Hello everyone, and welcome to "Post-second-book-production" world! I just wanted to take a moment with you, before I re-start my blog posts and the serious business of illustrating/writing book three.

It’s taken an Herculean effort to get this book completed. Not because the production process was onerous (though it was laborious and time-consuming, it went surprisingly smoothly this second time around), but because there were a couple of major changes in my life that occurred at the time I was on the verge of completing it. Even though Centipede Dragon likely won’t make the NY Times best seller list, I still wanted every detail to be perfect. I wanted to make sure my background images were visible enough, but would not compete with, the foreground imagery. I wanted every stroke to be its proper width; thicker to emphasize importance, but not so thick as to detract. I wanted the background colors to flow from page to page, I wanted the drawings themselves to be fresh and cheeky but still thoughtful, familiar and comforting. I wanted the page-turning images to function as such, I wanted the suspense to be palpable. I wanted to grow my three main characters subtly, while keeping the text concise. So many different directions in which I am pulled when I am the write, editor, illustrator, designer, and producer. Was the plot too thin? What does this book teach, since the first one had such a clear lesson? Was the new character believable or relate-able? Will kids still root for and appreciate Centipede Dragon?

Did I succeed? Probably not in every aspect, but I did produce something of which I am truly proud.

So, this reflection time has been critical for me, not just for analyzing my process and how I’d like to improve it, nor how to even take it in a different direction. This time allows me to ask myself if it was worth it, all the late nights fixing the corrections I missed the first 5 times around; the unfathomable text errors that kept appearing; the weekends gone in pursuit of finishing the product; the details I couldn’t remember how to do and had to look up in the many pages of notes I took from the first go-around. Had I remembered to register for copyright? Did they even ask me to upload the first book as they did the second? How do I do the “Look inside” feature on Amazon again? To which sites did I upload my video trailer?

Was it worth it?

Answer, next post. And thank you all.

https://www.amazon.com/Centipede-Benevolent-Creature-Rascally-Reptillion/dp/0692840990/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

Now, on to Book 3!

Hello all, just a quick update to say we are almost there. Publication process is going smoothly and I'm hoping to launch the sales for the book in early June!
Thanks for sticking with me and being a loyal friend to Centipede Dragon. Stay tuned!

vimeo.com/212383119
And now, the LONG AWAITED video trailer to the even LONGER AWAITED book 2 release in the Centipede Dragon book series titled: Centipede Dragon A Benevolent Creature versus the Rascally ReptilLion!. Please enjoy and comment liberally!

As you all know, at the end of January I did a focus group for book 2, which I had announced last November that I was fervently working toward publishing it by early 2017. Well, early 2017 is rapidly slipping away, and therefore, I’ve decided to take as brief a break from the blog posts as possible to concentrate my efforts on finally getting book 2 published.

There are many circumstances that have changed in 2017 which have severely limited my time to do all these things that I used to be able to do. But once I get this book out, we’ll be back to our bi-weekly post chats. I hope you will stick around for the re-start.

It won’t all be radio silence either, for I will be launching the video trailer for the new book in the next few weeks, so please stay tuned for that.

So, while I will miss writing the post, it is for a good cause, and that is of course, the launch of book 2!

By now, you are probably wondering that after all these discussions in the set-up of my book for print production, if there’s ever hope in actually finishing this part of the process. I know it’s been tedious, that I may even be dwelling a little too long on these steps, but these are fundamental to your book’s future. And, once you get this part down thoughtfully, every marketing move you make will be that much more intuitive, because you’ve thought about the set-up so comprehensively.

Aside from choosing the categories into which your book can be found, is something equally important and likely what I should’ve begun with in this process: the summary description of your book. Most likely, you’ll be asked to give two types: a short form and a long form: the short form is the all-purpose, show up everywhere description, and the long form is if someone is further interested in the details of your book.

In all the things you have to think of, you’d be surprised that actually coming up with a one- to two-sentenced synopsis for your book is not as easy as it seems. I mean, what exactly do you want the book to be known for? Perhaps it’s a series on how the main character’s quirky behavior lead to hilarious escapades? Or that the story is a poem, that evokes an emotion so strong as that the need to sing it overwhelms? Or, that your story is about getting into the psychology of bullying, and as the victim what tactics to try?

So many times when I started off my summary of Centipede Dragon, I obviously started with Centipede Dragon. But with the first sentence already used up on describing the character, where would I go next? Did I really want to spend a valuable sentence describing what makes Centipede Dragon unusual? Could I not? Or did I want to talk about a shy protagonist who innately believes in community and helping others? Did I want to talk about community as a whole, and introduce Ben and Ariel’s characters in the summary? After all, playing up children in a children’s book is a valuable marketing feature. Or, did I want to focus on captivating my audience with magic?

In short (hah!), the most important aspect of the 1-2 sentence summary is that it is, well, brief. Think of that all-important elevator speech that we get taught in effective networking tactics. What is the single-most important aspect of YOU that you want to convey to the person you’ve got on that elevator for the next 20-30 seconds?

Can you come up with an elevator speech for yourself? How about my book? Please share!

Before our posts about fire roosters and focus groups, I posed a question, who puts your book into these categories? Looking back, I’m not sure why I asked that question, because I don’t know the answer except to say that YOU do, as the self-published author.

I wonder if I REALLY meant to ask, who decides what the categories are? Aha! Excuse me for my senior moment. But truly, this IS important, because although you don’t get to decide the categories, you do have a say into which ones your book will go. So, here are some things to keep in mind when you are selecting categories:

1) Select as many categories as you are allowed: if you’re given 3 options, as BISAC allows, take them all (see http://bisg.org/page/JuvenileFiction just for fun!).
2) Try to be as diverse with those categories as possible. For instance, if your book is about a glum baby panda (yeah like THOSE exist) living at the local zoo, your BISAC categories shouldn’t all be under Animals. Think, what is the problem glum baby P is facing? How does s/he solve it? Use those clues to lead you to different categories altogether (seriously, look at http://bisg.org/page/JuvenileFiction).
3) Despite the belief that casting the widest net is the best strategy, I recently heard advice that we should be as specific about categorizing our book as possible. This is because, like the example above, if the only categories you’ve placed your book into is Animals: bears, Animals: baby animals, and Animals: Zoos, how many OTHER books do you think exist in these fields? Yup, A LOT. Ergo, the search will returns hundreds if not thousands of books. And you are no closer to selling a book.
4) If you’re truly split between or among a few categories, like if you HAD to put your book into one category container, WHAT box would that be? I've heard the argument that putting it into the hottest or trendiest category is a good strategy, because the hottest books are selling, and there are a lot of sales that happen just by association. In my opinion, it's worth trying.
5) Always remember that you are allowed to change these categories. See how you’re sales are going, ask anyone who tells you they have bought your book how they found it, and simply ask anyone who has read the book, how would YOU categorize it?

Now, I leave you with a game where I would love for you to post answers back. In the categories I have listed for Centipede Dragon, which three would YOU choose for my book?

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! Thanks for spending a few minutes with Centipede Dragon on this day.

You’ve all read about the numerous ups and downs in my journey to produce the first Centipede Dragon book. And as I’ve shared with you my failures, I hope that somehow, you all will keep in mind the silver linings as I do.

On January 24, I held my focus group for book 2, which I had planned to publish at end of January. But then I realized I had completely forgotten about taking this important step. I quickly turned to a friend, the librarian for Youth Services at Charles Beatley Central Library, who has been a wonderful advocate for Centipede Dragon.

Unfortunately, with having to reschedule this event once already, the intervening holidays, the cold months, and the kids' return to school, our event was attended by only one. HOWEVER, that one, a young lady, ended up being a productive and brilliant participant after I read her both books. Then I essentially got to grill her one-on-one with the questions I had prepared to test for character motivation and plot comprehension.

The success of a focus group lies in polling and numbers, but simply talking to a kid about her take on your book can still bear significant impact. I ended up with A LOT of insight, as well as confirmation that the holes I suspected I had in the plot were indeed there.

My librarian and her assistant also gave invaluable information about how they interpreted some of my choices for visual imagery; in my mind, these illustrations which I had lovingly crafted were absolutely clear to me, but clearly not to others. And now, from my focus group of three, I have critical information to incorporate into the new book that will make it better.

My point in telling you this, is despite the time we (the librarian and I) put into prepping for this event, it's easy to be disappointed by the lack of attendance. But if you persevere, you just might get your silver lining: for me, it was that one actively engaged young lady.

No matter what, I will produce the best book that I possibly can. In the coming months, look out for snippets from the book and a new trailer, as well as a final launch date!

I am usurping my own blog post about my focus group wrap-up until next time, because the Lunar New Year has begun! I like to highlight the Lunar New year because there’s just so much to learn, no matter how long you’ve been celebrating it.

We all know about the Chinese version of the Zodiac, which is determined by the year you were born, versus the month you were born in the Astrological Zodiac. There are 12 animals in the Chinese Zodiac, and this year is the rooster’s turn.

I started seeing things on the internet about how this year was the Fire rooster year. And I thought, wow, that sounds really cool, but what what what? I’d not heard of the fire rooster; was it different from the normal rooster? Was there a particular year that was singled out in Chinese history that warranted this special fire rooster designation? Does each animal have a fire counterpart, like could I possibly have been a fire pig all these years and not have known?!?

As this year happens to mean a lot for me as two very special people in my life are roosters, I had to find out what the fire rooster was all about. And thanks to the internet, I did!

Turns out that each animal is also broken down into 5 sub-types of animal: earth, gold, water, wood, and fire. Again, the sub-type of animal you are is dependent upon the year you were born. Thus, if you were born in 1957 or 2017, you my friend are a fire rooster!

Traits are associated with each animal, but now with this further stratification, you get more specificity about your traits. The fire rooster is trustworthy, and is particularly punctual and responsible on the job.

For ALL you roosters, your lucky numbers are 5, 7 and 8. Your lucky flowers are gladiolas and cockscomb. And your lucky directions are south and southeast.

So, happy Lunar New Year everyone! Make it a great one!