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Sharlene Weingart: Posted on Saturday, April 30, 2011 9:47 PM
Well,it's not what you think. haha, They didn't sign me to write for them, but I am selling for them. I absolutely love their books and own many of them already, so it's a perfect fit. You can check out the selection at my link below and I'll bring them along with me to appearances too...fun fun fun!
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Sharlene Weingart: Posted on Saturday, April 30, 2011 12:51 PM
So, I'm getting pretty excited to release my latest, self published picture book, Grandpa's Loud. It should be out soon, but there was a pricing error that needs to be corrected first. Then we'll be all set to go!
This was a pretty cool week. My Facebook fan site has gone up to over 1000 fans! My thousandth fan was the lucky winner of a free book of her choice. If you haven't visited it yet, please join us for some fun giveaways. https://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/Mommy-Takes-Away-by-Sharlene-Weingart/356903381949 |
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Posted on Tuesday, March 29, 2011 10:11 PM
So, my facebook contest ended early because the rules are changing and I didn't want to get caught up in all that...I counted up the results and the winning schools are now listed on my facebook page.TD Michael in Big River Sask, Parkland Elementary in Farmington BC, Canalta Elementary in Dawson Creek BC, and Notre Dame in Dawson Creek BC. Congratulations! I will be sending out books later this week. Right now I have been busy busy busy with marketing and finishing up my next book. I designed my first full page magazine ad that will be out in April. |
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Sharlene Weingart: Posted on Sunday, January 30, 2011 7:16 PM
So...the big let down...my inbox contained the form letter rejection from Scholastic Canada...so I'm still on my own for distribution.
Rather than get down about it, I've decided to celebrate something that I love and that is Schools...For the time it takes to reach 1000 likes on my face book pageeveryone is welcome to leave a love note for their favourite school. The five most loved schools will win a set of my books. Please get involved and share a love note of your own!
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mommy-Takes-Away-by-Sharlene-Weingart/356903381949? |
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Sharlene Weingart: Posted on Saturday, January 15, 2011 11:51 PM
Please share a link to your website here...I'd love to see what everyone is writing and publishing. I like to support self published authors and am always looking for a good book to read.
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Posted on Saturday, January 15, 2011 5:20 PM
xlibris set the price of my books at 15.99 US. For a price (about $150) and a reduced royalty I was able to set my own price to the lowest they allow: $12.99
This is one of my curiosities about printing on my own. I feel like they are probably taking such a high cut above the price of printing that it forces the books to be priced higher than other paperback books of similar size. It is a frustrating point but at this time I don't know what else to do about it.
When selling through a store you can expect to provide a wholesale discount of 40%, even 45% at one major retailer, so there is only so much you can do and still break even. |
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Sharlene Weingart: Posted on Saturday, January 15, 2011 5:07 PM
xlibris uses Print on Demand technology and this provides me the ability to order whatever number of books I require without having to store excess amounts or carry the cost of huge orders that haven't been sold. However, the more books you order at a time the better discount you receive. Sometimes free shipping is also included.
This is another lesson I learned the hard way! I was so excited to order Mommy Takes Away when I finished the publication process that I ordered online. I didn't know that if you waited until office hours and talked to a representative you can get a much better discount and free shipping. |
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Sharlene Weingart: Posted on Saturday, January 15, 2011 4:57 PM
The cost of self publishing can vary from company to company so I can only speak to the price that it cost to publish my books and what was included.
First of all, I published through xlibris.com and they have speciality packages for children's picture books that include access to their art department. I chose to take advantage of this as my illustration sketches were cute, but they were not professional in any sense. The art department took my sketches and all of my comments and feedback to provide polished illustrations that meet all of my expectations. |
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Sharlene Weingart: Posted on Saturday, January 15, 2011 3:08 PM
I have experienced the stigma of self publishing and find it frustrating to deal with. Yes. I did pay to have my books published. It isn't a free process. I came to the decision to publish on my own after doing research and finding only two publishers accepting submissions of picture books. I did send in my manuscript to both of these publishers and received back a standard form letter rejection stating that they only publish a few picture books a year and that mine would not be one of them, that this had nothing to do with the quality of my work, blah blah blah. |
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Sharlene Weingart: Posted on Saturday, January 15, 2011 2:15 PM
So, if you are reading this you either know me and wonder what I've been doing for the past year...or more likely, you are trying to self publish or market your book and you came across my website by fluke. Or, hopefully not by fluke.
I have self published three picture books in 2010 and have had many ups and downs along the way. I'm working on the fourth and will share my thoughts and process along the way.
Overall I've been happy with the process and decision I made to publish independently ... wherever you are in the process feel free to share, comment and chat.
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