I'm so excited about how the book is doing. I can't wait to get caught up on my regular work to get the second one finished.
Since the books arrived, 50 in the first order which was supposed to be put aside basically for Decatur Book Festival, 35 have actually been requested or sold. I sent Vivian monies last week for about a dozen books and at the same time, she ordered another 50, because in talking to several friends of mine online or via email, I realized I had maybe 7 books left in the box from the original order. In total that makes 120 books in less than a month having been ordered (she forgot to order some to keep with her so she could send out for anyone who orders from the website, so had to place an order for 20). My second 50 arrived Thursday and I promised not to sell from that box and put it aside for Decatur. So, hopefully this trend will continue through the end of the year and we sell like crazy.
Yesterday, while out running around, we ran into one of Hailie's friends who bought a copy of the book. She's such a sweetheart too. She was my 34th copy sold. And then while talking to one of the band members at the grocery store, Hailie sold another one to a friend's mother out in the parking lot (she was getting a copy of the book to show the friend in the store and ran into her other friend who said to hold a copy a copy out since she did not have the cash at the moment - that was the 35th one). I am down to 5 in the box and 10 on consignment at the Belton Center for the Arts and if those don't sell by the end of the month, I'll pick them up to take with me to Decatur.
Vivian is on a mini vacation visiting her son in Colorado. Her daughter-in-law is an administrator in one of the elementary schools and read the book and absolutely loved it, so my series may make it into the schools, one school district at a time but I have a feeling that they will eventually make it into the right hands in each of the states to get distributed in the schools massively (that would be great to see my books used to supplement the geography teaching and having the kids learn things about the states they normally wouldn't pick up in their normal day-to-day routine schooling).
Now for the guesses - most everyone who has read the book gets to about Clue #25 (out of 27 clues) before they really know the state. I did two presentations last week at the Belton Center for the Arts summer camp (the theme this year is story time) and had a blast. Stephanie wanted me to read clue #25 so the kids could guess the state but I didn't want to, really wanted to entice them to buy the book, or get their parents to buy the book, so that they could read the book for themselves and make their guesses like my characters do.
I will be doing one more presentation next Wednesday to the last of the summer camp sessions at the Belton Center for the Arts. I will probably read the first part and the first two clues and let them get the books to read the rest themselves. Definitely Clue #25 is a dead giveaway clue (26 and 27 are basically the common, known facts of the state so everyone should know by the last clue or the next to the last clue for sure).
One of the band member's mother bought two copies and informed me last night while at the store that she guessed the state from the cover. I don't know how she did but she did. The cover depicts Clue #2 (Sacajawea), Clue #14 (the Appaloosa horse) and Clue #20 (the Birds of Prey Wildlife area in this state being the home to world's most dense population of nesting eagles, hawks and falcons). Way to go Faith from knowing from the cover what state it is. You get a gold star.
Everyone come over to the 4RV website and place your order today. If you know me, you can get an autographed copy from me directly (remembering I only have about 15 left I can actually sell before Decatur Book Festival). If you are in the Atlanta area over the Labor Day weekend, stop by the Decatur Book Festival and come visit the 4RV booth. You can pick up your copy of 10 of the books that 4RV has published this year, some actually signed by the authors who will be available (Viv, Jacque Graham and myself). So see you all in the postings or at the book festivals - E :)
CLUE #1: This state’s landscape includes fast rivers, evergreen forests, steep waterfalls, canyons, plateaus, and lakes. Some of its more famous places are Shoshone Falls in which the water cascades down 212 feet, which is a greater drop than Niagara Falls and Hell’s Canyon, which is 7900 feet deep, the deepest canyon in North America.
CLUE #2: The Lemhi Pass is most notable for the Lewis and Clark expedition, which entered this state in 1805. Now, the Lemhi County Historical Museum contains artifacts and information about Sacajawea, the Native American woman who helped Lewis and Clark discover the Northwest Territory.
