Hello watchers, readers, friends, and fans!
As dramatic a year of changes as 2020 was, it seems 2021 is going to continue down that same path. Mary and I had to completely reinvent ourselves, and the way we did business in the past. Because of show cancellations and book signings becoming mostly nonexistent, sales for our physical books basically nose dived in 2020. However, we saw an encouraging uptick in digital sales that we were quite pleased about. (In fact, we just sold a children's book in Dubai, India among other countries!)
This year we are hoping to re-Kindle (see what I did there?) the sales of our physical books by getting out to some local shows. We are not planning to do the major shows as we did in the past, just yet. And until we are all vaccinated, we are going to be very choosy and protective of our customers and ourselves. We will post the shows we are attending (beginning in March) to Facebook, Twitter, and here on our website. Please look for those events and come say hi, if it is possible and safe for you to do so.
We had so much fun last year doing our TV show for over six months on Mountain Fun Life! Even though those shows (and the channel, itself) has come to an end, we decided we want to continue doing something similar. Soooo...
Say hello to YouTube!
Okay, yes, we have been using (and posting) to YouTube for years. In fact, a few of our videos have over 20K views (yeah, we know, nothing by comparison to others).
BUT, everyone has to start somewhere, right? So, Mary and I decided since we had so many videos from our TV show, not to mention a bunch of our own, we decided to go big or go home with YouTube. Now, in addition to Mary being a publisher and illustrator, she took on the jobs of video editor and producer. (I know, she IS amazing.) Me? I get to do descriptions, keywords, and marketing – yeah, the written stuff, again.
Never being a couple to slink away from a challenge, we actually have begun TWO YouTube channels! The first is “A Visit with Santa and Mrs. Claus” which is billed as a “Variety to the Max” show (or shows). You will see numerous playlists that include interviews, visits to fun locations, cooking tips (we will really be developing this as we continue), and of course what started this all, Storytime with Santa and Mrs. Claus!
We will be adding a great deal more content as we go forth, but we promise to make this as interesting and fun for you, as it is for us. And believe me, Mary and I are both having a blast with this!
Now the second channel is a little more on the serious side of book publishing and marketing, but just as interesting. This is “The North Pole Press Books,” and will feature author and publisher interviews, information for our books, podcasts on the book industry as a whole, changes taking place, and more. As of July of this year, we have been in the book publishing business for a decade, and we have made some great and powerful connections (along with some mistakes and accomplishments) that we would like to share with aspiring writers, everywhere.
If you are interested in learning what (and who) is shaping the book industry, you will want to follow this channel.
So we are asking (begging, pleading) all our followers and friends to subscribe to our channels and give us comments about what you think. Especially, as we are developing this concept from scratch. Now is the time we could use your ideas and help. We will establish a community page for each channel as soon as we achieve enough subscribers (YouTube's rule, not ours) where we can more easily communicate with you directly.
So let us know what you think. We will be doing as much as possible, in addition to producing more of our own books. Thanks so much for your help. We hope to finally see many you again in 2021!