Review for Santa Book

 

Santa received a book review by The Cambridge Kids Bookshelf on Instagram.   You can check out the review here.  

If you're ever interested in reviewing one of my titles, please let me know and I will send you the pdf file for free.  

Thank you Cambridge Kids Bookshelf !

Surviving the Holidays

 

I'm going ad crazy over here!   I have survived Thanksgiving and am not moving on to Christmas!  WOOT!   In doing so, I wanted to advertise a few of my titles to see what would happen.  I'm just using a free promotion for Free kindle ebooks.  That is to say, the promotion isn't costing me anything, but I am also not going to make anything.  This is just to get the word out about my books.

Book marketing is a marathon, not a sprint.

I've been going really slow in marketing my titles.  Basically, I don't know what I am doing, so I have to do a lot of research before I do anything, therefore I have to go slow!

But I get to play around with Canva and come up with silly slogans; I am having a good time.  I'm not making a ton of sales, but it is all fun!

Supporting Your Author Friend

 

You do not need to spend money to support your author friend!  There are many things you can do that will not cost you a cent!  Speaking as a librarian, suggest your local library purchase your friend's book!  Maybe they won't buy it, but it gets the title out there an on the radar.  

Encourage them!   Everyone needs encouragement, especially those diving into the unknown waters of self-publishing.  A writer is putting themselves out there for the entire world to critique!  You need nerves of steal and solid support!

Share their posts!  Perhaps a friend you have will be interested in their book and may not have heard about it in any other way.  You could make a few friends completely happy by simply sharing a post.

Tell other friends about them.  Maybe connections you have will help your author friend.   Possibly someone you know is interested in self-publishing but doesn't know where to begin.  You could connect the two friends who can then help each other out.  Or possibly one of your friends would like your author friend to come talk to their class or group about publishing, literature, the writing process, their book!  You never know!

Follow them online!  If you click their links you can find them - they probably have a Goodreads page, an Amazon author page, maybe their own website or blog or newsletter.   Give them a follow!  It will make their day!

Provide constructive criticism!   Really!  If you are friends, a little criticism isn't going to hurt if you are helpful with it.  Don't like the book cover?  Tell them and tell them why and offer suggestions.  They will appreciate the honesty!

You do not need to buy their book to support your author friend.  Simply continue being a supportive friend to them!

Creating advertising for my new book

I have been attempting to put together short video clips for my books and it isn't as easy as I had hoped!  However with the help of Canva, the creation process isn't as painful.   This is my recent attempt - what do you think?  

Santa : A Bingo Book Perfect for the Holidays

Parents and Grandparents!  All caregivers to little ones! The holiday season is fast approaching.  Share the joy of the big man in red with my holiday title, Santa : A Bingo Book.  It is a fun title to share and sing with your young children or grandchildren.  Here is a link to take a look at the whole book https://tinyurl.com/32rna6zd  Yes, I am sharing a link to the whole book because I really want people to enjoy it.  If you choose to purchase a copy, it is available online through Amazon, Barnes & Noble and other book sellers.

Book donated to the library

 

Alright, I really don't know how to express how I feel about this, but I do know that tears came immediately to my eyes when I read it.

Every once in a while I Google my name to see what comes up - are my books in Walmart yet?  What pictures show up?  What's the first title of mine to appear?  I did not expect a mention in a library news article.

From the White Pines District Library news:

"Several donations in memory of Morgan Beerens were made to the library... The donation from Gail Rinard purchased 'Sloth: A Bingo Book' by Cassie Veselovsky and 'Sing-O-Saurus' by Jacqui Shepherd.'

Someone chose one of my books as an "in memory" donation?  Oh my heart.   I feel so very honored.  I hope they would have enjoyed the book - maybe laughed a bit or made a joke about it.  And I hope they liked sloths and seagulls.   

Reality with Amazon KDP

 

I am not ashamed to share this at all.  Yes, I have only sold 119 books to date and I am damn proud of that!  I think it is a miracle!   I have had NO marketing budget.  My marketing has consisted of late nights on my computer emailing a ton of libraries, of posting ads on my Facebook and Instagram sites and of making videos on TikTok.   

I did try Amazon ads once for a week and saw no increase in sales.   

My big jump in September is when my books became available in Barnes & Noble.  The next jump is because my library ordered a copy of every book I published for the Local History department.  So far in November I have only seen a couple of sales.  

I am NOT disappointed.  

Having my books in libraries means people can check them out and maybe enjoy them!  I say maybe because it is possible they will check them out and not like them.  In that case, I am glad they didn't waste their money buying one!  

It has been slow going this year, but it's been upward and I feel blessed.

My books are in the library!

 My books are in the library!   Ok, this is a library where I work, but they did not have to add my books. I donated copies and bless their hearts, they did add them.  After today, there are only three left in the display!  The kids seem excited about them - which warms my heart!  I don't care if they never buy them as long as they check them out from the library and enjoy them!

*I did not do the display - the books came in when I wasn't there and my awesome co-workers put it together.  

Marketing with Buttons

 

I LOVE these buttons!  I decided to check out a button maker from our library which comes with supplies to make 25 free buttons!  Then I found a template and went to work.  Ok, some are a bit off, but I got the hang of it!  And it was only$1.25 to buy materials for another 25 buttons.  Not a bad investment at all!  And aren't they cute!  I decided to use the cover images from my books.  I don't have them all done yet, but I love them!  

Santa : A Bingo Book review

 

Santa : A Bingo Book was just reviewed on NBPB!   NBPB stands for "Nothing But Picture Books" and that is truly their focus.  It is an excellent review site for books for the younger crowd.  NBPB is on Instagram , Goodreads and Twitter plus their regular blog/review site.

From their page:   ​This blog is all about picture books. We love them because they are short, fun, and colorful. And they are also educational, impactful, and enlightening. It perfectly works for catch ‘em young phrase. We read them without bias and write about them on our blog. So, be a part of the fun. Sign-up for our newsletter and follow us on social media sites. We promise we will never spam.

If you would like to check out their review of Santa : A Bingo Book click here or the image below!