November 28, 2025 by Kelli Chipponneri

The 12 Gifts of Bookmas

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The 12 Gifts of Bookmas 〰️

This year, I’m celebrating the season with The 12 Gifts of Bookmas—a collection of books for children and adults, perfect for inspiring readers, writers, and artists of all ages. These gifts are books or series that I either had the privilege of working on or titles written and illustrated by friends and colleagues. Happy Holidays!

Day 1: Dots & Spots

This book has a special place in the Green Typewriter Creative library as it was the first book sold when I went out on my own as a book producer. https://amzn.to/4rrlKWw

Day 2: Christmas Gnomes

It’s a gnome! It’s a touch-n-feel board book! It’s the perfect holiday decor! Whether they are trimming the tree, singing carols, or baking sweets, the five gnomes are a merry little crew. https://amzn.to/4ogaCJ7

Day 3: Typewriter Journal

This book was the first Amazon’s KDP self-publishing title I created. Featuring colorful interiors, vintage typewriters, and vibrant lined pages, this is the perfect notebook for any type of person who wants to record their thoughts, make to-do lists, jot down notes, or write poetry, short stories, or a novel. https://amzn.to/4ordR0C

Day 4: Steam Train Dream Train, Next Stop Christmas

This one is for the fans of trains and Christmas! On the dream train, the workers know their tasks by heart, for when each new December starts, the Christmas Train takes to the air, transporting magic everywhere. https://amzn.to/48EfUcW

Day 5: Baba’s Gift

My friend and colleague Christina Amini, and her sister, wrote this beautiful picture book as a tribute to their father. A perfect read-aloud for parents, grandparents, and teachers, the story inspires curiosity about other cultures and connection between generations. https://amzn.to/49KDTbu

Day 6: Site Hanukkah Lights + My First Books of Jewish Culture

A few of my favorite Jewish books that make great holiday gifts. https://amzn.to/4iwxIdy https://amzn.to/49LDO7k

Day 7: Tiny T. Rex

He may be tiny, but he is mighty! I acquired this book while I was at Chronicle Books, and 6 years after publication, it hit the New York Times Bestseller list this past year! https://amzn.to/4pBieak

Day 8: Chicka Chicka Workbooks

These two educational and entertaining workbooks are delightful additions to the Chicka Chicka Boom Boom series. https://amzn.to/3M5zR3F https://amzn.to/49KfR09

Day 9: STEM Baby

Babies and toddlers are natural-born scientists. Whether rolling a ball down a slope, stacking blocks and knocking them over, placing toys in a container, grouping and matching objects into categories, stacking rings according to size, stringing large beads, or throwing their stuffies, STEM Babies are always experimenting with something new.

https://amzn.to/4inR5oO

https://amzn.to/3XnmeiI

https://amzn.to/4pBEKQm

https://amzn.to/4ol6Eis

Day 10: Books for Mom

Two wonderful books to give to MOM this holiday season! https://amzn.to/3M6n7tt https://amzn.to/43UENyr

Day 11: Books for Dad

And two delightful books to give to DAD this holiday season! https://amzn.to/3Ms7D2Z https://amzn.to/48s6wba

Day 12: Oasis Pages

I had the pleasure of working with Grace Welker on this inspiring guided journal for teens. Many teens want to keep a diary or journal but aren’t sure what to write about or where to start. Oasis Pages: Teen Writing Quest provides the road map for a personal writing habit. https://amzn.to/4itXHCc

August 29, 2023 by Kelli Chipponneri

It’s been Five Years!
Time flies when you are running your own business. Thank you to my publishing partners and the book-ish people who have helped me learn and grow Green Typewriter Creative. Allow me to share a little advice for folks who want to run their own business:

1. **It is a marathon, not a sprint:** The first three years are the hardest. Keep going. In years four and five, your hard work will pay off.
2. **Try new things:** You never know where projects might take you and shape your business.
3. **Virtual coffee:** Connect with people—a lot! New people, old people, people with children and pets running around in the background. These are the folks that will help find your next project.
4. **Find your community:** The American Book Producers Association, Women in Toys, and The Children’s Media Association have all been incredibly helpful to me.
5. **Keep Learning:** Attend webinars, conferences, and take a class, either online or in-person.
Looking forward to what the next five years will bring!

We made a thing! We learned a thing!

Wanting to learn more about Amazon’s KDP Self-Publishing services, and some push from my colleague Stephanie Moon, I dipped my toe into creating a book on Amazon.

June 15, 2023 by Kelli Chipponneri

The idea came about during a virtual coffee with my pal Stephanie Moon. Steph and I were talking about how so many people self-publish on Amazon. Many of these people don’t have traditional publishing experience and are making fantastic book series fast and fun. But I was worried that I didn’t have an idea for a series, and wondered how I would pull together the materials, let alone market the thing. But Steph reminded me that I know how to make books. She told me: Do something easy and low touch. Look at all the black-and-white lined journals out there. You can make something great looking. Sure, I know how to make a lined journal, but how would I market it to the masses? Steph told me to take baby steps: You will get there, but you need a product to market first.

So with that in mind, I decided to make a lined typewriter journal. I contacted one of my favorite designers, Teressa Bonaddio, to see if she could help me pull it all together. She was happy to help, but we had a hard and fast deadline as she was having a baby in 6 weeks, and we were starting this project at the beginning of the Christmas holiday.

I started by searching Shutterstock for imagery of typewriters, creating a library of images that I liked to share with T. Then we scheduled a creative meeting to discuss my vision, the specs of the book, paperweight, full-color, black-and-white, number of pages, trim size, and art. Could we take parts of one image and add a background like this other image? Do we want section breaks? Should we include some inspirational words or phrases? Fortunately, this isn’t the first time T has made a book for KDP, so she knew how to navigate their systems and understood the file set-up.

Post-holiday, she came back to me with cover concepts and interior design options. We were able to move quickly to choose covers and interiors we liked, and PDFs were soon to follow.

Then I had to figure out how to set up an account on KDP. There were a lot of pieces of information to fill out, and I was overwhelmed at first, but I reminded myself that lots of other people had figured it out, and I could too. I quickly discovered while selecting paper and print colors that the unit cost of the version of the journal I wanted to make was going to cost the same amount as the retail price I wanted to charge, so I had to scale back on the paper and ink quality. I also played around with the retail price to see what kind of royalty I could expect at different prices. I did the math on how many journals I would need to sell to earn back my investment in art and design costs.

Then, I had to wait patiently for proofing. While this is Amazon and POD, it still took a little over a week to get the proof. By that point, T was in labor, texting me from the hospital, and I sent her notes about minor tweaks to make to the page count of the files. (See why she is one of my favorite designers???) With one more file upload and a quick preview (no need to proof again), I pushed the journal LIVE!

I still need to figure out how to create a search inside the book (ebook?) and upload interior images, but the actual mechanics of doing so weren’t as challenging as I had thought. And now I have this delightful calling card that typewriter lovers can purchase, and I can give as a gift or another piece of marketing collateral.

Available now!

**This beautifully designed, full-color journal will bring many happy returns to any budding writer, book enthusiast, or typewriter fan.**

A delightful gift for typewriter lovers, avid journalers, and fans of the written word, this notebook is the key to anyone’s success. Featuring colorful interiors, vintage typewriters, and vibrant lined pages, this is the perfect notebook for any type of person who wants to record their thoughts, make to-do lists, jot down notes, or write poetry, short stories, or a novel.

Reflections: Board Books with Mirrors

May 26, 2021 by Kelli Chipponneri

Books with mirrors have been published for years, and they are one of my favorite novelty formats. Maybe it is because I remember the days of my nieces and nephew discovering the baby in the mirror and being fascinated by their new friend. But what was even more exciting is when my nieces and nephew realized that the baby in the mirror was them! These two moments are key developmental milestones in any baby’s life, and that is why board books with mirrors are perfect for the age group. Some of my favorites do more than just reveal the baby in the mirror, but they have an added layer of other important developmental milestones for the baby to master.

Peek-a-Who

One of my favorite board books with a mirror is Peek-a-Who? This book does so many wonderful things. It is a guessing game that piggybacks on a favorite game of babies and toddlers: peek-a-boo. But the last prompt asks: Peek-a-Who? To discover with the final page turn, the baby is looking in a mirror at themselves for a Peek-a-You! Reveal.

Smile, Baby

I created an adorable board book with a mirror when developing the Beginning Baby line at Chronicle. On every spread, kiddos are encouraged to identify different parts of their faces while looking at themselves in the mirror. With a circle die-cut that goes all the way through the book, babies can find their eyes, nose, and mouth with fun questioning prompts.

Baby See, Baby Do

This adorable board book doesn’t feature a mirror at the back of the book, but instead, it folds out from the back so that baby can see their expression on every page. Little ones are encouraged to mimic the faces they see on the pages of this book while touching on social-emotional learning.

A Novel Idea: Mash-ups!

March 27, 2021 by Kelli Chipponneri

I love a good mash-up of content and/or formats. Whether it is putting Old MacDonald and construction vehicles together (Old MacDonald Had a Truck) or marrying llamas with dominoes (Llamanoes), combining two (or three!) ideas can make for great fun in children’s books. On a recent trip to the local bookstore, I discovered some fun novelty books where formats collide producing even more mashed-up board book fun for little readers.

You Are My Sunshine
This is the perfect mash-up of the bestselling finger puppet format and a lovey-dovey, heart-shaped board book. It also includes a favorite childhood song that parents and caregivers will love to sing making for the perfect lap read.

Alphababies

I am a huge fan of tabbed board books and this blend of rounded tabs and lift-the-flaps make for a double whammy of novelty excitement. The rounded tabs and the oversized lift-the-flaps that are nicely recessed into the page are a great example of a soft innovation.

Rainbow Garden
Books that are shaped to look like other things are always crowd pleasers when face-out on a bookshelf or displayed in a baby’s nursery. This watering can-shaped board book is perfect for springtime reading. Plus it is a book with a handle (kids love carrying books with handles) AND it has movable parts (tabs, slides, and flaps) that work on both sides of the page. The cover also has a sprinkle of foil for a little extra pizzazz.

This Little Piggy

The last mash-up is one of my favorite formats: touch-n-trace. Little ones can practice their dexterity by poking fingers through holes (almost like little tabs) on the page and tracing the different shapes on each spread while chanting their favorite nursery rhymes.

Not all mash-ups are a success, but when looking to softly innovate the novelty book space, mash-ups of nontraditional books and formats can be a fun way to marry multiple, commercial subjects, ideas, or themes together, creating a new reading experience for babies, toddlers, and children.

Running My Business #1: fear*less

March 23, 2021 by Kelli Chipponneri

It is a typical weekday at my home office (also known as my sister’s guest room where I have been living for the past year while sheltering in place). I have finished a client meeting and it is time to dive into my projects. Yet, I am constantly trying to beat back the worry of the next steps in building my book producing business. Where will I find my next client project? Will anyone want to buy that book idea I am putting together? Will I be able to replace the income I was making by year 3? What amenities do I need to cut back on or give up to be my own boss?

Over the years, I have discovered that the best way to combat my anxiety is to put on a pair of sneakers, find a humorous podcast, and head out on a run. I have tried other things to deal with stress (yoga, food, wine), but the best cure for me is running. People have told me to try meditation to beat stress, and I tell them, running is my meditation.

So, on this Tuesday afternoon, I put on a graphic tank with an empowering message, leash up my dog Hank, and head out the door to stomp out the anxiety I am feeling about pursuing the next steps in my career.

Admittedly, I am not in peak running shape. I have not run regularly in the past year, too busy working and trying to deal with the stress of the pandemic. I have had my dog, Hank, for about 3 years, but he has suffered from my lack of regular running too. I need to do a better job training us both on how to run together. It had been hard to be consistent during the workweek, but now that I am my own boss, I have no excuses not to run. I have the freedom to control my own schedule.

When we hit the road, Hank takes off immediately. I can barely keep up with him as he is ready to charge the road ahead. But after the first mile or so, he needs to mark his territory or sniff the suburban shrubs, making it difficult to establish a steady pace. And toward the end of the run, when Hank doesn’t want to go on any further, I somehow convince him to keep going.

Running with Hank is often how I feel about making this decision to change my career path and run my own business. There are times where I want to sprint and make everything happen at once. Then there are the times when I don’t want to go on, thinking full-time employment will make me feel more secure. And then there are times when I want to stop and smell the flowers along the way (and sometimes I do).

But I remind Hank that it is a marathon, not a sprint, and that we are running toward the goal of reaching a certain number of miles at the slowest pace possible. We eventually make the round trip to home, and I can feel the runners high kicking in and kicking out the self-doubt I was feeling an hour earlier, ready to tackle what awaits me at my computer.