Guest Post by Bookstore Owner Paul Swydan

​In my short time owning a bookstore, I’ve had the opportunity to view the marketing of a book from a whole new perspective. Frustratingly, good marketing doesn’t guarantee success for your book or for yourself as an author, but without it at some point in the chain – publisher, author, media, distribution point (in my case, independent bookstore) – the chances of a book becoming successful dwindle fast.
 
As someone who majored in marketing, I have a lot of strong feelings on the subject, and pay attention to it. I think there are a lot of things that authors can do to set themselves up for success. For our purposes here, I’ll stick to the things I like to see as a bookstore owner, though I’m always happy to talk about more general marketing practices. These three items are sort of events-focused, but they are applicable even if you’re not doing an event with the store. A store can only host so many events, after all, and there are thousands of books in each store that won’t have an event tied to it, and we like promoting those books too!

​1)  Send Us Marketing Materials

We want to promote you and your book. If you’re doing an event at the store, we are going to promote the event. I am particularly fond of promoting the event on social media. You can almost never guarantee a good audience for an event, but beyond the actual event’s attendance, you’re trying to create a perception that you’re a part of an exciting event. You know the old saying, perception is reality. As authors and writers who try to shape reality, we’re a little more likely to scoff at the notion, but it’s true. I won’t fill the bookstore for every event, but when I talk to people in my community, there is a distinct belief that there is always something exciting happening at the bookstore, and the main reason for that is social-media promotion.
 
So, help us out. Do you have a specific author photo you want us to use? Is there a review you’d like us to quote, or a phrase or tagline you’d like us to use in promoting the book? Can you get your publisher to foot the bill for a poster we can put up in the store? Usually not, but it never hurts to ask.
 
I’d use Rebecca Kim Wells as an example here. As an Indies Introduce author and a manager/buyer at Porter Square Books in Cambridge, Rebecca has experience on both sides of the equation. At the Indies Introduce Breakfast at Children’s Institute, she encouraged people to help her come up with other taglines for her book than the “angry bisexual dragon novel.” I think it’s instructive to think of your book as a marketer would. When I say things like “everyone should read it!” people’s eyes glaze over. If you don’t give people a description, they’ll invent their own, or worse, they’ll simply ignore it. 

2) Make Your Own Graphics

Don’t be afraid to make your own graphics either. Are you doing a tour? Most authors don’t get a proper tour, because publishers are only willing and able to pay for a select few. But if you have a few events planned out ahead of your release, there’s no reason you can’t group those together and call them a tour. I’ll single out Rebecca again, because she’s doing a fantastic job. She has nine events lined up ahead of her release at the end of the month. The majority of them are local, but they’re in four different states, and when presented together in an attractive graphic, they look really impressive. 
  
At the very least, this sort of organization is a signal to bookstores and the industry at large that you are a person who knows their business and is serious about promoting themselves. But a lot of bookstores either don’t make their own graphics in Canva or Illustrator or run out of time to make them properly. So if you have a graphic they can use, they’ll likely be more than happy to use yours.

3)    Be Creative

The best events are the ones that have something fun and unique. Susan Tan brings a cardboard cutout of her main character, Cilla-Lee Jenkins with her. We call her Cardboard Cilla like she’s another person at the event. People are excited to take pictures with her, including me! 
 
When we did Casey Robinson’s launch party for Iver and Ellsworth, she brought a stuffed Iver that someone had made for her (her mother, I think?). Kids loved squeezing it and holding it. When Gina Perry came for her book, Too Much! Not Enough!, she brought mini kazoos for kids, because one of the characters (Peanut), plays the kazoo in the book. I’m not sure parents really appreciated that giveaway, but the kids sure did! When Scott Magoon came for story time, he took requests from the audience when he was showing how he goes about drawing a picture, and even had some kids come up and draw with him. April Jones Prince prepares a very specific activity/scavenger hunt for each of her books. Brian Lies wraps his car in the graphics from his newest book.

​This isn’t to say that we don’t love the standard bookmarks authors often leave with us. We do, in a vacuum. But in practice, here’s where they often end up:
 

​We’re giving out our own bookmarks (that’s our best marketing) and/or selling bookmarks, so we don’t always remember to distribute yours. What can you do that’s a little different? If you weren’t creative, you wouldn’t be an author, so I’m sure there’s something! And if not, ask us. Booksellers are never short on opinions. 

Paul Swydan is the owner of The Silver Unicorn Bookstore in Acton, MA. To learn more about The Silver Unicorn visit:
https://www.silverunicornbooks.com/?q=h

To learn about events coming up at The Silver Unicorn visit: https://www.silverunicornbooks.com/?q=h.calevents

A Guest Post by Book Marketing Coach Colleen Riordan

Imagine for a moment that your books sell like cronuts in Brooklyn every time you publish a new title. Readers are flocking to the bookstores. They’re hyping your book everywhere—even before they’ve had the pleasure of cracking it open.
 
It’s the dream, right?
 
Avid readers want good stories. They want your stories. And, if they’re anything like you, then you know how excited these bookworms get. They’re scouring Goodreads and book blogs right and left, on the prowl for their next favorite story. But, they can’t love your book if they don’t know it exists.
 
This is precisely why authors need email.
 
The best book marketing, in its simplest form, is just passionately sharing your story with the readers who already want it.
 
Email makes that easy.

​The 3 Myths of Author Email 

Authors often argue that they don’t need to use email to communicate with readers. They feel it’s unnecessary, outdated, and time-consuming.
 
Can you blame them? Social media is exciting and ubiquitous. It’s easy to throw email to the wayside and chase the shiny new toys. Email has been around since the 1970’s, but that doesn’t mean it’s out-of-date. In fact, email is one of the most effective marketing tools today.
 
Let’s tackle some of the myths that authors believe about why they don’t need to email readers.

Myth 1:  Email is unnecessary. Readers will find the books if they really want them. 
​
Imagine if you had an email list of people eager to read your books the moment they get published. These readers are already passionate about what you do, which means they’re more likely to preorder or run out to the bookstore during that first week. If you had enough fans like that, you could hit the bestseller lists book after book.
 
The book industry has a vast reach. Books are promoted on television, social media, newspapers, and park benches. It’s fantastic because at any moment you might stumble across your next favorite story.
 
However, books have a lot of competition. Over your average day, you have access to entertainment non-stop. Your phone, computer, television, and radio are filled with high quality content. A great book has to break through all of that noise.
 
Take a moment to think about how you found the last book you read.
 
Did you stumble across it on the library shelves? Did your best friend gush about it for weeks? Did you use specific keywords to search for it (or something like it) online?
 
Most of us don’t have a system for discovering new books. We hear about them on television. We spot our favorite authors reading them on Instagram. We ask our librarians for recommendations.
 
But between the incredible entertainment already at our fingertips and the sheer volume of advertising we see everyday, even the most die-hard fans are missing out on new book announcements.
 
Typically, books in a series are published a year apart. That’s a long time for a reader to wait. You can’t expect them to religiously check your website or the bookstore on the first of each month, eagerly awaiting the next book’s release.
 
Can you see the flaws in this system?
 
You can’t rely on fate to notify readers about your books. It’s not reliable. It’s not repeatable. You need a method of notifying readers about your books every time something comes out.
 
If you want to a career as an author, you can’t put the responsibility of hearing about your books on your readers. You need to reach out to them and tell them about these amazing stories. This is why email is perfect.

​Myth 2:  Email is outdated because social media has taken over the internet. 
​
Social media is an entertaining way to interact with readers. You can quickly share photos, broadcast new messages, and engage with fans in real-time.
 
So, why not only use social media?
 
Social media networks like Facebook let readers follow their favorite author’s online presence. Here’s the catch: Facebook is not a direct communication channel. When an author posts their latest book announcement to their Facebook page or profile, Facebook’s algorithm decides which of your followers see it and when.
 
On average, less than 8% of your audience will see one of your organic posts on Facebook. These are your everyday, unpaid posts. For the average business page, the rate goes down to 2%. That means that a very small portion of your audience is seeing the post you worked so hard to create.
 
This percentage is variable of course. If you have an incredibly active and engaged audience who love you and regularly comment on your posts or share them, the algorithm will broadcast your posts to more of your followers. However, it still won’t be all of your followers.
 
Now, 8% might seem tiny, but it doesn’t mean you should skip Facebook entirely. It just means you shouldn’t put all your eggs in one basket. All of your social networks have this problem. You simply cannot reach everyone who is following you.
 
Why? Because Facebook—or whichever social network you’re using—is the middleman. You don’t get to decide who sees your posts. They do.
 
Social media networks limit the reach of a post for several reasons.
 
First, they tailor the newsfeed experience for individuals to show them more of what they already like and less of what they don’t. This is based off the how often someone engages with posts like yours and how much engagement your posts get.
 
Second, social media is technically considered ‘free.’ (It’s not. You’re exchanging your data for use of their platform.) However, Twitter, Facebook, and the rest of the social media networks are all businesses that need to make money to survive. One of the ways they monetize their platforms is by asking you to pay to reach more people through ads or sponsored posts.
 
With email, there is no middleman deciding who sees your message.
 
It’s direct communication. You write, and your subscribers get to make the active choice about whether they’ll read your email.

​Myth 3:  Email is difficult and takes time away from writing. 

As you can see from what we covered in the previous two myths, you can’t afford to NOT use email.

 
Without email, you’re taking the risk that even your biggest fans will never find the sequel to books they already loved. They won’t get the chance to share your new release on social media or borrow it from a friend. You’ll waste weeks on carefully constructed social media posts promoting something that few followers will ever see.
 
To choose to avoid email is to choose to spend more time on your marketing just to reach the same number (or less) of people.
 
Imagine having an eager audience just waiting to hear from you—with a smile and open arms.
 
With email, you can have that.
 
At the core of your book marketing, you need a reliable, one-on-one method for communicating with your fanbase. Email excels at creating real relationships with your readers.
 
In the author-reader relationship, it’s your responsibility to reach out with news about your upcoming releases, entertaining activities, and book signings or events. Readers have a plethora of entertainment to choose from. You can’t even become a choice if they don’t know you have something coming out.
 
Through email, you can personalize your messages and treat each subscriber as a unique, book-loving, fan—not just an email address. When your emails are entertaining, educational, and/or aspirational, you are rewarding each and every one of your fans, who will in turn, share their love of your books with the world.

​Colleen Riordan is a book marketing coach and the founder of Wild Ink Marketing. She has over eight years of experience in marketing and communications and a deep passion for teaching authors and illustrators how to sell more books and build their careers through the power of book marketing. 

To learn more about Colleen and Wild Ink Marketing, please visit Colleen at https://www.wildinkmarketing.com/. 

 Our blog is on a brief holiday hiatus,
but all of us at 24 Carrot Writing wish you a happy, sparkling 4th of July week!
​Read, write, and relax!
We will return next week with July marketing month posts!
Cheers!
~​Francine, Amanda, Kelly, & Annie​

~ By Amanda Smith

Earlier this month, I found myself again as substitute teacher in the art room, but this time with middle school students. They were in the process of painting an impressionist landscape. What I encountered, though, was hesitancy. They were so afraid that they were going to mess up their pictures by experimenting with this new style, that even after explaining and demonstrating multiple times, most students still opted to mix solid colors on their palettes and apply flat, texture-less paint to their canvasses.

I recognized that anxiety of “messing up a picture.” I felt that many times as an art student myself and have vivid memories of an art teacher dipping my brush in the bright red and yellow paint of my neighbor’s palette and brushing thick globs of primary colors on my super-careful shades-of-blue painting. I was crushed, and furious, and traumatized by the experience for years. But now, I can see that she tried to push me, in the true spirit of the Impressionists, towards experimenting. To stop resisting change. To be brave. To play.

For interesting short videos on Monet's Waterloo Series, visit WAM's website here. 
For more Waterloo Bridge images, click here.

by Francine Puckly
 
As the Summer Solstice approaches, my mind is churning with a multitude of thoughts and emotions about growth, new beginnings, and the constructive criticism that can derail or redirect our endeavors. I’m excited about the idea that in ancient times the Summer Solstice was once considered the New Year and was both an opportunity to break out of one’s normal routine and a time of merriment and celebration. In present time, the Solstice is roughly the halfway point of the year. A marking of time. A marking of our goals.  And for a few of my colleagues, it’s a marking of delayed projects as a result of rejection or requested revisions by industry professionals and critique partners. How we deal with these requests and setbacks will determine how well we stay on track to meet our goals this year. 

A few years ago, my daughter ran for office in a student organization she had been part of for several years. In the days leading up to the election results, she had convinced herself that she had lost the election and mentally prepared for the deep and complete humiliation that would inevitably come when her loss was revealed. The morning the election results were to be announced, I asked her how she was feeling. She shrugged. “You know? I’m gonna be okay.” As it turned out, she didn’t lose the election for that particular officer position. But another classmate lost in a different race. This classmate was not prepared to lose and was ill-equipped to gracefully handle the results. Lifelong friendships ended that day. The student resigned from the organization. What had once been a source of great joy for the student quickly turned to poison. Someone needed to tell her, "You know? It's gonna be okay."

Which brings us to publishing and the art of critique and rejection, dear writers. How many times have we received hurtful, soul-wrenching rejections of our work or unanticipated requests for manuscript changes and were tempted to throw it all away? Or we hear of another artist’s success and fume at the injustice? In some cases, if we can be objective, we can see that the artist’s manuscript or project had more potential than what we had offered. Sometimes the other person’s idea is more unique, more fully developed, more polished. Other times we feel cheated. We can burn bridges and claim the world is out to get us. Or if we’re smart, we learn what to do differently so that next time we can win. Sometimes, for whatever reason, it just isn’t our time.
            
With all this summering and raining and shining, the growing season is upon us. And all gardeners know that momentous growth springs forth after a significant pruning. And we can respond by pruning words and tightening our manuscripts and possibly even pruning our egos as we realize we have more to learn.  At this time of great light and idleness, try to approach your projects with enlightenment and consciousness with respect to what needs to be done to move forward. If you’re reeling from the pain of rejection or harsh criticism, look for ways to celebrate the joys of the creative life. Hone your craft with the help of how-to books while you dig your toes in the freshly mown lawn. Attend workshops and free lectures. Stop by book launches to support your fellow artists and learn how authors and illustrators interact with their audiences. Read blog posts and memoirs written by authors who were “elected” this year and try to figure out how to apply their successes to your own words and journey.

Regardless of the origination of Summer Solstice celebrations, a plethora of fire and sun rituals across ancient cultures celebrated light. And in noting lightness, we will be able to release burdens, doubts, and fears. Oh, and rejection.

Now go. Be happy. Bask and grow in the warmth of the sun.

~ Francine

By Kelly Carey

​​June is a time, even in New England, when we finally get to permanently switch out our winter boots for summer sandals, trade in our snow shovels for gardening spades, and get ready for the new schedules that school and summer vacation bring. It’s also a time when your writing habits need to adjust for all the sun, fun, and maybe little ones scurrying around your home.  This is why 24 Carrot Writing invites you to celebrate June Year’s Eve!
​
June Year’s Eve is not so much about watching the ball drop, but making sure you don’t drop the ball on your writing goals. It’s a time to reassess, refocus, and reinvest in your plan so that you don’t let the lazy days of summer knock you off course.

You are officially half way through the year. Take stock of what you have accomplished and get ready to charge into summer and the second half of 2019 with goal-stomping gusto! You got this! And just to make sure you do, I’m re-posting our original Happy June Year’s Eve blog post from 2015. So get out those 2019 goals and give them a June Year’s Eve champagne bath!
​
Happy June Year’s Eve!  

5/19/2015

by Kelly Carey

In January, bubbly with champagne excitement and intoxicated by the shimmering crystal ball in Time’s Square, we all set down our writing goals. Since writers are ambitious dreamers, we probably set very lofty goals. To that I say, good for us!  That drive and stamina to succeed will get our manuscripts published.

But did you over promise? Did some unforeseen event steal time and attention from your writing? Did your January va-va-voom  sput-sput-sputter somewhere in March? Then I would like to be the first to wish you a Happy June Year’s Eve!

June marks the mid-year point and is an excellent time to track our progress and make sure we are well positioned for writing success. On June 1, writing goals and resolutions everywhere can be given a solid scrubbing and be reset, recharged and REVISED for success.  You set New Year’s resolutions, now is the time for June Year’s resolutions.

As writers, we are not only intimately aware of the power of revision, but we are also experts at revising.  It is time to apply that skill not to our manuscripts, but to our writing goals. Read through your goals, keep what is working and toss those goals that just don’t fit or make sense anymore. Maybe that middle grade novel whispered to you on a cold day in March (which frankly could have been any day in March since they were all cold) and you put aside your picture book plans.  Perhaps you had a light bulb moment while attending a conference, reading a blog, or while brushing your teeth (true story, just ask Amanda!). Great! Time to make your 2015 writing goals match that reality.

Just reminding yourself of the promises you made and the plans you had will refocus your energy for the next six months. This is not a bash session. Do not beat yourself up over missed goals. You are not giving up, you are revising.  What writer would forsake revision?

I’d like to clink a glass with you on New Year’s 2016 in celebration of hitting our 2015 writing goals.  The best way to make this happen is with a serious mid-year goal revision.

Happy June Year’s Eve and happy goal revising!   

 Guest Blog by Author Rajani LaRocca

My middle grade debut, MIDSUMMER’S MAYHEM (Yellow Jacket/Little Bee Books, June 11, 2019) is an Indian-American mashup of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and competitive baking. The story is about 11-year-old Mimi, the youngest of four, who dreams of finally proving she’s not the least talented member of her family by winning a local baking contest judged by her celebrity chef idol. But when her dad, a renowned food writer, returns from a business trip mysteriously unable to tell the difference between delicious and disgusting, Mimi doubts she’ll ever be able to bake something good enough to propel her to gastronomic fame. She follows strangely familiar music into the woods behind her house, and meets an unusual boy, Vik, who brings her to parts of the forest she’s never seen before. Together, they bake up enchanting treats for family and friends using ingredients they find in the woods. But as her father acts stranger every day and her siblings’ romantic entanglements start causing mayhem in her town, Mimi begins to wonder whether the ingredients she and Vik found are somehow behind it all. She needs to use her skills, deductive and epicurean, to try to uncover the truth. In the process, she learns that in life, as in baking, not everything is sweet.

​
1. Choose the Best Ingredients
In baking, the better the ingredients, the better the outcome. You want to use fresh butter and eggs, real fruit, and aromatic spices to create the best product. In writing, I’ve discovered that stories with a core of something true (a place, a situation, an emotion) tend to be most interesting and resonant. I use fiction to tell the truth.
 
In MIDSUMMER’S MAYHEM, I channeled a mix of childhood memories, my fascination with Shakespeare and baking, and the feeling of wanting something so badly but not knowing if you can ever achieve it. 

​ 2. Method
Some people study to be pastry chefs, but you don’t need to go to culinary school to bake up delicious treats. Similarly, some people have MFAs, but you don’t need a degree to write well. You do, however, need to study the craft of writing—because as much as we can all recognize a great story when we read it, we can’t write a compelling story by just pulling it out of the ether. I learned about plot, characterization, setting, and theme by taking classes (online and in person) and reading books on craft. Here’s a short list of some favorites:
 
Classes:
Writers.com writers.com/
Grub Street (in person and online at grubstreet.org/)
The Writing Barn (in person and online at www.thewritingbarn.com/)
The Highlights Foundation (incredible retreats and workshops with world-class faculty; some workshops have an online component. See https://www.highlightsfoundation.org/)
 
Craft Books:
Structuring Your Novel and Outlining Your Novel by K. M. Weiland
Wired For Story and Story Genius by Lisa Cron
The Magic Words by Cheryl Klein
Writing Picture Books by Ann Whitford Paul

​3. Taste Testing/Experimentation
When you are developing new recipes, it’s essential to keep tasting as you go; or, in baking, to make a small batch, taste, adjust, and try again.
 
How do you do this as a writer? Join a critique group! My critique partners and beta readers were instrumental in helping me figure out whether a scene, a chapter, or a whole manuscript were working. Their feedback and suggestions gave me fresh perspectives on my writing. MIDSUMMER’S MAYHEM and my other books wouldn’t be the same without their invaluable input.
 
You can also seek out input from industry professionals like agents and editors. Ultimately, though, you are the chef, and you should run with the suggestions that resonate with you while staying true to the story you want to tell.

​4. Know Your Eater (or Audience)
When you bake a cake for someone, you try to include their favorite ingredients: chocolate! Pineapple! Sprinkles!
 
You need to think about your intended audience as a writer, too—not to preach or teach them a lesson, but to harken back to what it felt like to be that age, and remember what worried you, what made you happy, what made you laugh, and what you wanted most in the world. The more truly you can channel the feelings of your inner child, the more genuine your story will feel to the kids who will someday read it.
 
That’s my take on the art and science of baking up a book. Choose the best ingredients for your story; study the method or craft of writing; taste your story, get input, write more, and taste again; and know your audience. As Mimi learns in MIDSUMMER’S MAYHEM, I hope this helps you to create with your heart, to write the story that only you in all the world can tell.
 

To learn more about Rajani or to get your copy of MIDSUMMER'S MAYHEM, check out these links: 

Website: https://www.rajanilarocca.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/RajaniLaRocca
IG: https://www.instagram.com/rajanilarocca/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rajanilaroccawriter/
Goodreads:https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40207223-midsummer-s-mayhem
IndieBound: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781499808889

​

by Francine Puckly
 
My fellow 24 Carrot Writing bloggers and I just returned once again from the SCBWI New England spring conference. At Kelly’s suggestion a few years ago, we sit down together to list our top takeaways once we return from workshops and conferences. It’s a powerful practice! 
 
I attended many informative workshops this year, but the key takeaway for me was from Ekua Holmes’ keynote address—and specifically the wise words of her mother. Her mother encouraged her not to become overwhelmed by the future and all of the tasks in front of her, but rather just “do the next thing.” This advice has centered me more than I could have imagined, and it fits with Kelly’s idea of the “do-it-today takeaways”—using the conference energy to take quick actions that will give you a boost toward your goals.
 
I have three big and messy projects in front of me this year, and I’ve been slow to make progress on them. But instead of racing too far ahead on my to-do lists or getting overwhelmed by the magnitude of my projects, this idea of doing the next small action item is simple yet profound. 
 
My three “do the next thing” conference takeaways:

• I had set a 2019 goal to secure a private office in my home for my creative work. This requires a complete upheaval of my workspace, and I had been putting it off because I didn’t want to deal with the in-between chaos. But procrastination ended last Sunday when we moved out the old furniture and took down the pictures and wall hangings. It’s messy. It’s chaotic. But it’s underway!
• Another annual goal is rewrite my YA novel. Progress is slow, and part of the issue was that I was measuring my progress with the wrong metrics. Since the conference, I’ve delineated specific research goals and established better measures for the accomplishment of writing tasks to help move my novel rewrite forward. 
• I’ve struggled with how to use social media most effectively. I attended workshops on branding and social media and have set three small, specific social media goals for May and June.

 
Have you recently attended a conference, a long workshop, or a webinar geared toward your writing and illustrating life? If so, reread your notes. Think about how you can incorporate your newly acquired knowledge by doing the next thing in each of your goal areas. 

• Are you feeling that you need to read more in your genre? Check out recently released books to develop a summer reading list. Join Goodreads and set up a reading challenge to give yourself an extra nudge toward your reading goals. Don’t want to join Goodreads? Write down the specific book titles you’re going to read this quarter and find yourself an accountability partner!
• Trying to be more active on social media? Pick two writing topics you’re passionate about and set a goal to tweet, retweet, and/or post two links or articles this week that will be helpful to your colleagues. 
• Want to support your local library or indie bookstore? Block off time to browse these venues. Check out their events calendar. Attend one event this month.
• Do you need to organize your projects, files or papers? Lay out this work in bite-sized and measureable chunks. Instead of conquering the entire filing cabinet, you can start with one or two or five files.

• Sit down with a friend/writing colleague to discuss changes suggested for your manuscript or query letter. Set up a plan to begin a revision.

 
Don’t wait to take small actions that will propel you toward your goals. As we approach the midpoint of the calendar year, what’s your next thing?
 
~ Francine

~by Amanda Smith

I have been following Miranda Paul's career for many years and celebrate along with her as her fifteenth book will be released this year. Her picture books inspire young readers to take care of the earth and one another. She invests generously in the kidlit community as founder of RATE YOUR STORY  and co-founder of WE NEED DIVERSE BOOKS. Her generosity also spills over in other walks of life in local and international communities, where she invites others to come alongside her and spark change. I am honored to welcome Miranda to 24 Carrot Writing to tell us about her newest book-baby.
​
 


NINE MONTHS: Before a Baby is Born (illustrated by Jason Chin) released on April 23, 2019.  You have said of this book, “My heart is full to have this very special book received with love. It's been in development for ten years, and I may cry upon its ‘birth.’” Please share with our readers the journey of NINE MONTHS and why it is so close to your heart.
​
Nine Months is the book I wanted when I was pregnant with my second child. Sometimes that’s why you write a book—the one you want doesn’t exist yet. While every day I was getting access to weekly updates on the status of my baby, where was the scientifically-accurate yet age-appropriate book for my two-year-old daughter who was as curious as I was about each stage of her new sibling’s development? And while there were plenty of great picture books about where babies come from or emotional picture books about how much love a new baby gets, I struggled to find one that struck the right balance between the two. It only took ten years, but Nine Months is exactly the book I wanted. The science of human life is as miraculous as the love families have for each other. This book compromises neither one, and it’s also a reflection of the diversity of our world’s families.

Bio:
Miranda Paul is the award-winning author of One Plastic Bag, Water is Water, and I Am Farmer, all Junior Library Guild selections. Whose Hands Are These? was named a 2017 ILA Teacher's Choice and Are We Pears Yet? won the 2018 Award of Excellence in Children and Young Adults Literature from the Council on Botanical and Horticultural Libraries. Her most recent release, Nine Months: Before a Baby is Born, received three starred reviews from Kirkus, Booklist, and Publisher’s Weekly. Miranda Paul is an annual faculty member at the Highlights Foundation and a co-founding member of the nonprofit organization We Need Diverse Books, for which she currently serves as Mentorship Chair. Visit her at mirandapaul.com.
 ​

NINE MONTHS: Before a Baby is Born,  as well as Miranda's other book are available at these retailers:
Indiebound: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780823441617
Barnes and Noble:https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/nine-months-miranda-paul/1129200776?ean=9780823441617#/
Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/Nine-Months-Before-Baby-Born/dp/082344161X/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=Nine+Months&qid=1556288387&s=gateway&sr=8-2