I'm featured on J. Aday Kennedy's blog today, even though I'm out of town and will be back later this evening. Please come visit and leave a comment - thanks everyone - see you in the postings - Mrs. E :)
SCBWI = Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. As a member of the local group, the Carolinas, we have a conference in the fall. This year's is in Charlotte, NC (my guess is this is fairly central to both states). The workshops will be held at the Marriott on Tyvola Road. I came up early so I wouldn't have to get up like at 5 in the morning and head up the road. I checked in sometime around 7ish this evening and was heading to the lobby to get my dinner microwaved since there are no microwaves in the room and none available to be brought to my room. Getting off the elevator, I met up with a friend - someone I actually know. I can't wait for the workshops this weekend. What I'm taking are geared for marketing to the educational market and marketing in general and the PAL (SCBWI has a group of members who are published and listed (PAL) and so that intensive will be geared more towards marketing too.
I'm open to new ideas on getting my books out there.
Sunday, two of the books in the series (State of Reservations and State of Sucesses) will be reviewed on J. Aday Kennedy's blog. She will also be running a marketing idea on the 29th, so come see what she has in store for us (even I don't know what she is planning to do on the 29th, other than to say she has an idea for getting something for free having to do with my series). Guess we will find out next week what she has up her sleeve. See you all in the postings - Mrs. E & the JGDS - :)
It's hard to determine how well one does at events like this but maybe by Monday I'll know better. Most of the folks that stopped at my table really didn't have any buying power and I met a lot of younguns who haven't even graduated college yet but they are heading in the right direction. I did sell two copies of State of Successes, so that was a good thing but figure that there will be more looksees to the website and possibly orders after teachers return to school Monday.
The one time I forgot my camera and my table really looked good. Oh well, maybe next time I'll remember my camera. There is another event by the same folks in February, so glad the SC Book Festival isn't in February in 2011. Not sure February will be a better time but I think this will be a good event for me the more books we get out.
One good contact came out of today, which is talking with the guy in charge of vendors for the SC Council of Social Studies conference which is in October. Unfortunately, I can't make it that weekend but next year the conference will be in Greenville and he's got my information and will keep me informed. He did tell me I could send him some bookmarks and my sell sheets and he would make sure my stuff gets out. The guy across from me in the area we were displaying our wares is from the same area and they carry books from all kinds of publishers, so I may get my books out there a different way. I'll keep you posted on what transpires with that.
Next weekend is the SCBWI conference in Charlotte and then I have some down time. The Sugarfoot Festival in town the end of October (okay the weekend before the actual end of October) and then Halloween, which is a break and then two wonderful big events, a new one in Charleston and the Savannah Children's Book Festival. More as those approach. Wish I had a few pictures to share with you from today, but I'll do better for the next one - see you all in the postings - E :)
(picture of Reedy River Falls, which is in Greenville County, near the Governor's School for Arts and Humanities, which is where my oldest attended for his final two years of high school; very beautiful area)
I'm heading out of town again this weekend for the SC Geographic Alliance's GEOFEST #40 today. The event is actually tomorrow. Here is the website's brief description of GEOFEST:
Geofest
Every spring and fall SCGA hosts this professional development conference, usually located in Columbia, SC. K-12 educators, pre-service teachers, college instructors, media specialists, curriculum coordinators, and the general public are invited to attend. A typical Geofest offers content lessons presented by USC geography faculty, standards-based teaching strategies for the elementary, middle and high school classroom, and sessions on using the SCGA teaching materials.
I'm really looking forward to this event since it puts me in the middle of the folks who can use my books the most. Hoping to come back with many sales. Will check in either tomorrow evening when I return or Sunday when I get a chance - see you all in the postings - Mrs. E & the JGDS :)
You may ask what all these things have in common, so I'll be happy to tell you. The Celebration of Books festival was held this weekend in Highlands, NC, at their civic center/rec center (depends on who you talk to what the building is called). Among the authors and vendors available we had Native Americans, a real ghost tracker (Micheal Rivers - author of a fiction title called "The Voyage of the Black Witch) - and a teacher who has written a story about monsters - but not in the sense that we think of monsters.
I think the crowd would have been better if folks knew we were there, but overall I think it was a good day. I did a partial workshop since there weren't too many kids there - had four young girls in with me - 1st grade, 2nd grade, 3rd grade and 5th grade. We only did the writing part, so I did get a little out of them. 
Here are some pictures of my table. I got the letters at Dollar Tree and did the sign up the best I could. (I ordered a banner from vistaprint last week and it should be here this week hopefully, but Hailie said I should use this sign too since it turned out pretty good). When we were leaving or packing up, one of the authors said I should have won most patriotic table - lol. Since I'm all about the United States, I try to keep my theme the same - red, white and blue or flag looking or something like that.
Sometime between the first part of this week and now, State of Successes has gone live on amazon.com. You can order from there but if you want autographed copies, need to get from my website or directly by emailing me with request (instructions on how much to paypal will be sent and once books are paid for I will ship out).
Heather is feeling a bit under the weather, so ya'll send some well wishes her way please. I need my illustrator to be in good condition - lol. Feel better girl.
Finishing work stuff and then heading out to Highlands, NC, as soon as Hailie gets out of school. Hope we do well this weekend. See you all in the postings - Mrs. E & the JGDS -
The first annual Celebration of the Book festival will be held this weekend in Highlands, NC. Here is the link to Highlands so you can find the Civic Center once you come into town. We are heading out Friday afternoon and will be back Saturday. The even has been advertised all over the area so hopefully there will be plenty of children there for my workshop. Putting the girl to work for me this weekend too - lol. Anyway - see you all there - Mrs. E :)
(just a side note - State of Successes and the other Train of Clue books I ordered earlier this week won't be here until probably Monday - but that's okay I have proof copies so we should be good) - E :)
Proof arrived today and it looks gorgeous - I must say - so far I'm impressed with everything Heather has done. Taking orders through my website and via email. Should be available on amazon soon and in the next couple of weeks (if both events that are coming up go well) I should be able to upgrade and have the books listed in library and educational facilities. Be on the lookout for State of Heights to be released about the middle of next month hopefully - See you all in the postings - Mrs. E :)
I follow several blogs and this one just came in my email and thought I'd share with my readers. It's another roundup of places to go - Check out the Scrub-A-Dub Tub blog for a short list of recommended places for the month of September.
She's done it again - lol. Heather is doing such a wonderful job that I can't wait to see the whole series but alas that will be at least 8 or 9 years for that to happen. So without further ado - I give you the cover for State of Nature - Do you think you know which state it is from the cover? Let us know what you think of the cover - Mrs. E :) 
My friend, Carol Baldwin, has listed a few reading and writing events coming up in the next two months that you don't want to miss. If you are interested, pop over to her blog and check it out.
I have a few to add to the list, which are smaller but probably worth the looksee - next weekend will be the Highlands, NC Celebration of Books festival (this is a first year event, but they are doing a bang up job of advertising and making it known that this event is going on; it is nestled in the mountains of North Carolina and the weather is turning just a bit so shouldn't be too hot up there right now); The SC Geographic Alliance's Geofest in Columbia, SC (geared more towards educators and others who are into the geography aspect of education), a new one in Charleston, SC, this year which has had some good exposure up north in previous years, and of course the Savannah Children's Book Festival in November (this one boasted over 10,000 folks visiting this past November so should be a wonderful turnout this year (hoping the weather is like it was last year)).
Maybe you have a list of festivals in your area that are a book lover's delight. Don't be shy and share with the rest of our readers. You never know who will show up at an event near you - Mrs. E :)
I ordered the proof copy of Succcesses today, late afternoon (almost 4 pm) and just received an email about 8:30 this evening saying the proof copy has shipped. Wow talk about a fast turn around. It doesn't hurt that the printers are in the same state only about 4-1/2 hours away. So provided there are no glitches and I have the proof copy Saturday morning, I can release it as available Saturday. So for all intents and purposes, State of Successes is now available - lol. And starting with this book, all orders will include the study guide in PDF format on CD.
I've also updated my website address to not be so long - so if you are following my series on its website, please be aware that the new addy is jgdsseries.weebly.com (with an http:// in front of it). You can still find me on facebook with the series having its own page as well. For teachers, schools and homeschooling co-ops interested in using the series as part of a United States Unit Study type program, I have added info about ordering multiple copies with discounts.
Heather is working on the cover for State of Nature now, so we may get ahead of schedule and end up having more books a year come out, but for now, I'm satisfied with five a year coming out. As soon as she has the cover finished, I will have a new bookmark as well, so there will be two bookmarks available soon - the first one which has the covers of the first three books (Wilderness, Quarries and Reservations) and the second one will have the covers of Successes, Heights and Nature on it. Can't wait to see that too. I'm so pleased with Heather's covers so far, anxiously awaiting to share Nature's with you all.
Stop on over to the website for more special deals - see you all in the postings - E :)
