JD'S Writers Blog  

A TEENY TINY PUBLISHER Working With AMAZON

I have heard it said that a year is the life of a book and if that is so then it is the end of my children’s book Janoose the Goose life. It turns out that most of my book’s sales came through Amazon. For a small self publisher Amazon has a lot to offer and most of it free. However, at first I had no idea Amazon would pick up my book so I had to come up with my own plan.

I learned there was no guarantee that Amazon would carry my book even though my POD printer and distributor would be submitting it to Amazon. Adding to this was the fact that I set the discount for distributors and booksellers as low as 25% and set it for no returns meaning I would not have to refund overstocked books, so I felt there was a good chance that Amazon and other online bookstores might not pick up my book.

I made plans to sell the book on my website. I set up a shopping cart, ordered a supply of my books, jiffy envelopes for mailings and SEO (Search Engine Optimization) the site and my book on over a hundred search engines so if anyone was looking for my book, it would be found.

I watch daily and even hourly to see for Amazon would take on my book, and on eleventh day my book, Janoose The Goose appeared on

This was great. Amazon did it all; they ordered and sold my book. They even direct deposit the sales to my bank account. Now I just had the marketing plan to do, which is daunting on its own.

I started by using my own Amazon account, I did all I could to help sell it. I uploaded my cover image, filled out the author’s profile, added the book’s descriptions, publisher’s notes, I did the Listmania program so customers could see my book with other books children would like to read and filled in as many tags that fit the book’s description at

    The theme of a story is what the story is about. It is the underlying message usually defined in one or two sentences and is never told to the readers. Sometimes you know your story’s theme before beginning to write it. Sometimes you don’t know the theme until you have the outline done, characters in place and the setting down to the smallest detail. More than not it is implied coming through in the use of characterization, plot, setting, view point and events in the overall writing of the story.

    A novel can have many themes because of the length, the amount of characters and subplots that run through it. In Charles Dickens‘ , A Christmas Carol, Scrooge’s kind and even tempered nephew, Fred’s good-humor can not be dampened, not even by Scrooge. Fred’s theme could be, happy are those who are sure of themselves. While Bob Cratchit’s, the faithful clerk’s theme might be; do what is right, be respectful and expect good to come from it. Scrooge on the other hand has a very different outlook. His theme might be one of the following, Greed and money can make you blind to the lives of others around you, or, if you are not careful and change your miserable life before it is too late you might end up haunting the earth like Jacob Marley!

    Where novels can have many themes, short stories and some children’s books usually have only one theme. Themes for children can come from your own childhood experiences. All of childhood’s momentary problems seem monumental at the time. A story about a girl who sleeps with a night light on for fear of dark, menacing shadows is invited to stay overnight at her friend’s house. The girl now has to worry that her friend will think she is still a baby if her fear of the dark is known. All turns out well when she finds that her self-assured friend also has a fear of the dark and they sleep with a comforting light on. This theme could be that everyone has something they fear, or sometimes your fears are groundless.

     Theme usually expresses the author’s opinion, questions human nature and holds the story together while keeping the author on track to the final destination, the story’s end. It adds relevance and helps the author separate from the plot what is needed and what is not.

    Readers can find a story’s theme by looking at the title and in patterns that run through the story. It will show in what the main character or characters find out about themselves. The characters must find meaning for who they are, what they do and what they want to be. The struggle the characters face in the opening of the story should be tied up by the ending of the story, and your theme clear to your readers.

Themes are found in the human experiences: feelings, love, hatred, fear,
    confusion, desires, etc.

Themes can be found in questions needing answers such as:

    Why do some people died young?

    Why is there evil in the world?

    Why do we love others?

They can be found in bible verse like proverbs and psalms.

They can be found in old familiar sayings and truisms like;

    Every cloud has a silver lining.

    Don’t cry over spilt milk.

    It’s always darkest before the dawn.

And let’s not forget, on rare occasions in Chinese fortune cookies!

That’s THEME IN A NUTSHELL!

by J.D. Holiday