Thanks to the support of our Kickstarter backers and our 5-year-old co-author’s enthusiasm, we’re ready to begin writing our second kids’ dog book in the “Bash and Lucy” series.
To help raise funds, our young co-author, Michael, sold books at the NW Pet Fair, handed out flyers to local businesses and libraries in Portland, and appeared in the Kickstarter video, saying, “Help fund my book project!” Through this project, Michael has learned about writing, self-publishing, marketing, blogging and publicity. Thanks to our backers, the project continues, and involves young writers and dog lovers from all over the globe who give us ideas via Skype in the classroom. These kids will get a big thank you in our next book and we’ll send their classrooms a copy.
A big thanks goes out to our corporate backers. An early backer was Dania Doose, co-owner of Von Haus-Doose Working Dogs, http://www.vonhausdooseworkingdogs.com/ whose special needs son, Tristen, and his service dog, Benji, will be characters in our next book. Another backer, the natural pet products company “I and love and you” www.iandloveandyou.com will appear in a scene of the book, as will backer Sniff Dog Hotel www.sniffdoghotel.com, Portland. Another backer was Lisa’s brother, Patrick Cohn, owner of Peak Performance Sports. His daughter, Paula (who has appeared in book reviews with Michael), will be a character in the book.
We also received lots of support from other authors, beginning with Airlie Road Publishing http://airlieroadpublishing.com/. We first met the publishers of “Bad Dog Bailey” when they asked Michael to review their book, which resulted in this fun review: Bad Dog Bailey Review By Michael
Also expressing enthusiastic support was Deborah Taylor French, Dog Leader Mysteries author. We’re excited about meeting Deborah in Portland soon and reviewing one of her books!
Other authors who backed us include Brian Tashima, http://thespectralandsaga.com/ author of the award-winning “Secret of the Songshell,” and Ryan Chin, http://www.withoutrain.com, author of “Without Rain There Can be No Rainbows,” a multimedia memoir.
Our Kickstarter success was also due in part to exposure we received in three online publications. This story, appeared first in Pet360: Dog-Loving Author and Son Hope to Crowdfund New Book, and then was picked up by Yahoo! News: Dog-Loving Author and Son Hope to Crowdfund New Book
And, just before our Kickstarter ended, the folks at Dogster published our article about Autism Service Dogs of America, which gave us a boost, with its 382 Facebook likes: Dogster Hero: Autism Service Dogs of America
What’s next? It’s time to start writing! Meanwhile, Michael is back to reviewing books, Skyping with kids globally, and even writing and singing about books! You can watch him sing a song about a Scooby-Doo book that he wrote along with his music teacher here:
Questions? Email us at BashAndLucy@gmail.com!