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 :)

Really, Call Me Slack

Wow, it's been 2 months since I've posted anything on this blog.  I'm surprised blogger hasn't shut it down for being inactive.

Some updates are definitely warranted by now. 

AUDIO BOOK UPDATE:  I found a narrator for the state series and State of Successes is all but  finalized.  The only thing holding me back right now is the cover.  I got the first cover from Heather (same cover as the printed cover but has to be changed to fit the standards for audible.com's preferences - now has to be squared like it will go on  a CD package) and noticed she didn't have the JGDS logo on it and that is really the key to the covers.  So I'm waiting for her to get that completed so I can upload it and sign off on the audio file to publish it.  Francene did a great job reading the game part and making it sound like the game - I hope that once the audio is released and with some other things going on that I can get back to the series and start putting more books out.  State of Wilderness will probably be contracted in June, with State of Heights in August and then State of Nature in late September/early October.  As soon as State of Quarries and State of Reservations are republished, then they will go up as audio books as well.

Republishing the books is a matter of funds right now.  That brings me to my next item.  Looking for a sponsor for the books.  Who, you ask, would be a  perfect sponsor for the series?  National Geographic Kids, of course.  I tried to call them this morning to get the ball rolling but the office is closed for the holiday (most everyone else is closed just Monday but the folks in DC seem to take the holiday to include the Friday before - lol).  Anyway, if things work out as planned with them as a sponsor, I should be back to getting books in the series published.  My campaign with indiegogo didn't work out at all as no funds were raised and that is sad since the series really does have merit and should be in schools. 

Speaking of schools, I was doing laundry the other day and met a teacher who is teaching 4th and 5th grade science now but just had surgery on his knee so wasn't at work but lucky for me we started chatting.  Next year he is teaching 3rd grade.  We talked about my books and I gave him a copy of State of Heights which he plans on making sure he uses the books in the fall.  I hope he contacts me for more books and possible school visits, et cetera.  Slowly but surely I am making my way to the schools, one teacher at a time, and if I get my sponsorship from Nat Geo Kids or headquarters, that will catapult me to the desired effect I want.   I'm not looking to get rich but to have the books in the schools and being used to supplement the curriculum, means I get my name out there.

TRAVEL AND TOURISM WEEK:  To show how slack I've been, I didn't even post about travel and tourism week which was this month.  I participated this year again and found it interesting that Amos had left and I didn't even know it until I had called near the beginning of the month (perhaps even the end of April) to talk to him and find out about scheduling some time to be at the welcome center.  Ma America was officially released during that visit (new costume and new look for myself).  I didn't get any pictures of her due to my camera battery dying, but I did get a few pictures of the tables of others who were participating that day.  You all will be seeing Ma America from the next event.

HIGH COUNTRY FESTIVAL OF THE BOOK:  June 22 is the High Country Festival of the book in Boone, NC.  This works out  for me as my parents lives in Lenoir and Boone is about 35 miles from them, so I don't have to pay hotel cost or food as my parents will feed me  -  lol.  The festival is being held at Watagua High School, so if you are in the area June 22, stop by and visit with Ma America. 

LOVE TO LEARN HOMESCHOOL CONFERENCE:  I didn't get to participate in this event last year because of lack of funds but this year, it is being held in a new place, Valdes, NC, which I found out  from my dad and  looking at the maps is only about 9 miles from my parents.  August 3 I'll be in Valdes, NC for the Love to Learn conference.  I'm looking forward to a new crowd of folks.  I will have to make sure my father announces to his church folks because I know there are some people who do homeschool in the church family and they could come to the conference if they are looking for new products et cetera. 

I'll post more as soon as I know what direction the sponsorship goes and as we get closer to events coming up.  See you all in the postings - Ma America, aka Mrs. E :)

Anderson County Library Spelling Bee

Tonight is the annual spelling bee, and once again I've been asked to participate.  We are hoping to take first place which has eluded us the past couple of years by a very slim margin.  If not, I guess we will have to be happy with second place.  One of these days, it would be nice to be the top dogs - lol.  See you all in the postings - E :)

This and That

I've been neglecting the JGDS series and blog postings for a while. So, since it has been over a month since I last posted here, I'm going to do a brief "this and that" posting here.  For more details of what has happened this week, please stop by my other blog and check out today's "This and That" posting as well as a special deal I have going on for this week on books and bookworms for the last minute gift on your list.

This past week, I sold four copies of State of Successess to the Belton Museum along with three copies of Finally Home. 

The weekend of November 16-17 I did an event at Cascades Verdae and sold a total of 17 books - 15 of them state books.  My best event to date.  It doesn't come to enough to really pay Heather and get more books published but that day will hopefully come.  I would love to get more states published but right now they will remain on hold until I start seeing orders of at least 1000 per title or larger.  I need some serious print runs in order to get back on track. 

I also am available to do school visits so if you are a teacher or librarian following this blog in the Tri-State area - NC, SC, GA - and would like to book me for your end-of-year fill-in, I'm available.  See you all in  the postings - Ma America

Sugarfoot Festival Update

For all the details from this weekend's event, please stop over to my other blog and read the This and that posting.  It was warmer than it was last year and the crowds just didn't seem to be there but overall it was a good event.  Mrs. E ;)

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 :)