Author: selfpublishingadvisor

Self-Publishing Book Review of the Week

Self Published Book Review of the Week: Sammy the Panda’s World of Colors and Shapes

spwcs_coverSammy the Panda’s World of Colors and Shapes
by Haliyma Barrow
Illustrated by Danielle MacIndoe

READING LEVEL: ages 4-6

RATING: 5 stars

REVIEWED BY: Wayne Walker

Little Sammy Panda is sad. His cousins Milly and Tilly have misplaced the different colored shapes of his favorite toy set, “The Ship of Shapes.” His Mommy seems to know what will cheer him up, so she helps him look for the one gold star, the two green triangles, the three orange circles, and so forth. Will they find them all? And will Sammy be happy again?

What a neat idea! My wife and I homeschooled our children, and when they were little we were always looking for fun and colorful tools to help them learn their numbers, colors, and shapes. Whether you plan to homeschool your toddlers or prepare them for traditional school, this book is a great resource for accomplishing that very purpose. With striking full-color illustrations on every page that youngsters should find appealing, this is probably one of those books that they will ask to be read to them over and over. Parents who are interested in developing bilingualism will appreciate the added benefit that the text at each opening is in both English and Spanish. I give this book two thumbs up!

Visit the author’s website: www.sammythepanda.com

Book Promotion

Pitching your Self-Published Book to NewsHour

The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer attracts over 3 million viewers each night to PBS and most of them are avid readers.

The arts and culture producers are your best bets for pitching your self-published book if you cannot find a more specific producer based upon your subject matter. (I have included additional producers, their contact information, and their subjects of specialization below).

Email the producer in advance and mention that you will be sending them a copy of your book. Then, mail them a copy along with your press release, sales sheet (if you have one) and any additional information that would be helpful.  Then, about 2 weeks later, follow-up via email again and inquire about the book.

Media, Arts and Culture
Anne Davenport
annedavenport@newshour.org
Jeff Brown
jbrown@newshour.org

International Affairs
Mike Mosettig
mmosettig@newshour.org

National Affairs (including economics, finance, science, and sports)
Murray Jacobson
mjacobson@newshour.org

Congressional Affairs
Jim Trengrove
jtrengrove@newshour.org

Education, law, politics
Linda Winslow
lwinslow@newshour.org

Send your book to the appropriate producer’s attention at:
The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer
3620 27th St. South
Arlington, VA 22206

Good luck and have fun!
Kelly Schuknecht
selfpublishingadvice.wordpress.com

Editing Your Self-Published Book, Self-Publishing

Writing for Self-Publishing: Ask the Book Doctor

Commas

Q: How would you punctuate the following sentence? Would you delete the comma after the first “that?” Would you delete both commas?

Mr. Smith concluded with the vague assertion that, if he ever gets a handle on the IRS situation, he will attempt to pay the client and asked that we call him in ninety days.

A: I would delete the first comma and let the first part of the sentence act as a single introductory phrase. I would also separate his conclusion from his request, so I would write it this way: Mr. Smith concluded with the vague assertion that if he ever gets a handle on the IRS situation, he will attempt to pay the client. He asked that we call him in ninety days.

You could argue that both commas could be left, thereby setting aside the nonessential phrase, “if he ever gets a handle on the IRS situation.” I stand by the fact that what he concluded and what he asked should appear in separate sentences. 

 

What would you like to ask a book doctor? Send your questions to Bobbie Christmas at Bobbie@zebraeditor.com. 

Choosing a Publisher, Self-Publishing

Statistics Suggest Good News for the Self-Publishing Author

Bowker, the global leader in bibliographic information management, recently released 2007 book publishing statistics compiled from its Books In Print database. Based on figures from U.S. publishers, Bowker is projecting that U.S. title output  last year increased slightly from 2006 to almost 300,000 books. That’s over a quarter of a million books published in one year alone.

Here’s another interesting statistic, while traditional book publishing was basically flat last year, there was a staggering rise in the reported number of on-demand and short-run books to 134,773, pushing the grand total for projected 2007 U.S. book output to 411,422 books. In fact, Bowker has planned to separate this particular output from its traditional reporting and has begun tracking the On Demand industry segment separately.

What does this mean for you? To begin, your book may not stock in every bookstore. Or any bookstore. And it’s entirely possible that you may not want it to.

As a self-publishing author, these statistics undoubtedly suggest your sales opportunities will continue to grow and become more profitable. Sales are shifting from offline to online. More and more people are becoming comfortable with (and even accustomed to) shopping online. Selling books online is more cost-effective than selling through a typical bookstore, and that means more money in your pocket. It’s no coincidence that Amazon’s book sales numbers mirror the same increases on an annual bases. That’s good news.

It’s been said before on this blog, make sure your self-publishing choice lets you set your own retail price, royalty, and discount to take maximum advantage of shifting consumer trends.

Something to keep in mind as you wrap up your writing and begin the publishing process.

Have fun and keep writing

– Karl Schroeder 

Book Reviews

Self-Published Children’s Book Reviewer

Is your self-published book for children? If so, here is an opportunity you may want to look into to get your book reviewed:

Marilyn Courtot’s www.cookingupreading.com

A reviewer for this site posts reviews to Barnes and Noble and Amazon and has a special interest in books that kids can read then “cook up reading” with the help of the www.cookingupreading.com website.

Good luck and have fun!
Kelly Schuknecht
selfpublishingadvice.wordpress.com