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Self-publishing giant Smashwords has signed new e-book distribution agreements that will help authors get their books in the hands of more global readers.

Back in October, the company partnered with Gardners Books to bring Smashwords titles to libraries across the U.K. Now, the website has expanded its e-book distribution network even further with new partnerships with Tolino, Odilo and Yuzu.

The Tolino partnership will put Smashwords e-books into several of Germany’s largest e-book retailers including: Thalia, Welbild, Hugendubel, Der Club, Bücher.de, meine BUCHhandlung, eBook.de, and derClub.de. The Odilo deal will expand Smashwords’ library distribution to 2,100 libraries in 43 countries across Europe, Latin America and North America. The partnership with Yuzu will help self-pubslihed authors reach the education market. Powered by Barnes & Noble College, Yuzu powers digital e-books across 473 college bookstores.

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Smashwords has released a new feature called asset less preorders, which allows authors and publishers to list an upcoming title as a preorder without requiring a completed manuscript or cover image.

These titles can be listed up to 12 months in advance of a title’s on sale date and will be distributed to iBooks, Barnes & Noble and Kobo. Smashwords CEO Mark Coker explains more in a blog post. Check it out:

Despite the poor adoption, over the last 12 months Smashwords books born as preorders accounted for 7 of our top 10 bestsellers and 67% of our top 200 bestsellers.  When you consider how such a small fraction of books accounted for an outsize percentage of bestsellers, you begin to realize something special is happening here.

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Mark Coker, the CEO of self-publishing site Smashwords, has invented a pretty funny scenario for April Fool’s Day: Kindle Author, “Amazon’s new service that  generates high-quality fiction using complex software algorithms.”

In a blog post on the site, he calls the service a “Build-A-Bear for ebooks” that lets readers write their own fiction with an Amazon algorithm. Check it out:

It won’t be long before we hear talk of Kindle Author millionaires – those readers who configure and create the new bestsellers of tomorrow.  Or today.  It’s already happening.  At this very moment, ninety-eight of the top 100 bestselling books at Amazon are Kindle Author books, and the books are earning five star reviews on average.

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Attention, indie ebook authors. Mark Coker at Smashwords wants you to know that there’s never been a better time to be you. He writes, “Thanks to an ever-growing global market for your ebooks, your books are a couple clicks away from over one billion potential readers on smart phones, tablets and e-readers. In the world of ebooks, the playing field is tilted to the indie author’s advantage.”

Then, the wake-up call. Coker goes on to report that “the gravy train of exponential sales growth is over,” with indie (self-published) authors seeing “significant” sales decline at Amazon, especially since the July launch of Kindle Unlimited. He had predicted the slowdown and attributes it to the glut of high-quality low-cost ebooks, the increasing rate of ebook supply outpacing demand, and the slowing, much-discussed transition from print to ebooks.

However, all is not lost. He offers tips on how to succeed in this new ebook environment. You’ll want to see his entire piece at Smashwords, as space constraints require editing them down. Here is a short take on Mark Coker’s 20:

1. Take the long view; focus on aggressive platform building.
2. Good isn’t good enough. Are you bringing your best game?
3. Write more, publish more, get better.
4. Diversify your distribution.
5. Network with other indie authors.
6. Publish and promote multi-author box set collaborations; you can build your base.
7. Leverage professional publishing tools, like preorder, to your advantage.
8. Best practices; there are seven, and Mark gives a good summary in his blog. Your fellow indie authors pioneered these practices, so listen up.
9. You’re running a business: be nice, ethical, honest, and humble. It pays.
10. Pinch your pennies; practice expense control.
11. Manage your time.
12. Take risks, experiment, and fail often.
13. Dream big dreams; aim high. Salvador Dali said: “Intelligence without ambition is a bird without wings.”
14. Be delusional.
15. Embrace your doubters.
16. Celebrate your fellow authors’ success. Their success is your success.
17. Remember that past success is no guarantee of your future success.
18. Never quit.
19. Own your future.
20. Know that your writing is important.

I’ll just repeat that last one: Know that your writing is important.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

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Halloween is almost here! I listened to the 'Halloween Adventure' the other night and it made me smile (Pat is such a good narrator!) so I thought I'd remind you that it is actually FREE to download both as an audio book and as an e-book. My favourite character is Frank, but it's a secret as to who or what he really is! 

Here are some of Rob's Halloween drawings to get you in the spirit (sorry, had to get in one small joke...). Have a fangtastic Halloween everyone!

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Some people out in the world wide web may have noticed some new clothes on old books, including a name change for my novel, Loathsome, Dark, and Deep. Yes, I took it to the courthouse, filled out the appropriate paperwork, and now it has a new name: The Forest of Ruined Men. Why? It's a bit more marketable. I think.

Okay. I'm not a marketing genius. I'm not even a writing genius, but I write. And revise. And write some more. And re--well, you gather the general idea. What I know is this: since coming back to writing, all my earnings are going to charity. I used to drop a fair bit in the community pot before, but now all of it--all my sales, Smashwords earnings, KDP sales, etc., goes to help the uninsured of Douglas County receive health care.

This reluctant salesman finds it a whole helluva lot easier to ask folks to spend money if I know that money is going to do something positive. The nickels and dimes for which I begged before mean little to me, but my chosen beneficiary, Health Care Access, can do so much good with my money. Why Health Care Access? Why health care for the uninsured? I thought everyone had insurance now?

No.

Health Care Access does good work here at home. It's a cause in which I believe--and it makes it so much easier to spend time and energy selling books. My nickels and dimes can become diabetes treatment for someone without insurance or the resources to purchase it. My nickels and dimes mean early cancer detection so someone can qualify for state aid and treatment. I believe we have a duty to help everyone access quality health care, and I'm starting in my hometown.

So yes. This is what I'm doing.

And here's more of what I've done to help what I'm doing:




It's like they're a happy family now... a series even... and guess what? I'm laying groundwork for a third "Sons of Chaos" novella. It's going to be a cold one.

And you know what? I'd love it if you bought an ebook or read anything I've written--but sending some love to Health Care Access is beautiful, too, and you don't even need an e-reader.

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2013 GradeReading.NET Summer Reading Lists

Keep your students reading all summer! The lists for 2nd, 3rd and 4th, include 10 recommended fiction titles and 10 recommended nonfiction titles. Printed double-sided, these one-page flyers are perfect to hand out to students, teachers, or parents. Great for PTA meetings, have on hand in the library, or to send home with students for the summer. FREE Pdf or infographic jpeg. See the Summer Lists Now!

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Selling ebooks is as hard as selling a print book and the biggest problem is “discoverability,” the new buzz word these days. Even once a reader discovers your book, how much should you charge? Mark Stoker, head of Smashwords, a service that distributes ebooks, has done some hard statistics and lets the data speak for itself. Watch this slideshare and see what data makes the most difference to what you are currently doing.

Also provocative is Julie Bosman’s recent NYTimes article about the impact of a “daily deal” to get your ebook noticed and catapult it to the top of the charts. Last year, I heard ebook developers talk about turning Dr. Seuss books into ebooks. They said they put everything into the launch date, hoping and expecting the new release to hit the number one spot in the iBook store and Kindle store. It MUST hit that spot, they said, in order to sell well.

What other strategies are working for your ebooks?

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A cat says ________.
A dog says________.
A skunk says______. (We don't know!) Watch this video to hear a skunk, a ground hog, a bison and more.

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My picture book, WISDOM, THE MIDWAY ALBATROSS is now available as in iBook. To access it, you must go to the iBook app on your iPhone or iPad. Then, search for the iBook. Or, click here to be taken to the page on iTunes.

Do you want your book to sell as an ebook? Here are some of the things you must consider.

Ebooks on Multiple Platforms

First, there is an industry-wide ePub standard. But almost no one goes by it. This means that you can put your book up as an ePub, but you’ll have to tweak the files for each and every platform you want to put it on.

The easiest method is to work with Smashwords, which allows ePubs now, or has a MeatGrinder to convert files. You will most definitely want to read Smashwords owner Mark Coker’s Smashwords File Guide. It is a simple explanation of the variables involved in formatting your book. Smashwords has multiple distributions and many people just upload it here and let Smashwords take care of distribution to these platforms: Sony, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Amazon, Apple, Diesel, Page Foundry, Baker & Taylor Blio, Library Direct, Baker & Taylor, and Axis 360 . But others prefer to move on to other platforms themselves.

Nook: You can upload your ePub documents to Nook at pubit.barnesandnoble.com.
Their process has a built in viewer so you can see what your book will look like on these devices.

Kindle: Go to the kdp.amazon.com program and set up an account to get started. Kindle formatting is not ePub and you must convert your files. KDP allows for distribution on Amazon stores in multiple countries: Germany, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, and India. Of course, if you want it in different languages, you must translate it yourself, then upload the translated files.

Kobo: Not a new player, but one to take notice of now, Kobo recently signed a deal with the Independent Booksellers to make Kobo the preferred platform in your local indie. They are working together to promote books in new and fresh ways. The Kobo App is available on almost any platform. You can get on Kobo through Smashwords, or by directly uploading to them. They accept an ePub format and will convert it as needed to their format.

Apple iBooks: The strange thing about Apple’s iBook platform is its limitations. iBooks is an app for iPhone or iPad, but there’s no app for Android, desktop Macs, or other platforms. Sales go through the iBookstore, which is part of iTunes. Some argue that iBooks won’t take off until they pull the books out of iTunes. The real advantage of Apple is their international reach, which allows you to put your book into 52 different countries. Again, you must translate yourself; if you only put up English, you may get some sales, but it won’t take off. Apple provides free software, IBookAuthor, which allows you to embed audio and video and is generally touted as a boon to textbook writers. Of course, that just increases your copyright headaches, as you must make sure you have permissions for all images, sounds, music, video, multimedia, etc. But it’s totally cool to include video. I put an introductory video on the new Wisdom iBook. If you have ePub files, they may work on Apple’s platform, but you can’t get around the requirement that you use a Mac Computer to upload at iTunesConnect .

There are other platforms, of course. Vook touts their video-embedded ebooks, while other platforms have other specialties.

PDF Ebooks. Technically not an ePub, but still often referred to as an ebook, are pdf versions of your book. You can sell these from your website through a sales management site such as ejunkie.com. It allows you to upload your files, then handles the transaction and sends a notice to the buyer when the financial transaction is finished, so they can download their file. Goodreads.com also allows you to sell pdf

Software to Create EPubs

What a tangled web there is when you consider converting your book to ePub!
First, most of the major platforms will convert for you. But you’ll want to create the ePub first. Here are some options.

Adobe Indesign. The premiere book/publishing layout and design software from Adobe has made it easier than ever to convert to an ePub. Indesign CS6 allows for flexible layouts, so you can create both portrait and landscape versions of your book for the tablet requirements. Many magazines use Indesign and create the flexible layouts to publish. You can export in a digital format, too, which should meet ePub requirements. The cost of Adobe products continues to escalate and they update so often that it is outdated quickly; therefore, they now offer a monthly subscription that I am reluctantly moving to.

Adobe’s Digital Publishing Suite is not the same thing; it is used more by magazine publishers than book publishers, and by iPad app developers. This is because through this software, you can upload to the Apple App store, but NOT to the Apple book store. Think carefully where you want to sell your product when you choose your Adobe software. Do you want an app (DPS) or an ebook(InDesign)?

Apple’s iBookAuthor. On the other hand, Apple’s price is right: free. iBooksAuthor is one of the easiest, most-intuitive programs to use, but it comes with a major disadvantage. When you create an ebook with this software, you may sell it on Apple’s iBookstore and no where else. This means you will probably do a separate version just for them. The biggest advantage of Apple is that you can sell to 52 countries. And Apple seems to me to be a sleeping giant: if they ever decide to push ebooks, like they do music and video, look out.

Sigil. Open software, Sigil lets you look at the inside of your ePub and–if you are brave and knowledgable–make changes.

Calibre. A desktop ebook reader and editor, Calibre allows you to edit the metadata, add a book cover and convert to some formats. A free, open-source program, it’s useful to have around.

My Workflow

Well, to be honest, it changes every time I get ready to do this, because the development of software, platforms and everything about ebooks changes so rapidly. But in general, what I’ve done is to layout a book in InDesign, then export as an ebook and as a pdf. In Sigil, I can change anything I need to on the “guts” of the ebook. I use that for Smashwords, Kindle, and Nook. I’ll use it for Kobo next time, too, since their connection to Independent Bookstores has raised their profile. I use the pdf with ejunkie.com to sell on my own site.Then, I do a completely new version in iBookAuthor for Apple. Such a pain. Hard to keep track.

At times, I have also hired someone to convert to the standard ePub, then done any tweaking needed for a different format. I’ll be so glad when everyone abides by a given standard! Right now, the biggest drawback to ePubs is the fragmented platforms and their individual requirements.

Helpful books

Elizabeth Castro rocks. Essentially, an ePub is a set of images and text that are put into an html file, controlled by a CSS (cascading style sheets) file, and then zipped into one file. This means that if you mess with the guts of the ePub, you need advice from someone who understand html and css and can explain it in relatively simple terms. Elizabeth Castro has a suite of books that does just this.

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We are proud to unveil Varney the Vampire: A Literary Remix, a free digital book featuring the work of GalleyCat readers.

We used Smashwords to publish the final product, and you can download a free copy in all major eBook formats. If you participated in our Literary Vampire Remix Writing Contest but can’t find your work in the digital book, email GalleyCat and we will update the digital book.

Here’s more about the book: “A crew of dedicated GalleyCat readers remixed a single page from Varney the Vampire-a bestselling vampire novel from the 19th Century filled with enough star-crossed romance, vampire action and purple prose to inspire another Twilight trilogy.”

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

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SwanSong by Lynne Cantwell

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The ebook cover of Lynne Cantwell’s mythic novel SwanSong has four swans flying in an ominous, cloud-banked sky. A giant moon hovers above them, casting no light, offering no comfort. It is a beautiful picture, suitable to this enchanting young adult fantasy based on the Irish folktale “The Fate of the Children of Lir.”

As in the original tale, Ms. Cantwell’s novel depicts the entwined fates of four siblings, a sister, Neeve, and her brothers Kennet, Corwin, and Kyl. Six years after the death of their mother, the children’s demigod father marries Eva, the dead mother’s haughty, divisive sister. Once the brief, sensual honeymoon is over, Eva’s jealousy of the children turns deadly and she uses her limited magical powers in an attempt to destroy them. The children become trapped partway between swan-form and human-form, with their human faculties and sensibilities intact. The curse will last for 900 years.

Ms. Cantwell does a wonderful job of developing realistic relationships among the siblings, as well as a powerful love between father and children. His loss is felt deeply, as is the children’s loss of him when he cannot follow them to the northern land where they are fated to dwell during the middle 300 years of their curse. The tale is set in an ancient time where magical beings and long lived giants dwell, but are dying out, and being replaced by regular people; the end of the 900 year curse sees the dawn of modernity when light is given by electric bulbs more often than at the tip of a magical wand. The siblings dutifully care for one another, and continue to grow as people despite their individual disabilities (each one is transformed in a different way). The story is a fantasy rooted deeply in the everyday aspects of life, which are beautifully and carefully rendered.

SwanSong has a few typos, but they are minor compared to the strengths of the novel, and can easily be overlooked. Point of view changes are a bit irksome at times. For instance, though Neeve is truly the main character, and her point of view usually dominates, there are times when we glance inside the mind of a brother and then quickly get back inside the mind of Neeve. This dilutes some of the story’s power and could easily be remedied. But the overall impression of the story is, once again, strong enough to overcome such minor lapses. The novel has a good structure, with each part named for a kind of musical composition: “Cantata for a King,” “Sonata for a Swan Quartet,” etc. Music is an integral part of the story as the swan children have a gift for music that lies far outside the norm; it is, indeed, what sustains them throughout their long ordeal.

Lynne Cantwell’s SwanSong is a self-published ebook available at Smashwords.com and Amazon.com, and will be sure to satisfy young adult and adult readers of fantasy, especially those seeking out new voices and timeless, well written tales.

View all my reviews

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First, a heartfelt thanks to everyone who signed up for the tour! I really appreciate all the support. I still have a few slots so you can still sign up to read an ebook for the tour and the book is up on Goodreads :)


Now, back to the ebook eXperiment!
Before I talk about formats and pricing, I thought I would share some 411 about where I am in the process - because I promised to be totally frank and honest:


What I have spent so far: My budget is about $1,000
As a financial disclaimer - I have no money to do this. I am actually taking on a job that is crap pay and hard work but will get me what I need to put this book out right. So don't think I'm rich and throwing a bunch of cash in. 


$9 for stock photo
$400 for editing with professional editor
170$ for an 3 day ad (I will talk about this next week)
Time - priceless (someone asked me to log how many hrs Im spending - right now about 5 hours a day to get everything set up. I don't expect to spend as much time once the book is out.)


Here are some of the things I've done so far:

• Added my book to Goodreads
• Added my book to my web site
• Updating my website
• Answered every email and comment of support I've gotten (I out this just so I would think I've accom
  21 Comments on ebook format and pricing (nooks and kindle and itunes - oh my), last added: 10/2/2011
  Display Comments
  Tere Kirkland said, on 9/30/2011 8:50:00 AM
  

  Shelli, thanks so much for being so frank and honest about the work you're putting into this experiment. I love reading these posts and I'm interested to see the results!

  Jill Myles said, on 9/30/2011 9:15:00 AM
  

  Don't opt out of the format on Smashwords. Opt out of the distribution. You still want to make those formats available for purchase.
  
  Also? Smashwords does not feed to Amazon. Ever. Your only course of action is to put it up directly unless you go through a third party (such as BookBrewer).
  
  Copyediting might cost you a bit more than the money you have alloted, and you'll probably want to speak with a copyeditor sooner rather than later, as a lot of them are booked up (there are a LOT of people self-publishing right now). My editor is fab but she is also booked up until March. :)

  Ben Woodard said, on 9/30/2011 9:35:00 AM
  

  Hi Shelli. You may already know this, but Scrivener software will compile your book in mobi and epub. You can then open the file in Kindle or Nook, and see exactly what it looks like before you upload it. You don't have to deal with html for Kindle, or trust that Amazon will format your doc or pdf file correctly. Take a look at it.

  Laurel Garver said, on 9/30/2011 10:08:00 AM
  

  My question about going with three different e-book distributors (Smashworld, Amazon and B&N) is whether you'll need to purchase your ISBN independent of them. Sorry if you covered this already...
  
  Leigh Moore is taking on editing clients. You can find her at http://leightmoore.blogspot.com/

  Shelli (srjohannes) said, on 9/30/2011 10:13:00 AM
  

  wow JIll and Ben - thank you - Ill make sure I do that.
  
  Laurel - I believe smashwords (if I upgrade my account or so) will issue me one. So i think I can use that but Im still looking into that. Ill make sure I get back to you. :)

  Shelli (srjohannes) said, on 9/30/2011 10:15:00 AM
  

  Also - anyone correct me if Im wrong - But you dont need an ISBN if you are just doing amazon or B&N - but others (like itunes) requires one.

  Elle Strauss said, on 9/30/2011 10:16:00 AM
  

  Great tips here and from the commenters too!
  
  I chose 2.99 for the impulse buy. I will probably go to 3.99 for my second book, but I wanted to get my name out there first. I'll likely use the .99 point in the future with "older" books to help promote new books and to give the older books a sales boost. That's my plan anyway. :)

  Elle Strauss said, on 9/30/2011 10:18:00 AM
  

  Oh, yeah, I recommend Leigh too. www.leighmoore.blogspot.com
  
  She just edited my second book and did a fab job.

  Kelly Polark said, on 9/30/2011 11:31:00 AM
  

  Wow! Thanks for laying this all out for us! Good luck!

  Julie Hedlund said, on 9/30/2011 2:29:00 PM
  

  Wow - these posts are so informative! I'm navigating some of this same territory myself. Haven't decided yet whether I'm going to take the plunge, but it's a mind-exploding amount to learn in a short period of time, no?
  
  Question about formatting. Does that mean you are formatting for B&N & Amazon and Smashwords is doing the others, or do you have to format for Smashwords and then they make it available in all the other formats?
  
  Confusing!

  Jemi Fraser said, on 9/30/2011 3:17:00 PM
  

  There's so much to learn!!! I wish I could help, but everyone else seems to know more. I definitely do the 'stop and consider' when a book is $4.99 or more. I have bought a lot of books at the $2.99 price point. Either price should work.

  E. Arroyo said, on 9/30/2011 3:49:00 PM
  

  I agree awesome info!

  Natalie Aguirre said, on 9/30/2011 5:17:00 PM
  

  I didn't realize the royalty would change if the price is different. Interesting.
  
  I've used Smashwords before to download an e-book to my computer. not sure you can on Amazon & B&N. Some of us have no e-reader. I don't plan to get one. They're expensive and most of the books I buy are to give away on my blog either with an author interview or random giveaway. The rest I read at the library. You might want to think about this in terms of marketing.
  
  Thanks for all the helpful info.

  Anita said, on 9/30/2011 5:19:00 PM
  

  You don't need an ISBN, but Smashwords will give you one if you do the Premium catalog. Amazon has their own special #. I wouldn't buy your book for $3.99 and I like you. Rude, but honest. Good luck!

  Katie Anderson said, on 9/30/2011 5:55:00 PM
  

  Wow. FASCINATING info, Shelli! You have done a LOT of work!
  
  Loving this Xperiment!!!

  Michael Di Gesu said, on 9/30/2011 9:04:00 PM
  

  Thanks Shelli for all your hard work on research. We all appreciate the time you took and sharing this information with us.
  
  I might be going this route soon and your posts are so helpful.
  
  Good luck with your venture. If you still need a host let me know I have some time available in December if that is when your are launching. November as well.

  Stina Lindenblatt said, on 10/1/2011 5:00:00 AM
  

  What impresses me here, Shelli, is that you're being honest about EVERYTHING, including the cost you're incurring. I don't think a lot of writers understand this part. It's not cheap if you do it right. And doing it right means having a professional editor.
  
  The amount you're paying out also sounds realistic. A friend of mine paid $250 total to self publish her book (this amount is only for the ebook side of things), and that included the editor. Yeah, I was wondering how she managed to do it so cheaply, too. I know she's also published with Carina Press, so maybe this has something to do with it (somehow). When she told me how much she paid to self pub a different book that didn't require an editor (it had been close to being sold with one NYC publisher), it was only $50 less than when she hired a professional editor. I'm thinking it's a friend who only charged a very nominal fee.
  
  I'm looking forward to hearing more about what you're doing.

  Huntress said, on 10/1/2011 12:53:00 PM
  

  I agree with you about the pricing. Your logic sounds like the Goldilocks syndrome: Not too hot, not too cold. Just right.

  Gail said, on 10/1/2011 7:14:00 PM
  

  SWhelli,
  I have a friend who published an ebook recently and wrote about formatting on his blog. You can check it out from his web page:
  www.larrykahn.com

  lisanowak said, on 10/1/2011 11:38:00 PM
  

  Your research looks accurate based on my experience as an indie author. I think you've chosen the right price and the right distributors for the right reasons. You don't have to pay anything to Smashwords, though, unless it has something to do with them giving you an ISBN. I wouldn't know about that since I bought my own. In your case, since you only plan to do this one book and your finances are limited, you might consider purchasing 20 ISBNs from Bowker. You'll need at least four. One for Smashwords, one for Amazon, one for Barnes and Noble, and one for POD if you intend to release the book that way. You can get 20 for $250. If you get just one it costs $125. I sprung for 100, but that's a chunk of change at $575. It's true that Amazon has it's own numbering system, but it's still more professional to give a book an ISBN. Whoever owns the ISBN is considered the publisher, so if you want to be the publisher (rather than Amazon) you need an ISBN.
  
  Formatting isn't that tough. If you follow the Smashwords Style Guide (a free download) you won't have any trouble. Be sure to use the nuclear option to get rid of all the wonky formatting Word tosses in a document. I have illustrated notes on how to convert your Smashwords Word doc to Mobi (Kindle) and ePub (B&N). I plan to make this available for free on Smashwords in the next few days. I'll email you a copy when I get a chance.
  
  As far as copyediting goes, even if you hire someone, things are likely to sneak through. It's a good idea to have several people read it to check for typos. I also downloaded WordTalk to my computer and had it read my Word documents back to me. You find a lot of missing and transposed words this way. Stuff our eyes seem to skip over.

  DL Hammons said, on 10/2/2011 7:08:00 AM
  

  This series continues to be a valuable read, including all of the comments which is one reason I love this blogosphere. The flow of information is so multi-directional, which benefits everybody! Thanks again for doing this!

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Does Walt Disney World need an introduction? Probably not, but author, Laura Schaefer give us a super intro!

Planet Explorers: Walt Disney World 2011, a guide book for kids, has as many fun facts, trivia, and links as you need to create the perfect vacation to one of the most popular destinations on earth.

You’ll see inside the Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom, the water parks, Downtown Disney, and the resorts.

She even rates the rides and attractions with symbols throughout the book:

S = Scary
D = Dark
A = Awesome: don’t miss this attraction
T = Thrilling: think roller coasters
W = Wet: you might get soaked

Looking for tips on characters? The best food? Live shows? You'll find it all. She even offers tips on keeping your wait at the most popular attractions to a minimum.

A timeline, pictures and tons of details make this book a must read before you book your next trip to Disneyland. Whether your favorite is From Spaceship Earth, The Seas with Nemo and Friends, or one of my favorites, Big Thunder Mountain, this guide has all the information you need.

Author, Laura Schaefer, got her start as a contributor to the University of Wisconsin's student paper The Daily Cardinal and went on to write regularly for The Princeton Review and Match.com.


She is the author of The Secret Ingredient (Simon & Schuster 2011), Planet Explorers Chicago (Planet Explorers Publishing 2011), Planet Explorers Walt Disney World (Planet Explorers Publishing 2011), The Teashop Girls (Simon & Schuster 2008), and Man with Farm Seeks Woman with Tractor (Thunder's Mouth Press, 2005).