Nine authors (including me!) have contributed to this collection of stories. Currently available for FREE on this link: https://books2read.com/SecretsandSus
PLEASE DOWNLOAD even if you already have my book ‘COMBAT’, which is my contribution to the boxset. Your download will help me and the other authors to get visible on the sales outlet you choose. You might just discover a new favorite author!
A Big THANKS in anticipation 🙂
My children’s book tour and giveaway is now up to stop number seven: the ajbookreviewclub.
I’ve been delighted to be included on many blogs where real children have been invited to read and share their thoughts about the series with adult reviewers in the feature. Here on AJ’s blog we meet the delightful and wise Erin (who is six). She had all three books read to her and tells us about which bits she liked (and didn’t!) and which of the stories is her favourite.
One common comment on all the reviews of ‘Alf The Workshop Dog’ is that readers love ‘the song‘. They are referring to the fictional National Anthem of Zanubia, which you can hear and watch being sung from within the book.
It’s performed by my daughter on the piano (she’s very clever and wrote the music) and Oscar Sparrow who is the wonderful narrator on the audio book editions of all my children’s stories.
He was very worried about being too fierce and frightening the kids – so we made him a paper crown to go with his plastic sword. This then gave us a lot of trouble as he couldn’t keep a straight face and we had to record many takes. In the end I set the camera rolling and left the room and that solved it.
All books in the series are ‘chapter books’. These are aimed at younger readers maybe not yet ready to read a whole book in one go. The stories are divided into manageable chunks with the bonus materials as a ‘reward’ for the end of a section. The videos, photos and colouring pictures are accessed via QR codes and URLs in the book. QR codes let people with the paperback version still get the benefit of these interactive materials. I guess they are a bit of a gimmick but I think they make for a richer experience and help make story time more fun. They certainly added a new element to the job of creating the books!
A big thank you to AJ and her daughter for sharing their thoughts on my stories – I’m so pleased you enjoyed them!
Today is the first day of my tour of literary blogs for Children’s Fiction. Arranged via the wonderful efficient staff at CandleLit Author Services, it will feature my ‘ONCE UPON A NOW SERIES’ of modern fairy stories for kids.
The tour includes guest posts by me about the inspiration behind each book and reviews by readers old and young. There is also a giveaway where you can win a complete set of the series in audio book, paperback or digital Kindle formats.
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| Who am I? What is this Amazon thing? |
I have the honour to write features for a “lifestyle” magazine. Recently the editor edged me into a side room. She confided that the trouble with my writing was that I used words. What people actually wanted was more pictures. In a forced outdoor flash I knew where I had been going wrong. For too long I had been trying to walkie-talkie the ball into the net. It was a Eureka moment almost equal to yesterday when David Beckham met an Amazonian Indian who had never heard of him. Dave – chill! No one at Amazon has ever heard of me and I’ve been lost in their jungle for years.
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| It’s politics – it’s our National Y Front. |
Okay – here is the deal. I’m having a big push to sell some books. This blog has nothing at all to do with David Beckham. If you read this Dave, get in touch for free copies of all my books. We Londoners need to stick together. After all, I’ve always cheered every swerve of your balls.
My own missions along the Amazon have brought little success. These days I have branched out onto all manner of tributaries. It’s great to see that Dave is getting away from football and doing the same thing.
Emma Thinx: A word is worth a thousand pictures. It’s your mind.
In answer to my title question – I have no response, as yet. I am about to embark on the first virtual book fair that I have ever done, so in a couple of weeks I may have some sort of answer.
I would say, that it’s a phenomenal amount of work… so I hope that there are positive outcomes. What have you found? Can you give any tips for getting the most out of this type of event?
As a break from my constant rabbiting on about my new book (The Love in a Hopeless Place Collection – in case you missed all the hype 😉 ), I am going to be handing over my blog to fellow scribes from around the world and across genres, for the duration of the Blogger Book Fair (BBF) from the 22nd-26th July.
Emma Undercover 