Latest / Adventures in the Heart of Children's Book Authors Podcast / 'Not Every Boat Is Yours to Fix': Teaching Kids Boundaries Before People-Pleasing Starts

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'Not Every Boat Is Yours to Fix': Teaching Kids Boundaries Before People-Pleasing Starts · Adventures in the Heart of Children's Book Authors Podcast

1:55
The name of my book is Not Every Boat Is Yours to Fix.
1:59
Thanks, Kareem, for appearing on the Adventures in the Heart of Children's Book Authors podcast.
2:04
Karim has mentioned she's written a children's book, and today we're going to discuss her children's book, Not Every Boat Is Yours to Fix.
2:13
And I look forward to her conversation.
2:16
Kareem, before we jump into the details of your book, can you tell us what being a children's book author means to you?
2:25
Oh, man.
2:25
I always had a dream of being a writer.
2:29
I come from a long history or a family of politicians and writers.
2:35
And so I think it was always a seed that was planted in me.
2:38
I didn't know how or what or when.
2:41
And then now I'm 40, and it finally hit me.
2:45
I got the idea, I did it.
2:47
And so to see my name as an author on.
2:50
On the front of the COVID just surreal.
2:53
And I love it because it's something that I wrote for just my children initially, and now it's been resonating with so many people.
3:02
And that's just for me, that's purpose, that's fulfillment.
3:06
That's everything that I wanted.
3:08
And so it's a surreal moment.
3:10
Yeah, fantastic.
3:12
I want to jump into the inspiration and the origin story of your book.
3:18
Talk to us about the inspiration behind your book.
3:21
And how did it all get started?
3:23
A therapy session?
3:26
Yeah, that.
3:26
That's how it happened.
3:28
I think as an adult, we spend a lot of years healing patterns that began long before we reached adulthood.
3:37
And it all started as children.
3:39
And so I remember I'm a single mom, I'm a career woman, I'm an artist on the side, and I had so many things going on.
3:47
And one day I had a therapy session where I told my therapist, I said, I just feel like I'm on a boat and everyone just keeps throwing water in.
3:56
I feel like I'm drowning.
3:58
And I'll never forget.
3:59
It was the simplest line that the therapist told me.
4:02
And he just said, you know, you can just get off the boat.
4:06
It's your life.
4:07
And it was so simple but so impactful.
4:10
And in that moment, I remember I got off the therapy session and it was like, I don't know what a near death experience would feel like, but your whole life flashes before your eyes.
4:20
And I think I saw every moment that I could have gotten off the boat, and it all played in front of my eyes and I just wrote the book in that moment.
4:28
It just came to me and I said, I don't want any of my children to have to experience this so much later in life.
4:35
I want to give them the tools now, now that I just had this aha moment, I want to put it into a blueprint that they can have for future.
4:44
Yes.
4:45
And that's the inspiration.
4:46
Yeah, that's how it happened.
4:47
Wow.
4:48
And it's interesting you should say that, Karim, because I have talked to so many children's book authors who have told me that writing a children's book has been therapy.
5:01
Yes.
5:02
And so that was your feeling also, was.
5:05
Once you dove in, it was therapeutic.
5:08
Absolutely.
5:09
And not just the writing process, but then launching it and then having people's responses to it, and everybody responds to it differently.
5:17
Right.
5:18
And we'll get more into the book, but it's a simple book about a girl on a boat, but really, there's so many layers to it, and you can take it in so many different directions.
5:26
Absolutely.
5:28
Yeah.
5:29
And so hearing everybody's response to the book now has also been therapy because, like, okay, I'm not the only one.
5:36
Now you're responding to it, and then that feeling, it just multipliers.
5:40
And so it's been a beautiful, therapeutic journey.
5:43
Yeah.
5:43
Good for you.
5:44
And I noticed it's interesting you have an artistic background.
5:49
You're an artist, a beautiful artist.
5:52
I was looking at your Instagram, and, wow, you're very talented.
5:57
And so it's kind of neat to talk to you, because you already have been involved in a business, an artistic business, which is kind of neat, because whether you're an artist doing illustrations or paintings or whatever, or you're
6:15
a musician or you're a children's book author.
6:19
Or an author, you're coming at it from that artistic background.
6:25
So how did you bring your artistic business background into your children's book business?
6:34
It's interesting because art has also been very therapeutic for me as well.
6:39
And so being painting and working through my emotions, there's a lot of things that sometimes I couldn't really express in words, but I can express it in visual imagery and storytelling through.
6:51
Through my painting.
6:53
And then finally, when I had that aha moment, I realized, okay, I can actually put this now into words.
6:58
I understand it enough to where I can put it into words.
7:02
And then I wanted to soften the message enough that I can put it into a children's book.
7:06
But it's interesting you say that, because everyone knows that I'm an artist, and yet when you look at the book, I'm not the illustrator.
7:13
And they're like, now, why would you do that?
7:16
Go ahead, share that part.
7:18
I'll just share a little piece of it.
7:19
Okay.
7:20
I've known the illustrator for a long time, and because it was my first book, I'll be honest with you, I wanted a bigger impact.
7:26
I wanted a broader reach for my first book.
7:29
And so I knew that if I did it myself, yes, I could.
7:32
But I knew that partnering with another really strong, resilient woman who is also making an impact in the art world and giving her a platform as well and collaborating would help reach a bigger reach, a longer reach.
7:45
And so that's really the reason why I did it.
7:47
Good for you.
7:48
Good for you.
7:49
So I noticed when you launched your book, you have two formats.
7:54
You've got a soft cover book and a hardcover book on Amazon.
8:00
And I was curious why you didn't launch with an ebook.
8:05
Also, I grew up with children's book.
8:08
I have some of my favorites.
8:10
And I guess that old school part of me just says, you need a physical copy.
8:15
It's just not the same and the same impact to have it.
8:19
Maybe it will come eventually, but I really love the experience of holding the book, feeling the pages, looking at the beautiful illustrations.
8:27
It just takes me back to just a beautiful time when I fell in love with children's book at such a young age.
8:33
And I wanted to give that gift.
8:34
And if I could be a part of that beautiful memory for another child, then absolutely that's what I was gonna do.
8:41
And I feel like ebook, I love it.
8:42
Maybe for my reading, yes.
8:44
But for my children's book, not so much.
8:46
And it's always interesting.
8:48
Cause I've talked to over a hundred children's book authors.
8:52
A lot of times, the ebook tends to be their marketing tool so that they can reach out to podcasters or other media that they can then send them a copy of the ebook.
9:07
It's simple, right?
9:09
Because you can send it within seconds.
9:11
And if it's formatted properly, it does turn out to be quite nice.
9:18
Good tool.
9:18
I come from the beauty industry, so for me, even kdp, ingramspark, all of these things are a new language for me.
9:27
And so I've been navigating that, and I'm sure you're going to have listeners that are new to the process as well.
9:33
And so, you know, I'm still learning.
9:35
Will the ebook come maybe?
9:37
Yes, absolutely.
9:38
Now that you mentioned, it's a great marketing tool, but initially that was my thought process, right?
9:43
Yeah.
9:43
And it's quite interesting because you may not have had a chance to listen to this week's episode But I have a guest on.
9:50
His name is Richard Riemann, episode 94, and he's called the Audiobook Wizard.
9:55
And he actually does audiobooks for children.
9:58
He's done over 200 children's books in a descriptive enhanced audiobook format.
10:05
And you say, what does that mean?
10:07
What he does is he's actually creating these books for blind children.
10:12
Oh, beautiful.
10:13
Yeah.
10:14
I just work with him, and he took our second book that we just launched called Hijinks from the Big Head Folk Music Festival, and he's turned that into a descriptive enhanced audiobook for blind children.
10:27
And we're going to be talking later today about me actually downloading the file to Audible for the use for blind children.
10:36
I love that, because that's the whole thing is that I really wanted them to enjoy the visual imagery.
10:41
But I guess in some cases, yes, you're right, they can't.
10:44
And so that's actually something really beautiful.
10:47
And I will look forward to hearing that episode.
10:49
I did hear the one before that one with Dina, and I thought that was so coincidental, serendipitous, because I feel like we have the same kind of message, just in different ways that we present it.
11:03
And so I definitely want to connect with her.
11:05
But I really enjoyed that episode as well.
11:07
I think you really enjoy.
11:09
And the reason I mentioned this is that it's just another way to enriching children's reading world.
11:18
And Richard even teaches.
11:20
How he all got started was he was teaching blind children how to ski.
11:25
And from there, they were saying, tim, they didn't have any audio books for themselves.
11:31
So that's how it all kind of started.
11:34
You see, I'm always enlightened, and I'd love to learn all of these new things on this journey.
11:38
And so I will definitely look into that.
11:40
Absolutely.
11:41
For sure.
11:42
Thank you.
11:43
I love talking to children about their children's book business.
11:46
It's neat that you have a career as an artist when you were looking at bringing your book to market.
11:52
I want to talk to you about your publishing approach.
11:55
So each of us has a unique publishing approach.
11:58
And some of us try and go traditional publish is to find a literary agent and then get a publisher.
12:04
And then some of us go hybrid, which is to actually hire someone to bring your book to life.
12:12
And then, of course, there's self publishing, which is pretty much, you do all the work.
12:16
You set up your own publishing company, and from what I can tell, you're an independent children's book author.
12:24
Yes.
12:25
You've set up your own publishing company.
12:27
Correct.
12:27
Correct.
12:28
And what is the name of your children's book publishing company, Aria Marley House.
12:32
So Aria Marley is the name of my daughter.
12:35
It's also the name of my art business as well.
12:38
I wanted something that I could maybe in the future lead to her one day.
12:42
And so Aria Marley is really the name behind the creative everything that I do so that the publishing is Aria Marley House.
12:51
So you put everything under the one umbrella, correct?
12:54
Yeah.
12:55
Terrific, terrific.
12:57
And so when we talked about this a little bit earlier is when you first start out and you're learning to be a published children's book author, and then you embrace the idea that I'm going to be a self
13:09
published author, I'm going to take on this task.
13:12
I could see you're thinking the same thing as I was thinking.
13:16
Yeah, ay yai yai is right.
13:18
So when it came to publishing your children's book, what was the biggest challenge or frustration for you?
13:26
I think underestimating the challenge.
13:30
I always tackle everything and I'm like, I can handle this, I can handle that.
13:34
And then I'm like, how hard can it be to write a book and get some images and put it on Amazon?
13:40
No big deal.
13:41
Boy, was I in shock.
13:44
But definitely a big learning process.
13:47
What I did do was, and as I mentioned, we talked a little bit before we started recording was that the children's book community is amazing.
13:56
And I was lucky enough to have someone who I call mentor, which is Deirdre.
14:00
She the one that actually recommended the podcast, meant to meet you and did the introduction.
14:04
And so I said, let me reach out to her first so that I can avoid as many financial mistakes as possible.
14:11
She has already written three beautiful books and adventures of Rocky.
14:16
And so I was like, she will have some insight.
14:18
Maybe she can guide me.
14:19
And I had no expectation.
14:21
I just had some notes on a napkin after my therapy session, and I called her and said, hey, Deirdre, I know you wrote some.
14:27
Can you guide me?
14:28
Because I don't want to make these small mistakes that I know I can avoid.
14:32
And she was so amazing.
14:34
She literally took me by the hand in the way that she always does with such positivity, and guided me really through a lot of the process.
14:43
Now, that being said, basically I was learning to get my own ISBN number, not get the Amazon one, et cetera, all these smaller things.
14:52
But the biggest challenge was the editing.
14:56
And I'll be honest with you, I did it all on Canva.
14:59
I got the images, I edited the entire book.
15:02
It took a lot of going back and forth and Hours into the night and revising and editing again.
15:09
And then Amazon wouldn't approve it initially.
15:12
There was some issues with the formatting.
15:15
The formatting, Exactly.
15:16
And so since I was doing it all on my own, I'm like, okay, we need to figure this out.
15:21
And so took a couple of tries, and then we finally got it.
15:24
And I would say the end result is really beautiful.
15:27
I'm very happy with the way that I came out.
15:28
I'm proud of myself that I was able to do it.
15:30
You should be.
15:31
It's a beautiful book.
15:33
And you know what?
15:34
It's nice when you put all of that effort in, and then it turns out to be a beautiful children's book.
15:42
And the nice thing about a children's book is that I always say it's evergreen.
15:48
The nice thing about it is that everyone generally can relate to the story because it's not set in a specific time frame.
15:58
And you know what?
16:00
50 years from now, people will still be able to relate to your book and the characters.
16:06
Right.
16:07
Isn't that.
16:08
That's the goal?
16:09
No question.
16:10
So when it came to your publishing end of it, you're doing your soft cover through kdp, Correct.
16:18
And your hardcover.
16:19
Tell us a little bit about that journey.
16:22
Yes.
16:23
That was a challenger learning curve.
16:25
I wanted to do both through kdp, and then I had everything put together, and I realized that with KDP, Amazon, the hardcover is.
16:34
Minimum is 75 pages.
16:36
Once I had everything ready to go, I could do it through there.
16:39
So I'm like, okay, now I have this challenge, and I'm making a make it easy for my buyers to come to one place.
16:46
So I had to do the soft cover through Amazon, and then I did my hardcover through ingramsparks.
16:51
Okay.
16:52
That's where the hardcover is.
16:53
Now, the nice thing about ingramsparks, even though they can be quite expensive to create one hardcover book, the nice thing about it is they're print on demand.
17:05
Correct?
17:05
Yeah.
17:06
Yes.
17:06
Okay.
17:07
And the only reason I bring that up is as I share the stories and these.
17:11
The nice thing about sharing these stories is they've come from other children's book authors that have been guests on our show.
17:18
Okay.
17:18
And I was talking to Charlotte Glaze, episode 23 from Oklahoma, and she actually did.
17:26
She's an illustrator too, so she not only wrote the book, she illustrated the book, and she formatted the book.
17:32
And I thought, wow, this is ambitious and incredible to have that kind of skill set.
17:39
Yeah.
17:39
But she said to me, I said, what are you doing about your hardcover?
17:42
And she said, you know, What?
17:43
Rick?
17:44
I went to a website called madeinchina.com and she said they are phenomenal.
17:52
And I found two children's book hardcover printers and you have to pay for the sample but you send your hardcover format to them and they send you a sample which you pay for.
18:06
But she said when I got both samples, she said I had a hard time figuring out which company I would use because they were beautiful.
18:14
And she ended up paying.
18:17
Now she had to buy 500 copies.
18:19
So I don't want to mislead any of the listeners.
18:22
Oh no, I did a research into that a little bit.
18:24
Yeah.
18:25
And she, and she said to me she was paying less even getting it delivered.
18:30
It arrived at her home for about the same price as she would get a soft cover through Katie.
18:38
And she said the importance of it because there's not a lot of margin in books.
18:43
She said when she goes to live events, of course she wanted to have a hardcover because of the perceived value.
18:50
She said she was selling a lot more hardcover books because she was selling them for a reasonable price but they were in, in the same pricing as a hardcover book and she was making a lot more margin.
19:02
She had more margin.
19:03
Yeah.
19:04
Which allowed her then to think about her next book and being able to fund it.
19:09
Yes.
19:09
I did research that and here's what happened.
19:12
Number one, it's my first book.
19:14
I didn't know how it was going to land.
19:15
I didn't know how it was going to be received.
19:18
I didn't want to have 500 copies I know of my book.
19:22
And then the other thing is I'm a single mom, I have a full time job and I travel a lot for work.
19:29
And so I thought I can do it through Ingram.
19:32
And they do print on demand, not have to worry about it, set it and forget it or I'm going to have to then take these orders, pack them, ship them, do all the things.
19:41
And realistically that's just not in my brain right now.
19:45
It's not something that I can physically do because I'm always, every other week I'm on a different island with work.
19:50
So for me this works right now.
19:52
You never know in the future what can happen.
19:55
And I do have ideas for a second book that I do want to illustrate myself.
19:59
So very ambitious.
20:00
But we'll see, we'll see how it goes.
20:03
I love sharing this with our guests who are listening because there's no right or wrong way to do this.
20:10
It's making it work for your lifestyle and what your life looks like now.
20:15
It could change.
20:16
And then you, you pivot.
20:18
And I had a children's book author, Brittany Pettish, episode 67 on, and she was telling me that she had written, I think, three or four books, and they were in the same theme, but they all had different characters.
20:35
Anyways, she did it all through kdp, all self cover.
20:40
She didn't have a hardcover.
20:42
And she was at a book fair.
20:44
And at this book fair, what happened was she was sitting behind a guy who wrote murder mysteries or something.
20:53
They were talking and he said, why don't you have a hardcover?
20:56
And she said, because Amazon requires 75 pages, just as you mentioned.
21:02
Correct?
21:02
Yeah.
21:03
So he said, how many books have you got?
21:06
She said, four.
21:07
He said, how many pages per book?
21:10
Then he said, why don't you make a compilation of three or four of the books and then you can get it printed in hardcover through Amazon.
21:20
Guess what?
21:20
She loved that idea.
21:22
And now she only offers a hardcover book as a compilation.
21:27
So again, I'm not trying to put words.
21:29
Love it.
21:30
Oh, I like that idea.
21:31
But if you've got more children's books in you, then once you get the 75 pages, you do a compilation and away you go.
21:40
Sorry, folks, I digress here, but I just want everybody to understand there's more than one.
21:45
Helpful.
21:45
Yeah, very helpful information.
21:47
Thank you.
21:48
I want to dive in now.
21:50
You talked earlier about your illustrator, but tell us your illustrator's name.
21:55
And you were very generous in your words already about your illustrator.
21:59
So talk to us about your illustrator's name and this bond you seem to have developed.
22:05
Yes.
22:06
So her name is Alejandra, and I met her maybe 12 years ago, possibly.
22:13
And so she's a very well known artist in Miami, where we're from.
22:17
Big community, lots of very empowered women, followers.
22:22
And she gave me my very first opportunity as an artist over 12 years ago to showcase an Art Basel.
22:30
So if you're not familiar, Art Basel is a huge art fair showcase.
22:36
Everyone travels from all over the world in December or to Miami to come to Art Basel and view all the beautiful artwork and discover all these amazing artists.
22:45
And it's very expensive.
22:46
And so either you have to be invited to present as an artist or you have to go through an agent.
22:52
And so at that time, I was very new to the art world and she gave me that opportunity.
22:57
And I had a tiny little space, but I didn't care because it was.
23:00
I can say I was at Art Basel and now I've shown now multiple times after that.
23:05
But she really gave me that first opportunity and Then we stayed in contact via Instagram and social media.
23:13
And we both, at the same time, I noticed, went through this kind of spiritual journey where we fix our relationship with God or et cetera.
23:21
And so not to get too much into that, but when I had the idea, her name immediately popped into my mind.
23:27
And I said, you know what?
23:28
It would be great if I can partner with her and get a bigger reach.
23:31
But the book launch, and I feel like we.
23:33
We align on a lot of things.
23:35
And she did me that favor, so I'm going to go ahead and expand than the offer.
23:39
And I did.
23:40
And when she read the book, she called me and she said, why am I crying?
23:45
Why am I this little girl in this boat?
23:49
And she said, I absolutely have been called to do it.
23:52
I will do it.
23:53
Let's go for it.
23:54
And it was perfect.
23:55
She sent me the illustrations.
23:57
They were exact.
23:58
She did this beautiful character who I'm absolutely obsessed with, with her little yellow rain boots.
24:03
And I felt.
24:04
I love on Instagram how you're hugging the little girl.
24:08
Yeah, that is.
24:09
That's so cool.
24:11
Thank you.
24:12
You're welcome.
24:13
Yeah, so that's how it happened.
24:15
And she done illustrator artwork for Nike.
24:18
Really big name Nike for the Miami Heat basketball team here in Miami.
24:22
She's known all over Wynwood area in Miami.
24:25
So really grateful that she said yes to the project because she's very busy.
24:28
That's terrific.
24:29
I love that.
24:30
And it's nice that you had this relationship that started 12 years ago.
24:35
You never know where it would take you.
24:37
And, yeah, if I took you back 12 years and said, right, you're going.
24:42
To write a children's book with her, There'd be like, no way.
24:45
Absolutely not.
24:46
I know.
24:46
It's amazing, Karim.
24:48
So unbelievable.
24:50
We talked about your website because you had your website, you had your artist business before you started to be a children's book author.
25:00
I always ask the question, but in your case, we already know that the website came before the book.
25:07
So when you started your website, how long ago was that?
25:13
Over 12 years ago.
25:14
Yeah.
25:14
So you.
25:15
You had no idea that you're going to be a children's book author and somehow, some way, find a way to have it and your children's book incorporated into your website?
25:28
Absolutely.
25:29
And like I mentioned, I was already doing these emotional storytelling pieces through my artwork.
25:34
And so I thought, I'm not going to pay a separate domain.
25:37
I already have my art website.
25:39
Right.
25:40
And so little by little, I've been transitioning.
25:42
So I cleaned up the website.
25:43
I was able to add a tab just for the children's book.
25:48
And it's still a work in progress.
25:49
I'm still tying it together and trying to combine both worlds into one, and that's important.
25:54
I'm glad you mentioned that, Kareem, because I want everybody to understand your website should never be stagnant.
26:00
It should always be evolving and growing.
26:04
And so what Kareem's done and what she's talked about is so important to remember that it's your home.
26:11
In Kareem's case, it's your home for art business, and it's your home for children's book business.
26:17
And.
26:18
Yeah, absolutely.
26:20
And try to get the most out of it is really important.
26:24
Absolutely.
26:24
And so I wanted to take advantage also.
26:27
Maybe some of the women who are going to look at my art will like the book, and maybe some that are coming for the book might want a piece for their home.
26:34
You never know.
26:35
So it's great that I'm trying to put both together and combine that world, but initially it was just not to have an extra expense.
26:42
But it works out.
26:43
No, that.
26:44
No, that's terrific.
26:45
I'm curious about.
26:48
Because the nice thing about it, as you said, you're evolving and your website's evolving.
26:53
And one thing I was blown away is that you have over 11,000 followers on Instagram.
27:00
I'm always amazed at those kind of numbers.
27:03
That just always amazes me.
27:05
Me, too.
27:07
And so congratulations.
27:08
First of all, having over 11,000, I'm trying to help other children's book authors and aspiring children's book authors get inside your brain and understand, okay, you have these 11,000 followers.
27:24
You probably had most of them before you even started your children's book business.
27:29
Is that correct?
27:30
Yes, absolutely.
27:31
So that all came from my art side.
27:33
Dynamite.
27:34
And so here we have this beautiful 11,000 followers.
27:39
So talk to us about how you used your Instagram site to promote your book before the book even hit the market, and how you're using it now to continue to evolve and grow your book business.
27:55
Yeah.
27:56
So as I mentioned, it is 11,000 followers.
27:58
A lot of that came from brand partnerships with art products, paints, things like that.
28:03
From before my life, before children's book.
28:06
And now a lot has changed in the 12 years from when I was promoting heavily as an artist.
28:11
And so, really, Instagram, unfortunately, only shows your content to about 10% of your followers.
28:17
So I wish all 11,000 followers could buy one book.
28:20
I would be happy as a cub.
28:23
It really worked that way.
28:24
But it's still a good reach, right?
28:26
And so what I wanted to do is, as I mentioned, also with my illustrator and her following, but I've had a relationship with her for a long time.
28:33
And also with Deirdre, my mentor.
28:36
Yes.
28:36
And so I called her and I said, I want to do a good launch.
28:40
Like, how can I capitalize on this?
28:42
And she's, you need a launch team and you need to.
28:45
She's so great.
28:46
And everybody's going to post that day at the same time.
28:50
That way, your book can get a lot of purchases on Amazon and you can get reviews.
28:54
And she's just gung ho about the whole thing.
28:56
And I love her for that.
28:57
And so that's what we did.
28:59
But I wanted to build anticipation for the book.
29:03
And really good playing around.
29:04
I know I'm going to say like a taboo word, but with AI, some people in the children's book world love it, some don't.
29:09
So I always have to try to be a little careful.
29:12
But I love it.
29:12
I use it as a tool.
29:14
And I was able to animate my character and make her warm and friendly and a little sneak peek into what the book is about.
29:22
And these characters you already had, you had already paid the illustrator.
29:27
Correct.
29:28
And the reason I bring that up is because I want to.
29:30
I am from the same school as you.
29:33
Okay.
29:33
Is that if you've paid a illustrator to bring your characters to life and you can use AI to enhance your characters, I just don't see an issue in that.
29:48
And some people may, but I'm from the same school as you.
29:52
I just think if you already own the artwork, it's your creation to enhance it.
29:58
I don't think is an issue.
30:01
And I love it.
30:01
I think, to be clear, I did have an illustrator contract beforehand, so I don't want anyone to think that you can just go get the images from your illustrator.
30:09
And I don't know what the walls are in that, but I just.
30:12
To protect myself and to make sure she was okay with everything, because it is going to be under her name.
30:16
We had to illustrate our contract prior.
30:19
And I did let her know.
30:20
No royalties.
30:21
These are.
30:21
This is my artwork and I will be enhancing it with AI.
30:24
So that was part of the contract.
30:27
Okay, terrific.
30:27
So she knew there were no surprises.
30:29
Yeah.
30:29
And that's important.
30:30
I'm glad you shared that.
30:32
It just gives people insight into what they should do.
30:35
And just so you know, we have a contract with our illustrator, too.
30:39
Great.
30:39
So it's just important that people understand that when you go down that road, especially with AI coming so Rapidly is that AI should be worked into your contrast?
30:51
I did, and absolutely.
30:53
And I wanted her to not be surprised maybe months later when I'm making different ads using the artwork.
30:58
And she was totally on board with it.
31:00
She understood, and it's okay.
31:02
And then now I'm having so much fun with it.
31:04
So I traveled for work, and I was able the other day to put my little character on the wing of the plane and wave at my followers and just little things.
31:12
And it really brings them into a different side of the children's book.
31:16
And now they're involved.
31:17
They're getting to know my character through me and the animation.
31:21
And it's really fun way to bring the book to life.
31:24
Question.
31:24
No question.
31:25
Yeah.
31:26
I'm curious about a specific person or event that motivated you because you talked about, if I took Kareem, her younger self, back 12 years and said, karim, you're going to be a children's book author, you'd say, where is
31:42
this guy from?
31:44
So here we come 12 years forward.
31:47
I'm just curious on, was there a specific person or event that motivated you to finally say, I've got to bring out this children's book that I've got in myself?
31:59
I don't think it was a specific moment.
32:01
I think it was just a pattern of healing that I was doing that led to really analyzing different things in my childhood.
32:10
So I'll give you one example.
32:11
Right.
32:11
Because there's a lot of layers to the book.
32:13
But I also grew up with a single mom who was really in survival mode growing up.
32:18
And so I had to take on a lot of responsibilities early that maybe children shouldn't have to take on so early, which is fine.
32:25
Made me very resilient, hardworking.
32:28
But it also made me take on things that I didn't have to and take on responsibility.
32:33
So then in the future, I had to unpack that with my therapist.
32:36
Right.
32:37
And say, why do I not understand boundaries?
32:39
How come I feel guilty?
32:41
Say no, why am I over giving?
32:43
Why am I always trying to fix everything for everyone?
32:46
And so it was that unraveling of these childhood experiences and understanding how it molded me as a child to understand that and then be able to finally have that moment with my therapist when she said, you can just
33:00
get off the boat.
33:01
And that's when it all just clicked and I had to get the book out.
33:05
No, that's fantastic.
33:07
So thank you.
33:08
And when we look at your character, I love your main character.
33:13
Thank you.
33:13
She's a lot of fun.
33:15
You can envision the innocence in her, which is kind of neat when your illustrator can capture that innocence.
33:23
Perfect.
33:24
Yeah, absolutely.
33:25
There's no doubt in my mind.
33:27
So talk to us about the whole main character development.
33:34
Why a little girl?
33:35
Why not a little boy?
33:36
Why doesn't the character have a name?
33:39
Talk to us about all that.
33:41
That's all the questions I continue to get.
33:43
So it's really interesting you say that.
33:45
And again, this is a new journey for me as well.
33:48
But I was thinking about the books that I loved as a child growing up.
33:54
And so I realized that I connected more so with ones that didn't really have a name.
33:59
Right.
34:00
And one that I can use, for example, like the Giving Tree.
34:03
Right.
34:03
And similar to the book a little bit in a different way.
34:07
And so I just didn't want to give her a name initially because I thought if I give her a name and the books that I read, if I hear Maria or Sally, okay, so then that's Maria's problem or
34:17
Sally's problem.
34:18
I can't really connect in the way that I would want.
34:21
And so I left her nameless.
34:22
I wanted her to be able to connect and for the reader to be able to see themselves in her.
34:28
So that was the reason for that.
34:30
And then the character development process, I really just went back and forth with her and I said, my first book is going to be a gift to my younger self.
34:37
And so I was like, I want it to resemble me a little bit, but I want her to have, in true children's book character, something that makes her unique and innocent looking and memorable.
34:49
So she sent a couple of drawings and I wasn't really in love with them.
34:53
And then one day she sent me with the big yellow boots, the big rain boots.
34:57
And I said, oh, she's perfect.
34:59
That's it.
35:00
I love it.
35:01
I love the beautiful oversized little rainbow and everything and her hair and a little messy bun, because that's usually how I am when I'm painting.
35:09
And I just saw myself in her.
35:11
And the minute I saw that character, I said, that's the one.
35:13
And I love it because towards the end of the book, she's walking along a pathway with her big yellow boots and yellow ducklings following her along.
35:23
That is just phenomenal.
35:25
Thank you.
35:26
That's one of my favorite images or illustrations.
35:29
It is.
35:29
It's just a great image.
35:31
I just love it.
35:32
That's incredible.
35:33
As a children's book author, you have creative license.
35:37
When we're talking to our listeners is you have this license, this literary license.
35:42
And I've talked to Children's book authors, some of them, they will have a purposeful name like we had a purposeful name because the name of our first book is called the Adventures of Caboose, the Rocky Mountain Bear.
35:57
And Caboose, which is normally spelled with a C, is actually spelled with a K.
36:02
And the K stands for my co author, which is my oldest granddaughter, Kira.
36:07
So the K, what is that?
36:08
So the K is for Kira.
36:10
So there is something specific about it.
36:13
But I've talked to authors who have either done the same technique as you, where the character doesn't have a name so that it's all encompassing so you as a reader can see yourself as that character, or.
36:26
I've also had.
37:02
I had an author who actually wrote a book on mermaids.
37:05
And what she did is she actually didn't name all of the characters in the book, even though she had multiple names for multiple characters.
37:16
And I said to her, why didn't you name all the characters?
37:18
And she said, because when I went to do school readings or events, she said, I wanted kids to be able to think that, oh, that's.
37:28
That could be me.
37:29
So if the shark or the octopus didn't have a name, it's because it allowed the child to see themselves as that octopus shark.
37:41
So, yeah.
37:42
And isn't that lovely to have that literary license to be able to do this?
37:46
I absolutely love that.
37:48
And that was the goal.
37:49
I wanted the kids to be able to see themselves in the book.
37:52
But then, for example, my mentor Deirdre, she has the adventures of Rocky, and I love Rocky, and that's her character.
37:57
And he goes through all these adventures with Rocky, and that works for her.
38:01
And different strokes for different folk, they think.
38:04
No, absolutely.
38:06
And I loved having deer drawn.
38:09
So now, third, we get into your book, and I don't want to give too much away, but there is a second character which is kind of cool.
38:16
And.
38:17
And again, that character is fairly innocent in a way.
38:24
In a way.
38:25
In a way, because that innocence turns into some drama.
38:30
And I don't.
38:31
Again, I don't want to give it away, but anyways, I loved it.
38:34
And.
38:35
And then at the end, you had your main character have sayonara.
38:43
Yeah, sayonara.
38:44
And then this whole newfound friendship group.
38:50
Correct.
38:50
Yes, exactly.
38:52
And yes, it is another character, per se, but he or the character signifies so many different things.
39:00
Right?
39:01
Because when you do understand the book and everything she goes through on her journey on the boat with this character without speaking too much to the book.
39:07
But that character can represent a relationship, a family member A job, so many different things.
39:13
It's a character for the children's book, but when we really dig deep into it, it really can be a metaphor for a lot of different things.
39:19
I couldn't agree with you more.
39:21
I want to talk about theme.
39:22
However, I want to tell people this one line, I love this one line in the book and it says not every boat is meant for you.
39:32
Correct.
39:33
Take us through the theme and how that all ties into this.
39:37
The core message of the book is to teach kindness, but to teach we want to keep kindness, but understand that kindness and responsibility are not the same thing.
39:47
So you can be kind, but you can still say no.
39:50
And so how do I say this again?
39:53
You can love someone, you can care about someone and still recognize that their problems are really not yours to carry.
39:59
Right.
40:00
And so remind me the question again, I'm sorry, I kind of got lost with the theme.
40:04
It's what I was trying to talk about about the overall theme.
40:07
But at the end of the day, I love that one saying which is the end of the book.
40:13
So not every boat is meant for you.
40:15
Not every boat is meant for you.
40:17
And really that comes from some people.
40:21
Situations or places can just be path, right?
40:26
And they can teach you a lesson and you can understand that lesson and move on and take that with you and still love.
40:32
Show love and appreciation for that person, that moment, that instincts and.
40:36
But let it go with kindness and with understanding.
40:40
And I think sometimes a lot of adults might find themselves in situations where they over gave, they overstayed with a person with a job or in different situation.
40:51
And so that lying specifically was so important for me because you can love someone and you can care for someone, but they might not be the one for you, or that situation might not be the one for you,
41:03
or that job might not be the job for you.
41:05
And you can take those lessons, but you can let go with love.
41:08
And so really that's the message.
41:10
Thank you.
41:11
Now that you're a published children's book author, I'd love to get you to talk about your writing process.
41:20
So can you give us some insights into your development and your writing process for your children's books?
41:27
We haven't discussed.
41:28
Karim, if you're going to write another children's book, you can either talk to just writing in general or you can talk about this is going to lead me to my next children's book.
41:40
This is going to lead me towards my next children's book for sure.
41:44
After I wrote this one, so many more ideas just came to my mind.
41:48
And honestly, it's just finding the time to be able to fit it all in.
41:52
And I don't think it'll be as easy because as I mentioned, this one came right after therapy session.
41:57
I realized the theme, the idea, the book.
42:00
I just saw the whole thing in my mind, and I was able to write it down.
42:05
And so I do hope the next ones will come as easy, but I think I have to put a little more work into it.
42:10
But you know what?
42:11
Now that you know that you're open to.
42:14
You didn't.
42:15
Maybe you knew this, or subconsciously you knew this.
42:18
Now that you know that you're open to this creative side of you that you maybe didn't see, that in itself might expand for you.
42:30
I'm hoping for that.
42:31
It's just.
42:32
It's a different mind frame for me because I'm an artist, and I've been an artist for so many years.
42:36
And then, so I had to learn how to communicate with images without using words.
42:41
And now it's like a completely different side of my creative process where now I'm having to use the words to match with the images and use the words to get my point across.
42:51
You told me you were a big child.
42:53
And what I'm talking about is when I had this image, okay, when you said that you were on a plane and you had the little girl on the.
43:00
On the wing of the plane, and I thought, oh, that's pretty cool.
43:04
And that's creative.
43:06
It's already opening up your world, whether you recognize it or not.
43:11
Yeah.
43:11
Yeah.
43:12
And then.
43:12
Or even today, you'll see it on Instagram.
43:14
But I just launched the book in Spanish on Amazon, and so I made a little video of her saying, I've been practicing something.
43:21
And she pulled the book and she says the title in Spanish, and so it's really cute.
43:25
And I love that way.
43:27
Yeah.
43:27
Cute way to launch that.
43:29
It's now available in Spanish.
43:30
But also it's very important, too.
43:32
I wanted it to rhyme because a lot of people ask me, why is it rhyming?
43:36
And it's not just because it's a children's book, but also because I remember my favorite books as a child, right where the Sidewalk and all of these amazing children's books.
43:45
And they.
43:45
All the ones that stick out to me the most were the ones that rhymed.
43:48
And it's because rhymes make lessons more memorable, Right?
43:52
They create patterns.
43:53
And so if I wanted my book to resonate with children and make it a fun story that they'll remember, I wanted to make sure that it rhymes.
44:00
So that was a little tricky too.
44:01
Especially translating it to Spanish was definitely a challenge.
44:05
But I'm so happy that it's up now and it's available in Spanish as well.
44:08
It's interesting because I had a mother and son.
44:12
Children's book authors Lynn and Jonathan Greenberg, episode 10.
44:17
What was interesting about them is he was the illustrator, she was the author, and they combined their efforts and now they launched your second book.
44:27
But they, they didn't know Spanish.
44:30
They don't even have a background in Spanish.
44:32
But they saw the importance of Spanish in America.
44:36
I think they live in the Chicago area, but they actually ended up launching their books in Spanish also.
44:45
So it's pretty amazing.
44:46
I'm Cuban Lebanese, so I have that Cuban Latin side of my family.
44:51
And a lot of I'm in Miami.
44:53
If I don't have it in Spanish, they will dickle on me.
44:56
I love it.
44:58
To represent them and make sure that they were able to read it through their abuelitas and abuelitos and all the family members are included.
45:04
Very excited.
45:06
Besides your own personal experience, because the basis of your book is drawn from a therapy session, someone that your therapist saying something to you that triggered it.
45:18
But I'm curious, when you wrote your book, did you draw on more than your personal experience?
45:23
Did you do any research or like, tell us about that?
45:28
Not really.
45:29
It was really just pure personal experience.
45:31
And as I'm doing more podcasts and interviews, I'm realizing they'll ask me specific questions about emotional intelligence.
45:38
And I have to let them know that I'm not a doctor, I don't have a degree.
45:42
I'm not recommending this to.
45:45
For emotional.
45:45
Emotional therapy for children.
45:47
This is just my personal story, my experience.
45:50
But I did connect with a lot of friends.
45:53
And so a lot of it also pulled from conversations with friends.
45:57
My friends are also career driven women.
45:59
They are working jobs, they're taking care of their children.
46:04
And so a lot of them felt like they were over giving and overextending.
46:08
And so it came from conversations with them.
46:10
And then I also have my single friends who are navigating the dating world now, older in 2026.
46:17
And they're running into all these kind of relationship problems.
46:20
So that kind of played into the book as well.
46:23
So I did pull a little bit from my friends and family just in conversation, you know, noticing patterns.
46:28
And that seems to be so true with most of the children's books is that you always pull some personal experience into your book.
46:38
Yeah.
46:38
And like I said, it's like a blueprint for my children.
46:41
So absolutely, I want them to learn from my experience, to hopefully help them navigate healthier relationships with themselves and with others in the future.
46:50
And so I think, as a parent, that my ultimate goal is to leave them this blueprint that they can have so that they can be these healthier children.
46:58
Yeah.
46:58
And you know what?
46:59
It's interesting you should say that, because I have five grandchildren.
47:03
I've had all of them help.
47:04
We've written 38 books now.
47:06
We haven't published all of them.
47:08
We have 38 books in our series, and they help write the books.
47:12
And also because we can't afford to bring them all to print right away, what I did was they've narrated about half the books, so I have their young voices narrating stories they wrote.
47:25
So, yeah, it's fun.
47:27
Good idea.
47:28
It's cute.
47:29
And I have a son and a daughter.
47:30
And so my son kept asking me, who am I in the book?
47:34
I don't want to be that boy in the book.
47:36
He's not mine.
47:38
I love that.
47:40
So I promised him maybe he'll be the main character in my next one.
47:43
I do hope to involve them.
47:44
He's a little.
47:45
He's six now.
47:45
But I do hope to involve them throughout the process as I do come out with more.
47:49
So good for you.
47:51
I want to talk to you about success, and I know we talked about having a book business plan, but I want to delve a little bit deeper because I want to take you back now.
48:02
I'm not going to take you back 12 years.
48:04
I'm going to take you back to when you first came up with the idea and you knew that you were eventually going to have this children's book written and published.
48:15
Talk to us about how you were envisioning your success the day before your book published, and then bring us forward to what success looks like now.
48:28
Is it similar, the same or different?
48:31
Okay, we'll keep it really honest.
48:33
Robert here, again, being new to this whole thing, I did have a conversation with another friend who had published a book.
48:41
And I remember right before launching, and I asked him, how many books have you sold?
48:45
And he's, oh, 500.
48:46
And I was like, well, that's it, in my opinion.
48:51
I just want to jump in for a second because the average book sells between 100 and 500 copies over the lifetime of the entire book's life.
49:00
I'm very ambitious.
49:01
I did that.
49:02
Absolutely.
49:04
First of all, thumbs up to him.
49:06
Absolutely Random Plaza Evan and his book.
49:08
We can plug it later.
49:09
But so I was like, Okay, I have 11,000 followers, they say, all by one book.
49:15
No problem.
49:16
Yay, 11,000 books.
49:20
Little did I know.
49:21
Yeah, it's not that easy, ladies and gentlemen.
49:24
It is hard work.
49:25
I think I've sold about 120, maybe at this point.
49:29
We launched on May 20, and so it's still ongoing.
49:32
We're still working at it, but that's what I was going to wake up to.
49:36
11,000 sold, obviously, the next morning.
49:39
But that was my dream.
49:41
But that didn't happen.
49:42
So, yeah, we got to bring it back down to reality.
49:45
I love what you said, is that it's takes a lot of work and it doesn't happen overnight.
49:52
If you've written a timeless book like you have, it's going to be around forever.
49:57
So as long as you're putting effort into your book every day, it's going to sell every day.
50:03
And eventually you will sell your 11,000 copies.
50:08
And it's about the little wins.
50:09
Initially, when I did the launch, I was checking kdp.
50:12
You're refreshing every five minutes to see where our numbers.
50:16
Forget Instagram.
50:16
I was like, KDP was my new friend.
50:20
Analytics.
50:21
Yeah, I was checking Ingram and kdp and it was a big jump in sales, obviously, throughout the net, it trickles down.
50:28
So you have to really navigate your expectation.
50:30
And then I was just so happy because yesterday I had a total of five sales this month, which for me now that's a huge win because it already has died down.
50:39
It's been about a month, and I'm still getting continuous sales.
50:42
So I'm happy with that.
50:44
I hope this is encouragement for people that you know what you have to look at, what you've done, what you've sent out into the world, and what you send out in the world will eventually reap the rewards.
50:58
And it's like our podcast show.
51:00
A lot of people say, oh, I come on the podcast show, we get that first bump when we release it.
51:08
But you know what?
51:09
I've been doing this for over two years now.
51:11
I.
51:12
Every day, I am absolutely flabbergasted how people will go back and they'll listen to every episode, or I'll look at episodes and say, why didn't that was published a year and a half ago?
51:26
And we've had people go back and listen.
51:29
So it just keeps going on and on.
51:31
Yeah.
51:32
And they're hungry for knowledge.
51:33
And so I remember I was just taking in all the information to get ready to be able to launch this book and make sure I didn't make any mistakes and have it that's perfect as it could be before
51:42
I launched.
51:43
And I'm grateful that you have this platform where you can have all these different experiences and you can forget Binging Netflix, just Binge Paprik podcast.
51:54
Thanks.
51:55
You're welcome.
51:56
I know it's been a recent phenomena.
51:59
Talk to us about what you think has been your most successful sales promotion so far.
52:05
Sales and marketing promotion, definitely.
52:08
Instagram launching and promoting on Instagram.
52:11
One surprise has actually been Pinterest.
52:13
Okay.
52:14
And so I'm not sure if other authors have spoken about it, but I did get a lot of maybe I do have already an established Pinterest account from my artwork.
52:22
But I was like, cool.
52:23
I looked at the analytics the other day because I got a pin from Pinterest on my phone and I looked at Pinterest and I forgot about it, to be honest, because I've been so focused on Facebook and Instagram.
52:34
Instagram.
52:35
And I realized there's so many moms on Pinterest looking.
52:38
Not only just moms, but multitude of people looking and for outfits and inspiration and home decor.
52:44
And I saw that I had 12,000 followers, so I didn't know.
52:52
So I went on there and I said, I am not leveraging this at all.
52:55
Let me go take a peek.
52:56
And I saw that I had almost all this engagement and you can really get deep been to the Pinterest.
53:02
That will break it down for you.
53:02
But long story short, I started to post my little animated character on Pinterest and now that's actually been the last two weeks driving the majority of the traffic to my website.
53:12
Oh, neat.
53:13
That's a new one for me.
53:14
Good for you.
53:15
Good for you.
53:15
And I'm glad you brought Pinterest up because I've had.
53:19
I think you're my first guest in a hundred children's book authors that has mentioned Pinterest at all.
53:25
Hey, I'm always constantly looking for new avenues and it's there and the right audience that I'm looking for lives in Pinterest, so why not?
53:34
I noticed on your Instagram profile you have the link, I think it's link tree.
53:40
Yeah.
53:40
And you click on that takes you right to your website.
53:44
And now I'm not familiar with Pinterest, so I'm the last person to talk to.
53:49
But talk to us about Pinterest in terms of do they have the same kind of format where you can put a link in there to drive them to your website or how does that work?
54:03
And so you can actually put the link, you can't see it because I have it blurred.
54:07
But you can put your website directly on your profile and also they allow you to put links on each post.
54:13
So customer, as soon as they find your post, they don't even have to go to your main profile.
54:17
So you can put your Amazon link to your book on Pinterest.
54:22
There you go, folks.
54:23
There.
54:24
Thank you.
54:25
That's a brand new sharing that we haven't had before.
54:29
So I appreciate that and it tells.
54:31
You great analytics just like Instagram and Facebook.
54:33
So I'm just looking at right now, give your life Update.
54:36
I have 11,000 monthly views just on Pinterest alone.
54:41
So I need.
54:42
Yeah, terrific, Terrific.
54:45
We talked about your writing process.
54:48
Now I'm curious about writing as part of your life.
54:53
Like the role of writing in your life, which it wasn't there before.
54:58
Talk to us about how you see the role of writing in your life now.
55:02
I absolutely love it.
55:04
To be honest, I haven't picked up a paintbrush in quite some time because it's been so involved in this process now.
55:11
But it's so exciting for me and how I grew up.
55:14
Children's books, or books in general have been such an important part of my life.
55:19
When I couldn't do certain things, they were my escape into traveling or understanding relationships.
55:24
They were my window, my portal growing up.
55:27
And so now realizing that I have that gift that I can also offer to a child, it's an incredible feeling.
55:34
And so I'm sure I'll pick up a paintbrush in a little bit.
55:37
But right now I have all these ideas and I just want to write as much as possible.
55:41
I do travel a lot for work, so I'm finding myself just taking out like the note section on my computer and putting in notes on the plane or in the hotel room.
55:50
And it'll take some time, but I'm enjoying the journey.
55:52
I really am.
55:53
It's been so fun advice for aspiring authors.
55:59
It's great now because you, you have all that enthusiasm as a newly minted children's book author, but.
56:05
So what would you say to aspiring children's book authors?
56:10
I would say yes, you're going to have to manage expectations.
56:15
It is not easy.
56:17
I heard that a lot, but I didn't believe it till I went through it.
56:20
However, I would say the biggest thing is it doesn't have to be perfect.
56:26
I think we get caught up in it's your baby and you're working so hard on it and you want to put it out in the world that sometimes you just have to pull the trigger or you're just going
56:35
to keep editing and it's never going to get out and it's never going to see the light of day.
56:40
And this is your gift and this is what you want to put out to the world.
56:43
And it doesn't have to be a hundred percent perfect.
56:46
You've got to sometimes just be like, okay, I'm going to put it out.
56:49
I think it would probably be that.
56:51
And also just do it if you have that dream of.
56:54
Right.
56:54
Look, I'm telling you right now, I'm holding this book in my hand and it has my name on it.
56:58
And the fact that I can say that I did it and just hold it, yes, it's a dream come true.
57:03
So just do it.
57:04
Just do it, figure it out.
57:05
If I can figure it out, being a mom and a full time job and career, you can definitely figure out how to do it and it's so worth it.
57:12
Absolutely.
57:13
I'm glad you talked about the importance is that it's never etched in stone, especially when you do print on demand and you control the files.
57:25
If you want to make changes, make add value.
57:28
I'll give you a private example.
57:30
I've talked about this before, but in our first book somebody told me about a book plate and I said, a book plate?
57:37
I thought they meant that you took the front cover of your book and you made a plate.
57:41
And I was thinking, what am I going to do with a book plate?
57:45
Like a mold?
57:46
Yeah, exactly.
57:47
And I said what?
57:48
No, what they were talking about at the front of the book.
57:51
A lot of books had.
57:53
What they do is in our case we add this heart and it says this book belongs to.
58:00
And then because most children's books are given as gifts, so this is the way someone can write a message to the child.
58:08
In our first publication, we didn't have a book plate because I didn't even, I didn't even know what a book plate was.
58:14
So we added the book plate to our front page and uploaded the files and there we go.
58:24
And so we made that one little change.
58:26
But it adds so much more value because children's books are given as a gift.
58:32
I absolutely love that the majority of the ones that have purchased from me are also giving them as gifts.
58:38
So great idea.
58:38
I love that.
58:40
And what you said is so important.
58:41
We just get it out there because even if you go through Amazon, you control the files.
58:45
You can look at that.
58:48
We've added the book light.
58:50
So now that's a standard thing for us.
58:52
And don't worry about what people are going to think.
58:54
I think that's the other thing.
58:56
I think you hesitate because you're like other people's accomplishments or their websites or their podcasts, and you think, I'll never be at that level.
59:03
I'm just sharing my little story with my little illustrations.
59:07
And you really never know the impact that your story is going to have on somebody else.
59:11
So don't overthink it.
59:12
Don't worry about what other people are going to think.
59:16
It's your dream.
59:17
It's your life.
59:18
Do it because you want to, not because you care about what anybody else thinks or is going to think about you.
59:24
Thank you for sharing that.
59:25
That's great words.
59:27
So what keeps you going as a children's book author now?
59:31
Let's lighten the fuel and the fire.
59:33
Oh, my gosh.
59:34
It's definitely not the money yet, but.
59:36
I love you saying that.
59:39
I think, like I said, I had a random person that follows me on Instagram.
59:45
She's.
59:45
I don't know you.
59:46
I started following you years ago, and just to follow your journey and see your growth.
59:52
And now reading your book, it means so much to me.
59:55
You never know who you're inspiring, so keep up the good work.
59:58
And I took a screenshot of it, and I actually have it in a little frame on my desk in my room, because it's like, those are the moments.
1:00:06
That's what keeps me going.
1:00:07
I didn't know that I was going to influence her life.
1:00:10
I'm writing for books for my children, and here is, like, an adult woman telling me how my book has inspired her and my journey.
1:00:17
Sharing my journey, really, right now, that's what it is.
1:00:19
It's purpose.
1:00:20
You can live your career and you can work for another company, but at the end of the day, at least for me, I need something with purpose.
1:00:27
I need to know that what I'm doing is making some changes, not only in my children's life, but if I can also do it in other children's lives, even better.
1:00:35
So that sense of purpose is really what it's about for me.
1:00:38
Fantastic.
1:00:39
And it's interesting you should say that, because I've had a lot of guests say to me, you know what?
1:00:44
When I've done a book reading, I've had adults come up to me and say, oh, that's me.
1:00:50
That's me in the book.
1:00:52
And so even adults.
1:00:53
And I can see with your book having a lot of positive influence on adults.
1:00:58
I just love.
1:00:59
I love your overall theme, and I love that it doesn't matter if you're 8 or 80, you're going to feel like you're that person in the book.
1:01:09
I love that.
1:01:10
Yeah.
1:01:10
It's funny because even some who didn't know what the book was about, a girlfriend of mine, she had bought it for her children and she read it at bedtime and she called me after and she was like, this
1:01:19
has made me very emotional.
1:01:21
I said, really?
1:01:23
She's.
1:01:24
Yes, I'm overthinking now.
1:01:25
Every ex, every relationship, every situation.
1:01:29
And I said, that's kind of, that's great.
1:01:31
I love it.
1:01:32
Let me talk you through, through it here.
1:01:34
But yeah, definitely not just for children.
1:01:37
I think adults really see themselves in the book as well and they start rethinking their life.
1:01:41
And I love that.
1:01:42
Yes, so do I.
1:01:43
Encouragement for readers why children's book readers should purchase your book, I think because.
1:01:51
It teaches a beautiful lesson that as I mentioned, that you can be kind without self abandonment and you can help others without sinking in their boat.
1:02:00
And I think it's an important lesson.
1:02:02
Out of all the lessons that I've had to unravel growing up, I think that was the hardest one.
1:02:06
It was boundaries, it was self love, and it was choosing myself and letting go with love at the same time.
1:02:13
And I think it's important and I think we need to give that language to children earlier.
1:02:17
And I would love for them to be able to discover that through the gentle story that I've written in.
1:02:21
And not every boat is yours to pick.
1:02:24
Final thoughts.
1:02:25
I always like to really leave on my guests giving us any final thoughts.
1:02:31
I think I just did, actually.
1:02:33
But can I ask you a question, Paprik?
1:02:35
I would just want to know, reading my book, what stood out the most for you?
1:02:39
What was your favorite part and what would you tell someone?
1:02:43
The question you just asked me, why would you tell a children's book reader to buy my book?
1:02:47
Oh, great question.
1:02:49
Thank you for doing that.
1:02:50
First of all, I have to tell you, I had mentioned my favorite illustration is the one with the little girl at the end with the yellow boots and the yellow ducklings following her.
1:03:02
I just love that illustration.
1:03:03
It's one of those ones that I could put in a picture frame and keep forever.
1:03:07
It's so beautiful.
1:03:08
And the other thing I loved and it stuck with me is not every boat is meant for you.
1:03:15
And you know what?
1:03:17
As listen, I still struggle with that.
1:03:20
And especially when you bring more people into your life.
1:03:24
Right.
1:03:25
All of a sudden you're getting more boats.
1:03:27
Yeah, they're in your dock and you're thinking, what the heck.
1:03:32
I just feel like I said to you earlier, even though it's a beautiful children's book, as an adult, whether you're like I said, 8 to 80, it's definitely for you.
1:03:44
Please support Karim's book because it's a beautiful.
1:03:48
Thank you.
1:03:48
It's a beautiful message.
1:03:50
I love that.
1:03:51
And I'll just say, for my book, it was never about becoming better at fixing the vote.
1:03:57
It was just about learning to let go with love.
1:04:00
Right?
1:04:00
Thank you.
1:04:02
Kareem, thank you so much for being a guest on the Adventures in the Heart of Children's Book Authors Podcast.
1:04:07
Your generosity of time, your insights will significantly benefit aspiring authors and readers, and we promise to provide the links to Karim's website, her social media, including Pinterest and her book.
1:04:24
And if you've enjoyed the 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 Kareem and her children's book.
1:04:39
Not every boat is yours to fix.
1:04:42
Thank you, Kareem.
1:04:43
Thank you.