Sincere McCoy, a senior psychology major, has always wanted to write books because of his love for manga comic books.
His children’s book, “Birds of a Feather,” began as a project for his Christianity and Culture in Dialogue course. Over time, it became much more than that.
The book is about a chicken named Ophelia who is trying to lay an egg, but she can’t lay it as fast as the other chickens on her farm do.
“In most children’s books, there’s always a clear obstacle,” McCoy said. “I wanted to show a different message.”
The message was inspired by a person McCoy said he loved deeply, who he supported through difficult times. He said he would remind her that she was “the chicken that never stopped flying.”
“When she would struggle, or go through things, I was always quick to be by her side,” McCoy said. “I didn’t want her to feel alone.”
Reflecting on this, McCoy said he saw that everyone must experience this feeling to some extent.
“I came to realize, specifically in my life and in other people, that the reason why we can't do things, or because we might struggle at first, might not even necessarily be because the task at hand is difficult,” McCoy said. “I come to find that we are our own worst enemy.”
Eventually, McCoy’s relationship with this person came to an end. McCoy did not want to place the personal issues he was experiencing on her, but the heartbreak inspired him to write his children’s book as a way to pay homage to the relationship.
“This is more than just a project to me,” McCoy said. He said he asked himself: “How about I take something bad and I turn it into something good?”
McCoy never intended to publish the book, but when he went to a friend’s birthday party, that perspective changed.
“[He] actually put me on the spot,” McCoy said. “His cousin went over to me and she started talking about someone she knew who would publish a children’s book.”
After being shown pictures from his friend’s cousin of her friend’s children's book, McCoy started to think about publishing his CCD project.
“Why aren’t I doing the same thing?” McCoy said. “I would never have thought of that on my own.”
That friend was Farnsworth Hendrickson Jr., a senior visual sound media major. McCoy credited Hendrickson saying he wouldn’t have done it without him. He said that Hendrickson inspired him to put himself out there.
“That's someone that I know on my darkest day [he] will have my back, no matter how much I think I may be a burden or I might not be worth the effort,” McCoy said.
McCoy said he also owes it to Brandon Larmore, the director of TRIO Student Support Services, for supporting him. He met both Larmore and Hendrickson through the Resilience, Integrity, Scholarship and Excellence Program (RISE). McCoy said that without both of them, he wouldn’t know where he’d be.
“Mr. Larmore has indefinitely made sure that I'm together,” McCoy said. “But regardless of the fact, there were two people [Lamore and Hendrickson] who checked up on me and made sure that I was still in one piece.”
After feeling inspired to publish the book, McCoy began the publishing process. He said he initially wanted to publish with Barnes and Noble, but he faced some obstacles.
“I didn't realize how bad Barnes and Noble’s customer service was…like I had to figure out the formatting on my own,” McCoy said. “I had to go back and forth with the illustrator. It was a mess.”
Feeling frustrated, McCoy decided to find the positive in the situation and switch gears.
“After me being completely exhausted and frustrated, I was like, ‘You know what? Maybe the Barnes and Noble thing isn't gonna work out, and that's fine,’” he said.
After giving up with Barnes and Noble, McCoy turned to self-publishing and began with securing a copyright.
“It couldn't be simpler,” McCoy said. “All you [have] to do is get on a website and submit the thing you want to copyright… and then it's like, at most they ask you for like 40 bucks, or like 35 bucks, and they're like, oh, yeah, this is in your name, like, it's yours.”
Copyright was not the only thing McCoy wanted to do. He said he also wanted to get an ISBN for his book.
“I was like, ‘You know what? All right, I'll save up some extra money…[and] I'll put some money to the side, buy an ISBN,’” McCoy said. “This was like literally just a matter of buying stuff on the internet.”
Eventually, McCoy purchased the ISBN for his book, bringing himself to the next step: publishing his book on Kindle.
“I don't have a Kindle, but I know that there are people on this planet that do,” McCoy said. “I personally use Amazon almost every day…so this is the next course of action.”
He said he looked up YouTube videos on how to publish through Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing. He described the process as agonizing, but he was able to figure out the format for the book, leading to success in publication.
From left to right: Brandon Larmore and Sincere McCoy│Sincere McCoy via LinkedIn
“I'm telling you, none of this is as easy as I'm making it seem like it was,” McCoy said.
After publishing with Kindle, McCoy teamed up with BookBaby, a publishing company dedicated to self-published authors.
“They have been extremely pleasant to work with, especially in comparison to Barnes and Noble,” McCoy said. “The fact that I got a human being to talk to is more than convenient for me, and I'm happy it happened that way.”
With BookBaby, McCoy was able to publish a physical copy of “Birds of Feather.” Copies are available for shipping and distribution.
“I didn't publish the book to make money,” McCoy said. “I published the book because the book is special to me.”
Now, McCoy is focused on finishing up his undergraduate degree in May, with plans of applying to doctorate programs.
“I'm going to delve more into being a psychologist, and I hope to officially get to call myself a therapist someday,” McCoy said. “I want to help everybody.”
Dominique Mercadante is the head editor for The Setonian’s Campus Life section. She can be reached at dominique.mercadante@student.shu.edu.
