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<\/a><\/p>\n<\/span><\/h2>\n
How Writing a Covid19 Children\u2019s Book\u00a0<\/h2>\nChanged the Way I Publish<\/h2>\n
February
\nwas not a good month to be sick with a cough. Nevertheless, I had one and it
\nended up being one of the worst colds of my entire life. At the time, Covid19
\nwas just becoming an issue and my continual coughing caused more fear than
\nsympathy. Therefore, I went into lockdown before it ever became a bad word. Then
\nmy kids came down with my colds, homeschooling began, and questions about this
\nmysterious virus began to get real. It was impossible to keep the kids in the
\ndark. They began to worry and their questions became harder and harder to
\nanswer. Will we get to go back to school? When can we see our friends? Why
\ncan\u2019t grandma visit? Is grandma going to die? Will you die? Can I die? These
\nare not easy questions to answer, especially when no one really knew that much
\nabout Covid19.<\/span><\/p>\nLockdown Inspiration<\/span><\/h3>\nOne
\nafternoon while playing around with torn construction paper, I suddenly
\nrealized an easy way to explain to my six year old about the virus. Just as
\nmany of my stories come to me out of the blue and overtake my thought
\nprocesses, this one wouldn\u2019t let go. The story of a happy, carefree green line
\nwhose life changes suddenly when one day some of the orange and purple lines in
\nher town begin to turn crooked. I began tearing paper, scanning it in, and
\nwriting down the story that had appeared in my head. Within 24 hours, I had
\nassembled the beginning of a book which would end up becoming one of the most
\npopular children\u2019s books about the coronavirus. I called it TheDay the Lines Changed<\/a><\/i><\/b>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nMy Advantage<\/span><\/h3>\nBy early
\nMarch stories about the notorious coronavirus began to arrive from all corners
\nof the globe. I began to realize that the story that I had written to console
\nmy boys had marketing potential. Large publishers need months to years to bring
\nout a story as they require the collaboration of various people from book
\ndesigners and illustrators to marketing experts. As someone who had already
\nself-published a couple of children\u2019s books and done my own writing,
\nillustrating, and book design, I realized an opportunity. I quickly got to work.
\nMy last book had taken a year to write and illustrate. Nevertheless, within a
\nweek I had published the first draft of The Day the Lines Changed<\/i><\/b> on Amazon.
\nI decided to give the first two months earnings (March and April) to local
\ncharities which support children\u2019s mental health. After April, I figured if the
\nbook was still making some money, I could use the extra cash to pay off my
\nMaster\u2019s degree. At the time, I thought I would be lucky if I sold a couple
\nhundred books and I never imagined that the pandemic would get so out of hand.<\/span><\/p>\nLearning by Doing<\/span><\/h3>\nUnlike
\nmost children\u2019s books, coronavirus children\u2019s books were an absolutely new idea.
\nI began to look on Amazon everyday. I would type in \u201ccoronavirus children\u2019s
\nbooks\u201d or \u201cpandemic picture books\u201d and see which books continually came up. I
\nbegan to get to know the competition, which grew by the day. Quickly I began to
\nsee why some books sold more than others. The cover looked more professional,
\nyou could look inside the book and read the story, the idea was great, or the
\nblurb especially appealing. I began tweaking my story. I improved the cover. I
\nimproved my blurb. I increased the look inside function to 70% so that people
\ncould read my story. I made a story-time video on Youtube. I began to advertise
\nand post on social media. I started doing interviews. I learned basic analytics.
\nSoon, my numbers began to improve.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nI also
\ndecided to contact other authors of coronavirus children\u2019s books. I looked at
\nwho was in the top ten and I sent them each a letter. I introduced myself and
\nasked them why they wrote their book and their story. Soon, I began to see a
\ntrend. We were mothers, teachers, and all had some artistic experience. In
\naddition, we were all privileged enough to be able to have had the time to do
\nwhat we did. Writing, illustrating, book design, and marketing all take
\nprecious time and usually amount to little income. None of us had a traditional
\nbook contract, but we all had the ambition to venture into the unknown. We had
\nall decided that the benefits outweighed the risks. Interestingly enough, for many
\nof my colleagues, this was the first book that they had ever self-published.<\/span><\/p>\nAs Covid19
\nbegan to really hit the US hard, teachers all over began to talk on social
\nmedia about what they were going to do when they went back to school. Having
\nworked as an educator for many years, I knew I could help out. I used my
\nresearch to write an article on my blog The Best Coronavirus Children\u2019s Booksfor back to school<\/a>. I began to receive more emails from teachers wanting to use
\nmy lesson plans in their class. More than any newspaper article or interview,
\nsocial media post or podcast, word of mouth about my book began to fuel sales.
\nBy August I began to sell 40 books a day and at its peak, I was selling well
\nover a hundred. In September, The Day the Lines Changed<\/i><\/b> was featured in the
\nWashington Post as one of the top coronavirus children\u2019s books on the market
\nand had made over 10,000 dollars. My book had gone further than I had ever
\nimagined possible.<\/span><\/p>\nMoving Forwards<\/span><\/b><\/h3>\n
![](\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/b\/R29vZ2xl\/AVvXsEhJRT96Sm6OTHpG9acx6MsWmaW2FzZVBOOfqy_jNxgEv2cofhDtPq2Q0o029nxoaJnk5Gt2OOei3T-yL_qfREvKb7YVr-DM7NlRzeozplD8v8fGbpsTeg7wvwyUetWmrLuUOZ_SAguTsQ\/s893\/2D8E4F6F-9225-4273-A3A6-B9966D3D5FE9.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/span><\/h2>\n
How Writing a Covid19 Children\u2019s Book\u00a0<\/h2>\nChanged the Way I Publish<\/h2>\n
February One By early Unlike I also As Covid19
\nwas not a good month to be sick with a cough. Nevertheless, I had one and it
\nended up being one of the worst colds of my entire life. At the time, Covid19
\nwas just becoming an issue and my continual coughing caused more fear than
\nsympathy. Therefore, I went into lockdown before it ever became a bad word. Then
\nmy kids came down with my colds, homeschooling began, and questions about this
\nmysterious virus began to get real. It was impossible to keep the kids in the
\ndark. They began to worry and their questions became harder and harder to
\nanswer. Will we get to go back to school? When can we see our friends? Why
\ncan\u2019t grandma visit? Is grandma going to die? Will you die? Can I die? These
\nare not easy questions to answer, especially when no one really knew that much
\nabout Covid19.<\/span><\/p>\nLockdown Inspiration<\/span><\/h3>\n
\nafternoon while playing around with torn construction paper, I suddenly
\nrealized an easy way to explain to my six year old about the virus. Just as
\nmany of my stories come to me out of the blue and overtake my thought
\nprocesses, this one wouldn\u2019t let go. The story of a happy, carefree green line
\nwhose life changes suddenly when one day some of the orange and purple lines in
\nher town begin to turn crooked. I began tearing paper, scanning it in, and
\nwriting down the story that had appeared in my head. Within 24 hours, I had
\nassembled the beginning of a book which would end up becoming one of the most
\npopular children\u2019s books about the coronavirus. I called it TheDay the Lines Changed<\/a><\/i><\/b>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nMy Advantage<\/span><\/h3>\n
\nMarch stories about the notorious coronavirus began to arrive from all corners
\nof the globe. I began to realize that the story that I had written to console
\nmy boys had marketing potential. Large publishers need months to years to bring
\nout a story as they require the collaboration of various people from book
\ndesigners and illustrators to marketing experts. As someone who had already
\nself-published a couple of children\u2019s books and done my own writing,
\nillustrating, and book design, I realized an opportunity. I quickly got to work.
\nMy last book had taken a year to write and illustrate. Nevertheless, within a
\nweek I had published the first draft of The Day the Lines Changed<\/i><\/b> on Amazon.
\nI decided to give the first two months earnings (March and April) to local
\ncharities which support children\u2019s mental health. After April, I figured if the
\nbook was still making some money, I could use the extra cash to pay off my
\nMaster\u2019s degree. At the time, I thought I would be lucky if I sold a couple
\nhundred books and I never imagined that the pandemic would get so out of hand.<\/span><\/p>\nLearning by Doing<\/span><\/h3>\n
\nmost children\u2019s books, coronavirus children\u2019s books were an absolutely new idea.
\nI began to look on Amazon everyday. I would type in \u201ccoronavirus children\u2019s
\nbooks\u201d or \u201cpandemic picture books\u201d and see which books continually came up. I
\nbegan to get to know the competition, which grew by the day. Quickly I began to
\nsee why some books sold more than others. The cover looked more professional,
\nyou could look inside the book and read the story, the idea was great, or the
\nblurb especially appealing. I began tweaking my story. I improved the cover. I
\nimproved my blurb. I increased the look inside function to 70% so that people
\ncould read my story. I made a story-time video on Youtube. I began to advertise
\nand post on social media. I started doing interviews. I learned basic analytics.
\nSoon, my numbers began to improve.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
\ndecided to contact other authors of coronavirus children\u2019s books. I looked at
\nwho was in the top ten and I sent them each a letter. I introduced myself and
\nasked them why they wrote their book and their story. Soon, I began to see a
\ntrend. We were mothers, teachers, and all had some artistic experience. In
\naddition, we were all privileged enough to be able to have had the time to do
\nwhat we did. Writing, illustrating, book design, and marketing all take
\nprecious time and usually amount to little income. None of us had a traditional
\nbook contract, but we all had the ambition to venture into the unknown. We had
\nall decided that the benefits outweighed the risks. Interestingly enough, for many
\nof my colleagues, this was the first book that they had ever self-published.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nbegan to really hit the US hard, teachers all over began to talk on social
\nmedia about what they were going to do when they went back to school. Having
\nworked as an educator for many years, I knew I could help out. I used my
\nresearch to write an article on my blog The Best Coronavirus Children\u2019s Booksfor back to school<\/a>. I began to receive more emails from teachers wanting to use
\nmy lesson plans in their class. More than any newspaper article or interview,
\nsocial media post or podcast, word of mouth about my book began to fuel sales.
\nBy August I began to sell 40 books a day and at its peak, I was selling well
\nover a hundred. In September, The Day the Lines Changed<\/i><\/b> was featured in the
\nWashington Post as one of the top coronavirus children\u2019s books on the market
\nand had made over 10,000 dollars. My book had gone further than I had ever
\nimagined possible.<\/span><\/p>\nMoving Forwards<\/span><\/b><\/h3>\n