We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Kentrell Martin a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Kentrell, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. How did you come up with the idea for your business?
Growing up I had a Deaf brother. I was very protective of my brother because I saw the way that people looked at him. Fast forward to adulthood. My brother who is Deaf had a daughter who is hearing. One day while watching cartoons, I thought, it would be pretty cool if there was a cartoon that incorporated American Sign Language. After years of research and attending events, I decided to create a children’s book series that would incorporate American Sign Language. I also started Shelly’s Adventures which is a children’s book publishing company who’s mission is to “help bridge the gap between the Deaf and hearing world.” I vowed to make these books, unlike any book that I had seen. At the time, the only books that had sign language in them were books that just had a picture and a sign(that I saw). I wanted to make my books educational and fun while also teaching American Sign Language. I published my first books in 2013, 7 years after the idea came to me. In 2015 I left my job in corporate America to become a full-time author and entrepreneur.
I started visiting schools across the country and ended up visiting over 170 schools my first school year (2015-2016). While doing these visits, I realized that not only was teaching sign language to these students important but my presence and book characters were too. I didn’t realize how impactful all three were. American Sign Language because it was introducing students to a new language and bringing awareness to Deafness and Deaf culture. Me because black authors and male black authors are rare so students being able to see this is very important to both blacks and non-blacks. To hear black male students say, “wow you’re an author and look like me” made me realize that how rare it is for black students to get an author or person of influence in their schools or presence. Then for non-black students to see a person of influence is also important because of perception. Then having minority characters is also important because there’s a need in the industry for more books with minority characters so me bringing these books into the schools is also something that was needed.
When many people hear sign language they automatically think they don’t need to learn because they can hear but American Sign Language is just like any other language. It doesn’t hurt to learn a new language, it has many benefits to children, and it’s one of the fastest-growing languages in the US(daycares, schools, high schools, and colleges are all using it with higher education now accepting it as a foreign language.
Every year I see new ways that my books bring positivity to the world. I’ve done two school visits in other countries (Sweden & Greece) and the students embrace and love learning this beautiful language the same as they do here in the US which tells me that children love learning new things, especially things that are fun and educational. So it excites me to see the excitement that I’m able to bring to children.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Well, I’ve always loved coming up with ideas and being a creator but I never envisioned myself as an author. It wasn’t until I came up with the idea for a cartoon to incorporate ASL that I decided to look into being an author. I currently have both picture books and chapter books, educational resources for educators, and I also have a ASL Network (www.theshellysadventuresnetwork.com). Everything provided by the company incorporates American Sign Language in some way. The picture books incorporate American Sign Language throughout the story, the chapter books include ASL in the back of the book along with Q&A and other learning lessons, the educational resources include printables, and the network has some animation, storytime, and ASL videos.
Our resources give parents, teachers, and students educational but fun material to read or watch. Every story is different and something that kids can relate to and see themselves in. While doing all of this, they are learning some words in ASL. When I visit schools I teach students over 30 signs in 35 minutes of less. At least 75% of the students can sign back over 20 signs to me before the presentation is over. It seems like a tough feat but it’s not when you’re having fun and learning subconsciously.
I’m most proud of the fact that I’ve been able to take an idea and turn it into a business. For the first 5 years, I made a living off of 4 children’s books. I’ve been able to build the company from scratch. In the past 7 years, I’ve visited over 900 schools in over 30 states and 2 countries.
Alright – let’s talk about marketing or sales – do you have any fun stories about a risk you’ve taken or something else exciting on the sales and marketing side?
When I first started, I had no idea of how I was going to market my books. One of the first investments that I made was going to the Harlem book fair. I had never been to New York nor had I ever been to a book festival. I didn’t know what to expect. My wife and I went up together. Being the quiet reserved person that I am, I was afraid to pitch my book. During the first few hours, I would smile and show customers the book but I really didn’t try to sell the books. After being out there for a few hours and having maybe only 1 sale, I was defeated and ready to just leave and try to enjoy the city while we were there. My wife suggested we try another approach. She noticed another vendor who was really selling his product. He was getting the customer’s attention and really marketing his product. She suggested we do the same. Open the books for the customers and really talk about the benefits. We did that and within the next four hours, we had sold over 100 books. That was probably my biggest teaching moment because I was ready to give up but my wife talked me out of it. That moment is probably the reason that I’m still going now. I’ve learned that when things aren’t going right, instead of quitting, try looking for a different approach. It hasn’t failed me yet.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
I’d say the most difficult time for my business was during the covid year and the year after. I thought that I was in a recession-proof industry. I never imagined schools shutting down. When schools shut down so did my income. I didn’t know what I would do next. Going to schools, and reaching educators, students and their parents were my main method of advertising and selling books. I had only two options, find another job or find a way to keep the business relevant. I choose the latter. I ended up creating my ASL network called the Shelly’s Adventures Network which is a network that consists of over 80 videos where I teach ASL, has storytime videos, and other resources. This was something that I had always wanted to do but because I was traveling so much throughout the year, I never had the time to do so. I also ended up publishing 6 books during the time. This was also something that I didn’t have the time to get done before the pandemic. So while I was no longer visiting schools, I ended up coming out of the pandemic with 6 new books and a network.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.shellysadventures.com
- Instagram: shellysadventures
- Facebook: AuthorKentrellMartin
- Linkedin: kentrell martin
- Twitter: kentrellmartin