Kids Cooking and Cookbook Blog

Have you ever had a business cycle motivation problem? Wheels spin but not much forward progress? That’s the way I’m feeling as I’ve been in a writing slump lately. I’m wondering whether it is the rainy days, the sunny days, or just the fact it is summer. I’ve found it hard to motivate myself to get work done. That’s the problem with being in business as an entrepreneur. Nobody says what needs to get done nor when to do it.

Yes, I’m retired from my first job as a teacher but not from my second. It’s fun and enjoyable, this publishing business, but sometimes work piles up and you don’t know where to begin.  Sitting at the computer does not necessarily mean “working” at the computer.

Being a small publisher, I find it hard to keep up with everything I think I should be doing. Using social networking, blogging, like this one, https://www.cookingandkids.com/blog, and http://www.healthyeatingtips.com, getting out press releases, going to trade shows, contacting buyers, and using other marketing options can get very  overwhelming.

OK, what else does a small publisher do, you ask? Well, we get a book ready to sell and then sell it. We either do everything that needs to get done in getting the book ready for publication or hire someone to do parts of  the work. For example, in my company I hire out the formatting and design work. I know what I like and what I want but the creation of it isn’t an area of my strength. And, of course, the printing gets sent out to a print company, depending on comparisons in the bid process.

The biggest responsibility is to see that potential readers know about our books and where to buy them. Whether one chooses to sell through bookstores, via direct mail, the internet, or however else it’s up to the small publisher to determine through which channels to sell.  This might include retail bookstores, distributors, corporate customers, libraries, specialty retailers, foreign markets, museums, parks, military, associations or other venues in order to best reach the target market. Publishers (and authors) want their books to sell year after year so often it’s a matter of rinse and repeat. Through updates, revisions, new book covers and new material, it’s very possible to sell books for many, many years.

I started writing a book while I was still teaching.  It was information I needed for my foods classes. Later, to get my book “out there”, I started my publishing company, Images Unlimited Publishing.  Now I have 14 books in my sales catalog. I’ve been at this job of publishing books for myself and that of other authors for about as long as I was at my teaching job.

Within the past year I have published three new books and revised another. I am thankful I have not been in a slump all year.

I’m very proud of our new books. They represent a nice assortment and should be of interest to a varied audience. These books are as follows:

Learning to Listen with Significant Others by Bob Bohlken, Ph.D.
Effective listening builds a foundation for healthy relationships.

Cooking in the Midwest – A Collection of Favorite Recipes from the Heartland by Nancy Lantz
In this treasured community collection of recipes are some of the Midwest’s all-time favorites.

Amber’s Reflections – A Candid Personal Conversation about Cancer, Hair Loss and Empowerment with an introduction by Peggy Miller
Loss knows no boundaries – a look back on the special life of Amber Nicole Birmingham (1984-2010)

A new and revised 2nd edition of Listening to Rural Midwestern Idioms/Folk Sayings by Bob Bohlken is coming out late summer of this year. This is an entertaining guide to sayings and expressions from an earlier time.  These informal sayings are colored with allusions from the past and touched with a bit of humor.

I’ll write more about these new books in future blogs. Watch your mailbox for more details and put them on your watch list.

Thanks for listening to my story. Now, hop on over to our website:
http://www.imagesunlimitedpublishing.com and choose from our books for cooks and apple lovers – kids, families, and parenting professionals. Read our customer reviews. Tell a friend about us.

Best to you,

Lee Jackson, who hopes to be out of her slump soon
Author and publisher
http://www.imagesunlimitedpublishing.com