A little over a year ago I embarked on a self publishing journey that would see my book published on the 8th September 2023.

Choosing to Self Publish with Tellwell Publishing was an amazing way to learn the all the complexities of publishing, through a self guided, step by step, activity driven process. Although support was available along the way, I didn’t always know what I didn’t know, so couldn’t ask. I guess that’s what learning is all about. The overall process can be overwhelming and having a publishing company that can guide you was a true asset.

So why is it taking so long, what’s the hold up?

I won’t go into the detail of what I would do differently, but there are a few things I have learned along the way, as I hold my precious new book in my hands.

A “Print on demand” model for a children’s picture book is NOT a good option. A single book is printed once the buyer has paid, and is then shipped to the customer. Due to high quality paper not being kept in stock at the printer, the quality is poor, resulting in dull colour reproduction on flimsy “photocopy” paper.

Selling your book through an online retailer like Amazon is not ideal either. Even though the model is print on demand, a retailer will state that the book is “Out of Stock” or “Unavailable”. All the retailer is actually responsible for is collecting the money and sending a print request to the printer. Your order should NOT take months to fulfil?!?! This is not a very good customer experience.

Whilst my book is now available (print on demand) via Amazon, Barnes& Noble, Booktopia, AbeBooks, WaterStones, Walmart, just to name a few…these retailers are completely out of my control. In some cases I have seen my book listed as “Rare – $85 USD”. Regardless of what a retailer sells my book for, I receive the same royalty.

I also learned that I did not possess the necessary skills to take my vibrant illustrations and convert them to print quality images, as I thought I did. Although the resolution was excellent, I was not happy with the colour, and the designer seemed to overexpose the images. Combine this with the poorer quality paper from the Print on Demand model, I was left with poor quality images throughout my book. You can see the difference between the original (first image) and that of the book:

Why am I not Marketing the book yet?

I have not bombarded you with requests for likes, follows and “buy my book” pushy ads. The main reason, is that I am not fully satisfied with the book itself. So, until I have a quality product that I am proud of, I will not be putting it out there for sale.

It’s not all doom and gloom though!

Part of the Tellwell package included my very own website jodifranzke.com.au I have been busily building up content here in preparation for exposing my book and hopefully including a way to order directly from me. My website already includes resources, such as colouring in sheets of characters from the story, for kids to print out and colour in.

I also have full rights to my book and own the editable, print ready files. This means that I can make alterations to my book myself and deal directly with a printer. I am in the process of engaging a local printer and hope to have books ready in time for my book launch.

So lots and lots has been going on in the background and I really appreciate your patience.

Watch this space and I‘ll keep you updated!

Thanks for reading,

Jodi and Erick the Snail

Gramsie had fun today colouring in with me. She recognised Pig, and is happy to see that he has finally made it into a book.
She also found Erick the Snail hidden in the picture.
Can you find Erick?

Explore and print out your favourite colouring in sheet!

All available from my Activities Page.

Thanks for reading!

Jodi & Erick the Snail

PS: Don’t forget to comment. You can make suggestions for a new colouring in sheets!

After missing out on the trip of a lifetime, cancelled on 13th March 2020 due to Covid-19, I decided to take a small career break. During this time, I was able to shift my focus away from complex business analysis and enterprise architecture, and focus instead on illustration again. I rediscovered a lost passion.

Over many years I have written and illustrated a number of children’s books, however have never quite completed any or had any published. How funny then was it to find myself creating a KANBAN and brainstorming all of the things I would need to do?

What was it I wanted to achieve? I explored what success looked like. I set myself targets and timelines.

I dedicated time to research. I learned the publication process. I tore apart publisher websites. I learned a whole ton of new acronyms. I even created a business model, enabling me to visualise how different scenarios would work, depending on the publisher I chose, and the production model (on demand or up-front publication). The business model built a picture of the outgoing costs and what I would need to achieve in order to make a profit.

From this process I then not only began to illustrate again, but was able to brainstorm a series of new book titles and ideas!

Switching into “Business Analysis” mode was so natural that I didn’t even realise that I was doing it. 

Every role we perform, we collect skills. We learn better ways to communicate, negotiate, articulate. We learn how to investigate, analyse, problem solve and create options. We learn about people, personalities, traits and states, and so much more. These capabilities are transferable. They are transferable across industry and they are transferable from job to job. You can’t teach in school or at university what you will learn through experience. It was through my experience as a business analyst that allowed me to pick up pieces of project that I started over 20 years ago, and finish what I set out to do.

Oh, and by the way…you’ll be pleased to know that I have now completed my first book and it is ready to be published. Wow what a year!

Thanks for reading, fast forward to today, Pig’s New Bed was published on 8th September 2023 and is now available for purchase.

Thanks for reading.

Jodi & Erick the Snail

If you’re reading this then you have successfully navigated to my News page.

Thanks for dropping by, and I hope that you enjoy your stay. This is my very first post, so I am learning how it all works. Learning how to preview, publish and edit posts, without losing all the content. (This is my second attempt as I did exactly that, and had to start the post again!!)

Please explore my site and feel free to leave feedback and suggestions in the comments section below. If nothing else, I can test how all that works too!!

Thanks,

Jodi

and Erick the Snail