Brain Burps About Books

An Interview with Reedsy Chief Operating Officer Richard Fayet

• The Write Life Writers Bundle goes live for 3 days only starting March 9th! You can get $1072 with of ebooks and courses for writers for only $99. Video Idiot Boot Camp, Learn Scrivener Fast and 7 other resources are inlcuded. Check it out here: www.katiedavis.com/bundle
• Get your free marketing lessons at www.katiedavis.com/VIP.

• Heather Preusser reviews Courage for Beginners by Karen Harrington

This week’s guest is Richard Fayet. Richard is one of the co-founders of Reedsy, a curated marketplace designed to streamline self-publishing. On Reedsy, authors can connect with vetted, industry-experienced editors, designers, marketers and translators and work with them through in-built project management and collaboration tools, keeping all the workflow in one place.

• Getting tough with their Terms of Service.
• How they get their curated professionals.
• Their 10% fee.
• What collaboration tools they offer.
• What publication tools they have available.
• Author profiles.

Brain Burps About Books Podcast #217

An Interview with Alexis Grant of The Write Life

• When you sign up at katiedavis.com/bundle, you’ll be one of the first to hear when this great bundle for writers is available!

This week’s guest is Alexis Grant. Alexis is an entrepreneurial writer and digital strategist, with a focus on careers and the workplace. All of her work falls under one umbrella: helping YOU create the life you want to live.

• Why she created The Write Life and The Writer's Bundle.
• How The Writer's Bundle can benefit YOU.
• Who is part of The Writer's Bundle this year.
• How you can be one of the first to get it!

Brain Burps About Books Podcast #216

Click to tweet about this week's episode

• Check out my new site!
• Free book marketing lessons delivered straight to your inbox – go to my new site and you’ll see the sign up box on the right.

• Emily Wylie reviews The Turtle of Oman by Naomi Shihab Nye

This week’s guest is Karen Romano Young. She is an author, illustrator, science communicator, comic creator, and deep sea diver. Her work includes graphic novels and science articles, young adult and middle grade novels, and books about the ocean and animals.

• How Karen got to dive to the bottom of the ocean in Alvin. • Writing for NASA, Wood’s Hole, extreme outreach. • Did you know the NY Times is written so a 12-year-old can read it? • Going to sea with Dr. Bob Ballard. • Hydro-thermal vents 40 years after Dr. Ballard discovered them. • Nautiluslive.org • Mapping parts of the ocean with robot submarines. • Hundred Percent. • Sea Turtle Rescue. • Doodlebug.

Brain Burps About Books Podcast #215

Click here to get Katie's 21 Ways to Market and Promote Your Book Checklist & Worksheet Kit FREE.

• I'm creating a new course! Get on the VIP list for How to Build Your Author Platform and get free marketing tips here: http://katiedavis.com/VIP

Contributors

• Julie Falatko reviews Goodnight Already by Jory John and illustrated by Benji Davies.

Janet Fox likes writing history, mystery, romance, and adventure novels... but mostly she likes writing for and about the child – the teen – she still is inside. She lives in Montana, surrounded by mountains and in the company of her husband and their rambunctious yellow lab.

• How she sold a book based a video she created! (Now, do you believe writers should be making videos?)
• Her work in choosing speakers for book festivals.
• How video informs who she chooses to invite.

Brain Burps About Books Podcast #214

• I love LeadPages! I'm using to build my new website. You can check out LeadPages here: http://katiedavis.com/leadpages
• I'm creating a new course! Get on the VIP list for How to Build Your Author Platform and get free marketing tips here: http://katiedavis.com/VIP

This Week's Guest is Julia Suzuki!

This week’s guest is Julia Suzuki, author of the The Land of Dragor: Book 1: The Gift of Charms (Land of Dragor 1).

Julia and I talk about

• How did she get 63,000 followers on Twitter with only 1,300 tweets? • How she controls her social media schedule. • The start of her career and selling over 10,000 books • How Julia got national press • Is getting traditionally published the holy grail?

Brain Burps About Books Podcast #213

• Just a quick note to let you know that I’m starting a new podcast soon 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 writeakidsbook.com/podcast to learn more.

• There's still time to join Crank It Up with Katie! It's a great opportunity to get coaching for your writer business in a small group format. Join HERE.
• I’m inviting you to a party! Join the KidLit.TV Pinterest Party on January 29th at 9pm EST. Be sure to follow for the latest resources on KidLit and a chance to WIN! Comment, Like, Repin... it's like a visual Twitter Chat on Pinterest! Have you ever been to a Pinterest party? One for writers? One that will grow your followers? RSVP HERE.
• Sign up for a FREE 15 minute Pinterest Session HERE!
• Plus, receive $20 Off a Pinterest Consulting Session by click HERE.

This Week's Guest is Kim Vij!

Kim Vij is a Pinterest Consultant, Educator, Blogger, Freelance Writer and Speaker. Using The Educators' Spin On It, she has created award winning boards on Pinterest with over 1.6 Million followers by focusing pins on Education and Parenting. She’s successfully partnered with leading children’s educational bloggers and brands to create powerful Pinterest boards for early childhood education. In the past three years she has discovered how to reach out to parents to encourage them to become their child’s first teacher by blogging and pinning resources and tips onto her Pinterest Boards. As a mom of 3, Kim enjoys sharing simple ways to make every day moments into learning opportunities.

• What to name your author board. (Hint: Use Pinterest Name-author) • How to pick a niche topic. • How create a character building board. • Naming your boards. • What to use for board descriptions and how tabs connect. • The educational aspects of Pinterest. • How often should you change your board covers? • Promoted pins – paying for pins to be promoted. • Picmonkey.com and Canva.com • What is the maximum size image you can use? • How to pin to secret boards and release later. • Should you use Tailwind or Viraltag or Ahalogy? • Can you change the name of your board? • How to embed your boards on your site. • The steps to a perfect pin. • What should be in your pin description? Answer: Title for the blog post, plus one more sentence, about 100 characters total. • What are the Pinterest don’ts?

When I was listening to Fresh Air on NPR I thought, "Hey! I could do that, but with children's publishing as my focus!" That's how Brain Burps About Books got started. Writing is so solitary. I thought it would be a great way to get to talk to my friends and make new ones, plus I could help others learn. Maybe I'd learn some stuff myself, too. I've had the privilege of talking to the first three National Ambassadors for Young People's Literature, to librarians and New York Time's bestselling authors. I've interviewed to booksellers and publishers, writers, illustrators, app creators, and app distributors, and more! There is always something new on the horizon to learn and to share. So many listeners have asked how to support the show, and actually, now you can. I've installed a donate button to help defray the costs of producing the show. What do you learn or get out of Brain Burps every week? If it's worth donating a dollar, two dollars, five, or whatever you think the show is worth to you, it would help enormously. The show costs $20 a month to keep on the server, and that's only if there are four shorter episodes in a month. That number doesn't include other costs like my time to research and record, post, edit the intros and outros, web hosting, and equipment and software to do all this. I ended up loving podcasting. I love my listeners. My "Burpers!" This is my gig, I know. and like I said, it's an incredible experience for me. But if you've you've been helped, or just love it too, and you're able, here's your opportunity to help defray the costs. No matter what, thank you for being a Burper! http://katiedavis.com/donate

Brain Burps About Books Podcast #212

• Want to write 12 picture book drafts this year? Want encouragement in your writing journey? Check out 12 x 12 HERE. www.katiedavis.com/12

• Julie Hedlund helps us express gratitude.

• What should my platform look like? How do I do it without being pushy or tacky?

Described by the New York Times as “…something like the James Joyce for the elementary school – set…”, Judy Schachner is the #1 NY Times Best Selling Author/Illustrator of over 23 books for children including Bits & Pieces, the Skippyjon Jones series, Yo Vikings, The Grannyman and Willy and May. She has won many awards including the first E. B. White Read Aloud Award.

• If SkippyJon Jones a kitten or a dog?
• Should you use your “normal reading voice” or use accents when reading out loud?
• the 10 year anniversary for SkippyJon Jones!
• Judy’s creative process and tips on how you can help your own
• Judy’s next big project
• How you can become a picture book writer

• For writers who want to know more about marketing your books. Any writer. Any books. Online, offline, self or traditionally published. Free Market and Promote Your Book Checklist and Worksheet for my writer peeps. You’ll also get a list of 108 top twitter hashtags for writers. As a bonus, I include 21 Ways to promote your book on Amazon. Click HERE.
• The next Crank It Up session is starting on January 22 and there are only a few spots left. Don’t miss the early bird price! It ends January 15th. Start the new year off right by investing in yourself and click here: Crank It Up with Katie.
• Build your platform and make money at the same time. How? Writing for Kidlit.tv! They’re looking for bloggers! Check out KidLit.TV here.
• Renew yourself! Don’t miss the chance to renew yourself at Writers Renaissance … imagine writing in or all writers who are women: from April 12 - 17

Go HERE to get my Market and Promote Your Book Checklist & Worksheet PLUS 21 Ways to Promote Your Book on Amazon!! http://katiedavis.com/21waystomarket

Brain Burps About Books Podcast #210

• I’ve got something FREE to help you bump it up to the next level in the coming year! It’s a simple little planner. Click here: www.katiedavis.com/2015
• The Early Bird price for Crank It Up with Katie expires January 7th. For only $97, you'll get four weeks of group coaching with me. We'll go over Social Media, Email Lists, Marketing Your Book and Yourself and Video & Tech. Only a few spots left. Start the new year off right by investing in yourself: www.coursesforwriters.com/crankitup

• A grateful segment from Julie Hedlund

I recently did a survey asking you what questions you have about marketing your books. There were over 500 responses and today I will answer one question I think is most representative of what you want to know: What is the #1 tool that helped your sell more books?

When I was listening to Fresh Air on NPR I thought, "Hey! I could do that, but with children's publishing as my focus!" That's how Brain Burps About Books got started. Writing is so solitary. I thought it would be a great way to get to talk to my friends and make new ones, plus I could help others learn. Maybe I'd learn some stuff myself, too. I've had the privilege of talking to the first three National Ambassadors for Young People's Literature, to librarians and New York Time's bestselling authors. I've interviewed to booksellers and publishers, writers, illustrators, app creators, and app distributors, and more! There is always something new on the horizon to learn and to share. So many listeners have asked how to support the show, and actually, now you can. I've installed a donate button to help defray the costs of producing the show. What do you learn or get out of Brain Burps every week? If it's worth donating a dollar, two dollars, five, or whatever you think the show is worth to you, it would help enormously. The show costs $20 a month to keep on the server, and that's only if there are four shorter episodes in a month. That number doesn't include other costs like my time to research and record, post, edit the intros and outros, web hosting, and equipment and software to do all this. I ended up loving podcasting. I love my listeners. My "Burpers!" This is my gig, I know. and like I said, it's an incredible experience for me. But if you've you've been helped, or just love it too, and you're able, here's your opportunity to help defray the costs. No matter what, thank you for being a Burper! http://katiedavis.com/donate

Brain Burps About Books Podcast #209

• It's coming! I'm working on my New Year's Gift for you! (Hint: I'm planning on helping you have a productive year.) Sign up here so you'll get it as soon as it's available: www.katiedavis.com/2015
• Have I helped you this year? Did I say something on the podcast, or in a course, or in an email that you've been able to use? I would love to hear about it! Send me an email at [email protected] and let me know.

• the process for a first time illustrator.
• us looking at stuff on the video (she made the image below while we watched!).
• the word my mom considered a curse word when I was little.
• art notes Debbie received.
• how she did wordless spreads.

When I was listening to Fresh Air on NPR I thought, "Hey! I could do that, but with children's publishing as my focus!" That's how Brain Burps About Books got started. Writing is so solitary. I thought it would be a great way to get to talk to my friends and make new ones, plus I could help others learn. Maybe I'd learn some stuff myself, too. I've had the privilege of talking to the first three National Ambassadors for Young People's Literature, to librarians and New York Time's bestselling authors. I've interviewed to booksellers and publishers, writers, illustrators, app creators, and app distributors, and more! There is always something new on the horizon to learn and to share. So many listeners have asked how to support the show, and actually, now you can. I've installed a donate button to help defray the costs of producing the show. What do you learn or get out of Brain Burps every week? If it's worth donating a dollar, two dollars, five, or whatever you think the show is worth to you, it would help enormously. The show costs $20 a month to keep on the server, and that's only if there are four shorter episodes in a month. That number doesn't include other costs like my time to research and record, post, edit the intros and outros, web hosting, and equipment and software to do all this. I ended up loving podcasting. I love my listeners. My "Burpers!" This is my gig, I know. and like I said, it's an incredible experience for me. But if you've you've been helped, or just love it too, and you're able, here's your opportunity to help defray the costs. No matter what, thank you for being a Burper! http://katiedavis.com/donate

Sometimes I'll tell you about something that has impressed the heck out of me. If you decide to purchase what I've recommended, you don not pay any more but I'll get a referral fee. But I will only use a referral (or affiliate) link if it has earned my trust.