At Last My New Book - Coyote Tales Retold

I don't normally plug a book but that's exactly what I'm doing today. The reason is I've been working on this book for over a year and it's just so nice to see it up and selling on Amazon. It features a traditonal trickster character, Coyote. Unlike my picture books 'Coyote Tales Retold' is aimed at the older reader and at the moment is only available as an ebook. However you don't have to have an ereader (Kindle) to read it. By simply downloading a free app (the link for this app can be found on the right hand side of this page) you can still download and read on your PC or Mac.

The book contains eight retold traditional Coyote tales which have been enjoyed for generations by the first peoples of America. Whilst researching these stories I discovered that it was traditional to enjoy them during the winter months only, hence its release in October.

The book contains the following stories:

• Coyote, Bear and the Four Seasons
• Coyote Places the Stars
• Coyote, the Dancing Mice and the Old Elk Skull
• Coyote, Mouse and Elk
• Coyote Helps Mouse Fool Owl
• Coyote, Fox and the Fishing Hole
• Coyote and Turtle Outwit Beaver
• Coyote and the Stranger

To purchase from the UK Amazon site click here. 

To purchase from the US Amazon site click here.

I hope you enjoy!

Lynne    

My seven tips for marketing your ebook

In a blog post I wrote for Authors Electric last month (Retelling Tales - It's Been Done Before) I hinted at my latest book. This month I'm pleased to announce my latest ebook featuring the rogue that is Brer Rabbit is now available for download from Amazon (UK - USA). The book contains eight retold tales all based on the original tales collected and retold by Joel Chandler Harris.

You may be wondering why I'm telling you this. Well using my monthly slot on Authors Electric was one of the ideas I had to help me market my new book. I also had other ideas and wanted to share them with you (so I wasn't just marketing at you). So here they are:

One:
I've placed a blatant plug on my personal Facebook page and my author Facebook page.

Two:
I've decided to give Wattpad a go. If you've not heard of it basically it's a library you upload your work on to and people can download and read for free.  Some people choose to place entire books on there, a chapter at a time. Some like myself upload part of their work (in my case just one of my short stories) in the hopes someone enjoys their work so much that they are then willing to pay to read further work. I have no idea if it'll work but I'm happy to give it a go. In the first 24 hours my Brer Rabbit story was read by six people. I've also uploaded a story from my Anansi the Trickster Spider collection so I can see if the sales increase -  I'll let you know in a few months if Wattpad appears to pays off.

Three:
I've let the 449 people on my LinkedIn network know my book is now available to purchase. I also intend to let a few of the groups I'm a member of know about my new book. One of the groups has 3,774 members - so a quick mention can't hurt.

Four:
As you can see I've also blogged here and intend on blogging on my website and post on our company website (all my ebooks are written under the banner of Mad Moment Media).

Five:
I read somewhere that Pinterest has 70 million users, with 80% of those being women and apparently 70% of Pinterest members using the site as inspiration for their next purchase. So I'm going to create a Brer Rabbit themed board which will hopefully raise the profile of my ebook and even create a sale or two.

Six:
I've added the book to my author page on Goodreads. I'll be honest I've done very little with Goodreads, so over the next couple of months I'm going to learn as much about it as I can and try to discover if it can be used as a marketing tool. If you have a Goodreads author account and also wish to experiment then here is their official link that provides information on how you can use it to market yourself and book.

Seven:
Last but not least I'm going to create a 'proper' email signature. It's something I've never done (I've just been lazy) but I send 100s of emails per month. Apparently it shouldn't take long and I never know it may lead to a sale or two.

If you have any other ideas about marketing then I'd love to hear them, so please do share.

Regards

Lynne
P.S. If you fancy reading a Brer Rabbit story or an Anansi the Trickster Spider story then just follow the links.

Turning a book character into a toy

I was recently handed a sheet of paper and told by him-in-doors "this is for you to fill out." When I looked down I saw the words 'bucket list.' So over the last couple of weeks I've been adding things as they've occurred to me. Now I've always wanted to have one of my book characters turned into a toy. Knowing this was unlikely to happen with my traditionally published picture books I decided I'd do it myself. So I looked at the picture books that have been published as an eBook or an app. As soon as I saw the rabbit that appears in 'Clever Rabbit' and 'The Best Rabbit' I knew I may just be able to make him work.

A page from 'The Best Rabbit'

So I grabbed my crochet hook, some orange, yellow and red yarn and got crocheting. I'll admit I've surprised myself as I've never turned an image into a 3-D object. I'm now hooked - sorry for the pun. I'm now looking at my other characters to see if I can repeat the process. I'm going to allow my brain to cogitate on it and hopefully that brain cell will work out what I need to do. I"m thinking Captain from Captain and Nugget (eBook - app for iPhone/iPad ) at the moment - I know I have just the right colour wall in my stash.  

My crocheted version of Rabbit  

If you'd like to have a go a creating your own Rabbit then a free crochet pattern can be found here.

Regards

Lynne  

Writing and Publishing Seasonal Picture eBooks and Apps

A few of years ago I wrote two picture book stories 'Where It's Always Winter' and 'The Perfect Christmas Tree.' As the titles suggest they both have a festive or seasonal link. Once I'd completed them I sent to various publishers who I believed (because I'd researched their previously published titles) might be interested in them. Again and again they were rejected, which is something you sort of get used to as a professional writer. However a couple of the publishers didn't send me the standard rejection letter. They told me they'd enjoyed the stories but were withdrawing from seasonal books so weren't in a position to take.

This is where my journey into becoming a publisher started. MadMoment Media Ltd was set up and with a very limited budget we had these two picture stories (plus a few others I'd received good feedback on) into apps for the iPhone and iPad. This meant a steep learning curve and a fair few hours spent in a recording studio, as yours truly narrated them.  By the end of 2010 they were ready and uploaded onto the iTunes store. A few months later we converted all of the stories into picture eBooks and uploaded onto Amazon (Amazon UK, Amazon US). Our non-seasonal stories sell a few copies all year round. However although 'Where It's Always Winter' and 'The Perfect Christmas Tree' are seasonal we sell as many if not more of them than our non-seasonal titles.

Now you may be wondering why I'm sharing this with you. Well I wanted to demonstrate that just because a large publishing house doesn't see the point of selling seasonal picture books it doesn't mean there isn't a market for them. So if you have a book that's received good feedback but isn't marketable all year round why not give it a go yourself. It's worked for me it could work for you.

Lynne Garner 

I also write for:
The Picture Book Den - all things picture book
Authors Electric - covers digital self-publishing
Awfully Big Blogging Adventure - subjects connected with writing
The Hedgehog Shed - concerned with hedgehog rescue
The Craft Ark - craft how-to blog

My online classes with WOW starting January 2014:

How To Write A Children's Picture Book And Get Published (beginners)

5 Picture Books In 5 Weeks (advanced)
How To Write A Hobby-based How To Book 

Introducing My New Website

Drum roll please...

After months of planning, designing, drawing, scanning, you get the picture, my new website is now live. It's been designed to support my two collections of Anansi stories (volume one Amazon UK - Amazon US and volume two Amazon UK - Amazon US).

www.anansi-spider.com 

It's aimed at parents, guardians, teachers and after school organisers who wish to share my Anansi stories during story time then enjoy activities based on the stories afterwards. At the moment it contains exclusive FREE to download colouring sheets, finger puppets and puppets based on the many animal characters. Over the next few months I plan to add word searches, cross word puzzles, information sheets, quizzes and craft makes etc. 

So please do visit, download and enjoy. If you know anyone who might be interested in some free activities for the kids please do share my website details.   

Lynne Garner

Visit me on: Authors Electric - An Awfully Big Blog Adventure - The Picture Book Den - The Hedgehog Shed

The Story Behind the Stories

In October of 2011 I finally published a collection of stories featuring the character Anansi The Trickster Spider as an eBook. I say finally because it was in 2003 when I was asked to work on a project to help promote a local cultural venue called Aklowa.

Aklowa

Aklowa was an African village set in the Hertfordshire countryside, within minutes of Stansted Airport. A friend's friend, Felix Cobson, had set it up some twenty years before. Originally born in Ghana Felix moved to the UK and had spent his life teaching children about African heritage. This included traditional clothing, cooking, music, crafts and stories. This is where I came in. I started my writing career writing for craft magazines and I was asked to write a book that would appeal to children about African crafts.

Felix

Knowing little about the subject I jumped at the chance to visit Ghana. I spent a wonderful week with friends visiting villages known for their pottery making, Adinkra block printing and Kente strip weaving. I also visited markets and talked to makers of musical instruments and carvers of masks. Based on this trip I created a synopsis for a book and approached The British Museum Press. To my delight they liked the idea and in 2005 they published African Crafts: Fun Things to Make and Do from West Africa.

Now you may be wondering where Anansi came into all this. Well Felix relished in his retelling of the traditional stories featuring the trickster character Anansi. Being a collector of words I scribbled the stories down. Knowing how I enjoyed the stories Felix was kind enough to lend me a couple of books. From these scribbled notes, borrowed books and research, I began to write my own retelling of these stories. As with many such personal projects other things took me away from it. So these stories sat on my computer, almost forgotten. However in the middle of 2011 I had time to return to them. Finally after eight years my collection of Anansi stories was published as an eBook and is now available on Amazon.

Unfortunately I'll never be able to show Felix the fruits of my labour, as he passed away before I had time to complete. However knowing Felix he'll be looking down, with that wonderful broad smile of his, trying to decide which story to treat me to next.

P.S. If you'd like to purchase a copy please click on the relevant flag (top left and top right of this blog) 

Why Do We Love Them?

One way or another there has always been a dog in my life. Each has had their own unique traits and habits, which have often made me wonder why I love them. Take for example my first dog Mitzi, she was:

• Extremely fussy about her food
• If she decided she'd walked enough that was it, she went no further

And yes this is me with Mitzi

Then there was Sally who would only sleep if I rested my hand on her back. This meant each night I fell to sleep with a hand slowly going numb.

Sally

After Sally came our yellow ball of fluff Bonny who:

• Hid chewed, sticky 'treasures' under my duvet
• Stole sweets and hid them behind the settee
• Emptied bins when she became annoyed with us (normally when we went shopping)

Bonny

Then there was Jodi who:

• Played lets jump through the banisters and land on heads
• Dragged plants (roots and all) in from the garden through the dog flap
• Buried clean (they had to be clean) knickers, socks and bras in the back garden
• Jumped into any car with an open door expecting to be taken for a drive

Jodi

Then came Tasha (out current canine friend) who:

• Steals socks, even taking them from the washing machine
• Takes all the space on the settee
• Chases anything that runs
• Believes every ball in the world is hers, even acquiring whilst still being played with
• Has 'entitlements' and unsutbly tells you when they are due

Tasha

However there are also habits they have shared including:

• Leaving footprints on a newly cleaned floor
• Shaking and splattering mud up clean walls
• Creating unsavoury odours

So why do we love them? The answer is simple. They are family and whatever they do they get under your skin. And as a writer I have the added bonus that they feed my writing, they are my muse. Take for example my picture eBook Captain and Nugget (available from Amazon UK and Amazon US). Many of the things my canines friends have done appear in this story and without them I'd never have been able to write it.

So I was wondering what has your canine friend done to make you question why you love them?

P.S. If you'd like to purchase a copy of Captain and Nugget either follow the links about or click on the relevant flag.