New date for Christmas fair...

I'm pleased to say that Manor School now have a new date for their Christmas fair:
Monday 13th December 6.45pm-8.45pm

So I've a busy weekend ahead, starting at York Guild Hall on Friday, Saturday 10am-4.30pm and Sunday 10am-4pm

Snow everywhere...

What a busy week... the snow has been getting thicker all the time, and what started as a pretty backdrop for my new book A Face Full of Snow has now caused tonight's event: Manor fair to be cancelled - hopefully they'll fix an alternative date soon...

Meanwhile - Lost in a Book, my publishing imprint now has a presence on facebook

Book launch

A Face Full of Snow

The book launch for my new book: A Face Full of Snow got off to an excellent start at the Merchant Adventurers Hall in York on Saturday, there was even a covering of snow to tie in with the theme! York was full of Christmas shoppers for the St. Nicholas fair.

On Sunday I was at a new venture: Pure Genius, at 3-5 Grape Lane, York. Snow fell most of the afternoon, giving a beautiful backdrop to my new book, where Iver No-Idea gatecrashes Eric's skiing holiday.

Getting home was quite a challenge. One of York's busiest days for Christmas shopping was hampered by the snow - so a big THANK YOU to Phil who picked me up, and drove me home through the gridlocked streets. It took 2 hours to get home, a journey that should have taken about 15 minutes.

Hot off the press

I often wonder which is the most exciting part of writing and producing a book. The initial spark of inspiration, the moment when the characters start to take shape in written text, and then get a face through the illustrations, they're all landmarks along the way, or is it seeing the books in all their glory for the very first time?

Yesterday was lucky enough to arrive to collect my books while they were still being finished off - there was a heap of them on a pallet, more on a table, and yet more going through the guillotine to be trimmed and finished, for me this was a very exciting moment, to watch the final stages of the making of my books. Then they were packed, hot off the press and loaded into my car, ready to be launched at the weekend at St. Nicholas Fair:

Book launch: A Face Full of Snow - there's even some snow around to mark the occasion!

Merchant Adventurers Hall, York - Saturday 10am - 4.30pm
Pure Genius - 3-5 Grape Lane (Swine Gate quarter) York - 10am...

Another print run needed!

But I'm Not Sleepy is still my best seller, and stocks are getting low, and as I've now added another book signing event at the end of the month - 27th November at The Merchant Adventurers Hall, York, I've asked the printers for a quote for another print run...

Books selling like hot cakes...

I passed the reindeer in their paddock on the way into The Farm Shop Christmas fair on Thursday, they looked up as I drove slowly past, maybe they thought I was bringing food...
I had a a good day, people are really getting into the swing of Christmas shopping now.

Another day another fair - Friday saw me book signing in the Guild Hall in the centre of York, it was a quiet day, but with the weather as it was, who could blame shoppers for staying at home... Saturday more than made up for it though, with a very busy day. My first customer of the day was a little girl who emptied out her handbag onto the table, and counted out her own money to buy a book - how adorable is that?

Book signings

I've got a busy week this week, starting with a Craft Fair at The Farm Shop, Wigginton Road, York. 11am - 3pm. I'm hoping to catch sight of their resident reindeer on the way in, and maybe even start my own Christmas shopping at the fair, there's always something exciting that you wouldn't find in the shops.

Another self publish book into profit

I did 2 weekends of successful book signings at the end of October and took But I'm Not Sleepy into profit after just 15 months!!

But I'm Not Sleepy is currently my best seller, and I'll be needing another print run in the near future. People are attracted to the title, what parent hasn't heard those words at bedtime? Once they start to turn the pages they're drawn to Lucy and her antics, and of course the growing number of sheep, and Down boy the sheepdog who just wants to round them up...

Christmas fairs off to a good start

I had a successful weekend at York Guild Hall, and I'll be back there next week. For anyone who's looking for a unique Christmas present - what better than a signed and personalised first edition book!

Big smile day

Last night the proof copy of my new book was delivered!!

Always an exciting moment when all that hard work is in my hand in book form...

Yes I admit it, I had a big silly grin on my face for the rest of the evening, with my book sat beside me, though I had to keep moving it, as the cat was deturmined to add her signiture to the cover...

Book signings and Christmas fairs 2010

23-24 Oct. York Guild Hall 10am-4.30pm (4pm on Sunday)

30-31 Oct. York Guild Hall 10am- 4.30pm (4pm on Sunday)

11 Nov. The Farm Shop Wigginton Road York 11am-3pm

12-14 Nov. York Guild Hall 10am-4.30pm (4pm on Sunday)

3 Dec. Manor School fair 6.45-8.45pm

10-12 Dec. York Guild Hall 10am-4.30m (4pm on Sunday)

Off to the printers

Yesterday I made my final checks and edits to the new book, and this morning I zapped it off to the printers... next step proof copy!

Self publish and make a profit!

Yesterday whilste doing the usually tedious task of updating my spreadsheets, I was thrilled to see that another of my self published books has slipped into profit!! Now I'm only talking a small profoit - but still... I now have two self published books in profit and another one set to break-even before Christmas...

I'm busy booking Christmas fairs (dates to follow soon), and I'm ready to publish the next in the Doodle series, I've got a quote from the printer... busy time ahead!

Sloshing around in pixels...

I spent most of yesterday playing around in Adobe and making my book cover. Who would have thought I could get a repetitive strain injury making a book cover on a computer? All that moving the mouse around and clicking with my index finger has given me a feeling close to pins and needles in my elbow - back to typing for me then...
Maybe I should have stuck to a traditional paintbrush, instead of sloshing around in pixels all day. I'll display it here when it's finished, but I ended up with the wrong shade of white in a big splodge, so I'll have to risk life and limb and edit it a bit more.

The next doodle book

The body of the book is now finished for my next doodle book, and with just the cover to finish and the blurb to write, I've contacted the printers for a quote... From this I'll be able to decide how many books to have printed. It feels like I'm on the home straight now.

Book signing

I'm doing a book signing this weekend at a Craft fair in Copmanthorpe.
W I Hall, Station Road, Copmanthorpe Saturday 25th Sept. 10am - 3pm

Building a book

I've been busy formatting my next doodle book, inserting the pictures and doing the page layouts. It takes time to get the pictures in just the right place, but now it's all coming together.

I also had another on-line book order to send out this week, which is always good news.

Book signing

I'll be at the craft fair at The Farm Shop Wigginton Road this Thursday 26th August 11am - 3pm
I'm doing a book signing - my books will fit right in amongst the other local produce and crafts - most of my books are locally produced at a printers in Layerthorpe, York.

Illustrations

I've been getting on with the illustrations for the next doodle book. I've made a start on scanning and formatting the book - I always enjoy this part, when it all starts to come together as it will appear in the finished book.

Book signing

I'm doing a book signing this weekend at:
York Guild Hall 10am - 4.30pm Saturday and Sunday (4pm finish on Sunday)

Hopefully it'll be busy event, with all the tourists in York at the moment. Come along and say Hi if you're in York...

Successful re-launch

Monster re-launch: The Monster Under the Bed - now in 2nd edition from

Lost in a Book.

During my re-launch week at half term I sold 50 books! (These sales included my other titles as well as monster books) Mostly on the Bank Holiday weekend at the Guild Hall in York, and the rest at York Designer Outlet on Friday.

Book signing at York Designer Outlet

I'm doing a book signing at York Designer Outlet tomorrow 4th June 10am - 6pm come along and talk to me if you're in the area... I'll be in the North entrance along with other half term children's activities.

Monster re-launch

My Monster re-launch got off to a good start at York's Guild Hall at the weekend. It was a 4 day event, and I met some amazing people from round the world. My books are heading off, not only around the UK, but to Canada, New Zealand and Australia!

I continue my re-launch at York Designer Outlet on Friday 4th June 10am - 6pm

Published today from Lost in a book

Lost in a Book proudly announce the publication of the 2nd edition of
The Monster Under The Bed

I'll be doing a re-launch book signing at:
York's Guild Hall from Friday 28th - Monday 31st May 10am - 4.30pm
York Designer Outlet 10am - 6pm

The Monster Under The Bed 2nd edition

I've got my new monster books at last. They're stacked in a cupboard ready for their re-launch next weekend! It was a bit of a scary thing to do - to take a book of print, even though it was selling well, but as most of those sales were from direct sales through me, it made sense to bring it under my own imprint - Lost in a Book.

New monster books coming home

I've had a call from the printer, and my monster books will be ready to collect today - they're finally coming home, not just in the physical sense of boxes of books, but also home to my own imprint - Lost in a Book. They will be officially published and ready to order on Monday 24th May, and I'll be a out and about doing a re-launch at half term - at:

York's Guild Hall 28th - 31st May 10am - 4.30pm
York Designer Outlet 4th June 10am - 6pm

Next doodle book coming along

Today I was feeling inspired, and made good progress with my next doodle book. It's nearly ready for the illustrations now... just a bit of editing and rewriting in some sections - the characters are just making sure they've all had their say in the story.

I'm expecting my new monster books any day now - then there'll be some promotional work to do before a relaunch.

Thought of the day

Why is it that when the book I'm working on hits a snag, it always seems that the next big project (the one whose characters are still forming in my head), seems like an easier task to do?

Maybe it's that ideas at an early stage have the freedom to run riot, but somewhere along the way they need to be organised into a book. And they need to be fed into a computer, and formatted into a file, before they can be printed into a book...

York Designer Outlet

I'm going to be doing a book signing at York Designer Outlet on Friday 4th June 10am - 6pm.
I'll be in the North entrance where there'll be lots half term activites going on.

Monster on amazon...

The new monster book is now registered on amazon for pre-ordering. It's jacket image hasn't caught up with it yet though so I hope it doesn't catch a chill!

I sold a few books at a craft fair yesterday, but it was a very quiet event. I have some bigger events planned for May and June, as well as a re-launch for the 2nd edition Monster book.

The Monster Under The Bed 2nd edition

It's an exciting moment to get the proof copy of a new book, and finally see all the hard work come together in book form. And here is the new cover - not much has changed, the reason for the second edition was to bring my first book under my own publishing name: Lost in a Book and have future copies printed locally. This gives me control over the quality of the paper and card used to produce my book, and I'm delighted with the result.

Most of the work is done now, I just need to check over the proof, as this is the last chance to have any errors changed before I place my order for a print run.

Book signing - event postponed!

The event I was to attend this weekend in Harrogate has been postponed by the organisers, and will hopefully go ahead in May...

The Monster Under The Bed

I've been busy formatting my files for the 2nd edition of The Monster Under The Bed. There aren't many changes, on the cover the font has changed for the title - I don't want people to see it and think it's a different book, so the picture of Billy is still there.

The 2nd edition will be printed in York!

I've still got the last few first edition to sell, through my website and at fairs.

Successful book signing

I had a very successful book signing on Saturday, I sold 30 books at a fair at York Guild Hall. My box of books was a lot lighter as I came home, which is always a good thing. It was a wet day in York on Saturday, maybe it put people in the mood to snuggle up with a book when they got home...

I'm currently waiting for a quote for printing my second edition of The Monster Under The Bed.

Too busy for coffee...

I've been putting together my new cover for the second edition of The Monster Under The Bed, which will be coming out soon from Lost in a Book. I've changed the cover as little as possible, as I don't want people to see it and think it's a different story.
This morning I've been writing the new copyright page, giving publishing history and new details of the book. I can tell I was engrossed in what I was doing, as I let my coffee go cold on the desk next to me - now that is serious concentration!

Limited editon

The Monster Under The Bed is currently out of print as I have cancelled my publishing contract with Trafford. This means that the first editions out there are also a limited edition, as only about 400 books were printed in this edition.

The second edition will be coming out in the next couple of months, but in the meantime I still have a few first edition copies for sale through: my website, upcoming book signings and at stockists listed on my website.

My next book signing is at York Guild Hall on Saturday 20th March 10am - 4.30pm

World Book Day

It's exciting to know that, although I'm not out there doing any book events today, at least one of my books is!!
A teacher bought a Monster book at the weekend and asked me to sign it for her class. She said she'd be reading it to them on World book Day, and they were going to dress up as book characters and make a fun day of it.

I will have some more exciting news about my monster books soon...

Successful book signing

I had a successful book signing at York Guild Hall this weekend. I sold 31 books despite it being a quiet event, hopefully I'll be going back to do another later this month.

I handed out free bookmarks with my website details on, for anyone wanting to buy my books online, or to read my blog and learn more about the story behind the books, and some of the work involved in self publishing.

The hardest part of self publishing is marketing the books, when people meet me and have an opportunity to browse through my books they sell well, but out there in the shops and online they can get lost in a sea of competition, I just need to find a way to make them swim to the top and get noticed...

First edition signed books

I've been off line most of this week because my computer crashed, but the time hasn't been wasted, I had a print out of the book I'm working on, so I've done some editing with good old fashioned pen and paper. I've also been working on the illustrations.

This weekend I've got my first book signing of the year at York Guild Hall, Saturday and Sunday 10am - 4.30pm. I'll be there with my first edition children's books

skiing

Yesterday I went to play in a freezer - no I haven't gone mad, it was an indoor ski slope. My next book is set on a ski slope, so I could claim that I was working (a writer is always working, because a writer is always thinking, and if we're not - well who can prove it?). Anyway I had fun and got new ideas for my story, so it was a win win situation.

First fair of the year

I'll be doing my first book signing of the year at York Guild Hall on the weekend of 27 & 28th February.

Heritage Promotions do regular collectors, craft and gift fairs at the Guild Hall in York, with an interesting array of crafts on display. I'm looking forward to joining them with my first edition children's books.

New header

Finally I've got a brand new header (Thanks Kim!!) showing my row of books.

The Monster Under The Bed 5 years on:

Happy 5th Birthday to my first book The Monster Under The Bed!

5 years seems to have gone alarmingly fast, but it has been a busy 5 years. I now have 3 other books published, but the Monster books are still going strong, everyone has a story to tell or memory to share about monsters under the bed. The main fear when parents see the title is that their offspring will be scared, but as they read to the last page and discover the identity of the monster it always makes them chuckle, which is just the reaction I was aiming for.


http://www.anne-m-stephenson.com/page7.htm

Avoiding distractions...

At last writing is flowing again on my next doodle book. Everything from life in general to boring admin and spreadsheet updates seem to be getting in the way lately. The answer it seems is to turn off the internet connection altogether!

On the up side, I've received a couple of cheques from outlets selling my books, as well as an order for more books - another distraction - I'll be having a sortie down to the Post Office later. Sometimes I wish I had people to deligate some of these things to, now let me see, up to now I'd like a PA and a housekeeper - I think I'll have to sell a few more books first, and there in lies my dilemma - to spend my time selling what I've written, or in writing more books, the answer is a compromise between the two.

New Year

It's the beginning of a new year and a new decade, and with the Christmas fair season behind me it's time to get back to some writing. I often hear the advice to write every day, but after having a Christmas break where I've only written and few emails and a few notes when an idea came into my head, I find that the break has done me good. Sometimes a writer needs time to daydream for new ideas to flow. It also helps being able to wake up naturally sometimes instead of being bullied awake by an alarm when it's still dark.