Kat Kuan

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Creative Process of Kevin Kwan, Author of Crazy Rich Asians

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Last month, Kevin Kwan, the author of the book-turned-movie Crazy Rich Asians, came to Palo Alto and of course I had to go! Here’s my recap of the event and what Kevin shared about his creative process.

First off, the anticipation for the event was high! The event was sold out. Seating was first-come first-serve so there was already a line outside the door when we arrived early. I didn’t mind the wait though – I was eating my poke bowl dinner that I got from across the street the Town & Country Village.

kevin kwan event line 2

I was excited! Vince… well, he was not-so-excited to be doing this on a Friday night, haha.

kat vince kevin kwanA SURPRISE

Finally the event began! And to our surprise, Tan Kheng Hua (who plays Kerry Chu, the mother of Rachel Chu in the movie) also came! She would be interviewing Kevin Kwan on stage. She was so bomb in the movie, so it was exciting to see her!

kevin kwan author talk books incWRITING THE BOOK

So apparently the Crazy Rich Asians book was written sporadically over 3 years. Kevin was inspired to write the book in 2009 when his dad was dying. It was actually intended to be a serious book to reflect the sad time of his life that he was going through, but instead it turned out to be an over-the-top comedy about crazy rich asian people.

At the time, Kevin was a creative consultant full-time, so he wrote the book in his free time. He said he would write it in airports when he was waiting for his flights and when a lot of his flights were getting delayed. He would just take out his laptop and start writing. When he was traveling for work, he would write in his hotel room and order room service late at night. Writing became a way for him to unwind at the end of the night.

THE ORIGINAL BOOK TITLE

He kept this project a secret and didn’t tell anyone that he was writing the book until the last third of the book. In fact, the book was going to be called “Empire Days.”  Jaw drop. We were all shocked at that name! After telling people about the book, he would casually refer to it as the book about crazy rich asians, and then he thought, hmm why don’t I just call it “Crazy Rich Asians”? And so the name stuck!

GETTING DISCOVERED

When he sent the book to literary agents to try to get published, he got rejected a lot. At one place, the agent told the junior agent to reject Kevin’s manuscript and didn’t even read it. (They don’t have time to read all the proposals they get.) By chance, the title “Crazy Rich Asians” caught the eye of the junior agent, and she started reading it. By the end of the first chapter, she knew she wanted to sign up Kevin, and so that’s how he got published.

THREE BOOKS

kevin kwan books

Kevin says that he knew the whole story he wanted to tell. It was all in his head – all 3 books worth. He knew that consumers wouldn’t really want to read such a thick novel, so he broke it up into 3 separate books: Crazy Rich Asians, China Rich Girlfriend, and Rich People Problems. Wow, I can’t believe he had all that in his mind! But he said the story had been percolating in his mind for the last 20 years.

He grew up in Singapore until age 11, moved to Texas, and eventually moved to NYC as an adult. He said that all these memories (including of his childhood in Singapore) were “crystallized in amber” in his mind. And when he started writing these books, all of it came tumbling out like a waterfall.

He says that it still mystifies him how he wrote 3 books. It just happened one page at a time. When he goes back to read them, he just gets lost in them. He feels a sense of comfort and amazement at what he wrote. He thinks, “who wrote this? Did I really write this?” That’s pretty funny. I guess it’s like an out-of-body experience.

Once he had the book publisher, there were aggressive book deadlines, so he had to finish writing the second and third books within 1 year each. But since he had the whole story in his head, it was just a matter of taking the time to write them down.

TURNING THE BOOK INTO A MOVIE

He says writing is a lonely process and he really enjoys the collaboration process and filming process. He had great respect and trust for Jon Chu, the director of the Crazy Rich Asians movie, and didn’t want to mess with Jon’s creative process.

For example, when Jon cast Awkwafina as Peik Lin (the college friend of the lead Rachel Chu), Kevin was surprised. As the creator of the character, Kevin had a different idea in mind for Peik Lin, but once he saw Awkwafina in action, he loved the casting choice.

Tan also praised Jon Chu as a director, from the perspective of being an actress in the movie. She says Jon would give very clear and concise directions for scenes. For example, if you saw the pivotal Mahjong scene in the movie, it’s not just about a mother protecting her daughter. She said it’s about 2 mothers experiencing the same powerful love for their children but express it in very different ways. It’s not just “you vs. me” in terms of the 2 mothers. It’s that you and I are actually the same.

Wow that is so deep. Those things didn’t occur to me when I was watching the movie, but I felt the depth and complexity of emotion – which is probably why I teared up when watching it.

ADVICE FOR YOUNG PEOPLE

When asked about giving advice for young people, Kevin made a remark that a lot of young people are in such a hurry to be a superstar, but there are no shortcuts. His advice is, “Do what you love and keep doing that.”

When asked what character in the book/movie Kevin most identifies with, he responds with Alistair (the guy who works in the film industry in the movie). Kevin explains that Alistair was the cousin that no one really understood. And that’s how he felt in his own life. No one in his family really knew what he was doing. The story would change depending on which relative you talked to. They didn’t understand what a creative consultant was. Kevin was the creative guy in the family that no one respected.

But he didn’t let that stop him. Even before the books, Kevin had a very successful career working for magazines and even starting his own creative studio with high-profile clients like TED.com and The New York Times. It’s pretty inspiring what he’s done in his life and how creative he is in other ways besides writing.

Kevin’s advice is go to the stories that inspire you. He never wants to be pigeonholed as the guy who writes about Asians, so I’m sure he will keep entertaining and delighting the world with what he produces.

He also is grateful for his move to America, and for the experience growing up in different cultures, though it was hard to adjust at first. Because he says, “A wider world is always a better thing.”

WHAT’S NEXT?

Kevin’s working on a TV series now, a one-hr Amazon drama series, about the most powerful ruthless family in Hong Kong. Sounds like it will be juicy!

And he shared that they’re hoping the movie sequel to Crazy Rich Asians will come out in 2020! Wheeeee!!!

Thanks to Books Inc, Kevin Kwan, Tan Kheng Hua, and everyone who made this event possible. It was awesome!

P.S. We also made it into Kevin Kwan’s Instagram post of the event! He took a picture of the whole audience when he got on stage, and we are the tiny dots of people in the corner. 😀

Featured on The Coffeehouse Invite with CHI Creative Agency

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I’m thrilled to share that I’ve been featured on The Coffeehouse Invite, which highlights local businesses and artists.

In the video, I sat down for a coffee with Lailani Africa and I share why I jumped from being a children’s book author to being a personal stylist.

Here’s a short and sweet Q&A I did with her on fashion and business as well.

Follow CHI Creative Agency to hear more about creatives in the Bay Area. Cheers!

Short Story Contest Submission

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Photo Credit: Amandalen Madruga

Earlier this year, I wrote and submitted a piece to the Palo Alto Weekly Short Story Contest. I wanted a chance to write for fun and to flex my creative muscles. I didn’t win anything in the contest, but I won’t let that stop me from sharing my work with the world!

So below, I present to you my fictional short story:

short story contest palo alto weekly

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She had it all. She looked in the mirror. She saw her reflection. A young woman with wide-leg trousers and a silk blouse tucked in at her waist. Makeup was fresh and loose curls framed her face. At quick glance, she had it all – a successful career, charming husband, beautiful home, and plenty of loved ones in her life.

Yet in the depth of her eyes, there was a sadness, and emptiness – like she was not all quite there. That her mind was off in some wispy place, where her dreams roamed free and her life looked completely different than it did now.

She cleared her throat and adjusted her necklace. With a swift look at her watch, she realized she was running late. She scrambled to gather her belongings and rushed into the car, jamming the key into the ignition. She backed out of the driveway and headed to work on the same mundane route that she had taken countless times before. She felt empty, yet so rushed. She felt like there were a million things to do at home, and that there were a million things waiting for her on her desk once she stepped foot into the office. She never seemed to have enough time. The faster she ran, the faster it ran away from her.

She delivered some important documents into the VP’s office. She looked wistfully around at the office, and at the woman who sat in a chair behind the desk. She wanted that role. She knew how much more it paid than hers. She knew the money would help with the mortgage and stressful bills piling up on her desk at home. However, there were three other people also up for promotion. They were neck-in-neck with similarly high-profile projects, but she worried that the other people were more likeable than her. They were more social with the boss. They were more outgoing and funnier than her.

She was just too darn busy at work to socialize or add anything else onto her plate to get more recognition. She was exhausted. She plopped into her office chair for a few brief minutes before she had to get up. In her next meeting, she’d have to make a presentation and face difficult questions on the lackluster product sales numbers. She kept mentally checking off whether she was doing the appropriate things her manager reminded her to focus on to get that promotion. But in a tiny corner in the back of her mind, she wanted to escape.

She wanted to escape this massive trap that she had somehow gotten ensnared in. She could barely breathe. She was drowning. She was barely surviving. It was motion after motion, executing item after item like a workhorse – both at work and at home. Was this life? Was this what she was meant to do? Surely a life of more joy could exist – but she didn’t know anyone around her that found it. Every time she questioned what was going on, she got shut down. “This is the way it’s always been done here.” “Life is hard.” “This is what it’s supposed to be like.”

Even as people kept repeating those mantras to her, louder and stronger, they never failed to extinguish this little glimmer of hope inside her. The hope that there was something more. That there was this life that could be hers, where in fact life was simple. Life was quiet. Life was joyous. Life was just… life. There was no self-inflicted suffering or anxiety-inducing phone calls or emails. There was just her and the people she loved. When she told people about this fantasy of a better life, they laughed at her. They told her that it was a myth and that hello? she better return to the real world.

But even that didn’t stop her. She knew that she was meant for something more. She knew that she had a sliver of a chance to make a change. There was a rapidly closing window of opportunity where she could possibly escape this trap. The longer she sat and thought about it, time was mocking her and running farther and farther away from her.

Finally, something in her snapped. It didn’t matter who else she talked to. It didn’t matter who would give or not give her permission. SHE would be the one to give herself permission to choose her own path. And her path was not the one that this company had set out for her. For so many years, the company had led her to believe that the VP’s office was the way forward, but her heart was calling her elsewhere. Even though she was gripped with fear in every cell of her body, her heart contained a steady and strong conviction that her path was the way out the door. The way out into the world.

She pushed the door open, smelled the brisk fresh air of freedom, and took a confident first step out into the world. The door slammed shut behind her, but she didn’t feel as sad as she thought she would. Because when one door closes, a million more doors open.

Where to Get Free Books, Ebooks, Movies & More

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A bunch of years ago, I was working on the Google Play Android app. At that time, it was only for buying apps. We added the ability to buy ebooks, and then to rent movies from the app. Someone asked my coworker, “Oh you’re offering movie rentals. Wouldn’t it be so cool if there was a place where you could rent books?” And my coworker responded, “…You mean libraries?” LOL.

Yup, it’s the best kept secret.

The library.

With so many companies offering digital media and paid subscriptions for access to media, it’s easy to forget that right in our neighborhoods, we have libraries that have tons of books and movies that we can check out… FOR FREE.

For the Bay Area libraries I’ve been to, they’ve been quick to adopt services that allow patrons to borrow items digitally.

There’s the Hoopla app that you can download for free and browse for eBooks, movies, TV shows, music, or audiobooks. This is amazing!! You don’t even need to leave your home.

Or you can check Overdrive to find eBooks or audiobooks, and they can be downloaded to your computer or delivered straight to your Kindle device or phone (Android, iOS, Windows)!

There’s also Flipster for reading magazines digitally, and you can also login to read newspapers like the NYTimes!

If you want a physical book or DVD, going in person is of course an option. I love checking out their new releases section, which often has popular books that are trending. They also have a vast collection of movies and TV DVD sets. They also have old school audiobooks that are a set of CDs, if anyone still uses those. 😉 Actually, I did get those audiobooks to play in my car, which surprisingly has a CD player! The only annoying part is swapping out CDs when each disc is done.

Anyways, if I already know what items I want from the library, before I go in, I’ll take advantage of the library website. I search the catalog, login with my library card, and put things on hold. Then I can just go into the library branch and pick them up. This came in handy especially last year when I was reading tons of picture books during the bookwriting process and writing up favorite children’s books posts.

Gosh, there’s so much free-ness at the library, it’s great.

Actually our tax dollars pay for it, so take advantage of it! Go visit your library wherever you live. If you’re around here, check out the Mountain View Library and sign up for a library card!

Getting My Book into Bookstores

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From my recent social media posts, you may have noticed that my book has been accepted into a couple of bookstores! I’d like to share some insight about the process for those who may be curious.

Note: If your physical book is self-published by Amazon or CreateSpace, then some bookstores may not accept it for consideration. Instead, I self-published with IngramSpark.

Independent bookstores / gift shops each have their own process for acquiring new books. Across different cities in the Bay Area, I basically use my two legs and walk into these stores to try to pitch my book. I introduce myself and ask them if they would consider reviewing my book as a possible fit for their store.

Some stores have a policy that they don’t work with independent authors individually. I’ve gotten rejected quite a few times like this. One time, I walked into a bookstore just ONE hour after their staff decided to discontinue their local author program. I couldn’t believe the timing. Oh well.

No hard feelings though, it’s understandable. They have tried working with local authors in the past. The problem is the economics. These stores barely broke even by taking on books from local authors, so they just can’t make it work despite their best intentions. Instead, they work with big publishers that have a larger catalog of books.

If the store does agree to review the book, then you either leave them a copy or they review it on the spot. If they decide it’s a good fit (woohoo!), they will either purchase a couple of copies upfront at wholesale price or it’ll be a consignment agreement.

Consignment is when you provide them with the inventory of books (several copies) and they put it on their shelves. If a consumer buys the book, then you’ll get paid at some later pay cycle. If the books don’t sell through, then you don’t get paid. There may be a fee to cover the overhead of entering the book into their inventory system.

So the consignment program is how I got on to the shelves at Books Inc in Mountain View! The above image is the first 5 books I handed over to them. 🙂 It’s a 3 month trial basis, so we’ll see how the books do.

More details on the Books Inc Consignment Program here. The application form is online too. Each location of Books Inc in the Bay Area handles consignment differently though, so I’m going to try to pitch the other locations to see if they’ll carry it too.

Once your book is carried by the store, then you can also discuss with them the option to do a storytime or in-person event. Speaking of which, my storytime event just happened last Saturday, June 9, 2018 and I had a great time. Hooray!

Hope this was helpful, good luck!

Why I Hired A Business Coach

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I recently decided to make the big decision to hire a business coach.

I don’t want to disclose my coach’s name yet until I have lengthy experience working with them and can vouch for them. Before I came to this decision though, I had been following this person’s online presence and content for awhile. I discovered them because they were a coach for a successful female entrepreneur I admired. I listened to this coach’s interviews and tried to apply their advice in my daily life. I thought the advice and strategies were quite good. I also had a couple conversations with the coach to decide if working together was a good fit or not.

Hiring a business coach is a sizable financial investment, so my decision was not made lightly. It came down to 3 big reasons:

1. ADMITTING I NEED HELP

This was probably the hardest thing for me to admit. I was hoping to save my money to use towards my living expenses and extend the length of my runway. But at the same time, I had to look at the hard numbers of my business and realize that I was still a long way off from being able to make a sustainable living off it. It feels like I’m working constantly on my business, so working harder or longer hours isn’t really a viable solution. I also had to admit that I lack business experience and am not very good at marketing or sales. 😐

So to summarize, I had to admit that I didn’t know how to make a sustainable business on my own.

2. WANTING A SINGLE GUIDING VOICE

Since I don’t have co-workers, the conversations I have about my business arise when I’m talking to my boyfriend, friends, and family. Sometimes I’ll get an idea from a conversation and all of a sudden, I’ll be all gung-ho and excited about trying that idea out. So my focus suddenly shifts to something that randomly came up in my last conversation. On the flip side, relying on my own inner voice is tricky because the voice of fear inside myself sometimes holds me back from doing things.

What I believe I need is advice from a single person who has successfully built a business and has gone through the growing pains that I have. I need help with setting priorities and goals from the braindump of ideas that I have in my mind.

To summarize, there’s plenty of business advice out there, but I need a single voice telling me what to focus on next. And then my personal relationships can purely be personal time.

3. NEEDING ACCOUNTABILITY

It’s easy to have lots of grand ideas about where I could take my business, but executing them on a disciplined schedule is very hard. I find it challenging to make plans and stick with them. Often, it’s because I get discouraged by the lack of results when I’m part way through, so I scrap the whole idea as not worth doing. Or a better idea comes along that I’d rather try.

When it comes to the things that are hard and outside my comfort zone, I easily procrastinate on them, so the hardest milestones can get pushed back repeatedly because there are no set deadlines.

To summarize, I need accountability on the plans I develop – to make sure I’m pushing myself outside my comfort zone daily and making strategic use of my time.

LAST THOUGHTS

This article was not meant to convince anyone to get a business coach. I’m just sharing my experience. I know that hiring a business coach isn’t right for everyone. It especially depends on what point you are in your life and your business. Last year I wouldn’t have been ready for one.

Also, finding the right coach is a long vetting process that is going to be very different for each person. There’s a lot of business coaches out there on the internet that sell very expensive coaching packages with fancy email funnels and lots of social media advertising. It can be easy to fall prey to them when feeling emotional and frustrated about the state of your business. If you decide to look for one, please be careful and thoroughly vet them!

As always, I hope that sharing my thoughts was helpful to you. I try to be more open and vulnerable about the challenges of entrepreneurship.

I’m also doing this daily in short segments on my podcast.

Thanks for reading!

10 Steps to Create an Awesome Amazon Kindle eBook

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I really didn’t know much about eBooks when I started this process about 2 weeks ago.

I have Kindle devices, but aside from clicking to buy and having them magically appear on the device, I didn’t know much else.

If you’re new to my blog, I wrote and illustrated a children’s book called Use Your Voice and initially released it as a hardcover. I wasn’t starting from scratch, but I thought the eBook conversion process was an interesting experience and worth sharing.

  • My book Use Your Voice
  • The eBook version of my book

ADVANTAGES OF AN E-BOOK

I wanted to do an eBook version so that my audience could have another option in accessing my book. The eBook would be at a lower price point and easier to carry around than a physical book. From a marketing perspective, it would also be easier to share my book with influencers digitally instead of mailing them a copy.

Actually these reasons came from fellow author Eevie Jones, so thank you Eevie!

STEP 1: CHOOSE LAYOUT TYPE

The first step is to decide on the format of the eBook:

  1. Reflowable eBook – mostly black and white text, where the amount of text on the screen can be adjusted according to the screen size / font size / other user preferences of the e-reader device
  2. Fixed-Layout eBook – often children’s books or art books that require a specific layout for each page, regardless of the device size

In my case, I have a children’s book and each page needs to stay exactly as-is, so I went with the fixed layout option.

STEP 2: CHOOSE A SERVICE PROVIDER

Initially, I was going to choose IngramSpark to self-publish my eBook because I had already used them for the hardcover version.

In the author dashboard, they offer a paid “Convert to Ebook” option, where they use your existing design PDF files. I didn’t want to go with this option because I wasn’t sure about the quality (it would be based off a format that wasn’t originally intended for eBooks). Since I already had to learn Adobe Illustrator and InDesign for the first book, I figured I could generate the eBook format on my own.

As I was digging through the IngramSpark documentation on how to do this, it appeared that if I created a fixed layout eBook with IngramSpark, it would only be for sale on Apple and Kobo – and not Amazon. Disclaimer: if this isn’t true, let me know.

Most of my hardcover sales from Amazon, and I didn’t want to leave them out, so I chose to go with Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing.

I also believe that the royalty rate would be higher with Amazon, and there would be no fee to upload the book or make revisions. To keep things simple, I focused solely on the Amazon Kindle platform, and didn’t worry yet about uploading to other ebookstores like Apple’s.

STEP 3: DOWNLOAD KINDLE TOOLS

Amazon has pretty good tools for helping authors publish their eBook. Check out this list for which ones would apply to your case.

I downloaded the Kindle Kids’ Book Creator for doing the eBook conversion. Then I downloaded the Kindle Previewer tool for previewing the eBook before publishing.

The Kindle Kids’ Book Creator takes a PDF file and will convert it into the proper format for the Kindle store. Hence, I went back to the design files to generate a proper PDF.

STEP 4: MODIFY THE ILLUSTRATION FILES

There were some changes needed to the illustration files because an eBook is viewed in digital format on a screen (RGB color mode), whereas a physical book is printed on a paper (requires margins / bleed regions for where the paper is cut and needs to be in CMYK color mode).

Let me clarify how my files were set up for my hardcover book:

I made a complete copy of all my design files mentioned above, and put them into an eBook folder on my computer. I didn’t want to mess up any of my previous files in case I ever need to make changes to the hardcover book.

From the new set of files, I went ahead and made these changes to all Adobe Illustrator files:

  • Remove the margin and bleed regions that were needed for the print version, so that the illustration on the page goes edge-to-edge (see screenshots below)
  • Switch to RGB color mode. This was a somewhat involved process because I had to unlock all the layers of my design and make sure I selected all of the layers for conversion to RGB. I still kept these illustrations as Adobe Illustrator (.ai) files. These articles were helpful: Adjust Colors and Converting Color Spaces.

Adobe Illustrator file for hardcover book (There’s a required white margin on the left, and a bleed region around the artboard marked in red)

Adobe Illustrator file for eBook (In this version, ideally, all the art should be within the artboard size, marked by the black border. However, the art still goes beyond the artboard size because I was too lazy to adjust the shapes to fit within the border, but that didn’t affect the final look of the image later on.)

STEP 5: GET NEW ISBN NUMBER

My understanding is that each format of a book should have a different bardcode. The eBook, hardcover, and paperback versions of the same book should all have different barcodes.

From the documentation, I wasn’t quite sure if this was required for Amazon Kindle books. To be safe though, I got another ISBN number and updated the copyright page to mention this new number.

Copyright page – edited within Adobe Illustrator

When I needed an ISBN for my first book, I already purchased a bulk pack of 10 ISBNs from Bowker. Hence, I used another barcode from my pack and assigned my eBook details to it within the Bowker database. The details were mostly the same metadata as for my hardcover book – except the publish date and price were different.

Note: The back cover of my book also contains the ISBN number, but for eBooks, there is no back cover file, so no need to update that.

STEP 6: MODIFY THE INDESIGN FILE

The Adobe InDesign file is what puts all the pages together. Adobe InDesign is used for layout design for things like magazines and newspapers.

I refer to this as the eBook Interior File. It starts off with the front cover of the book. Then I imported each of the 17 pages of my book (Adobe Illustrator files that I had updated in Step 4). I also modified the dimensions of the document to not have any bleed regions.

Next I did a pixel perfect check using the Adobe InDesign presentation mode to flip through the whole eBook. Sometimes there was white line on the edges of the pages because I hadn’t filled the content to the edge of the artboard, so I adjusted accordingly.

Adobe InDesign Presentation mode

When it looked exactly as I wanted, I exported the file as a PDF!

STEP 7: GENERATE EBOOK FILE

I imported the PDF file into the Kindle Kids’ Book Creator, downloaded from Step 3.

There’s some options in the setup process like whether the book is landscape or portrait, or showing 2 pages at a time or 1 page. I chose landscape, 1 page at a time. Then wala! It does its conversion magic. All the pages show up in the Creator like this.

Kindle Kids’ Book Creator

You can also add text pop-ups to magnify the text and make it easier for reading. I tried it out, but it made the experience feel ugly with big ol’ text boxes on top of the illustrations. I also felt like the font in my pages were already pretty big, so I decided to forgo this option.

STEP 8: TESTING

Within the Kindle Kids’ Book Creator, check out the Help > User Guide on how to test and export the eBook as a .mobi file. I also used the Kindle Previewer I downloaded earlier to test the eBook on various configurations like phone and tablet.

When it looks good, then you can do Save for Publishing for the final output .mobi file.

Note: When testing, I was actually able to view the eBook in black-and-white-grayscale on my Kindle Paperwhite (using this method). Later I realized it wasn’t a supported device for my final eBook version in the store though. Weird. Oh well. I think these children’s eBooks are only meant for devices that show color like Kindle Fire devices, Kindle Reader apps on phones, tablets, and on desktop. The available devices are listed on the product page for each eBook in the store.

STEP 9: UPLOAD TO KINDLE STORE

I created a Kindle Direct Publishing account, logged into the dashboard, and added a new book title. I entered in all the metadata (basically the same as what is already listed for my hardcover book, except a new ISBN).

Then I uploaded the .mobi file for the interior of the eBook and also a .jpg file for the cover of the book.

Note: For the cover of the book, I had to export the image in Adobe Illustrator as 300 ppi so that the resolution was high enough to be accepted. Amazon rejects lower quality images. They also have a cover generator if you need help with the cover art of your eBook, but it’ll probably be more attractive to create your own or have someone design it for you.

When uploading to book to the store, Amazon asks you to enter in your price and royalty option. Helpful resources: Amazon’s royalty rate (35% or 70% royalty options), their price requirements based on file size, and the pricing page.

To figure out my eBook price, I browsed through other kids books in my genre – social emotional learning books, Todd Parr books, Sandra Boynton books, etc… For those books, I also looked at how their Kindle book price compared with their hardcover and paperback prices. I decided on a happy medium and felt assured that I could always adjust it later.

STEP 10: PUBLISH

When everything’s entered, they give you one more opportunity to see everything with the Kindle previewer in the browser. Then you can publish! WOOHOO!!!! It said it would upload to the store in about 72 hours.

Once it went live, I tested it of course on my Kindle Fire device, phone, tablet, and browser. It didn’t work on the Kindle Paperwhite, and confirmed that the device was not listed as a supported device for my eBook. I also tested the “gift” option with another Amazon account and made sure that worked smoothly. Yay!

It was nice that the eBook automatically linked with my existing Amazon page for my hardcover book (which was created automatically through IngramSpark). It would’ve been awkward if they were separate product pages. If you have this problem though, check this link to resolve it manually.

Then I shared the happy news with friends and family!

FINAL THOUGHTS

I’ve got to say, it’s quite empowering to have finished my first eBook. *Flexes muscles* ;P And what’s even more amazing is that distribution is all done electronically. One of the lessons learned from being an author so far is that having physical books and inventory is hard! There’s the overhead of ordering books from my supplier, distributing them, needing to store and track this inventory, and sometimes books can be defective or get damaged.

No need to lift heavy boxes this time! I’m thrilled with my first eBook!

Thanks for reading! If you’d like to see the final product, here is my Kindle eBook: Use Your Voice!

For a behind-the-scenes look at how I created the whole book (including illustrating it), check out my YouTube series on Writing a Children’s Book on my channel Kat Kuan:

Playlist of videos on Writing a Children’s Book: http://bit.ly/2USrEEv

My eBook Launches

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After 4 months since my initial book release and lots of positive feedback, I’m excited to announce that the eBook version of my book Use Your Voice has launched!!! Starting today, it’s available on Amazon right here: bit.ly/useyourvoiceebook

It works on Kindle Fire devices, phones / tablets using the Kindle Reader app, and even on desktop! I know because the engineer in me tested those all devices 😛 haha! The full list of supported devices is on the book page.

If you haven’t had a chance to read it yet, I’d love for you to check it out, maybe even share with a child in your life, and let me know your thoughts! Thank you and have a beautiful day, everyone! 

Use Your Voice (Kindle Edition): bit.ly/useyourvoiceebook

November Favorites: Kids Books on Family, Food, and Gratitude

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The holiday season is upon us! I wanted to do this month’s favorites on children’s books in the spirit of Thanksgiving. I chose books that reflected the themes of family, food, and/or gratitude. So hooray, here we go!

1. THANK YOU BEAR


This is “for anyone who ever thought they had something great,” as described on the dedication page. This endearing story is about a little bear who comes across a box. He thinks it’s quite awesome, but as he shows it to the other animals (monkey, fox, owl, etc…), they scoff and say that the box is nothing special. I could empathize with the poor bear as he got sadder each time. He starts to think that the box may not be so great after all. 🙁 I won’t spoil the ending, but I think the book has a great lesson in gratitude and in staying true to yourself when you see the value in something – despite what other may people think.

2. THE BLESSINGS JAR: A STORY ABOUT BEING THANKFUL


A little girl starts off her day feeling bummed and thinking that the day will be no fun. Her grandmother grabs a jar that they call the blessings jar and they set out on an adventure to make the most of their day. Along the way, they gather little reminders of God’s blessings to put in the jar. It’s an adorable story of counting your blessings even in the smallest details of every day life.

3. COOKIES: BITE-SIZE LIFE LESSONS


In this clever book, the author explains life lessons (or rather character development traits) in the context of cookies! For example, “patience” is explained as waiting for the cookies to finish baking. Oh I definitely know that feeling. “Generous” is described as sharing cookies with others, while “trustworthy” means not eating someone’s cookie when they briefly leave the room. Ha! I love how everything is described as it relates to cookies because who doesn’t love cookies?! And the book ends with a recipe for chocolate chip cookies!! I think that would be a perfect activity to do with a child after reading this book. I love when you can feel and taste the story! 😛

4. CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS


Ah, such a classic. I remember reading this growing up and loved reading it again recently. The story stretches your imagination to the extreme. Unrelenting torrents of food. Yup, that appropriately describes Thanksgiving. I get hungry thinking of hamburger storms and a pancake big enough to cover an entire school. P.S. Apparently there’s a movie and a sequel out too!

5. THAT IS NOT A GOOD IDEA!


From the author of the Elephant & Piggie series, Mo Willems brings another entertaining book. This is a silly and fun book about a tricky fox who tries to invite a goose over for dinner. Uh oh, be careful! 😮

6. YOU GET WHAT YOU GET


Melvin the squirrel doesn’t deal well with disappointment. (Who can relate?) He throws a tantrum if he doesn’t get what he wants. But at school, his teacher has a rule, “You get what you get, and you don’t throw a fit.” Melvin tries to outsmart his family, who doesn’t know the rule… or will they find out? This is a fun story of learning to accept how things turn out, without complaining! And wouldn’t that make the world a more pleasant place… 🙂

7. THOSE SHOES


This is a touching story of a boy who really wants a pair of shoes that the other kids at school all have, but his grandmother can’t afford them. As he navigates the embarrassment of having to wear hand-me-down shoes, this story about wanting something badly turns into a story of generosity. The author and illustrator do a great job of showing diverse characters and providing a glimpse of poverty from the eyes of a child.

8. SYLVESTER AND THE MAGIC PEBBLE


Sylvester the donkey loves to collect cool looking pebbles. One day, he finds a fantastic magical red pebble that grants any wish you want, as long as you are holding the pebble. He get into a little predicament when he gets startled by a lion and accidentally wishes to become a rock. The pebble falls on the floor beside him, so he cannot reach it to make a wish to be his old self again. The book goes into how he tries to deal with that problemo! Ultimately, I like how this fanciful story shows that the love in a family can be worth more than a silly pebble, even if it can grant you any wish you want.

9. UNIQLO ULTRA LIGHT DOWN JACKET

Source: Uniqlo

And for my last random favorite, I would say that I can’t survive without this black puffy jacket. I get cold easily and Bay Area weather can get unexpectedly chilly (I know, I’m a pansy.). I’ve had this jacket for so long and worn it everywhere. If it’s summer time, I’ll will wear it. If it’s winter time, I’ll wear it. It’s washable and you can squish it into a teensy bag for travel purposes. This one time, I was wearing it, and my 2 friends decided that they needed one too, so now the 3 of us have the same jacket! You’re welcome Uniqlo for being a walking ad.

Alright, that’s a wrap! Do you have any favorites that you discovered this month? Leave them in the comments below!

I hope everyone has a safe and happy Thanksgiving holiday! Eat until your eyes and hearts are satisfied. 😀

And keep reading! Perfect weather for cozying up with a book, magazine, or anything with words. Cheers!

Disclaimer: This post contains some affiliate links. I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. At no extra cost to you, if you make a purchase, I will receive a small commission. Regardless of this, these are books that I honestly enjoy and would recommend anyways. Thanks for your support!