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Nine Books in Eight Months, With No Art Training
Most first-time children's book authors are happy to finish one book. Elvis Ganda has published nine since January 2026.
He retired in February 2025 with no formal training, no publishing experience, and a long list of stories his children had been asking him to write for years. He never thought he could make it happen.
What changed his mind was a three-year-old and a full moon.
Meet Elvis
Elvis writes under the name E. J. Ganda. For years, his children encouraged him to write and publish his stories. Between a busy work schedule and no idea how publishing worked, it stayed a someday project.
Retirement gave him the time. His grandson gave him the material.
"My ideas have come from things my grandson says or does, or what he might find amusing, a true life event or a suggestion."
The result is a growing shelf of books that all come from real moments:
- His daughter asked for a story about her son meeting Bigfoot. That became the Adventures of Ronan and Tank series, and the first book, Searching for Bigfoot, is his best seller so far.
- His son and his son's girlfriend rescued a homeless dog. That became Joaquin the Grumpy Little Dog.
- His grandson thought it was hilarious to say "Hey, Fart Butt." Elvis built an entire story around the phrase.
The Moon Followed Me All the Way Home
The book Elvis shared with us started at a park. His grandson saw the full moon and was fascinated by it. Walking home with his mom, he looked up, saw the moon still shining high above the house, and said:
"Look, Mom, the moon followed me all the way home."
Elvis heard it and wrote the story.
In the book, three-year-old Benny rides in the back seat along a coastal road, watching the moon glow over the ocean. No matter where the car goes, the moon comes with him. When he gets home and sees it sitting above his house, he knows the truth. The moon followed him home.
"A child's imagination is a wonderful thing to experience in this story of wonder and the beauty of nature's night sky."
You can find The Moon Followed Me All the Way Home on Amazon: https://a.co/d/019hhw9V
Illustrators Were Out of Reach. The Alternatives Weren't Consistent.
Elvis had already decided on self-publishing. He had no expectation that a traditional publisher would take on an unproven author, so he researched the KDP route and committed.
The illustrations were the real problem.
"Since I'm not artistic, I began looking for illustrators, which wasn't easy and the costs per page or per book was well out of my reach and comfort zone."
He tried Readkidz, which promised a complete start-to-finish book process. It had some nice features, but the one that mattered most to him was missing: the characters did not look the same from page to page.
"The consistent character feature that was the most important for me was not available."
Then he came across a YouTube video about consistent characters in Neolemon. He decided to give it a try and subscribed. This app has changed his creative process.
Learning the Tool, Then Getting Braver
Elvis is open about the fact that the start took some effort. Writing a good prompt and choosing the right aspect size both took practice. He leaned on YouTube tutorials and attended live chats until it clicked.
"I'm still learning, but I find that I'm much more comfortable now than several months ago."
The deciding factor was the same one that sent him looking in the first place.
"The biggest factor is that my characters are consistent throughout the story. Without the consistent character feature, I would likely not finish my book."
As features like Story Scene, Multi Character and Editor Pro arrived, something else shifted. He stopped avoiding complicated scenes.
"It's helped me to become more willing to attempt designing elaborate or complex story scenes."
Consistency got him to finish the first book. Growing confidence with the tool is what made books two through nine possible.
What Publishing Nine Books Feels Like
"It's hard to believe that since the beginning of 2026 I have written and published on Amazon KDP nine children's books. I can say without a doubt that completing and publishing your own book is a strange but wonderful sense of accomplishment. As I finish each book, I feel motivated to keep writing more stories."
He says writing a book is a lot of work. He also says he enjoys it.
The pace shows in his own words. When Elvis left a review on Trustpilot in April 2026, he had published four books and had a fifth on the way. By the time he shared his story with us in late August, the count was nine.
Ready to Start Your Own Story?
Elvis didn't wait until he felt qualified. He picked self-publishing, found a tool that kept his characters consistent, learned it one book at a time, and let a three-year-old supply the ideas.
If his story inspired you to start creating your own, Neolemon is the best place to begin.
Bring your characters to life, keep them consistent, and finally move your story forward.
