Thursday, December 12, 2013

Book Signing and Reading at Barnes and Noble

This Saturday I have a book signing at Barnes and Noble. The book signing starts at 12:30 and I'm not sure yet when the book readings will be. I'm doing this in conjunction with my kids' school fund raiser and book fair. They'll also have face painting, bookmark making, and teachers will be reading their favorite books.

I actually didn't volunteer to do this until just last week. My husband kept telling me to offer to do a signing/reading at the book fair, but I'm really bad at promoting myself. I feel uncomfortable doing it. Plus it's a little scary. (What if they don't like my books?) So I kept putting it off. Finally last week I talked myself in to telling the PTA president that I was a published author and offered to do a signing or book reading at the book fair. She was excited about the idea and Barnes and Noble managed to order my books and get them there already, so on Saturday I will be there.

Because I was so late in volunteering, they already have a pretty full schedule of the teachers reading books, so they're just going to stick me in when they have time. I'll have my husband read with me. It's better that way because I'm not very good at doing voices and this book requires two different voices--Musk Ox and Zebra. When I read it by myself, I read Musk Ox in my normal voice and then change voices for Zebra, but I think my Zebra ends up sounding annoying more than anything else. So it'll be good to have my husband with me. He does a good job at reading--lots of expression, lots of fun.

If you're interested, the Barnes and Noble I'll be reading at is in Fairfax, VA. The address is 12193 Fair Lakes Promenade. Hope to see you there!

Thursday, September 5, 2013

Musk Ox Counts is Released!

Okay, so I'm a little late in writing this, but on September 3, my second book, Musk Ox Counts, was released! Yay! It's fun and exciting, but it's also a little scary sending my baby out into the world. What if people don't like it?

If you're interested, you can buy the book on amazon.combarnesandnoble.com, or indiebound.org. Or you could go to your local bookstore and see if they carry it. If they don't, you can tell them that they should. You also should be able to order it from them. It's nice when people buy my book through an actual bookstore because then the bookstore is more likely to carry it in their store and people are more likely to see it when they aren't actually looking for it. But then, it's also nice when people buy it online as well. I'm not picky. :-)

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

A Starred Review for Musk Ox Counts!

A few days ago, my editor sent me a very exciting email telling me that Publishers Weekly had given my upcoming book, Musk Ox Counts, a starred review. This was exciting for me, in part, because it's my very first starred review. As my agent told me, it's not an issue if you don't get a starred review--most books don't--but getting one is a big deal. More librarians and other booksellers take notice if you get a starred review.

(For those who don't know, Publishers Weekly is a weekly trade news magazine aimed at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Also, you can only get one star. It's not like other reviews where one star is bad and four or five stars is good. Here, one star is as good as you can get.)

And just a reminder--Musk Ox Counts comes out September 3. So go ahead and preorder if you haven't. It's a great book. Just ask my mom. (She's not biased at all.)

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Advanced Reader's Edition of Musk Ox Counts

About a week ago, I received my advanced reader's edition of Musk Ox Counts. This is a soft cover edition of the book that is used to get stores and reviewers and others interested in it. (At least I think that's what it's for.) This isn't the first time that I've seen the book--I've seen it in electronic form and I have a copy of the first proofs (basically just loose pages of the book)--but it's the first time I've seen it in actual book form. And it's so much fun! There's just something about being able to hold it and turn the pages and read it like an actual book. And I was excited because there's a hole in the cover. I had suspected there was before, but I didn't know for certain until I saw this.

Also exciting, you can preorder my book online now! Amazon has it here. Barnes and Noble has it here. Indiebound has it listed here, although they don't have a picture of the cover yet. So go and preorder your copy today.