Klecker-Sailor reads her first book, Patient Leaf, to children in Red Wing, MN.
Being an English major, I have often wondered if I’d be able to write and publish a book. I could write for children, young adults, maybe even special elderly novels, whatever that would entail (heck, I could create the genre). But I’ve always found the stigma of self-publishing one that is hard to overcome, and the fact that WSU is not known for producing a large line of famous authors.
Luckily, there is hope. Children’s book author Michele Klecker-Sailor has just published a second book. A second one. A self-published second book.
Max is focused on how, according to Klecker-Sailor, “friendship trumps all social barriers: sexual orientation, age, sex, economic class, education etc.”
Klecker-Sailor describes Max as, “A children’s book about a bunny who gets befriended by Junk Yard Dog when he is left alone in a community garden. Because
nobody has ever told Max that bunnies and dogs do not make good friends, Max and Junk Yard Dog become best friends.”
Klecker-Sailor wants to inspire her readers to branch out, break stereotypes and make friends with a variety of people they like, instead of feeling socially pressured to stay in one friend circle.
Klecker-Sailor graduated from WSU in 1994 and was, interestingly enough, a Mass Communications Advertising Emphasis major with a Sociology minor. And according to her, that Mass Communications major is what really helped her in the world of publishing, “I use the skills that I obtained at WSU to write press releases, get television, radio and newspaper interviews.”
Writing was always a passion of Klecker-Sailor though. She described a moment in elementary school when she wrote a ‘get better’ note to one of her teachers who was out sick. Her teacher was brought to tears by the kind gesture. Klecker-Sailor then understood the power of words, “I knew right there that’s what I wanted to do, write. The knowledge that I had the power to evoke emotion from the reader just confirmed it for me.”
The key to becoming successful, then, is knowing how to market yourself. “I have many people come up to me and say, ‘I have written a book, but I haven’t sold any copies, how do I do that?’ The difference is marketing yourself and your product,” she says.
Klecker-Sailor’s story has reminded me that your major should not stop you from pursuing something you’d like to do. If you have a passion for something and get into the right circles and know how to market yourself, you can graduate from WSU with the ability to do what you love!
P.S. You can get a copy of Max by emailing Klecker-Sailor at
kl*************@ao*.com
. The book cost $8, including tax. The book will also be available soon on Amazon.
