Up Close & Personal with 'Baby Bear's Spaghetti Misadventures' Linda Karimo #upcloseandpersonal @karimolinda
Up Close & Personal is one of The Writer’s Life newest features. Here we feature authors who don't mind spilling the beans and telling what it's really like to write, get published and sell that book. Today's guest is Linda Karimo, author of the children's book, BABY BEAR'S SPAGHETTI MISADVENTURES. You can visit Linda's website at www.lindakarimo.com
On Writing…
As an accountant for over
thirty years, I found myself writing reports of all types and grant proposals.
Most of the work was done using the now archaic typewriter. It was only late in
the game that the personal computer came along, making all of my financial
writing easier.
At that point, it was time
for a career change; I just got tired and burnt out. But what type of work lay
ahead for me? Since I was writing financial copy, the answer came to me that
why not learn to be a B2B Copywriter.
For a while, I dug into
courses and books to learn the ropes. It was too early for the Internet to
really help me with my research. They say that you need to have a niche, and
mine was leaning toward Forest Products, including wood manufacturing. I became
quite an expert in the field, thanks to a mentor who was the head of sales at a
company where I did freelance work.
I’m proud of an interview
with an owner of a noted sawmill in
Again, the hands of
time were moving rapidly. The opportunity came around to write my mother’s life
story, I Know My Way Memoir: Always Remember to Color the Sky Blue.
The certainty that I could write this book made me forge ahead and completed
the manuscript in less than six months. It was published in November 2018. Was
I excited, you bet!
Publishing that memoir was just the beginning of my journey as an author. It seems that my love for the classic children’s stories so cherished as a young child would propel me into writing some of my own in picture book format. You might say that Goldilocks and the Three Bears and the fact that I have golden tresses, just might have had some influence.
On Author Advancement…
As stated earlier, my writing style is conversational. I help my readers feel a part of the action taking place rather than just looking through the window watching it all swim by. The memoir was very dialog-driven and met this goal. The writing of this type of book was reasonably seamless for me. Would that change if I was tackling a different genre moving forward?
Today, I am immersed in writing a series of picture books for young children. To make this happen, it would be a stiff learning curve for sure. Once again, it was time to hit the internet and look for an author specialist in this specific sub-genre of children’s book writing. Eevi Jones, a prolific award-winning picture book writer for the age group I was targeting, was my choice.
There was a specific story structure that you have to learn. These books are a maximum length of one thousand words, a far cry from the memoir that I just told you about having over ninety-thousand words.
In addition, children’s picture books must engage the parent who will most likely read it to their kids. Simultaneously, have full-color full-page illustrations that will act as a magnet for children’s attention and enjoyment.
Suppose the current picture book series evolves into chapter books. In that case, I’m reasonably sure that they will feel more like writing a short novel. Whatever happens, my conversational writing style will always be front and center.
On Being Published…
In late November 2018, when I
published the book: I Know My Way Memoir: Always Remember to Color the
Sky Blue, What a wonderful moment it was to hit the publish button on
Amazon.com. But an even more thrilling event was to hold the book in my hand.
For most of my life, being an avid reader of several genres, just the
excitement of ruffling my fingers through the pages of this book and knowing
that little old me had written every word.
For some reason, my
excitement has been building with greater intensity waiting for my first
children's picture book to be published on September 12. Luckily the manuscript
was read by some very prolific authors in that genre. To my amazement, they
gave it a thumbs up. How thrilling to hear this news.
Baby Bear's Spaghetti
Misadventure is the first book in the series: Very Short Misadventure Stories
for Kids and Bears, K-1.
What an incredible and totally exciting moment to learn that the book makes me a best-selling author. How unbelievably cool that would be to proudly place those precious words next to my name, website, and anywhere else on the internet!
On Publishing Industry…
When first deciding to write the memoir I mentioned, it seemed to be an inevitable path to traditionally publish the book rather than self-publishing it. After all, what was self-publishing anyway? My only knowledge of anything like this was hearing stories of authors having filled their garage full of books and no buyers.
After composing a rather long and tedious book proposal around 75 pages, and having had a query letter written and critiqued by a professional, I thought that I was on my way down the publishing road. And that would take a year or more to complete. So I submitted the manuscript to a vast number of literary agents; the only way to get in front of any of the big publishing houses. The end result, no congratulations email was received, nor a snail mail letter was expressing the same.
What to do now? Was it quitting time?
No way, defeat was not in my playbook. It was after attending a webinar about the differences between traditionally or self-publishing books that opened my eyes to some very important aspects that started moving the needle for me toward self-publishing.
You see, when you sign on the dotted line, you are giving the publishing house the right to change your book's title and adding or deleting parts of the manuscript that you spent months writing. Yes, you can score an advance from the house, but is it worth what you need to forfeit to bank some big bucks?
The obvious answer for me was heck no, the title of that memoir had a special meaning regarding my mother. They were the last words that she spoke before falling off a train platform and being struck and killed by an Amtrak train going full speed.
Another consideration during the current pandemic is that due to the closure of brick and mortar bookstores, the big boys in publishing are feeling the heat. Yes, they can sell on Amazon. The houses need to be more selective, and it makes it even more difficult to go the traditional publishing route. Too high a mountain to climb.
As a result, the self-published authors have a better chance
of getting noticed online. But, that means that a prospective author must do a
lot more than just throwing up a book on Amazon and hoping for the best.
Mistakes Along the Way…
Where on earth do I begin? The biggest mistake I made through ignorance was thinking that when I hit the publish button on Amazon that one could just sit back and watch the money roll in. What a naïve concept. Upon more research, it was determined that I was not alone thinking this way.
The issue was how to get people to notice my book among the millions on Amazon. Just didn't know how to market my book. As a result, it sat there like a dead fish. What were promotional websites all about? It was only much later that a full understanding of their worth was known to me. Press releases, how to write one, and what to do with it so that journalists and others would see it?
What about social media? My focus was always on LinkedIn, but that was not the place where my future customers would hang out. Somehow my instinct told me that Facebook and Twitter had to be put in place to make any book like this a success. Money was not there to hire the people who could make a difference for me in any of these areas.
There were a few aspects of the publishing process that I did get right for my first book. The cover was professionally designed, and was sure that this was a must for success. It fit well in the thumbprint sized placeholder on the Amazon book page.
Now, about a website. Yes, I did create one, and it really looked good but didn't have a clue how to get people to stop by and learn about what I was writing.
My goal was to move forward in the publishing world. It
would require lots more research to familiarize myself with all the technical
stuff and marketing strategies. Maybe enlist the help of a mentor, someone who
knew all the ins and outs of publishing on Amazon and the whole promotional
scene.
On Marketing…
Bringing a book to the market takes time. It takes a lot of research to determine which pieces of the marketing puzzle need to be put in place to create a great strategy to make my books a big success.
The first step was to make my book packaging the best that it could be, or any marketing plan would just be a waste of time. To this end, I searched out an illustrator to create both the 18 full color, full-page illustrations. An illustrator will really engage a book cover to excite children and warm the parent's heart forking over the money. After passing all of the above illustrations and book cover to some people, including experts, they gave it a thumbs up—time to move on.
The mentor that I would hire to help me further the project was giving a webinar on Amazon's score. Honestly, money was very tight as my husband and business partner Pedro and I were spending much more money than anticipated in keeping us safe from covid19. Still, we had to find the way forward in the publishing world.
We hired Alinka Rutkowska, a USA Today Best Selling Author, to her credit and has mentored many authors to bestseller status on Amazon. The first item on our list was to go over the book interior with a fine comb to make sure that the wording was precise and understood by a child's parent reading it.
The next step was writing the description for the book page on Amazon. Keywords and categories were discussed between Alinka and me. This was a critical step because if not selected correctly, nobody will ever find my book.
A website was built using my pen name for my children's book writing (lindakarimo.com). But, we are back to figuring out how to make it work for me to bring my potential visitors to see what I was up to. The same company that built the site also has provided, of course, for money, a marketing specialist to set up my Facebook and Twitter accounts. The strategic posting on those sites has led to over 4500 likes and follows in ten days. Pretty good for someone without a household name in this business!
While this was going on, my research for sites that would promote my book for a fee led me to a really great website, reedsy.com. After creating a spreadsheet and having chosen promo sites that work with my genre, I was ready to implement all of this once the book became live on Amazon.
Next, my research suggested that it would be a good idea to run a blog tour. Yes, I could do it myself, but there are so many moving pieces that the decision was made to hire an expert to do all the work, and the cost was surprisingly a lot less than I thought.
Moving forward to launch week, enter Alinka's expertise again on launching the book to bestseller status, which was the guarantee when hiring her earlier. So with a big dash of pixie dust and the promotions that I set up myself, my confidence is higher than when first publishing the memoir mentioned earlier. Of course, time would tell.
On Goals and Dreams…
When starting to write Baby Bear's Spaghetti Misadventure, it didn't dawn on me that its content might help young children and their parents. You don't have to look far to see the impact that the Pandemic has had on family structure. Mostly there are parents who are trying to instill manners and other important life lessons to their children.
For instance, my story uses Baby Bear as a non-threatening character, who doesn't listen to Mama Bear when she says no to a playtime activity on the forbidden list. She explains why not, but still, Baby Bear does it again and again. The consequences could lead to both Mama Bear and Baby Bear getting hurt.
I hope that children will feel compelled to watch and listen
to what sweet Baby Bear has done and learned from it. The next books in the
series tackle other issues that can be difficult for both parent and child.
Namely, going to
On a personal note, my husband and I hope that this children's book series' success will help us get out of debt and move forward with a heck of a better-looking balance sheet. Only time will tell whether and where we could travel to celebrate our success.
The very best advice that I could extend to those first time would-be authors is to take it slow writing your book. You will be bombarded by several experts jamming your inbox, telling you that it should only take a long weekend, or get published in a month. It can be daunting and make you feel, what's wrong with me, why can't I do what they say? It's very difficult to turn a deaf ear to all the noise.
When you have a manuscript that you feel is as good as it can be, it's time to reach out to a professional copyeditor who can put a second pair of eyes on your work and fix any grammar issues. This is a critical step, and it shouldn't be neglected.
Suppose you want to get people to look at your book cover on Amazon or other retailers. In that case, you definitely don't want to scrimp on this essential cash layout. Not a good idea to use one of the millions of templates out there, and believe me, reviewers can tell the difference. Again, seek out professionals who are well qualified to build you a stunning and engaging book cover.
You will also need a small website to start, just somewhere to talk about your book.
Bottom line: Potential new authors should take the time to
write a really engaging manuscript. Stick to professionals when editing your
work and designing your book cover. Don't forget to build a small website, even
if it is only one page to start. Good luck, and enjoy the publishing journey.
Meet Mama Bear and her sweet little bear child, Baby Bear.
Sometimes he doesn’t do what Mama Bear says, sound familiar?
This one particular day when Mama Bear was cooking spaghetti and meatballs, Baby Bear bounced his ball against the cave wall.
Baby Bear knew it was on the forbidden list.
He did it anyway.
Mama Bear gave him the look.
He did it again.
Find out what happened to Mama Bear’s spaghetti dinner and naughty Baby Bear.
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