We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Daniela Ortiz. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Daniela below.

Alright, Daniela thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea

As a stay at home mom, I grew a love for taking my kids to the library and soaking up story time there with my kids. Finding books about their passions was a joy for me scanning almost every book in the aisles and stacking up a collection to take home for them. One day, a dear family member threw an idea at me, you should write a children’s book. Me?? Naaaa. But the idea wouldn’t go away. I started researching almost every aspect of being an author from traditional publishing to indepedent publishing. I listened to podcasts, watched countless youtube videos, read articles and simply reached out to authors on social media asking them questions. I even took a writing class!
After all this, I started writing ideas down in the notes section on my phone as I went about my day. This is what turned into my very first children’s book, Go Car Safe Car. It was Inspired by my son who at the time was very much into cars as a toddler. I sketched some illustrations with paper and pencil. Eventually I transferred these to my daughter’s ipad. Her ipad was a mini, a rather older version with several cracks on it. With this, I learned how to use procreate and made connections with editors and authors who shared their expertise with me in producing children’s story books.
Four books later, I was looking through a Scholastic book catalog with my kids and it was like a light bulb went off for me! I wanted to start an Islamic version for Islamic schools featuring story books that fit within our beliefs and lifestyle. Islam is not just a religion but a way of life for Muslims and I wanted to connect other Muslim families with the beautiful Muslim Kid books I came across.
So I used all the skills I learned from book publishing to put together a fun vibrant book catalog catered towards the muslim youth. I genuinely enjoy making connections with like-minded authors, independent publishers and sharing our work with families who can now shop muslim friendly books easily and excitedly similar to Scholastic.

Daniela, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My brand focuses on sharing books from Independent authors! As an independent author myself, I know the hustle it takes to market your work! As a mom, I understand the passion to find good books for your children. Let’s face it, libraries and book stores have tons of books about American holidays & other religious celebrations. I want to share the beauty of Islam and help make Muslim friendly books more readily known and available too!

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

I did not have a lot of initial investment funds upfront. This led me to get creative and use my resources. I relied on my phone, my daughter’s ipad, social media, support from family and friends. I earned funds from blogging. I applied to mini business grants and actually received one! Alhamdulillah! (Praise be to God) I got my first book published, went on to my first book reading and in person sales at different pop up shops. Whatever capitol you first get, save it and put right back into your business to help it grow.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

I actually started off blogging online. I had a website and used my instagram and facebook pages to further connect with my audience as a Muslim mom blogger. I made connections online with other muslim women, entrepreneurs and businesses who were trying to grow their audiences as well. We agreed to help each other out by interacting with each other’s content and participating in fun giveaways. I’ve learned it takes consistency in sharing content as well as making time to really connect with your audience.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.datepopbooks.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/datepopbooks
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/datepopbooks