Leslie Clark is a wife, mother, engineer, entrepreneur, and Author. Her love for children and volunteering in her community sparked her desire to write books that reflect on issues as well as topics she believed were not being discussed. Clark is a native of Bradenton, Florida but currently resides in Buford, Georgia with her husband and kids. She has been jotting down her ideas for over a decade but recently found the spark needed to turn those ideas into reality. Her goal is to reach as many children of all backgrounds as she can and instil in them a spirit of love, ownership, and lifelong learning.
The ABCs of the Stock Market
Tell me about yourself and why you decided to write The ABCs of the Stock Market for Beginners and The Blended Family Series?
‘I’ve always had a passion for reading and writing. I believe for a child to develop a passion like this it’s about what visuals they see at home. And depending on your economic status, your parents may have worked a lot and not had the time to pull out a book and read with you. When I look back at my childhood, education was always a driving force for us, I cannot recall sitting on the couch rolled up reading a book.
I always thought I’d end up as a Journalist at a news station, however my love for Maths and Science lead me to pursue a career in Engineering. Although this is something I do now, my love for writing combined with my love for mentoring minority children led to me thinking “why not become an Author as well”.
My first book, The ABCs of the Stock Market, came through as a passion during the pandemic as I was having a lot more free time and I wanted to find multiple streams of income. As I was learning more about the stock market and chatting to my peers and their children about it, no one knew anything about it. There seemed to be a lack of knowledge and fear associated with this topic. The ‘ABCs’ books are a trend at the moment amongst children’s books, so why not create one to navigate the stock market; something both children and adults can learn from. This is a book that can start to bridge the gap of knowledge for all ages and continue to build on it.
My Blended Family series is something I have been working on for a long time. I am a product of a blended family and my family with my husband is a blended family, I have been around a lot of blended families. And as I navigated my own journey I couldn’t find much positive representation in books on this topic. I’ve found that blended families can be looked on as a taboo subject or even as a selfish mentality of “I could never date someone with a child”. This is why my series was create, I wanted something that could touch on such as happy milestones, sad times, that these blended families interact with. I want not only children to have something to resonate but for the parents being the head of these blended families to engage in the stories and know there is a way for these situations to be healthy, be drama-free, and a way for all of us involved to work together.
The Blended Family Series
I hope this series can touch one family at a time, one child at a time, or even spark that conversation and open doors - “dad/mum I would like to see my sibling more” etc.
According to the US department of family and children, 40% of families are blended families (in the UK between 11-15%) and around 1,300 new stepfamilies are created each day (read full article here) - which is wild. Blended families are becoming the norm, which is why more literature on these topics and norms needs to be produced.’
What’s the process behind becoming a self-published Author?
‘Right now all my books are self-published through Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) and I have uploaded it through IngramSpark. I did the majority of everything myself. I solicited the illustrations through Upwork and partnered with them to get everything I needed for each book and they also formatted the book to make sure it was ready for uploading to KDP. And then I found an Editor through a group I found on Facebook. The next stage was getting pre-orders through KDP.
Self-publishing is an interesting dynamic and it’s all new to me. What’s been great is being part of a group on Facebook for children’s book Authors, I’ve been able to get really great tips on there as well as support for my books. For getting my books out there, I’ve been using social media and getting friends and family to share posts and links to purchase them.
So far, everything is going really well. Since publishing all three books October 2022, I have sold close to 200.’
What advice would you share to other Authors looking to become Self-Published?
Set a budget that you’re comfortable with to spend on getting your book(s) produced. This will allow you to comfortably find the right illustrators and editors you can afford.
Illustrations really drive your sales, especially within Children’s books. Depending on your illustrations and what your cover image look like and how well they’re produced, this will be the difference between whether a customer will spend the money to buy your book or not.
Pricing your book is incredibly important. As an avid customer on Amazon purchasing books, I will be more inclined to buy a book in the range of $10-12. Your book needs to be priced correctly, as you don’t want to price yourself out of a random buy.
Follow-up customers for reviews. As reviews are so important, especially for debut and self-published Authors. And even if a purchased wasn’t made on Amazon, customers can still make a review on there as Amazon and their customers take reviews very seriously. These follows can be done in-person with QR codes, social media, and follow-up emails.
Support Leslie and purchase a copy of her three books, here!