Greetings Singing Frog Fans!

So yes.. we are well in to the New Year already as I write.. still it's a nice title for the first post of the year.

New Year is a time for new beginnings, and good intentions. The 'decs' come down, and with the clearing away of the old year, thoughts turn positively to the coming prospects of the new one.

Yes.. it is a particularly difficult time for all in the world right now, but we can still follow our dreams as far as we may, in fact one could argue, that with the restrictions in the outside world, our focus can turn more inward to ourselves and what changes or improvements we'd like to make.

For me, I guess I'm lucky that my passion is still writing and imagining stories that I would like to tell for children (something you can do at home!) - and seeing my own daughter grow up so quickly, I realise it will not be long before picture books will be behind her.. so I need to work as effectively and with as much passion for the art as ever before, that she might get to enjoy a couple yet!

What is your passion, is there something you've longed to do?  It's surprising how even putting a couple of hours a week aside to something regularly can move you towards your goal. I know.. modern life is sooo full.. it's really hard to do this.. but if you can put some time aside, it can work wonders.

Jumbo Giant Sausages was a year and a half in the making (of just that sort of put-aside time), from concept to a book I am really happy with. Having drawn and illustrated this book myself, it was another steep learning curve. It was also a brand new story though, so I was very excited. I am currently working on another which was written at the same time, and I hope that I might shorten the timeline and get closer to a year for completing the book.

So, as you might have heard me say before already, there may not be as much interaction online or on social media for me over the next few months, but there will be updates!

So what's the update, then? So right now, I have just finished the 7th watercolour 'spread' (double page illustration) of the story, which makes the half-way point with seven more to do. It sounds like a lot of work still to do when I type that.. but if I can do one every two or so weeks.. (I'm already onto the plan for the 8th sketch) that would be brilliant.

Please remember to join the mailing list if you haven't already, as there will be other news and opportunities to win books for subscribers.. you will also be first to know about the release date for the new book.

Very best wishes,

Julian

Greetings Singing Frog Fans!

My goodness.. where does the time go to? Is it me or is December racing along at break-neck speed? It only seems two minutes ago I got my Christmas cards done... just about finished Christmas shopping... but what about all the book stuff too?

You may have noticed I've been slightly absent from social media - well, with being self-published, what you see here is just the one pair of hands... and as I've been working on the new book, other things have had to slow down. 

Still this month I had time to do a short interview with Angela Ressa of Katie's Readers in association with Stephanie Blore for her new book Reach for the Stars. That was a lot of fun to do. Her book is all about the different careers we can follow, "Inspire young children with a variety of occupations and activities while encouraging them to find their passion and follow their dreams.". So it was fun to talk shortly about what it's been like being a children's author.

​It looks to be a fabulous book (I've not seen the whole thing yet), and I look forward to leaving a review once I get hold of a copy.

I was fortunately also able to help them a little with some of the final stages of their publication, and it's a reminder to me, that one day Singing Frog Publishing will also publish stories by other authors, and I may well be able to help some people realise their dreams of getting into print. A ways off yet maybe, but certainly on the cards at some point.  Self-publishing is on the rise all the time, and I'm fairly sure my books would not be on shelves without that. So if you have a dream to publish.. stick with it!

Also this month I had another interview, this time with Jessica De Shong of Miss Jessica's World and that was such a hoot as well. I'd never done such a long interview to camera before (still only about 7 minutes) but she made me feel completely at home and she is so professional that I felt like I was in a studio in L.A. Haha 'almostfamous'!

We had a lot of fun doing the interview and I'll be very interested to see what the finished result is like (she will cut it onto the end of a video reading she is doing). Hopefully that will happen sometime in January, but I'll keep you posted.

I'm up to five paintings for the new book.. and working on the sixth sketch at the moment which is proving a little troublesome. Still I hope once we get to the Christmas Hols.. I will get at least a few hours to do a couple more paintings. Yes, two paintings is my target! I wonder if that resolution will be any stronger than the New Year's ones!

Lastly, and certainly not least.. I'd just like to warmly thank all our readers out there - some of you may find this blog eventually, I hope. It's been a really good year for Singing Frog Publishing and I think we've sold in excess of about 1300 books, with 250 just last month alone and another 700+ downloads too. Lots of positive reviews too which is great. So that's over 2000 of you out there who had maybe not heard of these books until now, and you took a chance.. and for that I am very grateful. I really hope they made some small person happy!

We've hit number 1 in categories for each ebook at some point in the last month - all thanks to your downloads, quite often at #2 in the paperback categories too.

Greetings Singing Frog fans!

It's been a little while since my last blog, so just wanted to let you know about the latest news.

Bradley and the Magic Carpet (2nd Edition) is now available in paperback and also for the first time as a Kindle/ebook download from Amazon. The first edition is still available in Hardback through Ingram Spark (places like Waterstones and Barnes and Noble and other similar retailers).

There is no real difference in the story between the two editions (just a couple of minor word changes in one or two places), but the second edition has improved endpapers and carries details of the other books and the website etc. It also has (in my view) an improved front cover and back cover. However.. you may still like the original cover.. so possibily a reason to keep that edition live in limited places. It's also nice to have the hardback option available for libraries and other users.

Speaking of which, I had a request from the five UK national libraries to send over copies of my books recently. So I had to get five of those hardbacks printed up to send them. Wow.. I'm in the Trinity College Dublin at last.. Bradley will be great company for the Book of Kells I'm sure!

I've also had some exciting news recently that Jessica DeShong of Miss Jessica's World would like to read the story on her channel. So I'm super thrilled about that too. I'll keep you posted when I get details of when that might be.

As for the new book... I've started in earnest, with two draft paintings done already and a third sketched. So that's about 14 paintings and a whole world of work to go! But it does feel great to be on the new book at last. Can't say anything much about it yet I'm afraid. 

Meanwhile, if you're thinking of that special gift for someone, I am also doing signed copies via the website now.. so just send me an email via the contact page if you would like to order one. Bradley and the Dinosaur has 82 5-star reviews on Amazon now so it a firm favourite with boys and girls alike and only today was higher than the Highway Rat on one chart! (Sorry Julia :0) ). Jumbo Giant Sausages is also finding a following  too.

Very best wishes.. I know it's been a tough year..so hang in there... at least with our imaginations we can still travel to magical places.

Julian

Good news dinofans!

Well I'm writing to tell you the very exciting news, that Chris Jarvis (the excellent CBeebies presenter) will be reading Bradley and the Dinosaur on his radio show on littleradio at 6:30pm on Sunday 18th October and again at 8:30pm. 

I'm so thrilled, I can't wait to listen. Go to their website for details of how to listen to the show.

Bradley and the Dinosaur has been in print for about four years now, and just starting to get a fond following. With over 70 5 star reviews, it's actually got to #1 in the top 100 books in the Prehistory Category on Amazon a couple of weeks ago, but it's not just a lovely story about a dinosaur, it's a warm tale that is also about kindness and friendship, so it's also in the top 20 books on Amazon on Values as well.

Ideal for a bedtime story for a boy or a girl who loves to journey on an adventure - so be sure to tune in!

Dino Wishes!

Julian

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Phew! Well Greetings Carpeteers and Singing Frog Fans everywhere.

My favourite (favorite) phrase of the moment is 'You may not think this is important, but it is so I'm bothering telling you so....'  (Courtesy of Dr Seuss)

So the important news for me is that I finally finished my refresh of Bradley and the Magic Carpet, including a new cover, a bit of relayout work, new endpapers, and a bit more info about Singing Frog Publishing and the other books in the new version. We're up to three books now. Whoo! Three's the charm.. so it doesn't feel quite like a fluke getting a book published anymore (and it feels a lot more like hard work.. which is fine.. because it's a labour of love.. and here I am at nearly 11pm on a school night writing about it - which you would not do unless you were keen, right?!)

Any road up. That's the last road block basically before all my energy can go towards the next book. Except perhaps the production of a Kindle for this which I'm still keen to do. 

As I've mentioned before, Jumbo Giant Sausages and Bradley and the Dinosaur are both well liked it seems (early days for the Soss yet of course) so it was just a tweak needed for the Carpet, to bring it into line with the new look Second Edition Bradley and the Dinosaur, and also 'JGS' and also to update the cover and back cover to reflect these changes.

Now that I understand book layout a lot better - Bradley and the Magic Carpet was supposedly laid out perfectly for printing but ended up with about three blank pages at the end. Well, now I know what's causing that, they won't be there in the new edition.. and it will have a more industry standard endpaper layout and front matter too.

Not that many will notice I suppose, haha.. but these things are great when they're done right. In the original book, the front matter was just a single page.. and now it will be a full, double-spread.

We've had a competition, first in a while on Instagram... for those who helped give feedback on the new cover...and there'll be another one soon via mailing list. So if you haven't joined the mailing list yet.. either email us to join, or fill out the contact form on the website.

Dino Wishes,

​Julian

P.S. Maybe it's also worth mentioning, that if you're the collecting sort, Bradley and the Magic Carpet - first edition will soon be retired, once the second edtion is published sometime in the next couple of weeks. So you still have a chance to get hold of what will become a 'rarity'. If you're not the collecting sort, hang on.. a new edition will soon be available, and it will not probably change again after that.

Happy Sundays....

Well this is a short one this week. I just wanted to give a quick update. I've finally archived my files for Jumbo Giant Sausages to clear the decks. This means that the book, the cover, the internals are finally settled. I'm really happy with how it is now, and I don't think there'll be any more minor tweaks to this edition. Tweaks such as they were were fairly minor anyway, and some may not have noticed them in any case. I just wanted to make sure everything was right, so I can pat the sausages on the back as they leap out the pan and into the world for their brief moment of fame!

There's a lot to do when you self-publish - I may have mentioned this before!

So now the good news is I will turn my new attention and focus to the next book. Really sorry I can't tell you anything about that yet.. but as a consequence there may be a bit less posting here for a while, while I ramp up momentum on that. I'm just very excited that before too long, a fourth book will be taking shape, and I'm keen to see how long that one will take and if I'll be able to improve on the almost two years that Jumbo Giant Sausages took from start to finish. I will be doing the illustrations for the next one.. but I have another story that I can imagine will work well with a skilled illustrator, so I hope you may well see something sooner than two years. Gosh I hope so!! Some authors knock 'em out every three or four months!

Jumbo Giant Sausages is doing really well, we're already up to 10 reviews, and I think 9 of them were 5-star on Amazon. It's been up in the charts in a few nice categories. (Still a bit of tweaking to do there, as for example it's not really for 'up to 11 years' as Amazon says currently!!) So a few emails to write yet to sort some of the classification.

The big news is, I've stopped worrying about it. A lot of people really like it.. and that's good enough for me and a sign that I can move on to the next one.

​I was in the Star Cafe in Paignton recently (who have a copy if you're passing) and the little girl who was reading it there while I was having breakfast came over to me and said 'I like your book, it's good!'. So there you have it.. if someone who is approximately four likes the book.. then you can relax.

Greetings Singing Frog Fans!

Where does the time go to? How many posts do I start that way I wonder??

We seem to be lurching through Sweltering Summer and on to Christmas from what I can gather!

So just enough time to stop by and say that it's great news we're going to have a quick radio interview on BBC Radio Devon tomorrow, 19th August at around 11 am.

Some of you may have caught my last interview last October some time with David 'Fitz' Fitzgerald. Well, they've invited me back, and this time I'll be talking to Pippa Quelch about the new second edition of Jumbo Giant Sausages and other adventures in self-publishing no doubt.

So hope you can join us in your coffee break.

In other exciting news, I've heard that two of my books (Bradley's Adventures) have been selected to take part in The Book Explorer project. They have a brilliant idea going here, and I'll probably write more about that another time as it's not launching till January next year.

Looking to other authors and illustrators... this week I'd like to make a special mention about Manuela Pentangelo, the very talented illustrator behind Sascha Martin's Rocket Ship. This is a fabulous story about a kid who's always inventing things.. and just what  happens when he takes his science project into school. Not only is the story a lot of fun, but Manuela picks out such great details in her work and moves the story along with such flow (literally when his rocket is taking off!) that it's a joy to read.

​She has a great page on instagram and I really recommend checking out her drawings and sketches there, there's always something great going on! Check out her other books too.

​That's all folks!

Happy Fridays, Singing Frog Fans!

I'd just to first of all say a big Thank You to everyone who voted for Jumbo Giant Sausages during it's launch week on reedsy. Check out the new books to see how it did on the link here.

I'd heard earlier in the week, that the books with the most votes will make it into the weekly newsletter - and we have! Hurray! So if you voted for the book and signed in to the site... you will no doubt shortly receive a copy of this week's newsletter with the book in.

Book promotion, incuding marketing is just one of the many hats to wear as a self-published author. So I'm really interested to see what results if any come of this fantastic event happening. Potentially, thousands of new readers may hear about the book now.

As I'm on holiday today..I'm also excited to say I picked up a paintbrush for the first time in ages..to start with the first spread for my new book. Haha.. no rest for the wicked!! But it's not wicked, it's a joy how much fun you can have with a paintbrush in your hand. I feel like I'm 9 years old again... and to be fair a lot of my drawings look like they were done by a 9 year old!

I really wanted to give Jumbo Giant Sausages the best start I could, before beginning the next one... so it's great, the number of people who've helped to give it a good send off. We had nearly 700 downloads of the new Kindle last weekend, and new reviews coming in all the time. I always love to hear what people think, so if you haven't yet left a review after downloading the book.. it would be great to see it.

The review on reedsy is also more than I could have hoped for. So with two reviews from professional bodies tucked under its arm (reedsy and Reader's Favorite) I feel like it's starting to take shape.

Talking of reviews. One page I'd like to draw your attention to this week is Ourbookishabode. This is a fabulous site, and I'm saying this not only because they've already mentioned and reviewed both Bradley and the Dinosaur and Jumbo Giant Sausages.. but just look at all the other great books they are talking about on their Instagram page.

Happy Fridays, Singing Frog Fans!

Here we are again... where do the weeks go to?  

A lot's happened recently to recap on.. so now we have a new cover.. and a new Kindle version available...  and lots of dots in this blog... because that's how my brain seems to work.

The good news just in is that now that the Kindle is available, some sales are happening in the US.. and as a result we find ourselves the #1 in New Releases for children's books about dogs.. AND #1 in New Releases for children's 'cartoon' books.  Whoo-hoo!

'Dogs' you might say. Where are the dogs?? All I see is a big fat, juicy, tasty sausage... leaping from a pan. Well, erm without going into spoilers, let's just say, if you're a big fan of scampy mutts, you may really enjoy how this story turns out. Of course if you're cheering for naughty sausages that are really badly behaved and intent on destruction... then you may not how like how things go. But at least you can wave them on while they have there five minutes of (short-lived) fame.

All that aside.. I really wanted to just tell you that I'm letting the book out for free this weekend.. to run wild. So why not gobble up a copy?

It's free to download from midnight on the 1st August (PDT - so if you're in the UK probably about 8am onwards) through Sunday.

If you download a copy and like the book.. leaving a review would be a great way to show any appreciation and certainly helps to let others know about the book. However, as a lot of people might be leaving reviews during the weekend.. it's also fine to wait a while and drop one in over the next week or two.

Hope you have a great weekend.. whatever you're up to.. and all that's left to say.. is that I am SO looking forward to doing some sketches and painting next week.. to kickstart the next book....as I have some holiday!

Greetings!

Have you heard that line in the title of this week's blog somewhere before?

If you haven't, I can tell you it's from 'The Sleep Book' by Dr Seuss... and I've read it enough recently to know at least part of it by heart! ('It's important, and that's why I'm bothering telling you so.').

Lots of great news this week. First off, you will notice a new cover design for Jumbo Giant Sausages.. my latest book. So congratulations to all you early-adopters who bought this with the first cover.. you now own a 'limited-edition' second-edition copy and there are probably not more than fifty of those in existence.

As for anyone who is yet to buy, what do you think? I really liked the first cover, but I think the image was so nice, that it just needed to be larger, so I've done away with the border and gone for some motion with the title text. I'm happy... and I think it will stay this way. 

The other great excitement is that the first kindle edition is also done. So it is now possible to buy this for tablets, phones PC kindle readers etc.

These are available today. So to buy now in the UK click here or in the US click here.

A new book also out this week to draw your attention to is the fabulous Adventure in Machu Picchu (I always have to pause to make sure I get the double 'c' the right way around in those two words!). This is by the new author Mildzy Mujica and illustrated by Hermanos Magia. I downloaded this book and read it with my daughter this week.

I really loved the sense of adventure in this book. I think it's great to see not only high concept adventure in a picture book (race around temple ruins, partnering up with temple guardians to save the land from an earthquake) but to see it done well with excitement in the storyboarding as well.

For me the whole feeling of an adventure in South America just conjours up excitement before I even turn the first page. Indianna Jones? Tales of the Gold Monkey? I think though, it's really refreshing as Mildzy is Peruvian herself and she is coming from a place of knowledge of Peruvian culture and lore when writing the story.

I'll say I think it's a little old for 3 years old.. but my daughter Emma did enjoy the pictures. I can imagine older children loving this.. and looking forward to more adventures... especially if they're fans of comic book adventure too. Enjoy!

That's it for this week!

​Julian

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