Tag Archives: self-publishing

Making the Second Grade Buzz

Posted on by
2

Credit: leemt2 (FlickR Creative Commons)

Self-published authors of children’s books tend to agonize over how to create a buzz around their work.

M. Knoop; Natl. Trust for Scotland

We try everything: Facebook, email, blogs, discussion boards, reader and writer organizations, library lists, book reviewers… all in the efforts to get some grown-ups to notice our books, buy our books and give our creation some validity in the mature world of children’s publishing.

Well, I may not even be a blip on the radar of the publishing world yet, but by golly I sure made a bunch of our second graders buzz. Here is a link to a class blog that our second grade teacher kindly posted: Making It Educational; Princess Ramona.

The student reactions posted in the classroom blog are priceless:

YeJin – I liked when after Princess Ramona said, “You hurt my friend’s owie,” because it was funny. The dragon was crying like a 4 year old.

Nykolas – I liked the part when the knight came through the forest and the animals were ready to attack him. I liked the part when the king was in his seat and the animals were next to him and the dragon behind him and he didn’t know it. It is about helping each other.

Devika – I liked the part when Ramona set free the animals from the cage. It reminded me of Noah’s ark. It is a good book because it has funny and interesting things in it.

Reading directly to the students and seeing their reactions and hearing what they are noticing and learning from the story make all of those hours of writing and rewriting and polishing and programming completely worth it.

When all is said and done, a writer of literature is not producing for the reviewers or publishers, we are producing our craft for the children. A buzz from the tiniest of bees is always sweeter than the sweetest honey to the soul.

Ripples in the Blogosphere… or Self-Publishing Promotion

Posted on by
6

Imagine that you are lying in sunlit pool of still water, and you are dreaming. Your dreams are vivid, colorful and profound; but you are the sole spectator and the sole participant. The pool remains still without a single ripple until you sit up and start to share your dream.

An author may write a masterpiece or at least a lovely poem of book that would be a delight to the eyes of many, but if no one knows of the creation, no one but the creator can enjoy it. So here is the frustration of many an independent author who has chosen the path of self-publishing.

 

The first step is, of course, to make sure that the dream in your soul is written and illustrated in the best and most excellent fashion. Too many self-published books are in dire need of editor and professional artist to rescue them from oblivion. In some cases, there is no earthly help for them and they should become the compost for stronger creations to follow.

If you do have a polished and carefully crafted piece of true literature, then your journey has only begun. The dream is over. It’s time to wake up and make some ripples in the blogosphere. Here are a few places to start:

1. Create a Webpage

  • This website may be dedicated to you as an author or an illustrator, or it may be created for one single literary endeavor; a book or a series of books, etc.
  • Your webpage should be simple, straightforward and well-designed. Keep in mind what it is you want the page to do… promote the book, author or series? become a gathering place for other creators? support educators with lesson plans relating to your book?
  • Update your webpage frequently to keep the content and interest fresh.

2. Create other promotional avenues

  • Consider creating a Facebook page or a Twitter account for the book. (twitter hashtags listed below)
  • Post jacket cover photos on the internet by way of TinyPics. (http://tinypic.com/index.php)
  • Become an active poster and sharer on Pinterest, LinkedIn, GoodReads or other social networking sites.

3. Get the word out!

  • Find relevant bloggers that may agree to review your book or mention it in a post. (Possible iBook kid lit reviewers listed below.)
  • Find legitimate book reviewers specific to your genre and intended audience. (These are few and far between for electronic illustrated children’s books.)
  • Try to get some airtime on GoodReads (but if you’re new, your title may not even show up in the search box)
  • Create your own blog posts and review site. (Yes, that’s what I’m doing now)
Keep splashing. Your first attempts to create waves may fall flat. Established publishers do not necessarily want you to succeed. You will have to be persistent and patient. Remember, ripples and waves create more ripples and waves. You never know how far your message will travel. I was recently surprised to find that folks from India, Iran, Indonesia and Italy were clicking on links to my book… and yes, there were some other countries that didn’t start with the letter “I” in there as well.
Good luck to all of you independent, aspiring authors and may all of your ripples be productive.
Lists:
Relevant Twitter Hashtags for Children’s Literature:

#ebooks, #ibooks, #kidlit (children’s literature), #tlchat (teacher-librarians)

#bookapps (book-like apps for iPad, Android, etc.), #childrensbooks, #dads, #moms

#ece (early childhood education), #edapp (educational app), #ePrdctn (electronic production or book designers)

#kidlitchat, #kidlitPRchat (marketing children’s books), #kids, #kidsbooks

#library, #librarians, #litchat, #literacy

#pblit (picture book literature), #pblitchat (picture book literature chat), #picturebooks

#publishing, #SCBWI (Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators)

#selfpublishing

Sampling of Kid Lit Reviewers or Bloggers Who May Accept eBooks:

Distractions or Enhancements? The Interactive Question

Posted on by
1

What is a book? The concept of “book” is changing so fast, it’s hard to keep up with it all. There are so many options available now when designing a book, that it is almost mind-boggling. I would even go so far as to say that the options may begin to distract one from the original purpose in creating a book. This is a problem for the author as well as for the reader.

guardian.co.uk Photograph from Rex Features

An article published by the UK’s “Guardian” suggests that interactive digital books tend to distract children from the content and storyline of the book and make it harder for them to remember crucial details from the story. The headline of the article declares: “Enhanced eBooks Are Bad for Children.” The article then goes on to detail the results of a study done in the USA where parents, with their children, read a story together. Half of the group settled in with a print book and the other half with an interactive digital version of the story. The print book kids could recall more details and discuss the story much more readily than the digital book kids. The researchers concluded that while “print books were more advantageous for literacy building co-reading”, ebooks, and particularly enhanced ebooks, were better “for engaging children and prompting physical interaction”.

So an author has to consider the goal of any particular book before beginning to design it. Is the book created to promote physical interaction and initial interest or is it created to build literacy and present an engaging story? This is what I have been asking myself as I consider the digital options of my first illustrated children’s book. I began the project with an illustration that simply begged for a story. It was chosen as a “Deviation of the Day” and was simply titled…

“You!”

When I first saw the illustration on the Deviant Art website, the picture was so compelling that the story began to write itself in my head. And then it wouldn’t let me sleep until I had written it down.

So when designing the book, I knew that the detailed illustrations were a key factor of this story and they would be displayed beautifully on a retina-display iPad where the viewer could zoom in on the picture to see all of the creative, little details which the artist has tucked into every page. For example, there is a dragon hidden on almost every page of the book if you take the time to look carefully. And there are critters hiding in trees, in the grass and in wee hidey-holes, just waiting to be discovered. Because this particular artist, Therese Larsson, is very skilled at portraying light in her digital art, the back-lit iPad is an ideal platform for showing it off.

The story should always be the reason for a storybook. You write a book to tell a compelling story. Too many digital books that I have seen lately, seem to have been produced to distract a child or to provide a platform for playing games; they often lack an original story. So when thinking about how to design my digital book, I decided that I did not want to include animation or distracting games. I wanted to add things that would enhance the story. The read-aloud function will be included as the story uses a higher level vocabulary than is customary for a picture book. Some words may present an pronunciation challenge for younger readers and the read-aloud function can help with this. I certainly did not want to “dumb down” the text, especially not after the discussion I had with the 5th grade students at my international school when they realized that many modern authors are doing just that as they attempt to make their books more consumable to young readers who may not want a challenge. (The 5th graders were offended and went and checked out challenging books just to spite those authors.)

“Wily” and “plundering” may not be commonly used words, but they are delicious and poetic and deserve some airing out, and so they are staying in the book. But it does help to have a function that will read the words out loud so that “wily” does not become “willy,” (heaven forbid). I work with many students who are struggling to learn English as a second or even third language, and they are helped out a lot by being able to check out from our school library audio books and books with read-aloud CDs included in the back cover. Some of our EAL students check out the audio version of a novel when they check out the print novel so that they can hear the native pronunciation of the words while they are reading the text. I see read-aloud digital books as being very useful in the international school context where students may not have native language speakers at home.

In deciding what digital enhancements to include or not include in a book, the author has to think carefully about the purpose of the book. Will the book’s purpose be amplified or diluted by the choice of digital enhancements. This type of consideration applies to using technology in the classroom as well. A tool should help achieve one’s goal instead of becoming a distraction unto itself…. (one reason why I just cannot appreciate the design of certain pencils).

made-in-china.com