Week that was Jan 18th

Last week of holidays - am looking forward to uninterrupted working hours... I might actually finish those two kidlit scripts that I've working on for a few months now.

We have registrations rolling in for the Self-Publishing Workshop March 1st. If you are interested in learning what it takes to get your book ideas published as ebooks and print-on-demand books then this is a fantastic workshop for you.

Last week was Star Wars week in our home - hence the Lego R2D2 pic above. The Auckland City Libraries have quite a few Star Wars early readers which Zac has loved reading. We then sat down to watch all 6 episodes of the franchise and although it took three days, we managed to get through them all - mostly - I skipped the latter part of episode three due to the violence. Safe to say that R2D2 whistles and 'wookie' sounds will made in our house for a while. Bevan has even changed his cell phone to an R2D2 whistle!

We have another workshop coming up April 5th in Auckland on Writing and Illustrating for Children. We can now confirm that children's author Sharon Holt and her talented illustrator Deborah Hinde are presenting at this four hour workshop and we are really excited about working with them both. As a NZ children's self-publisher, Sharon has a wealth of knowledge and experience for anyone who is interested in learning about publishing for kids.

For either workshop, please register your interested by emailing us at findlaybooks@gmail.com

Graphic Design by Paul Lafaele

Have a fantastic week, and we'd love to hear how your self-publishing adventures are going. Visit us over at Facebook and leave us a pic of your new self-published book!

Next Self-Publishing Workshop - 1st March 2014

Next Self-Publishing Workshop - 1st March 2014

Where: Liberty Church, 96 Lansford Cres, Avondale, Auckland, NZ
When: 1st March, 10am.
Cost: $70.00 for seven hour workshop, $10 for printed workshop manual
Who: with Joy and Bevan Findlay, self-publishing team of Findlay Books
What: 10 Topics that every new Self-Publisher needs to learn:
How: email your interest to findlaybooks@gmail.com

Lesson 1) Before the nitty-gritty of Self-Publishing

Lesson 2) Legal and Financial Issues Part One - Copyright

Lesson 3) Using professional Editors and Proofreaders

Lesson 4) Formatting your book for publishing

Lesson 5) Working with Images, including Cover Design

Lesson 6) How to Publish a Book Online – A Step-By-Step Guide.

Lesson 7) Legal and Financial Issues Part Two – Royalties

Lesson 8) Legal and Financial Issues Part Three – Tax

Lesson 9) Marketing and Promotions

Lesson 10) Vanity Publishing & Publishing-on-Demand

We will also look at why you are self-publishing and which pathway is best for you and your book, and we'll discuss distributing in New Zealand.

Bookings are essential as there are only limited spaces. Get in touch with us by emailing us at findlaybooks@gmail.com. As part of this workshop, you will receive our ebook 'Confessions of a Kiwi Self-Publisher' for FREE! (Please note that we are selling our manual as a print book for $10.)

Book Cover Artists

Book Cover Artists - A list of businesses that create covers for your books.

http://mrlafaele.wordpress.com - Paul Lafaele Graphic Designer (NZ)

http://www.hairytrolldesignz.com/ - Paul Elder (NZ)

https://vimeo.com/71094521 - Animator / Character Designer / Illustrator Chan Ghee Leow (NZ)

http://illustrations-james.tumblr.com/ - James Copsey (NZ)

http://bertodesigns.com/ - For brilliant book covers.





http://goonwrite.com/ - Pre made book cover designs.

http://paperandsage.com/site/ - Custom artwork for authors.

http://www.coveritdesigns.net/ - Cover it! Designs portfolio.



 
http://sprinklesontopstudios.com/custom-cover-designs/ -
Let me be the "Sprinkles on Top" for all your creative endeavors!

http://llpix.com/ - LLPix Photography and Design

http://lmbookcreations.wordpress.com/
- Photography & Creator of Unique Book Designs and Author Promotional items.

http://www.bookcoversale.com/ - Custom and premade book cover designs.

http://www.covertocoverdesigns.com/ - because you are being judged by your cover.

http://parchmentplace.wix.com/dwell-design - Design isn’t just something we just do – it’s a way of life.

http://www.bookandcoverdesign.com/covers.php - Book and Cover Design

The week that was Jan 9th

We are back to work this week. Bevan is back at Downer and I'm child-wrangling. While I love doing the Auckland Libraries Reading Programme with the squidlets - yesterday was a movie marathon day with Pixar and Disney movies. Zac loved Monster University and Kiara loved Tinkerbell!

Marketing planning for the new year is trending this week. Not only are we looking at Findlay Books website, our kids ebooks/books, workshops, training, and a new marketing platform for self-publishers in NZ - we are also busy getting more stories illustrated. 

I've connected with a few more illustrators over the holidays and others who are really keen to get their kid's stories and books published. I am in the process of finalising dates with the venue for our next two workshops - Self-Publishing Workshop and Writing and Illustrating for Children. We will post dates for these two workshops and the speakers for each shortly.

I've been writing more kids stories and enjoying reading others, but I have to admit, the story/music CD books have become popular in our home today. 'Treasure' by Bronwen Billinghurst of Happy Bee Books is a hit with my 5 year old son. We've listened to the song about 12 times in one sitting and with his new pirate scar - Christmas accident - he's really getting into character!

I've come across a few Favourite Children's Books lists by authors online. I'm hoping to put together a few lists myself this year - Fav all time kids books, and fav self-published books!  What are your fav kids books in your home at the moment?

We'd love to hear how your self-publishing journeys are going. Please comment below or email us at findlaybooks@gmail.com. 
 
Thanks and hope you are all having a great week! 

Joy (and Zac) Findlay