How to Win Friends (Study Course) for kids.

The 19th Annual Writer’s Digest Self-Published Book Awards rated my book.

I didn’t win their contest, but here are the ratings:

On scale of 1 to 5 with 1 meaning “poor” and 5 meaning “excellent,” please evaluate the following:

• Structure and organization: 5



• Grammar: 5



• Production quality and cover design: 5
  

Judge’s commentary:
What did you like best about this book?

Building Character with Sam, Izzy, & Many Other Dogs is a “How to Win Friends and Influence People” study course for children (of sorts). It’s written very well and the book is filled with colorful pictures of dogs, colorful fonts and quick, thought-providing points. The author has created a very unique concept here - I can’t think of any books exactly like this one the market – and provided he’s got a platform for prompting it, self-publishing may sure be the way to go for this one. It’s hard to explain exactly what I liked with this one – it’s one of those books you’ve really got to hold and spend some time with to appreciate it. If the author can get it into reader’s hands, he’s likely got a winner here.

How can the author improve this book?

The challenge with a title like this one is to have e platform from which to promote it. If parents can get their hands on this title, especially within the right setting, they’ll likely want it for their kids. The author seems to have the credentials for prompting it, and is thinking ahead about what will give additional value to the book (i.e. a free coloring book, audio CD, etc). But marketing is only one of great downfalls of self-publishers. This author may already be on the way in the right direction, but he should be encouraged to study how other self-publishers market their books and get – at the very least – samples out to their communities. This book won’t sell itself from backline alone – but the full experience of what’s inside could make all the difference.