Help Us Publish Our Children's Book

ABOUT US

"Anyone who has a passion for something has an ultimate end goal.  If you've known me since my youth, you'll know that my passion is writing and my end goal has always been to publish a book.

This past year, I met an incredible artist named Katherine Manolios in my Graphic Design class and we quickly became friends.  After helping eachother with school work and sending endless SnapChats of our cats, Katherine and I decided to pull our individual talents together to collaborate on a project....a children's book!"

                 - Alyssa Andress, Author

"The thing about art is that your work is a reflection of the people around you, which is why I'm more than thrilled to be able to work on this project with somebody as incredible and talented as Alyssa Andress.

Two heads are better than one, and I'm looking forward to creating something for people of all ages to enjoy and share with their loved ones!'

                 - Katherine Manolios, Illustrator


THE IDEA

As huge fans of Christmas and the winter season in general, we decided that our 32-page book would focus on the holiday season.  Without giving too much away....we can tell you that the main character is a reindeer!  An adorable one!

We want to channel the emotions that classics such as The Polar Express and Peef: The Christmas Bear allowed us to experience.  It is our hope that this story, combined with gorgeous, full-color, watercolor illustrations will make for a beautiful book that will be pulled out at the holidays for years to come!

THE COST

Because we are self-publishing this book, there are a lot of expenses that will quickly add up. 

- Art Supplies:  In order to create the most beautiful version of our story, Katherine will need to have access to high quality watercolors and state-of-the-art brushes as well as other tools used to create the images.

- Printing Costs/Hardcover Editions:  Of course there are going to be many little printing expenses (paying for the editor, paying for colors, etc.), but our hope is to also make the book available as a hardcover edition.  Making this option available starts at $200, and so creates almost a 10th of the total cost in itself.

- Proofs:  Once we believe that the book is ultimately ready to be published, we are required to order "proof" copies.  This is basically just an early version of the book that allows us to see how everything translated from our computers to the pages.  This process can end after one book, or could take several attempts to get everything right.

- Distribution:  After everything is perfected and ready to be sold (yay!), we will need to order copies from the publisher at their base price.  We will also be shipping them to any readers who wish to purchase them!

After speaking to our publishing consultant, we've figured out that everything will cost about $2,500.  This is a lot of money for two students to come up with, so we're reaching out to you!

How You Can Help

We've made it super easy and rewarding to help us out!  For any donation of $10 or more, you are able to receive awesome book related prizes!  These include having your name included on our "Thank You" page in the back of the book, a copy (or two) of the book shipped to your door as soon as it is published, a beautiful personalized Christmas (or Hannukah, or Kwaanza!) card featuring an illustration from the story, and an 8x10 print of a page of the book (full color illustration and quote)!

Please post your donation under whatever name you would want us to include on the "Thank You" page!  (i.e. Joe Schmoe, The Schmoe Family, Dr. Schmoe, etc.)

Of course, any size donation is a huge help and we appreciate everyone who is willing to push us towards reaching this goal!

(We'll be updating our Social Media pages as well as this page, so if you'd like to see what your donation is doing, please check back to this page for periodical sneak peeks!)

When Will The Book Be Available?

We're currently working tirelessly to pull together our drafts and perfect the story!  Because this is a Christmas book, our goal is have it published and in the mail by Thanksgiving!  We realize that releasing a book by November is going to require a lot of work, which is why we want to start raising the money now!  We know that with your help, our book will land in everyone's laps without a hitch!

Thank you in advance for all of your support!  We can't wait to show you what we can do!

xx