I am here with author Nicola Zacher who has written Marley's Dream Love and six other
books for children and beyond, I'm sure.
I'd love for you to tell me about your vision.
So my vision is for everyone to know that they have something to contribute to the world
and that they just need one person to believe in them and they can help make that dream
come true.
That is a beautiful vision.
We as a team, we're just studying a Ted talk on creating a movement.
In that Ted talk, he showcases this silly fun YouTube video of a guy dancing in a park.
All right.
And then one person finally joins in and then another person, another person.
And next thing you know, everybody is joined this guy who is, you know, would normally
be deemed as crazy probably.
But his confidence and consistency led to an entire movement of people joining him.
Yes.
So you got this, these books for children.
Did I label that correctly?
Are these for kids?
They are for kids.
Yes.
Marley's showing the message of love that, yeah, it's full circle because when I was
a baby, I was born with no soft spot in my skull.
And the doctors told my parents that I would be a vegetable and never go to school.
And my dad said, no, you're wrong.
She will be all right.
I will take care of her.
And they did.
And I remember as an adult, I said to my dad, you don't have to be so protective that.
And he said, no, I made you a promise and I will always keep that promise.
And he always believed in me and supported me.
So I'm sharing that message of love with the world.
That's amazing.
I'm super happy to hear that.
My system is going a little bit slow, so I'm not able to show the book as fast as I want.
Same as my dad.
I dedicated all the books to him.
Wow.
When he was diagnosed with dementia, the doctor said to me, you better start looking for a
nursing home.
And I said, no, he will be all right.
I will take care of him.
And Marlee, my puppy and I did.
That's fantastic.
So we now know where the vision came from and the story behind it.
I'd love to know.
Nicola, how did you get started with writing the book and the process and overcome all
the challenges that is involved with publishing?
Well, so when my dad was diagnosed with dementia, that's when Marlee came into our life because
I thought a puppy would be just what we needed.
And at first when I suggested the puppy, he said, no, no, no puppy.
And if you bring a puppy home, I'm going to put it in the garage.
But I did bring a puppy home and he instantly fell in love with Marlee.
So and the feeling was mutual.
Marlee fit right in our family and our home.
So I put Marlee in the Facebook contest because right from the start, we felt that Marlee
would be in the movies.
My dad said she's going to be in the movie someday.
She's so beautiful with those big black eyes.
And Marlee has been on TV.
We've done one show with the television station here.
So that's awesome.
Marlee won the contest and she won against all these American dogs.
So I called the local news station and I said Marlee won a contest against all the American
dogs.
And they said, we are coming to the house right now.
I said, oh, just give me a couple of days and I'll get ready.
And they said, no, we either come right now or not at all.
So they came within the hour and they interviewed my dad and Marlee and I.
And they said, you know, that this book is going to be coming out, that Marlee won the
contest for an illustrator's first inspiration.
And then I contacted the publisher and I said, okay, when is the book coming out?
Because I was just on the news and they said, oh, the illustrator is having some personal
issues and she cannot deal with that right now.
And I said, oh my goodness, I just told the world that a book is coming out.
So Divya Preet was another publisher in the group.
And she said, I will help you publish a book if you want to publish a book.
And I said, oh, I've never wrote a book before.
And she said, that's okay.
I'll share your message.
And that's what I did.
That's fantastic.
And how long did it take you to go from finding that publisher and getting it published?
A few months.
So even though you had told the world about it and there was a little bit of a delay process
between the fulfillment, did you feel like that still helped you gain traction with the
book?
So how did that work out?
I'm fascinated.
Well, so we brought it out around Valentine's, which was perfect timing because we're sharing
the message of love.
And I just seem to have a lot of opportunities to share that message, right?
Because it's something that resonates with everyone.
How did you create those opportunities?
I think just reaching out to people and talking to them, sharing my story, sharing Marlee,
you know, everybody loves a puppy.
That's true.
A lot of networking is a big part of it, I think.
That's a huge part of it.
You know, I've got a friend who's published a children's book as well called Alphabet
Songs.
And that has been one of the things that successful authors and people who've done what you've
done, like I've heard this over and over, the networking.
The ability to get out and talk about it.
And I've seen them struggle to get that off the ground.
It's one of the best books for teaching kids how to read.
And on the planet, it's amazing what it can do.
And it's hard to get them to go and talk about the book.
You're doing that.
You're not making an excuse.
You're finding a way to get that done.
You called the news station.
How many news stations did you call?
Oh, pretty few.
I think they know me now.
I have the number and the name.
Okay.
So that's persistence and that's patience.
Yes, definitely.
Not giving up.
Yes.
And just trying everything that you can think of, literally.
Like I had phoned.
We just finished doing a puppet show for Marley.
And I phoned the Great Big Theatre Company in Hamilton, just outside of Toronto.
And I asked them if they would consider using one of Marley's books for a puppet show.
And they said, well, would you consider using puppets?
And I said, absolutely.
So I just did a puppet show and that will promote Marley's books and her message.
That's amazing.
So you got the puppet show now.
Where are you going with the vision from here?
Well, there's a puppet show or a TV show called Mr. Twisty.
And he's done phenomenally well.
So I'm going to share the puppet show with him.
Wow.
That'd be awesome.
Yeah.
He's in the States.
And yes.
And Marley?
And Marley is doing well too.
We're hoping to do more puppet shows.
How old is Marley now?
Marley's five.
Five years old.
Yes.
Right in the prime.
Yes, that's right.
And she brings love to so many people.
Yesterday we went to a visitation for a funeral and it's a sad time.
It's definitely a very sad time and people are mourning.
But I brought Marley along just to soften that sadness.
Thank you for being here today.
I'm really happy that you tuned in to Vision Pros Live.
I'm looking forward to seeing your reactions as these episodes continue to move forward.
This is going to get more and more fun.
We'll have more and more engagement as well.
We'll invite people to participate in the show and thank you for giving us your time
and attention.
I hope you have an excellent time building out your vision and becoming a Vision Pro
back for next show.