Exciting News

I know it's been a long time since I've posted on this blog but I have some exciting news about the JGDS series. 

As most of you know I've put the series on hold for a while.  I've not published any new stories in the series and this has been due to mostly a financial reason.  I signed contracts with an illustrator previously for way too much (not affordable to me in the long run) and still owe her some money and I hope to get her paid off this year.  I've missed this series tremendously. 

I've always felt this series needed to be out there.  So exciting news is I've found an illustrator who isn't going to charge me nearly what my prior illustrator was and she is excited about working on the series with me.  Of course, this will be between her own projects and doing work on fiverr.com.  State of Wilderness was the first book in the series and is different than the others so it needs a redo/edit/short rewrite - whatever you want to call it.  So in August of this year, we will start working on State of Wilderness and see how things look time wise for republication.  I'm hoping by late September/early October to republish (second republishing of State of Wilderness) and republish State of Quarries and State of Reservations shortly after as both of these have been missing from the series and need to be republished; within a couple of months after Wilderness is republished. 

Hopefully by the end of 2017/very beginning of 2018 State of Acceleration, State of Imagination, State of Monuments, and State of Production will be published and what is owed has been paid off so that I can put State of Successes, State of Heights, and State of Nature back out. 

I also have a storefront on TeachersPayTeachers (TpT) and will be offering books with study guides over there.  I'm not sure what I'll be selling them for there but it will be in the range that most other teachers sell their stuff for.  I will be conferring with some teacher friends to see where to price my books/study guides.  It will be a slow process to get all the books published but I promise there will be 50 books when it is said and done with a bonus clue booklet and possibly a coloring book, but those are at the end of the overall project. 

I hope all of you are as excited about this project as I am.  For the next few months, there will be a few postings but once we starting working on State of Wilderness be on the look out for more postings as well as some streaming time with the illustrator while she works on the images.  She uses twitch to stream when she is working on her writing or her drawings or other creative projects so I'll be posting when there are streaming episodes. 

Stay tuned for more in the upcoming months as things progress.  See you all in the postings - "Ma America" (fondly known as Mrs. E :))

Revamping the Series

I've had a few ideas on revamping the series and will keep everyone posted when I've come up with the right idea for the series, although it may end up not being a series after all.  I will have to see which route I'm going to take.  Anyway - more when the revamp is completed - E :)

Series Update

The JGDS series is still on hiatus until I can figure out what to do with it.


I've been trying to decide whether to keep the same format or revamp the whole thing.  I'm on a teachers' sell site where teachers post lesson plans, worksheets, et cetera, and sell them to other teachers.  I recently hooked up with a member who is a "curriculum coordinator"; I asked Mr. Hughes to make an introduction as she is a friend of his.  We started chatting via email.  I sent her copies of the books I had on hand and the study guides of the six books I have previously published.


She just finished an event in or near Provo, Utah, and read the first book and sent me some great information.  She feels my books would make a great Scholastic addition but they are no longer taking submissions from anyone other than an agent.




What this means is that I need to find an agent who can shop the books around and hopefully have Scholastic pick them up.  The process is long and drawn out to go through an agent and as I've never had an agent before, I'm about to find out that the process is more of a challenge than anything else.  The waiting to see the whole series in print is fine with me but I don't know if I want to keep the same format as I've already started or if I want to start fresh and do one novel or regional state chapter books or go a whole other direction.  I think the biggest problem I'll have in finding an agent is that right now I only have six states completed with the next four started and in various stages of being completed.  This is only 1/5 of the total books to be published (if I stay in this format) and I don't know that anyone will pick up the series not being completed.  If I revamp and do something totally different, that means I have to take time to write whatever I plan on doing and then shop it around to an agent, probably another year or so.




I looked at the Agent Query website last night to start getting an idea of some of the agents I might query and didn't get very far.  I'm only looking at agents who deal with children's books.  The three that I'm leaning toward right now are Faith Hamlin from Greenburger Agency, Ellen Levine from the Trident Media Group, and The Betsy Amster agency.  I think Faith Hamlin would be a great agent, since she represents the illustrator for Ms. Lynne Cheney, author of Our 50 States A Family Adventure Across America.  The other two because they have worked with some of the other publisher's who deal with children's books (McGraw-Hill, Simon & Schuster).  The ultimate would be to have Scholastic pick up the series and publish them but I'll be happy wherever they land. 




So, I'm in a dilemma right now of what direction to go.  Please comment on any ideas you may have on a direction to go in.  Any help is appreciated. - Ma America & the JGDS (Mrs. E :))

Series on Hold

I've decided that the series will be on hold until I find a publisher and can get back on track. Right now, the goal is to pay off Heather and terminate any further work with her (my choice and my doing since I can't afford to pay her with the loss of my job). I've got a possible publisher but nothing will be determined until the end of the year or first of next year. I will continue promoting Ma America and the JGDS series but won't be selling any books for now. All of you who have been entered in the drawing for the red, white and blue afghan, the drawing will still occur the first part of December. Tickets will be available through Thanksgiving, so if you are interested in getting your chances in the drawing, please email me at eeldering(@)gmail(dot)com with how many you would and I'll send you info how to pay for them. Tickets are 2 for $1. You have just under two months to make sure your name goes in the drawing. Nothing else to report here. I will keep you all posted when the series gets reborn. Signing off for now - Ma America - :)

Train of Clues Audio Book

"Train of Clues", my second place winning story and the predecessor to the state series is now available as an audio book through audible.com. It should go live with amazon.com and iTunes.com by the end of the week. Francene is my narrator for this story as she will be the narrator for the state stories and hopefully I'll find a sponsor soon so we can get the state stories back on track. I'm waiting on a cover from Heather for State of Wilderness so that I can go live with that as an audiobook, hopefully by the end of the month. (Singing the Heinz Ketchup jingle here - Anticipation, it's making me waiting.) - Check out the three books available as audiobooks and listen to the samples and let me know what you think of my narrators - Ma America :)

Desperate Sale

This weekend only, I will sell copies of State of Wilderness, Successes, Heights and Nature for $7.50 each; regular price has been reduced to $8.50 on both amazon and createspace but direct sale will be $1 off each title.  Need to sell 20 copies total with payments made directly to paypal.  For more information, please email me at eeldering (at) gmail (dot) com with subject "Desperate Sale".  If you are interested in obtaining your signed copies, please contact Elysabeth Eldering before midnight Sunday.  - See you all in the postings - Ma America - :)

State of Successes is Available on audible.com

State of Successes has gone live on audible.com and will be available on itunes and amazon.com within the next few days, according to the email I have just received saying that it is available.

If you are not a member of audible.com and become a member and make State of Successes or Finally Home, which also went live today, one of your first three purchases, I get a small bonus.  Remember I'm doing a royalty share on paying the producer for the books, so the more sales the better we both benefit.  State of Successes is retailing for $4.86 or 1 credit (you earn credits by becoming a member and every month you pay your membership fee, you will get that credit.  When I first signed up, membership was $7.49/month for the first three months and then goes up to $14.99 thereafter.) 

Within the next couple of weeks or so, or at least by the end of July, I will be sending Francene the manuscript for State of Wilderness to start working on producing.  From this experience, I look for that one to go live by the end of August or first part of September, depending on when I get the manuscript to her and what her schedule is like. 

Looking forward to hearing what others have to say about the audio books. See you all in the postings - Ma America (aka Mrs. E :) ) -

State of Successes audio

I finally got the cover from Heather and have uploaded it to ACX.  I did the finally approval of the audio book this morning.  I've posted the sample file on the sidebar here.  Unfortunately, Francene, my narrator, doesn't have a website, so I guess if you have any comments, you will have to leave them here and I will pass them on to her.  Here is the cover for the audio book:

I think it is pretty  cool to have the logo on the side because of the squareness of the cover.  It looks, as Heather stated, like a stamp.  Hopefully the audio files will be live within the next few days.  The audio book will be available on amazon.com, audible.com and itunes.  See you all in the postings - Ma America :)

Sugarfoot Festival

It's that time of year again and our small town is gearing up for the Sugarfoot Festival, basically your street fair where folks come from all over to enjoy the entertainment and check out the vendors hocking their wares.  This year is going to be a little different and as I drove into town today to go to the post office I saw them setting up the mini carnival rides and what not.  Tonight is family night so hopefully that will boost the town's economy a bit. 

Once again, I will have my tent set up and will be selling books - everything published to include the republication of a corrected version of "Train of Clues".  If you are in the upstate area of South Carolina and don't mind traveling a bit, stop on over and visit.  I'll be in booth #56, right near the old flower shop (or so I've been told).  See you all in the postings - Ma Amrerican (aka Mrs. E) and the JGDS :)

Georgia COMO update

Last week was the Georgia combined librarian event in Macon, Georgia. The trip down there wasn't too bad except my GPS took me the round about way to get to Anderson to get to the back road to head down to Macon. The traffic was light until I got around Athens but then again, that is the home of Georgia University (or maybe it's the University of Georgia, whatever it is - home of the GA Bulldogs) and I had missed a turn which would have taken me directly through downtown Athens. Coming back, the GPS wouldn't let me go the back way around Athens and on Friday afternoon the weekend of the GA-Carolina football game at 3 or so in the afternoon - not a good time to travel through Athens. The drive was really rough on my knees for some odd reasons and next year, I need to remember to make several stops along the way so as to get out and stretch my legs so I won't be so stiff. My left knee is finally recovering almost a week later. The school librarians weren't really at the event as expected but overall I did make some good contacts. Met Mimi from State Standards Publishing who led me to Follett (a distributor). I was supposed to be in the SELA booth but when I got there Thursday morning (after setting up my table Wednesday evening), I had been reduced to a corner that was totally invisible to anyone. Gordon was nice and said he had a cancellation and he was going to put me in that booth, which just happened to be next to Rainbow Books (another distributor) and about three tables down from Davidson Title (another distributor). When I found the Follett booth and talked with them a few minutes, they directed me to the Mackin table which is yet another distributor. Now why are distributors important to me and those four contacts especially important? These are the folks who can get my books in the schools because the schools tend to get their books from distributors directly rather than from the authors or through Baker & Taylor directly. During the authors' reception, I shared a table with Minnie P. Harmon and have got her working on publishing her books through createspace (she is published with xlibris right now and her books are expensive - $30 for a hardback and $20 for a paperback - with no margin for profit or any real way to cut her prices). We are also considering sharing a booth next year at the event and hopefully that will help. I also talked with a lady from Surpass Software who is a retired librarian or teacher and has written some jingles on how to remember what a dictionary is, a thesaurus, et cetera. She will be publishing her compiled songs into a book through createspace as well. I had two ladies attend my workshop and they were pretty good at shelving my books. One of them said the whole reason she was in my workshop was because apparently my books were being talked about from one of the schools in their district. I contacted the librarian in that particular school but she said they didn't have my books in the library but that wasn't to say that a teacher may have bought them and has them in her class, so there is no telling who has any copies of my books and where they got them from. I'm just glad someone is talking about my books. So as you see the contacts were well worth the trip. I'm looking forward to next year's event and will hopefully have a big foot in the door if the distributors carry my books. (That's the hope and then I can start publishing more states and pay Heather, so keep those distributors in mind and send some prayers up that they start carrying my books.) The next event is next weekend - the Sugarfoot festival and I would love to see my afghans sell (that will get me back on track with my car payments) and some books as well. If the weather stays cool like it has been since last weekend, then my afghans should be a big hit as people will be looking for a way to stay warm. Until next week - Ma America (aka Mrs. E) and the JGDS :)

Gearing up for GA COMO

This is the week. I'm making a trip to Macon, Georgia, for the GA Librarian conference. There will be at least 12 states represented in the SELA booth, which I'll be sitting in to help man the booth. If the SC School Librarian Association conference is any indication of what to expect, I should do well. I'm heading out Wednesday about midday and should return Friday evening some time. I will be away from the computer but will have my tablet, which is mostly for taking credit cards but also will be entertainment for me during down times. Afghans are almost completed. I have 3-1/2 skeins left on the one I'm working on now (Mirage, which is similar to the Aspen colors but with more blue and tan than the tans and browns that the Aspen has in it). I've finished all the other afghans I'll have on display for sale and I need to work up some bookworms in the Mirage color. I'm so looking forward to this event since it promises to be quite a large event and hopefully a way for me to get my foot in the door. Will post pictures and more information next weekend. Hope you all have a great week - see you in Macon - Ma America (aka Mrs. E) :)

Event Season Has Begun

As with previous years, this year is jammed pack with events. There have been a few minor changes this year and hopefully I will keep doing some of them into the upcoming years.



There are really two event seasons for me - March to June and end of August/first part of September through November.

In March, I participated in the SC Association of School Librarians conference which was a good event and I have a feeling that next year will be even better. In May, I participated in the SC Book Festival which was pretty good other than having too many folks in the booth but we have parted ways and it's time to move on to other things. The homeschool conference in June wasn't held this year since USC-Sumter was remodeling the building where the event is usually held so I had no events over the summer to speak of. I had previously done a homeschool event about the middle of August in Charlotte - the Love 2 Learn conference - but didn't get to do that one this year since I was busy with work and have been taking a friend of mine to her doctor's appointments and money was tight.

The first scheduled event this season (the August to November time) is the Sunday in the Park in Mint Hill. This is held the 3rd or 4th Sunday of August every year and is one of the least costly events for me, other than travel time (gas is going back up again - but I have had success covering gas at least at this event). Since this is a day event, I don't have to pay for a hotel as the event is only about 2 or so hours away from home. So, Sunday, August 26, I will be heading to Mint Hill, NC, for the event and I hope my son will go with me to help set up the tent and just man the tables. He said he would go but he's been sleeping a lot during the day and getting up late at night to do whatever so I'm hoping tomorrow he gets on a better sleeping pattern and goes to bed and sleeps during the night so he can get up early Sunday to go with me.

Right after the Sunday in the Park event is Decatur Book Festival in Decatur, Georgia. The last time I did this event was in 2008 and that was when State of Wilderness was first released. Since then, I have had five more state books published and Finally Home plus a few short stories are ebook published. So in 4 years, I think that is pretty good.

Between the beginning of September and beginning of October, I don't have anything planned since the Geofest will be at the SC Council for Social Studies conference the end of September and I can't afford an exhibitor booth for that event ($450 is a bit steep for me right now).

October is a very busy month for me as I have the Georgia Librarian Associations (it's called Georgia COMO - combined SELA (Southeastern Librarian Association), GMSA (Georgia Media Specialists Association) and GLA (Georgia Librarian Association)) conference the 3rd through the 5th. I lucked out on this one as I was fretting how I would come up with the exhibitor booth cost and put the dilemma to the director and he came up with a solution for me - I get to man the SELA booth and display my books to sell at no cost to me. I also have been accepted to do a presentation Friday morning and get to participate in the Author Reception Thursday evening - so my only costs will be hotel and gas and food - and I've booked a suite so I can take inexpensive food to have for my meals (breakfast is at the hotel and I may even purchase Lunch to Go, depending on cost for my evening meals). Everything works out as it should and I think this will be an excellent group to get in with.

I'll return Friday evening and then Saturday, the 6th and the following Saturday, the 13th, I hope to be in a "ghost hunting" course - and get to participate in the field trip to do some ghost hunting.

The weekend of the 19th-20th of October is the Sugarfoot festival and that is here in town, so my expense is table ($25 and already paid) and my time to set up and be out there.

The next one I hope to participate in will be the last weekend of October which is the Georgia Council for Social Studies but again - everything will depend on funding in September and if I can swing the exhibitor's booth cost.

I won't be able to do the SCISA teacher's conference this year since it is in Charleston and the overall cost for me to take that trip, stay overnight in a hotel for a half day conference wouldn't be worth it. I hope next year they will move it to the upstate area - either Anderson or Greenville would be perfect for me.

I also won't be able to do the Savannah Children's Book Festival this year as they have moved it to the same weekend as the YALLFest and the cost would be more than it would be worth it.

I'm going to talk with Sybil about splitting a table at YALLFest and seeing if she can get me a hotel room on the cheap that weekend since she lives in Charleston. I will try it this year and go from there.

I think that pretty much wraps up the Fall Event Season for me. Don't forget for every book purchase you will receive 5 chances for the red, white, and blue afghan and extra chances are only $1 each. For every 25 chances purchased, you get 5 extra chances (so you pay $25, you get 30 chances; you pay $50, you get 60 chances; you pay $75, you get 90 chances; you pay $100, you get 120 chances) - The drawing will still be held the 1st of December with the afghan being mailed out about the 7th of December. See you all in the postings. Reports after the two upcoming events - Ma America

Education in America

Recently I've been seeing commercials regarding the new Core Curriculum Standards (used to be National Standards) and a commercial about a World Science event in which students from all over the world participated. The Science event commercial shows that the USA placed 17th; the gist being that we need to help our teachers help our students do better. Here is an infographic highlighting more on the Education in the United States.


Via: OnlineEducation.net

I'll share more of these infographs as I get them - see you all in the postings - Mrs. E :)

July Specials

July 1 - wow, the year is half over. So for my July specials I thought I would just do a giveaway here celebrating the 4th of July and my state books. Not onl do I still have my special deal for the state books going on, but I'm also running specials on several other things.

So let's kick off the holiday with a giveaway - Pop over to my other blog and tell me the color of my newest color for the afghans and you will be entered to win a red, white, blue crocheted kindle/nook or tablet sleeve. All you have to do is leave a comment here with the name of the newest addition to my collection of yarn colors and you are entered. That's it, simple, easy as pie, no purchase necessary.



I'm also doing a special for my red, white and blue afghan drawing, which will take place in December, with all the tickets being $1 each and with the purchase of 25, 50, 75, et cetera (in batches of 25), you will receive 5 extra tickets for the drawing (30/$25, 60/$50, 90/$75). Just paypal me at eeldering@gmail.com and place your order. This deal is only good for this week, so hurry and get your chances.

The last special is my Christmas in July special. During the month of July you can order an afghan/tablet or kindle/nook sleeve/bookworm combo for only $60 plus shipping and tax (total $70). Colors completed are the Bonbon print and Melonberry with the Primary being 5/6ths of the way finished (lacks 1 skein) and Aspen started (1 skein in) with Marrakesh and Woodsy with enough yarn to complete those and Monet and the newest color needing to get yarn and completed. For any of the afghans not completed or started, I do need a 3-week lead time to complete the afghan. This special is good for the whole month of July.

Happy 4th of July, happy specials and hope you all stay cool - Mrs. E :)

Homeschooling VS Public Education

I was recently contacted to view and share an infographic on homeschooling versus public education. It is pretty interesting to see that homeschoolers are excelling in areas as compared to their peers. I think a good bit of this has to do with parents who really care about their child(ren)'s education and who are dedicated to providing quality learning materials to help move their children forward as well as dedication of their time and the ability to personalize the education to the learning style of each child.

Here is the infographic:


Created by: CollegeAtHome.com

If you are looking for some supplemental social studies books exploring United States History and factoids, my JGDS series would make a perfect fit for homeschoolers just starting in a state study. Books can be used as an overall course supplement (all United States) or as individual state studies (as completed). Each book has a supplemental study guide which explores several of the clues in the books a bit further, developing research and thinking skills as well as other curricula, thus tying geography or state studies in with math, ELA, science, arts & crafts, and game skills.



If you are interested in getting started, there is a special deal going on for the next week - buy 2 get 1 for 1/2 off ($25 total for three books); buy all six states available for $50 which is like buying five and getting the sixth one for free. It's never too early to start your series. The series will hopefully pick back up in 2013 but finances right now prohibit from getting more books published. For this special, you will get five chances for the afghan drawing for every three books purchased and if you refer a friend and that friend purchases and they let me now you referred them, I'll give the referer five more chances for the drawing. The referee will also get their five chances per three books purchased. See you all in the postings.

Mid Year Sale

I've not done much on this blog in a while so thought I'd do a little promotion and see how it runs. I have 20 copies of books 1, 4, 5 and 6 each and 4 or 5 copies of books 2 and 3 each.



I'm offering a B2G1-1/2 sale - Buy any two books, get the third one for $5. If you buy all six, that is like buying five and getting the sixth one for free. You can order your signed copies via paypal - $29 (price plus shipping) at eeldering@gmail.com. This special will run through July 7th midnight.



For more on the state series, please visit the JGDS website. While there, why not check out the gifts page and order some bookworms or an afghan or even a kindle/nook sleeve or tablet sleeve. It's never too early to start your Christmas shopping.

Train of Clues

I'm almost ready to re-release "Train of Clues" (a mystery destination story, the predecessor to the JGDS series). We've had a few glitches since its original publication in 2010, but I think Heather has finally fixed everything (removed all the doubled paragraphs/pages) and we have moved things around so the book is longer page-wise but the story is the same length. I hope to re-release it this week or next. I'm even thinking this one may go up as an ebook just to test the waters with it, being that it is also illustrated and I'm not sure how it will work as an ebook. I will keep you all posted on this. Ma America (aka Ms. E)

50?

Ma America, aka Ms. Elysabeth, will be turning 50 in a few days. As a celebratory measure for her half century, she will be giving away goodies for 50 days. Some of the giveaways will occur on her blog and a few will be done on the Writers on the Move blog during those 50 days. The giveaway starts on Tuesday, June 5 (the actual birth date of Ms. Elysabeth) and runs through August 2. There will be no giveaways on Sundays and maybe a special giveaway on July 4th.

All you have to do is leave a comment, answer a question or two along the way and then there will be a random drawing for whatever the goody of the day is. Hope to see you all in the postings - Ma America and the JGDS

Welcome Center Success

Yesterday was pretty successful as far as visitors coming to the Welcome Center and lots of comments on how nice the welcome center is and how friendly everyone is. The highlight was being next to McGee's Pub folks who brought in some homemade corn beef hash and some Irish cream (non alcoholic of course) coffee for the travelers. The hash was delicious; I could've easily eaten a whole plate of it without even blinking. The welcome center folks had put out some watermelon as well and that was very tasty. Sometime around noon, one of the local hotels' (as in Greenville local, since Anderson doesn't really have much going for it but it is growing and some new hotels have been added in the last couple of years or so) representative brought in some Dunkin Donuts donut holes, yum yum.

I had printed up 25 travel activity booklets and handed out about 10. I left five with Amos.

For a full report on sales, please stop over and check out my other blog and read today's This and That posting. Safe travels and Happy Mother's Day from Ma America - E :)

Travel and Tourism Week

Today is the beginning of Travel & Tourism week. Each year the Welcome Centers across the country have special events for travels. The first year I participated in the Fairplay SC Welcome Center's event, I met the real "Radio" and Coach Jones as well as my husband's aunt, uncle and cousin who were traveling from Florida to North Carolina to get the other cousin who had been staying with my sister-in-law and (who passed away last March, God Rest her Soul) helping her out. The freaky thing about knowing who she was (Aunt Toni) was that I had only met her 15 years prior to that at the memorial service for Bill's grandmother; the year I was pregnant with my youngest child.

I didn't get to participate last year secondary to no funds and a couple of conflicts in my schedule. This year, I do get to participate and will be at the Fairplay Welcome Center Saturday, May 12, from 10 AM to 1 PM.

This year, not only will I be representing the JGDS series but I'll also be promoting the SC Author Connection Group. This is a group of four authors at the moment who are trying to get in with the schools during their book fair weeks. At this time, we would like to limit to South Carolina schools and gradually move out to the other states. If you are a teacher or school librarian or any school or district authority figure, please stop by and pick up a flyer to see what each author has to offer. We are offering something for everyone from elementary through high school. We would love to hear back from you if you happen to be traveling in the great state of South Carolina or if you know teachers or school librarians in the state.

I'll have some travel related handouts for the kids, so make sure you stop by and say hello and receive your goodies. Travel safe. See you all in the postings - Ma America & the JGDS