My new website

My new website is at http://storyquestbooks.com

Sunbelievable Sample Pages

The book is in the print, and I should have books in hand within 2 weeks!

I invite you to preview the book sample pages at http://storyquestbooks.com/sunbelievable_book/sunbelievable_sample_pages.htm

The first 100 hardcover books ordered will be signed by the author and include free shipping!

At http://storyquestbooks.com/sunbelievable_book/sunbelievable.htm you can place your Pre-order. Please used the coupon code YAYALEEN to get the book signed and free shipping.

Sunbelievable is at the printer!

My first post in this blog was Sunbelievable–a Children’s Book about the Sun

On the earlier post, the cover is quite different. This is the new cover, professionally designed. The book is at the printer (YAY!), and I should have books in hand by mid-September!

Sunbelievable!

The book Title

The title came into my head while stopped at a red light near my home.

The late afternoon light was remarkable and I couldn’t help thinking it was truly unbelievable—Sunbelievable!

The Final Touch, Part 3

I left the IBPA conference with renewed determination. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed and want to scrap the whole project, but I’d gone too far to abandon it. I tried making some of the experts’ suggestions myself, but finally recognized I was spinning my wheels. By the end of May 2011, a full year and a half after starting the book, I started again.

But not from scratch. After all, I had accomplished a great deal, learned much about the technical aspects of independent publishing, and started my own small press—Story Quest Books, LLC: storyquestbooks.com. I had the book converted to the iBook format and placed it for sale on iTunes at the end of May.

I took an online course about writing children’s books—Write4Kids: Write4kids.com—revised the story yet again (draft #20), solicited lots of feedback from parents who read the story to their young children, and revised, revised, revised.

At that point, I turned the project over to TLC Graphics tlcgraphics.com. They started working on the new design and layout in June, keeping the illustration style pretty much intact. They used background texture and color to help make the story text stand on its own and easy to read on each page. Also, we enlarged the book to 10×10 inches vs. the original 9×9.

One of the most important changes made was creating my author platform—Connecting Children with Science and Nature. This will be the theme for each next book! More emphasis was placed on the educational piece contributed by NASA’s Chief Technologist nasa.gov about the real Sun. This opens many opportunities for classroom teaching and library interest.

So now Sunbelievable is at the printer! The title came into my head while stopped at a red light near my home. The late afternoon light was remarkable and I couldn’t help thinking it was truly unbelievable—the genesis of Sunbelievable!

I should have books in hand in a week or two. That will be the final touch!!