Interview with Katherine Bartlett

Author of  Fly Free!

 

Where are you from originally and where do you reside now?

I am originally from New York and I live in North Georgia now.

If you currently reside somewhere besides where you were born, what’s the story that lead from there to here?

As a teenager, my family moved to North Georgia and that’s where I ended up meeting my husband. We eventually got married and settled there ourselves.

What made you decide to write and publish your first book?

I wanted to write my first book for my daughter, Mary. She was five years old at the time and I wanted to write a fun story for her to always remember.

How would you describe your books to first time readers?

My books are all animal focused picture books for children. So far, all my books have been about birds so it seems to be a trend!

Who do you feel is most likely to connect with the topics you write about?

I love animals very much so I think children who love animals like I do will connect with them the most! Especially children who love birds!

What unexpected or surprising thing did you learn during the process of writing and publishing?

Honestly, it’s not as easy as it looks! There is so much work put in to make an idea into a final book!

If you could, what advice would you give to past self yourself before embarking on this journey?

Start writing books sooner! I didn’t start writing children’s books until my daughter, Mary was five years old. It would have been nice to have started sooner!

How many people would you ideally like to reach with your books?

As many as I can! I love to see the smile on children’s faces when they read my books and see the characters, especially since almost all my books have one of my pets as a main character.

What has been the biggest challenge and frustration during the process to date?

The formatting process! I think formatting a book to be print ready is something that I wish was a bit easier and quicker!

What’s your biggest strengths when it comes to book a) writing, b) publishing and c) marketing?

I think writing comes the easiest for me. I can get an idea and be finished writing it as a story within a week. Publishing is through the publishing company I own, Animal Tales Press. And marketing is done mostly online for me through the blogger network I own.

What’s your biggest weakness when it comes to book a) writing, b) publishing and c) marketing?

My biggest weakness with writing is probably always having too many ideas and not completing all of them. For publishing, I have not tried traditional publishing in a while because I would get discouraged when I never heard anything back from my scripts I sent off. And with marketing, it’s hard to do it by myself!

When do you think you will you write your next book?

I am planning to write my next book this year!

Are you self published or did you use a hybrid publisher, or a traditional publisher?

I am published with Animal Tales Press, the publishing company I own.