I’m pleased to host Patricia Eckerman Ambas’ WOW! WOMEN ON WRITING tour of I Can’t Wait to Love You Forever. Patricia has also honored us by writing an essay about her self publishing successes.
Here’s Patricia:
I’m Just Getting Started
by Patricia Eckerman Ambas
It was January of 2022, midway through my first year not teaching full-time in over a decade, when I wrote the story that would become my first published book, I Can’t Wait to Love You Forever: A Big Brother Book. It had taken a career shift, a new baby, and an online course on self-publishing, but I was determined to make my lifelong dream reality. When I sat down to refresh the story I had written seven years before when my oldest was a baby with hopes to publish it back then, I found myself opening a blank document and a different narrative came out. I absolutely loved it – a heart-warming tale about my son and the game he invented while anticipating the arrival of our new baby, but then I wrestled in self-doubt and a promise I felt I needed to keep about that first book for my first daughter. I decided to follow my instincts and so the sweet big brother book was on the journey with me. I sought out an editor on an online platform to edit the grammar and give feedback on the content. The hardest task was finding the illustrator who could create the vision in my head. I wrote a job posting to the same website that I found my editor and included images from books showcasing the art that I liked. My budget allowed me to work with artists just making their way into the field, and some Americans responded back that the style of art would be too time-consuming for the amount of money I was offering. However, I was not too discouraged as there were so many who still wanted the job and I had the pleasure of examining amazing portfolios. As I tried to narrow it down, I sent one page of text to see the top ones’ sample illustrations, and I found my illustrator who perfectly captured the “playful, lovey” feel that I had described with the lighting and artistic styling that I preferred. We spent the next months communicating back and forth with many delays due to the time difference between us – me in the U.S. and her in Lebanon. The project extended longer than I had hoped, but I was very happy with the art. From there, I went back to that same website and hired a formatter who would be the one to decorate the pages with my words keeping in mind font, positioning, and the necessary file information to upload the entire project to book publishing sites. He also completed the text on the cover that the illustrator had made, even though I had originally budgeted for a cover artist.
I wrote I Can’t Wait to Love You Forever: A Big Brother Book at the beginning of 2022, and it was ready to be uploaded by the end of September 2022. However, I found myself sitting with it. I could not finish the task. I could not even put into words why I hadn’t published it yet when people asked me about it. By November, I found the courage to complete the journey and with the help of my launch team and a week long email campaign, I shared my book with the world on December 5, 2022.
Based on initial comments, I knew I needed to release the big sister version, but this time I was certain it would go quickly since I had experience. Before I could dive into that book, my friend offered to use her talents to help me redesign my first book and carry that into the second book. This was pivotal in that I finally felt confident sharing my book now that the cover was something I could feel proud of. Skipping that step of hiring a cover designer was a mistake that was then rectified. Just like I had underestimated the time it would take to illustrate the first book, it took longer than anticipated to have both books re-designed, and I quietly released the new cover of I Can’t Wait to Love You Forever: A Big Brother Book in March, and finally by April 2023 I published I Can’t Wait to Love You Forever: A Big Sister Book which follows the same storyline as the first one. This launch felt more successful despite technology errors on the sites I needed to upload my books to, but I know that with each launch, I will improve.
This has been quite the journey, but the best part is, I am just getting started. Good Morning, Sweetie will launch Fall 2023! I wish you the best if you are on your self-publishing journey. There may be those who doubt you, but if the desire lies within you, don’t stop. Know that the sages who may guide you can be found in real-life mentors or even the wonders of the internet and online courses. As we say at WordLife Press, you have a story to share!
Connect with me on my website PatriciaEckermanAmbas.com or find me on social media @PatriciaEckermanAmbas. For free resources that go along with the books, visit ICantWaitToLoveYouForever.com.
Book Summary
A new baby in the family is so exciting! But what do you do if YOU are the “baby” of the family? Will Benjamin be ready to be a big brother when it’s time? Full of playful love, follow Benjamin on his daily adventures with Mommy, which just might prepare him to be a big brother.
Publisher: WordLife Press
ISBN-10: 1958497010
ISBN-13: 978-1958497012
ASIN: B09W69TT11
Print length: 36 pages
Purchase a copy of I Can’t Wait to Love You Forever on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Bookshop.org. You can also add this to your GoodReads reading list.
About the Author
Patricia Eckerman Ambas loves sharing stories – everything is a story waiting to be told! Her interest in languages led her to become a teacher and she has been striving to instill her love for reading with youth for over fifteen years in that role. As a mom of three, bedtime and really, anytime-stories fill her world. She also shares stories with her community in Oshkosh, WI as she showcases the stories of her husband’s family heritage while teaching guests at their family restaurant about Filipino food. Displaying beautiful multicultural families in her books’ illustrations is at the forefront of her goals as an author in order to allow her own children, and others like them, a mirror of mixed families and a window for other children to see into a different lifestyle from their own. “I Can’t Wait to Love You Forever” is her first children’s book and she hopes you have as much fun with it as her second child had inventing the actual game played. Look for more heartfelt books coming soon.
Find her online:
Great guest post! Love insights about the author’s journey.
“Excited to explore ‘I Can’t Wait to Love You Forever’! Books like these offer young boys not just a story, but a journey into empathy, understanding, and the joy of love in all its forms. Can’t wait to dive in!”