Nanny's Tales: The Dragon and the Unicorn

                                  

Starting with Nanny's adventures of a princess-turned-unicorn, FutureWord Publishing will be releasing the first of a series of colorful tales written by Katherine Coppinger. This time it is about a grandmother's adventures with her grandchildren, a unicorn, and a hateful, fire-breathing dragon. Nanny is not like any other grandmother. She dresses much younger than the average granny would. To her nine year-old granddaughter, Kirstin and her four-year-old grandson, Michael, she's a ticket into some dreamy, but edge-of-your-seat action. The story brings to its readers a vivid picture of warmth, love and beauty through the images drawn by the storytelling alone. Add the talents of one of the best illustrators,Valerie Bouthyette, and you have a captivating book for young readers.

Katherine Coppinger's stories were originally written to read to her grandchildren. Now she has decided to present one of them to FutureWord, who is now ready to illustrate a 22 page story that actually was first written out to take up the space of a novella for children if combined with the sequel, Nanny and the Frocodile King.


Nanny's Tales: The Dragon and the Unicorn opens with Kirstin and Michael flying kites while Nanny is working in the flower bed. Their kites look like a dragon and a unicorn. Suddenly, the kites come to life and the dragon soars upward to a castle somewhere in the sky with Michael tucked away snugly under the dragon's tail. Nanny and Kirstin are left with the unicorn who explains that the dragon is really a mean sorcerer who wanted to marry a princess. When she refused, he turned her into a unicorn and himself into a dragon. The kidnapping of Michael is a just a lure for the loving unicorn to make a rescue attempt so he can try to get her to submit to marriage. Nanny won't tolerate this. According to Kirstin's faith in Nanny, it will all be over for the dragon once Nanny arrives. So, off they go with the unicorn to attempt the rescue.

Good stories come from real life events, whether they are for children or for adults. Katherine explained how she thought of the idea for this book.
  
"'I always made up stories for the children because they found them more fun when I used their names or the names of their friends. This story began when Kirstin and Michael were flying kites in front of the house. I began working in the flowerbed and heard Michael call out, 'Nanny, help me.' I turned and found him with his kite string wrapped around his neck and shoulders with the kite still flying. It looked as if it was trying to take him with it. I ran to untangle Michael and I told him, 'What happened honey, did that kite try to fly off with you?' That night our story was about a dragon who did steal Michael. Since Kirstin was also flying a kite, I made her kite a unicorn and the story spun a life of its own.'"

The 8 by 10 children's picture book has 44 pages of text and pictures. The total number of pages is 52. It is perfect bound and soon will be available on Amazon. B & N.com, Books-a-Million, Borders, and all the online book stores. Contact the publisher for more details at www.futureword.net. The release is just around the corner.

~C. Haynes

May The Best Dog Win, won . . . a contract with Futureword

Out of 21 submissions for children's stories only one made the grade. May The Best Dog Win, by Kelly Hashway was so adorable that we could not pass it up.

Kelly lives in northeastern Pennsylvania with her husband, daughter, and two pets. She is previously published. Her former publications include:

• "A Terrifying Test"-Fall 2009 issue of Spaceports and Spidersilk
• "Friendship Junction"-Stories That Lift
• "Adventures in Dog Sitting"-January 2010 issue of Stories for Children Magazine
• "The Christmas Bunny"-March 1, 2010 issue of Bumples Magazine

These are only a few for starters. Kelly enjoys writing short stories and books for children of all ages and has been published in various magazines and print anthologies. She is a former Middle School Language Arts teacher with a Master’s degree in English Secondary Education, but her true passion has always been writing. She is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators.

 

She writes stories of all lengths for children and young adults. For more about Kelly’s published works, please visit her at http://www.kellyhashway.com/

Illustrations for this picture book will be prepared by Valerie Bouthyette who says the story looks appealing to illustrate. What is the story about? Well, not until we can show you a press release! You'll find out.

Secrets for people who are submitting to Futureword. Do not submit work that is unedited and doesn't have a query letter or bios. Please follow the directions on the Futureword website.Children's stories need to stay under, well under 900 words if at all possible. Submissions are open again in the spring. I saw a lot of good stories. I regret that I can't publish them all. Not yet, anyway.

Little Rockin' Roger makes a debut in Uk and the USA

Benjamin Moores may be modest about his own name, but not about Little Rockin' Roger. For the last two years, Benjamin worked slowly and painstakingly to develop his story and gradually worked with New York illustrator Valerie Bouthyette to bring that story to life. Benjamin searched for agents in the UK and was determined not to put Little Rockin' Roger on the waiting list too long. I'm glad he didn't wait!

Benjamin wrote in a recent letter to FutureWord the reason he submitted to a US publisher.

"Well, I was having hard luck with English agents here in the UK. Because of the recession, most were sticking with their "sure things". So on a prayer, I emailed Valerie my full manuscript hoping that she might like and recommend it to her friends (at this point I didn't know who Futureword were). A week or so later I got an email telling me she loved it to which I said, "Thank you very much".

Then a week later Valerie said that she had emailed my manuscript to one of her friends (Cheryl Haynes) and that she will let me know when she made a decision.

This took about 3 weeks. In the meantime I researched Cheryl Haynes and her site and made notes and was very impressed of all of its staff. This made me very anxious for her decision... which at first wasn't what I hoped for lol but in time she decided to take me on and here we are now!!"

FutureWord told the author that his book had a very high potential for a British audience. He insisted that the US audience would be a bigger one. He had been working on these series of stories in his mind long before he located an illustrator. Perseverance is one true sign of a winner. FutureWord let him try his hand at placing it with a UK publisher first. We couldn't believe we were lucky enough to have the story. Just reading it gave this publisher ideas . . .created brainstorms within. I contacted Lea Heil and asked her if she could write a musical score to go with Benjamin's lyrics. There is a rare and unique tale here. He never really showed Valerie the full manuscript for the illustrations. He only told her what he wanted for the pictures. She complied. Such was an extraordinary way of getting a book illustrated. You can almost read the whole process on the Little Rockin' Roger fan page created back in 2008.

Benjamin teaches young teens in IT but keeps a private collection of Little Rockin' Roger stories in his back pocket for when these are sold. The 48 page, perfect bound 8 by 10 is fully illustrated and can be purchased in the US for $12.99 and in the UK for as little as £7.78.

The book is also sold globally and at all retail online bookstores including Barnes and Noble.

So now, what is and who is Little Rockin' Roger? He's everywhere on the Internet. Roger, his mother and his pet fish move to a new home. Roger hums to himself at night because he's afraid. Someone or something starts to hum the tune back to Roger. He suspects ghosts but he can't be sure. Then a mouse leads him to the old attic where a magic glass guitar will make him become the next rock star!

The children can sing the song if the parents can read the musical score. It's a lovely way to teach children to love arts and culture. It helps them to learn music and gives the family a sense of togetherness.

Little Rockin' Roger just may rock your world like he has some of the people on his fan page.

Check out www.littlerockin'Roger.com or go to Facebook. He's listed there too!
Little Rockin' Roger! Oh, yeah! Little Rockin' Roger! Oh, Yeah!

Amazon releases . . . But Whether Men Do

The Amazon debut of R. Anthony Mahan has now been released. The book is exclusively for sale on Amazon until Barnes and Noble picks up the product from the catalog within the next 6-8 weeks. The novel will be sold globally and on Kindle shortly.

The book is the first Novel to be released by FutureWord and we look forward to the countdown to zero when we can offer a release to the press for the 378 page science fiction novel. The book, But Whether Men Do is a softcover, perfect bound 6 by 9 and will be available for all online bookstores including Barnes and Noble, Books-a-million, Border and many others as well as independent bookstores. The book will also be sold on Amazon globally. The sale price is $14.95.

FutureWord has a press release prepared for the Atlanta Journal Constitution, the local TV stations, and libraries in Alpharetta where R. Anthony Mahan will be holding most of his book signings.

The Maysville Autumn Leaf Festival will have a huge presentation in the month of November that showcases Mahan and three other FutureWord authors.

Working with R. Anthony Mahan has been a pleasure and I enjoy the excitement for his successful delivery of the first science fiction on a series of books that he has been working on for a while.

Any information concerning the Amazon release should be directed to www.Futureword.net.

Amazon will have a Search Inside Feature that should be ready in about 10 business days. Right now, the product page is still under construction by Amazon.

Tentatively, the press release date is set for September 15th, 2010.

Covert Blog Promotion

Great advice for authors promoting their works. Covert Blog Promotion

FutureWord Presents: GAYA Award Winner Nicole Izmaylov

Nicole Izmaylov was well received with a bow from one of the judges who said "You're better than I am. I'm going to watch you!" at the 2010 GAYA Award presentation Saturday evening.

Nicole holds the first official award for FutureWord and has broken ground for Independent publishers to move ahead with hope for their dreams in the publishing world to become a reality.

Her perseverance and pride as well as leadership has shown Nicole to be a role model for young authors. Her genuine interest in learning what the public wants and to please her audience rather than please herself sets her apart from many others.

As Victor Hugo said, "If I only wrote for myself I should have to lay down my quill."

I think Nicole's enthusiasm shows great strength of character and an extraordinary gift to the literary community. I know she is a gift to FutureWord. And like all greatness, those who have followed her seem to have a touch of the same sparkle of light.

Such is the salt of the earth. Ronnie and BB's message to the world:

"The Importance of Love and Friendship!"

Remain a beacon, Nicole! Congratulations from all of us!

GAYA nominee to give "Inspiration" for the banquet

Nicole Izmaylov will present the "Inspiration" at the Georgia State Convention banquet, which will be held at the Georgia International Convention Center in College Park. The banquet will commence on Friday, June 25, 2010 at 6 PM EST.

Nicole also received a notice by mail along with silver labels to distinguish her book, Ronnie and BB, as a candidate for the prestigious GAYA Award. The GAYA (Georgia Author of the Year Award) is held each year annually and an author is awarded merits for outstanding achievements in literary works.

This award is presented by the Georgia Writers Association. This event is scheduled for the 19th of June. These are two separate events.

Nicole's first book is about Ronnie, a bumblebee who meets up with a mole named BB. These two characters, created by Nicole Izmaylov, share her message in an acrostic poem that reminds the readers that love and friendship are never to be taken lightly. Her twenty-four page children's book is perfect bound 8.25 by 8.25 with colorful illustrations by Valerie Bouthyette.

Nicole interviewed with this publisher by telephone prior to re-submitting an acrostic poem-story. I asked her if she was familiar with acrostic poetry.

Publishers seek authors who can supply what the publishers believe the readers would enjoy. At the time, I saw the need for acrostic poetry. It wasn't until after I spoke with Nicole that I truly realized how skilled she was in literature and poetry. I made an agreement to see what she could do with acrostics when she replied that she worked with acrostics in the past. Within an hour, I received the first draft of the poem-story converted into an acrostic.

Nicole was born in Atlanta and received national recognition for literary and musical compositions, including the "Reflections" award for literature during her elementary school years and various times throughout middle school. Her personal interests include: writing poems, playing violin and piano, and acting in the drama club at her school. She is now attending seventh grade at Webb Bridge in Alpharetta, Georgia. She recently interviewed on Cynthia Brian's internationally syndicated radio show, "Be the Star You Are." It was during that interview that Nicole made a vocal submission to FutureWord for a forthcoming novel.

Michelle Izmaylov had her own fame established as one of the "Top 20 Under 20" on CNN.com. Her award-winning novel "Dream Saver" sold 35,000 copies. Michelle will also be in attendance as a nominee for her science fiction, "The Galacteran Legacy: Galaxy Watch."

Are the girls nervous? Well, maybe, but when you are already used to the limelight it doesn't hurt to look it straight in the eye.

If anyone would like to attend the awards, the ceremony begins at 7:30 PM and is free and open to the public. There is a fee of $55.00 for the banquet, which precedes the ceremony and begins at 6 PM, but this money is going to a great cause. Just click on the link GAYA for more information. The deadline for purchasing tickets for the banquet is June 8th.