Interview with Self-Published Author Michael Dow

 

In our series of self-publishing interviews, we are talking today to Michael Dow, author of Nurse Florence for Beginning Readers Coloring Book: Why is Chicken Healthy to Eat?, a children's beginning readers coloring book. Michael is the Founder and Manager of Dow Creative Enterprises, LLC.  His books have garnered the Silver Nautilus Book award in 2020 (Nurse Florence, Help I’m Bleeding) and an Award-Winning Finalist in the Religion category for the 2021 International Book Awards (A Prayer to Our Father in the Heavens: Possibly the Greatest Jewish Prayer of All Time). More information can be found at www.DowCreativeEnterprises.com and www.NurseFlorence.org.  Nurse Florence® is a federally registered trademark by Dow Creative Enterprises.  The Nurse Florence® series seeks to promote science and health among children and to help increase the health literacy levels of our society.  With teamwork, inclusion, faith and perseverance, we can bravely face our problems and help each other reach our better selves as well as our best collective good.

You self-published your latest series, Nurse Florence for Beginning Readers: Why is Chicken Healthy to Eat?. Would you please tell us why you chose the self-publishing route?

It was relatively easy to do myself and I wanted control over my product.

Take us through the process. You had an idea for your book, you wrote it, then you decided to find a publisher. What were your experiences with that? Or did you decide to self-publish without looking any farther?

I saw a way I could standardize a book series with Lulu, a self-publishing platform, and thought it would help me achieve my goals.  The platform has helped coordinate the global distribution of the series.  We have 92 Nurse Florence® titles as of June 2024 and have started special editions like Nurse Florence® for Beginning Readers which is for first graders.

What different online stores carry your book?

My online retailers carry the Nurse Florence® series, but notably, Harvard University’s Online Bookstore carries it at www.Harvard.com.

On the other hand, self-published authors have the edge over traditional books in the regards that the author has all the control. I’d like to begin with your cover. Did you make it or did you have someone else design it? If you had someone else, can you tell us who it is?

I designed it.  Nurse Florence® books have different colors for different editions, but they are all the same with a color block at the top with the title and a square drawing below the block.

So where do you see self-published authors making the biggest mistakes overall?

Grammar.

What do you believe the biggest advantages are when self-publishing?

Increase in self-confidence of doing a project yourself and then getting the book in hand.

What was the hardest challenge for you to self-publish your book?

The hardest challenge is definitely having to market the book yourself.  It would be nice to have a team of marketers.

Did you get someone to format your book for you or did you do that?

I did it.

What steps are you taking to promote it?

Book awards, book reviews, blogs

Do you have any advice you’d like to share with other self-published authors?

Don’t give up.  It’ll be easy to do sometimes, but push through and find your voice.