Summer Fun

The summer brings time for me to recharge and renew. As a school teacher, I’m committed to being a life long learner. To plan for this, I have a little bit taken out of every paycheck and put in a savings account. The catalogues start to arrive in early March. This is a very exciting time for me because there are so many interesting classes to choose from. My passions include both writing and illustrating so I research workshops or classes in both that I can afford. This summer I’m planning on a writing class with The Loft, and an illustration workshop with Split Rock at the University of Minnesota. The benefits include not only learning new techniques, but also meeting people with similar interests.

Award Stickers Help Sell Books

On January 27th, 2010, “There’s a Frog on My Forehead” was honored with a Mom’s Choice Award® for Children’s Picture Book, Basic Concepts. I was thrilled when I got the news and even happier, today, when the stickers arrived. They are beautiful and enhance the cover. My picture book was also a finalist in the Indie Excellence Awards. Since this is the beginning of the second year for my book, I decided to try a marketing experiment. I was at the same venue, same date, with my book for a story time and book signing event. I put stickers on the cover of the books this year. I didn’t have them last year. I sold three times as many books with stickers as without. Many buyers inquired about the stickers and I had information about the awards to share with them. This may seem obvious to some, but I was a little hesitant to use stickers on my cover when I received my first award. My ah! ha! is that submitting your book to carefully selected award competitions, can help sell your book, particularly if you are a finalist or win. So if you haven’t used your award stickers, give them a try!