Choose Your Path to Become a Successful Book Publisher! (Ryan Jacobson)

At Lake 7 Creative, LLC, we love middle-grade books, and our favorite kind is the Choose Your Path variety. It’s a long and winding trail that led us to become publishers of interactive fiction. Is there a better way to tell our story than as a Choose Your Path blog post (written in second person, of course). Fair warning: This tale begins in a pretty dark place... 

You’re happily married, but you’re in the midst of a terrible grief that only people who’ve been there can understand: infertility. Every day, every week, every month is the mourning of a new death—the death of the child you cannot have. The choice of trying to conceive has been taken away because the treatments literally almost killed you. So what’s next? Your bank account has dried up, and adoption can be expensive. Should you give up your dream of having a newborn child, or should you change course and try adoption? What will you choose to do? 

Give up your dream: Without children, you find opportunities to travel and experience new adventures. You eventually discover a new kind of joy, one that you never expected. Still, you can’t help but wonder whether making a different decision would’ve changed your life in unexpected ways. The end.

Try adoption: As a married couple, your greatest wish is to have a child. You recognize that adoption isn’t a path that everyone chooses, but it’s the route you’ll take—even if it costs well over $15,000. You immediately begin fundraising. You’re able to build up a few thousand dollars, but the money isn’t coming fast enough to remain on your adoption track. You have a chapter book manuscript called Santa Claus: Super Spy: The Case of the Florida Freeze. If you invest in self-publishing the book, you might turn $5,000 into $15,000 in a hurry. But it could also go in the other direction. You might sink all of your funds into a book that nobody buys. Should you take a risk and self-publish, or should you play it safe? What will you choose to do?

Play it safe: You remain on your current fundraising path, and you decide to hold (yet another!) garage sale. On the morning of the sale, you are attacked and killed by ninja ghost cats. The end. 

Self-publish: You believe in your manuscript, and you believe in yourself. You check out a book from the library on self-publishing, and you bumble your way through the process. It takes several months, but you finally fill your basement with boxes and boxes of Santa Claus: Super Spy, just ahead of the holiday season. After a few appearances at area craft fairs and several elementary school visits, you declare your book a success. Less than a year later, you adopt your son, Jonah. 

You’ve developed a passion for writing chapter books. You pen a manuscript called Lost in the Wild, but you feel as if it’s missing something. When you talk to another author about it, he dares you to turn it into a Choose Your Path book. Should you try this idea, or should you leave the manuscript alone? What will you choose to do?

Leave the manuscript alone: You’ve spent a lot of time on this. You’re ready to call it “finished.” On your way to show it to a publisher, you are attacked and killed by ninja ghost cats. The end. 

Adapt it into a Choose Your Path book: You were a reluctant reader as a child, and Choose Your Path books helped to spark your interest in reading. It seems only fitting that you should write one. You accept the challenge and meticulously convert your manuscript into a Choose Your Path book. A company called Adventure Publications agrees to publish it, so you co-write a second Choose Your Path book called Storm at the Summit of Mount Everest. Meanwhile, you continue self-publishing books as Lake 7 Creative—and you adopt your second child, Lucas. 

One day, while traveling with a friend (an illustrator), the two of you joke about adapting Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice into a Choose Your Path book. It spawns a more serious idea to adapt classic literature into interactive fiction. Will you give this idea a try, or is it better left ignored? What will you choose to do?

Shelf that idea: You continue self-publishing and visiting schools throughout Minnesota. During one of your visits, you are attacked and killed by ninja ghost cats. The end. 

Adapt classic literature: You pursue this clever idea—and change courses in a big way. You partner with your illustrator friend and an author friend, and Lake 7 Creative becomes Lake 7 Creative, LLC. You continue writing books yourself, and you work with other authors too.

In the years that follow, you develop even more creative wrinkles to implement. You relaunch your Interactive Classic Literature series, spearheaded by Can You Survive the Wonderful Wizard of Oz? You publish four interactive sports titles (such as Save the Season), and you put together two interactive mysteries (including The Empty Cabin). Each series comes with a slightly different spin, and they help your company continue to grow.

Congratulations! You’re a successful book publisher!

About the Author 


Ryan Jacobson is an award-winning author. He has written more than 60 books, with topics ranging from silly to scary. Ryan prides himself on writing high-interest books for children and adults alike, so he can talk about picture books in kindergarten, ghost stories in high school, and other fun stuff in between. His newest Choose Your Path titles include Can You Survive the Wonderful Wizard of Oz? (Interactive Classic Literature) and The Ghost of Old Central School (Detective: You). Ryan is also the co-owner and president of Lake 7 Creative, LLC. His company creates activity books and sports books, and it specializes in developing interactive Choose Your Path books for young readers. When he isn’t writing, Ryan likes to build LEGO sets, play board games, and try new restaurants. He lives in eastern Minnesota with his wife and two sons.

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