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Peg Cheng

Author + Blogger + Teacher

December 9, 2019 By Peg Cheng

A Business Built on an 8-Year-Old’s Dream

Author Peg Cheng & illustrator Erin Kubo sign the first 100 copies of The Contenders.

Back in 1998, at age 26, I started my first business called, Cool Beans Publishing.

The first thing I ever published was a booklet titled, 100 Money-Saving Tips Every College Student Should Know. I was incredibly proud of it and ordered 500 copies from a local printer printed on recycled paper with soy-based inks. Five months later, nearly $500 in the hole, and after selling less than 100 copies, I closed up shop and started hunting for jobs again.

Fast forward 21 years later, I’m now launching a new business called, Plaid Frog Press.

Publishing, specifically self publishing, has called to me for more than two decades and has never stopped even when it was the tiniest, slightest of a whisper.

Even after working in several gratifying, career-defining jobs in higher education for nearly 20 years, it never stopped knocking on my door.

Even after opening four more businesses (Job Coach, Prelaw Guru, Writing Coach, Professional Listener)–some successful and some not–publishing never stopped showing up on my doorstep.

What’s even more cosmic is I can trace my desire to create and publish things back to when I was a little kid drawing, writing stories, and making up adventures for my stuffed animals (plushies or stuffies as the kids call them nowawdays) with my brother Steve.

Back then, I was a sticker fiend. Along with my friends, I collected tons of them, and doled them out sparingly on special letters and cards, treating them like the most valuable of commodities. I thought, how does one become a designer of stickers? It seemed like such a faraway dream job that I couldn’t even imagine it.

I was also incredibly fond of greeting cards and would draw and make many of my own. One card that I drew in fifth grade for a Mother’s Day contest won an award from Good Housekeeping magazine and was displayed in the Empire State Building. Again, I wondered, how does one become a card designer? When I found out that Hallmark was based in Kansas City, Missouri, my hopes for that job were dashed. (Growing up as a naive kid in Southern California, I could never imagine myself living and working in the Midwest. I mean, wasn’t that where Dorothy of The Wizard of Oz was from?)

Last but not least, I was enamored with books, especially illustrated middle-grade novels like Ramona the Pest, Stuart Little, Cricket in Times Square, Harriet the Spy, and Little House in the Big Woods. These books were my friends, my teachers, my salvation. Back then, I didn’t even allow my young mind to think about becoming an author. That dream was way, way too far away, too far for a kid like me growing up with immigrant parents who continually discouraged me from reading for pleasure, and gave harsh lectures on how dentistry was the only rightful job for someone like me.

I think maybe I was eight when I first started having thoughts like this?

Now, I’m 48.

40 years later and I’m launching Plaid Frog Press with an Etsy shop that includes…wait for it…an illustrated middle-grade novel, stickers, and soon, greeting cards.

Do dreams come true?

They do.

But first, you have to allow yourself to dream at all.

Help me with my dream. If you’re looking for a fun, suspenseful read, or a gift for a favorite friend or relative aged 8 to 108, go to my shop and check out The Contenders–it just might be the perfect book for you.

Peg Cheng is the author of The Contenders, a novel that asks, can enemies become friends? She is currently writing a book about how to retire as a millionaire even if you make a modest income. Peg is also the creator of Fear & Writing, a workshop for procrastinating writers from all walks of life.

Photo by Marcus Donner of me and illustrator Erin Kubo after signing the first 100 copies of The Contenders.

Filed Under: Self Publishing Tips, Writing Life

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What people are saying…

Lizz Zitron, College Professor

The Contenders is the middle grade novel you’ve been waiting for: diverse characters who are funny and real. Eunice and her friends and family feel so real–they are flawed, kind, complex, a little mean at times, and just wanting to find their place in the world. Highly recommended for every middle school collection.

Jas Hothi, Author + Entrepreneur

I’ve done my fair share of personal finance reading and, well, Rebel Millionaire is probably the single best thing I’ve read. Why? So effortlessly simple and effective. As I’m about to turn 31, this is just the nudge I needed to start saving and investing for my future. Thank you, Peg, and Plaid Frog Press!

Laila Atallah, Career Coach

What I love so much about your writing is how personal it is. It gives me permission to accept and love my own humanity, while also giving really helpful tips and mindset shifts, and next steps too.

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