Win-Win Marketing with Miranda Mittleman

Join Laurie as she speaks with Miranda, who shares marketing wins and flops!

Her BIG goal: Raise as much money as possible for charities that support children and animals. Through her Charity of the Quarter program, she donates a portion of the proceeds from each book sold to a non-profit every quarter, and she has raised over $8,000 to date!

Contact Info
www.pawsandthinkbooks.com
Youtube
Facebook: @pawsandthinkbooks
Instagram: @pawsandthinkbooks
Twitter: @_pawsandthink

Transcript

Win-Win Marketing with Miranda Mittleman

Hi Miranda. Hi, Laurie. How are you? I am good. A little cold in the middle of a snow storm, but I'm good. Thank you. How are you? Pretty? It's pretty warm here in Maryland. We're rubbing it in it. Hasn't stopped snowing, I think all week here. Wow. I know I should be grateful. I'm not in a fire, so that's good. Yes, that is true.

[00:00:26] So thank you for coming on the podcast with me today. Can you start by sharing your story? Sure, sure. So a few years ago, I adopted a dog named Weaver and I started walking Weaver all through Baltimore with my husband, where we lived at the time. And I started to get some ideas for some poems that I wanted to write and I've written poems my entire life.

[00:00:48] So this was just something that has always come natural to me. And, I didn't really think anything of it. I was just like, Hey, I'm on these walks. Let's write some poems about my dog. Well, I wrote these poems. And I showed them to my husband and he loved them. He thought I had something really special and he told me that I should get published and I just kind of laughed it off.

[00:01:11] And, you know, I had no intention of doing anything with them. So after a lot of convincing and a lot, a lot of times you had to bring it up, it wasn't just once or twice, it was probably. I would say at least 20 times, I finally started to look into getting published and it actually wasn't until my husband and I had our son the next year.

[00:01:34] And I started reading him children's books. And that's when it kind of hit me that maybe my poems could be something special like that. So that's how Paws and Think started. So I now have four books and each one teaches a life lesson through the eyes of Weaver. My rescue dog. 

[00:01:54] Oh, wow. I really love that so many people I've talked to on the podcast, have shared that a spouse, you know, sort of push them and encourage them and supported them.

[00:02:05] And it really makes a big difference. And that's a really positive thing to hear positive. Positive. I always say, no, it's your, your right. You know, honestly, pause and think wouldn't be here. If it wasn't for my, my husband, Michael, and, you know, he really saw something special that I didn't and every step of the way since then he's been supporting me and encouraging me.

[00:02:28] So it's really great to have him in my corner. 

[00:02:30] Oh, that's nice. So what was the publishing experience like for you? 

[00:02:35] It was really interesting, you know, this is a whole new world to me and I, I know that there are so many different routes that one can go when they're looking to get published. And, you know, after doing a lot of research and talking to different authors that were in every stage of publishing, I decided to take the route of, working with a publisher that I felt was a good fit for me. So I know it's like very difficult to get in sometimes with the traditional publishers, but I also did not want to completely self publish because this was again a whole new world for me. I know there's so many steps in the process. So I, I did a lot of research and I kind of took the middle route.

[00:03:17] So I'm working with a publisher called Mascot books and they are kind of like a cross between self publishing and using a traditional publisher. I like to say I get the best of both worlds with it because I have someone holding my hand through the whole process. You know, they helped me find my illustrator.

[00:03:36] They helped me do the editing. They helped me do the printing. They have the warehouse for, you know, holding my books, but at the same time I had all the creative control. And that was very, very important to me because I had a vision for what I wanted these books to look like. 

[00:03:51] So, I got to choose my illustrator, through the publisher, they worked with a bunch of different illustrators.

[00:03:57] I looked at their different styles and found one that I felt fit for me. And I've had creative control throughout the entire process. I've got to make rounds of edits with my illustrations and get these books to look exactly as they, I envisioned them. so working with this company has been good for me.

[00:04:15] Well, yeah. And so do you work directly with the illustrator then? Or do you have to go through them? Like, is there, I do have to go through the publisher, but fortunately it's been a very smooth process. It was actually very interesting how, how my publisher does this and I'm not sure if all publishers like this do it this way, but they worked with them.

[00:04:35] There's 70 different illustrators. And I was able to see, small samples of what their work looked like. And from those samples, I picked three or four that I felt styles really resonated with me. You know, ones that I saw. And I was like, I can envision my books looking, something like this. And those four illustrators were sent part of the manuscripts, my book.

[00:04:59] And they drew what they thought the first spread of my story would look like, and this was without much guidance from reading the words that I wrote. And when I got those four illustrations back, I instantly knew who I wanted to work with. So my illustrator they're called Indo studios. It's actually a design India as design studio out in Indonesia.

[00:05:24] Okay. And, they they've been incredible to work with. So, you know, when I saw that first illustration, although I loved it, I did have a lot of changes. I wanted it right. Or I wanted it bolder, you know, I had a certain vision, but I knew when I saw it, that they were going to be the perfect illustrator for me.

[00:05:41] Oh, that sounds like a great process. Yes. Cool. And how long does it take to get a book published going through Mascot books? 

[00:05:49] Like for the first one? How, how long was that? It varies depending on the illustrator that you choose. Because a lot of illustrators, you know, are inundated with many different projects at once and I'm just depends on their availability.

[00:06:02] So for me, it actually did take a little bit longer the first time, because I really wanted to brand Paws and Think as a series. So I decided to publish my first two books together. I have four written at the time, so yeah, so I had, I had four different book ideas, but I really picked the two that I felt were the strongest and I wanted to publish them together as two to brand, as a series.

[00:06:24] So, it probably, I would say from start to finish, With the illustrations in particular, that process was probably about a five to six month process. It takes a while. I mean, I know like different illustrators have different strategies and different timelines and whatnot, but you know, with mine, I did have a lot of changes.

[00:06:46] And they didn't want to settle. And I really did have a vision for this. So we went through many rounds of edits to get it exactly as I envisioned, I don't think that's too long. You know, authors say it took way longer than that. And, it's really, you know, it's not that many spreads, you know, my, my, all my books are very short and simple and the illustrations are actually not too detailed.

[00:07:10]I kind of wanted to keep a. a bright, colorful lighthearted feel almost like a cartoon. If you know, you're not seeing this and you can just envision just like a cartoon, I kind of want it to go for that walk. but I, you know, I did have these, these visions of what it was going to look like. So again, it, it was great to be able to have that creative control.

[00:07:32] Super. Okay. So now the burning question, everybody listening is going to have, do they help you with marketing? 

[00:07:39] So it's interesting that you asked that. So, my publisher in particular, Mascot, they have a special marketing package that you can pay for and they will help you with marketing and PR and all that.

[00:07:54] For me personally, I decided to opt out of that. I actually, my background's in marketing, so I got my business degree in marketing and I've always had that creative mindset. And I'm one of those people that has no problem going in and reaching out and putting myself out there. So, no, I really want us to try to do this myself first.

[00:08:13] And I'm really glad that I did because I've had a lot of success marketing. I've gotten a lot of media coverage and. I'm actually asked pretty often know. Who does your marketing, who does your PR? And I love getting that question cause it makes me feel like I'm doing something right. but I I've done it all myself so far and it's been, it's been pretty successful.

[00:08:32] Congratulations. Thank you. That's not what I usually hear. 

[00:08:36] So I'm very happy. Would you say there's one sort of strategy you've used in particular? That's really helped. 

[00:08:45] Well, To be honest, you know, for anybody asking, you know, how, how do they market their book? How do they get their themselves out there?

[00:08:53]For me, consistency is key. You have to be consistent and, you have to just try to utilize all the connections that you have. You know, I, I kind of compare it to throwing darts, something's got to hit and the more you reach out to people at different media outlets and different organizations, the more you put yourself out there.

[00:09:14]The more you follow up more likely that you are going to get something in return. So for me, honestly, it's just been, you know, staying persistent and putting myself out there and reaching out to as many different people as possible and just, just networking yourself. Cause you never know who do you already know that might have a connection for you.

[00:09:36] So that's important to keep in mind, you know, you, when you network like I'm Oh, even when I'm not working on my books. Whenever I'm talking to someone it's always in the back of my mind. 'Wait a second. Does this person like work at this company? Maybe they know someone that could help me' and you just always have to have that mindset always be thinking, right.

[00:09:55] And if you're too shy to say, 'Hey, I wrote a book', not get the opportunity will not present itself. Absolutely. And another thing too, for me is, you know, a lot of authors ask, well, what do you say when you reach out to these people in different companies and different media outlets and what are you actually saying?

[00:10:12] And I'd have to say that if you write a book and you reach out to immediately to say, Hey, I wrote a book. You know, I'd love to share it with your viewers. You're probably not going to get a response or you're going to get a response saying, unfortunately, you know, we don't have time or it's not a good time for us.

[00:10:31]They want a story, you know, they want to know why, why is your book special? What inspired you? What are you doing with it? You know, for me personally, I always use the angle of, well, my, my rescue dogs, my inspiration, I'm not just writing books. I'm going to hundreds of schools inspiring as many children as possible.

[00:10:53] I started a nonprofit, program where I donate a portion of the proceeds from every book. So back to a different organization each quarter. So giving back to my community, they want to hear that they want to hear something special that you're doing. So that's, what's going to capture their attention. So I would have to tell anyone who's looking to get exposure to really put yourself out there and show what you're doing to make yourself stand out from everyone else.

[00:11:20] That makes so much sense because nobody wants to, you know, be sold to. And so if you're the one saying I wrote a book, what can you do for me? Right. You're not going to get a good response, but if it's look at all the other things I'm doing for everybody else, I mean, it's just the nature of right, right.

[00:11:37] Like how we should be. I think, I think that's great that you donate, So, do you have the same for every year? Like the same four charities that you do quarterly? No. So when I started, I knew I wanted to help various organizations, any organization that helps support children or animals. so I pick a different organization every single quarter.

[00:11:59] And I've worked with inquiry with 13th parody at the moment. so my goal is to raise as much money so I can help as many different organizations as possible. So I, you know, I didn't want to limit myself to just a couple of organizations. You know, I felt that there's so many great causes out there and it would be wonderful to be able to give back as many as possible.

[00:12:21] So. I think 13th right now, and I've worked with some incredible organizations that are local to me here in the Maryland Baltimore area, but I've also worked with some national organizations as well. I'm currently working with an organization called dog is my co-pilot. and they're a nonprofit that helps rescue dogs from shelters and areas that they most likely won't get adopted and fly these amazing dogs and cats to areas that they're likely to find them forever homes.

[00:12:50] Wow. That is so generous. I love this story. 

[00:12:59]Oh, thanks. I'm curious, do you get in touch with the charity first and say, I would like to work with you or do you, is it a surprise at the end? And it's like, look, I have this. 

[00:13:10] Oh, no, no. I love to reach out to them first. I, you know, first of all, I want to make sure it's okay. And I have permission to use their logo because it's not just about me. You know, I really want to support them and help each organization by raising awareness for their organization during that quarter. So I reach out to them first, let them know what I'm doing, let them know that there's absolutely no obligation on their end, but that I would like permission to use their logo on my website and social media to let people know, Hey, this is our charity of the quarter.

[00:13:40] And if you don't know about them, you can click here and find out. And I'm there always. So, they always feel so wonderful about me reaching out to them.  I've never had the charities say no, obviously it benefits them and their causes, but at the same time, it's a marketing win for me as well.

[00:13:59] Because more often than not, the individual charities are more than happy to share some of my posts on social media. Some have written a blog about me or put me in their monthly newsletter or whatever it is, as a way to say thank you for thinking of us and donating to our organization. And that gets more eyes on Paws and Think.

[00:14:20] So it really is a win-win right. That makes sense.

[00:14:24] So I loved what you wrote. cause I have a little questionnaire before people come on the podcast and your best advice. For authors. Do you remember what you wrote? I believe wrote something about an analogy between writing a book and having a baby. Is that right? That is. And it's like the best analogy for publishing a book that I've ever heard.

[00:14:46] So please share. Thank you. Well, I, I can say before I start that I'm allowed to use that analogy because I did just have a baby recently. She's almost six months old now, so I can totally use this analogy. I really feel that writing a book is like having a baby. And the reason why I say that is because, you know, for nine months of carrying a child, much, like for all of the writing and preparation to do, to publish a book.

[00:15:13] You know, you feel like that's everything, you're doing, all the work's going into it and everything. And then all of a sudden you publish your book. You have your baby, that's when the real work starts, you know, that is when your life changes. But you feel like when you're pregnant, you feel like that's so hard.

[00:15:30] Right? So when you're trying to get the book out, you feel like this is hard. This is. Yeah. So you couldn't be more right about that one. Once that baby is born, once that book is published, that's when the real work begins. So for, for all the authors out there, I really do feel that. You should try to prepare yourself as much as possible, but go into this with the mindset that you know, you might have this great story, this great book that's coming out, but you need to be prepared to do a lot of work once your book is actually published, no matter which route you take the publisher.

[00:16:04]So it's, it's so much work. It involves everything. you know, it, it depends. What you want to make of it as well. You know, for me, obviously, and for most people, the more exposure, the better, it's not just about marketing. It's also about making the connections and reaching as many children and families as possible.

[00:16:25]You know, for me, my books teach valuable lessons. I am much like most authors want their books in the hands of as many children as possible. For me, my angle is school visits in particular. That's huge for me. I love going to schools, pre COVID. I was going into schools just about every week, sometimes up to three or four schools some weeks.

[00:16:46] And preschools and elementary schools and teaching important lessons, even bringing my rescue dog with me sometimes when the school allowed, it's just wild. Yeah. Yeah. They had enjoyed him more than me. Sometimes I'll just sit down and Weaver would take over the show. Of course. So it's, it's a lot of, it's a lot of work.

[00:17:08] You can't just expect schools to reach out to you. I mean, you, you have to be proactive. You have to reach out to them. You have to reach out to media outlets. Like we were talking about earlier, you have to put yourself out there, you have to try different things and figure out what works for you. You know, I've done some, some things that haven't worked for me, in particular, there's, there's been certain, festivals and shows that I've had a booth at for Paws and Think I've, I've been there with my books then, you know, some of these, I maybe sell a couple of books and it wasn't really worth my time. And some of them you have to pay to be a part of. And you have to think about the bigger picture though. You know, a couple of these, these events I've gone to, maybe I didn't sell as many books as I anticipated, but all it takes is one connection.

[00:17:56] One person that you meet there that might take you places that you had no idea. So, one in particular, I remember doing a reading at Barnes and Noble, and it was great. We had a fun story time, and met a few families. I sold a few books. You know, didn't make a lot of money per se at that event. But I actually met two teachers at that event that loved my stories that invited me to come to their school.

[00:18:24] And I ended up doing huge assemblies at both schools. And I was able to sell hundreds of books from those school visits. So you never know when something could lead to this something else, but it is a lot of work. You have to put yourself out there and just know that, you know, the real work does begin after your book is published.

[00:18:42] After that baby gets bored, you never sleep again. Do you sell more books than, like personally, so you do bulk printing and sell more in person versus on Amazon or. So my books are on Amazon, but I, I sell the majority of books through school visits. If I had to pick one category where the most books are sold, it would be school visits, especially, you know, when I'm visiting sometimes three, even four schools a week, sometimes schools that didn't depending on their size.

[00:19:21] And of course the area they're in and, and you know, how many kids are in the classes. You know, some schools I'll go and I'll sell 10 books, some schools I'll go and I'll sell upwards of a hundred books. And you know, that is where the bulk of my sales I'd say come from. But it's amazing too, to get orders on Amazon from all over the country and places that I can't go physically reach right now.

[00:19:44]And it's also been really unique lately that getting to change how I do things because of COVID and doing these virtual visits and. Setting up some visits in other States that I normally wouldn't have been able to reach. I do also sell the books on my personal website, just to pawaandthinkbooks.com.

[00:20:03] So PAWS like puppy paws. I always encourage people to go there if they are going to purchase online as opposed to Amazon or Barnes and noble, because I can offer sign copies from my website. Oh, okay. Yeah. So normally when you did school visits, you kind of step closer to home. I remained in Maryland to start, but I kind of gone outwards around the mid Atlantic region.

[00:20:28]So I I've done about five or six different States now. like Maryland, New Jersey, New York, all, all around there. I've done some events in. Delaware and stuff like that. So I am trying to expand, it's not easy to travel when I have a young family and right now with everything going on with, with COVID, but I did do, some schools in upstate New York as well.

[00:20:51] So it was really neat to get to travel up there and do those. Cool. And so then how, the switch to online virtual visits, how was that going? It is definitely an interesting transition. Not the same. I mean, it's. It's great to kind of bring some normalcy back. You know, these, these kids they've gone through so much.

[00:21:09] I mean, we all think we're going through a lot and you think about it from the kid's perspective, like their whole lives change. They don't get to see their friends every day. They don't get to go to school and be in that atmosphere and that environment. So, I'd like to do it because it's still a way for me to reach these young children and get to do something special. That's not just their typical virtual learning. I know a lot, a lot of schools in particular around here at least are completely virtual. So to get, to have a guest come in, author and her dog, it's a really cool thing for, for kids. So I, I like doing it, but I definitely miss the face-to-face and being in front of the kids and, you know, and my visits in particular geared towards the younger children.

[00:21:54] So I did preschool up to about second grade. that's kind of what, you know, my books are geared towards those, those younger kids. So, it's hard to keep their attention in person or the computer and yeah, I imagine. Do you just come for a quick appearance? Yeah. Yeah. He pops in and you know, I'd like him to stay there the whole time, but he's got distractions, the dog coupled with the little kids.

[00:22:20] Miranda, do you have any big flops, so to speak that you're willing to share? 

[00:22:26] Sure I have, I have a couple I can talk about. So the first one is something that happened to me. I had an opportunity that would have been amazing, but unfortunately I missed out on it because it went right to my spam folder in my email.

[00:22:44] So. It's very unfortunate because I don't am folder every day. And sometimes when emails are sent with an attachment or something like that, or it's a name, your computer doesn't recognize it oftentimes gets put right into scab. I don't want to say exactly what the opportunity is because I'm hoping it does present itself.

[00:23:03] Like, so fingers crossed. I have another chance at this, but, it was something that was timely and I saw it about a week too late, so definitely, definitely. Check your spam folders every day. If you're an author listening to this, cause you never know when something's going to go there and you're going to completely misses.

[00:23:21] That was one marketing flop. Okay. Another thing is not so much something I did, but with a name like Miranda Mittlemen, you're bound to have some. Mistakes, some tongue twister. So I've been, my name has been misspelled, mispronounced. I often get called Middleton or Middleman with ees, but, you know, I just kind of let it roll.

[00:23:47]I've even been called Amanda on live television instead of Miranda. It was, it was funny at the time. I, you know, I would just say these happen a lot as, as an author, whether it's your, your title of your book or being misconstrued or, you know, your name, getting mispronounced, whatever it is. Just let it roll corrected if you can, but have a positive attitude.

[00:24:09] Because if you let the little things like that, bug you, then you're, you're just going to get. Too called off in these things and you much bigger things to think about. So, you know, I'm just thankful for all the opportunities I've been been given. Even if they call me Amanda, hopefully they'll remember that pause and think even if they don't remember your actual life.

[00:24:29] Exactly. Hmm. Okay. You've had all this success. You're doing such great work and you're putting so much, you know, generosity and love really out into the world. What would you say is the next hurdle or the next sort of goal that you have? for me, I. You know, the charity of the quarter thing that we spoke about a little bit earlier, it's so important to me.

[00:24:52]You know, I knew I wanted to do that before I even began this journey. I said, if I was going to do this, I want to do it with a bigger purpose. So for me, it's not always about the numbers, but I'm so excited to hit that $10,000 mark the donate back to organizations and we just hit 8,000. So I am so, so close.

[00:25:10] I'm hoping by the end. Of next year, we can, we can hit that number just to be able to say, like, look what I'm doing, look how much I've helped these organizations. And I know that they're also grateful too, for, for what I'm doing. So that that's one goal that, that I see myself reaching, hopefully by the end of next year and pause and think in general, you know, my goal is to just teach these important lessons and reach as many children as possible. 

[00:25:37] I've loved having opportunities here at Maryland and across the mid Atlantic region, but I really would love to travel more. You know, part of that, you know, I, I know my kids are really young. I have a four year old and a six month old and it's tough to travel in general, but I would definitely love to reach more schools, reach more children across the country, and just keep these positive lessons to the, every child that I can. So, you know, that's, that's what I want to do and hopefully we'll get there. I'm sure I will. I'm really, by the time COVID is over like fingers crossed, that's coming.

[00:26:11] I'm hoping that next next school year we'll we'll look much. And then your littlest will be older. And so it should be a little bit easier. Yeah. Thank you so much for coming and chatting with me today. You've shared some great information and, just, you know, so lovely what you're doing with your books.

[00:26:30] Thank you. Thank you for having me and for thinking of me. Oh, you're welcome. Thank you. So remind everybody one more time in case they want to check you out what your website is and I'll put it in the notes. So my website is pawsandthinkbooks.com. So spelled P a w S and think books.com. Cool.

[00:26:48] And everybody can follow her up, put all the information in the show notes. So go and have a, have a look. Thank you, Miranda. Bye. Bye.