Greetings Singing Frog Fans!
Well, I hope you've all had a smashing weekend... we smashed into the Top 10 in Cooking Humour this week. Not so funny if you're a sausage though. So would like to begin this week by saying a big thank you to all those who have helped support the book so far. Just two five-star reviews out there so far... but it's a great start!
Please leave a review if you've recently bought the book, that helps more than you can know!
But this week it's not all about our books actually... As I said last week, I've been introduced to a few new authors.. and wanted to give you some information about those too.
Firstly, we'd like to mention Nellie the Narwhal, by Sarah Cullen, and Carmen Ellis, two wonderful people who run a whale encounters company Majestic Whale Encounters...so their book obviously comes from a love of the sea and the creatures within it. Well, we were browsing their book, and my daughter was so taken with the cute picture on the front.. that we bought it and read the kindle version straight away.
Well, I hope you've all had a smashing weekend... we smashed into the Top 10 in Cooking Humour this week. Not so funny if you're a sausage though. So would like to begin this week by saying a big thank you to all those who have helped support the book so far. Just two five-star reviews out there so far... but it's a great start!
Please leave a review if you've recently bought the book, that helps more than you can know!
But this week it's not all about our books actually... As I said last week, I've been introduced to a few new authors.. and wanted to give you some information about those too.
Firstly, we'd like to mention Nellie the Narwhal, by Sarah Cullen, and Carmen Ellis, two wonderful people who run a whale encounters company Majestic Whale Encounters...so their book obviously comes from a love of the sea and the creatures within it. Well, we were browsing their book, and my daughter was so taken with the cute picture on the front.. that we bought it and read the kindle version straight away.
Nellie has a series of encounters with her friends, but for some reason they don't want to play. How many children have experienced this? Fortunately Nellie is resourceful and comes up with a plan to entice each of her three underwater friends to a different game each. We must have read this book four times already since we got it this week and I think we love the cute pictures and the uplifting tone of the book - everything can be put to rights if you just try and find a way. I think this is a good news story for children who may have experienced rejection in a playground at one time or other - Don't be discouraged! The rhyming is great and there's even a section with some great ocean facts at the end, sure to please slightly older readers.
We look forward to hearing more of Nellie's further adventures.
Also this week we were talking to Katie's Readers an organisation set up by Angela Walker for "scattering the love of learning around the world". I won't try to paraphrase their mission, but it's based around the impact of a girl called Katie on the founder - I really recommend you look at their website and see the good work they are doing.
We've sent some Singing Frog Publishing books over to them, and if you work with a children's charity that uses children's picture books in your work, please get in touch with us with some details about your organisation.
Finally some major excitement for this week - drumroll - a very good friend of mine Jana Broecker is about to release her new children's book this week, "Pilot Ray - the Tale of a Snail". All about a small snail with a Big Dream... to fly!
Now you might think snails have about as much chance of flying as they do of swimming, but Jana's small invertebrate has a big heart and he knows that no matter how small you are, if you believe in your dreams they can come true!
We look forward to hearing more of Nellie's further adventures.
Also this week we were talking to Katie's Readers an organisation set up by Angela Walker for "scattering the love of learning around the world". I won't try to paraphrase their mission, but it's based around the impact of a girl called Katie on the founder - I really recommend you look at their website and see the good work they are doing.
We've sent some Singing Frog Publishing books over to them, and if you work with a children's charity that uses children's picture books in your work, please get in touch with us with some details about your organisation.
Finally some major excitement for this week - drumroll - a very good friend of mine Jana Broecker is about to release her new children's book this week, "Pilot Ray - the Tale of a Snail". All about a small snail with a Big Dream... to fly!
Now you might think snails have about as much chance of flying as they do of swimming, but Jana's small invertebrate has a big heart and he knows that no matter how small you are, if you believe in your dreams they can come true!
I've known Jana for over a year through Instagram, and was honoured when she asked me to give some feedback on her last book (Not Like the Others) before it was published. It's currently ranked in the top 1000 books on Amazon and is #1 in three categories.. including children's books on diversity - and deservedly so. So I was really pleased when I got a sneak peak at her new book this week. It's going to be a big hit with children.. and you heard it here first! Anyone who likes the Singing Frog Publishing sort of book.. will love Jana's too I'm sure.
Jana also looked at an early version of Jumbo Giant Sausages before it was first released and gave me valuable insight on a few things that were not quite right, and in particular, she helped form my resolve to work immediately on getting a more rounded and 'finished' second edition out there... something I've been working on for the last six months.. mainly to improve my initial artwork. I think without this help, I may have been tempted to leave the book and start another. Now I am SO pleased with the finished product, I am very happy to tell the world about it!! I was so pleased with Jana's encouragement and helpful advice, you'll find her mentioned in the front pages of JGS.
No author does everything alone really and I think it's important to acknowledge what great things are achieved when we listen to each other and help and support one another... especially if you are self-published. That said though, I think self-published authors have the freedom to make their own networks and support too - we don't have big publishing houses behind us.. but we can make successful books, enjoyed by many, using the helpful advice and support of each other and our readers too.
Now that Jumbo Giant Sausages is done and published.. it's great to watch the process of another book being born and be involved with some of the pre-launch work with Jana. I really hope it's a big success, because Jana has a great ear for rhyme and puts such a lot of effort into her work. I find that a creative inspiration too, to know that you can always do better.. and have big dreams.. whether you're a snail, or an author.
Jana also looked at an early version of Jumbo Giant Sausages before it was first released and gave me valuable insight on a few things that were not quite right, and in particular, she helped form my resolve to work immediately on getting a more rounded and 'finished' second edition out there... something I've been working on for the last six months.. mainly to improve my initial artwork. I think without this help, I may have been tempted to leave the book and start another. Now I am SO pleased with the finished product, I am very happy to tell the world about it!! I was so pleased with Jana's encouragement and helpful advice, you'll find her mentioned in the front pages of JGS.
No author does everything alone really and I think it's important to acknowledge what great things are achieved when we listen to each other and help and support one another... especially if you are self-published. That said though, I think self-published authors have the freedom to make their own networks and support too - we don't have big publishing houses behind us.. but we can make successful books, enjoyed by many, using the helpful advice and support of each other and our readers too.
Now that Jumbo Giant Sausages is done and published.. it's great to watch the process of another book being born and be involved with some of the pre-launch work with Jana. I really hope it's a big success, because Jana has a great ear for rhyme and puts such a lot of effort into her work. I find that a creative inspiration too, to know that you can always do better.. and have big dreams.. whether you're a snail, or an author.
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