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Sponsored by The Highlights Foundation – check out the amazing workshops they have! Here is an episode I did with the people who are presenting Making the Web Work for You.

Also brought to you by Audible.com – click here for a FREE trial…don’t you want a free audio book?!

In this episode you’ll hear

• me talk about the Highlights Foundation workshop, Creating an Authentic Cultural Voice
• how we will have our monthly Tweetchat, #KidlitPRChat, on Wed., March 7 form 6-7pm ET while I am at the Highlights Foundation workshop with faculty experts joining in!
• questions from readers/listeners on promoting oneself in a blog comment and how to decide which way to go in a story
• a review by librarian Mr. John Schumacher: Petunia Goes Wild by Paul Schmid
• a Take5 Marketing Tip from Dianne de Las Casas: Evernote
• a new segment called Julie Hedlund Gets All Grateful on Your A**

In this interview with Carol Rasco of RIF you’ll hear us talk about

• What it’s like to work in the White House
• Ways to integrate literacy in every day life
• Every $2.50 donation gets a paperback into the hands of a child who needs a book.
• 90% of every donation goes straight to the kids

How can I donate to RIF?

• By mail:  
Reading Is Fundamental, Inc.
Development Department 
1255 23rd Street, NW
Suite 300
Washington, DC 20037
• By phone: 
Call the development staff toll-free at 1-888-725-4801.
• Online: 
Go to our secure donation page.
• Additional options: 
You can also contribute through workplace giving, honor and memorial donations, bequeaths in wills, and many other ways. For more information, please visit our Other Ways to Give page.

Recently I got a question emailed to me from a reader named Anthony that I thought might help my readers, too. And I’m including the compliment at the top because, well, I just really like it.

Hi Katie,

I just discovered your podcast under an iTunes search, as well as others but I must say you are by far the best podcast about this subject. I really enjoyed your interview with Stephen McCranie and I totally identified with him when he spoke about attending college. I am a bit older than Stephen but our experiences were the same concerning not having the courses you want to really take to improve your art available. Hopefully that will change.

Katie I have a question that someone of your experience can give a an opinion on, I am starting to writing/ illustrating a children’s book about sickle cell and I am a stuck about which angle to take. My thoughts were that since one of the aliments of sickle cell is making you physically weak, I would do the opposite for my character and make her strong, basically what ever the condition that hurts her is flipped to make her able to endure (in a superhero sort of way). The other idea was making her someone with a photographic memory who remembers things thru songs/ singing. They are two different ways I would like to handle the telling of a girl with sickle cell, I’m just stuck on which path to take. Any advice on this matter would be greatly appreciated and helpful.

Thanking you in advance for your time. Both with reading this and podcasting. Thank you!

Dear Anthony,

You said you are just starting to write it. My opinion, and it’s just that – one person’s opinion – is to sit down and start writing whatever you feel the story needs. It’s a much different process thinking about which way to take a story and actually writing the story. Get a draft down and then see if it’s working. You may find that your idea brings you to a place you never expected.

On the other hand, and more specifically, if you create a character with a disease that manifests differently for her than for other patients (ie readers), you might want to imagine how those readers will feel. My gut tells me to give her issues that are identifiable to your readers, while giving her the spirit of a superhero.

I hope that helps!

Best,

Katie

Please go here to check out the latest stop on my blog tour for How to Promote Your Children’s Book: Tips, Tricks, and Secrets to Create a Bestseller.

You want to check out this blog anyway, since Darcy Pattison is very knowledgeable about book trailers and she’s doing a giveaway of the eBook!

Leave a comment there and maybe you’ll win my new eBook, How to Promote Your Children’s Book: Tips, Tricks, and Secrets to Create a Bestseller

Buy the podcast app!

Sponsored by The Highlights Foundation

In this episode you’ll hear a couple of special extras!

• a guest mini-interview by librarian Mary Ann Scheuer of Sylvia Vardell, poetry zealot, professor in the School of Library & Information Studies at Texas Women’s University and Cybil Award book app judge
• a review also by Mary Ann Scheuer: There’s a Monster at the End of this Book (Cybils Book App winner!)
• a Take5 Marketing Tip from Dianne de Las Casas: Join an Acronym!

An interview with Stephen McCranie

in which we discuss

• his second graphic novel in the Mal and Chad series, Food Fight!
• Stephen’s Picture Blog about Creativity
• Stephen’s Gallery site
• Comic essay on Stehpen’s early years drawing comics
• Here is the script writing program Stephen uses
• Giveaway deadline is end of February!
• My Banana Peel moment blog post

Click the images below for a larger view.

Blog Tour Schedule

Feb 1 – E is for Book
Feb 2 – Banana Peel Thursday
Feb 3 – Creative Spaces
Feb 6 – DearEditor.com
Feb 7 – Writing With a Broken Tusk
Feb 8 – Shutta Crum
Feb 9 – McBookWords
Feb 10 – Kerem Erkan
Feb 16 -Elizabeth O. Dulemba
Feb 17 – Fiction Notes
March 1 – 12×12 in 2012
March 2 – Christine Fonseca, Author

Blog Tour Schedule

Feb 1 – E is for Book
Feb 2 – Banana Peel Thursday
Feb 3 – Creative Spaces
Feb 6 – DearEditor.com
Feb 7 – Writing With a Broken Tusk
Feb 8 – Shutta Crum
Feb 9 – McBookWords
Feb 10 – Kerem Erkan

Feb 16 -Elizabeth O. Dulemba
Feb 17 – Fiction Notes
March 1 – 12×12 in 2012
March 2 – Christine Fonseca, Author

Blog Tour Schedule

Feb 1 – E is for Book
Feb 2 – Banana Peel Thursday
Feb 3 – Creative Spaces
Feb 6 – DearEditor.com
Feb 7 – Writing With a Broken Tusk
Feb 8 – Shutta Crum
Feb 9 – McBookWords
Feb 10 – Kerem Erkan
Feb 16 -Elizabeth O. Dulemba
Feb 17 – Fiction Notes
March 1 – 12×12 in 2012
March 2 – Christine Fonseca, Author

Buy the podcast app!

I’m a day early for this episode because there is so much great stuff in here to hear!

Tour Hosts share their fails, successes, and ideas, so listen up!

• Uma Krishnaswami direct from India!
• Chris Cheng talks about python massages
• Loreen Leedy talks about promoting and making money at the same time here
• Darcy Pattison talks about creating book trailers with help from this site
• Editor Deborah Halverson reveals her big fail that happened with her own book
• Julie Hedlund stumbled upon a great way to pre-promote for the time she gets published
• Elizabeth O. Dulemba talks about how she’s gotten over 3 million hits on her site in the last 2 years
• Dan Santat talks about his unique and indy-supporting win-win-win idea
• Elizabeth Stevens’ gets published authors to tell about their big failures and fakes me out in the interview!
• Christine Fonseca talks about her greatest…you’ll have to listen to hear!

Blog Tour Schedule

Feb 1 – E is for Book
Feb 2 – Banana Peel Thursday
Feb 3 – Creative Spaces
Feb 6 – DearEditor.com
Feb 7 – Writing With a Broken Tusk
Feb 8 – Shutta Crum
Feb 9 – McBookWords
Feb 10 – Kerem Erkan
Feb 16 -Elizabeth O. Dulemba
Feb 17 – Fiction Notes
March 1 – 12×12 in 2012
March 2 – Christine Fonseca, Author