INSIDE MY WORLD
Inspiration
Ok - so let me tell you something about self-publishing - it's a flippin' joke! Amazon only markets five star product or uses expensive paid ads and my books are buried, despite good metadata practice. So I tried to publish with Ingram Spark to see how that would go. LOL! I would have to price my book at over $40 US for me to even make $1! so they can make their profit and the retailer can make their profit - but the one who made the profit possible is left out of the equation. So - being that I would be completely embarrassed to sell one of my books at $40, I priced my favorite book Pecas & Paloma at their max price of $124.99! If I sell any books at all, the proceeds will go to my favorite charity that's removing plastics from our oceans - 4OCEAN! Will report back soon and let you know what happened.
Might report on TikTok to get some attention.
Looking for beta testers for E books!
E BOOKS
I've created a few FREE E books out of early book drafts for beta-testing, as I have no idea what works best for construction of an E-book. If you are a reader who elects to read children's books with a tablet or laptop, I would greatly appreciate some feedback on best platform, display, structure, technical issues, metadata, content, etc...within Amazon limits as I am currently limited to selling on Amazon. Insert frown here.
Thank you for your comments and your help!!
NOTE: These are not the published versions of the books and may be very incomplete.
For GUI testing only.
STORY OF JOHN's BOOKS
John is a hopeful preeminent illustrator and author whose professional career began back in 1994 after his first published work. Since then, he's explored different writing genres and is working to create a following who await his latest releases. With numerous projects and awards to his name, he continues to push literary boundaries in ecology in exposing young minds to the wonders of the natural world in the hopes it remains wondrous for generations to come.
John's career as a public environmental science educator, anthropologist, archivist, exhibition designer, developer, artist, illustrator and writer spans over thirty years. He has designed over 180 temporary and national award-winning traveling exhibits and a few dozen picture books and coffee table books for other artist. He has paintings, graphics and exhibitions around the world from Kuala Lumpur to South America and from India to Europe, recently producing the traveling exhibition Wicked Plants, based on the work of author Amy Stewart, which even toured Vegas a few times. His last works included the production of an exhibition on Mastodons and even an exhibit on Zombies from the TV show Z Nation. He is currently looking for representation and a publisher for all works.
Please help support John and this mission.
Feeling Down Try this Trick
DINOSAURS!
I love them and I never had them as a child!
I read an article about creating dopamine triggers by hiding by hiding things in your home environment that make you laugh or smile or bring you joy. The idea is that you get a hit of dopamine whenever you come across an object or image.
Since I always wanted Dinos, I decided to buy myself some cheap monochromatic plastic Dinos at the grocery store and repaint them, since I am an accomplished artists. I painted these and some others to be realistic, and they have actually brought me a lot of joy and a few make me laugh even today. Especially the T-rex peeking over my alarm clock who greets me each mornings. Try it sometime - it really does make a difference in your mood.
JOHN CAYDEN
WHY I CHOSE CAYDEN
John has always been enthusiastic about great writing, and is privileged to be turning his passion for painting and design and teaching ecology into a new career as a professional author - even though he currently gets chump change from Amazon. But he is looking out for some guidance and professional representation!
"I chose 'CAYDEN' because it means survivor or warrior in some languages. I'm a long term survivor and proud of it! Dang poor because of it, but proud." - John Cayden
"Life itself is the most wonderful fairy tale"
- Hans Christian Andersen
