Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Stepping Into the Publishing World
I have no idea how the world of book publishing works, so I had a lot of questions for my publisher. After a thirty minute phone conversation, I got a good sense of it all. As it is with anything, the competition for attention in the marketplace is fierce. Success would depend on quite a few factors, the most important of those would be (1) getting the word out about my work and (2) having people like my work. Since I have little control over the first, and absolutely no control over the second, I figured the most important thing I could do was continue trying to create the best stories that I could.

The publisher and I decided how the branding of my series would look. The series would be called “Dozi the Alligator”. The first title would be changed to “Dozi the Alligator Finds a Family”.

The launch date was set for March 2015.

(my original book cover design)

(revised book cover design)

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

The Art of Richard Thompson

The Art of Richard Thompson
An update from a previous post: Artist Richard Thompson is the only genius I have ever met. If you do not know the name, you need to watch this beautifully produced documentary. I promise you will not be disappointed.



For more information on an excellent cause, please explore these three links:

Sunday, November 16, 2014

A Publishing Deal!
When I completed Dozi the Alligator, I sent a PDF of it to a publisher who had previously expressed interest. The publisher reviewed it, then surprised me by asking for a summary for an entire SERIES of books based on this first one! Excited, I quickly composed my ideas for five more stories and sent it on to the publisher.

On April 16, 2014, I signed a publishing deal!

The Dozi the Alligator series of children's books is scheduled to arrive March 2014! The first story was renamed Dozi the Alligator Finds a Family.

I'm pretty excited about the possibilities!


*I'd like to thank Pulitzer prize-winning editorial cartoonist, Matt Davies, who very graciously had his agent review my proposed publishing contract before I signed it. I met Matt Davies through another mutual friend on Facebook (once again, the power and benefits of social media on display). Thanks again, Matt!

Saturday, November 8, 2014

Funded in 80 Hours!
I had spread the word about my Kick Starter campaign through every means possible; social media, e-mail, word-of-mouth. Still, nobody was more surprised than me when I reached my funding target within the first 80 hours of the campaign!

A week later, The Washington Post’s Michael Cavna published this really great interview about my book project on his Comics Riffs blog.


Ultimately, I raised nearly double the amount of money that I was shooting for! I was extremely grateful for the support I received from everybody, especially the generosity of complete strangers. The whole experience was outstanding.

Wednesday, November 5, 2014

My First Kick Starter Campaign
My goal was to raise enough money to cover most of the expenses it would take to produce my Dozi the Alligator children's book. I set $4,000 as my target. On March 1, 2014, I launched the campaign and held my breath.