about who penned that. So for me, being in front of them and saying, hey, I wrote this book. I'm not that that much, I'm still relatively around your age, however I want to work it but like I'm saying, so you can do that, you can do this too. If I'm doing it, you can do it as well. So I think doing that in school and doing the readings, they really love that. It really adds that human touch, and it inspires kids because you never know how, by just seeing you, right seeing you in that space doing the thing. You never know how much that can expand their imagination and be like, okay, well, if she can do it, so can I.
Speaker: Laura 1:05:38
Absolutely, absolutely. And just getting that wonderful feedback from the kids, you know, especially if your story meant something personally to them and kind of changed how they think about themselves. And for them to tell you that is just so wonderful. You know, I think that's probably one of the biggest joys of being an author.
Speaker: Jennifer Vassel 1:06:03
Yeah, it was it's really touching to like when they, after you've read, like this little girl hugged me around my thighs, she was too short to get my, she was very petite little girl. But she hugged me and she was like, Oh, you're such a great reader, I want to read just like you, but like those things are so touching because you're really reaching them where they are. And you took the time as an author, you cut the time out of your busy schedule to meet them where they are. Now, what I'm seeing is that a lot of teachers are reaching out virtually, everything is virtual. So you can do virtual readings if you'd like and it has the same impact or similar impact.
Speaker: Laura 1:06:43
Absolutely. Yeah. I'm glad that they are doing that and teachers are finding a way to make that work. I know it's really hard with the kids in all different places and, but the teachers you are all saints. I mean I salute you all for making that happen. So well Jennifer, thank you so much. This has been wonderful.
Speaker: Jennifer Vassel 1:07:06
Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker: Laura 1:07:09
Waiting for information and we are all looking forward to your marketing workshop in March. And we will spread the word on that when we're closer. But thank you so much for all your advice and inspiration tonight.
Speaker: Jennifer Vassel 1:07:23
Thank you so much Laura.
Speaker: Laura 1:07:24
Okay. Well thank you all for being here and we will see you next week. Bye
Speaker: Jennifer Vassel 1:07:28
Bye.