What started as a way of coping with pain has turned Jess McInnes into an Amazon Best Seller.
The Medical Imagine Technologist would often see children struggling to understand the different scans and machines, making for a stressful experience for all.
Jess thought she could take some of that anxiety away by creating the Little Radiology children’s book series.
“I’d always wanted to write a book about x-rays for little kids,” she said.
“Every kid is scared [when they come to Medical Imaging and they’re in pain, we’re going to ask them to move that broken arm and they don’t get why.”
Jess said she thought creating stickers for those children was where her creative process would end.
“I started with stickers and fully expected to be giving out stickers every so often, but once I made about 20 stickers, I realised I’d made a whole character set and thought I’d turn them into a book,” she said.
Jess has written and illustrated two books so far, one on what an x-ray is and one on medical imaging and the different scans within the department.
“I wrote the x-ray book a while ago, but came back to it and accidently made words rhyme,” she said.
“I liked that so re-wrote the first book, shortened it to focus on the x-ray and used the rest to create the second book, which is aimed at older children.”
Once she had two books that she thought would be great for her niece, Jess contacted Amazon Direct Publishing to get a few copies printed.
It turned out a few other people were interested in her book.
“I ended up selling about 100 copies and made the Amazon Best Seller list,” Jess said.
“It was doing so well in the first couple of weeks that Amazon started using it in their advertising.”
Jess now has plans to write three more books for the series to explain what an ultra sound is, what a CT scan is and what an MRI is.
There are also plans for an activity and colouring book down the track as well.
Jess said writing books for children really helped with the way she worked with patients.
“It really makes me think about the words that I choose and how I first approach a child in the waiting room,” she said.
“The way you do those things can really make or break the x-ray.
“Even if it helps calm one kid down and helps them understand a little bit more, it makes it easier for us
Jess said she had also received interest from other departments across the hospital to write and illustrate some books for them.
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