Growing Gents

Happy Tuesday #Jontourage,

Welcome back to the “Classy Gent Chronicles”, where staying classy is the only way to be.  Let's jump right into it....

So today is the day I reveal my book cover to the world for my upcoming book, “Growing Gents”.  It has been an exciting journey to work on a second book.  The purpose of this book is to teach boys at a very early age what the world expects of them.  How many children’s books are out there telling boys to help around the house, open doors, and control their temper?  The demand came from a lot of mothers who wish I had material for their younger kids/toddlers since "Master of Ceremonies: A Male's Guide for a Successful Life" is for the teen audience.  If enough kids read this book, we have the opportunity to build a group of boys that will ultimately become men and will have respect for themselves and others.  Without further suspense, here is the book cover to my second book (first children’s book).

Hope you liked what you saw.  The cool part about “Growing Gents” is that this is a great book for a parent to sit down and read to their child. I am looking to release “Growing Gents” in the summer so I hope you purchase a copy, maybe two. The cool part with writing a children’s book is that I have the opportunity to expand my brand some more.  I know in marketing, it’s best to have a main target audience and stick to that but I like to jump outside of that every now and again.  Like that time Beyonce was on a country song…. 
In the midst of writing this book, I have learned some important lessons about children’s books:

1. They can be more expensive than any other genre- Paying an illustrator is an expense you normally don’t pay for with a book with the exception of the front/back cover and maybe a few images inside the book.  However with a children’s book, each page has an illustrator that is either hand drawn or digitally created.  When you add that up plus the front/back cover, you are paying a pretty penny for artwork.  This doesn’t even include the cost to actually publish the book.  Some book illustrators are charging $6500 for artwork.  Could you even imagine?  I absolutely appreciate my illustrator, Deja.  She is super talented and works quickly too.  Deja is a high school senior from back home where I grew up in Prince George’s County, Maryland.  With any project I do, I try to work with undiscovered talent.  I believe everyone deserves an opportunity to be showcased.  I could go work with an established person but what about the next generation who are scratching for a chance?  I hope this book elevates her career.
2. Even a few years makes a difference- Writing a book that helps 50-65 years old helps you reach a wider audience because as we get older, many of our circumstances as well as our mindset will be relatively consistent for a number of years.  Children’s books are the exact opposite.  Look at your children, younger siblings, nieces/nephews, etc.  In six months, they may not even be wearing the same size clothes anymore.  In about two years, a baby may learn how to walk and talk.  A child is constantly developing.  When I first wrote my children’s book, I was under the impression that my audience would be anyone under the age of seven.  I was looking at it from a financial perspective, not a child psychology perspective.  How different is a two and seven year old?  Very different!!!  Although, it’s only a difference of five years, that’s a major five year change in the life of a child.  I had to be more realistic with the scope of who this book would realistically capture.
3. Vocabulary or lack thereof- In writing a children’s book, you run the risk of losing your audience with too many big words.  The biggest word in my book is gentleman.  Like my first book, “Master of Ceremonies: A Male’s Guide for a Successful Life”, I introduced some words to the young adult reader that they probably haven’t heard of to help them improve their vocabulary.  For “Growing Gents”, that word the reader is introduced to is gentleman because literally every page begins with “A gentleman…”

Moral of the story:  In business, sometimes it is okay to challenge yourself to step out of your normal routine.  You might mess around and make a children's book.  Be sure to order "Growing Gents" coming this summer.

Remember, in order to live out your dreams, you have to think it, feel it, live it!  Until next time, stay classy...