Jan’s Comments (group member since Feb 10, 2011)

Jan’s comments from the Kidz Like 2 e-Read group.

Had some good feedback from teachers and parents, especially about the info at the back of the book.The Race: An Inspiring Story for Left Handers


I'm now in the process of having print copies made.

I have several children's books and would love to do the interview.
Bheki and the Magic Light

The Race: An Inspiring Story for Left Handers

(the other links don't seem to be working)
Will email you.

Hi,
I've finally published The Race (an inspiring story for left-handers)
The Race: An Inspiring Story for Left Handers


Vicky is left-handed and teased for being clumsy, but a visit from her Gran changes everything.

Vicky’s Granddad has died and her Gran is coming for a visit. Vicky wants to cheer her up by embroidering a cushion as a gift, but because Vicky is left-handed she struggles to learn how to sew. She decides that winning a race in the school sports might be a better idea – but can she do it, especially when Graham threatens to spoil all her plans?

The story highlights some of the challenges faced by left-handers.

At the end of the book is advice on how to help left-handers; how to tell if a child is left-handed; the correct way for a left-hander to hold a pencil and to slant the paper; famous left-handers; percentage of the population who are left-handed; career choices for left-handers and cultural issues for left-handers.

I've just discovered the term 'middle grade'. I've recently uploaded Bheki and the Magic Light and I think this fits into that definition. It was first published in paperback by Penguin in their Puffin Series. Would love a review as it seems to be quite difficult getting a foothold with children's books - even a freebie didn't do much for sales.

This is the blurb
An action adventure story set in South Africa.
The big day has arrived and Bheki’s house is flooded with electric light for the first time. He remembers the time, many years before, when his father gave him a light that really did seem to be magic. The torch brought him many friends and a new status in the kraal, until its beam began to fade. Bheki’s journey to bring power back to the magic light tested him to the limit but ended in magic of a different kind. It gave him a belief in himself.
At the end of the story, Bheki explains how batteries work and how electricity is generated and brought into homes across the world.

Hi,
I've just uploaded Bheki and the Magic Light as an ebook on KDP. It was first published by Penguin SA and I've got the rights back.

http://amzn.to/JzwKYJ

I'm doing a FREEBIE on 26th and 27th April as an introductory offer.

If you're interested here is the blurb.


The big day has arrived and Bheki’s house is flooded with electric light for the first time. He remembers the time, many years before, when his father gave him a light that really did seem to be magic. The torch brought him many friends and a new status in the kraal, until its beam began to fade. Bheki’s journey to bring power back to the magic light tested him to the limit but ended in magic of a different kind. It gave him a belief in himself.

At the end of the story, Bheki explains how batteries work and how electricity is generated and brought into homes across the world.

Thanks.
It seems that we will still have to wait a while to see children's e-books become popular (unless someone can crack the search code!)

Has anyone seen an increase in sales of children's books? I thought with all the Christmas Kindles we might see children's e-books start to take off, but there has been no surge of sales for my Leon Chameleon books, despite some nice reviews.
I've just been reading about making sure your book is in the correct category and wondered if this was the problem :(

Yes, they do come as a nice surprise. I've put my books on so many sites that I quite forget where they are most of the time, and then one suddenly appears :)

Let's hope adults will upgrade their e-readers and pass the old ones to their children. I've lowered the price of my Leon Chameleon books to 99c, so all my books are now at the same price.

I've also had a lovely review on this blog.

http://gatheringleavesreviews.blogspo...

@LB That's very true. Books are the key to stimulating a child's imagination.

an interesting article on digital books for children. Maybe we should be making them interactive!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/bo...

Hi,
I've just had reviews of my Leon Chameleon PI book on these blogs. You might like to submit your books.


http://www.gracekrispy.com/review-leo...

http://www.hideandread.com/

Cheers
Jan

Just have to hope that Kindle bring out a new supa-dupa version that everyone just has to buy so they can hand their old Kindles to their children! But then who is going to search for, and buy, the e-books?

Auctionchex.com is a website that anyone can use. When I was selling stuff on eBay I used it to receive PayPal payments, but PayPal eventually stopped him from accepting, which meant I had to stop selling on eBay (very cross about that). You can go to the website and have a look how it works. You can leave the money in a Hyperwallet until the exchange rate is favourable.

Funnily enough, the illustrator of my Leon Chameleon books now lives in Australia! Her drawings are wonderful and there is no way I could compete. I have another illustrator in SA who has done some work for me at a reasonable price, but I need the same illustrator for the Leon books so there is continuity.

Regarding the cheques from Amazon - I have found a way to get round the huge bank charges by using a website called Auctionchex. He deposits my cheque into his account in the UK and then transfers the money from his SA account into my account and charges about a third of what the bank charges.

I also did a Giveaway here.I've got a couple of good reviews on Barnes & Noble, and quite by chance I found a review on Amazon from someone who had bought a 2nd hand print copy on Amazon. Managed to get it linked with my kindle version, but don't know if that helped.
I've had to keep my Leon books at $2.99 because I published through someone in the US who was kind enough to scan them in for me, and I also have to give the illustrator a cut (when I eventually make some money!)

I think we'll have to Google some Mom's forums where we can mention the books.

I started a thread offering to send the e-book to children who were interested in reviewing books, but didn't have any luck.

I feel the same way. I've had some lovely reviews for Leon Chameleon, but they are not followed by lovely sales. I have published two books in the series, and a third is waiting to be illustrated, but there doesn't seem much point if the first two aren't selling. I also have about 20 storylines mapped out (I had an animator interested at one time), and would love to write them all.
My YA novel is an action adventure story, but it seems that only vampires and horror are selling.(insert sad smiley)

Hi Patricia,
I've also found good sales with the granny generation as there are many grandparents in SA whose children have left to live overseas, and the grandparents like to send their grandchildren books about South Africa so that they will learn something of their heritage.

For the same reason I've also found that I can sell more books in gift shops than in our local bookshop!

Hi Patricia,
I had my other books on Daily Cheap Reads so was in contact with them. I think I used this email address
, but you can contact them through the 'my two cents worth' button on the link I gave above.