MORE: About “Living My Dream”

Reposted, with permission, from SheilaDeethBlogspot.com

Which is harder, self-publishing or cheering up a child who has a broken leg?

Today I’m delighted to welcome author Judith Wolf Mandell to my blog. She’s had a long career as a journalist/publicist, and the childrens book,  Sammy’s Broken Leg (Oh, No!) and the Amazing Cast That Fixed It  represents her first venture into picture books.

With her husband and Cockapoo, Judith Wolf Mandell moved from San Diego eleven years ago to be near family in Nashville—read the book and you’ll see how important family is to her. They live in an absurd-for-their-age three-level house in the woods and have a critter control service on speed-dial. This is  Judith Wolf Mandell’s first book and I, for one, really enjoyed. Click here for my review of Sammy’s Broken Leg (Oh, No!) and the Amazing Cast That Fixed It

So, find some coffee and maybe a gluten free brownie (yes, I’ve been baking!) then sit down and enjoy the tale of Judith’s road to publication. Thank you for joining us, Judith. And over to you:

NINE YEARS TO CREATE A BOOK (BUT WHO’S COUNTING?)

by Judith Wolf Mandell, author

Sammy’s Broken Leg (Oh, No!) and the Amazing Cast That Fixed It

Nine years to create a thousand-word, 32-page book? No way! Yet that’s how long it took.

I was inspired to write the book when my granddaughter had an “oh, no!” fall that fractured her thigh bone and landed her in a chest-to-ankle (spica) cast for a mostly miserable month. Searching in vain for a book to buoy her spirits, I vowed to someday write a book to cheer glum, grumpy kids in clunky casts. My granddaughter was two when her world turned topsy-turvy; she’s eleven now. Ergo, nine years.

The first draft practically wrote itself. My granddaughter’s experience was memory-fresh. The whimsical element of the story — a troupe of kisses who secretly whoosh into the child’s life to cheer for her and inspire patience — came to me as an “aha.” If one kiss heals a boo-boo, then a broken leg needs a bazillion kisses.

I’ve always loved a line from Cyrano de Bergerac: “A kiss is the rosy dot over the ‘i’ of ‘loving.'” The Kisses were from all the people who loved my protagonist and knew in their hearts she was hurting.

What took so long? Life happens, so I was otherwise occupied for some chunks of time. For other chunks the manuscript sat on the shelf because I was stymied about next steps. My best friend had self-published a novel, so I knew about that possibility. But my book needed art. How would I find an artist? Can an illustrated book even go through the same process as a text-only book? Those questions boggled.

Then I heard a sermon about “living your dream.” I knew I was meant to go forward. First step was to send the manuscript to friends and family. Most loved it. A few disputed The Kisses as being unrealistic. Oh, c’mon! I banked on Santa, The Tooth Fairy, Peter Pan as beloved improbabilities.

Next: send the manuscript to professionals for medical clearance. Mission accomplished, with a bonus of endorsements I used on the book’s eventual back cover.

While I was taking these steps to make my book a reality, the self-publishing (now known as “independent publishing”) world was growing up, becoming a popular route for would-be authors.  At a Community College course on self-publishing, I learned about CreateSpace, Amazon’s self-publishing arm, a low- or no-cost platform: download its template, input your book, upload said book, have a cover designed or DIY, push the “publish” button and voila, you have a POD (print-on-demand) paperback book. Nifty.

Except that pesky issue of illustrations. By now I had given my book a title: Sammy’s Broken Leg (Oh, No!) and the Amazing Cast That Fixed It. I had a vision for its art: bright, whimsical, insightful. The Internet brought portfolio samples from around the world. None clicked. In my heart of hearts I wanted someone local for what I envisioned as a collaborative effort. Networking rules: through a mutual friend, I found my illustrator, Lise C. Brown, close by. Her quirky style, experience with juvenile art and knowledge of graphic design made her a perfect fit.

While the art was underway, I was on a mission to find a way to produce a hardback version. Envisioning my book in libraries, schools, children’s hospitals, doctors’ offices, I intuited the need for a durable hardback. A hardback would also be more likely to be stocked by bookstores; time will tell if I’m correct. My search came to an end with my discovery of IngramSpark, producer of deluxe POD hardback and paperback books.

Then Google found me a local graphic designer who specializes in book formatting and is certified to work with IngramSpark’s exacting specifications, as well as CreateSpace. Bonus: she had the savvy to make the book available for Kindle and iBook readers. An eBook version is attractive to my target demographic: youngish parents.

My book was technically finished December 7, 2016…but once again, sat on the shelf. I was stubborn about having a Sammy website before publication. Networking rules again: I found my talented, affable web designer locally. Please visit www.sammysbrokenleg.com to appreciate how worthwhile the wait was until we at last “test drove” the website.

On this March 15, I hit the “publish” button at CreateSpace and IngramSpark, making my book — nine years later — a reality. Recall that I set out to help kids cope with the challenge of life in a cumbersome cast. Imagine my gratification to read this Amazon review:

“This book is perfect for our almost two-year-old who is one week into her spica cast experience. We’ve already read it dozens of times!”

Wow, what a perfect endorsement for your book! And thank you for sharing this journey. I run a local writers’ group where the speaker will discuss publication choices at the next meeting. It will be good to attend armed with my new knowledge of yours, as I’ve never got up the nerve to go beyond the Amazon Createspace part. Thank you so much!