Peaks and valleys of publishing

August 19, 2025 — I awoke the other day to an exciting message from Keirstie Carducci of Out-Back Wildlife Rehab who gave a presentation at a senior center in Birmingham, Mich., the prior night. Although she rarely does presentations, her Mom has been going to the center for years and her friend works there.

“So, I gathered up my materials and I took your book!” she wrote. “There was a HUGE interest in the book and several people are planning to buy it! It was hilarious watching a bunch of seniors (I am also one) trying to figure out the QR code on their phones.

“People were thrilled with your book and my friend even ‘introduced’ it!”

When she received the book I mailed her, she texted, “OH MY GOSH! This book is BEAUTIFUL! The illustrations are AMAZING!” Her sister was a reading specialist in Birmingham for 37 years — “I wish she had this book to read to her students!”

Of course, these are high points. Receiving positive feedback is always welcomed. When my editor received his copy, he emailed me. It began, “I received your book and wow … it looks great. Very proud of you! …” and continued with more words that made my heart happy. Funny, I was thinking he was going to be disappointed because there was something I didn’t take his advice about. But, as he says, in the end it’s my book, my decisions. This is a really nice part of self-publishing. Of course, in our case, the illustrator and I worked together.

One other early recipient of the book, who has been battling health issues, wrote, “Receiving your book was the highpoint of the week. Or the month!” This made me extremely happy on their behalf.

I was delighted earlier today, right when I opened Instagram, to see a BookSweet post featuring me and my upcoming reading this week! News flash — John Megahan and I will be at Booksweet in Ann Arbor at 2 p.m., Friday, August. 22. I’ll read from Into the Thicket, we’ll take questions from the children/audience and sell/sign books. There’s something in their event description about a discussion, and believe me, there’s lots we could talk about, but I’ve asked them what they’re expecting! Since, coincidentally, our book’s official publication date is Aug. 21, I’m thinking we’ll make this an unofficial book launch, which means, we’ll bring balloons. I should have my new table banner in time, too.

I’ve learned a few things since publishing my first picture book, How Happy Is a Lark? I’ve signed up at Goodnightreads (free for one book) to help get some book reviews. As part of their program, I write reviews for other children’s books. They ensure authors can’t review each others books, so it’s unbiased.

When I opened my author page on the Goodnightreads website — I saw the deer and rabbits on the cover image of our book — moving! They had animated it using an AI tool. So cool. A little scary how AI can animate so seamlessly!

They’re going to send me the GIF and said I can share it wherever I’d like. I’ll give them (and AI) credit, of course. Even John said that it was amazing! We have to wonder about the future of our fields, illustration and writing. But that’s a topic for it’s own blog post, isn’t it? Or whole books, which are already out there. I heard a discussion on one of the late night shows recently.

I found a group on Goodreads called Children Book Reviewers and asked if someone  was willing to review my book. Someone volunteered within a day or two and I sent him the digital copy. His five-star review is simply incredible. It’s several detailed paragraphs, and very positive. The way he worded some of it takes my breath away:

“… This is a gem that lingers with you long after the final page, as it is going to be with me.”

Okay, so these are all recent peak experiences. I didn’t include any low points/valleys in this post. However, the post is getting long and it’s getting late. I’ll write about some of the challenges in my September post. It can be helpful for those who might be embarking on a self-publishing journey, to hear the good, the bad and the ugly. 

Barnes & Noble and Amazon currently have the book available for presale. Although my presale period turned out to be shorter than what’s preferred, it’s a crucial time for a book’s success. The bookstores print enough books to ship on publication day. From the early demand, they base how many books to keep on hand for immediate shipping. I believe a book will be more visible on the seller’s website, the more sales it has. Although, I don’t know how this factors in for books that weren’t published through their own site. 

Finally, I’m going to try to grow an email list to send out very infrequent e-newsletters. We all get too many emails and probably don’t read most of them, so I pondered whether to do this. But, it’s recommended, so I’ll give it a try. If you’re interested in being on my list, you can sign up here. I hope to make it fun and worthwhile. As my brother will probably say, I’ve come a long way from The Gail Star, the family newspaper I typed as a child. And as I told my published author son, a fourth generation writer with his fifth book forthcoming, the ink runs deep.