From time to time, Archway Publishing turns over its blog to its authors, giving them the opportunity to share stories and perspectives about their individual self-publishing journeys. The following are the words of Melanie Kordsmeier, author of “Tambo: An Elephant Adventure.” Download the Archway Publishing free publishing guide for more information on our supported self-publishing services. 

Tambo: An Elephant Adventure by Melanie Kordsmeier is the story of a young elephant who wanders too far from her herd in search of a beautiful butterfly. Two young children find her in a poachers trap and with the help of the local villagers they free her and return her to her herd. The story was written for my grandchildren and to hopefully make aware the dangers animals face in the wild from poaching. I have always loved elephants and this is a great story of love and caring for our wildlife and how helping others can be accomplished if we work together.
As a first time author I had a lot to learn. Archway was great in walking me through the process from the first person I introduced the idea to, to the marketing staff. I knew nothing about how the publishing process worked. I was first asked about my hopes and dreams for the book and then gave them an overview of what the book was about.
Once I sent it in, the ball began rolling! I had lots of choices and decisions to make. The publishing team was awesome in answering my questions and walking me through the process. The first step was deciding where the page breaks would be. I gave them my thoughts and they gave me theirs. We agreed and then moved on to illustrations. I explained the pictures I wanted on each page down to the clothes I wanted the children to wear. We went through several drafts in black and white then finally to the color illustrations. The cover (front and back) was then decided and then I wrote a brief
overview of the story for the back cover. A synopsis was then written for advertising
purposes.
It was such a rewarding experience and the first time I saw my book for sale on the Internet it was overwhelming! The staff made my first time publishing experience a learning journey that was enjoyable to go on. I am looking forward to writing the next Tambo adventure and working with Archway again to make it come to life!

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