Hello Frog Fans!

Well, what a week it's been.

Hardly a week since the release of Jumbo Giant Sausages.. and I heard back that it had been reviewed by Reader's Favorite. I had entered the book for their yearly awards competition, and normally you can expect to get a review from a reviewer on their site within about three months of submission - and before they announce the results of the awards in September.

Well blow me down, I wasn't expecting to get a review after a week... and it was a good one too. Achieving a 5-star review means that I can use the 'medal' in connection with promoting the book, and the review as well - now uploaded to the Amazon book pages. See below the product details on the US and UK Amazon pages to read the review.

It's not the first time we've had an award for Reader's Favorite, Bradley and the Magic Carpet was entered last year and won the 5-star seal too. However, this time, we didn't drop a single point in any of the six categories. (BMC dropped one point !).

Well, if that wasn't enough to make my week, there have been further goings on.. with @paigntonlibrary hosting a readathon event, with fabulous authors each reading their book. I particularly enjoyed Tracey Courderoy reading Shifty McGifty and Slippery Sam. Which is your favourite? Check out their events page to watch all the videos, including Neil Gaiman who did an introduction for the event.

Well.. I was originally due to read my books at the library event back in March, but of course it got cancelled.

In the meantime, as you probably already know if you follow our pages, the Amazing Rob Pudner of @entertaininglydifferent has read our books several times and done such a fantastic job of it, that I asked him if he would mind doing a reading for the event.

If you missed it, here it is! Rob did such a great job, don't you think? Please post comments on the video if you watch it...

Whatever you're doing.. have a great weekend.. and don't forget Rob's Rise and Shine Show tomorrow morning.. if you're looking for something that's really fun to entertain the little ones.. and not so little ones!

Yes... finally!  The book I wanted the first time around.

Haha.. they say though, that love is lovelier, the second time around.

I am so excited and thrilled I could burst. Not to mention mildly ready for a rest!

But no.. no time for that.. the Sausages have escaped the drawing board (literally) and I just wanted to let you know, for those great die hard fans who follow this blog..(thank you all for following) that JUMBO GIANT SAUSAGES is actually finished. Yes, finished I tell you... and available to buy on Amazon right now.

For the US click here.

For the UK click here.

Now.. this is, strictly speaking, not the LAUNCH of the book.. oh no.. there's much work now that only BEGINS. I'm just letting you fans know early, that the book is live on Amazon and you can buy it .... and.....

I DON'T EVEN HAVE A COPY YET. (but it should arrive by next Wednesday)

What does this mean? Well, I've dotted every i, crossed every t.. painted every eyebrow and mouth, shaded every corner, wet sponged, charcoal lined and resized my brush a ten thousand times since this book was first published last July. To bring a second edition to the world.. and if you ask an author friend of mine.. this is probably what the first edition should have been.  Big thanks go to Jana Broecker of Cranky Cat fame.. because she suggested I may have been a little hasty with the first edition. Thanks Jana if you're reading!!

However in my defence... I had set myself a goal.. could I publish a book, just one year after writing it? Including doing all the pictures myself? Whoah.. that was a challenge.  Well I managed it.. but realised as well that I could achieve more...beyond what my original watercolours looked like.  So what is available now, has had almost another six months of work added to it. (Ok.. so maybe I should set the goal at 18 months next time, hahaha).

Now comes the good bit. Now I'm really proud of this edition. and feel I can say.. yup! I did this.. and "Take a look, what do you think?".  I did not really market the first edition, or promote too much, because I pretty much started on the second edition, the moment it was out there, I knew I needed to wait a little before promoting it fully.

I will say, to all those who bought a first edition - thank you for your support. No one left a one-star review at least! The story hasn't changed... but I think it looks a whole lot better now. You are very lucky.. there is less than a hundred of you.. way less. That first edition will not be available again.. unless you sell your copy! 

Anyway.. before I go, fans... a funny story... 

So I've submitted this story to Reedsy - a fabulous site.. and I recommend any of my author friends go join it now. But it's also for people who love reading books too. Perhaps a competitor to Goodreads... but their interface looks fab. Check out my page here where you can see some sneak peaks of the book. Nice looking, huh?

Anyway. I found a great article on launching a book on this site.. so I opened it .. and it begins..'What to do SIX months before you launch your book...'  , 'What to do FIVE months before launching your book'.

Er.. well...., the book's available NOW.. not in six months time..! But I will be following some of their tips...(and fortunately some of the stuff I've already done).

So, check out the sneak peaks.. or get an early copy (I promise if there are any small tweaks, I may have to change the file on Amazon again..) so you might have another collector's item on your hands if you buy now.

When you start to see adverts on Facebook or Instagram for the book, please share.. please tell your friends and family.. and lets see if we can hit a six for self-published authors!

The book is already entered into this year's Readers Favorite competition.. and awaiting reviews on Reedsy.. so fingers crossed people like it!

Dino Wishes...

​Julian

Anyone for lashings of ginger beer and slabs of ginger cake?

Greetings Dinofans,

Well, where does the time go to?  Without mentioning the dreaded you-know-what, I'm sure that you're all, as we are, finding a new routine.  Maybe your week and weekend has different routines and rituals to before the you-know-what?  

I know that we've been tuning in to Rob Pudner of @entertaininglydifferent every Saturday to watch his energetic, madcap and entertaining genius that is his Rise and Shine Show...Already Rob has read all three of my books in one of his shows or other.

Well, it seems the books have been enjoyed by Rob's fans.. and he has another show, (perhaps) the slightly calmer 'Snacktime Stories', where he reads children's stories from local authors. I'm writing to let you know that Rob's going to be reading both of Bradley's adventures in this coming Friday's show.

To celebrate.. I'm offering Bradley and the Dinosaur for free download on the day, May 8th - so you can read along with the little ones. I'd say up to age six or seven is perfect.. (but I once read the story to some ten year olds at the Jurassic Centre in Seaton.. and they seemed to enjoy it too - I guess it depends how much of a dinosaur fan, or child at heart you are!).

Check out our How to get a book page on the day to get your free copy. The book becomes free at 12 midnight PDT, which I think is around 8 am in the UK. So enough time to download it before the show.

New reviewers needed
What else? We had a great month for sales, beating our December record. Over 120 people bought a paperback copy of Bradley and the Dinosaur and there were at least ten kindle sales as well. So thanks to all of you who are new fans. We really appreciate that you took a ride into uncharted territory to buy the book.

Without expensive marketing campaigns and reviews in newspapers we really do rely on word of mouth for this book to become more widely known, so please share your experiences with others, and if you can write a review, or leave a star rating on Amazon that would be fantastic.

I've added a link on the review page, so for any new readers who want a super quick way to leave a review or star rating, just click here for a US review, or here for a UK review.

More sausages!
Finally, the time is nearly here.. after a hiatus over Christmas, and the New Year.. I've been working on putting some finishing touches to all of the original artwork I did for Jumbo Giant Sausages.. and hope that very soon, a new Second Edition will be available. Most of the artworks have been done now, I just need to do the 'endpapers' or inside covers. I'm hoping that within a month or so, the new version should be available.  This will probably be the version I would have done first time round, if I'd had a little more time before the first publication date.

Don't worry, if you'd bought the first one. Any original owners of the first edition will have something of a rarity on their hands in years to come.. as once the new edition comes out, it will be retired.  Not that I'm suggesting you go out and buy it now! No.. wait for the new edition, But if anyone does have a first edition lying around, maybe we can sort out some sort of competition for you guys :). 

Once the new edition is out there, then I can get on with sharing the next story with you!

Dino Wishes!

Julian