[Ep 208]
Today I’m chatting with Sharon Stohler, author of the nonfiction children’s biography Affectionately Yours: The Devoted Life of Abigail Adams, a charming and inspiring picture book released in June 2019.
As you’ll learn in the interview, Sharon and I met years ago when we both started home educating our very small children, so we’ve known each other for decades. I was privy to her idea for this book years ago when she shared it with me as a friend. Later, we worked together when she brought me on for more official coaching.
Sharon’s path to publishing was long and required vision, flexibility, patience, and perseverance. Pursuing traditional publishing revealed insights that led her to eventually land on self-publishing Affectionately Yours. And anyone who has poked around at self-publishing or pulled it off knows to do it well you undertake a long list of new steps and stages.
She did it. She pulled it off.
I hope you find her story instructive and motivating.
Though the process was long and complicated, time-consuming and expensive, she said that the moment she held that book in her hands, it was all worth it.
Sharon Stohler has a B.S. in Early Childhood Education from the University of Delaware and a Masters of Education from West Chester University. She has taught children ages four through 12 in private, public, and homeschool classrooms. Sharon currently teaches 3rd grade in a hybrid homeschool classroom and often finds herself delighted by her students and their brilliant minds. Aside from her own family room, she feels most at home in a library. She and her adventurous husband live in Indianapolis, where they cater to the needs of their Siamese cat, Gigi. They have three grown children.
Resources
- Sharon Stohler’s website
- Affectionately Yours: The Devoted Life of Abigail Adams (affiliate link)
- Tiny Boat, collaborative publisher and illustrator Daron Benson
- Children’s Book Authors and Illustrators Facebook page
- Bigger Dot, printer for Affectionately Yours
- Tara Lazar’s sample children’s book layout & dummy construction
- John Adams biography by David McCullough (softcover edition, affiliate link)
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