How I Made 10 Books out of 1 Title

My 20th book, Great Cape o’ Colors – Capa de colores, was going to be a simple bilingual picture book about career costumes and colors. Because some parents/educators prefer single language kid’s books to teach children a foreign language, I also created Spanish-only and English-only versions, as I’ve done with my other bilingual books. All include a pronunciation guide in Spanish, English, or both languages.

Since librarians and teachers prefer children’s books that last, I made all three language formats available in hard cover, as well as more affordable soft cover versions. So I have the three language titles available in hard and soft cover—as well as ebook versions of each—which makes a total of nine formats.

John Collado, the illustrator, and I thought it would be fun to make a coloring book version of this book about colors using John’s original line art and a couple extra graphics I added (of course, there’s no hardback or ebook format of the coloring book). So now, from one story, I have ten versions of the book! I suppose if I did an audio version that could be version number 11 (I am in the process of doing this my western novel, which makes more sense than an audio picture book).

Great Cape o’ Colors also happens to be the fourth book in my Careers for Kids series (a series is another excellent way to increase a title’s reach). The other titles in this job/money series are: Ma MacDonald Flees the Farm (about a woman-owned business), Bright Star Night Star (for aspiring astronomers), and The Bridge of the Golden Wood: A Parable on How to Earn a Living—which was selected by the State of Vermont for primary school financial literacy curriculum. Utah’s Granite School District has ordered a large quantity of Great Cape o’ Colors. All four multicultural children’s books link to a site with job and business ideas plus money management tips for kids and teens: ChildrenEarn.com.

While you may not create books for language learning or about jobs for kids, I hope these ideas help inspire you to find creative ways to multiply your product offerings. By the way, a 12th incarnation of the book could be a film format (I haven’t even touched on T.V., game and toy markets).

Great Cape o’ Colors has black and Hispanic superheroes, is free for Kindle Unlimited readers, and is available through PremioBooks.com, Baker & Taylor, Barnes & Noble/Nook, Brodart, Ingram, Follett, iBooks, and Walmart.com. I certainly welcome comments and followers on Amazon, Goodreads, Bookbub, Youtube, Smashwords, FB, Pinterest, Instagram, or Twitter (search my name or Multicultural Children’s Books by Premio Publishing). ISBN: 978-1732069619. SEE the book trailer here.