Book Business
Young children lack the words to express their feelings, but thankfully, their drawings speak for them. With this thought in mind, Kathy Kasten and I wrote a companion book for Ready, Set, Lead! The title is Drawing Out the Leader in Me: An Art Activity Book for Kids Ages 4-8. Each page begins with a leadership fact, followed by a drawing prompt.
The prompts focus on different aspects of leadership: building a team, leading at home, leading other kids, leading at school, and serving others, to mention a few. This sample prompt gives you an idea of the content: Offer to help your teacher. Choose a task you enjoy, like putting books away. Draw your school or draw your house or building if you are home-schooled.
Drawing Out the Leader in Me is in production now and will come off the press in about five weeks. We thank Penny Weber for the cover illustration. The release date for Ready, Set, Lead! is March 1, 2021. It is already on Amazon and available for pre-order. Each book makes the other stronger. Best of all, young children benefit from both books. To order the set go to https://lioncrestleadership.mykajabi.com/ready-set-lead-book.
Reviews
Authors have three kinds of reviews to choose from: trade, non-trade, and readers’ reviews. Trade reviews appear in publications for booksellers and librarians. Non-trade reviews appear in online publications. Reader reviews appear on book covers and online. An author may be willing to pay for a review. Daniel Lefferts and Alex Daniel discuss the pros and cons of paid reviews in their article, “The Indie Author’s Guide to Paid Reviews.”
According to Lefferts and Daniel, reviews are crucial to book marketing. They think reviews make a book seem more professional. Reviews also give potential buyers an idea of what the book is about.
Kirkus Reviews is will-known in the book industry. I was going to pay for a review from them until I saw the fees. A basic review, with a waiting time of seven to nine weeks, was $425. An express review, with a waiting time of four to five weeks, was $575. These fees do not guarantee a favorable review. If the review is unfavorable, the author can ask Kirkus not to publish it—little consolation after spending hundreds of dollars.
Authors may turn to companies like Self-Publishing Review and BlueInk Review. BlueInk has three options for authors, but all of them seem pricey. “Read each publication’s past reviews to get an idea of quality, detail and depth of critical attention indie authors can expect,” write Lefferts and Daniel. Checking the original source is sound advice and I try to follow it.
From My Window
I have a new, fascinating pursuit—Japanese Enso painting. Enso means circle in Japanese and drawing circles is associated with Buddhism. Though I am not Buddhist, I have benefited from this practice. To paint an Enso, I meditate for a moment or two, take in a breath, wet my brush, paint a circle with one stroke, and let my breath out.
Here is a photo of me holding my oriental brush. The brush looks like a knife because the sheep, pig, and cow bristles are still wet. After using the brush, I clean it and press the bristles together to keep them straight. Kathy Meyer, the registered nurse who comes in the morning to get my husband up, took the photo. Thank you for your kindness Kathy.
Painting Ensos is challenging because of all the variables: type of brush, width of brush, painting medium (acrylic paint, watercolor, etc.), how wet it is, and the painter’s experience. The circle can have a small gap. Some painters add extra circles, figures, birds, flowers, and calligraphy to their Ensos. Is an Enso empty or full? Does it represent the circle of life? The meaning depends on the painter’s viewpoint. My circles are full and that is a blessing.
Quote of the Month
Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. William Strunk, Jr. in the book The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White.
William Strunk taught English 8 at Cornell University. E.B. White took his course and bought Strunk’s textbook, The Elements of Style. After Strunk died, MacMillan Publishing Company asked E. B. White to update Strunk’s book. He did it gladly and 10 million copies of this 100-year-old classic have been sold.