Amy Molloy

As a journalist, editor and author, Amy Molloy has spent over a decade exploring how storytelling can be used to educate and entertain, challenge and connect people, especially when it comes to sharing stories of adversity. After a career spent tracking down 'empowered survivors'—people emerging from the wreckage of global disasters and personal heartbreak—her words have helped people across the world to recover from their own challenges and traumas.

So, after becoming a mother, reading her young daughter a bedtime story became a sacred nightime ritual to calm her baby as she transformed into a toddler. But, as life got busier with the arrival of her son, she realised that it wasn’t only her children who needed to be soothed of an evening.

"All parents will be able to identify with the feeling,” says Amy. “It’s bedtime and, although you want to connect with your child, you can feel like you have nothing left to give. So many evenings, I’d read a bedtime story with tears in my eyes doubting my capabilities, my identity, and whether I could ever be enough.”

This is how the Storytelling for Healing: Children’s Book Series was born. Imaginative bedtime (or anytime!) stories that emotionally soothe, not only a child, but also any adult who is reading aloud to them, whether that is a mother, father, grandparent, carer, educator or a friend. 

The first book in the series, How to Recycle Your Feelings is a children’s book with grown-ups in mind too. The imaginative story—which shows that 'no emotion is ever really a waste'—draws on counselling techniques such as reframing, reflection and detachment packaged in a way that is understandable (and enjoyable!) to readers of all ages. Perfect for parents, grandparents, carers and educators alike, it shows the power of imagination and positive intention to cope with the surplus emotions that we don't remember ordering, and can clutter our emotional worlds.

The series is written in line with NSW primary school curriculum for personal development and the national Early Years Learning Framework for Australia (aged 0-5): Belonging, Being and Becoming which  is 'correlated with resilience, providing children with the capacity to cope with day-to day stress and challenges.' 

Sometimes we all end up with too many emotions,

Or emotions we don't have a use for anymore.

We don't remember buying them or asking for them:

They were definitely not on our shopping list!

But that doesn't mean you have to throw them away...

Because no emotion is ever really a waste!

Now, you can play a part in bringing this book to life—and add a new coping mechanism to your emotional toolkit in the process.

New to crowdfunding? Think of it as as pre-ordering the book before it goes to print. Basically, it allows you the opportunity to buy a copy of the book (at no extra cost) midway through the publishing process, before it launches in Summer 2020. This means we can raise funds to cover the cost of our first print run but also the cost of illustration, design and also the less-sexy necessities of book publishing (buying a barcode and ISBN number, postage and distribution) 

The good thing about supporting this project is you will receive an actual product for your money! We are not asking you to make a donation - this is a retail purchase which means you end up with the first book in our print run in your hands—or whoever you choose to gift it to. You will also recieve the book before it's available to the public through shops or online book distributors. 

In the event that we do not hit out crowdfunding target, no money will be taken from your account!

Most importantly, crowdfunding means we can involve YOU in the creative process! In addition to pre-ordering a copy (or copies!) of the book, you can buy very special extras as part of our packages. This includes:

* Add your child’s name to the book’s acknowledgements. 

* Gift our Mama Care Package to a parent you want to support, or gift it to yourself: including Amy's sellout memoir The World is a Nice Place and a pack of 30 Healing Affirmation Cards to bring peace into even the busiest world.

* If you’re a budding writer with a story to tell, sign up to our Mentoring Package for a one-on-one mentoring session with Amy to develop your own public writing, whether that's a book, blog, article or any medium. And, get access to Amy's bestselling online Book Writing Course too.

* All supporters also all get an e-book copy of How to Recycle Your Feeling, only available exclusively through Pozible orders.

We hope this book will inspire you and all the young people in your life to tap into the healing power of storytelling too.

We decided to launch this book on Pozible to ensure every stage of the publishing process was aligned with our values, but also to make sure creating this series was financially sustainable—so we could fairly value every person pouring their heart and soul into this project.

We are excited to announced that Kinderling Kid’s Radio—family friendly radio for children and their grown-ups—will be recording the Storytelling for Healing: Children’s Book Series as audio books, which will be available to hear through their channels (you can listen to Kinderling Kids Radio either online, through their free app or a digital radio.  

The audiobook series will launch in Summer 2020, to coincide with the delivery of the first print run of How to Recycle your Feelings. Thank you to the wonderful crew at Kinderling Kid’s Radio for your support and vision, and to everyone who has already got behind this project so passionately.

This book is still in the creative process, but about 95% complete! Our number one priority is to get a high-quality book to you as soon as we can after our campaign has hit its target. We are currently finalising our design, and soon we will start the proofing process. This means that, as soon as the crowdfunding campaign closes (on October 29), we can deliver the files to the printer within the next week. So, barring, any unforeseen circumstances, we anticipate getting the books into your hands at the end of January 2020.

We will keep all supporters up-to-date on the progress of the book, and deliver any extras that you order - such as a code to book your mentoring sessions - as soon as the campaign closes. In the event that we do not hit out crowdfunding target (crossing fingers and toes!), no money will be taken from you. If this does happen, we’ll go back to the drawing board in terms of the best way to bring this book to life.

Hopefully, we won’t need our Plan B!

We're all about transparency! So, we want you to know where the money from your pre-order will go. The funds this campaign raises will cover the cost of the following:

* 32 illustrations and design of a 32page book

- Front and back cover design

- Dyeline checks and page proofing.

- Printing the first print run of 1500 Hardcover books (215mm x 215mm).

- Postage of the first print run from the printer to one Australian address.

- Purchasing of the book's unique ISBN and bar code.

- The 5% service fee that Pozible takes for hosting this campaign.

In the (happy) event that we go over our target, please continue to support this campaign. We will simply print more books to send to our supporters, and also be able to add some extra creative flairs to the design.

This campaign opens on October 08th October and closes at noon on 29th October (AEST). Pozible is an 'all or nothing' platform. After this end date, we will not be able to process any further orders through Pozible and, if we haven't met our target, no payments will be processed. 

So, please show your support without delay!