Book 1 (Chase Away the Dragons) Online Reviews

If you haven’t purchased a copy of The Adventures of Princess and Goose Book 1: Chase Away the Dragons, the book is available from a number of retailers, including Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Walmart. If you have purchased a copy, please consider leaving an honest review on one of these sites or on Goodreads. Positive reviews are incredibly helpful as I continue to write and market these (and other) stories. Please also share this post with your friends! I’m starting to get a few reviews across these sites.

With all the distribution issues resolved, I’ve been able to focus more attention on The Adventures of Princess and Goose Book 2: Sir Logan and Witches. This book will also include a preview of the first book in a new series I’ve been working on. We are just weeks away from publishing Sir Logan and the Witches! I’m very proud of how the book has turned out.

Chase Away the Dragons Review List

Book 1 (Chase Away the Dragons) is Finally Available on Amazon

After 3 months, dozens of emails, and an uncountable number of chat messages, The Adventures of Princess and Goose Book 1: Chase Away the Dragons is now available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Adventures-Princess-Goose-Book-Dragons/dp/B09QHF7856/

$9.99 shipped per copy with Amazon Prime!

If you purchase a copy, please consider leaving an honest review. Positive reviews are incredibly helpful as I continue to write and market these (and other) stories.

Book 1 Amazon Listing

Book 2 Preview and Peer Feedback

Tony and I continue to make steady progress on The Adventures of Princess and Goose Book 2: Sir Logan and the Witches. After completing the preliminary page layouts for all the pages and getting about half the book colored, I sent my book out for a peer review of the manuscript through the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. At the same time, I sent my next (unrelated) book to a professional author for a manuscript review. Getting feedback is never easy, but I found the honest and constructive feedback immensely helpful.

In total I received comments from four authors across the two books. I was able to review the feedback in its entirety and apply comments from both books to Sir Logan and the Witches. These changes resulted in updates to nearly every page of text, plus the addition of four new pages to add more action scenes to the book. Even with these updates, I should still be on track to release the book by the end of May.

Take a look at the first three updated from Sir Logan and the Witches. As always, if you enjoyed Chase Away the Dragons, please consider leaving a review online. If you haven’t purchased a copy, what’s stopping you?

Book 2 Page 1
Book 2 Page 2
Book 2 Page 3

First Author Visit

The previous post talked about selling my book at a booth at a small, local show. This week I had my first author reading event! My son’s daycare invited me to read the book to about 20 pre-K students. Logan even wore his custom “Sir Logan” shirt. After reading the book, I surprised the class with an in-progress copy of The Adventures of Princess and Goose Book 2: Sir Logan and the Witches. Half the pages had full color and the last half of the book only had rough outlines. The event was a lot of fun. I hope they invite me back with Book 2 is done.

1st Author Visit

Selling Book 1 (Beta Testing)

Although I continue to have issues with Amazon, Chase Away the Dragons is available online from Barnes & Noble, Walmart, and other stores. I also ordered a box of books from the distributor so I can sell books directly to consumers. I am responsible for all marketing activities, and I’m working on several initiatives to promote the book online and in person.

I had the opportunity this past weekend to sell my book at a local toy show. The show is generally well attended, and I wanted to use the show as an opportunity to get my infrastructure setup for when I do a more traditional show for authors and artists. I’ve worked over the last few weeks to make sure my business licenses are in order, get my business bank account created, sign up for a variety of payments options, create giveaway items (e.g., coloring pages), and figure out how to present and promote my book at my booth. With a long list of business and marketing tasks to complete, it helps to have a plan and set a deadline.

(more…) “Selling Book 1 (Beta Testing)”

Book 2 Page Layout Preview

The Adventures of Princess and Goose Book 1: Chase Away the Dragons is available at Barnes & Noble and Walmart, plus available digitally on Kindle, Nook, Apple Books, and Kobo. Unfortunately, I’m still trying to figure out why Amazon isn’t sending out the paperback. But while I work on that, I’m also hard at work promoting Book 1 and making good progress on The Adventures of Princess and Goose Book 2: Sir Logan and the Witches.

I’ve already approved the preliminary layouts for Book 2. This step includes rough sketches for all the pages with the text overlaid to get a better idea of placement and flow. Tony does these sketches on a special page template so we know where we can safely include artwork that won’t get cutoff during the printing process.

(more…) “Book 2 Page Layout Preview”

Book 1 Release Update (Amazon)

Just a quick update on the book’s availability. I’ve ordered and received copies from my distributor, Barnes & Noble, and Walmart. All those copies have arrived, and I think they look great. Unfortunately, Amazon orders have not shipped yet. I’m still working with my distributor to fix the issue, but I don’t think it’ll be addressed until the middle of the month. The reason is a bit complicated, and I can share more details in a future post once the problem is actually fixed. For now, I just need to wait for them to work it out. The ebook is also available on Kindle, Nook, Kobo, and Apple Books. If you order a copy, please try to leave a review. Positive reviews make a big difference in how my book shows up in searches and recommendations.

Book 1 Release Update

Book 1 is Available

I’d like to thank everyone again for their support with my first independently published book, The Adventures of Princess and Goose Book 1: Chase Away the Dragons. It’s taken more than two years to get here and more time than I can count.

It’s been fun to see my book pop up on different stores. The book is available online from Amazon (paperback and Kindle), Barnes & Noble (paperback and Nook), Walmart (paperback), Half Price Books (paperback), kobo (ebook), and Apple Books (ebook). I don’t know yet if my book will be available in physical stores or libraries, but I’m working on that.

(more…) “Book 1 is Available”

Book 1 Release Update

I’d like to thank everyone for supporting my book. I’m starting to track my book online to see where it pops up and how it’s doing. The first surprise since the launch was to see it show up for sale on Barnes and Noble. It’s too early to know if the book will be sold in the stores. It will likely be sold online as print on demand (POD). Amazon will likely use POD as well to fulfill orders of the paperback. The Amazon Kindle version is available, and I’m waiting for the ebook to get picked up by a few other sites.

I continue to look for the book online to see where it shows up. One of my searches brought up the new releases section on Amazon, where I was in 27th place in Children’s Pet Books New Releases. I won’t have any sales figures for more than a month, so it’s hard to know what 27th place in that category really means.

(more…) “Book 1 Release Update”

Book 1 is Done (the Journey So Far Part 3)

This is the third (but not final) instalment in my journey to self-publish my first children’s book to celebrate the completion of the book. The first installment celebrated the completion of the first page of interior art, describing my early attempts to find a literary agent. The second installment focused on completing half of the interior artwork. This post focuses on the artwork process after I signed a contract with my illustrator.

Purchase the paperback from Amazon

Purchase the ebook from Amazon

Purchase the paperback from Barnes & Noble

(more…) “Book 1 is Done (the Journey So Far Part 3)”