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 - :)

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)

Series update

I've been thinking of some ideas to make my stories more fun and interesting for the kids. With this technological age, I've felt that the stories are flat and are not really getting the participation from the readers as I had envisoned. So I'm talking with Heather and thinking we will go a different route for future books, so right now, new stories are on hold. I will keep you updated when I decide what route I'm going with the stories and changes as they happen. Until then, just keep reading and if you have any ideas to share that would make the series more fun for kids to read or how to incorporate the stories in your classroom, please don't hesitate to leave me a message or you can send me an email to eeldering (at) gmail (dot) com - thanks - Ma America :)

New Year, New Goals and New Stories

I set some new goals and posted on my other blog and have been concentrating a lot on my other writings. I've neglected my state stories way too much. One of my goals this year is to write the next four books in the state series so that Heather can illustrate them and do her thing on a more timely basis. I've already failed part of one goal and we are only three days into the new year, but not a complete failure. The goal to write everyday is something I need to work on more. I also need to be a more regular blogger.

I didn't really write yesterday, mostly fought with my computer but I did get some preposted blog postings ready on my other blog and last week I did start a new story, tentatively titled Imogene: Innocense Lost (you can find a brief description of the book here under the label WIPs), which I hope to get back to after writing my four state stories slated to come out this year. They are started for the most part but I need to fill in the story part. Have an idea what State of Acceleration and State of Monuments will be written like, it is just a matter of sitting down and writing them. I will keep you apprised on my progress with them as I get closer to release dates and have new covers for them.

So far I've had no requests for any of the PDF files of any of the books in exchange for reviews as posted last week. So my biggest goal is trying to find readers and followers to both my blogs since I need to boost my sales for both my print and ebooks.

If you are a librarian, teacher, parent or anyone who enjoys the variety of stories I write and would like to read any or all for free in exchange for posting a review of the books, please email me at eeldering@gmail.com and let me know in the subject line which title you would like to receive to read. Your choices are State of Wilderness, State of Quarries, State of Reservations, State of Successes, State of Heights, State of Nature, Finally Home, "The Proposal" (an April Fools Day story), "The Tulip Kiss" and hopefully later this week and by the end of next week "Bride-and-Seek" and "Butterfly Halves" will be available, both of which I do have the word doc files and can convert to PDF if need be but those reviews can't be posted until the stories are available on Nook and Kindle and Smashwords. Thanks everyone.

First event is the Geofest in February and then the big event of the SCASL conference in March. I'm also going to try to be a presenter at the SC Book Festival in May, but if that doesn't work out, I'll be splitting a booth with two other authors hopefully. From there, it looks like Decatur may be the next big event of the year as well as the Savannah Children's book festival and YALL fest (the last count I had was possibly 10 events total where I will be making appearances so that is something else I need to work on is scheduling events this year and posting my calendar of events on my JGDS website; so keep an eye out for that).

Of course in order to do these events, I need to sell books to help cover costs. That goal is right now to sell 15 of each title per month consistently - which I'm nowhere near at the moment. That is roughly 34 books a week for the nine titles I have available, and this week is young. Remember for any print book you order directly from me, I will sign it. For any book or order made via createspace pages (you can find those on the JGDS website) or amazon.com as well as ebooks via kindle or nook, you can get an e-signature by dropping by my kindlegraph page and requesting a free kindlegraph. These are not just for kindles as you can have the file sent to your email and then you can send that directly from your email to your nook or other device.

The author of Near Death (her blog is called Keystrokes and Word Counts) posted on her blog last week about using kindlegraphs during her blog tour, which I'm going to try. Every time I do a blog tour, I'll use the kindlegraph requests to thank my hosts as well as offer them in conjunction to the blog tour. The thing is that you the reader has to directly request the kindlegraph; I can't just go in and sign a whole lot of them and just send them out.

I hope you all will continue to follow the adventures of the JGDS as well as Ms. Elysabeth in this new year. Looking forward to great things in 2012. Ma America :)

January Giveaways in exchange for reviews

I was going to post this on LibraryThing but it wouldn't let me post, so I'm going to post as a blog on both my blogs. I will start taking requests January 2. I hope that all the librarians and teachers out there will take advantage of this.


JANUARY GIVEAWAY POST
I have six titles in my state series available for review as well as three other titles available. I will offer 100 copies of each title in exchange for reviews.

The state series is geared for 3rd through 5th grade level, would make a great supplement to a US History social studies curriculum or an individual state social studies. Each book comes with its own study guide which supplements the book and should not be used without first reading the book or it makes no sense. The books are written like a handheld game that gives the kids clues (facts and trivia) about a state and the readers and characters have to guess the state being described. Each book is one state and all the clues will pertain to that specific state. There are bonus clues highlighting one of five US territories (Washington DC, US Virgin Islands, Guam, Puerto Rico, and US Samoan Islands) as well as discussion questions. The study guide takes some of the clues in the book and turns them into deeper discussion questions or research projects, either a science project or map/math skills project or social studies project or ELA project, and then there are bonus things like secret message puzzles (state motto is the secret message), a craft idea (based on clues but not in every study guide - only as the clues are fitting), and a trivia game that is designed to show that the students or child read the book.

Titles available are State of Wilderness (ID), State of Quarries (AR), State of Reservations (OK), State of Successes (SC), State of Heights (CO), and State of Nature (WY). I will send a PDF file to the 100 persons requesting any of the titles available. You can request more than one.

My other titles include Finally Home (a YA paranormal mystery), The Proposal (an April Fools Day Story, a humorous romance ebook), and The Tulip Kiss (a paranormal romance). Available in January will be Bride-and-Seek (a paranormal romance ebook) and Butterfly Halves (a YA fantasy ebook). Again, I will take 100 requests for the three titles available in exchange for reviews. Please email me at eeldering (at) gmail (dot) com with the "free books in exchange for reviews" in the subject line. In the body of the email, please list the titles you are requesting or all titles if you would like all nine available right now.

This promotion will be valid for the month of January only. Once the 100 requests per title have been met, no other requests will be taken. I will also have available the next two short stories (hopefully) by the end of the month and if you request those ("Bride-and-Seek" and "Butterfly Halves") and they are not available at the time of the request, as soon as they are available, I will send you the file - Ma America & the JGDS

Elysabeth Eldering
Author of Finally Home, a YA paranormal mystery
"The Proposal" (an April Fools Day story), a humorous romance ebook
"The Tulip Kiss", a paranormal mystery ebook
"Bride-and-Seek", a paranormal mystery ebook (coming in Janaury)
"Butterfly Halves", a YA fantasy ebook (coming in January)
Elysabeth's other blog
Elysabeth's non-JGDS writing website

Ma America, The Travelin' Maven
Author of the JGDS, 50-state, mystery, trivia series and "Train of Clues" (a mystery destination story and predecessor to the JGDS, state series)
Where will the adventure take you next?
JGDS blog
JGDS website

Fiction versus nonfiction dilemma

Here is a question and problem for all you librarians out there. My state books are now listed in three libraries, two in South Carolina (Anderson County and Pickens County) and one in Georgia (Live Oaks Library system in Savannah).

When I publish my books and I have to categorize them, I choose Juvenile fiction/mysteries and detective stories. The characters are fictional, the storyline of them playing the game is fictional but the clues given by the game are factual (the facts and trivia leading to the characters guessing the state).

I checked the library listings and all three are saying the books are nonfiction. Savannah Library has my books in the 910 section; Pickens has my book in the 917 section and Anderson Library has me in the J 793 section.

So now my dilemma comes as to who is correct in classifying the books. Are they really nonfiction because they contain facts about the states or are the fiction because the storyline is fictional? Which section do they really belong in? 790s, 910 or 913? Is categorizing per each individual library system or is there a rhyme and reason for the way the books get shelved?

I know there is a term for the type of books my state stories are and that is "faction" (a book that is part fiction and part fact) but there isn't a category in the publishing industry for these types of books nor is there is a library shelf dedicated to faction books that I'm aware of. So where does the Junior Geography Detective Squad fit in?

I'd appreciate all my librarian and teacher friends out there to leave a comment on this subject, so for the week ending next Saturday, December 17, I will have a drawing for a copy of one of the six states completed and published to all who leave a comment. For every 25 persons commenting, a drawing will be done for a copy of one of the books. That means that if 50 of you comment, I'll do two drawings; 75 comments three drawings, et cetera. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on this topic. - Ma America & the JGDS :)

Sugarfoot festival and new banner

This weekend was the Sugarfoot festival, which in the past had been called the Honey Soppin' festival.  There were lots of vendors there this weekend and next year I intend to request a center of the street spot so I can do something differently with my setup since I have a screened tent (I keep referring to it as a screened in porch although there is no flooring; it's a simple screened tent) that opens front and back.  I had an idea after coming home tonight.  If Hailie continues to sell her bows and other hand painted or personalized items on a table, then we would need to utilize both front and back openings so she can have her side and I can have mine; this also means investing in a couple of smaller tables for displays and work areas.  Here are some pictures of my setup from both Friday and Saturday - enjoy - Mrs. E & the JGDS :)

One of my two new banners (and I have an idea for my banners at the Savannah Children's book festival so that both my banners will be visible around the park, but don't tell Benjamin)

For other images and non-JGDS related info about the Sugarfoot festival, please visit my other blog - E :)

SCHEA conference - Great weekend

We started out late Thursday (about an hour later than planned) and we arrived to USC-Sumter about 8:30 (supposed to be out of the building around 9) to get our table set up.

Jess and I had the table setup somewhat by about 10 or 15 after 9 and then a few minutes we were kind of pushed out by the cleaning people.

I needed a couple of things so Jess and I headed over to Walmart. Jess found this delightful rug that answers the question "Where will the adventure take you next?" and I decided to buy it, although it was $5 more than I was planning on spending (actually it ended up being half price when, so it was well worth the cost). What do you think?




When we got back to the hotel, we had a hard time getting online and it took forever. I wanted to check my email and do a little plurking or socializing online, but that didn't happen.

Got up and headed back to USC-Sumter to do last minute fixing up of booth and wait for the crowds.

My table, done mostly by Jess:

(Full table view with mat and map)


(first three books plus the passport booklet)


(Passport booklet with books 4, 5 and 6)


I forgot to put out book 7's cover that I had printed off (was hoping that Wilderness's cover had gotten to me before leaving to print out and show everyone the new cover for the re-release but it didn't arrive in my email until I had shut down my computer and didn't even get it until I got to the hotel and got to check my emails Friday night; Heather is working on another cover now so that should be ready to be shared soon). Anyway here is Uncle Beary peaking out from between the Passport booklet and the cover from State of Acceleration; I even had one girl ask me how much he was - lol. I had to let her know that he is just my mascot, but it's all good.




Had four kids in my workshop on Friday afternoon but overall I think it was a successful day. Did sell two copies of State of Successes and one of the Passport booklets on Friday. Went to the Hibachi Grill and Buffet with a couple (Kyra and Dwight, WriteShop representatives) and enjoyed the company.

Saturday was kind of a slow day for everyone as the crowds were low and with half the vendors as compared to last year, we just couldn't compete with the big convention that just occurred in March in the upper part of the state (The Great Homeschool Convention Southeast conference - was supposed to draw folks from North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, and possibly part of Florida). Dwight had said he was going to buy a couple of books for his nephew to read over the summer and after lunch, he came over to the table and bought a copy of all six books - lol. How is that for a day? All in all, a good weekend (I've not sold 9 books at any conference or event yet; I think the most I've sold at one sitting was 6 or 7 at the Love to Learn conference last August. I also had four or five people who remembered me from last year so that was a nice touch. My biggest thing is getting known and it is slowly coming, so I do consider this successful and we are on the right track.

Next big events that need to be paid for (and wow would I love to have some sponsors or some huge sales right about now - lol) will be the SCCSS and GCSS conferences ($425 and $300 respectively). I know if these are meant to be accomplished the funds will show up. Coming up in August is the school/library visit to Matthews Elementary School in North Carolina, Love to Learn homeschool conference, Mint Hill's Sunday in the Park, and maybe the Williamston Spring Water festival but may not do that one as I haven't heard much from folks about events. See you all in the postings - Ma America & the JGDS :)

Sumter bound for the SCHEA conference

(old cover, awaiting the new one for the rerelease of Wilderness next month)


This weekend, I'm heading to Sumter, SC, for the SCHEA (South Carolina Home Educators Association) conference. Friday will be a fast day since my workshop, Writing Roads, is scheduled for the kids right after lunch at 1:30. I don't know which room I'll be in yet, but am hoping to be in the same building as the exhibitor hall in one of the back classrooms there. My daughter's friend will be going with me again to help out; she's such a good helper.

I have all our maps and information already printed out and have a few surprises for her in the car. We have made plans to eat at a small, hole-in-the-wall restaurant we ate at last year; for a local place the food was very good. I'm looking forward to a new trip. Hoping to be able to show my new cover for State of Wilderness (hurry up Heather and get me the cover so I can show it off - lol) and will have a printed copy of State of Acceleration's cover for display too. I hope we have enough books on hand and hope people are buying. I've checked the vendor/exhibitor list and it doesn't seem there are as many folks this year as there were last year so that could be a disadvantage in that there may not be as many attendees either or it can work to our advantage in that there aren't that many folks to browse from and therefore, we will do very well sales wise. Wish us luck; I'll post after the weekend.

State of Heights/State of Successes

And vice versa. I placed an order for 10 copies of each back at the beginning of the month. I received them the end of the week last week; should have had them earlier than I did but we had the snowstorm hit us and no mail was getting to us until after Wednesday. I opened the box while at the post office and didn't even think about checking the books carefully while there. Friday I went by the bookstore and left a copy of both books there, dropped a copy of State of Heights at the library, and went to the bank and gave my friend her copy of State of Heights. This morning I was in the car getting the remaining copies ready to send to Heather and to Mr. Hughes. I signed a copy of State of Successes to the Welcome Center (they have a nice little display of my books), picked up a copy of State of Heights to sign to Mr. Hughes and had to do a double take. I opened the book and the title page said State of Successes. I flipped through the book and the first part was State of Successes and the second part of the book was State of Heights. I got worried. Checked all the copies and two of each title came that way. Now I have to go check the copies I left at the bookstore and the library and with my friend to make sure their copies are correct. I think it is funny that about half way through they switched up but it also isn't funny at the same time.

I did call createspace folks and Shea was very helpful. He answered all my questions I had about other things besides trying to get the books corrected. Kudos to him for being helpful. He also said he enjoyed geography and trivia things like what my books are so I have a feeling he will be reading my titles as they get printed - lol. At least they are helpful and willing to correct their mistake without too much hassle to me.

I did ask about the upgrade and how I would know when State of Successes was available to bookstores, et cetera and one thing I found out was that because the books are print on demand and I've opted for bookstores as well as libraries/educational facilities and createspace direct distribution (this is basially for indie bookstores - they get their discount) there is a no-return policy. Woohooo!!!! - that means my books are available in the stores but they will not be on the shelves unless I do a book signing at any of the bigger stores. This is huge as I don't have to worry about losing money on returns. Yay for createspace.com. Okay - off to check copies of books more later - Mrs. E :)

State of Nature finished

I did it. I completed the story today, so now it's to my editor to be fixed up and then Heather will get it to do her thing. We may actually have book #6 available before the end of February. Heather could possibly have copies of #6 for the Tucson Festival of Books the middle of March. She definitely have State of Successes, State of Heights, and Train of Clues to take with her. I have more events coming in March too, so be sure to check the website for where all we will be. Mrs. E :)

Edible Train of Clues anyone?

So Heather was messing around making some cookies today and apparently she's been thinking of my covers because she came up with this: . Doesn't it just look delicious? All that's missing is the magnifying glasses and question marks and there we have an edible cover - lol.


She took this with her cell phone and posted on her facebook page. I got tagged and have been chatting with her about it. I can do wrapped train cookies at a book signing - That would be fun. Anyway - enjoy - Yum, Yum. - Mrs. E :)

State of Acceleration cover - #7 in the series

Does it seem weird to be announcing the cover for book #7 now? Not really, some authors get a cover and may not get published up to almost a year from receiving the cover, so State of Acceleration will be published hopefully in April. I am steadily working on State of Nature to have it ready for Heather to do her thing with the layout and all so that hopefully that will show up next month, probably the latter part. Without further ado, the cover for State of Acceleration - Let me know what you think of the cover, no guessing the state right now - lol. I love the way the font looks like it is moving for the title "Acceleration" - Any other feedback would be greatly appreciated - Mrs. E :) & the JGDS

State of Successes officially on amazon.com now

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 -

State of Successes officially released

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 :)

State of Nature cover

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 :)

State of Sucesses released

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 :)

Passport booklet uploaded

I'm excited. Heather and I finally got the page numbering and the puzzles straightened out for the Passport booklet and I just uploaded the files to createspace.com, so now it's a matter of waiting to make sure we have the layout to their standards, et cetera.

I have a meeting in the morning (well in less than 7 hours from the time this post is being done) with the elementary school librarian here and hopefully she will have some funds to start getting some books as she had talked about last year. I know they (the art instructor and the librarian) were trying to get a grant to get copies of the books to have on hand for the students for giveaways like AR prizes or other things, so I'm hoping that tomorrow she will say yes, they received the grant and would like to proceed with getting books in. If that is the case, we can start getting more books in the series ready for publication. The process is taking about 6 weeks total right now - but that is because Heather and I are still learning each other's styles and we have both had other things going on during this time. She also has been doing double duty the last month for me - creating the Passport booklet and doing everything for State of Successess (layout, interior illustraions, cover, design, et cetera plus deal with me changing my mind on something or making her life more difficult - not really; - lol). She truly has been wonderful to work with, very much wants to make sure I am satisfied. Her mother is thrilled with the series and is excited to be receiving items to use with Heather's younger siblings. So Ms. Mary, be patient - you will get the books, study guides and fun activities as I can get them published and sent to you - lol.

Keeping with the excitement today, my first official order of "Train of Clues" arrived this morning - looks pretty awesome. I will head to Charlotte this weekend with probably 4 or 5 copies in hand - sold a copy today, have three spoken for (will get with Anita tomorrow or Friday) and have one for the winner of my blog comment contest, Ms. Carol, whom I will see this weekend. May have another copy of the book sold Thursday when I go to school to teach class. I will order more copies probably next week unless the librarian has funds available to purchase books. I am taking orders for "Train of Clues" now and when I have at least 10 copies ordered, I will submit the order and ship the books out within a couple of days of receiving them (I've been getting books the day after an order is placed, which is a huge advantage of having books printed in the same state - only 4 or so hours from where I live).

Mr. Hughes and Heather will have to wait on their spoken for copies until the next order goes in - lol; sorry ya'll but you will get them -

Okay - need some sleep - just reporting on updates - see you all in the postings - Mrs. E :)

Successes interior - woohoo

Saw the interior for State of Successes this morning and I must say the change in the game console really did wonders for the layout. It isn't completed yet, but hopefully it will be this evening or early morning for me to upload to get a proof copy ordered so I at least will have that to take with me next weekend to the Love to Learn Homeschool Resource & Info conference in Charlotte.




(this is the almost final cover for the front of the Passport Across America booklet - the final version has my name moved down as close to the bottom as possible and perhaps a tad smaller)

Heather is diligently working on two projects at the same time tonight - the Passport Across America booklet; I've added a few more games/puzzles to that and we are good on the cover almost (she had to do a spine since this will be a few more pages longer than the books themselves, but I think you all will be super pleased with that once she gets that one to me) as well as tweaking State of Successes. Things are moving along. If all goes well, these two will both be published after the conference next weekend. I'm hoping that having the proofs will entice people to do preorders or at least several items at once so that as soon as they are published I can drop them in the mail. Passport will only be available through me but the rest of the books in the series will be available through amazon.com as well as libraries & educational institutes; and I'll be offering copies of the Passport booklet for free for any preorders (47 books) or large quantity orders for each child in the family.

When she takes a short breath from these two projects, she will do the cover for #6 - State of Nature - and then will work on the interior of State of Heights. So it looks like the end of September for sure I should have another book published.

Looking forward to getting more books in the series available to you all - Mrs. E :)

Congratulations to Carol

As per the Random generator, the lucky winner of a signed copy of "Train of Clues" is #12, which is Carol. Thanks for stopping by everyone. See you all in the postings - Mrs. E :)