My Explosion From a Chapter to a Trilogy

by Jan Crossen
(Lopez Island, WA, USA)

My writing experience was inspired by my adopted son, Joshua. He was a tenacious young boy with an amazing story of survival. I wanted to share the tender episode of how we met and became a family. I wanted to share our love story with other adopted children.

The original target audience was young children ages 5-8 years old. The initial story was simply one brief chapter from his life. Reliving this experience and putting it down on paper quickly drown me in a whirlpool of mixed memories. Then it blasted me into another creative universe of writing. My children's book exploded from a short story for 5-8 year olds, into a trilogy with a mission, written for pre-teen, teenagers, and young adults.

I chose to fictionalize Joshua's story to protect his privacy. I've changed the names of most of the characters. Some of what happened to the main character, Joshua, actually happened to my son. Only he and I know which parts of the books are real and which parts are fiction. I've read and reread these books so many times, that these separations are beginning to blurr...

Josh has an invisible disability called Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders or FASD. FASD is an umbrella term to describe the many physical, mental, emotional, learning and behavioral challenges caused by prenatal exposure to alcohol.

My son looks normal and has a normal IQ. Yet because of his exposure to alcohol, he has permanent brain damage. As a result, Josh struggles with risky behaviors that often put him in dangerous situations.

Josh is a difficult child to parent. He has poor impulse control and a poor memory. He cannot learn from his mistakes nor can he connect cause and effect. He has difficulty managing money and time, and is emotionally about half as mature as his peers.

FASD is 100% preventable and totally uncurable. It is a life sentence for behavioral struggles, emotional frustrations, disappointments and risks.

I wanted to promote healthy, alcohol and drug free babies, and raise awareness of FASD, by reaching impressionable pre-teens and teenagers with a fictionalized story told from Joshua's point of view.

I also wanted to encourage individuals with FASD to read, and to give them hope by creating a hero with whom they could identify.

Many young people with FASD have low reading abilities, so I wrote the books at a lower reading level. My books are categorized as "High-Low" books. This means the reader has a high interest, but low reading skills. The reading level is that of a middle school student.

The book series is divided into three time frames. Book one, "9 Lives, I Will Survive," is from Joshua's birth up through our adoption. Through these pages, I wanted the reader to fall in love with Joshua, as I did. This is a story of an interracial adoption of an older, special needs child, into a family with two committed and loving white mothers.

The second book, "9 Lives, Cat Tales," tells of Joshua's experiences during his elementary and middle school years. In this book, I wanted the reader to see Josh as a boy with promise and an appetite for life. I also wanted his behavioral issues to begin to surface. I wanted the reader to start to question this child's behaviors, much like I did.

The final book, "9 Lives, Full Circle," covers the most difficult times for Josh, and for us as a family. It is about his turbulant teenage years. Through these chapters Joshua gets into trouble because of his poor impulse control. He experiences the juvenile justice system, and like many teenagers, he questions his identity.

Josh comes full circle, and reunites with a member of his biological family. Through this reconnection, he finally learns about his birth mother's alcohol consumption during her pregnancy with him. He finally has an explaination for his behavioral problems. Now he must accept the fact that he has Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders, and learn to live with a full circle of support inorder to manage it.

Each book has several actual photographs of my son. It also has the promise of hope. There is a reference section at the end of each book, where the reader can get additional information about the topics covered.

I self-published the series through www.Dragonpublishing.net, My time frame for publishing the entire series is about a year. The first book came out at the end of October 2007, and I'm on target for the fall of 2008, as the published date for the final book.

Each book is between 112 to 150 pages long, and can be read by the average adult in about an hour and a half.

Additional target markets include: foster & adopted children, children living in interracial families and those having same sex parents. I am hoping to reach foster, adoptive, and birth parents, adoption social workers, special education teachers, counselors, therapists, medical and psychiatric professionals, and those working in the juvenile justice system.

Marketing Ideas:

I developed an annual, quarterly, and monthly marketing plan.

For the first book I gathered addresses for contacts in each of the target markets. I mailed 500, four color postcards, or 1000, two color brochures, out the week my first book hit the market.

I rented a PO Box and weeded out any 'bad' addresses which were returned to the box. I will mail only to the valid addresses in subsequent mailings.

I gathered e-mail addresses and sent announcements out to the target list the same week.

Near the completion of book two, I had a "Sell Sheet" flyer and business cards professionally developed and printed. This book is due to be printed in July 2007.

I will send the sell sheet as an attachment via e-mail to the target markets, & also give the printed sell sheet out to local independent booksellers, participants at events, etc.

I sent complimentary copies of the first book to people that I personally know from each of the areas listed.

I had a famous person in the FASD world read and write a review for the inside of book one. I also have a link from and to her website.

I used reader reviews and comments, regarding my first book, on the inside of the second book.

I had another FASD author write the forward for book three.

I am hoping to have some teenagers, who suffer from FASD, write their comments, about book 1, for use in the third book.

I have a website through www.register.com, where I can sell books via Paypal. It also has an e-mail address, my PO address, information on each book, information on FASD, a testimonial from a famous FASD personality, and reference information with links to various websites.

I send e-mail announcements to everyone in my personal address book when each book is published.

I will send an e-mail to each person, who has purchased my book via my website, announcing the publication of the second and third books.

I personally reply to each and every comment form that is submitted via my website, & keep each e-mail and mail to address.

I sent two free copies of the first book to a website for young adult books - www.yabookscentral.com

I track each expense associated with my books and also each sale.

I participate on a website for parents rearing children and teenagers dealing with FASD.

I sent copies of the first book to the publishers of adoption magazines.

I am scheduled to appear as a guest speaker at an interracial adoption, cultural heritage camp this summer.

I sell my books on www.amazon.com, and through my publisher's website.

I am available as a public speaker.

I carry my business cards and pass them out whenever the opportunity presents itself.

I donated copies of book 1 to our local middle/high school and public libraries.

I am constantly trying to come up with new marketing methods...I'd love to one day be on Oprah, Dr. Phil, & Ellen.

I'd also love for this trilogy to be made into a film and shown to every middle and high school student around the world, every year through middle and high school.

Please Note: 1 out of every 100 babies born in North America has been exposed to alcohol while in uteru.

FASD is 100% preventable. Please spread the word.

Thank you,
Jan Crossen

Visit Jan's site.