Naima B. Robert – Q&A for Muslim Women Writers author Na’ima B. Robert

Naima B. Robert
AI: Summary ©
The Muslim writers summit 2022 session discusses the challenges of self-participating books, including the challenges of finding the right book at the right time with the right publisher and ensuring the right information is included. The importance of collecting data on customers and their interactions with books is also emphasized, and the importance of investing in the process and creating a return on investment is emphasized. The speakers stress the importance of integrity in writing and mention a new academy for Muslim writers. There is also a free weekly q and a for the Muslim community.
AI: Transcript ©
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I do believe that we are live.

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Good morning or good evening wherever you are

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in the world. Insha'Allah.

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Welcome to day 4 of the Muslim writers

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summit 2022.

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If you haven't already subscribed to the channel,

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please do subscribe to the channel.

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Put a like on this video and make

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sure that you share your comments with us

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because we really do love to see what

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stands out for you, what you take away

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from each session, and, you know, just, yeah,

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what it's doing for you.

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Today's short session is a q and a.

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So I have, sister Amna here who has

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a question for me. I also have some

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questions that have been sent in, you know,

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by other attendees before

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we started the session. So I'm gonna answer

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a few questions live.

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Yeah, and then that will be our morning

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session and then we'll have, obviously, we've got

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tons more for you,

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lined up for the whole day today,

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But for now, let's get some questions answered.

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So, sister Amna, talk to me.

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Tell us who you are and what your

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question is,

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Alright. Assalamu alaikum. I'm Amna. I'm a homestoing

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mom from Madqa, Saudi Arabia.

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And,

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the question I have is that I will

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I've always been wanting to write a book

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for my children.

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And what I, feel, like, kind of

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scared about is that I've mostly been indoors,

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and especially when you live as an expat

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in the Middle East,

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you don't really have access to a lot

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of things like, you know, your own bank

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account and,

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tax return and all these other legal stuff.

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So I really wanted to ask,

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like, do you need these sort of things

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to, like, publish? Like, for example, I'm gonna

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self publish on Amazon or something like that.

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So, if you could sort of shed light

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on that question.

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That's actually a really, really good question. And

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I've you know, we've had this, the situation

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with clients before where they're based in a

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country where, for example, Amazon doesn't deliver. Right?

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Or PayPal doesn't allow them to have an

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account so they can't get payments and those

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types of things, masha'Allah.

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So it is a challenge.

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You'd have to look into the laws that

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whatever the rules that KDP, which is the

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Amazon self publishing,

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kind of wing, what they need from you.

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Right?

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Things like, you know,

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tax I think you said tax return, etcetera.

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You would be exempt if you're not a

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US citizen, so you wouldn't have to worry

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about that. But

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does the platform,

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whether it's KDP,

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whether it's,

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well, the other ones that's the other ones

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that we use,

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Yes. IngramSpark,

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Lulu.

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If those any of those platforms,

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you'd need to check to see if somebody

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who's in your territory,

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can actually use the service or would you

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need to use, like, a proxy address, like,

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you know, give give an address that you

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used in the US or give someone else's

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address entirely.

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So it's it's it's definitely worth looking into.

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It is a challenge, that a lot of

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our, writers do face if they're not based

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in sort of, you know, the main western

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countries or whatever.

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So the main thing the question you'd have

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to you know, the answer to the questions

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would be on their websites. So just check

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that out.

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But also

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it also it depends on your intention with

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the book because if your intention for the

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book is to publish and get it out

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into the world,

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then, of course, you either need a publisher

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or you need to go through

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a publisher working with a publisher like a

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hybrid publisher, for example,

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or you then do it independently. Now

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doing it independently

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can look different for different people. For most

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of us, it's the easiest thing is to

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just put it up on Amazon because when

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you self publish on Amazon,

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you don't have to print books as I'm

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sure you know.

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Amazon does the printing, and they send it

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to the people when they order. So it's

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on demand printing.

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So that means that as a self published

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author, you don't have to put in the

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money to print a whole load of copies

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and then have those copies in a warehouse

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or in your house, and you're physically sending

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them out. That's one of the great things

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about publishing through KDP or Ingram Sparks. They

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do that for you. However,

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if your goal for the book is, you

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know, more

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sort of home based, is more familial, is

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more about a book that your children need

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or books that your kids in your local

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school need, you can always look at printers

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in your area or even printers in Turkey

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who can do a small batch for you.

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You you will obviously, you'll have to pay

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more because you have to actually you you

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have to buy the printed books. But if

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all you want is to have sort of,

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like, 10 copies or 20 copies for your

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children and family members, etcetera,

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then that's a way around

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the whole KDP thing.

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You know, most countries do have local printers.

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And, you know, if you kind of shop

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around a bit, you know, you can negotiate

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on prices.

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So

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there is a way. You just have to

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find which is the best way for you.

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And

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look at like I said, if it's just

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for your family, can you get your hands

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on a on a few copies? Probably, you

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could do that locally.

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If you do want to get it out

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into the world

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and the self publishing on KDP and IngramSpark

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will not work for your territory,

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then I would suggest

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going through either a hybrid publisher

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who will ask you to basically invest some

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money into the publishing of your book, but

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they will do it for you. So it

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means that you don't have to like, you're

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not gonna worry. You're not going to run

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into the issues of

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your tax status or, you know, the fact

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that you're in a country where Amazon doesn't

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deliver, etcetera, because it's published under the publisher's

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imprint most of the time.

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So that means that you kind of and

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the thing is they will take your manuscript.

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You know? They they're not going to it's

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not a selective process.

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So if you choose a hybrid publisher,

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they perform the role of a traditional publisher.

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The difference is that the author also puts

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money in. Whereas with a traditional publisher, the

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author doesn't pay anything. Okay?

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Obviously, everybody most people want traditional publishers. But,

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obviously, because of that,

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traditional publishers can be much harder to get

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into. There's much more competition,

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and your book might not be right for

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them. And if your book isn't right for

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them, they won't accept it. Whereas with a

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hybrid publisher, they will publish most books because,

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you know, they they they're not taking on

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the the burden of the traditional publisher.

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So if your goal is to get the

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book out out into the world

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and you can't do it by self publishing

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then you may want to look at

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either a hybrid publisher

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or

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independent publishers, when we're smaller than kind of

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the big dogs, right,

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who do the kind of book that you

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want to publish, who are currently publishing the

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types of books that you that you want

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to publish.

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And the thing is,

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in order to get a publishing deal, and

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I say this to all my clients, in

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order to get a publisher

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to act to take your work, it has

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to be the right book at the right

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time with the right publisher.

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So when we are submitting our work to

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publishers,

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we need to do our due diligence and

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make sure that we've done our research.

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So if your book, for example,

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is on

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teaching children

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how to,

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how to recycle, okay, or how to upcycle

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or something like this,

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Obviously, that's you know, you're gonna find a

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lot of publishers that do that type of

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thing, you know, that look at, you know,

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teaching children how to be environmentally aware, how

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to be environmentally responsible.

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Some publishers

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are more invested in that type of message

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than others.

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And, so you wanna find out who those

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publishers are. You wanna find out who is

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currently

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going to Amazon and do a search, you

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know, children's book recycling.

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I'm I I can assure you a ton

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will come up, and then you just see

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well who who's publishing these books, you know,

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and and get the names and then go

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on their websites and check to see what

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their submission guidelines are. If you're looking at

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a a a book for Muslim audiences, obviously,

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your search process will be shorter.

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There are fewer Muslim children's publishers,

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but they also have their specialisms.

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And it's it's quite easy to see kind

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of, would this book fit with this one,

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this one, or that one,

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if your goal is to be published.

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So I said a lot, Amna. Did that

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help at all? Was that helpful?

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Yeah. It was.

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Really, I'm gonna look into all these options.

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So what's your goal for your book? Is

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it something that you want just to be

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able to use with your children, or is

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it something you feel has more relevance sort

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of on a broader scale? It's something you

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actually want to put out into the world.

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For my children, I've already, written

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little books, and I publish them on my

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website, like, for a read online. And,

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nice.

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I do print them, like, locally for them,

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but it doesn't have any ISBN or,

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it doesn't have any copyright. So I don't

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know. Like, I'm not I'm really afraid to

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give it to other people because I'm more

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like, it's I don't I actually wanted you

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to shed some light on these two processes,

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this copyright.

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And I and has totally don't understand how

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that works, especially if you're out of the

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US.

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Right. So,

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that and and the book the other book

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that I'm I really wanna invest in was

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things that I really wanted to go out

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in a world, and I want different children

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to find inspiration from them. So, yes, I

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wanted to publish it, basically.

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That's why I was sort of stuck because

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I am as an expat and dependent expat

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with on sponsorship from her husband.

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So I don't have a lot of,

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you know, options

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for these sort of legal works.

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So, yeah, that your your answer actually helped,

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and look into, you know, a proxy or

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a hybrid publisher.

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Something like that. And what's your home country?

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Where where is your home country?

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I'm both from Pakistan and from Canada.

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So I could look,

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for both, these places.

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Well, yeah, to see what, you know, what

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can be done, you know, with Canada, for

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example,

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you know, that would be helpful.

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Yeah. I don't have any, account in Canada.

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I think I left that before I became

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an adult, but I can definitely go back,

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like,

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one time and do make everything.

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But that'll take some time.

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So but and on the on the other

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hand, I do have friends and relatives I

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could definitely, definitely,

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ask them for. Okay. Yeah. No. Sounds good.

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Sounds good. It sounds like you have, like,

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you know, a a collection of work. And

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I think when when we have a collection

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of work that we've done ourselves,

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it it's helpful sometimes to look at, okay,

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so what do I have here? What am

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I working with?

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What is the best or the most relevant

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of all of these or the best developed

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of all of these? And let me try

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my chances with,

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okay, 2 things. If you already have an

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audience,

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okay, now in your case, it is a

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bit difficult because as you say, you know,

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you're you're you're you're a resident and you're

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in a country where you don't have you

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know, it's it's it's a tough

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situation in terms of I can imagine,

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you know, setting up an Amazon account. It

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can be tough,

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if you're not in you know, there's a

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few countries where it's it's difficult.

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But if you have an account oh, sorry.

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If you have a following online, this is

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for everybody based by the way. If you

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have an audience, whether you have a mailing

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list or you have visitors to your your

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blog or your website, if you already have

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people

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that are interested in the books, this is

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helpful

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even when you are pitching to publishers,

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because publishers pay attention to sales. That's what

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publishers care about at the end of the

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day. A publisher wants to know that once

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they have invested in your well, if they

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invest in you and your book, they're going

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to see a return.

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So if you have already had interest in

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these books, if you've had people downloading them

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as ebooks, if you've had people you know,

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kind of giving you feedback and testimonials, etcetera,

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this is a good thing.

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And you should definitely sort of gather that

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material and that data. Because when you pitch

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it to publishers, you want to say, this

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is part of a successful collection that I

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self published. And this one, I wanted to,

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you know, I wanted to have a wider

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reach, and I wanted to kind of get

00:12:56 --> 00:12:58

more exposure, and I want to work with

00:12:58 --> 00:12:59

a publisher on it.

00:13:00 --> 00:13:02

So so so bear that in mind as

00:13:02 --> 00:13:03

well when you're when you're looking at that.

00:13:03 --> 00:13:05

I don't know what your situation is with

00:13:05 --> 00:13:07

regards to, you know, kind of how

00:13:07 --> 00:13:10

how your public has responded to the books.

00:13:10 --> 00:13:12

But if you have had a positive response,

00:13:12 --> 00:13:15

then this is social proof, and publishers love

00:13:15 --> 00:13:17

to see stuff like that. So there's that

00:13:17 --> 00:13:18

as well.

00:13:20 --> 00:13:20

Right.

00:13:21 --> 00:13:23

I I I could definitely collect something like

00:13:23 --> 00:13:23

that.

00:13:24 --> 00:13:26

Yeah. And just to to do with the

00:13:26 --> 00:13:27

copyright question.

00:13:28 --> 00:13:29

Right. Now when it comes to the Muslim

00:13:29 --> 00:13:31

world, alright, I I don't have an answer

00:13:31 --> 00:13:33

for you. Okay? Because we know that Muslims,

00:13:34 --> 00:13:34

unfortunately,

00:13:34 --> 00:13:36

don't seem to respect copyright.

00:13:37 --> 00:13:39

But if you want to copyright your work,

00:13:39 --> 00:13:42

it's actually enough legally for you to send

00:13:42 --> 00:13:43

a copy to yourself.

00:13:44 --> 00:13:47

Right, dated and everything, and just keep the

00:13:47 --> 00:13:47

sealed

00:13:48 --> 00:13:50

envelope. Keep just send it physically to yourself

00:13:50 --> 00:13:51

or to someone

00:13:51 --> 00:13:54

and just let them keep it sealed because

00:13:54 --> 00:13:56

if there is ever an issue legally,

00:13:57 --> 00:13:59

that is a proof that the work was

00:13:59 --> 00:14:01

published by you on that date, if that

00:14:01 --> 00:14:02

makes sense.

00:14:03 --> 00:14:05

This is what we were told, like, so

00:14:05 --> 00:14:07

long ago now, 15, 20 years ago, and

00:14:07 --> 00:14:10

it still is it still is satisfactory.

00:14:11 --> 00:14:12

So this is for everyone just need to

00:14:12 --> 00:14:15

put that little c and that's enough?

00:14:15 --> 00:14:17

No. Well, there's that putting a little c,

00:14:17 --> 00:14:19

and you should do that, obviously. But in

00:14:19 --> 00:14:21

order to kind of back that up, if

00:14:21 --> 00:14:22

you feel that you need to back it

00:14:22 --> 00:14:23

up,

00:14:23 --> 00:14:24

print the work,

00:14:25 --> 00:14:26

put it in an envelope,

00:14:26 --> 00:14:29

and send it either to yourself or to

00:14:29 --> 00:14:32

a relative in Canada or whoever a lawyer.

00:14:32 --> 00:14:34

You don't need to get your lawyers involved.

00:14:34 --> 00:14:37

Just send it and keep it sealed because

00:14:37 --> 00:14:38

if there is ever,

00:14:38 --> 00:14:41

some kind of copyright claim or any any

00:14:41 --> 00:14:44

dispute of any kind that sealed

00:14:44 --> 00:14:47

contents is is proof that the work was

00:14:47 --> 00:14:50

published whenever, you you know, you sent it.

00:14:50 --> 00:14:51

Do you does that make sense?

00:14:52 --> 00:14:54

Yeah. It does. It does. So if I

00:14:54 --> 00:14:55

send this today in 2022

00:14:55 --> 00:14:58

February, right, I send it and I you

00:14:58 --> 00:14:59

know, obviously, this is my work, blah blah

00:14:59 --> 00:15:01

blah. And I send the work and I

00:15:01 --> 00:15:03

keep it sealed. If someone else comes out

00:15:03 --> 00:15:04

with that in 2023,

00:15:06 --> 00:15:07

I'm going to make a claim and say,

00:15:07 --> 00:15:08

hold on a minute. I wrote that back

00:15:08 --> 00:15:11

in 2022, and I have proof that I

00:15:11 --> 00:15:12

wrote it in 2022.

00:15:12 --> 00:15:13

Here is the proof.

00:15:13 --> 00:15:15

So this is what they used to say

00:15:15 --> 00:15:15

to us,

00:15:16 --> 00:15:19

copyright for your your your work, especially sort

00:15:19 --> 00:15:21

of children's books and things like that. It's

00:15:21 --> 00:15:23

not worth getting lawyers involved.

00:15:23 --> 00:15:24

You know, nobody should,

00:15:25 --> 00:15:27

you know, it's it's just not like that.

00:15:28 --> 00:15:30

Obviously, there are pirates out there, but they

00:15:30 --> 00:15:33

usually pirate completed works, to be fair.

00:15:33 --> 00:15:35

You know that, don't you?

00:15:35 --> 00:15:37

You know, people do tend to, like, you

00:15:37 --> 00:15:38

know, ask you for the PDF of your

00:15:38 --> 00:15:40

book and all of this kind of thing.

00:15:40 --> 00:15:41

It's like, dude, I don't give out PDFs

00:15:41 --> 00:15:43

of my book. What are you talking about?

00:15:44 --> 00:15:46

But, you know, the the this this the

00:15:46 --> 00:15:49

pirating is is like a different animal. But

00:15:49 --> 00:15:51

when it comes to the copyright, you just

00:15:51 --> 00:15:53

put that c in the brackets

00:15:53 --> 00:15:54

and

00:15:54 --> 00:15:56

if you want extra backup just send a

00:15:56 --> 00:15:57

copy to yourself inshallah.

00:15:58 --> 00:15:59

ISBNs,

00:15:59 --> 00:16:02

if you're struggling to get ISBNs, you can

00:16:02 --> 00:16:04

always contact my team. We have a whole

00:16:04 --> 00:16:04

batch of them.

00:16:05 --> 00:16:07

And, again, other people can get ISBNs for

00:16:07 --> 00:16:10

you, you know, from a Canadian address or

00:16:10 --> 00:16:12

whatever. So there's always a way around. There's

00:16:12 --> 00:16:14

always a way around, inshallah. So I hope

00:16:14 --> 00:16:15

that that's been helpful.

00:16:15 --> 00:16:18

Yeah. That it is. We've been saying a

00:16:18 --> 00:16:18

lot of questions.

00:16:20 --> 00:16:22

Excellent. Thank you so much for that, We

00:16:22 --> 00:16:23

like you when people just, you know, are

00:16:23 --> 00:16:25

able to make the most of of q

00:16:25 --> 00:16:25

and a's.

00:16:26 --> 00:16:28

I've got Madiham here as well. So if

00:16:28 --> 00:16:29

you have any questions, please,

00:16:30 --> 00:16:32

just, pop them in there. If you want

00:16:32 --> 00:16:34

to be able to talk, then let me

00:16:34 --> 00:16:36

know inshallah, and, I will,

00:16:36 --> 00:16:38

I'll give you permission to talk.

00:16:38 --> 00:16:40

But I've got a question here.

00:16:41 --> 00:16:43

Is it, can you release 3 books

00:16:43 --> 00:16:46

as a series all at once? Is this

00:16:46 --> 00:16:48

advisable? Thank you. Right. Oh, that's a fantastic

00:16:48 --> 00:16:49

question. I love that.

00:16:51 --> 00:16:52

Now I would say,

00:16:52 --> 00:16:56

if this series is one that you have

00:16:56 --> 00:16:57

somehow already piloted,

00:16:58 --> 00:17:01

Okay. So, for example, book 1

00:17:01 --> 00:17:02

is out.

00:17:03 --> 00:17:05

It's done amazingly well, and people are like,

00:17:05 --> 00:17:07

where's the next one? Where's the next one?

00:17:07 --> 00:17:09

When's the next one? Then if you wanted

00:17:09 --> 00:17:12

to release 2, 3, and 4 together, especially

00:17:12 --> 00:17:13

like children's books,

00:17:13 --> 00:17:15

you want to release them like as a

00:17:15 --> 00:17:18

gift box set or something like that, then,

00:17:18 --> 00:17:18

yeah,

00:17:19 --> 00:17:22

if the first one has already proven to

00:17:22 --> 00:17:22

be successful.

00:17:23 --> 00:17:24

Okay?

00:17:24 --> 00:17:26

If it's your first time

00:17:27 --> 00:17:28

publishing a book,

00:17:29 --> 00:17:31

if it's your first time, your first kind

00:17:31 --> 00:17:32

of outing if you like,

00:17:33 --> 00:17:35

I wouldn't advise it mainly because of the

00:17:35 --> 00:17:36

financial

00:17:37 --> 00:17:38

burden that you will carry.

00:17:39 --> 00:17:41

Because getting 3 books edited at once,

00:17:42 --> 00:17:43

getting 3 books illustrated

00:17:43 --> 00:17:46

and designed and formatted and then getting 3

00:17:46 --> 00:17:48

books printed at once, obviously, it's going to

00:17:48 --> 00:17:51

be 3 times the cost. And if you

00:17:51 --> 00:17:52

haven't already

00:17:52 --> 00:17:54

kind of proven the concept,

00:17:55 --> 00:17:58

then you're basically taking on a financial burden

00:17:58 --> 00:17:59

that you you know, that may not pay

00:17:59 --> 00:18:00

off. Right?

00:18:01 --> 00:18:03

So that's my that that really is my

00:18:03 --> 00:18:03

concern.

00:18:04 --> 00:18:06

As for, you know, will people get bored

00:18:06 --> 00:18:08

of it or anything like that? No. Because

00:18:08 --> 00:18:10

if it's you know, I can I can

00:18:10 --> 00:18:12

I I have so many,

00:18:13 --> 00:18:15

series box sets that I bought for my

00:18:15 --> 00:18:17

kids? They love it. Kids love series, you

00:18:17 --> 00:18:20

know? I if anybody remembers the farmyard tales,

00:18:20 --> 00:18:22

there were, like, 12 books that would come

00:18:22 --> 00:18:23

together,

00:18:23 --> 00:18:25

and it was not a problem.

00:18:26 --> 00:18:27

The kids would read one after the after

00:18:27 --> 00:18:29

the other after the other. Series of Unfortunate

00:18:29 --> 00:18:32

Events, same thing. We bought all 13 books.

00:18:32 --> 00:18:34

Just so so many series, children like. Matter

00:18:34 --> 00:18:36

of fact, my daughter was just saying yesterday

00:18:36 --> 00:18:38

that she wants another series. Right? So series

00:18:38 --> 00:18:39

are a great idea.

00:18:40 --> 00:18:42

We have very few series in the Muslim

00:18:42 --> 00:18:43

market.

00:18:43 --> 00:18:44

I think Yasmin

00:18:45 --> 00:18:48

by Sadia Farooqi is one of the few

00:18:48 --> 00:18:50

successful series that I've seen out there,

00:18:51 --> 00:18:52

published by Scholastic,

00:18:53 --> 00:18:55

but it's one of the very few. I

00:18:55 --> 00:18:58

can't actually think of any other

00:18:59 --> 00:19:00

series

00:19:01 --> 00:19:03

based books in the Muslim market.

00:19:05 --> 00:19:07

Please forgive me if I'm wrong, and please

00:19:07 --> 00:19:08

correct me if I'm wrong, guys. If you

00:19:08 --> 00:19:10

know of any, please do put them. That,

00:19:11 --> 00:19:13

Jenna Jenna Jenna Jewels Jenna Jewels,

00:19:14 --> 00:19:16

middle grade is also in a series. Masha'Allah.

00:19:17 --> 00:19:18

There's quite a few of them in the

00:19:18 --> 00:19:19

series, actually. But my point is this. You

00:19:19 --> 00:19:22

can see I'm clutching at straws here, right,

00:19:22 --> 00:19:23

because there's so few.

00:19:24 --> 00:19:25

So if you've proven the concept,

00:19:26 --> 00:19:28

if you released 1 and you got fantastic

00:19:29 --> 00:19:30

sales and people are like, when's the next

00:19:30 --> 00:19:31

one?

00:19:31 --> 00:19:33

Yeah. Go ahead. Bismillah. Do it in a

00:19:33 --> 00:19:35

series, you know, you know, release the 3

00:19:35 --> 00:19:36

at once,

00:19:37 --> 00:19:39

if it's a children's book. If it's

00:19:40 --> 00:19:42

more for adults,

00:19:42 --> 00:19:42

again,

00:19:43 --> 00:19:44

proof of concept.

00:19:44 --> 00:19:46

Have you released 1 and it's done fantastically

00:19:46 --> 00:19:47

well?

00:19:48 --> 00:19:48

Then do

00:19:49 --> 00:19:50

it. In terms of releasing 3 at once,

00:19:50 --> 00:19:53

3 adult books at once, I personally

00:19:53 --> 00:19:55

wouldn't do it unless there's some

00:19:55 --> 00:19:58

compelling reason why they need to buy the

00:19:58 --> 00:19:59

3 of them because

00:19:59 --> 00:20:00

typically, trilogies

00:20:01 --> 00:20:04

are are released, you know, are kind of

00:20:04 --> 00:20:07

drop fed, aren't they? You get book 1.

00:20:07 --> 00:20:09

The whole world reads book 1 and is

00:20:09 --> 00:20:12

waiting for book 2. Then book 2 comes,

00:20:12 --> 00:20:15

the whole world who read book 1. And

00:20:15 --> 00:20:16

all the people who heard the hype of

00:20:16 --> 00:20:18

book 1 and book 2, they all rush

00:20:18 --> 00:20:19

and buy book 2. And those who are

00:20:19 --> 00:20:21

only coming into it at book 2, they

00:20:21 --> 00:20:23

go back and buy book 1.

00:20:23 --> 00:20:25

Similarly with book 3, now the whole world

00:20:25 --> 00:20:27

has been reading book 1, book 2. Everyone's

00:20:27 --> 00:20:29

waiting for the finale for the book 3.

00:20:30 --> 00:20:32

All of those people who bought book 1

00:20:32 --> 00:20:33

and 2 go buy book 3, and there's

00:20:33 --> 00:20:35

so much hype people buy book 3, but

00:20:35 --> 00:20:36

then they realize they need to catch up.

00:20:36 --> 00:20:38

So they go back and they buy book

00:20:38 --> 00:20:41

1 and book 2. That is the joy

00:20:41 --> 00:20:42

of trilogies.

00:20:42 --> 00:20:44

And that's why a lot of people, especially

00:20:44 --> 00:20:45

in fantasy,

00:20:46 --> 00:20:47

and You, etcetera,

00:20:47 --> 00:20:50

they love to write their books in in

00:20:50 --> 00:20:52

3 in 3 parts because that is the

00:20:52 --> 00:20:54

effect of a series. So if you have

00:20:55 --> 00:20:56

if you're writing for adults or you're writing

00:20:56 --> 00:20:59

for teens, definitely write a series but I

00:20:59 --> 00:21:02

don't think I would advise releasing all 3

00:21:02 --> 00:21:04

at once because you miss out on the

00:21:04 --> 00:21:06

effect that I just described now. And if

00:21:06 --> 00:21:08

you've written 3 books, masha'Allah,

00:21:08 --> 00:21:10

you're ahead of the game. You can maybe

00:21:10 --> 00:21:12

relax a little bit because you know, okay,

00:21:12 --> 00:21:14

book 1 is gonna be my book my

00:21:14 --> 00:21:15

big book for this year, Book 2 is

00:21:15 --> 00:21:17

gonna be my big book next year, and

00:21:17 --> 00:21:19

book 3 is gonna be my big book

00:21:19 --> 00:21:21

the year after that because all the time

00:21:21 --> 00:21:23

that you leave in between them, you inshallah

00:21:23 --> 00:21:24

accumulating

00:21:24 --> 00:21:24

sales

00:21:25 --> 00:21:28

and accumulating reviews and accumulating the stars and

00:21:28 --> 00:21:30

the goodreads and the, you know, the interviews

00:21:30 --> 00:21:32

and you're able to talk about it and

00:21:33 --> 00:21:35

there's a sense of suspense.

00:21:36 --> 00:21:38

You're kind of leaving people on a cliffhanger,

00:21:38 --> 00:21:40

right, because they want to see what happens

00:21:40 --> 00:21:41

in book 2.

00:21:41 --> 00:21:43

If you give them the whole cake at

00:21:43 --> 00:21:44

once,

00:21:44 --> 00:21:47

yeah, there's not much reason for hype, really,

00:21:47 --> 00:21:48

because at the end of the day, there

00:21:48 --> 00:21:50

isn't like I said, you miss out on

00:21:50 --> 00:21:52

that whole psychology of we want to know

00:21:52 --> 00:21:53

what happens.

00:21:53 --> 00:21:55

Which is very interesting because

00:21:55 --> 00:21:57

you know obviously back in the day we

00:21:57 --> 00:21:58

used to watch

00:21:58 --> 00:21:59

series

00:21:59 --> 00:22:00

serials

00:22:01 --> 00:22:04

1 episode a week. And the usually the

00:22:04 --> 00:22:06

episode would end on a cliffhanger and you

00:22:06 --> 00:22:08

had to wait until the next week to

00:22:08 --> 00:22:11

find out what happened. Right? And that's what

00:22:11 --> 00:22:11

kept people

00:22:12 --> 00:22:14

hooked to that series for a whole season.

00:22:14 --> 00:22:16

Right? For a whole 3 months or whatever.

00:22:16 --> 00:22:18

You wanted to see what happened next and

00:22:18 --> 00:22:20

you HAD to wait until the next week.

00:22:20 --> 00:22:22

Now that we release serials

00:22:22 --> 00:22:25

in one go and sometimes several seasons at

00:22:25 --> 00:22:27

once, I'm not sure what the psychology is

00:22:27 --> 00:22:28

there.

00:22:29 --> 00:22:30

To be honest, I think probably they have

00:22:30 --> 00:22:32

to bring somebody on from Netflix to tell

00:22:32 --> 00:22:34

us why they release everything at once is

00:22:34 --> 00:22:36

it because people don't have the patience

00:22:37 --> 00:22:38

probably because there's so much

00:22:39 --> 00:22:41

competition for people s attention that they don

00:22:41 --> 00:22:43

t they don t want to release people

00:22:43 --> 00:22:44

from

00:22:44 --> 00:22:46

if they re into a series they wanna

00:22:46 --> 00:22:47

give the all to them so that they

00:22:47 --> 00:22:49

don t have to come away and then

00:22:49 --> 00:22:51

maybe get distracted by something else and end

00:22:51 --> 00:22:53

up watching another thing. I don't know. But

00:22:53 --> 00:22:54

when it comes to books, that's what I

00:22:54 --> 00:22:57

would say. And I would absolutely love

00:22:57 --> 00:23:00

to have, you know, either a teen series

00:23:00 --> 00:23:02

or even, like, a novella series for adults,

00:23:02 --> 00:23:04

which which I had as a trilogy, you

00:23:04 --> 00:23:06

know, because, hey, who doesn't love a trilogy?

00:23:07 --> 00:23:08

But that was a fantastic question, sis. I

00:23:08 --> 00:23:11

hope that that answered the question fully enough.

00:23:12 --> 00:23:14

If that, you know, if it didn't, then

00:23:14 --> 00:23:17

please, you know, just, let me know, and,

00:23:18 --> 00:23:18

I'll,

00:23:20 --> 00:23:22

I'll try to do more justice to the

00:23:22 --> 00:23:24

question. Go ahead, sis Samaniem.

00:23:25 --> 00:23:27

You can talk inshallah. Yay.

00:23:31 --> 00:23:31

Right.

00:23:32 --> 00:23:32

Okay.

00:23:33 --> 00:23:36

So, I'm not published. I have started writing.

00:23:38 --> 00:23:40

So the question I have is,

00:23:41 --> 00:23:43

how do I decide which of my books

00:23:43 --> 00:23:45

do I want to to send out to

00:23:45 --> 00:23:46

the world first?

00:23:47 --> 00:23:49

So I I kind of, have written 1,

00:23:50 --> 00:23:53

sort of like a about my mom. Just

00:23:53 --> 00:23:54

a short,

00:23:57 --> 00:24:01

yeah, short story, but more like comparing her

00:24:01 --> 00:24:04

to to jam that she makes, right, and

00:24:04 --> 00:24:04

the process.

00:24:05 --> 00:24:06

And then I have an a to z

00:24:06 --> 00:24:09

series, and then I have these are for

00:24:09 --> 00:24:09

children.

00:24:10 --> 00:24:12

And then I have one more self help

00:24:12 --> 00:24:14

book as an adult, which is kind of

00:24:14 --> 00:24:17

like starting to learn Quran at a later

00:24:17 --> 00:24:19

age in life. So how does one decide

00:24:19 --> 00:24:20

how do I decide

00:24:21 --> 00:24:23

which one should come to the world first?

00:24:23 --> 00:24:26

And if if you if one works with

00:24:26 --> 00:24:28

a coach such as yourself, do you submit

00:24:28 --> 00:24:30

your stories or your ideas, and then the

00:24:30 --> 00:24:31

coach helps you

00:24:32 --> 00:24:34

decide which one should come out first?

00:24:35 --> 00:24:36

Thank you.

00:24:36 --> 00:24:38

I love that question. It's a fantastic question,

00:24:38 --> 00:24:40

and it's a nice place to be in,

00:24:40 --> 00:24:41

mashallah you know to have 3 stories that

00:24:41 --> 00:24:43

you're happy with that you want to put

00:24:43 --> 00:24:43

out.

00:24:44 --> 00:24:46

So the strict answer to your question is

00:24:46 --> 00:24:49

that it's not really in your hands which

00:24:49 --> 00:24:52

one comes out into the world first. Right?

00:24:53 --> 00:24:55

Because you're talking about sort of 2 children's

00:24:55 --> 00:24:56

books and 1 adult.

00:24:57 --> 00:25:00

If you decide to go the traditional publishing

00:25:00 --> 00:25:00

route,

00:25:01 --> 00:25:02

then it will not be in your hands.

00:25:03 --> 00:25:03

The publishers

00:25:04 --> 00:25:06

take time I'm sure you know it takes

00:25:06 --> 00:25:07

a while for them to get back to

00:25:07 --> 00:25:10

you even if it's the yes and sometimes

00:25:10 --> 00:25:11

it's a no right

00:25:12 --> 00:25:14

And they takes time for them to give

00:25:14 --> 00:25:15

come back to you even if they like

00:25:15 --> 00:25:17

it and they want it. And then even

00:25:17 --> 00:25:19

if they like and want it, there very

00:25:19 --> 00:25:22

often is a long waiting period before the

00:25:22 --> 00:25:24

book will actually come out. 1 of our

00:25:24 --> 00:25:24

clients

00:25:26 --> 00:25:28

she submitted to a Muslim publisher

00:25:29 --> 00:25:30

I think she waited

00:25:31 --> 00:25:33

was it 6 months to hear from them

00:25:34 --> 00:25:35

when she did hear from them it was

00:25:35 --> 00:25:36

a yes

00:25:37 --> 00:25:39

but the publication date is 2024

00:25:40 --> 00:25:40

Okay

00:25:41 --> 00:25:43

so because she had really wanted that publisher

00:25:43 --> 00:25:46

and she's very happy that they accepted her

00:25:46 --> 00:25:47

book she had to accept that it's going

00:25:47 --> 00:25:48

to be 2024.

00:25:49 --> 00:25:51

So once you're working with publishers you don't

00:25:51 --> 00:25:53

really have a say as to which one

00:25:53 --> 00:25:56

will come out first. Okay. So let's so

00:25:56 --> 00:25:58

let's let's let's be clear on the publishing

00:25:59 --> 00:26:00

side. Then when it comes to the,

00:26:01 --> 00:26:03

if you decide to do it yourself, if

00:26:03 --> 00:26:04

you decide to self publish,

00:26:05 --> 00:26:07

I would go if I'm choosing from my

00:26:07 --> 00:26:09

books and saying which one should I invest

00:26:09 --> 00:26:12

in first, right, when it comes to getting

00:26:12 --> 00:26:14

it ready for publication. And when I say

00:26:14 --> 00:26:17

invest, I mean time effort and resources because

00:26:17 --> 00:26:19

that's what it takes right?

00:26:19 --> 00:26:21

Which of these projects should I invest the

00:26:21 --> 00:26:24

time and effort and resources into first?

00:26:24 --> 00:26:26

Then I would say that it's the one

00:26:26 --> 00:26:29

that you feel most confident of selling.

00:26:30 --> 00:26:32

Now a lot of people do not like

00:26:32 --> 00:26:34

to hear about selling when it comes to

00:26:34 --> 00:26:37

writing books because many of us, we don't

00:26:37 --> 00:26:39

see ourselves as marketers, salespeople,

00:26:40 --> 00:26:42

you know, business savvy or whatever the word

00:26:42 --> 00:26:44

is. Yeah. Most of us don't see ourselves

00:26:44 --> 00:26:46

in that way, right? And some of us

00:26:46 --> 00:26:48

don't want to see ourselves in that way,

00:26:48 --> 00:26:48

so

00:26:49 --> 00:26:51

But the point is if you are going

00:26:51 --> 00:26:53

to invest time, energy, and resources,

00:26:53 --> 00:26:55

then you need to invest it in something

00:26:55 --> 00:26:56

that's going to give you a return on

00:26:56 --> 00:26:59

your investment. Otherwise, you're literally just throwing money

00:26:59 --> 00:27:00

down the drain.

00:27:00 --> 00:27:02

So out of the books that you mentioned,

00:27:03 --> 00:27:05

if you are my client, I would wanna

00:27:05 --> 00:27:06

see the books and I would give you

00:27:06 --> 00:27:09

an assessment, right, of what I think is

00:27:09 --> 00:27:10

the most marketable book

00:27:11 --> 00:27:13

based on the the book itself and then

00:27:13 --> 00:27:14

you,

00:27:15 --> 00:27:18

your interests, you know, where your passion lies,

00:27:18 --> 00:27:21

your network. Okay? So so for example,

00:27:22 --> 00:27:25

if you are a teacher or a a

00:27:25 --> 00:27:28

a, a principal, right, a school principal,

00:27:29 --> 00:27:31

and, you know, you you have this, you

00:27:31 --> 00:27:33

have the same collection that you said. You've

00:27:33 --> 00:27:35

got 2 children's books and you've got 1,

00:27:35 --> 00:27:36

1 adult's book.

00:27:36 --> 00:27:37

And

00:27:38 --> 00:27:38

your

00:27:38 --> 00:27:40

book, the second one,

00:27:40 --> 00:27:43

is related to a curriculum area that is

00:27:43 --> 00:27:46

in great demand in schools in your in

00:27:46 --> 00:27:47

your area,

00:27:47 --> 00:27:49

then I would say that might be a

00:27:49 --> 00:27:51

good choice for you because you've got the

00:27:51 --> 00:27:53

network you know you know the people who

00:27:53 --> 00:27:55

need this book you know the people you

00:27:55 --> 00:27:57

know you know where they get their books

00:27:57 --> 00:27:58

from you know what their budgets are you

00:27:58 --> 00:28:00

know that you can talk to them about

00:28:00 --> 00:28:03

it, pick the book that you feel you

00:28:03 --> 00:28:05

can talk to people about the most readily.

00:28:05 --> 00:28:07

Okay? So that's what that's the kind of

00:28:07 --> 00:28:09

process that we would have we'd be discussing.

00:28:10 --> 00:28:13

And, you know, once you've got one book

00:28:13 --> 00:28:14

out, you know, masha'Allah,

00:28:14 --> 00:28:16

we we see this a lot. Once people

00:28:16 --> 00:28:18

have one book out, it usually is not

00:28:18 --> 00:28:20

very long after that they have another one

00:28:20 --> 00:28:21

either in the works

00:28:22 --> 00:28:23

or kind of coming out in 6 months

00:28:23 --> 00:28:24

time etcetera

00:28:25 --> 00:28:28

so definitely have the books assessed, have the

00:28:28 --> 00:28:30

manuscript assessed and then you know make a

00:28:30 --> 00:28:31

decision based on

00:28:32 --> 00:28:33

already the quality of the idea

00:28:34 --> 00:28:36

and then your ability to to to talk

00:28:36 --> 00:28:38

about the idea and your ability to actually,

00:28:38 --> 00:28:40

you know, put it out there into the

00:28:40 --> 00:28:40

marketplace.

00:28:41 --> 00:28:43

Does that answer your question, Miriam?

00:28:44 --> 00:28:46

Yes. It does. Thank you.

00:28:46 --> 00:28:48

Kind of a follow-up question I'd like to

00:28:48 --> 00:28:49

ask,

00:28:49 --> 00:28:50

based on that is,

00:28:51 --> 00:28:53

does it work to to be an author

00:28:53 --> 00:28:54

of 2 different genres?

00:28:55 --> 00:28:57

Yeah. It's fine. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. It's fine.

00:28:57 --> 00:28:59

It's fine. You've it's it's very common. I'm

00:28:59 --> 00:29:02

I'm I'm an author in 3 different genres

00:29:03 --> 00:29:04

and it yeah. It works fine as long

00:29:04 --> 00:29:06

as you you know, like I said, you

00:29:06 --> 00:29:09

just want to be in integrity, right? So

00:29:09 --> 00:29:11

your children's books need to come from a

00:29:11 --> 00:29:12

place of integrity

00:29:12 --> 00:29:14

your adults books need to come from a

00:29:14 --> 00:29:16

place of integrity and obviously shouldn't

00:29:16 --> 00:29:18

you know what's the word contradict each other.

00:29:18 --> 00:29:20

But as long as you're in integrity,

00:29:21 --> 00:29:23

then you shouldn't have a problem. And it's

00:29:23 --> 00:29:25

great fun to play with genres as well.

00:29:25 --> 00:29:26

I like it when authors feel

00:29:27 --> 00:29:30

confident enough to to to kind of play

00:29:30 --> 00:29:30

in different

00:29:31 --> 00:29:33

playgrounds, if you like. You know? Sometimes you're

00:29:33 --> 00:29:36

playing in the kiddies playground, you know, we're

00:29:36 --> 00:29:38

doing the the the telling stories and then

00:29:39 --> 00:29:41

we have writers who dabble in creative non

00:29:41 --> 00:29:43

fiction for children and then one of those

00:29:43 --> 00:29:45

authors will come up with an idea for

00:29:45 --> 00:29:46

a middle grade novel and say I want

00:29:46 --> 00:29:48

to try my hand at novel writing go

00:29:48 --> 00:29:50

ahead sadia faruki

00:29:50 --> 00:29:52

is a great example of that

00:29:52 --> 00:29:54

so is Zainab Meehan actually who are 2

00:29:54 --> 00:29:56

very successful muslim authors mashallah

00:29:56 --> 00:30:00

Saadia started in children's books, picture books.

00:30:00 --> 00:30:01

Then she went into,

00:30:02 --> 00:30:03

sort of early readers,

00:30:03 --> 00:30:05

and her series is the one I mentioned

00:30:05 --> 00:30:06

before, the Yasmeen series.

00:30:07 --> 00:30:10

And she while she's still doing the Yasmeen

00:30:10 --> 00:30:13

series, she has now published several middle grade,

00:30:13 --> 00:30:15

books which are more demanding novels, right?

00:30:16 --> 00:30:18

And I just saw on Instagram that she's

00:30:18 --> 00:30:20

had another one accepted by a big publisher

00:30:20 --> 00:30:21

masha'Allah

00:30:22 --> 00:30:25

so she's she's doing what she's enjoying doing

00:30:25 --> 00:30:26

you know s k Ali

00:30:26 --> 00:30:28

You novelist,

00:30:29 --> 00:30:31

released a picture book with Ibtihaj Muhammad a

00:30:31 --> 00:30:32

few years ago.

00:30:32 --> 00:30:35

Zainab Meehan started in pure picture books and

00:30:35 --> 00:30:36

then wrote for the Muslims,

00:30:37 --> 00:30:39

which was her first sort of middle grade

00:30:39 --> 00:30:41

book. And now that's a series, masha'Allah. So

00:30:41 --> 00:30:43

you can definitely do that. And if any

00:30:43 --> 00:30:46

one of them decided to try their hand

00:30:46 --> 00:30:47

at writing for adults,

00:30:47 --> 00:30:48

they could do that.

00:30:49 --> 00:30:50

Because once you're a writer, you're a writer.

00:30:50 --> 00:30:52

As long as you have something to say,

00:30:52 --> 00:30:53

you say it to whoever you need to

00:30:53 --> 00:30:54

say it to inshallah.

00:30:56 --> 00:30:58

Thank you, Jessica LaHirend, and I'm going to

00:30:58 --> 00:31:00

be putting that up play,

00:31:00 --> 00:31:02

play in different playgrounds. I'm going to make

00:31:02 --> 00:31:04

something and put that up. Thank you very

00:31:04 --> 00:31:04

much.

00:31:05 --> 00:31:06

I love that.

00:31:06 --> 00:31:08

Please do just get in touch if you

00:31:08 --> 00:31:09

need any help. Maryam and I have worked

00:31:09 --> 00:31:10

together in the past.

00:31:11 --> 00:31:13

So always a pleasure to see previous clients

00:31:13 --> 00:31:14

coming back. Alhamdulillah.

00:31:16 --> 00:31:18

So guys, listen. Inshallah, that was helpful to

00:31:18 --> 00:31:19

you.

00:31:19 --> 00:31:21

We are going to be having weekly q

00:31:21 --> 00:31:24

and a's in the Muslim writers group. We're

00:31:24 --> 00:31:25

gonna tell you more about that later on

00:31:25 --> 00:31:27

in in in our final session.

00:31:28 --> 00:31:31

But coach Hend and I, we have a

00:31:31 --> 00:31:33

must you know, an academy called the Muslim

00:31:33 --> 00:31:34

Writers Academy.

00:31:34 --> 00:31:36

And up until this point, it has been

00:31:36 --> 00:31:37

a paid service.

00:31:38 --> 00:31:40

We have decided for 2022

00:31:40 --> 00:31:42

to open the the doors,

00:31:43 --> 00:31:44

for free to our community.

00:31:45 --> 00:31:49

And inside there are workshops there are trainings

00:31:49 --> 00:31:49

there's

00:31:50 --> 00:31:51

tons of resources

00:31:51 --> 00:31:53

and most importantly and most preciously

00:31:54 --> 00:31:56

there is a weekly q and a where

00:31:56 --> 00:31:58

coach Hend and I mainly coach Hend, but

00:31:58 --> 00:32:00

I also jump in there as well We

00:32:00 --> 00:32:01

answer questions,

00:32:02 --> 00:32:04

these types of questions. So if you enjoyed

00:32:04 --> 00:32:04

this session,

00:32:05 --> 00:32:07

then please do consider

00:32:07 --> 00:32:10

joining up for free to the Musama Writers

00:32:10 --> 00:32:12

Academy, joining the Musama Writers Group,

00:32:12 --> 00:32:15

because insha'Allah we will be instituting our weekly

00:32:15 --> 00:32:17

q and a's that will be very much

00:32:17 --> 00:32:19

like this And they've been a game changer

00:32:19 --> 00:32:21

for for many, many, many authors,

00:32:22 --> 00:32:24

And, you know, you get to pick the

00:32:24 --> 00:32:26

brains of, of, you know, of of 2

00:32:26 --> 00:32:27

people who've been in this game for a

00:32:27 --> 00:32:31

very long time and, for free. So what's

00:32:31 --> 00:32:32

not to like about that? I hope to

00:32:32 --> 00:32:34

see you guys in the Muslim Writers Academy.

00:32:34 --> 00:32:36

The links to everything will be below this

00:32:36 --> 00:32:39

video insha'Allah once it's published, not right now.

00:32:39 --> 00:32:40

But for now,

00:32:41 --> 00:32:43

and thank you so much, ladies, for coming

00:32:43 --> 00:32:45

on live with me. Hopefully, you will all

00:32:45 --> 00:32:47

join the Muslim Writers Academy, and we will

00:32:47 --> 00:32:48

get to do this on a more or

00:32:48 --> 00:32:50

less weekly basis, Insha'Allah,

00:32:50 --> 00:32:53

getting those questions answered and getting you moving

00:32:53 --> 00:32:55

towards your goal. Thank Thank you so much

00:32:55 --> 00:32:56

and we'll see you in the next session

00:32:56 --> 00:32:57

inshallah.

00:32:57 --> 00:32:58

Assalamu alaykum.

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