I am so excited to announce that my next children's book has been released as an ebook and audio book, and it will soon be released in print edition, too! I wrote this book last year but wanted to find the perfect illustrator for it because I knew that the artwork would be a hugely important part of this picture book. I knew what I wanted each scene to look like, but it was far beyond my artistic abilities. Once I found a great artist, it took time to work through each illustration with her. We started back in March, and the art was finally completed in June. Sometimes, we would have to revise what she came up with; I wanted it to be just right. Anastasia Yatsunenko was great at listening to my comments and making the illustrations fit my vision for the book. She is a superb children's book artist, and I am lucky to have found her.
Then, I hired a fantastic narrator, Megan Rutledge, to work on the audio book while I finished up layout and design for the ebook. This book lends itself especially well to an audio version because much of the book is written in song. I asked my narrator to sing the song part of the narrative, and she did a wonderful job of it.
After those two editions came out, it was on to beginning to market the book. As an indie author, the hard work is just beginning once a book has gone live. Writers rarely like to promote their books, but it is a necessary part of a writer's career, and it take a LOT of work and time. But the end goal is to have your book in the hands of kids everywhere, so a writer promotes, promotes, promotes to see that that dream is realized. I can't tell you how many hours this summer I have devoted to marketing this book. It is beginning to pay off in Goodreads and Amazon reviews. Word is getting out, and I am grateful.
My plan is to release the print edition in the next week. I am working on a few promo ideas before I hit publish. At the very least, it will be out by the end of this month. For more information about The River Fairy's Wish, visit my Amazon book page. Thanks!