Okay, I totally admit that that title is a lot more dramatic than it sounds. Lemme explain.
I recently launched my latest picture book The Night the Monsters Came, and if you look at the cover below, you’ll notice lots of magic dust floating around Jack and Joy aka the brave, confident, and hygienic siblings, who look poised for battle. Who are poised for battle. And who would they be battling, pray tell? Well, a bunch of hungry, not-too-spooky monsters – that’s who!
Anyway, I digress. Back to the sparkles discovery.
Well, I got really inspired by the magical cover and wanted to amp it a bit by adding….animated sparkles, glitter, shiny things. I am very NEW to the whole Instagram & Pinterest game, and I am still bumbling my way through it, but every day is a Revelation.
Like, yesterday, I discovered animated sparkles on Instagram, and out of sheer excitement, I created the clip below … meaning, I added lots of fancy animated sparkles to Lisa Ciccone’s front cover art. And I posted it straightaway to MyStories on Insta (as you do, I’ve been told), which was my first attempt to post on MyStories as well.
Aaaaaah, the wonderful world of Instagram. I’m still a complete newbie, and there’s so much to learn. But one thing for sure is, I now know that Sparkles on pictures and mini video clips are a thing, and they bring JOY, and I now know how to do it. Tadaaaa! Happy dance, tippy-tappy-tap!
Now, what’s there to learn next? I want to know how to increase views on my pins on Pinterest and my posts on Instagram. The learning curve is getting rrrrreal! And I am relishing it.
Though, honestly, I would rather just focus on writing new stories, creating new characters, making new books for you all to read. But… the reality is, without any kind of marketing and promotional work, it’s hard for books to stand out, get discovered, get read, or get selected by their target readers.
The sea of books is vast and every day, new books are getting published. I get that. There’s a lot of wonderful books to choose from out there. And doing promotional stuff really, really helps one little sparkly step at a time, on that long road to getting what most writers dream of… a breakout book someday.
Well, as long as I get to do little things that bring joy … like animated sparkles on a picture or animated snow falling on a snowy landscape (hint, hint… is there a new book coming out soon with a wintry landscape? Maybe…wink, wink!), then, I’m all in with that promotional stuff.
Seriously, grab a copy of The Night the Monsters Came, if you haven’t already. You won’t regret it. It’s really fun! And that’s not my assessment ‘cos, you know, it’s hard to be super objective when it’s your own work. But the feedback I’m getting from strangers is … that it’s fun and colorful and resulted in lots of giggles. Well, that’s my goal right there – to write books that elicit giggles. The wonderful, good, heartwarming kind. The perfect send-off for your Treasured Ones to Dreamland.
You just need to give it (i.e. this book) a chance.
Thanks ever so much for dropping by. And for putting up with my kinda longish yarn.
Till next time!
With gratitude,
Junia