Today, I’m joined by Elaine Ursuy, a self-published author of two books, a coach at SPS school, and has completed hundreds of coaching calls with students. Since she is well-known in her peer group for having the ability to explain concepts to others that are hard to understand, she thought turning her adult non-fiction book into a children’s book would be her next step in publishing.
“I remember being five and people telling me that I’m going to do big things one day.” Her intuition told her that she would do bigger than life projects, but she wasn’t sure where her journey would take her in life. “When I got the opportunity to work for Self-Publishing School, it was an obvious choice.”
Her first book, Don’t Be Weird, was a book based on Gospel teachings. She decided to write a children’s version as she saw a need in the market for another way for children to learn God’s teachings besides large, expensive courses. “I’m Not Weird was born in about 15 minutes.” With her first draft in hand, she was excited to move forward in her publishing process.
Elaine’s biggest takeaways from her creating her children’s book are the differences in the editing process from adult to children’s books, types of books, binding and printing, and how fulfillment is different on Amazon for children’s books.
Listen in to find out how she assigned every page a job in her book, how she chose the age range to write her book for, and the most challenging phase of writing her children’s book.
Show Notes
- [01:43] Why Elaine decided to write her first book.
- [03:02] How she made the transition from adult non-fiction to children’s book.
- [04:12] The process of writing her first children’s book.
- [06:35] The differences in both of her processes of book writing.
- [09:50] Hardest part of the children’s book process for Elaine.
- [12:39] How she decided what age range to write for and who she received her best feedback from during the editing process.
- [15:35] The advice she gives clients she coaches on publishing children’s books.
- [19:15] Fufillment choices and how KDP is the best for easy fulfillment.
- [22:00] How she found the novelty press she used to print her children’s book and her tips on finding an illustrator.
- [29:02] What Elaine decided to do to market her book and how she chose her niche market.
- [32:47] Tips on choosing keywords and categories to sell your book.
- [35:19] What you should prepare for before you jump on your first coaching call with a book coach.
