Brain Burps About Books Podcast #227
Defining Magical Realism
An Interview with Laura Ruby
Announcements

The launch of How to Create Your Author Platform (and Market Your Books without Being Pushy) went great, the students are awesome. The course is wait listed but you can CLICK HERE to be notified as soon as it opens sign up. Plus you'll get 5 things you can do today to start your platform before you even get in the class.
Join the fun in the Brain Burps About Book Podcast Group: www.katiedavis.com/podcastgroup. I'll be offering extras, and sharing resources to help you  grow and learn best practices.

Appearances

I'm speaking at Podcast Boston on June 13th.
I'm teaching Yale this summer. (Yes, THAT Yale!) Date to be determined - I'll let you know as soon as I know!

This Week's Guest is Laura Ruby!
This week’s guest is Laura Ruby. Laura is one of my BFF's and she also writes fiction for adults, teens and children. She is the author of the newly-released YA novel BONE GAP*, as well as the Edgar-nominated children's mystery LILY'S GHOSTS, the ALA Quick Pick for teens GOOD GIRLS (2006), a collection of interconnected short stories about blended families for adults, I'M NOT JULIA ROBERTS (2007), and the forthcoming middle-grade trilogy YORK. She is on the faculty of Hamline University's Masters in Writing for Children Program. She makes her home in the Chicago area.
Laura and I talk about

We talk about bees and their relationship to gender issues.
Animals: magical and otherwise.
The way we see the people we love.
How Laura names her characters.
How many words do you need for a novel?
How does Laura edit?
What is magical realism and what is Laura Ruby’s definition of it?
Helen Oyeyemi, author of Boy, Snow, Bird: A Novel
Imaginary Girls by Nova Ren Suma

* I did receive a free advanced copy of BONE GAP and I am happy to call Laura Ruby my friend.

BBAB 227: Defining Magical Realism

Author Katie Davis hosts Brain Burps About Books as a "fly on the wall" show. It's all about the craft and business of publishing, now including all genres––not just children's books. 

Interviews with experts cover publishing, creating, promoting, and writing them. Are you an aspiring writer who'd like to know the inside scoop on how others got their books published? Kid's books? Indie books? Non-fiction? Or are you already published and want to hear how to make your book trailer? Maybe you're a librarian or teacher doing an author study or just a fan of kidlit and want to listen to booksellers, editors, authors and other experts in the field talk about the craft and business of publishing, both of children's literature and beyond.

Writer entrepreneur, illustrator, book marketing expert, and author Katie Davis is the host of this funny and informative show meant to help anyone with an interest in publishing, book marketing, video marketing, general book publishing and children's literature. Since 2010, there have been regular contributors and reviewers, as well as hundreds of interviews with anyone Katie believes will help her listeners in their quest to succeed in their business.

Katie Davis' traditionally published books have sold over 820,000 copies which led to her writing a self-published marketing guide for writers, debuting at #1 on Amazon. 

Katie teaches writers how to create videos, she coaches other writers in their marketing efforts and presents at schools, conferences, and fundraising galas internationally. She's an NSA member and on the advisory board for the Brooke Jackman Foundation, a literacy-based charity.

Arts

Literature

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Investing

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Management & Marketing

Business News

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I’ve got a sneak peek at something new you might want to know about… Writing for Children Podcast Episode 000 (a little preview) Hi, I’m Katie Davis. I started Brain Burps About Books back in 2010 and continued it for 6 years and 247 episodes. I wanted to give you a little head’s up that I’m creating a new show now. As the Director of the Institute of Children's Literature, I wanted to do a show focusing more on craft. This show will be shorter, have tips and links to great resources for children’s writers, whether you write for pre-k, mg, teens or inbetween. Yes! We will have weekly downloadable transcripts, something my previous subscribers always wanted, and they’ll include extra tips and links!  We’ll have a weekly Q&A;, and if your question is featured on the show, you’ll receive our heavy canvas tote with the gorgeous new ICL logo embroidered on the pocket.  We’ll be having a huge giveaway to celebrate the launch, with prizes worth almost $2,000. If you want to know when that happens, go to writingforchildren.com and sign up so you won’t miss a thing (and as a ty for signing up, you get the first two chapters of How to Write a Children's Book FREE)! I’m super excited about this and hope you’re going to love it, and learn from it too! Again, sign up at writingforchildren.com.

BBAB 248: Writing for Children - New Podcast from Katie Davis

Brain Burps About Books Podcast #247 Snappsy the Alligator Did Not Ask for Brain Burps to End An Interview with Debut Author Julie Falatko Announcements  Just a quick note to let you know that I’m starting a new podcast soon called Writing for Children (if I haven’t already started by the time you hear this). Want to know more? It’s going to be pretty awesome and very different from this show. Go to writingforchildren.com to learn more. This is the last Brain Burps About Books Podcast. But I'll be back! The Writing for Children podcast will focus solely on the craft of writing. Sign up to find out when it launches: writingforchildren.com Check out my new book How to Write a Children's Book. CLICK HERE  I wanted to give you a little head’s up that I’m creating a new show now. As the Director of the Institute of Children's Literature, I wanted to do a show focusing more on craft. This show will be shorter, have tips and links to great resources for children’s writers, whether you write for pre-k, mg, teens or in-between. Yes! We will have weekly downloadable transcripts, something my previous subscribers always wanted, and they’ll include extra tips and links! We’ll have a weekly Q&A;, and if your question is featured on the show, you’ll receive our heavy canvas tote with the gorgeous new ICL logo embroidered on the pocket.  We’ll be having a huge giveaway to celebrate the launch, with prizes worth almost $2,000. If you want to know when that happens, go to writingforchildren.com and sign up so you won’t miss a thing (and as a ty for signing up, you get the first two chapters of HTWCB free)!  I’m super excited about this and hope you’re going to love it, and learn from it too! Again, sign up at writingforchildren.com.   This week my guest is Julie Falatko Julie and I talk about  Snappsy the Alligator (Did Not Ask to Be in this Book). when Julie started doing reviews for the podcast. Illustrator Tim Miller. how cool it is to have your own book poster! Julie's editor at Viking, Joanna Cardenas. secret book covers. illustrator notes. fun surprises when you see the illustrations for your manuscript for the first time. why it's important to make a picture book dummy. keeping all your writing notes. Milk, Eggs, Vodka. how I wish I would've written this Snappsy! where the idea for Snappsy came from. where the idea for Who Hops? came from. how Julie's moxie got her the job as picture book reviewer on Brain Burps. 

BBAB 247: Snappsy the Alligator Did Not Ask for Brain Burps to End

Brain Burps About Books Podcast #246 Time to Celebrate Picture Book Month! An Interview with Dianne de Las Casas Announcements Just a quick note to let you know that I’m starting a new podcast soon called Writing for Children (if I haven’t already started by the time you hear this). Want to know more? It’s going to be pretty awesome and very different from this show. Go to writingforchildren.com to learn more. If you liked this episode, please review it on iTunes by doing this: 1. Open the show's page in iTunes store here. 2. Click on the "View in iTunes" button under the logo. 3. You will see the list of episodes. Scroll past them to "Customer Reviews" and "Write a Review" is right under that. Thank you. This week my guest is Dianne de Las Casas Dianne and I talk about  How Picture Book Month got started. Our own picture book memories. How picture books promote literacy. Elizabeth O. Dulemba's Picture Book Month Calendar. Marcie Colleen's curriculum guides for Picture Book Month. How to work picture books in to school curriculum. Free downloads available for Picture Book Month. Following #PictureBookMonth on Twitter. How picture books led Christmas sales last year. This month's Picture Book Month Champions• Sudipta Bardan-Quallen • David Biedrzycki • Paulette Bogan • Mike Curato • Matthew Gollub • Julie Gribble • Julie Hedlund • Carter Higgins • Molly Idle • Joe Kulka • Jennifer Gray Olson • Kathryn Otoshi • Anne Marie Pace • Rukhsana Khan • Robin Newman • Penny Parker Klostermann • Eric Litwin • Loren Long • Deb Lund • LeUyen Pham • Matt Phelan • Stephen Shaskan • Trisha Speed Shaskan • TJ Shay • Whitney Stewart • Holly Stone-Barker • Mo Willems • Natasha Wing • Matthew Winner • Paula Yoo 

BBAB 246: Time to Celebrate Picture Book Month!

Brain Burps About Books Podcast #245 Stuff That Gets in the Way of Writing Announcements Just a quick note to let you know that I’m starting a new podcast soon called Writing for Children (if I haven’t already started by the time you hear this). Want to know more? It’s going to be pretty awesome and very different from this show. Go to writingforchildren.com to learn more.  Learn to write and earn college credit with a home study course from our sponsor Institute for Children's Literature. Take the free aptitude test HERE. The Physics of Fantasy writing, a free word count chart and more in this week's newsletter from Jan Fields at the Institute for Children's Literature. Don't miss this great resource. Sign up HERE.  This week we're talking about stuff that gets in the way of writing  Everyone has distractions:  Kids (of all ages!) Moving Tech issues Illness - you or someone you love   How can you find time to spend on your writing? How can you develop muscle memory for your writing muscles? What is Faker Syndrome and can you overcome it? 

BBAB 245 Stuff That Gets In the Way of Writing

Brain Burps About Books Podcast #244 How to Get Author School Visits Tips for getting author visits & what to do when you get there Announcements Just a quick note to let you know that I’m starting a new podcast soon called Writing for Children (if I haven’t already started by the time you hear this). Want to know more? It’s going to be pretty awesome and very different from this show. Go to writingforchildren.com to learn more. If you liked this episode, please review it on iTunes by doing this: 1. Open the show's page in iTunes store here. 2. Click on the "View in iTunes" button under the logo. 3. You will see the list of episodes. Scroll past them to "Customer Reviews" and "Write a Review" is right under that. Thank you. Enter the Institute for Writer's PreK Writing Contest! There will be $1300 in prizes awarded and you could win. For all the details visit www.instituteforwriters.com/prekcontest or text PREKCONTEST to 33444. Submit your manuscript before October 31st for a chance to win. Do you like the podcast? Want your questions answered on air? Want to make suggestions on future episodes? Come join the Brain Burps About Books Facebook Group HERE. Still time to get in to my next live class where I can show you how to build your audience and I personally critique and offer advice how to improve your website, newsletter and freebies. Want more details? Sign up at  getyourfirst1000followers.com.   This week we're talking about school visits and what to do when you book them    Find Expert advice from Alexis O'Neill  at www.schoolvisitexperts.com. Emma Walton Hamilton created a useful resource called School Visit Wizard. Do you need a promo video and what should be in it? What should you include on your site? What if something happens while presenting? What kind of visit will you do and for how many kids? What ages? How do you get visit invitations? What should you include in your visit packet? Great sites to visits for samples of what author visit pages:  School Visit Experts: http://schoolvisitexperts.com/ Carolyn Crimi: http://carolyncrimi.com/pages/school.html Lee Wardlaw: http://www.leewardlaw.com/presentation.htm My adult presentation page: http://katiedavis.com/appearances My author visit page: http://katiedavis.com/author-visits/       

BBAB 227: Defining Magical Realism

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