If you’re looking for the perfect holiday gift for a young, imaginative person in your life, a local author’s work might be just the thing.
Carole P. Roman of Oyster Bay Cove has been finding a lot of success and fulfillment through writing children’s books, a process that only began a few years ago and has turned her into a prolific author of more than 20 books in three separate series inspired by her four young grandchildren.
Captain No Beard and the Aurora Borealis, a charming winter’s tale, is the newest addition to the award-winning Captain No Beard book series, which finds the daring pirate Captain No Beard and his loyal crew heaving anchor for adventure as they steer a course due north for the icy waters of the Arctic.
“One night I was babysitting Alex and he would not go to sleep,” says Roman of her oldest grandson, who is now 6. “He was looking out the window and said he was going to steal Aurora Borealis.”
She says they made a game out of it and the next day she sat down and wrote the book, the seventh volume in the series.
Roman works with her husband and two sons in the family’s transportation business based in Bethpage, and after her oldest son wrote a book, published it and hit the best-seller list, he challenged her to do the same.
“I always wanted to write a book,” she says. “It was a rough period in my life, and my son was so thrilled about his success, he kept nagging me to do it.”
She says he told her to just “write what you know” so she thought about it, let the idea percolate and then wrote it down. Her sons helped her load it to CreateSpace and she suddenly found herself getting positive feedback and winning the Pinnacle Book Achievement Award. Her books are fun while also teaching important life lessons, such as sharing and patience.
CreateSpace is the service Roman pays for to self-publish her books. With the package, she gets editors, an illustrator and help with publicity. Still, she approaches her books from a business perspective and spends a lot of time on promotions, reaching out to as many people as possible through Facebook and blog sites to get the word out, and to get feedback as well, which she takes to heart.
Roman majored in history and secondary education at Queens College and taught for few months before focusing on the family business. After the success of the first book and the excitement of the experience, she says she realized there were few children’s books on culture, so she started a new series, If You Were Me and Lived In…,teaching about countries ranging from Portugal to South Korea. With these books she has gotten the attention of elementary schools and gets calls for readings. And while she hasn’t yet made a profit, they are selling and she foresees making money from them in the future.
“I’m having so much fun and I get to be a teacher for the day,” she says.
Roman turned 60 in September and is enjoying this chapter of her life.
“Age is just a number,” she says, noting that a lot of people her age are focused on slowing down in their “golden years” but not her. “This keeps me engaged, on trend and current with what’s going on. It keeps me invigorated and ready for the next idea.”
She adds, “I’m not afraid to try new things and I’m not afraid of what people think. This has been a great experience and I have met a lot of helpful people along the way.”
She’s proud of the awards and recognition her books have received, but more importantly, is happy to have stepped up to the challenge.
“It’s so much fun and I wish more people would do it,” Roman says. “The best part is that I am leaving behind something for my children and grandchildren that they will always have.”
Roman’s books can be found on www.amazon.com and more information is at www.caroleproman.com.
