Danny in a Newfangled World

Awesome New Review

// March 14th, 2012 // 1 Comment » // Books

I’m thrilled to have received a five-star review by a Readers Favourite Reviewer. Check it out at their website.

Here it is below:

Reviewed by Author Anna del C. Dye. for Readers Favorite

This is a very enjoyable story for kids in Kindergarten to fifth grade. It has cartoon drawings here and there to optimize visualization. The language is age appropriate, witty and fast moving. I like it because it is written in an easy English which will be a plus to help readers in the lower levels to read. The story is well-developed and interesting for kids of that age.

Danny is a computer gamer and he is good at it. The only obstacles that keep him from more mature and fun games are his parents. He thinks, breathes and eats computer games, that is until he is ten-years-old, when he decides that the games have become boring. He is ready for the next level, but his mother always says he needs to stay with the safe ones. That has stopped him many times before but not today. He is swallowed up by his computer and finds himself in a place where everything is computer games. Yes! He is now in heaven. But that is until the most ugly monster in that place threatens to eat him. Now, he not only has to play what he likes, but also win a real fight for his life. These terrors will continue until he figures out how to return safely back home to his family.

This book should relate quite well with kids who are in elementary school now. It addresses a theme that they know about and will have experienced many times in their own lives. It is clean and very enjoyable. It will make a great catch for any school or home library.

Sequel to Young Middle-Grade Chapter Book

// January 1st, 2012 // No Comments » // Books

Happy New Year! This day, January 1st, 2012, I have resolved to get serious about self-publishing the sequel to Danny in a Newfangled World in the coming months. Finding good books for boys has never been easier, yet still there are no other books in the marketplace that combine kids’ love of video games with their love of reading the way Danny in a Newfangled World does.

Parents and teachers can appreciate the underlying messages about internet safety, while kids can take pleasure in reading about an ultimate fantasy – getting sucked inside their favourite video games.

Additionally, for all the new owners of iPads and e-readers, buying books for kids online is easier than ever. Danny in a Newfangled World can be ordered online through Amazon or iTunes bookstore for super cheap! Looking for an ebook for boys and girls that will keep their eyes glued to a screen (in a good way)? Check out this link:

Amazon ebook $0.99 each

If you read on your iPad or iPod, download the version available in iTunes iBookstore.

Write Book, Market Book, Sell Book, TWEET Book?

// November 24th, 2010 // No Comments » // Books

A year ago, I was happy as a robin in springtime to be parked in front of my laptop writing short stories, books, articles, blog posts… Whatever!  As long as I could sit contentedly at my desk, alone and surrounded by silence, working on whatever piece that drove my passion to write, I wanted nothing else.  The last thing I wanted to do was go out and meet people, “brand” myself, or pick up the phone to talk to someone.  Writers, like me, have come to understand that the publishing industry doesn’t want to “hear” from us.  Just email or mail us, they say.  Don’t call us, we’ll call you.  (Although their part of the deal is optional.)  I was okay with that.  I got used to waiting.  And waiting.

However, that bubble of serenity popped the minute I decided to forge ahead with publishing Danny in a Newfangled World.  In the past few months, I’ve been spending as much time talking, marketing, and selling as I used to spend typing in solitude.  There’s nothing like being pushed outside of one’s comfort zone! 

Now, thanks to the innovative advice provided by some serious experts in social media, I’m finding myself back on my butt in front my laptop.  Part of the reason I’m back is that I have begun to write the second instalment of Danny in a Newfangled World, but I’ve also bought into the power of Twitter.  Marketing, it turns out, can be done without getting off your rear end (literally.)  I still need to make those face-to-face meetings with book sellers, distributors, and customers, but thanks to social networking, I can help build my book’s market through the relationships I build online.

My social media strategy now includes tweeting.  A lot.  Over the next 30 days, I plan to tweet 1000 times.  As with just about everything I’ve done with this book, it’s an experiment.  I look forward to seeing how it all transpires, not so keen on turning into a tweetaholic but I’ll worry about that on January 1st – when it’s time to make resolutions.  So if you’re not following me yet, now is as good a time as any!  And if you’re not on Twitter, well what are you waiting for?