We recently connected with Janeen Zaio and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Janeen, thanks for joining us today. Can you share an important lesson you learned in a prior job that’s helped you in your career afterwards?
The most important lesson I learned at a previous job is that relationship marketing can create raving fans. My first job out of college was in customer service at Saturn, the car manufacturer. Our competitive advantage was not creating exciting cars but creating excited customers. Saturn retailers often hosted events to get to know customers personally. We invited even all our customers to a free event at the factory called Homecoming. Everyone from the president to assembly line workers to customer service reps got to know customers while enjoying Tennessee BBQ and a Hootie and the Blowfish concert. When torrential rain flooded the parking lot, we bonded while pushing their beloved Saturns out of the mud. The mud got washed away, but the relationships lasted.
Sadly Saturn did not. But that’s not a cautionary tale about relationship marketing. Nor is the fact that most companies today are more focused on digital marketing than relationship marketing. As the author of a children’s adventure book, relationship marketing is very important. Sure, I can (and do) forge relationships through social media, but those relationships are with parents who buy books. My mission is not to just sell my book but to have children READ my book. The book is called The Treasure With a Face, and it’s about a treasure hunter who wants to meet Jesus and find the Ark of the Covenant. Imagine young Indiana Jones meets The Chosen. The way I implement relationship marketing is by hosting an Ancient Israel Escape Room, immersing children in the setting of my book and having them solve clues and overcome the same obstacles that my character faces. The children crawl through a glowworm cave, walk on the walls of Jerusalem, and search for the Ark of the Covenant. With my SUV loaded with props, I travel around the Carolinas bringing this Escape Room to schools, homeschooling groups, and churches. Children who attend the escape room are eager to read my book. They become raving fans. Oh, and their parents can share pictures on social media.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
My philosophy is that you learn more when you’re on the edge of your seat. I stumbled into a writing career when I was a homeschooling mom trying to teach my boys an important lesson about our Catholic Faith. Stories are much more compelling than lectures because you can give readers an engaging experience that touches them on a deeper level. It took me four years to finalize this particular lesson because I had to wrap it in adventure, suspense, and humor. My boys developed much faster than my book, but now other Catholic children can experience this lesson in The Treasure With a Face. It’s for children ages 9-13, and helps children realize that we don’t have to live 2000 years ago, halfway across the world to meet the living Jesus.
Do you have multiple revenue streams – if so, can you talk to us about those streams and how your developed them?
In addition to the Ancient Israel Escape Room, I created a fun brand extension. I partnered with True North Book Club to create a literary companion guide for schools and homeschools to use along with The Treasure With a Face. Now let’s face it, unless you’re a writer, literary analysis doesn’t sound very fun — but eek, don’t we all love learning about onomatopoeia? Anyway, we created the literary course with the mission of keeping students engaged. The lesson plans include videos of a literary guide and I walking readers through each chapter of the book answering discussion questions and explaining vocabulary, but also sharing author secrets and burning questions. What real location inspired the scene with the the waterfalls inside a cave? Why was the road to Jericho called “The Bloody Way?” What family member inspired the grumpy uncle’s character? Okay, I will never share the answer to the last question, but you get the idea. I also included several hands-on lessons such as building a replica of the Ark of the Covenant and making a cake with ingredients from the Bible.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
There was one particular day that was crushing. I had spent a few years writing and revising my manuscript. There are only about a half dozen publishers that publish Catholic children’s fiction, and two of them had already rejected my manuscript. Then I sent it off to my dream publisher. The time while you’re waiting for a publisher to reply is kind of like having a lottery ticket in your pocket; the possibility of winning keeps you going through the daily grind. One day I came home from a very painful breast biopsy. My mom had breast cancer, and I had already had mouth cancer, so I was very worried about the results, but, hey at least if my book got published, I could leave a legacy, right? I sat down at my computer and opened my email, and there was the reply from my dream publisher. Another rejection. Granted, as rejections go, it was very nice but it was still devastating. I cried and sulked for a few days. The biopsy came back negative, but then I came down with Imposter Syndrome. I wasn’t a real writer. Maybe I should just quit.
Then I accepted that maybe writing didn’t come easy to me. I couldn’t crank out a fabulous first chapter in an hour. Maybe I had to work harder at it than other people, but it was worth putting in the effort. I found an online fictional writing course through Homeschool Connections. Yes, it’s intended for homeschooling teenagers, so instead of taking the live courses I chose to just watch the recorded classes. For about $30 a month, I watched Erin Brown Conroy teach concepts you would learn if you got your Master of Fine Arts in Writing. Erin covered everything from writing dialogue, description, and conflict, to following The Hero’s Journey. After each lesson, I considered how I could apply the concepts to my manuscript. I spent all summer learning and another six months revising. I could see why the original manuscript was rejected, and I’m grateful for the rejection. The new version is much more compelling. I got rid of all those newbie mistakes that make a publisher groan. Then I heard about a new company called Perpetual Light Publishing. The owner is an artist whose artistic style has been likened to Disney’s. I sent off my manuscript and dreamed of the cover she could create for my manuscript. She agreed to publish it! And yes, please judge my book by its cover.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://janeenzaio.com/
- Instagram: Catholicswholovetheeucharist
- Facebook: The Treasure With a Face by Janeen Zaio