Why Can't I Leave Well Enough Alone?

Are you like me? Do you have to change everything? Why can’t I leave things the way they are?

I can’t buy a dress off the rack without wishing it had a different belt or collar. I have even purchased two outfits together because I liked part of one and a different part of the other. If I see a piece of jewelry I like, it always has the wrong color stone. When I buy a purse, I usually can’t help wishing that the handle was more like another purse – the one that I didn’t buy because the color was not quite right. When I’m looking for a new haircut, I always desire the front of one and the back of another. I wish our new van had been available with a different color interior. Choosing new carpeting for our house was made more difficult because I liked the colors from one company and the texture from a different one. This is the story of my life.

Eating out is one of my biggest challenges. I can’t seem to ever order from a menu without sounding exactly like Meg Ryan in the movie “When Harry Met Sally.” Yesterday my husband and I had lunch in a nice restaurant. A smiling waitress took my order, but she wasn’t smiling for long. I noticed that her expression was slowly changing into a fixed, teeth-gritting kind of look. I don’t think it was my imagination that she was looking at me as if I were speaking a strange language. Just because I ordered a sandwich with a different filling, different bread and different sauce than the one on the menu? I think it might have been after I asked to have the salad made with romaine lettuce instead of iceberg, feta cheese in place of the bleu cheese, the dressing on the side and no bacon or croutons, that she started looking like she was about to laugh (or maybe cry).

I turned to my husband (who is never surprised by anything I do) and asked him if he thinks I am a perfectionist. All he could do was smile.

Hmmm… Am I a perfectionist or simply a creative genius?

Bobbie http://bestfairybooks.com

The Results Are In - 350 People Showed Up!

On July 7th I blogged about the plans for my book launch party for The Belly Button Fairy. I received a number of emails from authors who thought I was going a bit too far and spending a bit too much. Today I'll tell you how it all turned out.

On Saturday, the day of the event, we(my husband, my illustrator and I) arrived at Barnes & Noble an hour before the event was to begin. We were delighted to see that little fairies had already begun to arrive. We had enlisted a few friends and some of our grandchildren as helpers. Together we covered the tables with sparkly tablecloths, assembled the give-aways, and set up the cakes, our book posters, the microphone and the illustrator's easel. In the meantime, the face painter and craft person were busy getting ready.

I had distributed approximately 1200 invitations, and a little more than 350 people showed up. If my math is correct, that's about 25%. Not bad. I'm not sure of the exact final book count, however there were well over 200 of my books sold that day. My illustrator (Mark Wayne Adams) and I signed books for 2-1/2 hours. I was so happy to have a sore hand! The kids were all happy. Their faces were painted, their tummies were filled with cake, and they were happily clasping the new wands they had made and the new books they had purchased. The parents were happy because the kids were happy (and busy).

Was it worth the time and dollars that it took to create this event? You be the judge.

Remember the movie line - "If you build it they will come?" My advice: "If you do the work they will come."

Fairy wishes,
Bobbie Hinman
http://bestfairybooks.com

The Belly Button Fairy - New Video Trailer

I am so happy to share my new video trailer with you! Trailertothestars.com did an excellent job!



Fairy wishes,
Bobbie Hinman
http://bestfairybooks.com

"Bobbie and Julia" - The Next Movie?

Along with the hoopla surrounding the opening of the movie Julie and Julia, I am feeling a new respect for one of the true queens of cooking. Her great book, Mastering The Art of French Cooking was, in fact, the first cookbook I purchased as a new bride in 1963. It’s surprising to find out that this revered book was rejected by several publishers before it was finally published in 1961 by Knopf.

It’s also no surprise to find that many other successful authors received their share of the dreaded rejection letters before finding someone who believed in their books. One of those famous authors is John Grisham, who was reportedly rejected by a dozen publishers before his career was launched. (Who’s crying now?) Then there are J.K. Rowling’s famous Harry Potter books which were also rejected by a number of large publishers. Add to the list the authors Stephen King, George Orwell, William Faulkner and Irving Stone. Even The Diary of Anne Frank received its share of rejections.

It’s never fun being rejected. My reaction when I received my first rejection notice was to throw myself a pity party and eats lots of chocolate. After two days, I had to actually pick myself up from my bed, shove the chocolate wrappers aside, slap myself across the face and say, “I’ll show them!” One of the keys for me has been to remember that “Success is the best revenge!” I had to understand what I was doing, do it well, keep my eye on the goal and never give up. And, through it all, I had to promise myself that I would at least try to enjoy myself.

I consider each of my rejection slips as a badge of honor, a ticket to the world of writing, a promise of things to come. Show me an author who has never received a rejection slip and I’ll show you someone who still has a lot of living to do.

As Julia would say, “Bon Apetit!”

Bobbie Hinman
http://bestfairybooks.com

What Happens in Storytime Stays in Storytime!

Does the word “storytime” conjure up happy memories for you? Are you lucky enough to remember the warm feeling of being in the library, surrounded by smiling children and hundreds and hundreds of books? Maybe you were nestled in your mother’s lap. Or maybe you were feeling brave enough to venture a few feet away to sit with children you didn’t even know. Do you remember the “library lady”, with her warm smile and sing-song voice? Do you remember how she held the book to the side while she read, showing you the pictures and at the same time somehow managing to read the words? Did you practice reading to your stuffed animals at home, trying to hold the book at just the right angle?

Now, I don’t want to burst your bubble, however, as an author I visit lots of storytimes. I’d like to add a few new scenarios to your memories – some scenes that are only within the reader’s line of vision. There are storytime “happenings” that you just might have missed. For instance, just yesterday, while I was reading one of my fairy books, a man and his son were actually on the floor having a wrestling match over a toy truck that the child just wanted to hold onto while he listened to the story. Sadly, papa said “no!” Then there were the 2 little girls who spent the entire hour hitting each other over the head with plastic flowers that they had brought from home. Add to that the two nannies who I spotted sound asleep in the front row while their little charges wandered aimlessly around the room. Oh yes, and there was also an entire pre-school class who came to storytime, proudly carrying the fairy wands they had just made in class. Wands were waving, kids were being poked, and all I could hear was my mother’s voice in my head saying, “Stop that before you poke someone’s eyes out!” And, it’s funny how there always seems to be at least one “Cheerio Kid” at each storytime because after each event, the floor is always dotted with crushed cereal.

I hope you don’t get me wrong. I love reading to children. I love the look in their eyes as they imagine the world they are hearing about. The view from the front of the room just adds character and excitement to each event.

Please continue to support storytimes at your local library.

Bobbie Hinman
http://bestfairybooks.com

Who Should You Invite To A Book Launch Party?

If your first reaction to this question is, “Huh? I didn’t know you should invite people to the party,” then listen up. If you have planned the party well (see my post dated July 7), then it would really be a shame if no one showed up.

Yesterday an author friend of mine told me that she never sends out actual invitations to her launch parties or bookstore events. She relies on her press releases to do the job. No, no, no. That's not enough.

The goal is to invite, invite, invite.

The first thing to do is create a colorful invitation. The many online printing sites make this easy and affordable. I guarantee that you will have a more positive reaction to professional looking invitations than to boring run-of-the-mill flyers. If you plan ahead, you will be able to take advantage of the promotions and coupons that the online companies always offer.

The number of invitations needed depends on how big you can think. A print run of about 1200 invitations is an impressive, yet reachable, goal if you work at it. Today I invited an entire Brownie troop to my upcoming launch party. That was 30 down and 1170 left to go! Then I visited a day camp at my local community college and handed out 200 more. That brings me to 230 down and only 970 to go. Uh oh, I hope I don’t run out.

Use the internet to your advantage. Today I emailed a copy of my invitation to a teacher friend of mine and asked her to forward it to the other teachers in her school, as well as to her students. She was happy to do so. I will send the same request to a friend who belongs to a large Mom's club and to all of my friends,
both the real life and the online social networking ones.

For a children’s event, think of schools, camps, daycare centers, dance classes, scouts, etc. For other genres, ask yourself exactly who you think will be interested in your book. Then ask yourself where these people shop, eat, have meetings or just hang out? Think of specific places to promote to your particular niche market. Think of shops, organizations, colleges, libraries, book clubs, etc.

And, of course, don’t forget the media. Be sure to send invitations to the newspaper reporters in your area. A great personal touch is to locate the reporters’ names online and hand-deliver the invitations. Even if only one reporter shows up, the result will often be an article with some free publicity.

Remember = You Are Invited To A Party – everyone who reads this blog is invited to my book launch party for The Belly Button Fairy on August 29th at 11 AM – Barnes & Noble – Bel Air, MD – Come for Storytime, Gifts, Prizes and Cake - Meet the author and the illustrator - Fairy costumes are welcome!

Bobbie Hinman
http://bestfairybooks.com

The Itty-Bitty, Nitty-Gritty Information About Writing a Children’s Picture Book

When most people think of writing a children’s picture book, they think of the actual story writing process – the character development, the plot and resolution, etc. But what about the rest of the details? The significant, valuable, crucial, vital, key details?

Here is a list of some of the most important, yet most overlooked elements of writing a children’s book:

1. Of utmost importance – know the age of your target audience and write for that age level! Talk to teachers and librarians and know what is appropriate for your audience. This is the one item that I see overlooked on far too many children’s books.

2. Don’t have too many words on each page. This goes back to #1, knowing the reading level and attention span of your audience.

3. Choose your font carefully. Avoid hard-to-read fonts with curly-Q’s that may confuse young children. The easiest to read and most commonly used fonts are ones like Arial and Times New Roman, and they are almost always printed in black.

4. Be aware that the standard length of a children’s picture book is 32 pages.

5. Make the illustrations large, preferably full-page as opposed to tiny little pictures surrounded by large white areas.

5. Make sure the illustrations match the words. This is really crucial. If the page is about a boy on a swing, this must be shown in the picture.

6. Add some extra details to the pictures that will enhance your words. In my book about the Knot Fairy, the words tell you that she has tangled the children’s hair. The picture “tells” you that she has also tied a knot in the cat’s tail.

7. Make sure the colors are bright and appealing to young children.

8. Add a few elements to the pictures that can be repeated throughout the book. This adds to the continuity of the book. Also, young children like to look for things like the dog that can always be seen hiding someplace in the pictures.

9. Have the action in your left hand page moving toward the center of the book. Have the action in the right hand page leading the reader to turn to the next page.

10. Always keep in mind that on of the goals with a picture book is to strive for a perfect balance between the pictures and the written words.

One exercise that I highly recommend is to go to your local bookstore at least once a month and take a careful look at the best-selling, best-reviewed and award-winning children’s books. Be sure to take the above list with you and keep track of the itty-bitty, nitty-gritty, but oh-so-important details.

P.S. The picture above is from The Sock Fairy. The words on the page are simply, "He mixes up socks!"

Bobbie Hinman
http://bestfairybooks.com