Now that you have finished writing and publishing your amazing new book, you need to celebrate this accomplishment. How should you celebrate? You should celebrate with a book launch party. At first, I wasn’t sure if I should have a party, but my mentor encouraged me and I am glad she did. Gertie Saves the … Read more
At our recent mastermind meeting, some of the authors asked about organizing a book launch team for their picture books. A launch team is a group of people who are going to support you and help spread the word. They could be social media followers, readers of your blog, friends or the members in your mastermind group. … Read more
Gertie Saves the Day is now a Purple Dragonfly Children’s Picture Book Award Winner. The Purple Dragonfly Book Award is a worldwide competition to celebrate the best in children’s books. The contest is open to children’s stories in 56 different categories. It is awarded to books that are original, innovative, and creative in content and … Read more
You have written your picture book, but does your beginning grab your readers attention? Editors and agents to whom you are pitching your book specifically look for how you hook your reader. You want your reader to want to turn the page and keep reading. Here are a few suggestions. Start quickly Picture books are … Read more
Learning about your favorite authors and their books can be lots of fun. Author interviews give us insight into the author’s writing process. Interviews help readers to better understand how and why their stories were written. This week I would like you to meet Candace Spizzirri author of Fishing with Grandpa and Skye a books that explores … Read more
Marketing your picture book continues well after your book is published. The goal is to continue to market your book if you want to sell copies of your book. In my last post I discussed creating a media kit or a press kit for newspapers or podcasters. Now I would like to share how the … Read more
I am very happy to announce that I was recently a guest on You May Contribute A Verse Podcast. Brenna and Josh are the hosts of this podcast and are both children’s authors. Thus, the focus of their episodes revolves around children’s literature. The name of the episode is The Gertie Journey with Karen Nespoli. If … Read more
When you develop your main character you will find it can either be the most daunting task or the most fun. Gertie and Jeff were easy and fun for me to write. I could hear their conversations in my head which made writing the dialogue easy. I could close my eyes and visualize some of … Read more
Writing the story is where writers often get stuck. It is not as simple as writing words on a page. There are many things to consider before you put your pencil to the paper. As I mentioned in the prior post I have been writing the acupuncture story for 3 years. It started as one … Read more
I wanted to start this writing journey with some new picture book buzz. It is spring, the flowers are blooming, the birds are singing and the bees are buzzing. I am writing a new picture book and I am buzzing with excitement. Writing is my passion, especially writing for children and with children. Many of … Read more
