Janet was born and raised in Ohio. She and her husband, Don, moved to Florida in the 1980's to not only escape the cold winters, but to also pursue their careers as live event and production specialists. It was through their parent company, Multi-Tech Productions, Inc, that Janet's creativity was given free reign to soar. She was published in trade specific magazines, published non-fiction books, spoke at international conferences nationwide, and developed training classes pertaining to technical theater applications. When chronic illness stopped her in her tracks, it didn't stop her as a creative genius. Once she was back on her feet she took over the family gourmet dog treat business and expanded it by adding a full scale bakery to the already established "BARK"-ery. Again she collapsed, and again she didn't let it keep her down. Her creativity crested new horizons, and after putting herself through schooling at age 49 she became an epic fantasy author. Volume 1 - Maycly in her HIDDEN EARTH series was an eight year project brought to fruition by her determination, dedication, and zest for life! Janet and Don still reside in Florida. Janet is a dog lover who enjoys tandem kayaking, photographing nature, and baking cupcakes.Links:
http://www.hiddenearthseries.com
http://www.facebook.com/AuthorJanetBeasley
https://twitter.com/#!/AuthorJanetB
Interview:
If you could travel in a Time Machine would you go back to the past or into the future?
If you were stranded on a desert island what 3 things would you want with you?
If you were a superhero what would your name be?
If you could have any superpower what would you choose?
What is your favorite flavor of ice cream?
If you could meet one person who has died who would you choose?
Skittles or M&Ms?
Please tell us in one sentence only, why we should read your book.
Any other books in the works? Goals for future projects?
By: Hazel Mitchell,
on 5/22/2012
Blog: Hazel Mitchell (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: photoshop, drawing, Cartoon, children's illustration, sketching, monkey, birthday, illustrating, birthday cake, digital sketch, Hazel Mitchell, sketch for today, children's books, illustration, Add a tag
By: Janet Reid,
on 5/22/2012
Blog: Janet Reid, Literary Agent (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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...in this sequence: "Berne Convention copy write."
Unless you mean you're in Berne for the Convention of Punctuationists and you're going to send me a copy of the new treaty regarding interrobang usage ("WTF is an interrobang?!" I hear you muttering.)
Sadly, that was not what a querier meant when he wrote "The title and all text are the sole intellectual copyright of the original author and recognized under the BERNE CONVENTION on copy write."
He meant "it's mine and you had better not steal it."
Okedokey.
For those just discovering the joys of publishing here's a quick run down on why this guy was instantly disregarded:
(1) You can't copyright (note spelling) a title.
(2) "Sole intellectual copyright" doesn't actually make sense. He meant it's the intellectual property of the author (not "original author") and wanted me to know it's protected by copyright (note spelling) so I won't be tempted to turn it into fan fiction, publish it in Australia, sell it to Random House US and retire on my new-found fortune.***
(3) The Berne Convention was intended to have signatory countries recognize and enforce uniform copyright laws. It really doesn't have much to do with the copyright of an individual novel--that's the work of the US Copyright Office.
This kind of query is easy to discard with a rueful laugh. The faux ostentation and the bad writing pretty much make this a non-starter anyway.
But for those of you who are trying VERY hard to get the attention of an agent, the temptation to sound knowledgeable, with it, and in-the-know can be overwhelming. RESIST.
Resistance is NOT futile, I don't care what the Borg told you. RESIST!
I don't care how much you know about publishing, copyright, or intellectual property (other than you know your work has to be your own.) I don't care if you're under the impression the Berne Convention has something to do with Jason and his misplaced identity.
If you're just starting out you don't know what you don't know. Don't try to sound knowledgeable about publishing. Chances are good you're not. Like all industries we have our jargon, our abbreviations, our odd little ways.
Recently a telephone caller (yet another faux pas) to my office instructed me firmly that she'd had MANY meetings with agents at "The Book Expo America" and I was clearly a complete reptile for sounding the least doubtful about her experience. (What she didn't know is almost everyone in the industry who attends "The Book Expo America" actually calls it something else.)
Here's what you DO know a lot about: your novel.
Here's what I care about: your novel.
Nice how that works out isn't it.
By: GreenBeanTeenQueen,
on 5/22/2012
Blog: GreenBeanTeenQueen (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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Tween Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted here at GreenBeanTeenQueen to highlight great middle grade reads for tweens! Join the fun, add your post below and discover a new read!
Genre: Mystery/Suspense
Release Date: 8/1/2012
Add to Goodreads
About the Book: While out biking and hunting for a geocache, Chase comes across a cache with a message inside: WE NE. He's not sure what it means or if it's a joke. So he returns the next day and the message has more: WE NEED FOOD. Chase wants to help and he begins to worry that maybe someone is lost in the desert. When Chase finds two boys that need his help, he's not sure if he should believe all their stories or not. Something about what they're telling him just seems off. Can Chase help the boys? And what exactly is the truth?
GreenBeanTeenQueen Says: I picked up Hide and Seek because it's on our state book award list for next year. And if your award reading lists are anything like ours, there are always lots of mysteries or sad, depressing books. Yes, the kids like those, but where are the exciting adventure books? I was so glad to see that Hide and Seek fills the need for an exciting adventure story that's a bit mystery, lots of survival and suspense and a great read. I also really liked that the book uses geocaching. My librarian self got excited because this could tie in together with a really nice geocaching program for all ages.
Sure, some of Chase's actions might be goofy. I wanted to tell him to talk to an adult. (He learns at least!) But kids will love the adventure to it all and overlook anything that seems a bit too convenient. I will be recommending this one to tweens looking for a book that has survival themes and I think they'll easily get caught up in Chase's story.
Book Pairings: Kidnapped Series by Gordon Korman, Escape Under the Forever Sky by Eve Yohalem
Full Disclosure: Reviewed from finished copy I checked out from my local library
By: Evil Editor,
on 5/22/2012
Blog: Evil Editor (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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Twelve years after the astronomers spotted the comet, it was all over the news. I would've known that face anywhere. Durango Agonistes stared out at me from every newspaper and every TV station. That same black hair, now flecked with gray, that same forehead, still inexplicably tied in a knot.
Everyone wanted to know how it had happened. Everyone wanted to know what started it all; how could a man like him do something like this? But he wasn't talking. Durango Agonistes just sat back and celebrated the mega-IPO of the Agonistes Ball Company and smiled, perhaps for the first time ever.
Blog: The Children's War (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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By: Laurel Snyder,
on 5/22/2012
Blog: Laurel Snyder (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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I just got a wonderful email from my editor and publicist! They’ve agreed to another INSANE fall skype tour, because we all had so much fun last year… (here’s a write-up of how that went)
So… to celebrate the paperback release of Bigger than a Bread Box, I’ll spend September and October skyping (for free!) with classes near and far. Participating teachers will receive a study guide via email, and a free classroom copy of the new paperback so the kids can get started on the book (which also includes a chapter of another title, ANY WHICH WALL)
Additionally, we’ll include a book order form if you like, to send home with kids, that would allow your class to order signed copies of books!
All you have to do to be considered (first come first serve, until copies run out) is email me at laurelsnyder-at-gmail-dot-come, and tell me where you are (time zone), whether or not you’ve skyped before, and how old your students are. Please include the subject line: FALL SKYPE.
Please– go ahead and pass the word along. I’d love to reach out to teachers I don’t already know!
Oh, and one more thing– obviously, since we’re talking about fall, and school schedules can change over the summer, we’ll plan to make arrangements once the school year has started. But I want to set this up now, because we all know how crazy September can be. I’ll ABSOLUTELY plan to work around your schedules, when the time comes!
By: Elizabeth O. Dulemba,
on 5/22/2012
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Sign up to receive alerts when a new coloring page is posted each week and/or click here to view more coloring pages!
Playing dress up is fun - but even better when you can do it in a book! Reading let's you be whoever you like!
Y'all always get so quiet in the summer months. If you use my coloring pages - please let me know you enjoy them! Leave a comment ON MY BLOG! And add your creations to my gallery - I'm getting low on works to feature!
Click here to view the entire Coloring Page Tuesday collection.
Click the image to open a .jpg to print and color. Send your colored image (less than 1mb) to [email protected] and I'll post it to my blog! Click here to find more coloring pages.
Learn more about my fun picture book Glitter Girl and the Crazy Cheese - click the cover.
By: Evil Editor,
on 5/22/2012
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By: Kristi Helvig,
on 5/22/2012
Blog: Funky Fruit Book & Movie Reviews (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: kate hart, YA book cover trends, Add a tag
All around awesome writer and blogger Kate Hart did a comprehensive analysis here of 2011 YA book covers. I can't even imagine the time it took her to compile all this info. She told me she doesn't watch television at all, but this was still an enormous task to take on. Her study yielded results from the interesting (blue is the most common color of traditionally published YA books) to the sad (the downright dismal amount of ethnic diversity in cover models).
Kate followed this up with another post that clarified some reader questions, and addressed what writers can do to help--especially writers who are white (like me). It's very thought-provoking and has me thinking about my own responsibility as an author. Though I have characters in my books who are ethnically and sexually diverse (LGBT), I'm not sure how much control I'd have over the covers. Per Kate's post, even mega-author John Green admitted not loving several of his book covers. I'm not sure what the answer is but Kate poses some great questions that we, as writers, need to keep asking.
Have you read these posts? What are your thoughts on these issues? Anyone else happy to see the decrease in dead girl covers?
By: Marc Tyler,
on 5/22/2012
Blog: Noblemania (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: just for fun, Add a tag
Authors’ public presence is usually low-watt compared to other entertainers such as actors and musicians. Most authors do not get recognized on the street. Certainly not this one:
But at some point, most of us hear that we look like someone famous. Over the years, I’ve gotten a broad range. While I was flattered by most of these impressions, frankly, I didn’t see it with any of them beforehand.
According to camp friends in 1987:
Don’t remember who said it, but heard most of these multiple times (coincidentally, all are comedians):
Ben Stiller
Jerry Seinfeld
By: Tarie,
on 5/22/2012
Blog: Asia in the Heart, World on the Mind (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: books, picture books, children's literature, Malaysia, happy thoughts, Add a tag
Three Green Dreams, written by Roshni Menon and illustrated by Yusof Majid and Seeling Tan (Small Print, 11 August 2012)
"A little girl goes on a glorious green journey full of sights familiar yet unusual, curious yet fun. Where will she go? Who will she meet? It's a green adventure not to be missed, so, step inside . . . and join her green dreams . . ."
Looking forward to this "all Malaysian" picture book!
["Waiting On Wednesday" is a weekly event hosted at Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases book bloggers are eagerly anticipating.]
By: Uniquely Moi Books,
on 5/22/2012
Blog: Uniquely Moi Books (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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Amazon
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By: Jane Massey,
on 5/22/2012
Blog: String (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: illustrationfriday, children, illustration, Add a tag
By: Jane Massey,
on 5/22/2012
Blog: String (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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By: Karen Cioffi,
on 5/22/2012
Blog: Writing for Children with Karen Cioffi (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: marketing, writing, creating logos, logo poll, A Writer's World, Add a tag
It seems creating logos is one of the most difficult things. My new project is to create a logo for A Writer's World, my writing and marketing newsletter with information on Writers on the Move's free webinars.
I'd really appreciate your input on the following logos:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
There you have it, five different logos.
For number 5, I tried to use black text, but it comes blurry when converted into a jpg, so had to go with yellow.
They're listed here in the order I created them.
PLEASE LET ME KNOW WHICH YOU LIKE BEST, IF ANY.
Thanks a bunch,
Karen
By: Shannon Whitney,
on 5/22/2012
Blog: Shannon Whitney Messenger (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Contests, Epicness, KEEPER OF THE LOST CITIES, Add a tag
Okay, I'll confess--this post is both exciting AND terrifying. I've done a zillion ARC giveaways on my blog--but I've never done one for MY book! There's a surreal sort of giddy panic that goes along with that!
By: Kristi Helvig,
on 5/22/2012
Blog: Kristi Helvig YA Author (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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All around awesome writer and blogger Kate Hart did a comprehensive analysis here of 2011 YA book covers. I can't even imagine the time it took her to compile all this info. She told me she doesn't watch television at all, but this was still an enormous task to take on. Her study yielded results from the interesting (blue is the most common color of traditionally published YA books) to the sad (the downright dismal amount of ethnic diversity in cover models).
Kate followed this up with another post that clarified some reader questions, and addressed what writers can do to help--especially writers who are white (like me). It's very thought-provoking and has me thinking about my own responsibility as an author. Though I have characters in my books who are ethnically and sexually diverse (LGBT), I'm not sure how much control I'd have over the covers. Per Kate's post, even mega-author John Green admitted not loving several of his book covers. I'm not sure what the answer is but Kate poses some great questions that we, as writers, need to keep asking.
Have you read these posts? What are your thoughts on these issues? Anyone else happy to see the decrease in dead girl covers?
By: tanita davis,
on 5/22/2012
Blog: Finding Wonderland: The WritingYA Weblog (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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There's a whole lotta "yay!" going on, but it's been going on a little quietly.In the last several days and weeks, there have been some books which have launched (Yay, Lissa Wiley, Liz Wein, and me), some -- okay, a shuttle launched (YAY! Dragon... Read the rest of this post
By: Franki,
on 5/22/2012
Blog: A Year of Reading (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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I read the book WHAT READERS REALLY DO by Dorothy Barnhouse and Vicki Vinton a few weeks ago. It was a great read and one that I highly recommend as a summer professional read. This is one of those books I wish I had written. The premise of the book is that we need to teach young readers the process of thinking deeply about a text--not teach them to think what we think about a book.
A big part of the book is that as teachers, we need to be readers ourselves. That being a reader is the biggest thing that will impact our teaching because it will allow us to make our process of meaning making visible for our students. The authors say, "What's needed is a willingness to peer into the recesses of our own reader's mind, attending to the work we do internally that frequently goes unnoticed or happens so quickly that it feels automatic." The rest of the book really tries to make visible, the things we do as readers that help us make meaning along the way and to think about how to make that visible to children.
The beginning of the book focuses on the importance of helping students achieve agency and independence. There is a section I love on Reframing Strategies as Tools, Not Products. And they talk about the importance and noticing and naming for students.
Here are some favorite ideas from the book:
"We Build the Lessons Around our Assessment of the Demands of the Text."
"We Enter Stories Knowing that the Particulars Will Yield Universal Understandings"
"What these students have taught us is that when they are assured that a teacher is not looking for a particular answer but rather looking for thinking--when they come to trust that we are not hoarding the answers, waiting to spring them on the students like a trap, but instead truly valuing their thinking--they will rise to the occasion. Teaching students the power of constructing something with what they notice teaches students to be strategic. In turn, we, as teachers, need to be strategic, making sure that the reading opportunities we provide give students the time and space they need to develop and grow their thinking." (p. 132)
"We try to scaffold deep thinking rather than prompt it." (p. 132)
"We know there is not a single way to build a final understanding." (p. 150)
"Rather than teach students to identify literary elements, we help them see how writers and readers use those elements to apprehend meaning." (p. 167)
The book shares student conversations, lesson ideas and other thinking about how to really empower students to make meaning. The authors show us tools to help students do that so it is a great combination of the thinking as well as the practice needed.
This book brought a lot of my thinking together--thinking that I hadn't quite been able to articulate. It was the perfect book for me as I get ready to go back to the classroom--thinking about building agency and independence in readers. I think this book also helped me think through the Common Core talk about close reading and text complexity. One of my favorite new books on literacy instruction!
By: Kate,
on 5/22/2012
Blog: I Just Wanna Sit Here And Read! (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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High school, car dating, and the bittersweet sting of young love—all memories of adolescence, ready to surface when we least expect it. Recently, I had the opportunity to relive those years, after talking with an unknown-until-now admirer at a class reunion. Hearing the story from his perspective got me to thinking . . . and writing.
In The Possibilities of Amy, the main character, David, a high school senior, is immediately infatuated by Amy, the new transfer student. But before he can disclose his interest and approach her, he must somehow find a way to overcome his shyness. As David tries to work up the courage to ask Amy out, he learns that his friends also have designs on her, and have made her the prize in a competition to be the first to seduce her. David must now decide whether to stand in allegiance with his peers, or follow his heart in pursuing the girl of his dreams.
Here’s an excerpt:
"I had not met her, yet she consumed my every waking thought. Sometimes, sitting alone in my room, I wondered if she had any inkling of how much my life revolved around her. Every night I prayed for the chance to tell her.
The first time I saw Amy, she was leaning against the green-board, waiting for Senior English to begin. She was a transfer student—arriving three weeks after the start of the school year—requiring her to stand on ceremonious display as she waited for the teacher to provide a seat assignment.
I had never seen anything like her.
Standing about five foot five, she had thick blond hair that feathered over her shoulders to the middle of her back. Her face displayed the kind of beauty I had previously seen only in fashion magazines—shiny, little-girl bangs set over large, vivid blue eyes that flashed in sync to brilliant white teeth. Her skin was flawless, her legs and arms a warm shade of chestnut spice, the tan appearing to come from underneath, as if God Himself had warned the sun to color, but not burn.
And then there was that incredible seventeen-year-old body. A tiny mole dotted her chest just below the collarbone and, like a friendly road sign, it directed the eyes lower, to large, rounded breasts—not hung like coconuts, but each one presented in flawless contour, each one crying for attention. Even her clothes could not conceal the spectacular perfection of it all, the seam of her fitted dress revealing the half-moon valley of her waist and the perfect ripe curve of her ass.
I fell in love with that body. So did every male in the senior class.
And while I could sense many of the girls were already questioning her right to invade their pre-established numbers, I was also aware of more than a few who were considering the possibilities.
The possibilities of Amy.
From that day on—the day of Amy’s arrival into my life—I looked forward to English class the way a child looks forward to Christmas and birthdays.
After school, in the solitude of my own thoughts, I spent hours devising intricate fantasies to bring us together—euphoric daydreams that invariably plunged my beloved Amy into some horrible, frenzied conflict. Alone and terrified, she faced the ghastly predicaments of an unwilling captive, languishing without hope, until my just-in-time arrival
By: Tanya,
on 5/22/2012
Blog: Children's Book Reviews and Then Some (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Picture Books, Stories Without Words, aauthor: Geisert, Add a tag
If you don't know the work of Arthur Geisert, please click on his name for my reviews of his books. He is truly an amazing author and artist and his picture books will be on the shelves decades from now, maybe next to those of Richard Scary and Maurice Sendak, providing they aren't shelved alphabetically. If you do know Geistert's work, then you have been waiting anxiously for The Giant Seed,
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By: Bowie Style,
on 5/22/2012
Blog: print & pattern (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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brighton based designers liz & pip have produced a brand new card range called ' the view from up here'. here are some of the lovely designs in the collection... Read the rest of this post
By: Bowie Style,
on 5/21/2012
Blog: print & pattern (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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uk supermarket sainsbury's have recently introduced all their kids gardening and outdoor ranges ready for summer. this cute animal print which features on garden gloves, garden ornaments, tools, and a watering can caught my eye for its lovely graphic characters. in stores now.
By: jules,
on 5/21/2012
Blog: Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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Dan Yaccarino, Yours Truly, David Ezra Stein,
Dianne de Las Casas, and Alyssa Capucilli;
Knoxville, Tennessee
I have a presence over in the hypo-hyper world of Facebook, primarily so that I can share children’s literature links — and keep up with children’s lit news and links from colleagues in the field. I already posted the above image over there at my profile page, but I post it again here this morning all in the name of a really wonderful children’s reading festival that I’d like to yawp about. (And it’s about time, since every year I come back from the festival intending to blog more about it.) You can imagine me doing both jazz hands and cheerleader spirit fingers on this one, ’cause it’s that great. (Even if you were standing in front of me right now, you’d still have to just imagine me doing this, since I can only manage to grunt monosyllabically before breakfast/coffee, much less engage in such enthusiastic hand gestures. Post-coffee, I’m good to go, though.)
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Hello everyone! Janet here - just wanted to shout out a HUGE thank you to those of you who have already entered for a chance to win an autographed copy of my novel Maycly. Be sure and tell you friends to come on over to this awesome blog and become a follower as well as enter the giveaway! Thanks a million - you guys totally rock!!