Latest / Adventures in the Heart of Children's Book Authors Podcast / From the Trails to the Page: Author Mark Villarreal on Raising the Next Generation of Nature Explorers

Transcript

From the Trails to the Page: Author Mark Villarreal on Raising the Next Generation of Nature Explorers · Adventures in the Heart of Children's Book Authors Podcast

• 4:09
  Mark Villarreal, the Adventures of Park Ranger Brock Cliffhanger and his Junior Park Rangers.
• 4:15
  Thanks, Mark, for appearing on the Adventures in the Heart of Children's Book Authors Podcast.
• 4:20
  Mark has mentioned he's written a book series, and today we're going to discuss his book, the Adventures of Park Ranger Brock Cliffhanger and His Junior Park Rangers Shenandoah National Park Exploration.
• 4:36
  And I look forward to the conversation.
• 4:39
  Before we get into the details of your book, can you tell us what being a children's book author means to you?
• 4:47
  I enjoy it very much for several reasons.
• 4:50
  One, I believe in the philosophy if we don't teach our children the world well.
• 4:55
  So, you know, I'd like to think that how do I do my part?
• 4:59
  And I found it by being an author for children.
• 5:02
  And my mother, who was a big influence on me, used to always tell me, I want you to never let that little boy in you grow out of you.
• 5:11
  And he would say that because he wanted me to always dream big and always think I could accomplish things.
• 5:17
  And so in the same realm, I do that, because how can I create things that help the children dream and explore and be curious and believe in themselves?
• 5:27
  Both things are how can I do my part?
• 5:29
  Fantastic.
• 5:30
  And it's interesting you should say that.
• 5:32
  My five grandchildren have allowed me to keep the little boy in me alive.
• 5:37
  And so that's a lot of fun.
• 5:39
  Yes, it is.
• 5:41
  Tell us about the inspiration and the origin story behind how you got Brock Cliffhanger going.
• 5:51
  I explained on my website, Brockliffhanger.com that it's it was born out of love.
• 5:56
  And so my wife is a retired nurse, but she would take care of small children that need it taken care of.
• 6:02
  And so she would take care of this young infant boy named Jack, whose parents needed to work and he had a digestive problem situation and he became like an adopted grandson.
• 6:13
  We just loved him so much and we called them family.
• 6:17
  And I would travel a lot at that time.
• 6:19
  So when I was traveling once in Washington, D.C.
• 6:22
  i was at the Smithsonian and I saw an astronaut uniform for a little infant or child.
• 6:28
  And I bought it and sent it to him and I'd get pictures from his mom and he even had a birthday party and everyone had to dress up as an astronaut.
• 6:35
  But one time when I was traveling, I came across the Junior Park Ranger program and the pamphlets of information, the patches, the badges.
• 6:45
  And so I purchased several of the items and books that they had.
• 6:50
  And.
• 6:51
  But I thought, I'm going to send this to Jack.
• 6:53
  But it came over to me.
• 6:55
  I'm going to send it.
• 6:56
  And I thought of the name Brock Cliffhanger.
• 6:58
  I'm going to send it from a fictional character, a park ranger, Brock Cliffhanger.
• 7:03
  And I actually wrote letter to him from Brock Cliffhanger, saying, here are some items for junior Park Ranger program.
• 7:10
  We think that you'd be a perfect candidate and we'd like for you to join the program.
• 7:15
  And his mom said it just really inspired him.
• 7:19
  She had sent me a message.
• 7:21
  I was dropping him home from school.
• 7:23
  And the last thing he said before getting out of the car, he says, I can't believe I'm a junior park ranger.
• 7:28
  And that just made my day.
• 7:29
  You talk about letting that little boy in.
• 7:31
  You gave me that excitement as a little boy.
• 7:34
  And so I would start sending him other items.
• 7:37
  I found a little ranger hat.
• 7:39
  I found a ranger vesp and more information.
• 7:43
  And he would just really enjoy it and then start sharing it with the neighborhood of what he was learning.
• 7:49
  Because from the information, his mother had reached out one time and said, I want to tell him it's from you.
• 7:57
  And I said, I would ask that you don't, because that spoils the joy at the moment.
• 8:04
  And she said, okay, she says, but she just felt it was very loving.
• 8:08
  And that's.
• 8:09
  That's why we say it was born out of love.
• 8:11
  Then one morning, like you, Bobby Rick, I wake up at three in the morning with my best ideas, and I woke up, I'm like, that's a children's book in there.
• 8:20
  And so I wrote the first one, because there's six books right now in the series, working on the seventh right now.
• 8:26
  And it's with Allegheny State park, the Missing Hikers of Allegheny State Park.
• 8:31
  And I wanted it to tell about the park that they're going to, but also give educational about the nature.
• 8:40
  And here it's about what happens if you're missing, what should you do?
• 8:44
  So it gives lessons there as well.
• 8:46
  But it also, more importantly, follows a good role model, which is Brock Cliffhanger.
• 8:51
  They learn good foundational values and especially of love, but especially of teamwork and working together, and then naturally, about preservation.
• 9:01
  And as I would write that then the next one was on the Great Smoky Mountains, which is where I live, and I have to research each one very well, because I don't want to say they went on a
• 9:15
  hike here, and kids that age can't go hiking there, obviously.
• 9:20
  I want to know the history of the park.
• 9:22
  You read the recent one and you see where even has about Native American history, about Even the Civil War, that had some history there.
• 9:31
  The Grand Canyon has the cowboy history, so I wrote one on the Grand Canyon, Western history, and it has Native American history there as well.
• 9:39
  I wanted to really get a sense of your origin story and how it all got started.
• 9:43
  So I.
• 9:43
  Yeah.
• 9:43
  So I appreciate that.
• 9:45
  I want to talk to you about.
• 9:46
  Now that I know you're doing your seventh book, you've got six published.
• 9:51
  Tell us about your children's book business.
• 9:54
  Tell us what does your children's book business plan look like?
• 9:59
  I want to keep developing.
• 10:01
  Obviously, there's plenty of national parks.
• 10:04
  One was on a state park, but the next five are on national park.
• 10:08
  So it's which ones?
• 10:09
  Can I kind of go across the United States?
• 10:13
  Do I go outside the country as well?
• 10:15
  Because there's parks outside, so there's plenty to explore there.
• 10:19
  But I've already picked my seventh and eighth that I have.
• 10:22
  I'm right in the seventh one right now.
• 10:24
  But what is your business book book business look like?
• 10:28
  Like, how are you funding this?
• 10:30
  Are you using it to generate revenue and pay for publishing of your books?
• 10:40
  Yes, there's several things.
• 10:42
  Like, first of all, I'm really using it to touch the youth in a way that what revenue comes in, I just reuse it to expand it.
• 10:52
  I'm retired from a very successful business where I spent 35 years in corporate America and I was a business coach, very successful, which has allowed me now to concentrate on this.
• 11:05
  But the revenues that come in, I reinvest within the series that I do because it's that important to me to help get the message out.
• 11:15
  Okay.
• 11:16
  The book comes in paperback and hardcover and also ebook.
• 11:21
  But the hardcovers I mostly use to send to libraries as a free donation.
• 11:26
  So it's really about spreading the message and to keep this reinvent to get out there.
• 11:32
  It was never about, oh, I hope this makes me rich.
• 11:35
  I have enough that I retired.
• 11:37
  And so it's like, how can I expand it more?
• 11:40
  Okay.
• 11:41
  Any revenue that you are generating, you're putting back into your book business.
• 11:46
  Yes.
• 11:47
  Okay, terrific.
• 11:48
  Terrific.
• 11:49
  And you talked about your three different formats.
• 11:51
  And I'm curious, you talked about the hardcover you use primarily to send to libraries now, is that across America?
• 12:01
  Yes.
• 12:01
  Yeah, it has been.
• 12:02
  It's first I expand it to what's regional around me, but then I was like, okay, where can I send to libraries?
• 12:09
  So I did.
• 12:10
  To the libraries locally here or across some of the other libraries.
• 12:14
  I try to pick some libraries in the areas where the parks may be as well.
• 12:19
  But I also just try to expand to some of the cities.
• 12:23
  I've had some inquire that say, hey, we'd love to have your books.
• 12:26
  And then so I'll make that effort as well.
• 12:29
  And so I like the hardcover because they can last.
• 12:33
  No, for sure.
• 12:33
  Absolutely.
• 12:34
  And so how are you using your soft cover?
• 12:38
  Your soft cover and your ebook tend to be your revenue generators, Is that correct?
• 12:43
  Correct.
• 12:43
  Yeah.
• 12:44
  Yeah.
• 12:44
  Hardcovers are more expensive and most people like to with the children's book.
• 12:48
  Ebooks are very popular nowadays, whether on iPads and people can read them to the children.
• 12:54
  But the soft covers are very popular and even within the bookstores as well, and especially locally here where I went around when I did the Smoky Mountain one, the bookstores or other gift shops, I said, oh, this is
• 13:06
  very good.
• 13:07
  And we like the story that it tells.
• 13:09
  Are you also using ingramsparks to reach out to other online retailers?
• 13:15
  Yes.
• 13:15
  Yeah, it's on ingramsparks.
• 13:17
  That's where a lot of the online retailers locate it to purchase from.
• 13:21
  Terrific.
• 13:22
  And I'm curious about your publishing approach because now that you're into your seventh book, every one of us has a unique publishing approach.
• 13:30
  So whether it's through a traditional publisher or through a hybrid publisher, you do it independently.
• 13:39
  So what's your publishing approach?
• 13:41
  I'm self published.
• 13:42
  Do it independently.
• 13:44
  Okay.
• 13:45
  Rick, as you know my background, I have 13 books in total.
• 13:48
  I first started in business books and the first book was self published.
• 13:51
  Second book was picked up by a publisher and then.
• 13:55
  But through that process and even with working with the publisher, I learned a lot as well that the next ones I just decided to self publish.
• 14:03
  It gives me a lot of control.
• 14:05
  But you really have to educate yourself and find good partners.
• 14:09
  Who's the good editors out there?
• 14:11
  Who's the good typesetters?
• 14:13
  The book covers.
• 14:15
  I know what I want in my head, but I have, then I explain it to who I have design it.
• 14:20
  And it's funny, out of all 13 books, the only cover I didn't like was the one I didn't have any say in.
• 14:27
  So it was one of those I wanted to have say and how the covers are.
• 14:32
  And is your publishing company the same company for 12 of the 13 books?
• 14:37
  Correct?
• 14:38
  Yes.
• 14:39
  And you name your publishing company.
• 14:42
  It's called Mr.
• 14:43
  V Consulting.
• 14:44
  So I put it underneath my consulting business as I was doing business consulting as well.
• 14:48
  And so I just made that my publishing company as well.
• 14:51
  When it came to publishing your children's book, what was the biggest challenge or frustration that you had Versus when you did your business books.
• 15:02
  In publishing, writing was a challenge because business I lived in children's books.
• 15:07
  You have to bring it to the children's level.
• 15:09
  How do you capture them?
• 15:11
  And so I really worked on that.
• 15:13
  And the publishing is to really educate yourself.
• 15:17
  The COVID design, because a book cover says a lot as well.
• 15:21
  And that was a slow process till I got it to where here's why I want it, here are my thoughts.
• 15:27
  And I had several advisors of people that I trust I would bounce the ideas off of as well.
• 15:33
  Also the design inside and how much attention to give as well.
• 15:38
  And so fortunately, I have found good people that give good advice.
• 15:43
  The next thing, though, the challenge is the marketing aspects of it.
• 15:47
  And that's even changed over the years.
• 15:49
  Since writing my first children's books.
• 15:51
  About 2018 was the first one to now has changed drastically with a lot of the new technologies.
• 15:58
  Okay.
• 15:58
  And so with your soft cover and your ebook, especially your softcover, you're probably doing print on demand through Amazon.
• 16:06
  For the most part, yes.
• 16:09
  And then your hardcover, who do you get your hardcover book printed?
• 16:14
  Let's do the Ingramsparks.
• 16:16
  Okay.
• 16:17
  Ingramsparks.
• 16:18
  And I think most of your books are over 80 pages, is that correct?
• 16:24
  They are now, yes.
• 16:25
  I think the first one might have been just short of 80 pages, but okay, they're about.
• 16:29
  I think the latest one's 84 pages.
• 16:32
  Generally, what happens is Amazon doesn't print children's books because most children's books are about 32 to 48 pages.
• 16:42
  But anything over 72 pages, Amazon does print a hard copy.
• 16:48
  So have you looked at using Amazon's hard copy service?
• 16:53
  Yes, yes, we have.
• 16:54
  In fact, I think the last one is by Amazon, so I think we may have switched.
• 17:00
  So.
• 17:00
  Okay, okay, super, super.
• 17:03
  That's great.
• 17:04
  And I'm curious.
• 17:05
  I also noticed, because we were talking about Amazon, I noticed several of your books are number one bestsellers.
• 17:12
  So tell us about that experience.
• 17:14
  And what did you do in terms of sales and marketing to become a number one bestseller on Amazon?
• 17:21
  You have to think about how you're going to promote it at first.
• 17:24
  So a lot of that was to build a website that that hopefully you can get followers on and a social media presence and that.
• 17:32
  And that was all new to me as well.
• 17:34
  Not just Facebook, but Instagram seems to be pretty popular.
• 17:38
  I have social media for my children's books with that.
• 17:41
  And so therefore, when you launch, you do a launch and then you work with some book influencers that you learn over time that have their Whether it's podcasts or Instagram accounts where they review books and you ask them
• 17:54
  for an honest review, you're not saying, hey, you don't pay for, give me a great review, give me an honest review there.
• 18:01
  And that's their reputation as well.
• 18:04
  And so as you put out the books, those are the things that, that you desire that they give and you promote it each place with that.
• 18:12
  And I think that the quicker that you could get some reviews, that helps and assists.
• 18:17
  And so I think that's the big focus that anyone, if they're going to launch a book to think, how can I quickly get the message out that I can get some reviews?
• 18:25
  Book importers are a big one right now.
• 18:28
  And even book clubs that you may know and expand on and continue to expand on.
• 18:33
  I even do programs where you know the different things like Goodreads or there, there's online book club where you can give away free copies and say, hey, here's some free copies.
• 18:45
  Please read my book and put up some honest reviews.
• 18:47
  Right.
• 18:48
  And generally are those free copies Ebooks?
• 18:51
  They can be ebooks.
• 18:52
  They can be PDFs too, depending on where they're at.
• 18:54
  But especially Amazon allows you that you can go and pre purchase your ebook and then send it to them to where it's an Amazon link.
• 19:03
  And so they have that as available as well.
• 19:06
  Terrific, terrific.
• 19:07
  And I know your books are not heavily illustrated, but you have some great illustrations.
• 19:12
  Are you using the same Illustrator or tell us your Illustrator story.
• 19:17
  Yeah, I've bounced around a little bit until you kind of find those that it's okay, they understand what I'm looking for.
• 19:24
  Because even with my book cover I designed in my head, I describe here's what I want and then they put it together.
• 19:31
  And if you notice on the book cover, on any of the book covers, I explained in the book that the kids see Brock as larger than life.
• 19:39
  So on the book cover he's larger than life.
• 19:42
  Right.
• 19:42
  Each of the book covers.
• 19:43
  And that's for that reason.
• 19:45
  And so the person that I found that's reliable, that does my typesetting and book design, also does my illustration as well.
• 19:54
  And she does great work.
• 19:55
  And once you find those, you try to stay consistent and there's no reason to bounce around.
• 20:01
  That leads me to your website with Brock Cliffhanger.
• 20:06
  Was it the chicken or the egg?
• 20:08
  So does your book come first, your first book come first or the website?
• 20:13
  The first books came first before the website.
• 20:16
  I was so busy in business when the first two books came out that I Was still doing business coaching before I retired.
• 20:22
  Okay.
• 20:23
  And so it was probably in the last two years.
• 20:27
  Then I said, I'm going to.
• 20:28
  Now that I'm retiring, I'm going to expand on that because it's my joy and write more books.
• 20:33
  And so there's been four more books.
• 20:35
  And let me build the website to help kind of explain, but also give some offers, as you saw at what we have available on the website as well.
• 20:44
  Did the illustrator, as you built a rapport with the illustrator, did they help you in the website design?
• 20:52
  Because you brought Cliffhanger?
• 20:55
  You've got a lot of illustrations on your website.
• 20:58
  Was the illustrator involved in the website design?
• 21:01
  Yeah, they were involved in the illustrations provided to it.
• 21:04
  But I actually had a separate person, actually just lived an hour from me, so lives on the other.
• 21:09
  Lives on the other side of the Smokies in a town called Maryville.
• 21:13
  I did want someone that if I needed to meet in person, that I have that available.
• 21:19
  And see, I mapped out, having been in technology for 21 years, as my past business, I mapped out a site map of.
• 21:28
  Here's my thoughts on the website, here's how I'd like it to flow, and here's a lot of the information I already have for uploads.
• 21:38
  But please, you're the website designer.
• 21:41
  Yes.
• 21:42
  Let's have a relationship where you're not afraid to push back on me or just say, hey, Mark, I think this works better.
• 21:48
  And we have that very good relationship.
• 21:51
  You got a great website.
• 21:52
  I'm curious about how.
• 21:54
  Because you talked about this earlier, we were talking about your success and driving people to your website.
• 22:01
  So how are you using social media to drive people to your website and to your books?
• 22:08
  I post every day, and a lot of this I've been learning myself.
• 22:13
  So with the social media, I never had an Instagram account.
• 22:16
  Even when I first started writing, I never had a Facebook account.
• 22:18
  But I have Facebook accounts, Brock Cliffhanger.
• 22:22
  And the Instagram is at Brockcliffhanger.
• 22:25
  And I even have a Mark, which is my Instagram for.
• 22:29
  Which is all about Cliffhanger, but one more children's book that I wrote as well.
• 22:33
  So I have two accounts that are tied to Facebook and tied to Instagram that I have about three posts that go out daily which are educational on the park.
• 22:44
  So when parents see them, it's just, hey, here's a great story on the Smoky Mountains, on an animal that used to exist that is coming back now, like elk, they became pretty extinct.
• 22:57
  And then now they're having a Comeback here in the Smoky Mountains.
• 23:00
  And so different things on education.
• 23:02
  And so where Brock's teaching the junior park rangers.
• 23:06
  And that has gone well to where I recently just received a review from a school teacher who used my Smoky Mountain book in a lesson in school.
• 23:16
  And she talked about how each kid would read from the book.
• 23:19
  It was a month long lesson.
• 23:21
  They would go to YouTube and bring up other things on the Smoky Mountains and other external resources on that.
• 23:28
  It was kind of nice to hear how they used the book because it's all information that's accurate but yet entertaining and how it captured the kids interest to explore.
• 23:39
  I talked to a lot of teachers and retired teachers who are children's book authors.
• 23:46
  And a lot of them now are building curriculum around their children's book.
• 23:51
  And might be an opportunity there that you have this relationship with this teacher.
• 23:55
  Maybe she could share that curriculum that maybe you could use to promote your other books.
• 24:02
  It'd be an interesting thing to talk to her about.
• 24:05
  Yeah, that is very interesting.
• 24:07
  And because it opens up so many thoughts and ideas on, hey, how can I utilize that and expand it?
• 24:13
  Obviously I posted it on my Facebook and my LinkedIn profile.
• 24:17
  LinkedIn.
• 24:18
  I have 30,000 followers.
• 24:19
  So you know, if that gets the message out there of hey, here are some options there too.
• 24:24
  And I even offered free books on LinkedIn to educators as well.
• 24:29
  Hey, here are some free books.
• 24:30
  It's all about the education and getting the message out.
• 24:33
  Send me an email and@contactarcvillieral.com and I'd be happy to send you, send you that and anything else I can help with.
• 24:42
  I've gone into a couple of classrooms to read with the kids and that's exciting there as well.
• 24:47
  And I noticed on your website, and I love it because I was actually a Cub, a Scout venture as I was growing up.
• 24:55
  I loved the Scouting organization.
• 24:58
  I even got to go to a world jamboree in Belgium and that was pretty neat.
• 25:03
  The one thing I loved what you did is you have these four badges on your website.
• 25:08
  Talk to us about the badges and what inspires you to come up with those four badges.
• 25:16
  Name one of the badges.
• 25:17
  And so I can go into it.
• 25:18
  Did you have the specific ones there?
• 25:20
  Oh, you know what?
• 25:21
  One of them was integrity.
• 25:24
  That's where we talk about the values and, and we teach in that.
• 25:28
  So we want the kids to lead with integrity.
• 25:30
  I always say that humility is a strength.
• 25:33
  When you say four, I had many more than just four.
• 25:35
  So I'm trying to think.
• 25:36
  Exactly.
• 25:36
  Yeah.
• 25:37
  I was Just looking on your website, if you look, it's like a strip of your badges.
• 25:42
  And yeah, here we are.
• 25:44
  So you've got honesty and integrity, humility, paying it forward, and love of nature.
• 25:50
  And it's all in the four badges shape.
• 25:52
  And I thought, you know what, What a great thing.
• 25:55
  Now, I'm not familiar with the Junior Park Rangers organization.
• 26:00
  I never belonged to that.
• 26:01
  I just know when, through scouting, we would get badges for different things.
• 26:06
  Exactly.
• 26:07
  And that's why integrity and honesty is one of the big first ones.
• 26:11
  Love of nature to explore that.
• 26:13
  Humility is always a big one for me.
• 26:15
  And one of the comments I always get from reviews is how people like that Brock demonstrates humility and that he leads by example.
• 26:22
  So the big role modeling and then pay it forward we created as.
• 26:27
  What is the motto of a Junior Park Ranger is as you learn that it's important that you pay it forward.
• 26:34
  And there's even a Junior Park Ranger song that we created that's in the End of the Shenanigans Shenandoah book.
• 26:40
  And that was something that I created within the book.
• 26:43
  So it wasn't at the time part of the Junior Park Ranger program.
• 26:46
  Hopefully they adopted overall and.
• 26:49
  But it's really important to me that we teach our children how to pay it forward.
• 26:54
  It's not just about learning ourselves.
• 26:56
  It's about how do we pay it forward.
• 26:59
  When it came to your origin story, but I want to dig a bit deeper now into the character development.
• 27:06
  So like you said, you, Brock Cliffhanger, came from this great story with your relationship with Jack and.
• 27:15
  And then you went on to develop these Junior Park Ranger characters.
• 27:20
  And I know in the.
• 27:20
  In your current book that I just read, I think there's about eight or nine characters that you introduced that are Junior Park Rangers.
• 27:28
  Talk to us about that too.
• 27:30
  Are those characters reoccurring in your previous books or.
• 27:35
  Or do you bring up to life new characters?
• 27:38
  In every single book, there are core characters.
• 27:42
  So Jack is core and his brother Warren and now their sister Amaya.
• 27:48
  So those are three core characters that have been in every book.
• 27:52
  And I'm planning to keep them in the books unless something changes.
• 27:56
  So with that, then the other characters may rotate.
• 27:59
  Now, there are some characters are three books in a row, but.
• 28:03
  But we do rotate and introduce.
• 28:05
  And in fact, I even have the new list of characters for the seventh book that I'm writing.
• 28:10
  And I think five characters are the same.
• 28:13
  And then the additional ones that I'm introducing there are new.
• 28:18
  I always talk to people about, for example, in your case, you're either using a state park or you're using a national park.
• 28:29
  And I always think, did you think of the state park or the national parks as a character in each of the books?
• 28:39
  Yes, I did.
• 28:40
  Each state or national park has their own character.
• 28:43
  Things that are unique to them, that contribute to our society, or what they bring.
• 28:49
  The Great Smoky Mountains, I think this is the most visited one, has so much uniqueness that it brings to the character.
• 28:58
  And I kind of explain that in the book because even it explains how the ice Age, what effect it had on the Smoky Mountains because it didn't cover the Smoky Mountains.
• 29:08
  And that's why you find different species of animals below 3,000ft versus above 3,000ft.
• 29:14
  That's a character that it's like, why am I different versus Yellowstone or the Grand Canyon and these types.
• 29:21
  And that that was a lot in defining which ones I do first and which ones I'm expanding to as well.
• 29:27
  Okay, and have you been to each of the parks that you've written about in your stories so far?
• 29:34
  I have.
• 29:35
  Okay, terrific.
• 29:36
  The only reason I asked, Mark, is because on episode 80, I interviewed a children's book author.
• 29:43
  You may know her.
• 29:44
  Her name is Tracy Gardella, and she has the handle of National Park Grandma.
• 29:52
  And she's written.
• 29:54
  She has 13 grandchildren, and she's written a book for each one of them on a national park.
• 30:01
  That's great.
• 30:02
  It's pretty cool how she's done this, but.
• 30:05
  So I don't think she has visited each one of those parks yet, but that's her intention.
• 30:12
  And so I was curious about had you visited the park.
• 30:16
  So you got a sense of.
• 30:17
  Of the character of the park.
• 30:19
  So it wasn't just your imagination.
• 30:22
  I mean, even though you built it from your imagination.
• 30:25
  And uniquely, though, the last one, Shenandoah, I started writing before I visit it, but it's about five hours from where I live, so I'm like, I got to go there.
• 30:36
  Let me go there.
• 30:37
  So when I talk about the Valley of Shenanoa, which is very beautiful, or I talk about the caverns that they have, their Luray caverns, it excites me like a little boy.
• 30:47
  We, as writers, sometimes it's like, how do we stay motivated?
• 30:50
  So it's things like that as well.
• 30:52
  And then I have a wife who is retired.
• 30:54
  The more national parks we can visit, the more joy she has.
• 30:58
  Terrific.
• 30:58
  Something that we do together.
• 31:00
  I love what you've done there.
• 31:01
  So let's discuss the overall theme of your book series.
• 31:06
  In the beginning you wrote your first book.
• 31:08
  Is there an underlying theme?
• 31:10
  Like, when I look at your badges, I'm thinking there is, but I don't want to put words in your mouth.
• 31:15
  So talk to us about the original theme of the books, and then how is the theme grown into your six books and now into your seventh and eighth book?
• 31:25
  They truly.
• 31:27
  I think the foundational theme has stayed the same.
• 31:30
  That's when you talk about the badges.
• 31:31
  And so the foundational theme is, what are the core values that we want our children to learn?
• 31:37
  Okay.
• 31:38
  And the core theme also is what are the role models that we want them to look to?
• 31:43
  And we want them to recognize good role modeling as well.
• 31:46
  And so Brock Cliffhanger.
• 31:48
  And quite frankly, any park ranger I've met, I'm like, they're just great role models.
• 31:53
  Right.
• 31:54
  So I haven't found anyone that's disappointed me in any way.
• 31:58
  When you went to.
• 31:59
  Recently went to Shenandoah, did you actually reach out to the park ranger and indicate what you were doing, and by that time, good old Freddie written five books?
• 32:11
  Yes, I do.
• 32:12
  I go to their visitor centers where you use a confinement park ranger or you find them, and I explain I carry books in my car.
• 32:19
  But let me tell you, funny story or a unique story is in the Smoky Mountain one.
• 32:26
  We were visiting the visitor center, and one of the park rangers was doing an education within an hour.
• 32:33
  So I said, can I sit through your education for the children?
• 32:36
  And that was to leave no trace behind education.
• 32:39
  And I said, can I use you as a character in my book?
• 32:43
  And so he is.
• 32:44
  If you read the Smoky Mountains, he is that character, park ranger Corey in the book where he teaches the kids about leaving no trace behind.
• 32:53
  And so now when I go to the visitor centers, we love that you used one of us in the book.
• 32:59
  And so with Shenandoah, a lot of the names.
• 33:03
  When you.
• 33:03
  The name of the park ranger that is a company park came from the park ranger who I've met there.
• 33:10
  Wow.
• 33:11
  And so when it comes to the central teaching, each book has its own lesson or lessons.
• 33:18
  Tell us a little bit about each book and the central lesson or teaching.
• 33:25
  Do you change it up?
• 33:26
  Yeah, it has to change up some because the.
• 33:29
  A lot of the teaching is about the park itself.
• 33:32
  Okay.
• 33:32
  The history of the park, what are the trails that they, as junior park rangers, can go on, and what are the things that they're going to encounter on the trails, the waterways, the plant life, the flowers we go
• 33:44
  into, even the insects, as you notice in the book, we go to Every little thing.
• 33:50
  But why their significance and what is the history and why is that important?
• 33:56
  With the Smoky Mountains, we have the history of the fires.
• 33:58
  And with that one, it goes into what caused the fires and then what made the fire spread more, because it was Murphy's Law.
• 34:06
  What could go wrong, did go wrong.
• 34:08
  But what are some important conservation things that we should be aware of that we probably wouldn't think of as well.
• 34:16
  But it goes into where they go fishing and they go swimming, they go, whether it's canoeing, all things that we make sure that they can do at the park.
• 34:27
  Right.
• 34:27
  We don't say we don't make it up.
• 34:29
  But with each one is what is the safety concerns that they should have as well.
• 34:34
  The very first book is where they're looking for two boys who went hiking that are missing.
• 34:39
  And it goes into what should you do before you go hiking for safety reasons?
• 34:44
  What do you do once you're missing?
• 34:46
  Right.
• 34:46
  And it's called the stop rule.
• 34:48
  What happens when you encounter wildlife?
• 34:51
  And so each theme is a little specific to the park on what they can learn.
• 34:57
  But also we try to put in there the American history, Western history, Native American history, those types.
• 35:04
  And some.
• 35:05
  There may be some in certain books that remind you of the same thing.
• 35:10
  Because every park so far has bears.
• 35:13
  But what kind of bear?
• 35:15
  Most of them are black bears.
• 35:16
  But why are there no grizzly bears anymore in Yosemite?
• 35:19
  Could even go into that type of thing.
• 35:22
  So how are you using the pay it forward theme in each of the books?
• 35:28
  How they help each other, how they do things.
• 35:31
  When they go fishing, there's a competition that they have, but they are excited for the one who wins.
• 35:37
  Or in this last book, they have the before they leave the park, the junior park ranger days where it's competition that they have, but one of them in the race falls and the one that they're racing against stops
• 35:50
  and helps them up.
• 35:52
  Because it's more about helping my fellow junior park ranger.
• 35:56
  And we all win when we do that.
• 35:59
  It's all about creating that mindset in there and then watching them grow.
• 36:05
  And now that we know you're writing two more books in the series, can you share some insights into your writing development and your writing process?
• 36:16
  How do you do that?
• 36:17
  And maybe take us back to your first book and have you changed anything over the years?
• 36:24
  Because I think you published your first book in 2018.
• 36:29
  Yes, I definitely have changed.
• 36:30
  And even if you read the books from the first to the six, you'll see how they develop the characters Even more, because I think in the first book it's Jack and Warren and no other Junior park rangers to
• 36:41
  where they start adding more junior park rangers that are accompanying with Brock as well.
• 36:47
  So that expands.
• 36:49
  And a lot of them bring a family member.
• 36:51
  So I try to show how when one person gets in the Junior Park Ranger program, they start teaching their younger brother or sister and then they join as well.
• 37:00
  So that expands there.
• 37:02
  My writing method is I really work on an outline.
• 37:07
  How do I first create an outline that what are some of the things that I want them to do?
• 37:14
  Whether obviously I want them to go hiking, but let me investigate where I want them to go hiking and what are some great hiking trails to.
• 37:22
  To introduce the audience to or that they may already know, but they want to hear about what the Junior park rangers do, but also what do I want them to explore.
• 37:31
  And I probably from the first book to the sixth book, I think from the third book on got deeper into the character development.
• 37:40
  Each one, and not only the name of the person, but I have to develop the character.
• 37:45
  What is unique to them?
• 37:46
  What do they love doing?
• 37:48
  What is their background?
• 37:49
  Some of them talk about their grandpa a lot or their mom or I have twins that talk about Abuela and how much they love her cooking.
• 37:58
  Did you draw from your own personal imagination or did you do additional research?
• 38:04
  Both.
• 38:05
  A lot of the characters, first of all, and I mentioned this on my website, I think I do my wife and I love that good parenting.
• 38:13
  I wrote a book years ago called the Millennial Factor because I had high success with millennials in business.
• 38:19
  But to see how some of them now are raising a family and are good parents that I started choosing, it's like a reward system.
• 38:26
  Hey, I'm going to include a couple of your kids in my book, if that's okay.
• 38:30
  And they love the idea.
• 38:31
  But from that, then some of the kids may have some of their own character.
• 38:35
  But most of the time I have to create more of the character of what how do I want them to do.
• 38:40
  But I try to make it rewarding to the parents to expand on how curious on how loving or.
• 38:47
  And how their child pays it forward or how respectful they are and how they're developing it was our way of rewarding good parenting as well.
• 38:55
  And then we do see great examples.
• 38:59
  We have one character in the most recent one named Livy.
• 39:03
  And my pastor didn't know it, but that's his granddaughter and the love that she has for him.
• 39:09
  And that I kind of expanded on in the book.
• 39:13
  Terrific.
• 39:13
  I would like to talk to you about success measurement.
• 39:18
  And I know we talked about your book business plan, but I'd like to delve deeper into how you envision success.
• 39:27
  The neat thing about it is that you've been on quite a long journey now.
• 39:30
  You started in 2018, and here we are in 2026.
• 39:35
  Now you're working on your seventh book.
• 39:37
  And I'm always curious, when you wrote your first book, what did success look like to you then?
• 39:44
  And what is the reality of what success looks like to you now?
• 39:49
  You're actually an accomplished children's book author.
• 39:53
  When I first wrote my first book, it was can I do it?
• 39:57
  So that was the success of can.
• 39:59
  And when I say, can I do it?
• 40:00
  I have written six business books.
• 40:03
  Keep the count.
• 40:04
  Prior to that that were successful.
• 40:07
  But it's can I bring it to a children's level?
• 40:09
  Can I accomplish on bringing the story to life and the characters to life?
• 40:13
  And so that was really the first part of success.
• 40:16
  Just can I do it right?
• 40:18
  Okay.
• 40:18
  And can I put it out there?
• 40:20
  And I wrote it out of love for Jack and his family, for appreciation.
• 40:26
  And then the second book is I did want to tell the story about the fires and what could go wrong, what the fires did go wrong and how we can prevent that and how nature will allow things to
• 40:39
  rebound as well.
• 40:41
  Because the fires out here were devastating.
• 40:43
  But it's really rebounded pretty well.
• 40:45
  But how we could play a role in that as it's expanded and as I said in the last two years is where I really got that passion from retirement of let me expand it.
• 40:55
  I not only want the story to go on what are the next three books?
• 40:59
  And I already picked what the next one and two would be.
• 41:01
  Seventh or eighth, as you said.
• 41:03
  And I finished already chapter one on number seven.
• 41:06
  I'm looking.
• 41:07
  And this is where it gets hard, but it takes patience and it takes me sometimes.
• 41:14
  I guess slowing up is to find the right partners in marketing on how to expand it from there, because I'd like to see them more in more of the visitor centers.
• 41:25
  And one with the teacher really opened my eyes on how they could be utilized there.
• 41:30
  And that's a lot.
• 41:31
  I started getting a lot of the comments on that from marketers that want a partner that said the book clubs out there should go to educators and those types that would have interest in your books.
• 42:13
  And so that's just where success would look like is how can I expand it in those realms?
• 42:19
  So with that one teacher doing that, and she put the message out so it was broadcast out to other educators.
• 42:27
  I.
• 42:27
  But there are those.
• 42:29
  There's a magazine called Kid Leo Magic that just did a feature on Brock Cliffhanger as well.
• 42:34
  And they go to educators as well.
• 42:36
  And so it's really just the starting of that process of how can I expand that from there?
• 42:42
  Wonderful.
• 42:43
  And now that you've been a published children's book author for a while, can you tell us what has been your most successful sales promotion that you've had?
• 42:58
  Can you cite one example of where you thought, wow, this is amazing.
• 43:04
  I've had a couple, but some have been in person.
• 43:08
  I did one where we just did a launch of the book and like I said, it wasn't always about money is getting the message out.
• 43:14
  And we pushed out the book at 99 cents to start.
• 43:17
  Okay.
• 43:18
  And that just had overwhelming results.
• 43:21
  Now how did they.
• 43:23
  When you do a book signing or whatever.
• 43:25
  But this was one for a lot of authors.
• 43:27
  So it wasn't just me.
• 43:29
  It was a.
• 43:29
  I forget the title of the event, but.
• 43:32
  And it was luckily here too.
• 43:33
  But that had some very good results because of the passion that people have and for the love of how do we preserve our Smoky Mountains there as well.
• 43:42
  So it's really how you address it from there and go on.
• 43:46
  Was this a recent one that you did not launched at 99 cents or was it one from 2018, 2019?
• 43:55
  The 99 cent one has worked over and over with Shenandoah.
• 43:59
  We launched with that.
• 44:00
  But even I have got on shows like this where I say, hey, within the first 24 hours, if your guests want to send me, contact.com I'll send you a free ebook.
• 44:12
  And.
• 44:13
  And all I ask is give me a good read review, an honest review.
• 44:16
  I'm not telling you how to review it if you do that.
• 44:19
  So I offer that to your guest here when this, when we broadcast this within the first 24 hours, contact me at contactarkvillar.com Tell me if you're in the US or if not and then where you're at because the
• 44:32
  link I send you matters.
• 44:34
  Okay.
• 44:35
  And just I ask, give me a good, honest Goodreads review.
• 44:38
  Nice.
• 44:39
  Fantastic.
• 44:40
  And from that 99 cent promotion.
• 44:44
  So obviously you're doing it over and over because it's being tried and true.
• 44:49
  Have you noticed your book sales pick up from that?
• 44:53
  So you offer one at 99 cents, but then how do your other books do?
• 44:58
  How do they fare after that promotion?
• 45:01
  They tend to build a consistency.
• 45:03
  I.
• 45:04
  I have seen now too, with the launch of the Brockcliffhanger.com because that, that.
• 45:08
  So there's a few things.
• 45:10
  So at first the books weren't linked on Amazon.
• 45:12
  Now they are.
• 45:13
  So if you click on one it'll say book one of six, two of six.
• 45:18
  So that has helped as well.
• 45:20
  And that's probably been in the last six months.
• 45:22
  So it takes.
• 45:23
  So as you learn in marketing that Amazon allows you to do that, the BrockCliffHanger.com website allows for that.
• 45:30
  And the reason we like to drive people there because it'll drive you to the books too.
• 45:35
  But there's also free downloads that parents can download for their children on that from the books or information.
• 45:43
  And I had several parents say, hey, we download it.
• 45:46
  And this kept the kids busy as we were driving to the national park.
• 45:50
  They're like, thank you.
• 45:52
  Terrific.
• 45:53
  How is writing now?
• 45:55
  It's neat, Mark, because you went from a full time career and then you transitioned into retirement and writing.
• 46:04
  This is neat.
• 46:05
  Looking at how you bridge this.
• 46:07
  Think about when you first started out, the role of writing and and now bring us forward to the role of writing in your life now versus before when you first started out as I.
• 46:18
  Have seven children's books, so six in the series and one the idea came and I wrote the book.
• 46:25
  But I actually started in business writing first when I was in business and coaching and consulting.
• 46:31
  And so what's different there is first of all, I lived it.
• 46:35
  So those books were easier to write in a sense, but I wrote them to assist for credibility in your business and coaching.
• 46:43
  Sir, I was 35 years in corporate America, 21 years at the C level.
• 46:48
  But here is if you read my book, if I'm going to come coach you or work with your business, you'll get some insight.
• 46:55
  And that the fact that I'm published and one of my books, Jack Canfield, I was on his TV show that was really written for credibility.
• 47:02
  It wasn't about, hey, certainly you want to market them, but give me some credibility.
• 47:07
  When I wrote the first children's books, I kind of explained how that changed.
• 47:11
  But now that I've expanded and I retired and it's become my passion because of the love for how it can help children is really what it's for.
• 47:19
  It's changed because I wake up each day having to learn what do I need to learn today?
• 47:25
  You notice my gray hair?
• 47:26
  I'm a baby boomer.
• 47:28
  But I always tell people, especially when we talk about habits, that my good habit is I always want to learn.
• 47:34
  And so I'm learning every day.
• 47:37
  Not only I talked about learned about marketing and didn't have social media to where I first had to start that and then learning about Instagram, but learning about writing as well and how to self publish.
• 47:48
  Now it's what do I need to learn that's going to capture the children.
• 47:52
  What do I need to learn in the direction that publishing is going to stay on top of that.
• 47:58
  And what do I need to be cautious of too?
• 48:00
  Because as everything moves forward in technology, there's a lot of pitfalls as well.
• 48:06
  Okay, how much typical time would you spend on writing now if you were.
• 48:11
  To average it, I would say five hours a day.
• 48:14
  But as you're a writer, writers will get writers block the and when I say sometimes I'm researching for five hours or whatever, but when you have that I got the idea in my head I always tell keep writing.
• 48:31
  Don't say, oh, I'm up, it's five hours.
• 48:33
  And my wife will tell you she seen me at early in the morning till 10 o' clock at night.
• 48:37
  She said, are you still writing?
• 48:39
  I'm like, it's in my head still while it's there.
• 48:43
  Because naturally we send things to remind us.
• 48:46
  But when you have that flow, the imagination, you want to keep it going.
• 48:51
  I couldn't agree some more.
• 48:52
  You're absolutely right.
• 48:53
  Once you get in the zone, I know Sometimes I'll set 15 minutes aside and before you know it, it's taken off on me.
• 49:00
  Advice for aspiring authors now that you're a seasoned children's book writer, what kind of advice would you give someone who is thinking, I'd love to be a children's book author, what do I do?
• 49:16
  I would say first, educate yourself on how you want to write, how you want it to flow and what works and find your passion.
• 49:25
  But also have your always talk about the why.
• 49:28
  Why do you do it?
• 49:29
  Like I said, mine's not about, oh, I want to make a ton of money.
• 49:32
  I'm in retirement and fortunately I've been blessed and I can retire now.
• 49:37
  How do I pay it forward that I want to make an impact?
• 49:40
  So think about what the impact is that you want to make.
• 49:44
  Second, realize you're going to have setbacks.
• 49:47
  Realize every day, how do you improve as an author?
• 49:51
  Because when I wrote my first book and then I finally published it and it became a bestseller and that was in the business world, my wife and I laughed and said, who knew I was an author?
• 50:01
  And so don't think that you can't be I tell a story.
• 50:05
  I have a good friend that I ran his business way back in the 90s.
• 50:10
  And I had to develop in technology a business plan.
• 50:13
  And when I was writing it out, I wished I'd saved it, because he sent it back to me and he wrote on it in red pen, mark, you're a great general manager, but you're a lousy writer.
• 50:23
  And we ended up selling this business for $12 million.
• 50:28
  We said we did great in business.
• 50:30
  And he lives only about 20 minutes from me now, but he doesn't remember saying that.
• 50:34
  And I said, you don't realize the challenge you gave me then.
• 50:37
  And so to.
• 50:38
  To how do I get better in writing?
• 50:40
  And that time it was business writing, business plans, strategic plans.
• 50:44
  I had operational.
• 50:46
  And don't think that you can't do it, but it takes the effort to do that.
• 50:50
  And then research and then ask.
• 50:54
  When you find people you trust, use them as referrals as well.
• 50:58
  The only reason I found the person that does my typesetting and illustrations, it was the editor of my second book that I said, hey, can you refer me?
• 51:08
  And she did, and I've been satisfied ever since.
• 51:10
  Fantastic.
• 51:12
  So what keeps you going, Mark, as a children's book author, one, I believe.
• 51:19
  That to have a healthy mind, I need to learn every day.
• 51:22
  I'm making my gray hair and being the baby boomer.
• 51:26
  That's my good habits.
• 51:27
  That's probably one of the biggest things.
• 51:29
  And then two, my passion that if I could be part of making a difference on our children, learning, as I said, if we don't teach our children the world well, so how can I pay my part?
• 51:41
  Encouragement for readers.
• 51:42
  Mark, why should children's book readers purchase your books?
• 51:47
  I would say one, they'll see that I have received feedback that their children.
• 51:53
  They're surprised how their children gravitate to it.
• 51:56
  I say that my books are children six and above that can read them to themselves.
• 52:00
  But younger than that, I do like where parents read to children.
• 52:04
  But I have someone here, and her child's a character in the book.
• 52:08
  And we met her because we buy eggs from her.
• 52:10
  And her child's 4 years old.
• 52:12
  And so I gave him my first book, Alleghany State park, and she said, I didn't have time to read it to him.
• 52:18
  And he's educating me on it.
• 52:19
  He's telling me what the stop rule is.
• 52:21
  He knows your rules.
• 52:24
  And she was just amazed.
• 52:25
  And where's the next book?
• 52:28
  So hopefully we can create that passion.
• 52:30
  But I love when parents read to the kids.
• 52:33
  One of the reviews that I had was after we read this to our child.
• 52:39
  He started asking about park rangers, he started asking about national parks.
• 52:44
  I think that's how things should be in a good book.
• 52:48
  I know your books are all available on Amazon, all three formats and you also made this offer.
• 52:57
  So tell us about this offer again for a ebook.
• 53:01
  Yes.
• 53:02
  The day that this airs, send an email to me@contact markville real.com and tell me if you're in the US and if you're not in the US where you're at.
• 53:14
  And it may take up to seven days based on a response, but we'll send you an ebook.
• 53:20
  Most of the time it'll be an Amazon link that you'll click on so that way you'll be able to read it there.
• 53:26
  And what we ask is that after you read it to go to Goodreads and give it a review.
• 53:31
  Thank you very much.
• 53:32
  That's a very generous offer.
• 53:34
  And for the listeners, we will make sure that's in the show notes.
• 53:37
  Also, Mark, final thoughts.
• 53:40
  Is there anything that you'd like to share beyond the questions that I've asked you in this podcast interview?
• 53:47
  First of all, I'm always grateful and thankful.
• 53:51
  So there go through life, no expectations or what the world owes me.
• 53:55
  Always tell stories about my mom.
• 53:57
  I'm a mama's boy, youngest of seven, and I wrote a book called Leadership Lessons for Mom.
• 54:01
  And one of the stories I tell is as a child I used to always tell my mom, I want to be a policeman.
• 54:07
  I want to be a fireman.
• 54:08
  And finally my mom one time told me, if you really want to know what I want you to be when you grow up, I want you to be a good example.
• 54:18
  And if you're a good example, then I will smile down from heaven and be pleased.
• 54:23
  And so that's the story I'd like to leave.
• 54:26
  Terrific Wise woman.
• 54:28
  Mark, thank you so much for being a guest on Adventures in the Heart, a children's book authors podcast.
• 54:34
  Your generosity of time, your insights, wow.
• 54:37
  Will significantly benefit aspiring readers and authors.
• 54:43
  We promise to provide our audience with links to Mark's website.
• 54:47
  Great website by the way, your social media links and all of Mark's books.
• 54:53
  And if you've enjoyed this episode, please hit the subscribe button to listen to our future episodes and feel free to share this episode with anyone inspired by or who enjoys hearing about Mark and his children's book series, the
• 55:10
  Adventures of Park Ranger Brock Cliffhanger and His Junior Park Rangers.
• 55:17
  Thank you, Mark.
• 55:19
  Thank you.
• 55:20
  Great.