Today we’d like to introduce you to Aubre Andrus
Hi Aubre, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I launched The Look Up Series, a career book series for girls featuring real women in STEM, in the fall of 2021. It was a pandemic-era passion project that was birthed just before the birth of my second daughter. I basically wrote the book series I wished I had as a kid! I wanted to create a series with diverse, real-life women on the covers so every girl could see themselves in a STEM field, and essentially befriend a woman in STEM.
As a child, I dreamed of becoming a theme park engineer for Walt Disney Imagineering, but that dream died before I even got to college. I had zero role models in fields like engineering. All the grown women I knew were teachers or caregivers. I wanted to make sure my daughters—and all girls—knew they were welcome in these more technical fields. STEM workers are in high demand, earn higher wages, and are solving some of the world’s most important problems.
Because I wanted to capture the attention of young readers, the Look Up Series features women with ridiculously fun STEM jobs: think ice cream scientist, toy engineer, video game developer, and more. And, yes, I did get to interview a theme park designer! I may not have become an Imagineer but I did get to meet one.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
After working for years as a traditionally published children’s author for Disney, Scholastic, American Girl, and more, I decided to start my own indie publishing company and launch with The Look Up Series. I wanted total creative control over the project, and I wanted these biographies to feature real women—not celebrities, athletes, or dead historic figures.
Launching an indie publishing company (and rapid releasing five titles while pregnant and parenting a toddler) was exhausting. Producing the book was a thrill (organizing photo shoots, interviews, writing, etc.) but marketing it has been a slog. The land of indie publishing is rough—especially for kids titles, which tend to be illustrated and paperback (not e-book), which is far more expensive to produce.
I have to rely on Amazon for my sales, and it’s obviously a very crowded marketplace. Because my titles feature “real” people (not celebrities, athletes, or historic figures), the SEO is complicated. No one is searching for “Amanda, Toy Engineer” or “Dr. Maya, Ice Cream Scientist” because they haven’t heard of her yet! So it’s difficult for new readers to discover The Look Up Series. But people have only good things to say once they find it.
If I had to do this over again, I would definitely launch on Kickstarter because it’s a good marketing opportunity and to get a nice cash injection into my indie publishing company.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I started as an editor at American Girl magazine, a lifestyle magazine for 8 to 12-year-old girls, back in 2006. In the era of Cosmo and teen girl magazines, it was the only magazine for girls that didn’t talk about boys, makeup, or celebrities. It empowered girls to be more confident in their friendship, school, and family life. And it featured plenty of fun crafts, games, and theme party ideas. (I avidly read the magazine as a kid when its first issue released in 1992!)
Girls wrote letters to American Girl magazine and we read every single one. Girlhood isn’t often taken seriously, but American Girl has always deeply respected its audience. I also got a strong education in how important it is to feature diverse kids within the pages of the magazine and on the cover. Sadly, the magazine is no longer around but I saved old issues to share with my daughters one day.
I’m so thankful for my experience with American Girl. I eventually went on to author 10 American Girl advice and activity books. I brought all of this education and my passion for empowering girls to The Look Up Series!
If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
As a kid, I was very good at writing and drawing, which made me feel that I wasn’t meant to be great at science or math. (Even though I was good at it and was very interested in science!) After interviewing so many women in STEM, I was shocked to learn how much creativity is used on a daily basis in these ‘technical fields’.
Food scientists develop flavors, beauty chemists choose colors, toy engineers get creative solving problems, and video game developers consider how art and code move together. At the same time, art can be very technical. After interviewing a theme park designer, I learned how analytical and scientific a designer must be—design is art with function. This is all knowledge that I’m thrilled to share with kids, and that I would have loved to know as a kid.
Pricing:
- Amanda, Toy Engineer – $12.99 – https://www.amazon.com/Amanda-Toy-Engineer-Women-STEAM/dp/1639460004
- Zi, Video Game Developer – $12.99 – https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1639460055?ref_=dbs_m_mng_rwt_calw_tpbk_1&storeType=ebooks
- Dr. Maya, Ice Cream Scientist – $12.99 – https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1639460101?ref_=dbs_m_mng_rwt_calw_tpbk_2&storeType=ebooks
- Angella, Beauty Chemist – $12.99 – https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1639460152?ref_=dbs_m_mng_rwt_calw_tpbk_3&storeType=ebooks
- Tracey, Theme Park Designer – $12.99 – https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1639460209?ref_=dbs_m_mng_rwt_calw_tpbk_4&storeType=ebooks
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.thelookupseries.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thelookupseries
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aubreandrus/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@thelookupseries
- Other: https://www.aubreandrus.com/
Image Credits
My professional bio photo has this credit: Ariel Moore.
The rest of the photos are mine.
The photo of the girl dressed up as Dr. Maya is credited as Katreia Broadwater.
