We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Lori Orlinsky a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Lori, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear the story of how you went from this being just an idea to making it into something real.

Ever since I was little, it has always been a dream of mine to write a children’s book, but I never had an idea that I felt would resonate with audiences. However, when my daughter Hayley (now 10) was 3-years-old, she came home from preschool in tears because her teachers had hung a growth chart on her classroom wall. While all of Hayley’s friends were at the top and middle of the growth chart, her name was all the way at the bottom. Hayley realized she was different, and her friends did, too. Playfully, they called her names like shorty and peanut, which made Hayley feel sad. Like any good parent, I sought out to find a way to make Hayley feel better, and I did so through books. But no books about short kids existed, so I wrote “Being Small (Isn’t So Bad After All)” in 2019; The book was an overnight success. Short kids loved it. Tall kids loved it. Kids with glasses loved it. Children realized they could take the book and sub out the word “short” for whatever they felt made them different, as the book teaches both self-acceptance and empathy. After my first book, I realized I could successfully teach lessons through writing, so I decided to pursue writing as a full-time career. Seven years after I wrote the first draft of “Being Small,” I am getting ready to release my fourth book.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I write lesson-based books for children ages 3-8. I believe that books offer a way to teach kids about the world around us in a gentle and approachable way. Instead of sitting a child down and having a difficult conversation with them about topics like bullying, lying and pet loss, for example, kids can read about characters in a book who encounter problems and see how they solve them. Reading a book is an interactive way for kids to place themselves in scenarios and explain their line of thinking.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

If at first you don’t succeed, try, try and try again some more. When I had my first draft of “Being Small (Isn’t So Bad After All)” written, I sent the manuscript to more than 200 literary agents and publishers. I either got ghosted or rejected. It was then that I could have thrown in the towel and chosen to give up. But I kept at it for nearly a year before one publisher said “yes” to me. And the rest is history.

What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?

Upon seeing the success of my books, I decided to quit my job as a Marketing Director for PBS and not only become a full-time author, but help other authors in their book journeys. I teamed up with award-winning children’s author Alysson Bourque, creator of The Alycat Series, and we started a business, Foreword Publicity, to assist other authors in marketing their books. We are a full service publicity firm for authors and represent authors of all genres (children’s, middle grade, young adult, novels, etc.) and publishing routes (traditional publishing, hybrid publishing, self publishing). To date, we have helped launch more than 300 books out into the world. I couldn’t be happier to combine my passions for marketing and writing. Plus, having the opportunity to work with Aly has been extremely fulfilling.

Contact Info:

• Website: loriorlinskyauthor.com
• Instagram: @loriorlinskyauthor
• Facebook: @loriorlinskyauthor
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/loriorlinsky
• Youtube: @loriorlinskyauthor
• Other: More information about Foreword Publicity: forewordpublicity.com