Touching Nearly A Million Hearts
By Home Business Magazine
Anxious and feeling helpless over what she could do to help a young teen friend who was going through depression, Cheryl Karpen wanted to extend a promise to be there for Maddy, through life’s challenges and disappointments. What evolved was a small gift book that began with a promise to be there for Maddy, no matter the time or day. Cheryl called the book, Eat Your Peas for Young Adults, and filled its pages with nourishment and encouragement for Maddy’s hurting heart. Maddy loved the book and thought it might help other young people, especially teens.
Not knowing how to get a book published, Cheryl reached out to friends in her network who had previously self-published. Within a few months, PEAS hit the marketplace. It wasn’t long before people began to ask for a book with the same “promise,” only for adults. The Eat Your Peas Collection is now 21 titles strong, and Cheryl has sold over one million books through her self-publishing company, Gently Spoken. A major publisher recently took notice. Select Eat Your Peas titles are being launched nationally in the mass market in a special hardcover keepsake edition by Thomas Nelson Publishers. The first time Cheryl saw her book at Target, nestled between two celebrated authors’ books, she almost passed out!
Cheryl relentlessly tells the Eat Your Peas and Maddy’s stories to anyone who will listen to her, whether it be a buyer at a trade show, hundreds of individuals sitting in an audience at one of her speaking events, or a person sitting next to her on an airplane. Listeners often tear up, because there are people in their lives that need, or could have used a PEAS promise. Word of mouth, social media, and trade shows are other important ways Cheryl communicates her stories.
Prior to working from home, Cheryl had been the owner of two specialty gift and home décor shops in Anoka, Minnesota. Today, Cheryl prefers the freedom that working from home offers — to create her own work environment and to weave play into every day living. In three years, Cheryl plans to still be home-based — writing and creating where inspiration abounds. She can look out her window at her vast garden, hear birds singing, and is only steps away from a well stocked kitchen. Does it get any better than this? Visit http://gentlyspoken.com/. HBM
