By Liz Shepherd
InkFreeNews

Warsaw resident Kelly Mager published her children’s book trilogy “The Founder’s Club” on March 1. InkFreeNews photo by Liz Shepherd.

WARSAW — Books are utilized in a variety of ways, from helping people learn new ideas to acting as a source of leisure for readers.

Kelly Mager, Warsaw, has penned and published a children’s chapter book series focused on entrepreneurship, with her trilogy “The Founder’s Club” serving as both a point of education and enjoyment.

The trilogy, which released on March 1 as one volume, focuses on middle-schoolers who have an interest in business. Topics throughout “The Founder’s Club” include developing a business, saving money for a family vacation and entering a kids’ business fair. Each book follows fictional middle-school characters Casey, Quinn, and Marcus as they get pulled in for a taste of what being an entrepreneur entails.

“(The characters) kind of fall into being a business owner through different ways,” said Mager. “It’s not something they specifically set out to do, but that’s where it led them. So along the way, they learn and start working together to help each other out.”

Mager grew up in Ohio and went to college at Kettering University in Michigan, studying business before moving to the Warsaw area in 2014 with her husband. The stay-at-home mother of three first started writing books during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, creating two books for mothers and fathers on parenting.

“My whole social life just crashed,” said Mager on her decision to begin writing. “I started reaching out to the Internet to find those connections with other moms and most articles I came across (on parenting), very few gave actionable solutions to issues. I wanted to share what worked for me.”

With her parenting books, Mager relied on her mother and friends to edit her copy and provide their insight.

During the process of marketing her first book, “15 Ways For New Moms To Manage Stress & Stay Sane,” Mager learned a lot about business and entrepreneurial skills.

“I got to the point where I wanted to help other people learn this knowledge the easier way,” said Mager. “My oldest child, who’s now six, he has started to read and I thought it would be really cool if I wrote a book that talked about what I learned that we could enjoy together.”

Mager worked on “The Founder’s Club” during her children’s nap times, with her writing work taking place from January to March 2022. She collaborated with Brianna Hosack, a Canadian artist, on the book’s illustrations.

“The Founder’s Club” is geared toward an age 9 to 12 reading level, but Mager’s oldest child, who’s six, enjoyed the trilogy when it was read aloud to him.

“I already have an idea of what the fourth book could be,” said Mager. “But I want to see the interest on this one and focus on marketing before I focus on the writing process again.”

Mager relied on Draft2Digital to publish her book since they made the process of publishing “The Founder’s Club” in eBook form very easy.

The first three books in the series, “The Ninja Course #1,” “Broadcasting Baseball #2,” and “The Business Fair #3,” are available in both paperback and eBook forms across a variety of outlets.

For upcoming local events, Mager will speak to the North Webster Community Public Library’s writing club on April 24 and will also be at a general signing event for the public at 11 a.m. June 27, also at NWCPL.

Those interested in learning more about “The Founder’s Club” or Mager’s work can visit her Facebook and Instagram accounts at MiniMischiefManaged.

When she’s not writing or spending time with her children, Mager enjoys reading and spending time outdoors.

“If you have a story, just start writing,” said Mager. “And if you decide you want to publish it, that’s when you can start the next process.”