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Were I to write a name poem for my first name Esther, at least one
of my E’s
would stand for Enthuse. That’s what I do, often and gladly. And I especially enjoy enthusing on behalf of
others.
So, thank you, Darcy Pattison, for declaring this
first week of September Random Acts of Publicity Week, giving me the chance to
do some mighty loud praise-singing of several of my fellow Children’s Book World
residents.
Once again I can pay Kindness forward, something
I also enjoy doing, and introduce our readers to:
Almigal, a spunky little girl with a BIG
personality who’s determined to hear “every single sound in the whole entire
universe!”Almigal’s spirit and her
cotton-candy pink cochlear implants will have everyone shouting “LET’S HEAR IT
FOR ALMIGAL!” That happens to be, of
course, the title of Almigal’s picture book, written by debut author WendyKupfer and illustrated by Tammie Lyon (Handfinger Press, 2012). Talk about paying
Kindness forward!Five percent of book sales
supports deaf children.
Gordy, a courageous little fellow who,
with his Doctor’s help, initiates a restrictive diet so that he can be like
other children – happy and healthy. Gordy’s triumphant story
claims the pages of the picture book Gordy and the Magic Diet, written by first-time authors Kim Diersen and April
Runge and deliciously illustrated by Carrie Hartman (Special Kids Enterprises,
LP, 2012). A portion of the
proceeds will benefit non-profit organizations that help children navigate
restrictive diets!
A spanking-new updated and expanded
website that celebrates and honors the legacy of award-winning beloved author
Syd Hoff (Think Danny and the Dinosaur) that went live yesterday, September 4. Created by his niece Carol,
the site includes a rich selection of Syd’s cartoons, a Kids page featuring the
“how to’s” of cartooning using letters and numbers and a downloadable chapter,
just for starters.
The September 9 launch of author Carol Coven
Grannick’s new blog – Today I Am AWriter. Many of our readers know Carol from her previous inspiring blog, The Irrepressible Writer. Carol shared that in her newest venture, she
plans “to explore the issue of what it means to be a writer without focusing so
intensely on ultimate publication in a public way because perhaps I need the
feeling of being witnessed.”Also
because she believes she is not alone!If this issue resonates with you, visit
Carol’s blog, posted six days a week, excluding Saturday.
PLUS...
a free cup o’coffee on National Coffee Day, September 29, between the
hours of 7 am and 11 am, courtesy of 7-Eleven!
So, Hurrah!
Hurray! Bravo! Mazel tov! – and - merci beaucoup, 7-Eleven!
And, believe it or not…
YOU
can continue paying Kindness forward by kindly promoting someone you know. Children’s Book Publicist Susan Raab
of Raab Associates
has kindly offered TEN (!) FREE (!) Marketing Consults for the Random Acts of
Publicity Week. The catch? You can only enter a friend’s name! Check out Darcy Pattison’s September 6 post for full details.You
have only 24 hours to enter.Entries
begin at 12:01 am.
Let’s
hear it for Kindness!
Esther Hershenhorn
P.S.
Speaking of Giveaways, don’t forget our
TeachingAuthor Book Giveway of Heidi Bee Roemer’s and Carol-Ann Hoyte’s poetry
anthology And the Crowd Goes Wild! A
Global Gathering of Sports Poems.Entry
deadline is 11 pm Tuesday, September 11, 2012 (CST).The winner will be chosen in a random drawing
and announced on September 12.
4 Comments on A Kind Cup o' Publicity!, last added: 9/8/2012
love seeing the new links to writer's blogs-they sound great. And the books about differences that some children face-always welcome. There are more than in the past, but never enough really. Thanks for the news!
Thank you, Esther, for paying kindness forward so generously. These are important books and blogs and now more folks know about them. . . thanks to you.
Browsing my Google Reader subscriptions the other day, I realized that the majority of the author blogs I follow are by young adult authors. And, although I love those blogs, as I write middle-grade fiction, I figured it was time I broaden my scope. So, I started looking around for blogs by middle-grade authors and found this great group entry, From the Mixed-Up Files.
It’s written by a group of nearly 30 authors of middle-grade books and offers news, information, insight, interviews and fun. Oh, and book give-aways! It’s good for everyone interested in middle-grade books, from writers to readers to parents of readers.
For writers, posts like this Reading Through Middle-Grade one is awesome. In it, author Joanne Prushing Johnson relates her conversations about books with her own middle-grade children. It’s interesting to see their answers.
The blog also have a starting page for writers, as well as many areas for parents.
In my search, I also found the website of middle-grade-book author Bruce Coville. Although his website is more for fans, it’s a great example of what authors can do to connect with children in this age group.
For example, he has a guest page where fans write in and he posts replies. The fans must be so thrilled to get that kind of conversation … if you will … going with one of their favorite authors.
Coville also has a fan art page, which I thought was wonderful. Again, young fans must be tickled pink to see their work on their favorite author’s website. Check out the awesome pictures.
What are your favorite blogs or websites by middle-grade authors?
Write On!
0 Comments on Keeping up with middle-grade as of 1/1/1900
Today is one of those days when I can’t get caught up. That’s the reason why I am writing this blog post after dinner instead of this morning, and why it is going to be short. But I do have an idea that I want to share with parents, teachers, and librarians that I don’t think we do as much as we could–use author’s and illustrator’s websites with the books we share with children. I know I’m usually talking about “using books” on here, but today I just want to remind you that it is also important to use the free resources readily available to you. One of those great resources are the authors’ and illustrators’ websites.
For example, take award-winning author Kenneth Oppel’s website. WOW! It is super cool. If you don’t know who Kenneth Oppel is, he has written several books for kids including The Silverwing Saga ( a series) and Airborn and Skybreaker. On his site, he has a special link just for teachers, which includes novel studies for his books. Take a few minutes and explore his site (especially if you are an aspiring or published author and are looking for some website ideas).
So, my suggestion to you is when you are sharing a book with your child or your students that they really love or you are looking for some lesson ideas–and I haven’t covered the book yet on here, then do a Google search for the author’s name and check out their website. Authors will often post interviews and bios on their websites, too, in case your child has to do a report on the author. Finally, if your child or students are interested in art or you love a particular illustrator’s work, then Google that artist to see if they have a website where you will be able to discover more about their work. I L-O-V-E illustrators’ websites.
Do you happen to have a favorite author website? Let us know!
It’s been said that everyone can have fifteen minutes of fame. With the advent of the Internet, the amount of time we can all spend in the public eye changed somewhat. Today anyone can have a website, providing them with visibility all over the world. Maybe you’re just starting out as a writer. Perhaps you’re self-published, or an established author with three or four books to your name. You could be with a small publisher or a big one.
Today, websites play crucial role in the way the world does business. Companies lacking an online presence might as well be invisible. Authors are no different. You may have written the world’s greatest book, but if no one knows about it, then it might as well not exist. You need to get yourself online if you want to get noticed.
So what sort of material should you think about putting on your web pages? Since you are a writer, we should assume that both readers and potential readers are generally interested in you and your work, so you can include all kinds of things on a website. However, search engines look for certain words, so the most appropriate ones need to be carefully incorporated into the text on the top 25% of your home page. If author, books, writer, story, literature, Canada, USA and just about anything even remotely related to what you do are part of the web page copy, your site will usually be ranked higher in directory queries.
0 Comments on SIMON SAYS – Virtually Famous – Websites for Authors and Writers: Part One as of 3/24/2010 11:34:00 AM
Words to goal: 22,652 / 371 words a day til the end of September
Additional writing: revised chapter 20 of first novel; 12 left
I’m all about promoting new authors on Day By Day Writer. You’ve probably noticed that many of the authors I’ve interviewed here are debuting authors or those on their second books; they’re not necessarily recognizable names. Not that I wouldn’t turn down J.K. Rowling if she said she wanted to be on this blog , but there’s something great about being able to spread the word about authors who aren’t as well known.
Gwen’s second book, Homer’s Odyssey, will be on shelves on Aug. 25. (I wrote about the book’s trailer in June.) The book is about Gwen’s life with Homer, her fabulous cat who has no eyes. As a friend of Gwen and her husband, I’ve heard fun stories about Homer and am looking forward to reading more in Homer’s Odyssey (love that name!).
The website looks great, and I think it’s a good example of what a good author’s website should be, at least according to a recent blog post on literary agent Nathan Bransford’s blog. According to guest blogger Jordan McCollum, a writer and Internet marketing guru, the top 7 things an author’s website must have are: a blog, social media, search engine presence, professional design, an about page, examples of the writer’s work and a contact page. Gwen has all of these except the social media links, which I don’t think is a crime; there are still plenty of people who don’t regular haunt Facebook and Twitter.
Have you got a website? Whether you’re a published author or aspiring, here’s an opportunity to promote it by posting it in the comments. I’ll make up a page of author websites that will include all the ones you tell me about. And if you’d like to promote your favorite author websites, do that too. Blogs are allowed as well. These are essential marketing tools and useful to look at, so the page will become a good reference tool for all of us. Post away.
Write On!
P.S. Day By Day Writer will be interviewing Gwen on Sept. 11, so stay tuned for that. Maybe we’ll get her to talk about the creation of her website, among other things.
5 Comments on Author Gwen Cooper’s new website, last added: 8/1/2009
I really like the link–that’s one professional website!
I do have a website (bethrevis.com), but it doesn’t have everything listed–in part because I think an unpubbed writer needs different things from a pubbed one.
I have a link to my blog, social media links, pitch, first chapter, bio page, and some marketing info. Actually…in looking at that list posted, I think I do have everything covered, although it could probably look a little more spiffy.
Lucy said, on 7/30/2009 11:58:00 PM
I write and write and write and…
And I go to writers conferences, but I never seem to get around to sending in anything.
My webpage is a blog about gardening, but it has most of the requirements listed above. I am an inspired and aspiring author of many genres, so I take out my frustrations on my gardening. At least I end up with something to eat!
This is a great idea!
Lucy said, on 7/30/2009 11:59:00 PM
I forgot to mention that my website is http://lavalily.com Please visit and leave me a note.
Gwen Cooper said, on 7/31/2009 10:14:00 AM
Thanks so much for the link love!
daybydaywriter said, on 7/31/2009 1:17:00 PM
You’re welcome, Gwen. Great site.
Lucy and Beth, I’ll put you on the new author web site links page.
And Lucy, keep writing and keep working on your making your writing the best it can be — in ready for publication state, then get out there and jump in, send out your work! Good luck.
Do you have a website where you collect email addresses from kids?
Are you familiar with United States federal law regarding commercial websites that collect personal information from children? It’s called the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule, and a single violation can have a civil penalty of up to $11,000.
Even if you aren’t making money from your author website, it’s a commercial site if you are using it to promote your books. Because of this, you have to be careful how you collect personal information from children.
The best resource for learning about this is the FTC website, but it’s a lot of data and more than most of you need. And this is where I make it clear that I’m not a lawyer (IANAL). But I am familiar with the legislation and best practices that protect children online.
So here are a few basic tips.
The easiest thing is not to collect email addresses from kids at all, which means deleting them from your inbox, address book, and anywhere else they might be hiding.
But you wouldn’t be an author if you had any interest in the easy path. And you want to be able to collect those email addresses and send out announcements.
So, let’s take a look at what’s second easiest.
Post a privacy statement on your website, in a prominent place on the main page and on any page where you collect email addresses. There are specific things you should include in the statement, so check them out:
Your name, address, telephone number and email address. You may want to use a P.O. Box and create a separate email address. Just be sure to check it regularly
The type of personal info you are collecting (in this case, names and email addresses), and how you are collecting it
How the info is going to be used (in this case, to send email announcements)
The fact that you won’t disclose this info to third parties
That the parent can review what info you’ve collected from their child and ask you to delete it
And that you aren’t allowed to condition a child’s participation in an activity on the disclosure of more information than is reasonably necessary to participate. That means you should only require email addresses for activities that need it, such as a newsletter or forum notifications.
Make sure your sign-up gizmo has an age-screening mechanism:
This is generally just a drop-down menu that asks for date of birth.
If the signer-upper is under 13, they should be prompted to include a parent’s email address as part of the sign-up process.
A notice should automatically be emailed to the parent’s email address. This notice should state the obvious:
that you have collected the child’s name and email address.
that the parent can respond to the email and tell you to delete the child’s info.
and that if the parent doesn’t respond, it means you have permission to use the child’s email address to send announcements.
Note: this method is only good for collecting email address. If you are collecting home addresses and such, that will require additional steps, which we won’t get into here.
Don’t allow children to post freely on your site. If you have a blog or forum open to children, screen everything and remove any personal information, including email addresses.
And while it might not be required as part of this particular law, you should remove any other information, such as school or teacher names, that might help a predator track down the child. Best to be safe.
If you have a section to display fan mail, fan art, fan fiction, etc., be sure to strip away any personal information. First name and city should be sufficient to give credit.
Most importantly, don’t let this scare you into shutting down communication. These few steps will allow you to stay in direct contact with your fans, which is the steady breath of fresh air any children’s book author needs.
1 Comments on Children’s Book Authors and Online Privacy Law, last added: 11/24/2008
Is it like my personal site, with lo-fi graphics and quick, dirty template? Or is it like Tony D'Souza's with a quiet theme, nice pictures and lots of content?
Today, The Book Publicity Blog is exploring some of the more avant-garde author websites out there, talking about cheaper ways to make your site look better.
"Wednesday evening Rebecca Skloot posted about Sloane Crosley’s website for her new book on the NBCC blog Critical Mass. This morning, the Ad Man wrote up Toby Barlow’s site for his new book on M. J. Rose’s blog Buzz, Balls & Hype. They couldn’t look more different (Barlow’s is heavy on flash, Crosley’s has a more basic vibe) yet both are equally cool and creative."
If you are looking for some more website building advice, check out my video interview with journalist Jeff Gordinier about his DIY book promotion.
Today is the official start to the Writing for Children Blog Fest. It started over the weekend because eager writers can't resist sharing their stories. I just posted this information at The Writing Jungle, and thought I'd post it here, too. If you haven't headed over to The Writing for Children Blog Fest, consider checking it out- there's so much information!
There's so much helpful advice here in The Writing Jungle for writers. I wanted to add one thing on maintaining author websites and blogs. . .
An author not only has to write these days, but they also have to concentrate on author visits, interviews, press releases, promotional materials, and all of the other business aspects of being a writer. Don't forget maintaining a presence on the world wide web. This can take up a lot of your time, but you spent all that time writing your book and getting it published, you want to get it into the hands of readers.
If you own a website or blog, consider checking out Adaptive Blue. I discovered this site by using the Cybils' book widget and have since implemented it on my blog.
What is it? It's a FREE add-on for Firefox. Just download it for free at their site.
What does it offer? I love their SmartLinks. These are little blue squares that are inserted automatically when you link to books on your site. (it can also link to music, movies, and more) When a reader clicks on the SmartLink, this page comes up. . .
With SmartLinks, you instantly give your readers a way to learn more about your book. They can read about it on the site of their choice, find reviews, and buy it on their preferred online bookseller. Individuals can save your book to online book communities and social networks, helping further promote your books. Each book SmartLink has shortcuts to other books that you've written, as well as your bio on Wikipedia and additional links on Google.
SmartLinks work in Blogger, TypePad, WordPress, and more.
Or you can make your own custom widgets for your site! It's really easy to do, and the site offers video tutorials (I posted one below) to help you out along the way. It really is as easy as bookmarking your favorite products. Once you create the SmartLink Widget and post it on your blog or profile page it will update anytime a new item is added much like RSS feeds. Besides making the best information about the book available from your site, the widgets are also easily grabbed and shared by fans to display on their own site, helping to further market your books across the web. The widgets update automatically - so when you release a new book everyone receives the update in their widget.
I have no affiliation with Adaptive Blue whatsoever! I'm a children's writer who maintains a blog, found their product, and fell in love with it. I just wanted to share this information with others.
Check out our website to see the other graphic-novel retellings of classic books in our Graphic Revolve set, and other funny, goofy books in our Graphic Sparks set.
Check it out. We recently spotted our books on store shelves surrounded by some very good company.
0 Comments on The next you-know-who? as of 1/1/1900
Anonymous said, on 2/29/2008 11:32:00 AM
As a middle school teacher, and as an author anxiously awaiting to hear your response to my submission, I've seen our library's newest books, and the Stone Arch titles are wonderful! I am so excited for the kids here to get reading them.
Patti
Stone Arch Books said, on 2/29/2008 11:36:00 AM
Thanks, Patti! Please let us know what the kids in your school think of our books--we love getting feedback.
The New York Fire Department made an unexpected guest appearance last week at the 9th Annual Winter Conference of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI). Their visit was brief, thankfully. Saturday morning, as most of the guests and speakers were in their respective showers, the hotel’s fire alarms went off. A small blaze had started in a laundry chute. The fire was quickly put out; the alarms were switched off. In her opening remarks, Executive Director Lin Oliver explained the situation to the attendees and gleefully enjoyed crying “Fire in the Chute!” She said it had always been part of her “boy fantasy” to say those words.
Too bad there weren’t more words given over to boy fantasies, or mysteries, or adventures. The 1000+ crowd included only 160 men. This may not be an accurate reflection of the overall industry, but it made me think. Last year’s conference was all abuzz with “books for boys.” All the major trade houses had talked up their commitment to bring out more titles and series for the young male reader. But this year, the buzz was gone. The excitement was switched off.
Yes, there are a few more books out there with boy heroes and boy topics, but the big houses are concentrating on girls. Again. I guess they realize that’s where their biggest market is. Why not boys? Why not give every kid an adventure that can be found only on the written page? I want to create books that the reluctant boy reader will grab and devour. I don’t think of this as simply a trend, or something the team at Stone Arch Books will do just this year. It’s a daily preoccupation in our office. Sparking a boy’s imagination, firing up his curiosity, feeding the burning need for adventure and heroics. Fire in the chute!
--Michael Dahl Editorial Director, Stone Arch Books
0 Comments on Boys, Books, Firetrucks, and SCBWI as of 1/1/1900
Dee said, on 2/14/2008 8:11:00 PM
A couple of years ago, I attended my first SCBWI NY conference. On the last day I shared a taxi with someone from your company. We had a most passionate conversation about reluctant readers and what kind of books need to be out there. I had such a wonderful time! I'm glad that mission is still being carried out by this company, even if the big guns aren't hyping it up. Keep up the great work!
Things aren't going so well for Casey Little. He's bullied at school and is stuck being a water boy for the football team even though he wants to be out on the field. But when he discovers his grandfather's old watch in the attic, everything begins to change. Casey quickly realizes that the watch has the power to send the wearer back in time 15 minutes, and it doesn't take long before he's using the watch to his advantage. Through making countless trips back in time, he becomes a valued member of the football team, befriends the popular kids at school and even gets his revenge on a bully. However, he eventually comes to realize that there might be unintended consequences of using the watch and he's forced to decide whether it's worth using the watch if it's at someone else's expense--even someone like the school bully.
This is a quick read that is not too dense (many of the chapters are quite brief). It would make a good choice for boys in upper elementary or middle school because of its action, fast pacing and relatable male protagonist. While there are themes such as learning compassion and empathy for others, Young manages to handle them in a manner that is not overly self-conscious or heavy handed, resulting in a fun and entertaining story.
Oh everyone's just ah-flutter over the Times Online listing of Top Books for Boys. "Boys" herein meaning anyone happening to sport a Y chromosome since the list is fairly useless at sorting the selections into any kind of category. As a result you end up with Calvin and Hobbes on the one hand and How to Avoid a Wombat's Bum on the other. I'm suspicious of some of the inclusions as well. Vampirates? A "top" book? Really? And who on earth would recommend the last volume of A Series of Unfortunate Events all by its lonesome? Some judicious editing could have done wonders with this one.
This is truly an odd list. How could they include an adaptation of Kidnapped (although the original version of Treasure Island is also included)???? Mind boggling.
But I do have an idea that I want to share with parents, teachers, and librarians that I don’t think we do as much as we could–use author’s and illustrator’s websites with the books we share with children. I know I’m usually talking about “using books” on here, but today I just want to remind you that it is also important to use the free resources readily available to you. One of those great resources are the authors’ and illustrators’ websites..jpg?picon=694)
, but there’s something great about being able to spread the word about authors who aren’t as well known.
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love seeing the new links to writer's blogs-they sound great. And the books about differences that some children face-always welcome. There are more than in the past, but never enough really. Thanks for the news!
Esther, you are so kind to mention my upcoming blog, Today I Am A Writer...Thank you for your lovely dose of publicity!
Thank you, Esther, for paying kindness forward so generously. These are important books and blogs and now more folks know about them. . . thanks to you.
Great suggestions Esther! Also, I had no idea about International Coffee Day. :-)