January 16,2012 my husband and my first book Mommy,Tell Me a Story about a Car was officially published. What a day that was. It was a mixture of excitement and total fear at the same time. They say that to learn to swim sometimes you just have to jump in and start swimming. Well, we jumped alright and I am frantically trying to learn to swim amongst the flood of other swimmers.
Little did we know that publishing a book isn’t just about writing, editing and illustrating, but it is so much more. There are the marketing parts, book reviews, contacts, book signings and computer skills. Books have been around for hundreds of years before any technology, but now an author has to know how to tweeter, blog, link things and make web pages. Yikes! I still have a flip phone! Every time I post a new blog I get a little nervous that I’m not going to do something right and I won’t know how to fix it. It seems to be mostly about who you know, who has the best marketing plan, who has the best webpage/blog or who has the best publisher. It can make you lose sight of why you decided to write a book in the first place.
I love to tell stories! My husband is a wonderful artist! We love kids! That pretty much covers most of it. We get such joy seeing the looks on children’s faces after we have shared our books with them. To watch a little girl or boy walk away from your table at a book signing hugging their book because you put their name in it…just for them. What could be better than that? Going to a school to read that doesn’t have the “budget” for a big name author to come, and reading to 60 eager little faces that have never met an author before in their entire life is priceless! This is why my husband and I published our first book and continued with two more.
Yes, this “Old Dog” is going to have to learn some new tricks to keep up in the book
business, but as I look back at the journey we have made this past year, I pray that my husband and I never forget this first book, and the reasons we wrote it and who we wrote our books for. I pray that the people that buy our books and the children that hear or read them will see this in every word on the page and every picture illustrated. When we stop caring about what we are writing and who we are writing to, this will be the time that we should stop publishing books.
kristigrimm.wordpress.com 
This is encouraging to me, thanks for sharing! I just published my first book and I am beginning the process of learning to use facebook, twitter and blogging to market for my book. There is so much you can do on these sites, it’s mind blowing! Good luck to you 🙂
Congrats! My husband and I are celebrating the 1yr anniv. today of this first book by giving away a free copy of it to the first 5 people that leave a message on my blog. You are the first person to leave a message so we would love to send you a copy of the book if you would like. Just send me your address to my email @ kristigrimm@ymail.com and we will get it to you ASAP. That is wonderful about your first book. Good luck with getting things started.
Hi Kristi, I may be slow hopping around (Kid Lit Blog Hop), but I knew I’d get to you yet! lol Kristi, over the last year since I started blogging, I have met so many wonderful authors who all say the same thing as you – marketing your book is such an exhausting complicated process. I really feel for all of you who are finding that part so stressful. At the end of the day, if you have a good book that children love, you’ve accomplished your goal. Congrats on your book! I am tweeting about this little free book promo that you added here and I expect that you will get this filled up quickly!! Off to share!! 🙂
Renee, Thank you so much for spreading the word. I was shocked at first when no one was responding. I was trying to give away free books…no one wants one? I got more than 5 people but I can’t help myself they will all get one. I will have to stop now though or I will have a problem paying for all the postage.:) I would love to send you a copy as a thank you if you would like one. Just leave me your address on my email kristigrimm@ymail.com and I will send one off to you ASAP. It looks like I will be going to the Post Office anyway so what is one more book? Thanks again for the wonderful support.
We love kids book and this one looks incredible, content and a picture. Good luck on new books, kids would love them for sure.
Thank you so much for the sweet note! I love my husband’s art work too! I am past my 5 book limit but no worries I would still love to send you a copy if you would like one. Just leave your address on my email kristigrimm@ymail.com and I will be happy to send you one. Make sure to let me know if you want me to personalize the authograph. Have a fantastic day!
Wow, what a lovely post. Congratulations to you on the first anniversary! Isn’t reading to kids one of the most awesomely fun things to do – ever?! I have a four and a half year old little boy who LOVES to read – well, to have mommy and daddy read to him, anyway, he’s not quite yet reading on his own. I started reading when I was 2 – no lie – and haven’t looked back! Honestly I wither when I don’t have the next thing to read in my hands, and (as screwed up as that might make me sound) I hope that my son feels the same way about books, always! Thanks for what you and your husband have done to help other little kids become great readers!! I agree, it’s adorable to watch a little kid hugging their favorite book to them – and I can’t imagine what it must feel like when it’s YOUR. BOOK. Wow. Yay for you!
Holly, Thank you so much for your note. This is a perfect book for little boys. I should know, I have 4 boys…5 is you count my husband! I want to make sure your address stays safe so send your address to my email kristigrimm@ymail.com. If you want me to sign it to your son just let me know his name and I will be happy to do that. Thank you again for your interest!
Sounds terrific! Congrats! 🙂
Thank you so much Whitney for taking the time to go to my blog. I am so glad that you would like a copy of our first book. In order to send it to you I will need your address. You will need to leave it on my email so it will be safer kristigrimm@ymail.com. If you want me to autograph it to someone in particular just let me no. Thank you again for your interest! Have a great day!
I used to run a small bookstore in a small city and we LOVED having children’s book authors come to read and sign books! The kids loved it too. Even on days when we only sold a few of the author’s books, having an author take the time to visit us made everyone’s day. Keep up the good work!
And as far as social media marketing goes, it can be a pain but it’s SO worth it! Best of luck!
Thank you for the kind words! I have reached my 5 limit but then again I can break my own rules!:) If you would still like a copy of my first book just leave me your address on my email kristigrimm@ymail.com and I will be happy to send you one. If you want the autograph personalized just let me know. Have a great day!
I would love to have this and read it with my grandaughter:)
I would love to send you a copy. I will need your address to send it to you so just go to my email kristigrimm@ymail.com to give it to me. It isn’t safe to post it on the blog site. If you want me to personalize the autograph let me know your grandaughter’s name. Thank you so much for your interest!
Congratulations on publishing your first book 🙂 I love your story about going into school to talk about your book, it must be an amazing experience for you and the kids. Good luck with getting to grips with social media. I started a blog at the end of last year and am amazed how many people I have managed to reach through Twitter alone!
Thank you! Yes it has been an adventure! Visiting with the kids is the best part. I would love to send you a copy of my book. Just send me your address to my email kristigrimm@ymail.com and I will get it to you ASAP. If you want me to personalize the authograph be sure to let me know. Thanks again for your support. I am on twitter if you want to follow me AuthorKGrimm.:)
Cute post and I know what you mean. I’ve been writing for 20 years and while I was already heavily into the social media/marketing/online world before publishing, when I published my first children’s book I realized I had fallen into a whole other ocean and I had a lot to learn. Good luck on your journey!
Thank you so much for your note. It is so nice to hear other people’s experiences. I want to make sure I keep everyone’s addresses private so if you would like a book just send me your address to my email kristigrimm@ymail.com. If you would like me to personalize the autograph make sure you tell me who you would like me to sign it to. So nice to meet you. Have a great day!