0:37

I never wanted to be known for nothing

0:39

, so I took my childhood , which

0:41

I used to fly to Jamaica

0:43

with my grandmother , who taught me about the culture

0:45

and my heritage , so I used the saying that I

0:48

used a lot . Grandma , what's that ? And

0:50

my first book is actually on Jamaica , so

0:52

that's what inspired it . We're

1:04

all uniquely different , especially

1:06

with our complexions and stuff , and

1:08

I really wanted to showcase different tones

1:10

of meddling skin and the different hairstyles

1:12

that we wore with our echo hair . I

1:17

really wanted children to identify with them , so I was like who better ? And we're all from

1:19

Nine Mile , so it all still ties in

1:21

hey

1:29

, chandler bolt here and joining me today

1:31

is princess booker .

1:33

uh , princess is the author of

1:35

the book called grandma what's that

1:37

? And let's see that copy . She's just holding

1:39

it up right before this . Uh , if you're watching

1:42

on the YouTube channel , you can see

1:44

the physical copy right

1:46

there . Look at that Multiple different

1:49

versions . So

1:51

she's the author of those books . She's

1:54

also an entrepreneur and the founder of

1:56

Nine Mile Babies and I

1:58

saw this as a fun fact A

2:01

Grammy nominee as well , if

2:03

I'm , if I'm like what

2:08

so I'm really excited

2:10

to unpack a bunch of this stuff . Princess , great

2:12

to have you thank you .

2:13

Thank you so much , shannon , to have me . I

2:15

listen to your podcast all the time while I'm

2:17

driving and there's a lot of good information

2:20

out there , so I'm just happy to

2:22

even be on your podcast

2:24

and your show . So thank you .

2:26

We're happy to have you . I'm going to start with a Grammy

2:29

nominee . My

2:32

brother's been nominated for a Grammy as well

2:34

. He plays in a rock and roll band called the Crew

2:36

, so I know that

2:38

, like cause , I've been

2:40

like , oh

2:42

yeah , like the whole Grammy thing . But

2:45

yeah , what was the story there ? That's

2:47

fun .

2:49

So the story is my background is events

2:51

and music and media management . That's why I went

2:53

to university for so I actually

2:55

work with my brother , who is a reggae artist

2:58

. So we worked hard

3:00

on an album called as I am

3:02

in the reggae um

3:04

in the reggae um category and

3:07

yeah , and then we were nominated . So

3:09

it was a lot of hard work that went into it , but it

3:11

was an amazing album . Funny enough , like

3:14

we literally just won he won um

3:16

this year , so he won a grammy for this .

3:18

Yeah , colors of royal .

3:20

Yeah , that's incredible

3:23

.

3:23

It takes a lot to get nominated and even more

3:26

to get to win one . So

3:28

that's impressive . What inspired you

3:30

to start writing children's books ?

3:31

So I've actually got a clothing brand

3:34

called Nine Mile Clothing , which I

3:36

started because my family

3:38

owned a tourist attraction in Jamaica , in

3:40

St Anne's , which is actually the birth and rest

3:43

place of Bob Marley , and when I was out there

3:45

working we just had no Nine

3:47

Mile stuff . So I decided to create

3:49

Nine Mile stuff and obviously I was selling that and

3:51

I had a lot of parents who wanted children's stuff

3:54

. So I didn't want to put a boring

3:56

logo on a t-shirt . I

3:58

wanted to create something really special with meaning

4:00

and I thought but before that

4:02

, let's educate the children on

4:04

what Nymal is , what Jamaica is . So

4:07

I took my childhood , which I

4:09

used to fly to Jamaica with my

4:11

grandmother who taught me about the culture

4:13

and my heritage , and I

4:15

was like , who better to teach the kids but

4:17

grandma ? So I used the saying that I

4:19

used a lot grandma , what's that ? And

4:22

my first book is actually on Jamaica . So

4:25

, yeah , that's what inspired it

4:27

.

4:27

That's cool , that's really

4:29

, really cool , and I think a lot of people listening to this

4:31

or watching this can resonate with that . That

4:33

story of a lot of times , especially with children's

4:35

books , it comes from either

4:37

this thing that you say with your

4:40

kids , or for a lot of people , it's

4:42

they're reading a book to their kids and they

4:44

think one of two things either a

4:46

, I could write a better book than this , and

4:50

there's gotta be better kids books and

4:52

children's books , so why don't I just write one ? But

4:54

then sometimes I feel like a lot of people think

4:56

, hey , there's this specific message

4:59

that I kind of want to get across to my kid and

5:01

I can't really find a children's book on

5:03

that . Therefore , I'm going to create it

5:05

. What I think is fun about you is

5:07

you kind of went the opposite

5:09

way . It's like , oh , with my grandma

5:12

, like these were experiences that

5:14

I had , and so I'm going to use my kind of

5:16

frame to teach other

5:18

kids . How do you kind of come up

5:20

with that ?

5:21

Do you know what ? I don't know . But I was just like when

5:23

you're little , you get put in clothing

5:26

and you're like you're wearing Nike or whatever I don't know

5:28

and you don't really understand . And I I

5:30

really didn't just want to create

5:32

clothing for kids , I wanted it

5:34

to be special , I wanted it to have a

5:36

meaning . Obviously I stand firmly

5:38

behind inclusion and diversity and

5:41

I wanted them to really understand

5:43

and tie into , like the characters

5:45

. But they learn . So now , when they do put

5:47

on that nine mile babies t-shirt

5:50

or hoodie , they really feel

5:52

a connection with it . But I feel you

5:54

can teach before you can , before

5:56

they can really have that . So I wanted

5:58

to teach them first , share my grandmother

6:00

with them , and then I could say

6:02

okay , we can launch the clothing .

6:04

Yeah , cool well , and I like the overlap

6:06

of it makes good sense for the kids

6:08

, but it also makes good business sense

6:11

because I mean , now you're , now you're teaching

6:13

them about the club and this is like . Now I've

6:15

got way more of an affinity with

6:17

this clothing brand that I've also read the book

6:19

about than just any other

6:21

clothing brand . That's cool .

6:23

Yeah , I didn't actually even think of all that . I was

6:25

just you know , when you're creative

6:28

, your head's just always doing this .

6:29

but now I'm like , oh my gosh , that was a really

6:32

good idea

6:34

, yeah , Super smart when I

6:37

feel like just seeing yeah

6:39

in the titles and in

6:41

the cover and all that stuff

6:44

, it's just it ties back to

6:46

the main brand , which is smart . So I

6:48

was I was asking you this right before the interview

6:50

of which came first the books or the clothing

6:52

brand ? It sounds like maybe there was Nine

6:55

Mile Clothing and that

6:57

brand , and was it then

6:59

Nine Mile Babies ? Then the books , or

7:02

it was . The book is kind of a segue into

7:04

the nine mile babies brand so , to

7:07

be honest .

7:07

So it started with nine mile clothing . So

7:09

I launched nine mile clothing in 2018

7:12

. I did a festival

7:14

, I did pre-launch in LA and a festival

7:17

called kaya fest that my cousin does

7:19

, and then I did a launch

7:21

event in Miami , and then I went to Jamaica

7:23

and did a whole sort of behind the

7:26

scenes tour around . So I did all that and

7:28

then I then was like

7:30

, okay , I'm going to write this book and I was a bit

7:32

slow on writing it . It's I'm not , I'm

7:34

self-taught . So I was like , okay , let me

7:36

write the book . And then , once I wrote the book and it

7:38

came out , I was like I actually want

7:40

to make a toy , and I used

7:42

to when I was younger . I used to love teddy bears

7:44

and dolls and I used to have this teddy rat spin

7:47

that would tell me stories at night . I loved

7:49

all of that . So then I made a toy . So

7:51

the journey kind of happened organically

7:54

. It wasn't . I'm going to write a book and then make

7:56

toys . I'm going to do this Even

8:06

like the characters , which is interesting . The characters are actually my siblings , so they inspired

8:08

the , the development of the characters , and I was just like obviously I love my siblings , but we're all uniquely different , especially

8:11

with our like complexions and stuff , and I really wanted to showcase the different

8:13

tones of menoline skin and the different hairstyles

8:15

that we wore with our afro hair . I really

8:18

wanted children to identify

8:20

with them , so I was like who better ? And

8:22

we're all from nine mile , so it all still

8:24

ties in , that's really

8:27

cool .

8:28

So follow up , follow up question . Question

8:30

for you on that . How for

8:32

you , how does the creative process

8:35

look different , creating

8:37

clothing versus creating the book ? Like what were some of

8:39

the things that you're like , oh , that was kind of similar . And what were

8:41

some of the things that you're like , oh , that was kind of similar

8:44

. And what were some of the things you're like , hey , that was totally

8:46

different ?

8:47

So creating clothing , especially if it's for

8:49

adults , you're kind of free

8:51

and you can do different signs and

8:55

I don't know . Just be really free , sort

8:57

of when you're writing a book . I

9:00

had to really go into my

9:02

childhood and that childlike side , because

9:04

I'm a bit of a kid but you have

9:06

to really sort of start speaking in a

9:08

different language . So I've

9:11

had people say to me oh , you write in such

9:13

a cute little way , but it was because

9:15

the way that my grandmother would speak to me , or how

9:17

I would speak , or when I listen kids speak or

9:19

I'm like , oh , okay , so okay . So your

9:21

tone really changes

9:24

. Even when I do a post on Nine Mile Clothing

9:26

and I do a post on Nine

9:29

Mile Babies , it sounds very different

9:31

. But I think you have to go to that lighthearted

9:34

. I don't want to say fluffy , but we're

9:36

not worried about anything and we're just enjoying

9:38

life and we just want to play and

9:40

eat candy and do you know , we hop

9:42

around and you've

9:45

got to really tap into that , into

9:48

that . Yeah , because obviously , coming from music

9:50

and while I still am in music to this , it's

9:52

completely different , like two

9:54

different worlds interesting I'm

9:56

just finding my way , and so is that the

9:58

voice .

9:59

That's different , um , or is

10:01

it sounds like , or is it the voice

10:03

?

10:03

and the creative process is totally different yeah

10:06

, the , the voice and the

10:08

a bit of the creative um process

10:10

. The culture is still there , which

10:12

obviously all my books about different

10:14

reads and learn about different cultures , um

10:17

, but it's the voice I

10:19

use . I I guess I use a different tone

10:21

and I was like if a parent reads

10:24

it or they read it to a child , a child , it

10:26

resonates with them . So my grand would always

10:28

say , oh , come here , dear , or

10:30

she'll call me like princess or

10:33

little girl , like I don't want to give the

10:35

accent but because she had it , yeah

10:38

, totally . Yeah , because sometimes my

10:40

grand wouldn't even remember my name . She'd go pretty girl

10:43

, come , come , and I'd be like I know she's

10:45

talking , but it's kind of you know , but

10:49

it's that kind of it's that kind of way

10:52

, so it's all it . Whatever , it is

10:54

, it's love and I wanted kids to feel

10:56

that that love and that sort of

10:58

that comfort , because if you were

11:00

blessed to have grandparents , and really

11:02

good grandparents , their love is very

11:04

different to parents and everyone says

11:06

that , yeah , my mom treats

11:08

my kids different to how she treated

11:10

me , I think because they're relaxed and they can enjoy

11:13

them so exactly

11:15

that's cool .

11:16

I like that . And then Jamaican culture

11:18

is so cool and

11:21

the accents are just incredible

11:23

. I mean you probably get that all the time

11:25

, but it's just so great , I love it yeah

11:28

, it's so funny because my other grandparents who

11:30

are amazing , they were bayesian , so from barbados

11:32

so I had jamaica

11:35

and barbados so my second book

11:37

is actually on barbados .

11:38

So I had two different cultures

11:40

growing up .

11:42

And you , what did you call it ? You said Bajan .

11:44

Bajan , so B-A-J-A-N

11:47

so it's short . Yeah

11:49

, bajan yeah so no

11:51

, that's see , we got , we've got the

11:57

different accents going

12:00

on like someone from Barbados

12:02

, like Rihanna , you would call them Barbadians

12:05

, so , or , for short , select

12:07

Asians . Sometimes , when I say

12:09

, they say what , oh , you're half Asian

12:11

.

12:11

No , I'm like no , and

12:13

then I just Barbados , and they're like

12:16

oh , I'm like no

12:18

.

12:18

And then I just Barbados and then like oh

12:20

, I'm like yeah .

12:21

That's funny

12:24

. It just reminds me of Cajun , which would

12:26

be like you know . You know , like New Orleans

12:28

, Creole style . No

12:32

follow-up question , Just start . It's a creative

12:34

process . So are

12:36

you a songwriter at all ?

12:37

No , no , no , no , okay , okay

12:40

.

12:40

Well , you're in music but not writing

12:42

, because I was thinking of the parallel between writing

12:45

a song and writing a children's book . They're

12:47

they're a similar word count . It's kind of interesting

12:49

no , yeah .

12:50

So I'm on the management side and like the creative

12:52

, so merchandise and stuff I

12:54

used . There was a period where I wanted to be a singer

12:57

but the passion wasn't strong enough

12:59

.

12:59

Yeah , yeah , yeah

13:01

well , so what was the

13:03

hardest part of creating the book for you ?

13:06

oh , good question . Um , funnily

13:08

enough , the first book came easy

13:10

. I'm going to say that because it was my life , so

13:13

it was kind of just put it in . But I I

13:15

think it was trying to make

13:17

sure that children weren't

13:19

bored and they were always excited

13:21

and I was always interested in feedback

13:24

. So I used to get a few of my friends , little ones I'd

13:26

be like just read it to her and see what she thinks

13:28

and tell me what she really liked . And

13:30

kids all had different parts , like

13:32

one child liked when they left the

13:34

house , another one liked when there was a hummingbird

13:36

, or they , they like the mango tree

13:38

because they like the mango tree . And , um

13:40

, I was , there's a lot of speaking , so I

13:42

was worried about the , the speech

13:45

marks and different conversations and

13:47

making sure that was correct , like I was like I get

13:49

that proof , um , but I think

13:51

it was making the story

13:53

and keeping their attention because

13:55

, yeah , and I always looked at it like if I

13:58

, if I didn't fully like it

14:00

or if I just thought , oh , yeah , it's all right , I

14:02

was like no , no , no , it's not good enough . So , yeah

14:04

, that's cool .

14:06

I , I want to . I want to talk

14:08

on some of the , the marketing

14:10

stuff and and a bunch of that here in just a second

14:13

. But you talked about the creative process for

14:15

books versus creative process for

14:17

clothing , that sort of thing . This is just

14:19

totally selfish question , uh

14:21

, but on . So this

14:24

is because I was earlier . I

14:26

was on the website . I'm looking at some

14:28

of the clothes . I'm like , all right , okay , I

14:30

gotta ask her this . So we're

14:33

trying to level up our swag at selfpublishingcom

14:36

and this is

14:38

not my skill set at

14:40

all , um and so , but

14:43

i'm'm trying to . It has sparked some

14:45

thoughts of okay , how do you create stuff to

14:47

where our employees , our customers

14:49

, like they would actually want to wear it and it's

14:51

cool , not just kind of slapped together that

14:53

sort of thing . So , knowing

14:55

what you know , with all your experience , how

14:57

would you look at that if you were us ?

14:59

Okay , for like your brand .

15:01

Yes , yeah .

15:02

Yeah , so

15:08

interesting question , so I would , I would first look

15:10

. Do you know what's really ? Good what you could always do is your videos

15:13

. Look at a comment and look if there's anything

15:15

to say a lot of oh , interesting , really cute , because

15:18

what you want is moving , especially your brand

15:20

and what it is . You've got passionate writers and

15:22

authors who , but they all , have

15:24

the same sort of feeling . We're all here and

15:26

I think , if you can find a few slogans

15:29

that that resonates with

15:31

us writers that could be a great

15:33

. Like you can do the logo , t-shirts

15:35

and whatever . But but and you

15:37

know what , I'm looking at that book like you could do something

15:39

. You know , like that book it says published . You

15:41

can actually just say like got milk , because

15:44

it means , like it means something

15:47

. You don't really know what it means , but

15:49

it's not . You're not walking around saying it's kind

15:51

of just cute . And I wouldn't even make it so big

15:53

, I would just do it real small , real

15:55

cute . I would wear that . But if it was like a nice

15:57

little cute tee I can can wear with some ripped

15:59

up jeans Published , because Hannah's

16:02

talking to this industry and it's like what does that

16:04

mean ? So I would do

16:06

more with a play with

16:08

words and what your community

16:10

is already speaking on , that's cool

16:12

yeah .

16:14

That's cool . I hope that was helpful , because then it's things

16:16

like published . It's things like

16:18

we've thought about like an author hat , or

16:21

we've thought about books change lives

16:23

or you know , just like I

16:26

don't know a bunch of stuff like that . I hope you're

16:28

loving this episode so far . So if you're

16:30

serious about writing and publishing

16:32

your book , we would love to chat with you

16:34

and help create a custom plan . All right

16:37

, so all you need to do right now is go to self

16:39

publishingcom forward slash schedule

16:41

. Schedule a 45 minute consultation

16:44

with one of the experts on my team

16:46

. All right , let's implement what you're learning in

16:48

this episode and let's see how we can help with

16:50

your book . Go to self publishingcom forward

16:53

slash schedule . So is the stuff that you

16:55

do ? Obviously you've got the clothing brand

16:57

. You've got the big clothing brand . You've got the

16:59

baby , the baby line , um , and

17:01

then when you're doing stuff on the music side of things

17:03

, are you is that creating merch

17:05

for artists or what is that

17:07

, and kind of something or what does that look like ?

17:10

so I , I do , I create , I create art

17:13

, I create merch for my brother , so

17:16

I do got it . Yeah , so , yeah , so I like

17:18

a similar thing .

17:19

How did like how do you figure out

17:21

is it ? Is it you know , uh

17:23

, his name ? Because I mean , obviously a lot

17:25

of band merch it's the band name and some

17:27

sort of thing , but then a lot of

17:29

the best merch it's got some sort of

17:31

feel , feel or something like how

17:34

do you do that ? Any thoughts ? Some

17:36

of this is just personal curiosity and hopefully

17:38

people watching this or listening is finding this

17:40

interesting . Maybe there's some people who want to create

17:43

merch around their books , but how

17:45

do you kind of think through that when you're doing

17:47

it for him specifically ?

17:49

I , I look at him and and

17:51

um who he is , and obviously

17:53

I look at his fan base because he's got pretty big

17:55

fan base and obviously what the reggae

17:57

community like to wear and

18:00

you can have his name . They love

18:02

like his image , they love it . But

18:04

I like to do like kind of cool stuff , like the

18:06

black and white and maybe there's like a little bit of smoke

18:08

. Oh , I'm also someone who likes to

18:10

do beading and stuff like that . I like

18:12

a lot of that kind of stuff . I would do lyric

18:15

he's got . He has this song called like

18:17

boom draw . People love it . Or let me go

18:19

because and as I am , it's

18:21

so funny I did this quick thing . He's like I need a backdrop

18:23

and I was like , okay , as I am . Then he was

18:26

like , let's just put that in there and I was like yeah

18:28

, but that's work . I did that thought , but

18:30

it does amazing because , as

18:32

I am , speaks to people in so many

18:34

different ways . It's no longer about

18:36

album or his song and and

18:38

that's the thing . If you can get catchphrases that

18:40

cross over , then you're

18:43

good but and then obviously with us it's

18:45

tours . So people like , um , the

18:47

collection stuff , the tour dates . So

18:49

if it's like a his name or an image

18:52

, tour dates on the back , so you kind

18:54

of it . It just depends on what you're

18:56

trying to , that's cool or

18:58

how you're doing it .

18:59

Yeah , go

19:01

ahead .

19:02

No , no , no , no , please finish .

19:04

I know I was just saying now I've got to know who's your brother .

19:07

Ah , Julian Marley .

19:08

Okay cool , that's

19:11

awesome Because . I

19:13

read this somewhere that Bob Marley

19:15

is your uncle .

19:16

Yeah , he is .

19:19

And so you probably don't try to intro with

19:21

that , huh no so

19:26

I'll , I'll , I'll actually follow up on

19:28

that because we have . We have interesting stories

19:30

in that sense of , like , my brother

19:33

plays in a rock and roll band called need to breathe

19:35

he's a decade older than me , grammy

19:37

nominated band played , played a

19:39

ton of shows , have a huge audience , all

19:41

that stuff , and so it's interesting . Growing

19:43

up I feel like there were

19:45

often times where the band was

19:48

doing very well and I would get introduced

19:50

as like oh , I'm sass

19:52

, little brother , or whatever

19:55

right and and and uh

19:58

, or there would be this weird thing

20:00

of hey , is this person friends with me because they want

20:02

to be friends with me , or this person friends with me because

20:04

they're trying to get to my brother , like all this stuff

20:06

. Have you

20:08

ever dealt with that ? And , if so , how did you kind

20:10

of kind of balance that , because on one

20:12

hand , it's like , hey , this is a fun fact about me , but also

20:15

this is not like , this is not

20:17

probably how you want to be introduced or

20:19

whatever .

20:23

Yeah , yeah , I've gone for it , of course , all my life , um . What was

20:25

interesting , what was good , though , is because I

20:27

live in London and my brother my

20:29

brother lives in the States , so

20:32

I had like two personas , so

20:34

in London , I kind of kept it very

20:36

quiet . Also , I never wanted to be

20:38

known for nothing . I don't want to be known as someone

20:40

. Since I am , I love my brother's amazing , but I just , if you're going to be known . I , nothing , I don't

20:42

want to be known as someone . I am , I love it , my brother's amazing , but

20:44

I just , if you're going to be known , I'm

20:46

not going to go . Oh my gosh , yeah , he's my brother and

20:48

this and that , yeah , yeah

20:51

, that's , that's me . I'm

20:53

just I'll be out . It's

21:02

so funny there and obviously they'll see a girl and most of the time people think

21:04

that girls around their groupies , or it's someone's girl , and they would just look at me and I

21:06

, and they'll see me and they'll be like okay , and then they'll

21:08

be like oh , yeah , yeah , yeah , and he's

21:10

like yo , you know , that's like my sister , that's

21:12

princess , and they'll be like oh , empress

21:15

, I'm sorry , I'm sorry . Well

21:18

, you just got respect to person because we're

21:20

people , we're human , but that's that's

21:22

. It's so fun . I love that because I

21:25

I get to see someone's true character

21:27

and you want to talk to

21:29

me or or show me some sort of respect

21:31

because of who you now realize I am . It's

21:33

just like what ? so I do go for

21:35

. Yeah , so I understand your world

21:38

, I do understand it , but I was lucky

21:40

. So in London no one really

21:42

knew it was just . And then when I flew to

21:44

Miami and Jamaica obviously

21:47

you're in different circles so

21:49

everyone kind of knows , but you

21:51

weren't . I'm not someone who like will post

21:53

and do all of that . I was just like no

21:55

, so I kept it very safe , like very

21:57

kind of quiet , so I'm still able to go

21:59

out and enjoy and do stuff . It's

22:01

only now when I've got a brother

22:03

and started doing the clothing

22:06

and everyone's like , okay

22:08

, well , maybe she just knows them , she knows

22:10

the Marlies or whatever . Okay , and then when

22:12

I started doing my mom babies and

22:14

I had to fully tell the story , so

22:16

people understood it and they were like

22:19

. They were like , okay . And

22:21

then the other day I went to the

22:23

One Love premiere for the

22:25

new Bob Marley movie . So

22:28

obviously I'm there with my cousins and Ziggy and Roman

22:30

and all . So they're like , oh , so

22:32

then you start getting more tears .

22:34

Yeah , yeah , I'm

22:39

like firebird , Uh-huh , uh-huh .

22:46

That's just life , oh , that's what ?

22:47

yeah , the message is hey , I've got

22:49

somebody huge fan . Is

22:52

there any way ?

22:57

and I know and I'll be like , oh my , and

22:59

this person loves , like Damien , please Can

23:01

you know ?

23:06

No , yeah , you know .

23:07

Oh , can I no , or I just

23:09

be like I don't work in industry anymore . I don't do that

23:11

, no .

23:13

Or I , just it's a bit over .

23:14

Yeah , it's a lot . It can be a lot , for

23:17

sure .

23:18

Well , hey , let's , let's talk a little marketing stuff , and

23:29

I've got a lot a couple final questions on that is .

23:31

So with the books , uh , what , what is work best for you to sell books or to bring awareness to your books

23:33

? Yeah , so first when I started , I put them on amazon and I just

23:35

left them . And they were left and I

23:37

was like , oh , it's okay , yeah , I I'm

23:39

not , I'm not , I don't understand the amazon

23:41

, I don't know how to do it . And then one day I was just like you know , yeah , I'm not , I'm not , I don't understand the Amazon , I don't know how to do it . And then one day

23:43

I was just like you know what ? I'm going out and

23:45

I'm going into bookstores . And I went . I

23:47

did like 25,000 steps or more just

23:50

going into bookshops . Hi , I'm princess

23:52

. I wrote this children's book . The first shop

23:54

I went into she was like , oh , this is

23:56

really cute . And then she was like , okay , um

23:59

, are you with a distributor ? I was like

24:01

, um , yeah , I distribute them myself

24:03

. And she goes oh , no , we only work with distributors

24:06

, so if you're able to get with a distributor

24:09

, then I'll be happy to stock them . So

24:11

I was like , okay , I carried on trying stores

24:13

but I realized the conversations were the

24:15

same . So I went back home I said , okay

24:17

, besides , losing a little weight and gaining some

24:19

steps in , I said this isn't , this isn't

24:21

going to work . So I said I started researching

24:24

distributors . So then that's when

24:26

I was like , okay , I need to be part of

24:28

I don't know if you know gardeners . So

24:30

I emailed gardeners . It was really hard , I

24:32

tried to figure this all out , but anyways , I made nine

24:34

mile babies a publisher . I became

24:36

, so I actually published nine mile babies books

24:39

and I bought my own barcodes

24:41

and everything . So I did all that and

24:43

they're still on Amazon . But you know when

24:45

the change actually happens and I think anyone

24:48

that's selling books and struggling

24:50

pop-ups . I've popped up

24:52

, like I launched the brand launched on

24:54

the 1st of April last year . So

24:57

I'm coming up to one year and

24:59

I did pop-ups and I sold

25:01

nearly 600 books from

25:04

April to December and that

25:06

was just high . And I had one book

25:08

, because the new book only came out on the 1st

25:10

of March had one book and I just kept

25:13

telling people about the book and

25:15

making the sales . Making the sales

25:17

making the sales Website was a little bit slower . You'll get sales and Amazon was a little

25:19

bit slower . You'll get sales and amazon

25:21

was a little bit slower . I still need to figure

25:24

out how to do all that . But pop-ups

25:26

for me saved me because I think if

25:28

I didn't do that , I think , oh my gosh , no one likes my books

25:30

, no one likes the brand . But I

25:32

think it outside and getting it in front of

25:34

people is the way forward . Also

25:36

, you get amazing feedback no-transcript

26:08

.

26:08

Don't know what is a pop-up um

26:10

, how does it work ? And then , how do you line

26:13

those up ?

26:14

okay . So a pop-up is arranged

26:16

by an event organizer . So

26:19

, for example , anyone who

26:21

knows london or different , I guess , different

26:23

in amer America or different cities , it could be in

26:25

a shopping mall , it could be at a

26:27

I don't know at a school , it could be

26:29

in a local market , but depending

26:32

on where you feel like your audience

26:34

is passing through , that's probably where

26:36

you want to go . So you literally pay a

26:38

fee and it'll be like a

26:40

day rate and they'll obviously check

26:42

, depending on who the event organizers

26:44

, they'll probably check and then you set up . You got your

26:47

price . Obviously you have your , your payment

26:49

, your card , your card readers or , if

26:51

you're taking cash , have float , and you

26:53

literally just put yourself out there , like

26:55

hi hey , hello , I

26:57

see you looking , yeah , come on yeah

27:00

. I'll be doing . I'll be like

27:02

come , come , come , and then . And then the thing

27:04

, the funniest thing is , the more and more I did it , the

27:06

more and more like I knew my book . But I

27:08

really knew it . So I'll say no , no , babies

27:11

, go on the magical journey with grandma as

27:13

they sing the alphabet . Yeah , so your child's gonna

27:15

learn the alphabet as they go through . And as they

27:17

go through , they learn about the acutery , the hummingbird

27:19

, the sugar cane , the red , dirt , um

27:22

, and they'll be like , wow , all of that , yeah

27:24

, and then I'll flick it through and they'll be like

27:26

you know what ? Let me get one of those . I've had people come

27:28

back . Let me just get one more big book I

27:31

found about I've got another child , so

27:33

this would be great and that's it . And and I think

27:35

it builds so much confidence like

27:38

, yeah , so I'm glad I did it because

27:40

it really committed what I

27:42

was doing and what I was trying to do .

27:44

Yeah , I like that a lot and it's cool

27:46

you shared that because I remember who it

27:48

was on the podcast . I'm drawing

27:50

a blank right now , but

27:52

another children's

27:54

book author , she said the same thing . She

27:57

said , hey , it was pop ups or local

28:00

, kind of not

28:02

a block party , but kind of like coming together

28:04

and you got a bunch of vendors and it's

28:07

I think it's maybe a slightly different name for

28:10

pop up , but that kind of thing . She

28:12

said , hey , it works really well . And her tip

28:14

was hey , you kind of need to be one

28:16

of the only people of that thing . Like

28:19

you know , you don't want to go do a bunch of other book

28:21

like a-up with a bunch of other people

28:23

selling books , but if you're the one person selling a book

28:25

and you've got a unique angle , it will

28:27

work really well for her too definitely

28:30

, I think most organizers as well .

28:31

They try not to have too many of

28:33

the same brand . So if there's already a toy brand

28:36

or an author who's just got books , they'll

28:38

have like a jewelry brand and stuff . And that's a

28:40

good question to ask them like how many

28:42

vendors are there how ? And whatever you're

28:44

doing , how many of those will

28:46

you have there ? so you know what

28:48

the competition is , but if they're good at what

28:50

they do , they won't have more than two

28:52

there , or maximum three , depending on how

28:54

big the venue is and also it

28:56

really helped my followers because , as

28:58

they did that , I was like , okay , yeah , you

29:01

, you've got to stay in contact when I get a new book , make

29:03

sure they'll be like , yeah , yeah , yeah . And then I had the

29:05

QR code and they would scan it . And

29:07

then now they're looking and they're fully engaged

29:09

and they're just waiting . So that was a great way

29:11

of getting people to

29:13

connect with me on social media , and also

29:16

I used to try to get them to sign up to the mailing list

29:18

. Obviously , when you're taking the payments , okay

29:20

, join , join . Sometimes you don't want to say the main

29:22

list . I said you want to keep in contact

29:24

with us , don't you ? Yeah , yeah , sure , okay , cool

29:26

, I'll make sure you you get our emails

29:29

. Yeah , the moment you say mailer list , everyone

29:31

goes red flag can

29:35

you actually preemptively take me off that

29:37

list ?

29:39

yeah , yeah , yeah so you kind of

29:41

want to yeah , I learned

29:43

that doing it , so that's

29:46

good and that's what you learn from doing a bunch of these

29:48

is the small turns of phrase that make a big

29:50

difference . Um , have you seen a decent uh

29:52

? Have you seen people uh

29:54

getting the book and leading

29:57

to them , uh blind

29:59

, like purchasing from the clothing line ? Or

30:01

like , has the book tied in with the clothing line sales

30:04

at all , or not so much ?

30:05

You know what's funny ? I have one

30:07

customer . She's like diehard

30:10

, she's amazing . She's actually a brand affiliate

30:12

as well . She actually purchased

30:14

from my clothing brand and then obviously

30:17

was following the clothing brand and stuff and

30:19

then I must've mentioned that , oh , I'm

30:21

starting Nine Mile Babies . And she had a little one and she was

30:23

like , the moment I saw that you was doing nine mile babies

30:25

, I was like , and she was already bought into it

30:27

. So that was kind of good , like I converted a

30:29

few . I don't really promote it on

30:32

my nine mile clothing page , but

30:34

what I do do is in nine

30:36

mile clothing , I think I have a tab

30:38

that says kids and when you click kids

30:40

it goes to nine mile babies . So you

30:42

kind of go into a whole different world . Yeah

30:45

, so I do , but

30:47

not they don't sit on each other , because

30:49

I was like they both need their own place and

30:51

then I've got the toys , so it's just like , yeah

30:53

, you want to see your toy .

30:54

Yeah , do you have one of these .

30:56

Oh , of course , I got here's

30:58

one , that's cool . There you go . This

31:00

is julian that's cool , yeah , so there's

31:03

like yeah , and then there's five

31:05

of them . They're huge . They're like , yeah , there

31:07

you go .

31:08

So they're all part of the , they're all

31:10

part of the book , yeah cool and

31:12

for I mean I'm gonna , because

31:14

you've got your clothing background for

31:16

people that are less familiar

31:18

with that sort of thing and say , oh , that's cool

31:21

, I want to do that for my book . Um

31:23

, what , yeah , what's ? What's

31:26

the process looked like to get something like that

31:28

created ? Is there a minimum order size

31:30

? Is there like , what's the cost look like ? How

31:32

do you even do that ?

31:33

so for the clothing , yeah . So what

31:35

if you wanted to do like toys .

31:37

Actually I was curious on the toys okay

31:39

.

31:40

So the toys ? Oh yeah , it was

31:42

a whole process and they were

31:44

made . They were . They were made in china

31:46

. Obviously I had to make a sample . Sample was

31:48

extreme . This is the first one I made . I

31:50

was lucky because she came out perfect . This is

31:52

actually me , so I am one of the nine mile babies

31:55

and my auntie made her this dress and but

31:57

I had to . So what I

31:59

what ? Let me try see how I could put

32:01

this if you've got a character . Um

32:03

, I used the drawing that I had

32:05

and then , um , I went on Alibaba

32:08

, yeah , and I looked

32:10

for toy manufacturers

32:12

and I kind of looked at what they

32:14

did and sort of um , what

32:17

they create thing is , what you've got to really

32:19

know is that you can't

32:21

touch and hold it , and what you don't want to do is

32:23

pay like 200 pounds for

32:25

a sample and it's not correct . I spent

32:27

a lot of time in the Disney store

32:29

and different toy stores , like just looking

32:32

at different materials , looking at how

32:34

they sew , how they make , because the

32:36

more information that you can give them

32:38

, the better , because you've got to remember as well

32:40

, and it depends on where you're making it . If you're going to Asia

32:42

, you've got , you've got the language barrier , plus

32:44

they have a way of doing it , so they're

32:47

going to make it . If you don't give them much , they'll make

32:49

it how they feel they're going to make it and

32:51

how their other clients make it . I

32:53

was very particular , especially with , like

32:55

, the complexions and material . I

32:57

remember once with one of the dolls , they

32:59

wanted to use a different texture hair and I was like

33:02

I could tell by the picture . I was like , no

33:04

, no , no , no , I need the doll to be the same

33:06

feeling all the way through . So

33:08

you've got to look at you can research

33:11

the market and then really understand what you

33:13

want that's what I would say , but yeah

33:15

so it was a , it was a process . After I

33:17

made her like crinipi , I was like

33:19

, okay , I kind of kind of mellowed

33:21

on it and then I said , no , I need all the babies

33:24

. Everyone's like p , you need to , I'm

33:26

not .

33:26

I was like hold tight , hold tight , hold tight that's

33:30

cool I'm only

33:32

one person , but yeah well

33:34

, hey , it's a thorough process and what

33:36

I'm hearing is it's a thorough process and it's

33:38

not for the faint of heart . So

33:41

don't do it for your book unless

33:43

you're serious about it . Princess , I

33:45

see last

33:47

two questions for you . First one would be

33:49

what would be your parting piece of advice

33:52

for the princess from a

33:54

few years ago , before you wrote your first book

33:56

, and the other people

33:58

out there who are thinking about writing their first children's

34:00

book ?

34:01

You know what I said ? This the other day ? Right , but this

34:03

is just try . Not take advice from

34:05

people who have never been where you want

34:07

to go or where you are so

34:09

do you know ? a lot of people are so negative

34:11

and and like believe in

34:13

you and your capabilities

34:16

? Um , not . And also , you've

34:18

got to know who you're talking to . Not

34:20

everything is for the same person

34:22

Like , yeah , so because

34:24

they can really cripple your growth and

34:26

really put fear into you . If you

34:29

believe in what you're doing , keep pushing

34:31

, like literally keep pushing . And

34:33

don't . Yeah , I just think

34:35

sometimes you could talk to the wrong person

34:37

and they could really . If you're not confident enough

34:39

, they could really kind of , yeah , and

34:41

my auntie always says to me don't

34:43

announce nothing until it's done , don't

34:46

say anything until it's done . Like I've got a few things

34:48

coming , I'm totally excited about it , but

34:50

like it's interesting

34:52

, and just keep your head down , like I

34:54

kept my head down solid for a year

34:57

and

34:59

I planted last year , so that's starting to sprout

35:01

, so yeah . So

35:05

to my younger self I would say interesting . I would say I have no regrets

35:08

, though , of anything that I do . I do . Everything

35:10

that I've done is what I wanted to do , and I always

35:12

found a way to do it . Um , but

35:14

I would say , never stop dreaming , kind

35:16

of , and and just because someone

35:19

else doesn't think it's right , find your own path

35:21

. Yeah , find your own path . Keep pushing

35:23

and and networking . Oh , oh my gosh

35:25

. Networking is amazing . You can network

35:28

and sometimes it's not even your family and friends

35:30

who support you . It's strangers who just

35:32

love what you're doing .

35:33

Oh my gosh , yeah now

35:41

and you want our help with your book . Obviously it's selfpublishingcom . Not a lot of people

35:44

know this , but we've got a children's book school as part of the company and so

35:46

we have launched I

35:48

don't even know at this point probably

35:50

hundreds of children's books and

35:53

so a lot of children's books happening . Book

35:55

a call with the team . If that's something that you're interested

35:57

in , we'd be happy to help bring

35:59

your children's book to life . Princess

36:02

, where can people go before we

36:05

head out ? Where can people go to find out more about

36:07

you , your clothing line , the books

36:09

or whatever would be most helpful for

36:11

them to go .

36:12

Amazing . So the website is 9milebabiescom

36:16

, Instagram is 9milebabies

36:18

. Also , if you're interested in streetwear

36:20

that's all about freedom and

36:22

just being that inner rebel then

36:24

you can visit 9mileclothingcom . But

36:27

yeah , so you can find me . We're on Instagram

36:30

, Facebook . I'm exploring

36:32

TikTok , but yeah .

36:34

Awesome . We're 9milebabiescom

36:36

Princess . You're amazing

36:38

. Thank you so much .

36:39

Thank you , chandler , I appreciate it .

36:44

Thank you so much for watching , or listening to , this episode of

36:46

the Self-Publishing School Podcast . I know there's so many

36:48

places that you could be spending your time . There's other podcasts

36:50

that you could be listening to , youtube channels that you'd be

36:52

watching , so thank you so much . It means the world . Now

36:54

I want you to do three things right now . If

36:57

you found this episode helpful I don't know if you know this

36:59

, but we've got a YouTube channel . It's a companion

37:01

channel to this podcast . All the video

37:03

versions of the episode are on the YouTube

37:05

channel . So , number one subscribe to the YouTube

37:07

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37:10

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37:13

. Number two I want you to subscribe to this podcast right

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37:17

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37:19

Leave a review on the podcast

37:21

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37:23

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37:26

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37:28

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37:30

next episode .