Dear Readers,
I just wanted to send out a couple of updates on what I've been doing:
The Kids' (and parents', too!) Book of Good Sportsmanship was just picked up by Follett Library Resources and we got our first order!
The Kids' (and parents', too!) Book of Good Sportsmanship and I are going to be mentioned in an article on PBSkids.org. I'll let you know when it's up.
I have an interview about It's Time for Good Manners! on Monday, Nov 1st with Sharon Kay of What's the 411?, a radio show in Nashville, TN.
Last, I had the extreme pleasure of being part of The Rosemont School of the Holy Child's Author Day and the opening of their book fair this past week. I spoke to grades 1 & 2, 3 & 4, 5, and Kindergarten, and then I signed books at the book fair. It was a fabuolous experience and I met a lot of very nice people.
Good Manners Kids Stuff Press is juggling a lot of balls right now. I'm finalizing The Tale of Time Warp Tuesday (the next Zephram tale), keeping the momentum going on our first several books and starting up the publicity for TableTop Tipsters. (It's already available on Amazon but I've been waiting for it to be added to Barnes & Noble. Baker and Taylor, and Ingram so that it's easy for people to order.)
I'm glad it's the weekend so I can catch up on my recreational reading!
Happy Reading,
Leslie
Friday, October 29, 2010
Friday, October 1, 2010
Tabletop Tipsters Published
Dear Readers,
I am excited to share that Good Manners Kids Stuff Press has published its fourth book: Tabletop Tipsters.
You can see the book cover over on the right.
Tabletop Tipsters teaches table manners by using colorful, illlustrated "placemats." The book opens up and down like a calendar, so the pages are the shape and horizontal layout of placemats. We follow cute characters Bailey Puppydog, Sammy Gator, Katie Doll, Danny and Teddy Birthday Bear before, during and after their meals as table manners are explained through their examples. It's a common sense approach that kids and parents will enjoy -- and remember!
Now that Tabletop Tipsters is published, we're finishing up its websites, starting the tagging on Amazon, setting up a giveaway on Goodreads, doing the Twitter and Facebook thing, and getting ready to send out press releases. (It's sad but true that the marketing is more work than the actual writing! But no one would know about it unless we marketed -- plus, it's a fun challenge figuring out what works.)
We're also gearing up for a couple of book fairs and signings in October and November at which we are featuring all of our books. It's hard to believe that it's been almost a year since The Month of Zephram Mondays was published! Fans of the whimsical tween fantasy adventure have been asking when The Tale of Time Warp Tuesday and more of the Zephram Tales will be available. Now that our manners-themed books are established, Zephram will be our the highest priority!
Until our next update, Happy Reading!
Leslie
I am excited to share that Good Manners Kids Stuff Press has published its fourth book: Tabletop Tipsters.
You can see the book cover over on the right.
Tabletop Tipsters teaches table manners by using colorful, illlustrated "placemats." The book opens up and down like a calendar, so the pages are the shape and horizontal layout of placemats. We follow cute characters Bailey Puppydog, Sammy Gator, Katie Doll, Danny and Teddy Birthday Bear before, during and after their meals as table manners are explained through their examples. It's a common sense approach that kids and parents will enjoy -- and remember!
Now that Tabletop Tipsters is published, we're finishing up its websites, starting the tagging on Amazon, setting up a giveaway on Goodreads, doing the Twitter and Facebook thing, and getting ready to send out press releases. (It's sad but true that the marketing is more work than the actual writing! But no one would know about it unless we marketed -- plus, it's a fun challenge figuring out what works.)
We're also gearing up for a couple of book fairs and signings in October and November at which we are featuring all of our books. It's hard to believe that it's been almost a year since The Month of Zephram Mondays was published! Fans of the whimsical tween fantasy adventure have been asking when The Tale of Time Warp Tuesday and more of the Zephram Tales will be available. Now that our manners-themed books are established, Zephram will be our the highest priority!
Until our next update, Happy Reading!
Leslie
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Great Review by Midwest Book Review
Dear Readers,
We're in the process of getting our 4th book ready to launch. It's about table manners and should be available in October if all goes as planned. (Fingers crossed!)
So with Tabletop Tipsters (the new book) and work on the next Zephram book (The Tale of Time Warp Tuesday), I've been busy on the writing side of things. Now onto the publishing side of things! A publisher never sleeps, I've found, when it comes to starting and keeping the momentum going!
We've dropped of copies of The Kids' (and Parents', too!) Book of Good Sportsmanship at Play it Again Sports, who are eager to sell it. And we've restocked all of the books at Wayne Readers Forum. We've also sent copies to local radio morning show programs -- and are preparing a couple of advertisements, press releases, articles, blog tours and book packages. (There's always something to do -- a new channel to investigate, a new contact to make, new exposure!)
A very nice surprise recently was this review on Amazon that Midwest Book Review gave to It's Time for Good Manners!
It's always exciting when someone likes our books!
Oh, before I forget, I think today is when we'll restock the local pizza parlors with good sportsmanship book marks -- this works really well when all the kids are stopping by for pizza after their games!
That's it for now at Good Manners Kids Stuff Press! Happy Reading!
Leslie
P.S. We did some great reading this summer. Just a sample: we read Rick Riordan's The Red Pyramid (The Kane Chronicles, Book 1)
and we really enjoyed it. And my daughter eagerly devoured Suzanne Collins book, Mockingjay (The Final Book of The Hunger Games)
.
We're in the process of getting our 4th book ready to launch. It's about table manners and should be available in October if all goes as planned. (Fingers crossed!)
So with Tabletop Tipsters (the new book) and work on the next Zephram book (The Tale of Time Warp Tuesday), I've been busy on the writing side of things. Now onto the publishing side of things! A publisher never sleeps, I've found, when it comes to starting and keeping the momentum going!
We've dropped of copies of The Kids' (and Parents', too!) Book of Good Sportsmanship at Play it Again Sports, who are eager to sell it. And we've restocked all of the books at Wayne Readers Forum. We've also sent copies to local radio morning show programs -- and are preparing a couple of advertisements, press releases, articles, blog tours and book packages. (There's always something to do -- a new channel to investigate, a new contact to make, new exposure!)
A very nice surprise recently was this review on Amazon that Midwest Book Review gave to It's Time for Good Manners!
It's always exciting when someone likes our books!
Oh, before I forget, I think today is when we'll restock the local pizza parlors with good sportsmanship book marks -- this works really well when all the kids are stopping by for pizza after their games!
That's it for now at Good Manners Kids Stuff Press! Happy Reading!
Leslie
P.S. We did some great reading this summer. Just a sample: we read Rick Riordan's The Red Pyramid (The Kane Chronicles, Book 1)
and we really enjoyed it. And my daughter eagerly devoured Suzanne Collins book, Mockingjay (The Final Book of The Hunger Games)
.
Monday, June 14, 2010
More online advertising
Dear Readers,
During one of my never ending searches for marketing and publicity tools on a shoestring budget, I found out about the Google Books Program. I'm excited to say that our three books are in the process of being loaded and should be up and running (I hope) by the end of July.
With the program, each book gets its own Google page and links to Amazon, Barnes and Noble and other places it can be bought. All of the text is scanned and becomes search terms across Google Books and Google itself. A small percentage of the books are available to preview. Google will place ads on the pages which can generate money if anyone clicks on them. We will have access to all of the Google analytics reports as well.
It's just one more way to help spread the word -- I hope it works!
We just made a Kindle version of The Month of Zephram Mondays, available on Amazon. (I've been enjoying Kindle for PCs -- lots of fun to have books available any time of the day or night.)
Our Goodreads Giveaway for It's Time for Good Manners! ends tomorrow. Close to 900 people have entered the giveaway.
The Tale of Time Warp Tuesday is underway for our late fall release; and, our next manners-themed book should be out this summer. We won't be having much of a summer vacation this year at Good Manners Kids Stuff Press -- but I couldn't be happier with all that we have going on.
Happy Reading!
Leslie
During one of my never ending searches for marketing and publicity tools on a shoestring budget, I found out about the Google Books Program. I'm excited to say that our three books are in the process of being loaded and should be up and running (I hope) by the end of July.
With the program, each book gets its own Google page and links to Amazon, Barnes and Noble and other places it can be bought. All of the text is scanned and becomes search terms across Google Books and Google itself. A small percentage of the books are available to preview. Google will place ads on the pages which can generate money if anyone clicks on them. We will have access to all of the Google analytics reports as well.
It's just one more way to help spread the word -- I hope it works!
We just made a Kindle version of The Month of Zephram Mondays, available on Amazon. (I've been enjoying Kindle for PCs -- lots of fun to have books available any time of the day or night.)
Our Goodreads Giveaway for It's Time for Good Manners! ends tomorrow. Close to 900 people have entered the giveaway.
The Tale of Time Warp Tuesday is underway for our late fall release; and, our next manners-themed book should be out this summer. We won't be having much of a summer vacation this year at Good Manners Kids Stuff Press -- but I couldn't be happier with all that we have going on.
Happy Reading!
Leslie
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Chester County Book and Music Company, Wayne Readers Forum, and more!
Good Morning, Readers!
Good Manners Kids Stuff Press had a busy week last week!
Ilyse Shapiro (of Let's Be Direct) sent out the press releases for "It's Time for Good Manners!" and we're starting to answer the requests for review copies and interviews it's generating. (One of the TV interviews is at 4:30 a.m. I hope the alarm works that morning.)
Emails continue to go out to township sports teams and independent clubs about our good sportsmanship book.
Wayne Readers Forum (Wayne, PA) has restocked "The Month of Zephram Mondays" and "The Kids' (and parents', too!) Book of Good Sportsmanship."
We've just been picked up by Chester County Book and Music Company (West Chester, PA).
We are working to be part of the Chestnut Hill Book Festival this July; I hope to get the paperwork soon.
Last, our table manners book is in the works, as is the second of the Zephram Tales.
On another book note: If you're looking for something to read, I really enjoyed three very different books: Sacred Hearts by Sarah Dunant; Lost by Gregory Maguire and The Spymaster's Lady by Joanna Bourne.
Happy Reading,
Leslie
Good Manners Kids Stuff Press had a busy week last week!
Ilyse Shapiro (of Let's Be Direct) sent out the press releases for "It's Time for Good Manners!" and we're starting to answer the requests for review copies and interviews it's generating. (One of the TV interviews is at 4:30 a.m. I hope the alarm works that morning.)
Emails continue to go out to township sports teams and independent clubs about our good sportsmanship book.
Wayne Readers Forum (Wayne, PA) has restocked "The Month of Zephram Mondays" and "The Kids' (and parents', too!) Book of Good Sportsmanship."
We've just been picked up by Chester County Book and Music Company (West Chester, PA).
We are working to be part of the Chestnut Hill Book Festival this July; I hope to get the paperwork soon.
Last, our table manners book is in the works, as is the second of the Zephram Tales.
On another book note: If you're looking for something to read, I really enjoyed three very different books: Sacred Hearts by Sarah Dunant; Lost by Gregory Maguire and The Spymaster's Lady by Joanna Bourne.
Happy Reading,
Leslie
Saturday, May 1, 2010
It's Time for Good Manners! published, and more!
Dear Book Lovers,
I'm excited to share some great pieces of news!
First, our newest book, "It's Time for Good Manners!" just appeared on Amazon and it's now available on Barnes and Noble.com. It will also be available to other book stores (such as Borders) via expanded distribution through Baker and Taylor, and Ingram.
You can see the little picture of the book over on the side of the blog. This is a really cute book that combines teaching good manners with telling time -- because good manners happen all the time! Children will spend the day with the four characters (Torie, Tad, Tyler and Tessa) who run into opportunities to use and learn good manners all day long. The clocks are cleverly illustrated and children will love them. They also get the chance to take a pencil or crayon and color and draw the time and clock designs of their very own. Lots of practice and lots of fun. Children, teachers and parents have had a lot of really great things to say about "It's Time for Good Manners!" -- so we have our fingers crossed for good response.
Next, author Todd Fonseca (The Time Cavern) wrote a very nice review of "The Month of Zephram Mondays," which he posted on Amazon. (You can read it here, if interested.) Zephram has been picked up via expanded distribution at BarnesandNoble.com and is also going to be stocked in some Borders. (It too is available through Baker and Taylor, and Ingram.)
Last, "The Kids' (and parents', too!) Book of Good Sportsmanship" continues to be the little engine that could. For some authors and books, the following information would not be remarkable, but ...
*This afternoon it had an Amazon sales rank of 29,000. We are so excited!
*We have started with some fundraising programs and we've also been getting orders from school districts.
*And, I stopped by our local Wayne Bookstore today to find out that they had sold out all of their stock.
Many, many, many thanks to our Good Sport Fans!
That's my update for today, Dear Readers! With all your spring chores, I hope you're able to find some time to fit in some reading!
Leslie
I'm excited to share some great pieces of news!
First, our newest book, "It's Time for Good Manners!" just appeared on Amazon and it's now available on Barnes and Noble.com. It will also be available to other book stores (such as Borders) via expanded distribution through Baker and Taylor, and Ingram.
You can see the little picture of the book over on the side of the blog. This is a really cute book that combines teaching good manners with telling time -- because good manners happen all the time! Children will spend the day with the four characters (Torie, Tad, Tyler and Tessa) who run into opportunities to use and learn good manners all day long. The clocks are cleverly illustrated and children will love them. They also get the chance to take a pencil or crayon and color and draw the time and clock designs of their very own. Lots of practice and lots of fun. Children, teachers and parents have had a lot of really great things to say about "It's Time for Good Manners!" -- so we have our fingers crossed for good response.
Next, author Todd Fonseca (The Time Cavern) wrote a very nice review of "The Month of Zephram Mondays," which he posted on Amazon. (You can read it here, if interested.) Zephram has been picked up via expanded distribution at BarnesandNoble.com and is also going to be stocked in some Borders. (It too is available through Baker and Taylor, and Ingram.)
Last, "The Kids' (and parents', too!) Book of Good Sportsmanship" continues to be the little engine that could. For some authors and books, the following information would not be remarkable, but ...
*This afternoon it had an Amazon sales rank of 29,000. We are so excited!
*We have started with some fundraising programs and we've also been getting orders from school districts.
*And, I stopped by our local Wayne Bookstore today to find out that they had sold out all of their stock.
Many, many, many thanks to our Good Sport Fans!
That's my update for today, Dear Readers! With all your spring chores, I hope you're able to find some time to fit in some reading!
Leslie
Monday, April 12, 2010
New manners book, fundraising and new Zephram cover release
Dear Readers,
Happy Spring! It's been a whirlwind of activity for Good Manners Kids Stuff Press since I last blogged.
We had a great event at the Barnes and Noble New Writers Night in March. Many thanks to the family and friends who came to support me. Since that evening I am excited to tell you that The Month of Zephram Mondays is now available at Barnes and Noble, in addition to Amazon! And several of our local Borders are going to start stocking it as well.
With the Sports Season in full swing, many people have been checking out our Good Sportsmanship book. In addition to its availability on Amazon, we are launching a fund raising program with kids' sports associations. Please feel free to email us via this forum if you are interested.
We have a new manners book called It's Time for Good Manners that should be live on Amazon and Barnes and Noble in two to three weeks. And, we've just approved the new cover for The Tale of Time Warp Tuesday, the second of the Zephram Tales scheduled to release in Fall 2010.
What a great time we're having! I promise to do a better job of keeping up with our progress. I'll have more to report once It's Time for Good Manners launches.
In the meantime, my older daughter and I have been enjoying Wondrous Strange and Dark Light by Lesley Livingston. Faeries and Shakespeare are a nice change from all the vampire books. I think her third book is due out this year. If you're looking for a very good fantasy, I highly recommend them.
Happy Reading!
Leslie
Happy Spring! It's been a whirlwind of activity for Good Manners Kids Stuff Press since I last blogged.
We had a great event at the Barnes and Noble New Writers Night in March. Many thanks to the family and friends who came to support me. Since that evening I am excited to tell you that The Month of Zephram Mondays is now available at Barnes and Noble, in addition to Amazon! And several of our local Borders are going to start stocking it as well.
With the Sports Season in full swing, many people have been checking out our Good Sportsmanship book. In addition to its availability on Amazon, we are launching a fund raising program with kids' sports associations. Please feel free to email us via this forum if you are interested.
We have a new manners book called It's Time for Good Manners that should be live on Amazon and Barnes and Noble in two to three weeks. And, we've just approved the new cover for The Tale of Time Warp Tuesday, the second of the Zephram Tales scheduled to release in Fall 2010.
What a great time we're having! I promise to do a better job of keeping up with our progress. I'll have more to report once It's Time for Good Manners launches.
In the meantime, my older daughter and I have been enjoying Wondrous Strange and Dark Light by Lesley Livingston. Faeries and Shakespeare are a nice change from all the vampire books. I think her third book is due out this year. If you're looking for a very good fantasy, I highly recommend them.
Happy Reading!
Leslie
Monday, February 8, 2010
Radio interview and Barnes and Noble book signing
Dear Readers,
I wanted to give you a quick update on how things are progressing:
Just today I was interviewed by Doug Cope about The Kids' (and parents', too!) Book of Good Sportsmanship for his Parent Segment for WBZ Radio in Boston. I don't know when it will air, and I was a little nervous, but it sure was exciting.
Then, I will be participating in my first book signing at Barnes and Noble on March 11th.
Plus, I'm in the midst of setting up an interview with a radio station and newspaper for The Month of Zephram Mondays.
And, last, I'm working out the details of a book fundraising program.
It's been a busy start to 2010! I can't wait to find out what happens yet!
In the meantime, my older daughter and I are looking forward to seeing the Percy Jackson and The Olympians, The Lightning Thief movie, which opens this weekend.
We have books 3 & 5 on order from Amazon (somehow book 4 made it here first) and we're really enjoying the series. In fact, tonight I'm going to do a little reading up on my Greek mythology to make sure I have all the Gods and Goddesses and monsters straight.
I sure hope book 3 gets here tomorrow before we are snowed in yet again!
Wishing you some good reads if another snowmagaden (I just love that name they made up) keeps you indoors, too!
All the best,
Leslie
P.S. Just in case you're looking for some good reads, don't forget you can always check out The Month of Zephram Mondays or The Kids' (and parents', too!) Book of Good Sportsmanship through their Amazon links in the right column. (Sorry, I have to follow the most important rule of promotion -- always bring it up!)
I wanted to give you a quick update on how things are progressing:
Just today I was interviewed by Doug Cope about The Kids' (and parents', too!) Book of Good Sportsmanship for his Parent Segment for WBZ Radio in Boston. I don't know when it will air, and I was a little nervous, but it sure was exciting.
Then, I will be participating in my first book signing at Barnes and Noble on March 11th.
Plus, I'm in the midst of setting up an interview with a radio station and newspaper for The Month of Zephram Mondays.
And, last, I'm working out the details of a book fundraising program.
It's been a busy start to 2010! I can't wait to find out what happens yet!
In the meantime, my older daughter and I are looking forward to seeing the Percy Jackson and The Olympians, The Lightning Thief movie, which opens this weekend.
We have books 3 & 5 on order from Amazon (somehow book 4 made it here first) and we're really enjoying the series. In fact, tonight I'm going to do a little reading up on my Greek mythology to make sure I have all the Gods and Goddesses and monsters straight.
I sure hope book 3 gets here tomorrow before we are snowed in yet again!
Wishing you some good reads if another snowmagaden (I just love that name they made up) keeps you indoors, too!
All the best,
Leslie
P.S. Just in case you're looking for some good reads, don't forget you can always check out The Month of Zephram Mondays or The Kids' (and parents', too!) Book of Good Sportsmanship through their Amazon links in the right column. (Sorry, I have to follow the most important rule of promotion -- always bring it up!)
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Lots of Good Press coming our way
Dear Readers,
It has been a flurry of activity since Ilyse Shapiro, my excellent publicist, sent out press releases for The Month of Zephram Mondays and The Kids' (and parents', too!) Book of Good Sportsmanship.
Ilyse (Let's Be Direct) sent the first press release on January 5th for Zephram, and the second one on January 12th for Good Sport.
It is so exciting -- I couldn't be sure how the books would be received (especially Zephram, because everyone talks about how hard it is to break into fiction) but I had to order more author copies of the books because I ran out after all the requests for review copies!
Requests from kids magazines, education/teacher newsletters, blogs, newspapers -- even from a tv show -- have come in from all over the country and are slowly being promoted. I'll post the links when I receive them.
In the meantime, I was very, very proud and happy to receive the following review (from another connection) on the Good Sport book from Perry Perkins, a writer and reviewer for the Portland Examiner. If you'd like to read it, just click here. Perry is an author and blogger himself, so you'll be sure to enjoy his column.
In addition to Amazon, Barnes & Noble and The Self Publisher Store, the books are starting to appear in local bookstores and schools, and the bookmarks have been dropped at grocery stores, libraries, pizza parlors, toy stores, and clothing and sports equipment consignment shops. I'm finalizing my first book signing/fundraiser at our daughters' old day care (hoping to work the kinks out in a friendly environment before a couple of others), and working on another fundraising plan.
Plus, I've been posting links all over the web, and participating in several Tag my book on Amazon forums, which really do help to raise your relevance and ranking for key search words.
On the down side, I've hardly had any time to work on my next two books; but I think the biggest push is over and I'll soon have some time to view this all more calmly. Except that I'm thinking about book trailers, and podcasts, too ... there are so many cool (and free or almost free) tools available!
Hopefully I can report next that all this effort has resulted in monster sales for Good Manners Kids Stuff Press! Hopefully.
While I wait for that to happen, I'll be reading the second book in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. Just picked up the first book last week and really loved it.
Happy Reading,
Leslie
It has been a flurry of activity since Ilyse Shapiro, my excellent publicist, sent out press releases for The Month of Zephram Mondays and The Kids' (and parents', too!) Book of Good Sportsmanship.
Ilyse (Let's Be Direct) sent the first press release on January 5th for Zephram, and the second one on January 12th for Good Sport.
It is so exciting -- I couldn't be sure how the books would be received (especially Zephram, because everyone talks about how hard it is to break into fiction) but I had to order more author copies of the books because I ran out after all the requests for review copies!
Requests from kids magazines, education/teacher newsletters, blogs, newspapers -- even from a tv show -- have come in from all over the country and are slowly being promoted. I'll post the links when I receive them.
In the meantime, I was very, very proud and happy to receive the following review (from another connection) on the Good Sport book from Perry Perkins, a writer and reviewer for the Portland Examiner. If you'd like to read it, just click here. Perry is an author and blogger himself, so you'll be sure to enjoy his column.
In addition to Amazon, Barnes & Noble and The Self Publisher Store, the books are starting to appear in local bookstores and schools, and the bookmarks have been dropped at grocery stores, libraries, pizza parlors, toy stores, and clothing and sports equipment consignment shops. I'm finalizing my first book signing/fundraiser at our daughters' old day care (hoping to work the kinks out in a friendly environment before a couple of others), and working on another fundraising plan.
Plus, I've been posting links all over the web, and participating in several Tag my book on Amazon forums, which really do help to raise your relevance and ranking for key search words.
On the down side, I've hardly had any time to work on my next two books; but I think the biggest push is over and I'll soon have some time to view this all more calmly. Except that I'm thinking about book trailers, and podcasts, too ... there are so many cool (and free or almost free) tools available!
Hopefully I can report next that all this effort has resulted in monster sales for Good Manners Kids Stuff Press! Hopefully.
While I wait for that to happen, I'll be reading the second book in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. Just picked up the first book last week and really loved it.
Happy Reading,
Leslie
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