High Flying History with Mike Hazlip

Ever wondered how verified and non-verified reviews can influence an author's journey? Buckle up as we journey into the literary world with our special guest, children's author Mike Heislep. We tackle the nitty-gritty of how crucial reviews can reshape a book's fate on platforms like Amazon and Goodreads, providing nuggets of wisdom for authors and readers alike.

Join us as we delve into the captivating world of Mike's children's book series, High-Flying History, a delightful blend of fun and learning where aircrafts narrate their own historic tales. From the conception of his brainchild to his innovative teaching methods, listen in as Mike shares his motivations and his unwavering belief in the power of education.

Lastly, we shed some light on where to find Mike's work, whether it's Amazon, IngramSpark, or Barnes & Noble, and discuss his role at the Citrus Heights Sentinel. We're also serving up tips for aspiring authors on what to consider before publishing a book. This episode promises to be a treasure trove of insights for anyone invested in the literary world.

Find his book, Thank You, Huey! here:  https://www.amazon.com/Thank-Huey-High-Flying-History-ebook/dp/B0CJ64NK7Y

➡️ Connect with Mike Hazlip here: ⬇️
➡️ Website:  http://www.hazlipcreative.com
➡️ Facebook:   https://www.facebook.com/mike.hazlip
➡️ Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/mikehazlip
➡️ Goodreads  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14191244

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:02

Welcome back everyone to the Writers Parish. We're guiding author and writer dreams to a perfect landing. We have with us today a very special guest. We have Mike Heislep, and he is a children's author, illustrator, teacher, photographer and reporter with the Citrus Heights Sentinel. He has a new children's book coming out. Thank you, huey, part of the High Flying History series. Of course, we'll get to talk to him in just a few minutes.

Speaker 1: 0:26

We always have our housekeeping at the top of the show. Of course, we would love for you to go ahead and hit that subscribe button. Go ahead and ring the bell so you get reminders when we have new episodes. Don't forget to like and share. If you would like to get notifications of new episodes direct to your inbox every week, you can go to sendfoxcom, slash the Writers Parish and sign up for our weekly newsletter and that will alert you to any new episodes that we have for you. Of course, we are available on social media. We're on Facebook, instagram, twitter, which is now X threads, and TikTok at writer parachute that's writer parachute without an S. Also, if you would like to contact the Writers Parish, you can reach us through the website at info at thewritersparishcom. Of course, now we want to get on with our show. We always start the show with our topic of the week.

Speaker 1: 1:23

This year, on season two, we've been focusing on reviews. Reviews are the lifeblood. They are critical to authors. It's often the only way that we get feedback from our readers. It's also how we are seen, how we're found out about how people find us and decide to buy and read the books. They are very important. So the next time you read a book, whether you like it or not, please be sure to go back where you purchased it and leave a review. If you cannot remember where you purchased it, you can always go to Goodreadscom and leavea review for any book that is available and published. We're going to talk about a few things about reviews. We're towards the end of the season. Here. We're going to bring forward a few things that I think are really, really important and worth talking about again. Number one let's talk about honest reviews.

Speaker 1: 2:16

You cannot ask somebody to give you a five-star review or three-star review, or a good review or a bad review. You cannot direct a review. All you can ask is for an honest review. You also cannot if someone sends you a review, either in the email or some other means social media or something like that and you don't like it, or you would like them to change something. You cannot go back to that reviewer and say can you please change that? That is directing a review. You're not allowed to do that.

Speaker 1: 2:46

So once the reviewer has read the book and leaves a review, then hands off, don't contact them, don't ask them for anything. Likewise, you cannot give them gifts after the review has been done. You can give free books or gifts in advance of a review, such as my book is free on Amazon this week. Go, pick up your copy in exchange for a review. Or you can mail out early reader copies and say here's my book in exchange for an honest review. Or you can say here's a promotional box with my book, a t-shirt, a cup, maybe a gift card or something. These are all in advance of the review. You cannot give them anything after the review has done. And so, as example, if somebody writes you a really good review, you can't contact them and say, oh, that was great, here's a $5 gift card or here's something else. You cannot do that. Now. You can send them another book. If you have another book or a new book in exchange for an honest review, the same rules apply. So just make sure you're not crossing that line, because it is something that is highly frowned upon by all retailers and most likely will get your review disallowed and it may get you removed from their platform, so be careful about that.

Speaker 1: 4:13

Also, we want to talk a little bit about verified purchasers versus non-verified purchasers when it comes to reviews. So anybody who has purchased your book whether it was when it was free, through a gift that was sent to them through Amazon or through the retailer, or if a gift code through Amazon where they purchased it, they are a verified purchaser. They can go to the receipt where they purchased the book or the gift code or were given the gift receipt to do the review. That makes them automatically a verified purchaser. If, however, they forget that step and they just go ahead and leave a review as normal, it may take several weeks before the algorithm catches up to indicate that they are a verified purchaser. Verified purchaser reviews will count higher in ranking than non-verified purchasers. However, on the other side of that, you do not actually need to purchase the book to leave a review.

Speaker 1: 5:23

So let's say you're sending out our copies of your book or you sent a review or a copy of your book and they want to leave a review on Amazon, they can do so. There are a few rules and guidelines about that. If you're not sure about that, please go to the community guidelines on Amazon and it talks about reviews and that has to do with reviews on all products. However, when they do leave a review, they would go to your book listing page and leave a review. They do not count as high. There is a caveat that they must have spent at least $50 in the last 12 months on Amazon and that's on any products. It doesn't have to specifically be books, but it can be on any products.

Speaker 1: 6:10

So those are kind of the key things I want you to keep in mind with reviews. Reviews are great, but there are some rules and some guidelines around them. If you are not sure, again, amazon has the strictest guidelines of all of them. Goodreads is an excellent option, but any of the retailers are excellent options for reviews. If you are unsure of the rules or the guidelines, please go to the community guidelines or community standards on any of the retailer's websites and they will clearly tell you what is allowed and what is not allowed. Just one other thing that I want to remind you is, in this day and age, we carry these amazing little computers around in our pocket, so video reviews are totally allowed, so don't forget that as an option for your readers. But that's all I have today for the topic of week.

Speaker 1: 7:09

Of course, we could talk so much more about this. If you would like to reach out to us here on the Writers Parachute, you may do so, and if you have any additional questions, or if you would like for us to do a specific show about reviews or any topics that we cover here, please reach out to us. You can leave us a note in the comments wherever you're listening or watching us now, or you can reach out to us, as I said, at info at thewritersparachutecom. So let's get on with our show and we want to meet Mike Haslip. He is a children's author, illustrator, teacher, photographer and a reporter with the Citrolyte Sentinel. We're going to talk to him about his new book. Thank you, huey. It is part of the High Flying History series. He has a couple more books that we're going to talk about during the interview that are coming out soon.

Speaker 1: 7:58

So let me get to this. I just flipped the page over. So Mike started teaching homeschool classes in 2014 and it now teaches classes in photography, graphic design and media. He is a freelance photographer and photojournalist since 1995 and has since active in various photography groups. He joined the Citrolyte Sentinel as a reporter in 2020, cover breaking news features and business stories for the online publication. Mike has previously served as the official photographer for a nonprofit organization at the Nuttree Airport in Vacaville, california, that was dedicated to historic aviation and STEM education that stands for science, technology, engineering and math. He has logged flight time and assistant aircraft in hopes to finish his pilot license one day. When he's not teaching a class or chasing a story, mike enjoys gardening classic cars and is always looking for an opportunity for photograph aviation. Welcome to the Writers' Parachute, mike. How are you today?

Speaker 2: 9:04

Good. Thank you for having me on. I'm doing well.

Speaker 1: 9:07

Well, I'm so glad to have you here. It's like you know, we don't get a lot of men who write children's books, but when we do, it's always very interesting and comes from a different perspective. And I do love this book because it's a children's story, but it's bringing forward history lessons with it, which I found so good and so entertaining. So you're an accomplished photographer, a reporter, a teacher and illustrator. So I want to know what drew you to writing children's books.

Speaker 2: 9:43

Well, you know, I kind of I started writing. My first children's book was actually Bell's Big Breakthrough, which is I'm shooting for a release date sometime next year, 2024. And that was in an effort to try to get my daughter who was I think she was seven or eight or nine at the time and I was trying to create a story that she could relate to about the speed of sound and the history of the X1 and Chuck Yeager and all of that. And I knew if I just said you know, in 1947 Chuck Yeager broke the speed of sound with the X1, she would check out, she doesn't know. It would have been hard for her to relate to that.

Speaker 2: 10:31

So I thought, how can I make a story that kind of a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down kind of approach? That's kind of my approach to teaching. If you can engage the student, if you can engage the kids and get them to relate to the story, you've got their attention. So I wrote a short story. I was like 10 years ago and now that she is graduated I can finally start kind of pulling, dusting off some of those old ideas and hopefully bringing them to market. So it's an extension of teaching for me and just wanting to get kids interested in history and aviation in a way that they can relate to Right, and I do love that and, as a former teacher, I agree with you.

Speaker 1: 11:19

It's like I often see children's books that are honestly adult books written in a children's format, which is something entirely different. But this is a story that speaks to children, that helps them understand what's going on and learning a little bit of history on the side, which I do love that. So the series is High-Flying History and it's about airplanes, helicopters and things that fly and it's teaching a little bit of history. So I want to know why that specific topic was important for your books.

Speaker 2: 11:56

Well, I think it's really important. I think history in general is important and again, if we can inspire elementary school grade school age children at their level and with teaching homeschool a lot of times I'm teaching multiple grade levels at one time there's parents get together and they have co-ops and things like that. So for elementary school age you might be teaching at this level and then as they get older, then you're going a little deeper. But it's the same subject, it's the same history subject. So I think fostering a love of history from a young age I think will benefit us, our children, into adulthood.

Speaker 1: 12:53

Okay, so why aviation?

Speaker 2: 12:56

Well, I'm passionate about aviation. I wanted to be a pilot growing up. I was always interested in airplanes and then, 1986, top Gun came out and it was like pouring jet fuel on a fire. Unfortunately, I was born with an eye condition that causes blindness and even though I have good vision in both eyes today, it pretty much limited my opportunities for to be a career pilot. I did do flight school for a few years, as you mentioned, but I chose to focus on graphic design and photography in college. So aviation is something I'm passionate about and I think getting young kids interested in aviation hopefully they'll maybe find their passion and go on to become pilots or air traffic controllers, a&p mechanics, avionics technicians. The aviation industry has so many jobs and it really requires a commitment of time and energy and if you don't have that passion you're probably not going to finish your pilot's license and get your instrument rating, your multi-engine, your commercial rating, and I think we need to foster that at a young age.

Speaker 1: 14:23

I agree and I love the fact that, without giving away too many details that what you've done in this book series is you've taken the airplane, helicopters and things that fly and you anthropomorphize them, you've made them as if they're human and they're telling their own story, which I absolutely love, because again that gets you to that story, to the heart of the story, and then the history just naturally flows in there, and I think that's important in drawing kids into reading a children's book. They don't want to read about an airplane, they want to read about what the airplane thought about their life which is kind of where you've taken these stories, and I do love that.

Speaker 1: 15:12

So what do you hope readers are going to gain from? Thank you, huey.

Speaker 2: 15:16

Well, I'm hoping that parents are going to read these to their children or their grandchildren and because I kind of I tried to build into the story some lessons for kids in particular. Thank you, huey is about friendship and fitting in and realizing your gifts and your talents, but there's also a little subtext of PTSD.

Speaker 2: 15:42

Huey's Vietnam-era helicopter and the other characters in the book are. Some of them are World War II aircraft. There's an aerobatic aircraft in there and I'm hoping that the parents that are reading this to their children or their grandchildren, that veterans, will read this and they might, maybe they'll understand that their service was important and maybe they'll kind of open up a little bit. And you know, because Huey doesn't want to talk about his experiences and I've worked with even though I haven't served myself, I've worked with a lot of groups and talked to a lot of veterans and they don't always want to open up, and so I think that's something that adults hopefully will take away from this and at the same time, the children are learning about friendship and fitting in and using your gifts.

Speaker 1: 16:41

Right, and I absolutely love that part of the book it is talking about. You know Huey and his service during the Vietnam War and you know part of why the title is Thank you, huey. You know he feels very closed off and, as you said, that's a direct correlation to a lot of veterans, you know, do not want to talk about their time in service and the things that happened and they feel kind of separated, like that is a separate life and nobody understands it. And so, in a very calm and very reassuring way in this book you've brought forward that thought process and given it a new spin, so to speak, and, you know, made Huey again realize that how important friendship is and how important his gifts are in the past, current and in the future, and I do love that. So if you could start over all the way back to the beginning with your new book, to writing and publishing, what do you wish you had known or that somebody had told you?

Speaker 2: 17:54

I wish I would have met you earlier, thank you. One of the things that I didn't know was the process of getting a book to market. Bringing a book to you know, to market. I have a history, you know, as a graphic designer, photographer, so I've worked on projects for other people. I know how to get a project on the computer. I know how to lay it out and send a press-ready file to the printer and get ink on paper. I know how to do that. What I didn't understand is how do bookstores work? How does you know? I wanted to avoid having boxes and boxes of this book sitting in my garage wondering what to do with it, you know. So I wish I had understood that process better earlier on.

Speaker 1: 18:50

Well, and also, you know, I know that part of the things that we talked about was all of the marketing pieces that go with it. You know about doing a media kit, a marketing plan, about getting your books into the different retail stores and how to do the links and all the social media and stuff, and it is a lot. And you know, sometimes you just have to not be afraid to ask for help. That's what I say. You know there is somebody out there who can help you, either in small ways or in big ways. So just be sure that you are reaching out for that. But thank you, Thank you for that shout out. So what do you think or hope that readers are going to say about your books in 10 to 20 years from now?

Speaker 2: 19:36

Gosh. I hope that the six years from now, the six, seven, eight, nine, 10 year olds that are reading this book today are going to be in aviation fields tomorrow, when they're 26, 36. And they're going to say you know, there was this little book about Huey helicopters and it really I wanted to learn more about what it. You know what is a Huey, and maybe they'll go to a museum and, you know, maybe it'll light a fire for them, like I had when I was younger, Right.

Speaker 1: 20:12

Well, I certainly hope so, and I believe that it's going to inspire not only helicopter pilots but airplane pilots of all walks, but I think it's also going to inspire future military, you know, in realizing how important that service is. So I want to know what your biggest obstacle was in bringing this book to market and what surprised you.

Speaker 2: 20:42

The biggest obstacle really was just writing the book itself. I've struggled with dyslexia growing up I actually majored in graphic design and photography fields to avoid writing, and you know so, to be a journalist and an author today is just really ironic. So just getting the book out there, getting it down on paper, was probably the biggest hurdle. You know, like I said, I have a background in graphic design, so I know how printing works. I know how to get ink on paper in order, you know a thousand copies of something, but you know getting it down on paper and making sure everything is spelled correctly. And that's part of where Huey's character comes from is the struggles that I had growing up in school and what I've seen with my own daughter with our homeschool journey and understanding that just because you might struggle with one area of academics of school, you're gifted in something. Everybody's gifted in something, and that's one of the takeaways that I want for this book.

Speaker 1: 22:01

I always love to. There's a favorite quote of mine. I don't know who the originator is. I heard it from Mike Kim years and years ago. He said that what we find ordinary about ourselves, everyone else finds extraordinary.

Speaker 2: 22:14

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 22:16

You know, and I think that that is what it is if something seems, you know, relatively easy and calm to us, is probably a struggle for a lot of people. I could not. I mean, I can't take a picture to save my life, and it's like my grandkids tell me to put down the pin when I attempt to draw. Oh yeah, I mean, what you do with that is extraordinary to me because, yeah, it's so far outside my wheelhouse I would, I would never attempt that, but you know, but it's nice to know that there are people like you who not only can do that but also teach it and assist people who are learning. So that's always important. But what do you think surprised you about the whole process?

Speaker 2: 23:05

I think just in understanding how the book publishing industry works, I think was a little bit of a surprise. How valuable shelf space is and how authors get shelf space was something that before going into this you know I didn't know. How Barnes and Noble works, I didn't know how to you know just book distribution marketing works. And then you know, in doing the research to try to figure it out, then I realized how behind the scenes, how much work is getting done behind the scenes to get this book on this shelf. So that was an interesting discovery.

Speaker 1: 23:47

It is. It's very interesting. One of these days will have to go into that because it is. It is a process and it's not the process that most people expect.

Speaker 1: 23:59

I mean, you and I had a conversation just a week or so ago about you know people wanting to get their books into every Barnes and Noble store and we talked about that. There's a very small percentage I mean there's less than probably 20 authors that are guaranteed space in every Barnes and Noble bookstore and a lot of times that's because that space is purchased by their book publisher. You know so. You know when. When people say, well, you know my books in this Barnes and Noble, but it's not in that one. Well, you know you're going to have to work at that. Yeah, so, um, all right. So what advice, if any, would you offer to new and future writers and or illustrators about going forward with the book?

Speaker 2: 24:54

Write it and you know, timing is everything I wrote. Like I say, I wrote Bell's big breakthrough probably about 10 years ago, huey, I wrote in 2013. And it's been. It's been a long process because I had to put the books on the back burner because I had other things going on at the time, and now that season of my life is over, it's coming to a close, I'm entering a new season and now it's time. So, you know, don't, don't stress out about. I wrote this book, I have to get it published. I have to, you know, definitely get it out there. Work at it, but you know, it's in the Lord's timing and that's not always something that we can force. You know, I'm not saying that you should give up. I'm not saying that you should just sit back and wait for, you know, the clouds depart in a beam of light to come down. Work at it, keep working at it, don't give up, but also give yourself time and understand that there is a time and a place for everything.

Speaker 1: 26:04

Absolutely. I always. I always tell any of my authors for my writing groups or any of my clients Writing a book is a marathon, not a sprint. It takes however long it takes, and you know, even once the book is out there, it's out there for your lifetime and beyond. So even once you're done publishing it and getting it out there, you're not ever done with that book. You're going to be promoting it and doing all sorts of things with it for the rest of your life. So, yes, timing is everything, but again, there's no rush. You know there's new books every single year and you know, maybe what happens is you're not ready. You're not ready for that moment because if you rush the book, are you ready with all the marketing and social media?

Speaker 2: 27:01

Are you?

Speaker 1: 27:01

ready with the promotional aspects of it? Are you ready to get it to press and media? That may be part of the issue too. There's so many moving pieces with publishing and writing a book. So you know, the next time you're feeling a little critical at how fast you're moving or how slow you're moving, just remember it's your journey, it's not anybody else's, and progress is all that's required, even if that progress is one word.

Speaker 2: 27:33

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 27:34

So all right. So we want to know what keeps you motivated.

Speaker 2: 27:40

I like kids, you know, and I still teach, even though my daughter is graduated from homeschool. She's got one foot in the adult world but she's still not entirely independent yet. So but I'm still teaching and I discovered a real passion for teaching through her. So I have her to thank for it. And you know just seeing the light bulb come on with kids when they read about Huey or something like that, and you know that keeps me motivated. Interesting story my daughter took a trip to Southern California with some friends and they went to the Paramount Studios Museum where they have a model of the X one that was used in the movie the Right Stuff. And I get a text from my daughter with this, with a picture of the X one and she says hey, dad, look, belle is here and I thought you know she didn't call it the X one. She didn't say you know it was Belle. And that's from that story that I wrote 10 years ago.

Speaker 1: 28:59

Right. You made a connection which is invaluable, and I will just tell you as a former teacher myself you never stop teaching. I'm constantly teaching what I know, what I think is important, and and it's it's an amazing moment when you see that light bulb or you see that progress, or you see that moment when it connects. I can't describe it well, but I don't think there's anything else in the world to replace it either.

Speaker 2: 29:30

Yeah, no, no, it's, it's All right.

Speaker 1: 29:34

With so many demands on your schedule because again, you know, let's go over the list. You're a children's author, you're an illustrator, you're a teacher, a photographer and a reporter, and now you're going to be a marketing guru. I want to know how do you keep everything moving forward and do you have any advice for anybody else who's like scattered? I mean, you and I are kind of, you know, twins in this matter is like we're doing like a zillion different things.

Speaker 2: 30:08

I'm definitely scattered. I do not have it as all together as you make it sound, believe me. I'll just ask my editor. Teaching is part time, so I teach on Fridays, so I set aside that day just for teaching, and being a journalist is part time for me also. So it's about 20 hours a week and that can be flexible because it depends on when something happens or setting up an interview, so I can kind of work around that a little bit. Like I said, my daughter is graduated so I don't have that obligation anymore. So somehow it works. My wife is the brains of the operation. She keeps me straight. I use technology on Google Calendar, things like that, to keep things straight. I have reminders. I'm a total scatterbrain. I'll be honest with you.

Speaker 1: 31:22

Go ahead.

Speaker 2: 31:24

There was a book called Smart, but Scattered, and I was reading that book and of course I left it at a friend's house and they called me up the next day and they said I think you left your book here. How'd you know it was my book? Well, so I try to give myself extra time before an interview, before an appointment, because I know there's a good chance I might get lost or I might have the wrong day. So I set reminders remind me two hours before, remind me one hour before, remind me 30 minutes before. So I use technology. My wife is the brains of the operation and all of these things are kind of flexible in part time. So it's a lot.

Speaker 1: 32:16

But Well, yeah, and it's like I do understand and it's like I'm with you. I use the Google Calendar a lot. I use the Google Tasks because I can like separate them out into different categories, I can actually put dates and times for reminders and that sort of thing. Not to mention, my phone is constantly alarmed. It's like this day, that day, this sort of thing, and it's a lot to juggle, but what I find is having a schedule and sticking to it has really kind of upped my game. So it's like I have certain days that I do certain things and I block out that time. I mean, that's just an automatic.

Speaker 1: 33:05

I don't try to schedule anything and I find for me, the trying to squeeze things in is usually what sends me off the rails. So it's like, yeah, it's like I have a few open days that I can squeeze things in, but if they're my busy days, it's like, yeah, no, that's sorry, that's not gonna happen on that day, but it just takes time and occasionally there's going to be just interruptions. You and I talked about this a couple of days ago about Mondays. It's like I'm with you. I very seldom schedule things on Mondays because they go one of two ways Either it's a very quiet, I'm able to get a bunch of stuff done, or it completely goes sideways and I get nothing done. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1: 33:54

It's like a lot of talking people off the ledge, where they kind of get panicked over the weekend, where they thought of everything that they didn't do, should have done, could have done, would have done, like so, but it is about scheduling. So here on season two of the Writers' Parachute, we have been focusing on reviews, so we're gonna ask you to write us a review for Thank you, huey. We want you to give us your review of Thank you, huey.

Speaker 2: 34:30

Oh, my review of my own book.

Speaker 1: 34:32

Yes.

Speaker 2: 34:33

Oh, okay, okay, Gosh, thank you. Huey is about a Vietnam-era helicopter that comes to a museum and feels out of place, until he realizes that the way he's designed to work is by design and that he has something that the other aircraft he can do, things that the other aircraft can't do. And the book is about friendship and fitting in, and we've kind of talked about those themes already, so hopefully it'll be inspiring and a learning process.

Speaker 1: 35:20

I love it. Five stars, of course. Why we're doing that here on season two is we want to show you, the listeners, that this is how easy it is to write a review. If you think writing a review about something that you spent hours and years writing and perfecting is easy, try reviewing your own eyes. Trust me, it's going to be difficult. Try reviewing your own style. It's very difficult, but we have yet to have a guest who has not been able to do it. So that proves to you how simple, how easy it is to write a review.

Speaker 1: 35:55

A review is just your opinion. It can be long or short, it could be. I'd like this book. I didn't like this book. I recommend this book for this person or this age group, or it could be in more detail. So next time you read a book, next time you pick up one of the books we mentioned here on the writer's parachute, when you go purchase your copy of Thank you, huey, don't forget to leave a review. The author will thank you. As I said before, this is one of the few ways that authors get feedback from their readers, and it also helps future readers to decide if this is the book for them. So don't forget. All right, so we want to know what's next. You kind of hinted at the next book, but there's another one coming after, so when can we expect those, and can you give us a little teaser about them?

Speaker 2: 36:53

Well, my next book is I'm aiming for. I have two more books that I'm aiming for 2024 release, bell's Big Breakthrough, which is retelling the story of Chuck Yeager's flight in the X-1 through the eyes of the Bell X-1. Ironically, I didn't plan it this way, but both the UH-1 Iroquois Iroquois is Huey's real name and the X-1 are both by Bell Aircraft Company and just worked out that way. So the next book is gonna be about the X-1. And I'm also working on putting together a story about Huey. We Need you. And that is again it's gonna be based on true events that Huey is called back into service as a firefighting helicopter and Cal Fire still uses UH-1s. They're transitioning to the Black Hawk right now. Interesting fun fact all helicopters are named after Native American tribes to honor that heritage. So UH-1, iroquois, black Hawk, apache, chinook, kyoah those are all Native American tribes.

Speaker 1: 38:18

Well, being a Native American, we so appreciate that, because there's very few things that do honor the Native Americans in history and we do appreciate that. So again, just for those of you who are listening, his next book is gonna be Bell's Big Breakthrough, coming out in 2024. And that is about Chuck Yeager's flight in the M-1. And then the third book coming out in the series is Huey we Need you, which Huey will return and help out with Cal Fire during fire season. So again coming out late in 2024, we're so excited and of course, we're gonna bring you back on here to talk about those books when they're out and ready. So where can people find your books?

Speaker 2: 39:06

My books are available on Amazon and IngramSpark or Ingram.

Speaker 1: 39:15

Well, they're distributed through IngramSpark, so they're basically available wherever books are sold.

Speaker 2: 39:21

Okay. So, Thank you.

Speaker 1: 39:25

That's fine. No, people get confused about that. So right now his books are available on Amazon. We'll have the links for you in the show notes. They're also available at Barnes, noble and at any book retailer. If you cannot find the book at a book retailer, please just ask. They can certainly order it for you and, of course, we will have information where you can reach out to Mike in the show notes as well, and I believe you're gonna have some signed copies on request, is that correct?

Speaker 2: 40:00

Yes, I can do signed copies. I have a couple of events coming up that are in the works. Nothing's finalized yet, but potentially having a book launch centered around Veterans Day. So that'll be November of this year somewhere. November 11th is Veterans Day. It falls on a Saturday this year, and so we're looking at doing some things, potentially November 4th and November 11th.

Speaker 1: 40:30

All right, awesome. We'll go ahead and put that information for you in the show notes, as we have that. Also, you are on social media. I know that you're just building up your platform, so anybody that would like to know more about Mike and all the things that he does please go follow him. We will have links to that. So which platforms are you on?

Speaker 2: 40:51

I am on Facebook Instagram. I have a YouTube channel that is in progress. There's not too many videos uploaded yet right now. I'll have more content on that channel soon and I also have another YouTube channel. He's Look Creative Learning, and that's more tutorial based little tips and tricks with Illustrator, photoshop and things like that.

Speaker 1: 41:20

Awesome, we'd love to hear about that. So we will include all of this for you in the show notes, along with his website, which is, I believe, hiflinghistorycom. Is that correct?

Speaker 2: 41:32

Yes, yeah, the book series is Hiflinghistorycom.

Speaker 1: 41:36

Okay, and then you do have another one for your illustration and your photography work. Is that correct?

Speaker 2: 41:45

Yeah, you can go to haste-lookcreativecom and you can see my portfolio, some of the work that I've done, and there's links to other educational resources for dyslexia, adhd, other homeschool resources and things like that.

Speaker 1: 42:06

All right, awesome. We'll be sure to include that in the show notes. And then I wanted to ask you about the Centris Heights Sentinel. That is an online newspaper. Is that under a subscription? Is it free? Can we get a link to sign people up for that if they would want to follow you as a reporter as well?

Speaker 2: 42:27

Yes, I will get you that link. The Sentinel is online only. We're not in print and we just cover Citrus Heights and there is a paywall. So there's a certain number of free articles. You can read each I think it's monthly and then it will prompt you to subscribe. There is a free email that goes out. Signing up for the email list is free.

Speaker 1: 42:56

Okay, all right. Well, we'll go ahead and add that to the show notes because we wanna make sure everybody can follow in you and all of your different jobs that you have. So we talked a little bit about upcoming events and we'll have that information in the show notes as it comes forward. Was there any kind of signups or newsletters or anything else that you wanted to share with the audience to sign up for? I know you said something about possible downloadable coloring pages. Is that correct?

Speaker 2: 43:31

Yeah, I'm working on those, so we'll have those available through the website.

Speaker 1: 43:38

Right through High Flying History. So again, we'll have all of that information for you in the show notes. Was there anything else that you wanted to talk about before we go to our tip of the week?

Speaker 2: 43:50

I don't think so. I think that about covers it. I hope you liked the book. I hope your kids liked the book and your grandkids liked the book and read it to a veteran and thank a veteran for their service.

Speaker 1: 44:05

Absolutely, absolutely. I think you're going to enjoy the book and I do encourage everybody to go grab their copy of Thank you, huey, and, of course, as soon as the other two books go grab those. But if you go to Amazon, you can actually follow the author and they will alert you when he has new books out. So we're going to jump over and do our tip of the week. So Mike mentioned a couple of different things that he had problems with or were surprised by. One of them was trying to bring the book to market. Now, that kid.

Speaker 1: 44:40

We could go on and on and on about the different details about bringing books to market. So what I would say is, if you are early in the process, the first thing is just tell a great story, don't worry about the rest of it. Tell a great story and then hire a good editor. And if you can't draw, then hire a good illustrator. You're probably going to want to hire the editor before the illustrator, because the illustrator is not going to want to keep changing those illustrations as the book gets edited. So and then, once you've gotten the book done, then you're going to want to think about a formatter if you're not, if you're not able to do that for yourself, about having the book cover designed again. If you're using an illustrator, they're more likely to be able to help you with those things. So do check those things out and then we get into kind of the meat and bones of bringing the book to market.

Speaker 1: 45:33

You know, one of the things that I tell children's authors especially is to decide what size book that you want early on. If you're unsure, go to a bookstore, go, look at the different sizes, take a little ruler or tape measure with you and measure the sizes, pick about three to five that you like, in order of the one you like best, the one you like least, and then you can go on to Amazon. At katiepamazoncom, under their tools and resources, you can see the trim sizes that are available. The first number is going to be the width of the book and that means from spine to the open edge. The second number is going to be the height of the book, so from the top to the bottom. So make sure you have those numbers correct and not reversed so you can look at those.

Speaker 1: 46:26

And some have some caveats forcing you to use premium color or they're only available for certain style of books. So do check that out. You can also do the same thing at InverSpark, at Lulu, at any of the book publishers and or retailers. This is something that's important because it will affect your pricing. If you have to use premium color, then the pricing is going to be higher than standard color. Some of them have a requirement for an extra fee for odd sizes and that is because they have to set the order aside, recalibrate the entire machine to be able to print it in an odd size. So just make sure you're aware of all of these things when you're figuring out what size the book.

Speaker 1: 47:16

I wouldn't worry about that at the point when you're writing the book, but maybe while the editor is working on the book, that is the point when you want to decide what size that you have and then the rest of it. I would say try and find a publishing coach. You can go online to, again, kdp, amazon, to InverSpark. They do have a lot of tools and resources. They also have videos and blogs on both of them and that will help you. There's a lot of YouTube videos.

Speaker 1: 47:48

What I would say is just take your time, go through it, ask questions. Don't ever and that includes me take anybody's word as gospel make sure you're getting multiple people answering your questions. There are many reasons why you would choose one path versus another. So the key is understanding why you would choose each of those. So if you're not getting the answers that you need, then reach out and find somebody who can give you those answers. So that was it.

Speaker 1: 48:24

And then he also mentioned talking about writing, when you have writing obstacles. You know he talked about having dyslexia and ADHD. However, there are many other writing obstacles. There are people who can't type. There are people who can't put pen to paper. Again, go back to using all of the technology that is available. We have voice to text. We have recordings that can go voice to text. You know handwriting.

Speaker 1: 48:57

I myself prefer in the draft stage to hand write and then transfer it to a document, simply because of all the technical work I do when I'm working on the computer. My brain is already there. You know it's already seeing all the mistakes, all the mis commas and spelled words that you know the the wrong phrasing and stuff like that. Those things are all workable. Just find a solution that works to you. You know everybody is going to have their opinion of what works best.

Speaker 1: 49:29

What I say is figure out what works for you and, as far as you know, getting further into the book, it will happen. When it happens. Again, we talk about it being a marathon rather than a sprint. There are different tools and topics that will help you get ahead, but again, I say this once, I'll say it 100 times your book is going to be out there for your lifetime and beyond.

Speaker 1: 49:58

If you don't hit bestseller the first month or the first year, there's always next year. If you don't do a promotion this week or next month or this year, there's always next year. If you don't achieve an award or whatever it is that you're looking for, again, there's always so much more time to do that. So set yourself up for success. Remember that when you're winning, that's when the doubts come in, so use that as a marker to know that you're being successful rather than take it as a reason to stop. So, of course, we could talk so much more about all of these tips around marketing your book, about bringing it to market, about writing all of these things, but of course, we don't have time for everything.

Speaker 1: 50:47

So if you have questions or you would like more information about any of the things that we talked about here on the writer's parachute. Please read it out to us. You can leave us a comment in the show, leave us a message in the comments, or you can reach out to us at info at thewritersparachutecom. We'd be happy to get back to you. So we want to thank Mike for being here with us today, thank him for sharing his new book. Thank you, huey, and as always, I'm so grateful to be the host here on the writer's parachute, guiding author and writer dreams to a perfect landing, and we hope that you find this as a safe and creative space for your dreams to land well too, and I hope that you have a great time. Have a great week. We'll be back again next week. Until then, happy writing everyone. Bye.