Maybe it has to do with my tech-savvy mom who is constantly sending me interesting links to articles about current parenting and health issues. Seriously, how lucky am I?
But I’d like to think it has to do with the fact that I need to know about these topics. They are common sense issues and concerns that I face as a parent, and a human being on this planet.

When I first started to write, it was more like telling my mom a story. I was standing by her desk one day telling her about playing in the front yard, and I liked to make up stories. So, while I talked she typed. I didn’t even know at first that she was typing everything I said. (She’s a pretty fast typist.) Then when she handed me the print out, she told me to read my story and tell her if she needed to add anything.

That was my first written story. It wasn’t even a page long. But mom encouraged me to write more and tell more stories. I added to the story and got even more details added to that story. Then she showed me how to create graphics on the computer. That was a lot of fun, so I kept doing it over and over again.

At first we took my manuscript to a local publisher and had it printed off. That worked okay, but nobody knew I existed, so I only sold a couple hundred copies. Then Mom found an online print on demand publisher who would publish the book and allow me to buy only a few copies at a time. I didn’t have to buy 500 copies of my book, I could buy 30, sell those and buy 20 or 30 more.

We translated my manuscript with the graphics into .PDF format and uploaded it to http://www.lulu.com with a picture cover for the front and back of the book. Then I posted a website at http://www.kentonverhoeff.com and started using it to promote my book. At first, all I had up were a few pages of information that didn’t quite make sense, I wanted one thing and Mom tried to help me make that marketable, but it kind of looked flat, so we changed it to a blog type site with wordpress and now I can update my own pages.

Mom helped me put together a contest for other kids. I can collect short stories from other kids and they can be published too. I’m planning to publish a book called “Kids World: Reflections in the Mirror” in May, and fill it up with short stories written by kids.

If you’re a kid and you want to be published, go to http://kentonverhoeff.com and read about contests. Send me your story and I’ll review it. Then I’ll be selecting about 20 short stories to publish in my book.

Kenton Verhoeff home schools and sells his book “Corky the Happy Lizard” on his website at http://kentonverhoeff.com and and you can sign up for his FREE Ezine “Kenton Central” while you’re there.

© 2007 – Kenton Verhoeff
All rights reserved.

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