I  am sending out review copies of The Dragons of Pan Gu and hope to be hearing from reviewers soon. Chasing Watermelons received some wonderful reviews that have definitely helped sales to the library market.
The difficulty comes in finding reviewers that book buyers (of all kinds) respond to, that are also affordable to the independent publisher's bottom line. Unfortunately, some reviewers, like Kirkus, charge huge amounts to review a self-published book ($425 or $575 for express). And, I haven't seen separate fees for picture books, which take about 1-2 hour to read and review. We produce between two and three QUALITY books each year, so those prices start to feel more like extortion than reasonable fees for a service.  Publishers Weekly is another effective reviewer however that does not cost an arm and a leg. They don't promise a lengthy review, just a blurb, but they do feature the best submissions for a full review... so if the book really is as good as you think, no problem! The cost: $149.  This is much more reasonable considering the service provided and the results obtained.  The websites don't include a fee structure of any kind for  traditional publishers...
My favorite reviewers are those who do it for the love of reading and the free book they receive, and who also have a large enough following that the review can translate into sales. These combinations are tough to find, but worth the effort.

I've neglected this site for too long, so I thought I'd give a little bonus. I just finished a new manuscript called Night at the County Fair. I thought I'd share it with you.

When night has arrived at the big county fair,
and all of the people who spent the day there
have headed back home in their trucks and their cars,
with headlights and taillights that twinkle like stars;
the only one staying is Mr. McCade,
who cleans up the messes the others have made.

He wipes off the counters, the tables and chairs,
and throws away half eaten apples and pears.
He sweeps up the wrappers, the cups and the spoons,
the napkins and cans and the broken balloons.
He takes all the trash and he throws it away,
then turns out the lights and he calls it a day.

But look in the shadows, who’s creeping about?
It looks like the pigs and the chickens got out.
And wait, there’s a goat and a cow and some sheep.
They’re sneaking around when they should be asleep.
And now there’s a horse, and a goose, and a duck.
They’ve turned on the lights and they’re running amuck!
 
They woke up the rooster, who crowed with a shout,
“You’re all in big trouble if someone finds out.
You shouldn’t be out here; the fairs not for us.
You know they won’t like it; they’ll raise quite a fuss.
If people should see us who knows what they’ll do?
With our luck they’ll ship us all off to the zoo!
 
We’ll end up in cages with lions and bears;
they’ll catch us and eat us, but nobody cares!
Well I’m not about to be some lion’s lunch;
I won’t get in trouble because of this bunch.
I’m riding the Ferris wheel right to the top
so they can all hear when I tell them to stop.
 
The Fun House won’t seem near as fun as you thought
when shrieking and shouting gets everyone caught.
Stop smudging those mirrors and making that face;
you’re leaving your hoof prints all over the place.
You take off that mask and stop chasing the duck;
I’m telling you now that you’re pressing your luck.
 
 You pigs in the taffy, I see what you’ve done;
you take all that goop off that hamburger bun.
Get out of the ice cream and elephant ears,
stop eating the peanuts and licorice spears.
You’re spilling your pop and your chips and your fries,
and don’t even think about cutting those pies.
 
The Octopus spinner, the Space Graviton;
those rides are off limits, don’t even get on.
And so are the Zipper and bumper cars too,
the Rocket Ship Launcher, and Swing Spinneroo.
You all have to stop and get off of your ride,
the lights and the music are too much to hide.
 
Stop playing those games and get back to your pens,
stop throwing those rings ‘round the necks of my hens.
No popping balloons, don’t you dare throw that ball,
the shooting range shouldn’t be open at all.
Stop plucking those ducks and stop ringing that bell;
I’m taking down names and I’m going to tell.
 
“Hey Rooster,” said Goat, “you should leave us alone,
or come down and play for a prize of your own.
There’re whistles and rings and a motorized shark,
the swords and the necklaces glow in the dark.
They played and won plushies, a ball, and a flag,
and some of them even won fish in a bag!”
 
“I see a truck coming; it’s headed this way,
you’re in for it now is all I’ve got too say.
You’re all in big trouble, I’m glad I’m not you,
he’ll drive through the gate in a minute or two.
He’s going to catch you, and then you will see,
it would have been better to listen to me.
 
I’d like to get back to my nest on the ground,
So somebody please make this wheel go around.
You’ll all have to stay here to clean up your mess;
he’ll keep you up working all night I would guess,
then lock you in cages and throw out the key,
I’m glad I won’t be here, I’m glad it’s not me.
 
 Hey, where are you going? You can’t run and hide!
He’ll think that I did this!” that old rooster cried.
“Get back here and help me, you can’t disappear.
He’ll come through the gate and he’ll see me up here!
I’ll get all the blame for what YOU did tonight;
that wouldn’t be fair, and it wouldn’t be right!”
 
But that’s just what happened that night at the fair,
when Rooster got caught on the Ferris wheel chair.

Chasing Watermelons is officially for sale at this site and at Amazon. I don't know what's wrong with Barnes and Noble, but I wish they'd get it together so we could sell through them as well.   Personally, I'd prefer you bought it from me here so I don't have to give Amazon their huge percentage...
We used Kickstarter.com to help us fund the printing costs of "Chasing Watermelons". It was an interesting experience. We had to try twice. The first time, our video focused on giving the whole first part of the book, so people could see that the writing and illustrations were both good. They didn't care, and the project did not succeed. The second time, we talked more about ourselves and our plans, and only gave a snippet from the book, and the project was successfully funded (with some help). We'll use Kickstarter again in the future, and continue to experiment with how to influence people to support quality books for children.
Now it's time to send copies to reviewers, find holiday sale opportunities, promote for school presentations, register with the Library of Congress, etc..

I'd like people's opinion...
I'm considering making the books available as eBooks. Cheap. A dollar or less. I'm hoping that people who enjoy the book in that format may buy the hard cover as well. At the least, I hope it will grow our name recognition. Considering that an eBook costs nothing to produce (if I can figure it our myself), is this a good idea?

One illustrator came in on time, and Chasing Watermelons is currently being produced for release October 20, 2012.  Thanks Rex.  I am as excited this time as I was for the first book.
The second illustrator doesn't seem to have the same passion for  the projects that I have.  He wasn't close to meeting the deadline, and I'm not sure he will be reliable in the future when it comes to meeting deadlines.  He is an extremely gifted artist, but not focused in a professional, business-like manner.
Things I have recently learned:
A. It is difficult to get people invested in your dreams. They will ooh and aah over it, they will congratulate you, they will even tell you how amazing you and your project are, but very few will choose to invest in it in any way. If the dream is not a part of them, they hesitate to join the chase.
B. Inviting others to participate in the dream is not enough to create action, even if they agree to it.  There must be a way for our excitement to be so contagious that they can't help be be involved to a "want it now" degree. How do we create some passion for the dream?
C. That I don't know what to do about A and B...I'm open to suggestions.

On the plus side, one book will be easier to finance than two, and it will be done in time for the PA Reading Convention in October.
Sometimes the best you can do is simply keep faith in the dream yourself.

Onward!

I have two great stories almost ready for print. Both illustrators will be done within two weeks, then the files will be sent to the printer. The printer, however, would like to get paid for his work when he delivers the product, not when I sell it. Even small runs of 1000 are going to require some creative accounting, and a small amount of flat out begging to come up with the capital necessary.
Large publishers have quite an advantage: brand recognition, distribution, and money.
I've run into a classic situation where it takes money to make money. I have to sell books to make money, but I have to have money to print the books, in order to sell the books, in order to have money... Argh!
However, I'm a writer, and that means I'm creative and tend to revise things until they turn out the way I want them too. So success is right around the corner... though I don't know quite when we'll get there, or what it will look like, or how may hoops I'll have to jump through... but I can smell it.
Onward!

It seems that funding a good picture book on Kickstarter is more difficult than I thought. It appears that we will fall far short of our goal, and thus get none of the money pledged. I have been studying elements of successful projects though, and will launch another attempt a week or two after this one ends.
Note to emerging authors: The writing is the easy part. Gaining personal and brand recognition is hard! Not impossible, just hard. The market is flooded with material, and gaining a following takes creative thinking and perseverance.
One thing is for certain, self-publishing is not for the faint of heart or those afraid to learn. It's like getting another Masters degree without the credits... and no one tells you what you courses to take; you have to discover them.
So here's to perseverance and discovery!

Our First Review for Stubby Pencil Noodlehead is back!
Please follow the link to Kid Lit Reviews and see our 5 star rating!

http://kid-lit-reviews.com/2012/07/18/stubby-pencil-noodlehead-by-kevin-white/

We have ventured into the wonderful world of crowd-funding.
Basically, people contribute to your project (in our case it's book printing) and in return they get great rewards when the project is finished. It is a lot like per-ordering, but there are extra's offered too.
We have posted at two of the largest sites: Kickstarter, and Indiegogo.
Some very poor projects have been fully funded, and some very good projects have missed by a mile. I don't know the determining factor, but will post regular updates regarding the progress of our project.
Printing cost and distribution are two of the biggest obstacles for independent presses with 3-8 books in a two year span. This has definite potential to solve the printing cost difficulty.
For now, check out our projects at:  
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1590909946/chasing-watermelons-chimeric-press
or
http://www.indiegogo.com/chasingwatermelons?a=844926

Even if you can't contribute yourself, please share this with your friends and change the face of publishing today.

Anyone can write a story. Anyone can draw pictures. Everyone who does so, loves the stories and pictures they've created, and they should. I want to point out though, that even if they are very good, they are not necessarily professional, and ready for publication.This is the great evil of "self" publishing: Anyone with a story can have a book printed if they are capable of paying the "self-publishing" companies for their services.

Unfortunately, the true and stringent editing services that should be provided by these companies (resulting in multiple improved revisions of text) is counterproductive to their main goal: getting people's books into print quickly. All "self-publishing" companies who do not require you to improve your "good" story into a "professional" story, is merely a vanity press in disguise. Their greatest fear is that if they require too much of you, you will simply do business with a different company. So, they make it easy to produce a mediocre book, rather than difficult to produce a great one. The price is the same for them.

When you self publish, you have removed the natural quality filters that competition with other authors provides. Too often this results in lower quality books. Face it, big publishers aren't the only ones producing crappy books; very few self-published books reach the level of "professional". You can, however, overcome this problem. Probably the easiest thing to do is join a writers group where you can exchange manuscripts for revision suggestions. SCBWI has manuscript sharing, and a few of the comment contributors are very good.

If self publishers want to be taken seriously by other authors, publishers, and the consumer, it is vital that we be diligent and ever-mindful in our attempt to produce truly professional level material. Always expect the very best from yourself, then verify that it is as good as you think. Revise, revise, revise!