Interview with Author Jana Buchmann
Jana Buchmann is a children’s author and proud mom of three with a love of storytelling. She loves to spend time with her three daughters, often drawing from their imaginative and fantasy worlds to inspire her storylines. Her books are characterized by beautiful, adorable illustrations and simple, uncomplicated storytelling. She enjoys combining unique ideas with magic and imagination to create memorable stories that bring tons of fun and smiles to every child who reads them. Jana believes that any child can learn to love reading if they are given the right book.
When not writing, Jana enjoys reading, traveling, being creative, and spending time with her three wonderful daughters. She also volunteers for an organization that reads and streams children’s books for kids in a hospital.
Tell me more about your latest book
Mollie’s Magical Tooth is a magical story about an adventurous girl who has just lost her first tooth. Mollie isn’t so sure if she should give it to the tooth fairy and wonders what she does with all the teeth. She wishes to meet her before she can make her decision and one night, her wish becomes true. This is the start of a wonderful adventure full of magic and imagination. She meets unicorns, leprechauns, and fairies and she will need all her creativity and imagination to help her friends and bring back happiness to Magic Land.
What was the most challenging aspect of writing this book?
I started writing this book during the Corona lockdown in March. This means I was trying to keep my author’s consulting business up and running from home while taking care of my three daughters who couldn’t attend preschool any longer. I needed a creative outlet to get some peace of mind during those uncertain times. My daughters are my number one priority, but I also wanted to bring this story to life that I had in my mind for such a long time. I ended up working on my book and all related tasks nearly every night in our quiet house where everybody was asleep except me. This was also my chance to recognize that I’m most creative at night! The research of all the things you need to know as an indie author took also uncountable hours of my sleep away, but it was worth every minute.
What is your normal procedure to get your books published?
I’m writing a rough plot and then I start adding details and story lines. I’ll add notes for my illustrator when I’m envisioning something special on this page but usually, I’m trying to leave the illustrator as much freedom as possible. They know their job and often have brilliant ideas for the visual part of the story you haven’t thought of. Working together with illustrators is one of the parts with the most joy and definitely an upside of being an indie author. I always use a professional editor for my books, most of the books got more than one round of editing. I’m using the print on demand service from Amazon and also have my books on Ingram Spark.
What motivated you to become an author?
When we moved to the US, I took the chance and created my own business. I’m working together with authors, mainly children’s book authors and help them with creating unique marketing content and more. I’ve met so many wonderful authors that inspired me and one of them encouraged me to write this story down, that was in my head for such a long time. When I started writing it was like opening the box of my creativity. Suddenly, there were lots of stories in mind and I needed to write down some rough plots for future books. I have a notebook always available or I quickly write it in the notes at my phone when I have some ideas.
How many books have you written so far?
I have written four so far. “Mollie’s Magical Tooth” is already published, “Who wants to play with Little Mouse?” is almost done and will be published by end of September. The other two are in the illustration process right now.
As an author, do you prefer the traditional book or online version? Why?
I think every version has its benefits. There is nothing more enjoyable as little fingers that are turning real pages and pointing to colorful illustrations. I also think that a favorite book is like a treasure kids like to enjoy whenever they like. This speaks more for a traditional book, they can carry it around, take it to school and there is nothing better than a treasure from your childhood you can hold in your hand when you’ve grown up. But I like eBooks for vacations or restaurant visits as you don’t have to carry many books with you. I also buy the eBook first sometimes when I’m not sure if my kids will love the book as much as I do. They do it most of the time so we end up with both versions and are prepared for every occasion!
How hard or easy is it to establish and maintain a career in writing?
It’s definitely not easy as a self-publishing author. You need to take care of everything on your own. Of course, you can outsource almost everything, but most aspiring authors don’t have the budget for this. Writing and creating books is fun but it’s only part of the whole game. You need to create great books and you need to learn everything about marketing you can. This is where most authors struggle, they love the creative part but the marketing part not so much.
What is your advice for aspiring writers?
The best advice I’ve got is to write your story again after you’ve written your first draft. You don’t need to create it completely new out of your head but put it away for a day or two and then print it out and retype it. You will see a couple of things that don’t work well, or that you might want to change.
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