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 :))

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 - :)

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.

Two and a half days left

Remember the 10% off sale only lasts until Tuesday night. So make sure you order copies of the first five books by then. Receive all five with study guides on CDs for only $62 which includes shipping. All books will be signed to one child, many children or the family as per your directions. Email me with subject line SPECIAL BLOG DEAL to eeldering@gmail.com or paypal me with instructions of who to sign the books to and where to send them at eeldering@gmail.com - Mrs. E :)

Special deal on first five books

The first 15 people who respond to this blog posting will receive a 10% discount on the total retail price of the first five books in the JGDS series with accompanying study guides. This is a total retail price of $65.00 for $58.50 plus shipping ($3.50). Email me at eeldering@gmail.com with subject line of SPECIAL BLOG DEAL or you can paypal the total amount $62.00 to eeldering@gmail with SPECIAL BLOG DEAL (don't forget to indicate to whom to make the books and where to send them in the notes section). This deal is good through 11:59 PM EST 03/15/2011 (The Ides of March) and open to US residents only.

Magicblox, kindle and publicists/promoting

What do they have in common? Well, Charlie Barrett, publicist, and Pump Up Your Book Promotion had a chat party tonight with a kindle being given away as a prize to join the chat and comment. There were about 8 or 10 of us in the chat, since it was the first one PUYBP has done and the email announcements were put out late. I had a Sisters in Crime meeting this evening and when I came home and checked my emails, I decided to join the chat. It was definitely a good chat, albeit small, but that made it much easier to keep track of the threads being posted. I was only picking on everyone when I first came in and made my first comment about letting me win the kindle - but guess who won the Kindle - Moi! - and it's the version with the wi-fi and yes I'm very excited about it.

Magicblox is a new website, Your Kid's Digital Library, where books for kids are being promoted. I'm thinking of adding my books to the list, although right now it will be only books 4 and 5, with books 6 and forward coming available as soon as they are published, until the first three go out of contract and are republished. Check out the site and let me know what you think? Do you think my books have a place as an ebook? - see you all in the postings - Mrs. E :)

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 :)

New Geographic Alliances (to me at least) and Book Updates

Okay, I know I should have been working but when you come across some interesting postings in your yahoo forums (one from elementary-lesson-share, which is cross posted on abc-usa) and you get to finding some new sources for the series, you just can't help playing around and exploring.

One of the postings on the forum that came in the daily digest listing of all the postings was for a "toolbox for teaching geography" by the North Carolina Geographic Alliance. I explored, signed up for membership, which of course led to another road - the National Geographic EdNet, which led to exploring states around me for ohter geographic alliances and lo and behold, Georgia did a Geofest this past April (hoping it is about the same time next year and that they allow vendors to come participate) that is similar to the South Carolina's Alliance Geofest. So now I have three states in my driving range (South Carolina held in Columbia about 2 hours from where I live, North Carolina looks to have workshops up near where my folks live and if that is the case, I have a place to stay and that is only about 3 hours from where I live, a bit further to Boone though; and Georgia's Geofest, held in Athens but could possibly be held in different locations and this is about 3 hours from here) to participate as a vendor - exposure, exposure, exposure. It only takes one really good link to get the ball rolling.

An update on State of Heights - it had been released earlier this month but while I was reading through it trying to come up with some questions for the study guide last week or the week before, I found some problems in the words - like when Heather had copy and pasted from the original document, some things got double wording or some lines got a little messed up. I took it off the market, had her fix those few things I noticed and ordered a second proof copy and found a place where I had made a parenthentical to her that got in the book - ooops - nothing bad but it wasn't part of the story, so will be ordering a third proof copy Wednesday and hopefully when I return from my parents' for the Christmas holiday will be able to really officially release State of Heights to the public. This is really book 5 in the series, so anyone who has the first three in the series and needs book 4 or 5, let me know. We are on schedule, otherwise, so far to release the next 5 books within the next year (the plan is 5 a year so that by November of 2019 book 50th will be released along with a supplement to check to make sure you have all the books in the series which will include the silly law and the bonus clue along with which territory the bonus clue was for).

Also, State of Wilderness will go out of publication with 4RV Publishing June of 2011, but will be re-released as a second edition, with a new cover and new illustrations to fit the books that Heather is illustrating. Hopefully, there won't be much lag time between it going out of publication with 4RV and me having it available to the public again. State of Quarries will be re-released in April or May of 2012 and State of Reservations will be re-released in June of 2013. These will all be in addition to the five new titles coming out each of those years. As it is right now, the 2011 schedule is as follows: State of Nature (#6) is slated for February; State of Acceleration (#7) is slated for April, State of Wilderness (#1) to be rereleased in June, State of Imagination (#8) is slated for about July, State of ?? (#9 - as of yet is untilted as I haven't completely put all the clues in place) to be released in September and State of Production (#10) to be released in November.

Also, check the website for updates on upcoming events. My Calendar is starting to look full as I have something scheduled almost every month so far. I also have added some info on school/class/homeschool co-ops purchasing large quantities of any title and as soon as I figure out what direction to go with a "unit study" I plan to have that available to schools and/or teachers and/or homeschooling co-ops or parents. This is something that will pull the supplemental study guide a step further and will combine the creative writing side of things with the geography and mystery of the states. I will keep you posted on this.

Hope you all have a blessed holiday no matter what you are celebrating and that your new year is blessedly wonderful and that all your goals come true. Mrs. E :)

Savannah bound

This weekend is the Savannah Children's book festival in Savannah, Ga. Last year was my first year to attend this gathering and I only had two copies of books going down with me (although I did find out about two weeks after that I had more copies in my car which I could have sold at the time) and sold both of them and would have sold more had I had the five copies I found later. This year I'm going down with proof copies of State of Successes and State of Heights along with about 12 copies of State of Reservations, four copies of State of Wilderness and only two copies of State of Quarries. I also have two copies each of "Train of Clues" and of the Passport booklet. I've been having dreams that several teachers have stopped by and ordered "class copies" (that's at least 10 of each title, but some have been more), and hope this means that the weekend proves to be better than last year's events. If you are a teacher out there, you are always welcome to check out my website for all the specials I'm running. I'm offering a 10% discount on multi-copy orders of one title (at least 10 copies must be ordered to receive the discount) and I've got a special deal on the first three books in the series when ordered together along with a deal for ordering the remaining 47 books in the series with the 47th book being published about this time in 2019.

I am also hoping that my books do really take off that by the time my son graduates in 2013 I can quit working full-time and start traveling. I'd love to do several weeks a month of just visiting schools and traveling to all the states.

If you are in the Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, Florida area and would like a fun place to be, come visit all the authors and illustrators at the Savannah Children's Book Festival this Saturday from 10 to 4. There are all kinds of activities for the kids and I'm sure there is a little something for everyone's interests.

State of Heights proof copy ordered

State of Heights was proof copy ordered today so hopefully that will be released next week for purchase. This is the fifth book in the series. So far this year, State of Reservations, State of Successes and State of Heights have (will be) released along with Train of Clues (the story that started it all) and my Passport Across America (a supplement to keep track of the books in the series or to use for a traveling companion). Next year, we will release State of Nature, State of Acceleration, and State of Imagination between January and June and two others later in the year (as of yet they are untitled, although a tentative title for book #10 is State of Production, but that will be after I finish tweaking the clues and run it by my friend who usually comes up with my titles; this particular title is because Benjamin got to hear the clues and thought some of them were pretty cool and State of Production was descriptive of the state in more ways than one). I do have a cover for State of Nature, which will be released in January. Did I mention that Benjamin actually picked which clues would be on the cover and came up with the title for this one? I think Heather does a great job blending the items so they look like they belong together as can be seen on State of Heights with the tunnel going into the mountain and the bridge looking like it comes off the mountain. Mind you they are totally not in the same region of the state but they look like they could be found together from her cover. You can check out all the information on all books available now on my website. All orders placed from the website will be autographed copies except for the Passport Across America as this is not really a story, just an activity booklet to supplement the series.

Charlotte bound for homeschool conference

It's finally upon us; the Love to Learn Information and Resource Homeschool Conference in Charlotte, NC. I've been watching the list of presenters and vendors lately and lots of folks I met last year or at another conference this past June are going to be there - so yay for that. This year, I'm prepared with books 1, 2 and 3, covers for 4 and 5, a few copies of "Train of Clues", cover for my Passport booklet, my goodie box (prizes for the workshop game - just hope I have enough prizes or that I am not overwhelmed with kids being in the workshop) and my mindset. This is going to be a great weekend. I'm hoping to do well and that all my friends do well also. I am taking over 100 basket weaving kits with me and since it is a small priced item, it should do well. This is the craft idea for book 4 - State of Successes - that will be in the study guide for those of you who are keeping track of the series. (yes, that is a new thing for this particular book - just so happens one of the clues for Successes is about basket weaving and my favorite craft website had a mini woven basket for Thinking Day under the Girl Scouts swaps (under more Thinking Day, Philipines) - it was perfect for my book, so figured I would use it. I did vary the supplies a bit - instead of using raffia I decided to cut strips from plastic shopping bags (the handles work great for the mini basket, as you can get four strips out of one bag). If using the larger circle pattern, it takes two strips I believe. I'd like to see some orders for upcoming books, if not the rest of the series come in but I'll take any and all sales equally - lol.

Heidi Ippolito will be there also and she's going to watch my table while I do my workshop. I'm hoping to pop in the fun nook during a couple of the events they are doing - the chenille crafty thing and the sock puppet one - just to see what kind of ideas I can come up with.


The next six or seven weekends finds the JGDS out and about several places, except Labor Day Weekend - a small break. For more on the schedule of places we will be visiting or having fun, check out my website under the Calendar of Events page. I'm ready mentally but not with books. I know I'll have to get more of Wilderness, Quarries and Reservations from Vivian soon (hope she is doing well from her recent knee surgery). Next month I'll have books on hand, at least Successes and the Passport booklet. October is a break for me and then the fun begins in November - Charleston and Savannah. See you all in the postings or at a conference/festival near you - Mrs. E & the JGDS :)

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 :)

State of Heights, first view of "passport", and final State of Successes covers

Heather is doing such a wonderful job with colorful, eye-catching covers. I'm sharing with you all the latest cover designs received.




Here we have the final cover for State of Successes. We only had to come up with five tries to get the font that everyone seems satisfied for the word "State". I like it. Very colorful. Very eye-catching. Super kid friendly. Even my daughter who doesn't really pick up books or look at covers too often likes it.





This is the first cover for the "passport" booklet. I've made some suggestions for changes - but this is what we are looking at for now.









And finally, the latest addition to the series, book #5, State of Heights. Hailie loves the font for the word "Heights" on this one. I love how Heather made it look like the tunnel and bridge were part of the mountain (they are not really connected in any way, shape or form in the state this title represents).

Drop me a note and let me know what you think - Mrs. E :)