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Sponsored by The Highlights Foundation – check out the amazing workshops they have! Here is an episode I did with the people who are presenting Making the Web Work for You.

Also brought to you by Audible.com – click here for a FREE trial…don’t you want a free audio book?!

In this episode you’ll hear

• me talk about the Highlights Foundation workshop, Creating an Authentic Cultural Voice
• how we will have our monthly Tweetchat, #KidlitPRChat, on Wed., March 7 form 6-7pm ET while I am at the Highlights Foundation workshop with faculty experts joining in!
• questions from readers/listeners on promoting oneself in a blog comment and how to decide which way to go in a story
• a review by librarian Mr. John Schumacher: Petunia Goes Wild by Paul Schmid
• a Take5 Marketing Tip from Dianne de Las Casas: Evernote
• a new segment called Julie Hedlund Gets All Grateful on Your A**

In this interview with Carol Rasco of RIF you’ll hear us talk about

• What it’s like to work in the White House
• Ways to integrate literacy in every day life
• Every $2.50 donation gets a paperback into the hands of a child who needs a book.
• 90% of every donation goes straight to the kids

How can I donate to RIF?

• By mail:  
Reading Is Fundamental, Inc.
Development Department 
1255 23rd Street, NW
Suite 300
Washington, DC 20037
• By phone: 
Call the development staff toll-free at 1-888-725-4801.
• Online: 
Go to our secure donation page.
• Additional options: 
You can also contribute through workplace giving, honor and memorial donations, bequeaths in wills, and many other ways. For more information, please visit our Other Ways to Give page.

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Sponsored by The Highlights Foundation

In this episode you’ll hear a couple of special extras!

• a guest mini-interview by librarian Mary Ann Scheuer of Sylvia Vardell, poetry zealot, professor in the School of Library & Information Studies at Texas Women’s University and Cybil Award book app judge
• a review also by Mary Ann Scheuer: There’s a Monster at the End of this Book (Cybils Book App winner!)
• a Take5 Marketing Tip from Dianne de Las Casas: Join an Acronym!

An interview with Stephen McCranie

in which we discuss

• his second graphic novel in the Mal and Chad series, Food Fight!
• Stephen’s Picture Blog about Creativity
• Stephen’s Gallery site
• Comic essay on Stehpen’s early years drawing comics
• Here is the script writing program Stephen uses
• Giveaway deadline is end of February!
• My Banana Peel moment blog post

Click the images below for a larger view.

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I’m a day early for this episode because there is so much great stuff in here to hear!

Tour Hosts share their fails, successes, and ideas, so listen up!

• Uma Krishnaswami direct from India!
• Chris Cheng talks about python massages
• Loreen Leedy talks about promoting and making money at the same time here
• Darcy Pattison talks about creating book trailers with help from this site
• Editor Deborah Halverson reveals her big fail that happened with her own book
• Julie Hedlund stumbled upon a great way to pre-promote for the time she gets published
• Elizabeth O. Dulemba talks about how she’s gotten over 3 million hits on her site in the last 2 years
• Dan Santat talks about his unique and indy-supporting win-win-win idea
• Elizabeth Stevens’ gets published authors to tell about their big failures and fakes me out in the interview!
• Christine Fonseca talks about her greatest…you’ll have to listen to hear!

Blog Tour Schedule

Feb 1 – E is for Book
Feb 2 – Banana Peel Thursday
Feb 3 – Creative Spaces
Feb 6 – DearEditor.com
Feb 7 – Writing With a Broken Tusk
Feb 8 – Shutta Crum
Feb 9 – McBookWords
Feb 10 – Kerem Erkan
Feb 16 -Elizabeth O. Dulemba
Feb 17 – Fiction Notes
March 1 – 12×12 in 2012
March 2 – Christine Fonseca, Author

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Make an impact in today’s

publishing climate

In this episode you’ll hear lots of experts talk about what they’ll be teaching – with me! – at this incredible workshop at The Highlights Foundation. I hope you join us – you may not be able to resist when you see the pictures below!

Also in this episode:

• a review by Julie Falatko of World of Julie: Tweak Tweak by Eve Bunting, illustrated by Sergio Ruzzier
• a Take5 Marketing Tip from Dianne de Las Casas:Event Listings

This interview is with Alison Green, Lindsey Leavitt, Bobbie Combs, Laurina and Paul Crichton.

You’ll hear us talk about what you’ll get if you sign up for this workshop, but here is the description and bios from the Highlights site:
It takes more than a stellar book to make an impact in today’s publishing climate. Media promotion through websites, blogs, social media, social cataloging, skype, and podcasts is integral to successfully launching a children’s book and a writing career! Join our team of social marketing gurus, Laurina Cashin and Bobbie Combs, We Love Children’s Books consulting firm; Lindsey Leavitt, Princess for Hire series; and Katie Davis, host of the podcast, Brain Burps About Books, for a workshop guaranteed to improve your social savvy on the web. For those just starting out, learn about website design and innovative, painless marketing techniques. For those ready to take self-promotion to the next level, receive guidance in gaining an audience, establishing a brand, and developing a book launch that gets noticed. All participants will learn about integrating technology into school visits, how to establish guidelines with publishers for promotion, and opportunities for social networking beyond Facebook.

Lindsey Leavitt is the author of the Princess for Hire book series and Sean Griswold’s Head. She is a keen—and very popular—blogger. Lindsey offers free skype visits to schools and is known for her witty and passionate presenting style. She has presented for IRA, SCBWI, Teen Lit Con, and many others.  Lindsey grew up in Las Vegas, married her high-school lab partner, and after some years in Birmingham, Alabama, has returned to live in Vegas with her husband and three small daughters.

Bobbie’s Combs knowledge of every corner of the children’s book publishing industry is astounding. Her career has taken her from manager of a children’s independent bookstore to children’s buyer and children’s sales/marketing director of a book distributor to freelance children’s book reviewer to Web site designer to cofounder and publisher at Two Lives Publishing and finally to co-creator of the We Love Children’s Books consulting agency. Her clients include publishers, children’s bookstores, and award-winning authors Pat Mora, George Ella Lyon, Deborah Heiligman, and many more.

Laurina Cashin spent more than twenty-two years happily working with books for children and teens, primarily in marketing and collection development for library wholesalers. For the past eight years she’s been even happier working as an independent consultant for We Love Children’s Books with her partner, Bobbie Combs. Recent projects include creating websites for authors and illustrators; book promotions; writing marketing copy, reviews, and teacher guides; and blogging on behalf of a family literacy initiative. Laurina is a past president of the Educational Paperback Association (now Educational Book and Media Association) and an active member of the Association of Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association. She served on the 1997 Newbery Committee.

Jules Danielson is the co-creator of the wildly popular children’s book blog “Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast.” She studied children’s literature and librarianship at The University of Tennessee. Jules is penning a book with fellow librarians and bloggers, Elizabeth Bird and Peter D. Sieruta, about children’s literature.

Paul Crichton is the Director of Publicity for Simon and Schuster Children’s Publishing. He has worked on numerous publicity campaigns including 179 New York Times bestsellers, seven New York Times Book Review Best Illustrated Books and four National Book Award nominees.

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Learn fundamental aspects of writing for children.

In this episode you’ll hear

•  a reminder to get in the drawing (deadline: March 1) for an editorial consult with Simone Kaplan by commenting on this post
• a mini interview with Teresa Schauer by my new book apps contributor, Mary Ann Scheuer
• a review from World of Julie‘s Julie Falatko: Scapegoat
• a TakeFive Marketing Tip by Dianne de Las Casas: Docs to Go

In the interview you’ll hear Emma Walton Hamilton and me talk about

• working with her mom, Julie Andrews
• the children’s book club – a great resource for the prepublished and pubbed
  
• Just Write for Kids
• the one talent she didn’t get from her mom
• The Southampton Children’s Literature Conference at Stonybrook U.
• Children’s Book Hub membership deal! My listeners get an intro month for $5!
• reactions of people to critiques

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In today’s show:

• A book app review from elementary librarian Mary Ann Scheuer (check out Mary Ann’s blog Great Kid books): Cinderella by Nosy Crow  Watch the adorable book app trailer below (side note – the kids dancing is too cute – and you know how I feel about long trailers? Well, I watched the whole thing, even at 2:18 long, and smiling!)

Emma Dryden and I met at a cafe in NYC and talked a long time about the business, craft, and answers to questions submitted by listeners. During the interview Emma answers lots of questions and talks about her blog, popovers the size of Emma’s head, oh, and…

• word count
• how to assess whether your book is ready for submission
• SCBWI
• art notes
• submission guidelines
• whether you need an agent to submit to a publisher
• SO much more!

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I interview “pre-published” author and positivity blogger Julie Hedlund. In this episode you’ll hear

• about the generous offer from editor Simone Kaplan to win a 30 minute consult on a picture book!
• a review by Julie Falatko: Betty Bunny Loves Chocolate Cake

• a Take5 Marketing Tip from Dianne de Las Casas: Contact Exchange

And in the interview you’ll hear us talk about

• Julie’s major accomplishments of 2011
• The Daddy’s Little Girl post
• MeeGenius Competition
• amazon sells blog subscriptions?
• 12x12x12 FAQs
• why the hashtag for 12x12x12 is #12x
• the 12x12x12 Facebook page

This episode originally aired April 11, 2011

Finally! Library Week is here and I can share all the wonderful mini-interviews I have been recording since January! Enjoy it!

In this episode you will listen to songs, jokes, and stories about how libraries and the librarians who staff them inspired and supported us as children, paving the way for our careers as children’s authors and illustrators, including, though definitely not in alphabetical order as they are listed below. Sorry there aren’t more visuals, but there are just too many to find! Thanks for listening, and tune in next week when we announce all our contests for Little Chicken’s Big Day or keep an eye out on my Facebook page. Two notes – The first song is sung by Judy Freeman, and after the second song, that’s Mordicai Gerstein talking.

• Laurie Halse Anderson
• Kathi Appelt
• Sarah Aronson
• Jeannie Brett
• Diane deGroat
• Sarah Dillard
• Erin Dionne
• Jan Donley
• Jody Feldman
• Judy Freeman
• Mordicai Gerstein
• Deborah Heiligman
• Amy Huntington
• Lita Judge
• Jarrett Krosoczka
• Sarah Darer Littman
• Eric Luper
• Ann Martin
• Wendy Mass
• Anne Mazer
• Jenny Meyerhoff
• Jenny Moss
• Bernard Most
• Micol Ostow
• Laura Ruby
• Peter Sis
• Hope Anita Smith
• Tanya Lee Stone
• Kyra Teis
• Leslie Tryon
• Kristin O’Donnell Tubb
• Linda Urban
• Ned Vizzini
• Nancy Werlin
• Karen Romano Young
• Sara Zarr

One reason is that I will have a new addition to the podcast! How did I never think of this before? I have no idea. But elementary school librarian Mary Ann Scheuer will be submitting book app reviews to the show! I don’t know if they’ll be weekly or occasional like my other contributors’ reviews, but I’m very excited. And astonished it had never occurred to me! Mary Ann approached me after this FANTASTIC interview she did on NPR.

Welcome, Mary Ann!

If you can wait till later this week, I’m going to show you a little movie of me cleaning my studio in timelapse. It’s kind of pathetic how you can actually watch me get distracted. Over and over and over again!

Originally broadcast June 7, 2011

In this episode you will get to listen to Pat Flynn of SmartPassiveIncome.com

Click here to download.

In this episode you’ll hear…

• Take5 Marketing tip from Dianne de Las Casas. today: The Square!
• Travis Jonker of 100 Scope Notes gives his first audio review: The Watcher, Jane Goodall’s Life with the Chimps by Jeanette Winter

In the interview you’ll learn about…

• how Pat began his internet business (that is not is a scam!)
• how to increase your email list of your fans through a video Pat made with Derek Halpern
• reciprocity and how you can help people who help you
• why giving away free content is a money-making idea
• 31 Days to Build a Better Blog by Problogger Darren Rowse
• hiring a virtual assistant and why it’s scary but why you should
• how to find the right person on eLance
• article spinners
• how backlinks work
• my webinar ideas and Pat’s input
• my fears about doing the webinar
• how you should write your “about” page
• I (sort of) curse but for a really good reason