23: Interview with Jamie Gagnon (Children's Books)

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Jamie Gagnon’s first book, Imagine My Love (an illustrated children’s book), was released in September 2022. With a degree in early childhood education and preschool teacher certification, it makes sense that she'd write a children's book.

But it was ultimately the love for her two children (combined with an "interesting" experience that showed her the power of words to young children) that compelled her to write this wonderful book.

In this episode of the Write the Damn Book Already podcast, we talked about the process of writing a children's book as well as the importance of recognizing the season of your life that you're in and not forcing yourself into others’ definition of success or opinions on how you “should” market your book.

Episode Highlights:

[3:55] The root of her reason to write this book (what her 2nd grade and 6th grade teachers taught her about the power of words)

[5:17] How she found that “motherhood made an incredible mess of her” and compelled her to find a way to lead her own kids with her love

[10:40] Industry standards for children’s books (and how Jamie avoided getting hung up not knowing exactly how to adhere to them)

[11:30] How Jamie found a children’s book writing mentor (and who that person is!)

[14:57] How she found and partnered with her amazing illustrator, Sandra Jessop

[18:11] Her biggest concern when embarking on the partnership with her illustrator (and how she grew through embracing the challenge)

[21:40] The process of getting the illustrations from creation (hand-painting) to being combined with Jamie’s text and printed as a book.

[25:48] Her distribution plans for bulk orders, indie bookstore events, and general sales [and how she feels about being carried by the BIG bookstores, which was shocking]

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Write the Damn Book Already is a weekly podcast featuring interviews with authors as well as updates and insights on writing craft and the publishing industry.
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