A FUN-tastic Author Event

I attended the Pennypack Woods Home Ownership Association's Bazaar and Flea Market this Saturday as a way to sell some books and get the word out about them. 

 While I was there I did some shopping of my own. I saw and fell in love with this statue of Santa kneeling at the manger of Jesus. I only had about $1.50 in spending money left and although the Pennypack group Friendly Neighbors were asking $3.00, they gave it to me for the $1.50. 

The Friendly Neighbors is a group which sponsors many events that contribute to the community of Pennypack's neighborhood. When I heard how they were counting on the sales and the Bazaar to further their work for the community, I decided to give back to them a little bit. I went to the leader of Friendly Neighbors and donated an autographed copy of A Star in the Night for them to sell as they wished. 

Toward the end of the event, the group auctioned off the book and earned $21.00 ! I was thrilled and honored to help in such a way. 

In addition to this great experience, and selling more of the books, my daughters were there with me and my oldest ran into two of her best friends she had since preschool. When my daughter went into first grade, we went to a different school. The "Three Musketeers", as I call them, haven't been able to see each other much. The girls were thrilled to see each other. They spent the day hanging out and catching up. 

This was a great day and a exciting experience for everyone. Can't wait to visit again!

Literacy Opens Minds

I just returned from an amazing conference at Holy Family University in Philadelphia, PA. It was titled Literacy Opens Minds. What a great concept. The keynote speaker was the renowned author of countless books, Sneed Collard III. I thoroughly enjoyed his keynote presentation as an author and a teacher. So much of what he said hit home about writing. It is always interesting to learn how a fellow author spent time writing in journals as a child, much in the same way I did. He is an entertaining presenter and children are sure to love him.

With author Sneed Collard III 

I was also a presenter at this conference and I titled my presentation Exploring the World through Reading. We discussed many fascinating things about reading such as how books can take you to far away places without even leaving your back yard. We talked about how important it is to use books to support your material in your classroom. Getting just one side (and usually the textbook side ) of nonfiction can sometimes drain the children. But when you add a fun book to reinforce the concepts, now their world is expanding.
I had a great time with the lovely people at Holy Family and am excited about the kind of teachers Holy Family is preparing for our children.

My book display at Holy Family University Library

During my presentation we discussed ways to make reading interesting for the resistant reader. I promised a link to one of my favorite authors who creatively writes for these readers in mind. Check out the facebook page of Max Elliot Anderson.

After the presentations, I was able to sell and sign my books. The whole day was a bunch of fun. I would help out Holy Family University anytime.

Me and Dr. Quinn at Holy Family University

Checking up on your Work

So, you finally did it. You got your book published and you are preparing for sales, promotions and author visits. You're getting materials ready, thimking of that next book and making sure all your contracts are signed.

It is an exciting time. As the weeks and months go by you'll be following your book and probably (if you are anything like me) checking your book's stats. But there's one thing I've discovered you might want to add to your list of things to do. Check up on your book - not just with the stats, but google your book's title or even your name for that matter. You may be surprised what you come up with.

Authors have reported finding  their books in illegal markets, or worse, pirated.  I recently did a Google search on my name and was surprised to see it for sale on e-bay for double the publisher's price. I've assumed being signed up for Google Alerts would let me know of new internet activity in my name or my books' names. Howevere, when I did an actual Google search, I found out much more.

Don't get me wrong, there is plenty of good news to find out about your work by doing a search every now and then, In fact you'll probably find much more good internet activity than bad.  I've found blogs about my work or my magazine that I didn't know about before. I've seen how authors and illustrators are supporting one another.

So, no matter what your motive, it's always  good to check out your platform every now and then to see what others see if they were to search for your name or book title. After all, it's your baby we're talking about here.

Press Release for Angel Donor

My press release for Angel Donor. Feel free to share. If you do, please comment with the link and let me know and I will comment on your blog where the release appears.

New Children’s Book Geared toward Children in Need of Organ Transplants

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America

July 1, 2012

On June 6, 2012 children’s author Jennifer Gladen’s third children’s book was released from Guardian Angel Publishing. The new book, Angel Donor, is a story about a child in need of a liver transplant and the day she gets “The Call”.  As taken from the cover: Olivia never asked to have a disease like Biliary Atresia. It made her liver sick and only a transplant will make her better. After waiting several months and close to losing hope, she gets the call she’s been waiting for. The journey of her life is about to begin. The book is complete with a glossary and a list of resources for dealing with transplantation.

When asked what made her write this book, Ms. Gladen said, “It was inspired by my daughter. When she went through her transplant and the long wait beforehand, I was looking for something to help her understand what was happening that spoke to her on her own level. It’s a book that needed to be written.”

In addition to Angel Donor, Jennifer Gladen has two other books out titled A Star in the Night and Teresa’s Shadow. She is also the founder and Editor-in-Chief of the online magazine My Light Magazine.

For more information about Angel Donor or author Jennifer Gladen, please visit her at www.jengladen.com or http://www.facebook.com/AngelDonorBook

The Author in Me

The second question asked on my May 2012 school visit was this:

2.  Did you know you were going to be an author when you were a kid or did it just happen?

Another great question! I always loved writing. As a kid I wrote in my journals every day. I had copy books and note books and anything else I could write in. I often wrote my own stories when I had time to myself. All through school and high school my favorite subject was English, Reading and Creative Writing. My high school English teacher commented on a paper I wrote, "Great job, you little author!" In college, my English professor urged me to major in English. But it wasn't until I was older and had my own family that I decided to become a professional author.Finally, all those years of writing pulled together and I began to write on a professional basis.

May Author Visit

On May 11th 2012 I had the pleasure of visiting Ethan Allen school in PA. It was a great time and the kids were wonderful, kind and enthusiastic. I participated in their Career Day by telling them a little about what it is like to be an author and then I shared Teresa's Shadow with them. I also brought with me autographed copies of books they purchased ahead of time. (Psst - for those who didn't have a chance to buy the book, I left a few copies at the library. Check it out and enjoy the story!) I enjoyed running into students throughout the day and hearing their kind feedback and stories they shared. One group of girls even said "Happy Mother's Day".  I would gladly visit them again!

While I was there, the older kids submitted questions they wanted to ask me. I only had time to answer a few of them. However, I thought they were ALL excellent questions. So, what to do?   I decided I will answer all the questions right here on my blog. I will answer one per blog post. So keep coming back to look for the next question. If you have a question you don't see here over time, feel free to leave one in the comments section and I will add it to my list.



So here it goes.

 Question # 1 :How did you think of the ideas and titles for your books?

That is a great question. I'm often asked how I came up with certain ideas.  Most of the time a thought or a concept comes to me and the story starts there. For example in Teresa's Shadow all I knew was I wanted to write a bed time story. But I didn't want just ANY bedtime story. I wanted something new and different.  From there, the characters began to develop and ideas grew over time. Eventually I had a basic storyline and I filled in details every time I revised it. Many times the final story is very different from the first draft.


Stay tuned for Question #2!

We are in the middle of the best literary week in the world - Children's Book Week organized by the Children's Book Council. You probably love books - children's books at that. So what can you do to celebrate Children's Book Week?

• Check your local libraries to see what events may be going on.

• If you are a teacher, maybe your class can create a  children's  book written by your room. Then each child can take turns throughout the year to share it with their family (this is a great way to keep Children's Book Week going for longer than a week.

• Read some favorite children's books to your child. Give them an extra book this week at bedtime!
  
  
  
  And finally, stop by my facebook page and tell me how you are celebrating Children's Book Week and what books you are reading. Hope to see you there!