Joe Garrick enjoyed creating unique stories as a child, so when the pandemic halted the world, he found passion and purpose in writing children’s books. He is the author of two published children’s books, Whose Hoof is That? and Billy the Dentist. He is the Director of Business Development for Digital Ignite, a digital advertising agency.
Joe graduated from Appalachian State University and started a career in logistics and data analytics, working for Coyote Logistics, Medledge, and Bardavon Health Innovations. His third book, The Best Bagel Book, will release Fall 2021.
In this episode…
What are the steps to successfully market a children’s book? How can an author find resources to promote and complete their work successfully?
Joe Garrick is the self-published author of Whose Hoof is That? and Billy The Dentist and knows the trials of self-publishing — and the steps to succeed. He digs from his marketing and consulting past to advertise his works. Joe found success using proven sales tactics, utilizing a knowledgable team, and making memorable connections to promote his books.
In this episode of Digital Madvertising, Chris Clark is joined by children’s author Joe Garrick to talk about what it takes to create and publish a book. Together, they discuss why communication and networking are key, the importance of utilizing marketing and advertising tools, and how to overcome obstacles in the publishing world.
This Podcast is powered by Digital Ignite and recorded in Charleston, SC. Hosted by Chris Clark and Winnie Teal. Digital Madvertising is edited, produced & scored by the talented Connor Sage. Join us each week as we cover the wild wild west of digital marketing news, trends, and products.
Follow us!
Joe Garrick enjoyed creating unique stories as a child, so when the pandemic halted the world, he found passion and purpose in writing children’s books. He is the author of two published children’s books, Whose Hoof is That? and Billy the Dentist. He is the Director of Business Development for Digital Ignite, a digital advertising agency.
Joe graduated from Appalachian State University and started a career in logistics and data analytics, working for Coyote Logistics, Medledge, and Bardavon Health Innovations. His third book, The Best Bagel Book, will release Fall 2021.
In this episode…
What are the steps to successfully market a children’s book? How can an author find resources to promote and complete their work successfully?
Joe Garrick is the self-published author of Whose Hoof is That? and Billy The Dentist and knows the trials of self-publishing — and the steps to succeed. He digs from his marketing and consulting past to advertise his works. Joe found success using proven sales tactics, utilizing a knowledgable team, and making memorable connections to promote his books.
In this episode of Digital Madvertising, Chris Clark is joined by children’s author Joe Garrick to talk about what it takes to create and publish a book. Together, they discuss why communication and networking are key, the importance of utilizing marketing and advertising tools, and how to overcome obstacles in the publishing world.
This Podcast is powered by Digital Ignite and recorded in Charleston, SC. Hosted by Chris Clark and Winnie Teal. Digital Madvertising is edited, produced & scored by the talented Connor Sage. Join us each week as we cover the wild wild west of digital marketing news, trends, and products.
Follow us!
Chris Clark 0:00
All right, everybody. Welcome to episode number 5 of the Digital Madvertising Podcast powered by Digital Ignite. Digital Madvertising covers all things in the digital marketing and technology space here we will be interviewing brand managers, C-suite executives, entrepreneurs, from some of the world's biggest brands. We'll also be discussing trends and topics that happen in the digital world. But today, I have with me a very special guest. I have with me children's author, Joe Garrick. He is the author of Whose Hook is That? as well as Billy The Dentist, and a few other amazing children's books and concepts that are coming out. And I'm very excited to talk about Joe, his background, how he got started some of the processes about that, and how he kind of markets himself as an author in some of these children's books. But um, Joe, welcome to the Digital Madvertising Podcast. How you doing?
Joe Garrick 0:57
Doing well, thanks for having me.
Chris Clark 0:59
Yeah, man. Well, again, I just kind of this, this this mad, you're mad intro for you. I know you are a proud graduate of The Appalachian State University. Why don't you tell me a little bit more about yourself and leading up to you becoming a children's author?
Joe Garrick 1:16
Sure, sure. Well, you know, and sharing my background. As you can see my background here, there are nothing hidden here. And I am a man who wears many different hats. So as you can see back there, I also make them and thus, if anybody was able to see this, they might understand why there are so many hats back there. But born and raised in Hickory, North Carolina, I currently live here in Charlotte, I went to, as you said, The Appalachian State University with hopes of just obtaining a degree I had no clue what I was doing school was never my strong suit. But I love talking to people love, you know, being in front of people feed off of other people's energy. And so you know, communication field was the fit for me. And a lot of things that go hand in hand with communication and all the things I just listed about being in front of people, also rounds up to the sales world and sales experience. So most of my professional career, actually, all of my professional career has been in sales. And even since a kid, or ever since I was a kid, I was always in sale. So like, we had apple trees in our backyard, and I would pull the apples off and try to sell them to my neighbors, the school wrapping paper sales, like I love competition doing it. I would take CDs and sell them at summer camp in my cabin to other kids. I had a car detailing business when I was in high school with a friend of mine that we call Jays way. Nice, isn't it? This also started with J buddy My name Jordan. And so I've just always been an entrepreneur, I think it's very cool when you can use a skill that you have, or you know, something you're passionate about and be able to bring it to life, but really bring it to others to where they can see, you know what you've done and enjoy it and whether they hold it or utilize it or you know, buy it, look at it, listen to it, whatever it is, you know, it's always been something that's important to you making an impact and making a difference. And I guess I love making people laugh. So and again another has been always another strong suit of mine but you know, that's kind of how some of this sparked and really what got me into you using my creativity to make something come to life outside of just being witty and telling a quick joke or or word associate your natural,
Chris Clark 3:46
your natural born hustler, man, you know, that's what it seems like. So I mean, I think you're about to go into kind of my next question, but it's kind of why and you know, why children's author why, you know, not even labeling you as a children's author, but why writing? What is your passion behind writing? And, and then, you know, passion behind writing for children?
Joe Garrick 4:05
Oh, great question. Thank you, Chris, for asking. So, I love hip hop music always have just the way it makes me feel and motivates me It gets me amped up for anything. And you know, whether it's pumped up to make a sales call or going to a book event, or I do my best thinking when I'm listening to I check it, it's like this other world just opens up in my mind. You know, it's like into a new dimension or you activate this new part of the brain and, um, you know, as far as writing like, it's, it kind of came together because of my love for hip hop and the ability that I have. So I love to rap my hip hop career hasn't taken off yet.
Chris Clark 4:51
What's your rap not here? What's that? I said, What's your rap moniker?
Joe Garrick 4:55
Like what would my name be? Yeah, I you know, I always thought about that, but Um there's part of me that was going to be the presentable criminal and you know flowed with the, you know, off the tongue but I don't know just Joji to or Joburg just kind of nicknames I've always had something easy.
Chris Clark 5:12
You got to build up the base of the the rhymes first I guess. And then you can figure out that the names neck so
Joe Garrick 5:18
right and it's, you know, again, the music comes on or I'm in the situation, I used to do some of those battles when I was younger, smaller stuff, and I always did very well and um, I just honestly never believed in myself to go take the next step. And I don't think I surrounded myself with the right people. And what I mean by that is, my friends believed in me and supported me, but I didn't have anybody that was necessarily in that field or a guide or path necessarily to go figure it out. And I'm not blaming anybody else, it's on me. And that's one thing I've learned is that if you want to make something happen a lot of times you have to be the one to do it. So getting into this, I was always an idea person. And same with hip hop, I loved to come up with the names of things or titles or something's funny, but then I just never got past I was an idea person, I was never a doer. And I think during this pandemic, is when it started to actually click for me. So the way this happened there first came about is I would come up with titles for books, and then not really do a whole lot with it. December of 2019 I was back in Hickory with some of my high school buddies, we were out to lunch for the holidays like a little thing I put together to all catch up since we live in different places and they brought their kids and I was making the kids laugh and you're probably making animal noises or talking about it whatever and they're like a couple of them were like you know, you should really write a children's book I was like you know have been put these ideas together you know, maybe maybe I'll do it excuse me well, fast forward to January of 2020 my wife was leaving to go to England for three months for a project for work. So I said alright, this is the time like I'm here I'm going to do something with this I taking a step back I'm not good at sitting still I don't nap I have a hard time relaxing like I want to be making the most of my time I had back surgery multiple times but I would always bet I'm not going to just sit here and watch TV I'm going to learn something on that or read something you know I'm going to make the most of my time or you know, as I ultimately look at things my time on this earth I want to do something that's worthwhile and meaningful and for everybody that's different interpretations. But I decided that I was going to write this when she goes to London so I would sit there at night I'd be watching TV phone in hand. And I was like, you know how what can I make it about and I was like well let's go with the ABC. Why? Because it's a base I have figured it out as I go I can find you know whatever I want to talk about I decided to go with animals and what kind of feet they have because there's a million animals out there and there's got to be something for every letter right so it's like okay check now I just have to do some research and then I just always thought feet were kind of funny and like the idea of a roof I know this is very weird and it's kind of like an inside thing with my friends but I just always found it to be funny and it was something that's a little different and in life I try to find something that is interesting entertaining and different from what you typically find like typically a different still similar and the same but really what makes you stand out and I use this in my sales tactics you know here at Digital Ignite as well you know there's plenty of salespeople out there there we know there's tons of agencies out there and companies that offer similar solutions or products that we may offer so what differentiates me from everyone else where our company from everyone else and I tried to make the experience you know reaching out to somebody memorable whether it's a phone call or email like how do I stay present on their mind and not just some sales person unlike anybody else you know, you got to hone in on the skills and what you're saying and what you're doing but so the thought was the same with the book and I you know, I was going back to the hip hop music and for me, exercise is important I tried to do it every day, you know, with multiple back surgeries, knee surgeries, etc. A you would think I was some sort of great athlete which for podcast purposes, let's say that I was and I just got injured.
But I you know being limited on what I can do and so my thinking cap goes on when I'm exercising and when I'm listening to hip hop and I'm just zoned out, you know, I just go off into this other world and that's when I literally do my best writing. So for the first book I remember I was on elliptical machine I was at a gym here locally, and it just hit me and like I got through the first four letters I just had animal or I had I looked up animals and just started you know, like word association and you know, getting everything to rhyme and alliteration which you'll find and definitely and who sofas that also in some of my other books, and then it just it just went and then I do a little research and find an animal and Then I and then I'd look up see well what kind of feet do they have? You know, do they have hosts they have toes, they have wings, you know, whatever it may be and I would just work through the process and then I always knew I wanted to be a hardback book and I always wanted it to be yellow because I wanted it to be attention grabbing when you walk by it What do you see? Um but I had no idea what I was doing right yeah
Chris Clark 10:26
yeah no so again and looking at you know Whose Hoof is That? and and you've covered you know, the the you know, the why in the process what looking at your website you've got a pretty amazing team and a lot of individuals may think that there's just that you write it and then it goes onto a shelf or it's in your Amazon cart but it there's a from publishing and marketing to you know, editing, run run us through that runs through your team and how it goes from your your brain to Amazon does your
Joe Garrick 10:57
well with anything in life, communication, and networking is key. And I have found that to be the number one thing in my life and for those that are close to me and know me, I go out of my way and above and beyond to communicate, to reach out, you know, to talk to anyone friends, stay connected, whatever, you never know where it's gonna go. And you know, the term you hear never burn a bridge, I want I can very much tell you that is true, never do it. Just It's crazy. 1520 years, you go back and have communication with people. And they're, they're back in it. So I was writing the book, and I give everybody the same advice. You know, when I'm out selling the book at events is first thing I tell people to do is write it, don't worry about everything else that will come as I've learned it. But if you if you you know dive into the details, you'll probably get stuck. And you'll find reasons on why not to do it. Point being an example my book is a little longer this first one I think it's 1300 words give or take. And I was when I was doing some research asking some people I was told all kids books need to be around 550 words, Max, well, I couldn't make my product come to life with that. And sometimes you just have to stand out and do it all on your own. I decided to self publish my book, because I didn't know how to get in touch with publishers. I mean, there's huge ones, you can send them an email, but you know, it's it's unlikely that somebody is going to reach out to you. And I'm learning more of this as we go, which I'll get into later in this conversation. But so I was like, Alright, I'm gonna write it. I needed an illustrator. So I thought I reached out just on like, Instagram, Facebook, friends, anybody have any artistic ability. And there's so much more that goes into it. Because you've got to you've got to know how to format these books and work with people in production and all this stuff I had no clue about. Well, my wife and I had used a videographer from Savannah College of Art Design when we got married in Savannah about five years ago. And I decided that excuse me, don't ever drink a carbonated drink when you're going to be on a podcast.
Chris Clark 12:53
podcast one on one. Yeah.
Joe Garrick 12:55
So I had we had a pretty good experience, I was on a budget because I no idea what this was gonna cost me. And so I put an ad out on their website, the company website and where students could apply to it. I told him what I was gonna pay off for two models offered a royalty for an upfront cost. And for those out there listening and that are interested in doing a children's book ever making it come to life, your illustrator is likely going to want the upfront cost and that is because they never know if you're going to bring this book to life. royalties sound great, but you know, what is the bird in the hand versus two in the bush and cash in hand
Chris Clark 13:34
cash straight cash? Oh,
Joe Garrick 13:37
yeah. So as I go back to the carbonated drink so you know for the posting up. So if you look at my book in the team, you'll see Andrea was her name and she was a grad student, very professional, knew exactly what to do. And she held me accountable and liable because I can easily just zone off and go in and talk about 50 different things and she was so professional, highly recommend her. I've tried to you know, give her information anybody else and that's why it's in the book too. So that if people want to reach out and contact her, you know, I want to help
Chris Clark 14:10
and that's amazing artwork. She's a great
Joe Garrick 14:13
Oh, yeah, no, she really was and you know, I think she uses it for her portfolio as well which is, the way I do it with all of my illustrators is ultimately the I'm paying so I end up owning the rights to everything but I let them use it for their portfolios so that they will make
Chris Clark 14:29
sure we tag it for this you know, we'll make sure that you know, as we publish the podcast, Andrea will get a shout out with tagger portfolio, so anybody that's listening can check it out if you need any of that artwork. Yeah.
Joe Garrick 14:41
And so it kind of was uh, ended up being a tag team effort. So her brother Andres, similar brother and sister, he was at Georgetown doing graphic design, and she actually asked if it would be okay if he helped with some of the format and layouts and the I was fine with it was like yeah absolutely again incredible job same thing is a first portfolio I told both gladly be a reference for them if they ever need it
Chris Clark 15:09
those two need to start an agency and amen I have right there illustration that's crazy
Joe Garrick 15:14
so Andrea was gonna think was trying to get out to California and you know find some you know a job in that space as well and we haven't kept in touch with it as much I spend so much of the time you know when I'm not at my primary job at night or weekends you know selling this other you know trying to sell the book and get it out that you know it takes a lot of the time even though I feel like I'm you know, going against everything I said at the beginning about communication standing in touch
Chris Clark 15:44
well who else is on the team? Yeah, so
Joe Garrick 15:46
her brother Andreas is on there as well. You will see the first editor was my high school English teacher very cool. Yeah so you know we we connected through Facebook and I told her trust you Oh yeah. And I was like do you want to do want to be part of this Sure. And you know, she was very reasonable when it came to price free Yes. Yeah, no, no yeah. And very supportive. And then you know the one who is handling all the digital media for me and helping me get the website together and some of these other things is this you know, drum roll my wife Yeah,
Chris Clark 16:28
and as I'm progressing through got a close knit team, man, oh, yeah.
Joe Garrick 16:31
So is I've actually progressed through the book she has become my editor. For all of them. I can write these books and make them make sense and be funny and rhyme but when it comes to grammar and spelling, total weakness of mine, just you know, gotta lean on someone else. And
Chris Clark 16:48
Grammarly can only get you so far.
Joe Garrick 16:50
That's true that's true.
Chris Clark 16:51
My wife is my my editor as well for anything I'm horrible at grammar.
Joe Garrick 16:56
Oh yeah, I do have Grammarly as well which we should tag them in this podcast degree well
Chris Clark 17:01
a big shout out to Grammarly yeah you get a you get a super far but I mean again you know editing a book I'm sure we pay a pretty pretty penny for a subscription as for that type of stuff, but I digress. But yeah, so I cut you off. You've got Andreas Andre you've got your wife who else is who's also on the team Garrick
Joe Garrick 17:19
there you had one of my high school English teacher and Rachel my wife Liz and who's now my editor there is a good friend of mine Grant Sigmund and he was my attorney helps me put together the contract you know which is important in doing this for you know, especially between the writer and the illustrator because you want to stick to timelines and making sure they're paid appropriately and on time for their work but also you know, living up to deadlines that you have to complete these things because as I've learned, you know, once you start producing the book it gets timely and it also gets expensive so you know the time of the year in which you sell books are huge again I'll get to that so and then my dog Theo you'll see him in there he is you know the support animal and he is actually the image for dogs the dog it's not Theo is a T because I actually named this after a friend of mine son so most of the characters in my book are my friends kids cousins of mine people we knew that I wanted to tie that outline in very cool I figured if nothing else at least that should sell 26 books yeah those people
Chris Clark 18:39
see it's cool man you've got this this small knit team you know and and it's growing you know from from what you've released so far from you know whose hope is that you've you just released this past week correct Billy the Dentist right This was tied almost into a almost marketing you were explaining to me before we came on you had a relationship with a friend that's a dentist walk me through kind of um you know the process of this how this book is going to be helped promote market this dentist but and vice versa.
Joe Garrick 19:10
Sure. So after going through Whose Hoof is That? and learning the size, format pricing, how to produce it, all of that I knew that if I went and replicated it, it would be much easier so if I can stick to the same size with the same production company with my same contact, I can eliminate a lot of the steps. So Billy is a friend of mine who I met at my friend Alex's bachelor party. It's his brother in law to his wife's brother. I had just gotten Whose Hoof is That? in the mail at the time of his bachelor party so I brought it with me yeah brought a challenge you how
Chris Clark 19:48
to bring a children's book to a bachelor party. Why not do that's gonna be the best time to critique it a bunch of drunk dudes reading a children's book, right?
Joe Garrick 19:55
So we know I brought it just show them and like see what they thought and so He and I talked about it you know, we just developed a bond over the bachelor party just hanging out became buddies. So fast forward to the wedding he and I were both in this wedding. We are at the lunch the day before fight the groomsmen are sitting out and Key Largo Florida or excuse me Alvarado and his beautiful place said set a scene set the scene Oh yeah, it's like 80 degrees when things are flowing but he so he and I are sitting there lunch together joke around we're talking about the boat he's like you know you should write me a book and I was like, I'll do it right now. Sure enough we're sitting there at lunch and I just start like then I go into this and then I'm not listening to other conversations I just ride in my car making things rhyme you know how can I use his name and he you know his name is Billy so there's so many you know teeth look silly Billy like alright I put this into you know and then
Chris Clark 20:50
Billy had hillbilly T or I yeah, that was I just butchered that I'm not the writer but no you could Billy's got a lot a lot of fun little things you can tweak to it so you're literally at a wedding or a pre wedding you know get together and you're not even paying attention to what's going on you're just in the zone about to bang out this amazing next children's book
Joe Garrick 21:10
right so it was about you know it took me about 45 minutes not to go back edit it and add a few things in here and there to do it all but ultimately made it come to life
Chris Clark 21:20
now like a rapper writing a song on a you know, a bar napkin
Joe Garrick 21:24
you know you ever hear your see the videos where they talk about like Jay Z just walks in nothing right now they just won and it's like, to me it's like that it's like Mamba mentality or Tiger vision or just like when I hit this zone I just like can't stop but if you're like someone sociation I'll be doing this for the next two days like I can't get it out of my head and I think it's what has led to my success so for doing this anyway so moving forward we talk about the book I told him I'll make it come to life you know we go through you know months of you know, I find illustrators and then I asked him you know for mock ups and then asked him which one he likes better and then I'm I write the book I manage the entire process and then ultimately, I get the books made overseas. Ideally, we'd love to do it here but the price is so much higher to do it here and in order to keep the price point where it's reasonable and affordable for people you know, making it overseas is the option so I got them all set up everything delivered to his office and when I say this I typically order minimum of 2000 books at a time you know the bigger bulk order the less you have to sell to break even sure and so they get delivered by an 18 Wheeler you get a pallet at your door gosh yeah we're talking 5050 pound boxes and like 40 plus at a time so he they just got delivered to his office one day and his you know, somebody brought it in he was actually not there that day and brought it in but so he now uses it for marketing his office he like he sells them and gives them out to his patients. He's He's with a company it's his company's called Zenga dental it's in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and so you know we have a system set up where it's like a partnership where he and I and all the proceeds you know on his end go to Operation Smile that he donates is for kids with cleft palates. Um It's very cool yeah so so pretty neat. And then you know as part of our deal by managing this process you know, when he gets lower needs more I handle it all order more for his office and he gives it out and then part of our deal was I got you know, 500 copies of it so that's why I had a book release you know, get it out in front of other people you know, start to sell them a little bit because it's how I make my money from this when it's not just solely a project on my own. But it's a lot of work and I'm not gonna lie I'm not gonna lie about it. I'm not gonna sugarcoat it for anybody who wants to you know anybody I put it so I can write a children's book. It's not rocket science, like I can show you my LSAT scores it's not but you have to be determined you have to be willing to work and you know give up your weekends if you look at it as giving up you know, the weekends like I'm out selling markets, any opportunity I get, but I love talking to people. I love being out and I love promoting something that I made that other people can enjoy
Chris Clark 24:26
will talk about me or talk about that to me you know the grassroots marketing behind it any any other type of efforts to push it out and you know, I know we're talking here at Digital Ignite with you to help you out a little bit with that which is going to be fun because of the way that we can go and target you know, for example, I have a five month old son we're reading so many children's books we've got whose hope is that Thank you. But you know being able to target myself or my wife and couples like that, you know grandparents to be able to serve them ads you know, with your your child. children's book that's that's what we're gonna help you with but what are some ways right now in the you know as you've released these books that you're getting the word out
Joe Garrick 25:07
well I think there's a few so I chose I had a you know with my wife before I got into our line of work my wife was in it first and she she helped me put together the my website so people could click a link to buy which I run through Etsy and I did that initially through Etsy is because their fees were most reasonable and they offer a square so I can sell via credit card in person and they provide a lot of solutions and they also have Etsy advertising which you can opt into to help get the book out as well and you know this book has actually been a whose sofas that has been a best seller two years in a row at two different times which is pretty cool. So I did that you know and then there's the big question of Amazon I mean everybody asked it you know, not hiding it my research when I was trying to sell this book was that between what I had to pay monthly to have a membership to sell plus a percentage that you know they would take plus shipping like it was going to be very difficult for me to even break even and when you're starting a project like this and you were taking your risk and you're learning on the fly what to do you know you have to be cautious I mean there's a I've spent 1000s of dollars making this come to life on something that was an idea that I have no idea what it was going to turn out to now I've been profitable now I'm not retiring obviously you know I'm book one unless you know we have millions of listeners who are all going to buy one and then maybe after that but
Chris Clark 26:47
there we go retire Joe or let's get you the means to keep writing these books at least so yeah,
Joe Garrick 26:53
well no and I love and I'll continue to do that too now that I know the process but I'm now going down the path you know I said at the beginning of this that I was self published I'm starting to talk some publishers now about potentially helping to get the book into bookstores you know the big box stores throughout the country additionally having that option of books that sell themselves without me doing all the work but you know I promoted on Instagram and Facebook and I think that's a big thing for people and as we've learned in this industry you know you have video is king and how you advertise marketing is extremely important and I know when I go to these markets I sell them myself you know I typically sell between 40 and 80 books a day at a market which you know if it was in a bookstore I don't think yeah I got quite a success but I'm a salesperson I know how to do it it's my product I made it I'm confident I'm excited I want to get you excited about it yeah there's the the mail must be here but anyways so but I am learning that more and more you know building your content building your following and the way in which you market it and it you know people have always said it takes money to make money and if you want to get your product out there and you want brand awareness you need to utilize marketing and advertising that's why it's so great to go digital night here in Charleston South Carolina
Chris Clark 28:20
there we go plug Joe's actually in Charlotte though but yeah man I love it though. So but I mean yeah, yeah, well I don't want to take up too much more of your time man you know so in closing I know you've got a couple more projects coming up you want to tease a little bit about that or did you talk about yeah
Joe Garrick 28:39
yeah no I'm I'm very passionate about this and I can go on and on talking about and I don't mean this like to my horn I just I love sharing my experience what I've learned my dog is obviously excited I'll just be you
Chris Clark 28:53
know he's got an amazing voice that's Theo back there.
Joe Garrick 28:56
Yeah, that is the he's that's my first son. And he is hit guards the house Yeah, but hopefully you can edit that I guess we need to But no, not in so I'm very I'm very passionate about it. I love helping people I love doing something that makes people smile. And I can dive into the details and share all that so I you know, I can't get long winded about it. But yes, Whose Hoof is book one Billy the Dentist was two Book Three is called the Best Bagel Book. That is about all the different flavors of bagels, like all of my books, same size, they all rhyme from start to finish. It's about each flavor is a character. This was a project I was going to do for someone opening a deli here in Charlotte, that they got too busy so I was just going to bring it to life and then I do have a couple others in the works that won't spill the beans on now because I want to make sure that they actually come to life. But I enjoy it. You know it's um, I just turned 36 years old and you know, it took me to my mid 30s to find out you know, real hobbies and things that I'm good at That I can do something with some, I just tell everybody, like, keep trying don't give up. You know, it takes hard work to make it happen. But these things are attainable it just it's effort, you have to be willing to research in the effort and you like physically and literally can do these things if you just want to put the time into it, man, I
Chris Clark 30:18
love that dude. Um, so when, when should we expect that Best Bagel Book to come out.
Joe Garrick 30:24
So the Best Bagel Book is written, it is shipping out this week. And it's supposed to be here though, at my house, again, a whole pallet of you know, 1000s of pounds of books, I'm supposed to be here the week of Thanksgiving. So the minute that it's available, it will be on my website at whosehoofisthat.com, which will take you to the links that ultimately take you to Etsy where they can purchase it and then I will be out every opportunity I have at local markets here in Charlotte, hopefully local bookstores as well in the North Carolina area, maybe South Carolina as well. And I'll have it a bit available. But you know, people can follow me on Facebook or Instagram whose hope is that I'm great about responding. And if you want the book, I will find a way to get it to you, the more viewers
Chris Clark 31:12
well that's the goal with this man. And I think you know for what we could do is when the Best Bagel Book comes out is we can use this as like a Is it a case study almost is let's you know and we'll figure this out we'll have you on again with on the podcast, but in between me and you will figure out you know, a little strategy to kind of get some outreach going. And then once the Best Bagel Book is released, we'll we'll put that strategy in place get you back on the podcast and we can talk about a little bit more talk about the Best Bagel Book talk about the process of again, you know, writing that and then what we're doing marketing wise, Joe, but this has been amazing. Um, in closing, I always like to ask, you know, anybody that jumps on, you know, what are what are some books that have inspired you, you know, over your life, or maybe just recently?
Joe Garrick 32:01
Well, I think in regards to children's books, what always sat with me and I have one on the shelf, I have my first child coming as you as we've discussed, but my first child coming in February, and by the way, thank you, thank you some children's books, obviously, dad's books are always going to be in the front. But The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein was always a big one. And you know, that book has that very distinct grain to it, that's where my mind went with whose hope is that making it yellow is like I knew what to look for with that grain and thinking of it that way. So that, you know, was a big reason of why it you know, turned out to be the way it did, obviously, what's actually said inside and the message behind it, though, can be sad. You know, I coincides with, I guess the way I was raised and what my family and grandparents taught me it was just kind of like what you can do for others and not just making it about yourself and to take into take into take and so that message resonated with me and you know, why I love helping others as well. I mean, I can't not model what I'm doing to some extent after off of Dr. Seuss, right, you know, books, you know, mostly always look the same and the rhyming, you know, so being able to do that all everything else aside, but with that guy, you know, people love the books and they love you know, the the rhyming and it makes it easier to read and then it sticks in your head. So, you know, Green Eggs and Ham was, you know, another big one for me. And then I just have other you know, books throughout life like that I actually just read you know, a lot of Malcolm Gladwell stuff I really liked. Freakonomics was a was a big one. All of our books are in our guest bedroom right now. But you know, Rich Dad, Poor Dad was another one that also just sat with me. And kind of like the lessons behind it. And I guess keeping the balance of these two completely different aspects of life. You know, how these different dads operated, but you know, I think right off the bat, you know, those are just four that are a few that come to mind.
Chris Clark 34:03
I love it, dude. Well, we're about to hit the time. This is the first zoom meeting we've ever done usually. But Joe, thank you so much for the time. Again, everybody, this is Joe Garrick. whosehoofisthat.com check him out. It's the same on Instagram. This has been the Digital Madvertising Podcast. My name is Chris Clark. Until next time, thank you all so much, Joe. Thanks so much for chatting, man. I really appreciate it. We're gonna have you on again.
Joe Garrick 34:29
Yeah, no, thank you so much. I'm glad to be a part of this. And I love the show. So thank you again.
Chris Clark 34:33
I man. We'll talk soon. Thank you