Summer in the City: A Virtual Book Tour!

IT IS FINALLY HERE! 

The Virtual Book Tour starts tomorrow, February 19th and ends Thursday February 28! I have teamed up with 10 great TEACHERS who have agreed to host me during this TEN day tour! There are a ton of giveaways, previews of the book, my personal connections and experiences related to the book and FREEBIES FREEBIES FREEBIES!!! Are you ready?? Here are the ten VIRTUAL BLOG TOUR STOPS:

PREVIEW THE BOOK! 

 
Summer in the City is a heartwarming picture book based on author Kathleen Wainwright’s childhood growing up in the city. Before there were 24-hour cartoon channels, laptop computers or the internet, what did kids do all day to occupy their time when schools were on break and the days were hot?

KIDS MADE THEIR OWN FUN!

Double-dutch, hopscotch, hide and seek…There never seemed to be enough hours in the day for kids to play with siblings and friends, explore their surroundings, or just laugh and giggle. Children and adults can enjoy this timeless story, which captures memories of blissful childhood summers in cities everywhere.

I look forward to you following the tour! This is definitely the highlight of my year! I hope that you LOVE the book as much as I love sharing it!

Be sure to enter the Virtual Book Tour Giveaway! 

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Stay Connected!! 

Follow Summer in the City on Facebook

Join the Summer in the City Mailing List

Keep the hardback for your library and the eBook for your classroom activities, iPad, Nook, computer! 

The eBook, which includes a Teacher's Reading Companion of over 50 pages, is on sale now. VISIT TPT for your eBook today, then enter the eBook giveaway! 

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To purchase the Summer in the City e-book, visit my TPT store here! To order a Summer in the City as a hardback, visit my website! 

I will also be giving away 10 free, signed copies of Summer in the City at the end of her virtual book tour! Be sure to enter the giveaway for your chance to win! For additional giveaways, click here!

Kathleen Wainwright is a dedicated teacher in the School District of Philadelphia. She received her bachelor’s of Science degree in education from Temple University in Philadelphia, PA, and her master’s in education with a focus in literacy, from West Chester University, in West Chester, PA. Kathleen also teaches literacy courses to aspiring teachers at Temple University and developmental reading courses to incoming freshman at Delaware County Community College. “This story captures a typical summer’s day for me and my friends growing up in the 80’s! Every time I read it I travel back to some of my favorite childhood memories.” Kathleen recently earned National Board Certification in Literacy: Reading-Language Arts (Early and Middle Childhood). She enjoys sharing her personal teaching experiences and educational resources in her blog, The Diary of a Not So Wimpy Teacher (www.notsowimpyresources.com).

2013 THE MOST MAGNIFICENT YEAR OF MY LIFE!

Happy New Year! I have been busy busy busy planning for what I will claim now as "The Most Magnificent Year of My Life". I have made made the commitment to myself and to my readers to pursue blogging as my part-time job! Why? Because in the future I would love to make being a writer my full-time job!! Of course I will still teach, I've wanted to be a teacher  my entire life and I can't see me NOT being a teacher; however, I see me doing it in a different way in the future. I will throw it out into the universe (from my fingertips to God's ears). I want to travel as a children's book author, present at large conferences, research and write educational resources, teach on the collegiate level and run summer reading clinics for student who struggle with reading. A mouthful, right?!! Yup. That is my goal and I have a plan. So here is what you can expect....more meaningful content on my blog and a monthly newsletter. This is my first year not taking classes, working on a certificate or degree, or taking any major exams. I have literally been in school since kindergarten. So now without the demands on my time to finish a final, write a research paper, prepare entries for National Board, complete a field study, study, etc., I now have more time to write for my blog! In fact, I've mapped out three major articles for January, February and March already. I will be posting them on my blog AND I will be sharing the article as a PDF and the resources to support the content in my monthly newsletter! So if you subscribe here, you will get the article before it goes live on my blog! And, the resources that I post in my TPT store (for sale) will be offered in the newsletter for *free (for a limited time)!

Also, you can expect many many many book reviews! I want to share books, great books with my readers. These will be books that you can read in the classroom, share with your children at home, give as gifts, or just add to your personal collection!! I have been wanting to do this for a long time but my time was limited. Now that I am (somewhat) FREE, I have the time!! I will also be hosting interviews with authors when possible and offering teacher resources to support the books that I review.

Many of you may already know that this spring I will be releasing my first children's book, Summer in the City!  I will be sharing information on my blog about this process. I will post links and other information that can be helpful to anyone else who is interested in publishing a book also. Of course I will share sneak peeks and resources to use with my book. I may even brag here and there about how much fun I am having as a published author : )

My first newsletter will be emailed out this week. I haven't picked a date yet, but it is coming this week! Be sure to subscribe here if you want to receive it!

One final thing I want to share is my unique link to Amazon.com. As a blogger and teacherpreneur (I love that word), I advertise on my blog through Google and Amazon. I get a small commission every time an ad is viewed or a purchase is made through my link. I also sell my resources on Teachers Pay Teachers. ALL of the money that I make through these links go directly toward publishing my book. I am considered an independent author and I established my own independent publishing company. It was a leap of faith, I tried to get my book published the traditional way but it wasn't working for me so I took matters into my own hands. Independent authors are sometimes frowned upon because some may feel like, "well if their book is good, a publisher will pick it up...". My response to that is, a larger publisher will eventually pick it up. I am just making it easier for them! I know that I have a best seller on my hands and I believe in my vision. This is why I have basically spent every extra dime I have on publishing my book. BUT IT AINT CHEAP!! I had to pay for my illustrator (who is an award winning illustrator- Nancy Devard)...I had to pay for everything that goes into a published book (ISBN, Copyright), for the mass printing and for some other things that add up quickly! I have no complaints. I love every minute of this, it is what I dreamed about. I say all that to say, every time you use my Amazon link or buy from my TPT, you are supporting an "indie author". This is why I will be giving away so many more resources in 2013 (because I really appreciate the support : ). This is how you can help. click on the picture below. It will take you to Amazon.com through my affiliate link. Bookmark that link and use it every time you shop on Amazon. I am not made aware of what you buy and I have no access to any of your personal information. All I do is serve as a referral!

Shop on Amazon by bookmarking this link! 

I appreciate your support and I value your feedback!! Thank you for stopping by, please come often! ~Have a GREAT 2013!!

Subscribe to my newsletter HERE.
Check out my TPT store HERE.
Visit my Bookstore HERE.
Check out Summer in the City, follow my Facebook page : ) 

Stay organized this new year : )

When I Grow Up.....

I've always wanted to be a teacher and I've always loved to read. Being a teacher was always number one my list but by the end of highschool I just knew I was going to write a book one day. My reasons for wanting to write a book are simple. I believe I have good stories to tell....I have a great imagination. I love the idea of being responsible for bringing a new adventure to readers of all ages and possibly being responsible for strengthening ones love for reading. Most importantly, I want to keave behind a legacy...leave my mark on the world. I want to bottle up my creativity and package it in beautiful tales and stories and leave them for the world to enjoy for years and years beyond my lifetime. Books that I read until the pages fell out were written by some of my favorite childhood authors....Ezra Jack Keats, Shel Silverstein, Stan and Jan Berenstein, and Mercer Mayer.

I first wrote Summer in the City in 2006 after finishing my graduate program at West Chester University. It was after I completed a children's lit course. I had an awesome teacher who loved children's literature as much as me, if not more. She brought such an energy to our lectures and she was passionate and very knowledgeable. Prior to taking this class, I considered myself to be an avid reader and collector of children's books. After taking this class I knew that I was going to be an author. I knew that I wanted to bring that magical story to a child that would widen their eyes, pique their interest and stimulate their imagination. If a professor chooses to use it in their class lectures, that would be an added bonus!

Well, I wrote my story....and it sat....I shared it with family....and it sat. A few years went by and BOOM it hit me. I need to publish my book!! Initially I considered self-publishing (back in 2006) but what made that difficult was finding an illustrator. I was so green....I had no clue where to start which is why it sat. Then when I decided to publish I started looking at self-publishing companies again and learned that they now offered to illustrate your book...for a small fee! Well....this is where it all started. I paid for the package...I worked with an illustrator for about 3 months. I told them my vision, I mapped out each illustration. I sent pictures in to give the illustrator an idea of what certain things looked like and a few weeks before I was ready to go they sent me the finalized images. I cried. It was NOT my vision. And I most definitely got my money back (never enter a project without a money back guarantee) So.... I had a thought. Maybe I can find an illustrator and maybe I can branch out and self publish independently. By this time I had spoken to several people who have written and self-published novels. I had a general understanding of what I needed to do but I knew that if I was going to do this, I had a lot to learn. Unfortunately, I was going to learn this on my own in the early stages because I didn't know anyone at the time who could really give me insight on publishing a picture book.

Enter Jerry Craft. I started researching and reaching out to illustrators. I was on a networking mission. Now, let's rewind for a second....a year ago I had read the book The Secret Olivia Told Me written by N. Joy and illustrated by Nancy Devard. I remember saying to myself I would love for Nancy Devard to illustrate my book. How about she was from Philadelphia. I did a few searches on her but I couldn't really find any information so I sent a few emails, mailed my manuscript to the publishing company she was working with and moved on. Okay so, I reach out to Jerry Craft and we talked on the phone for at least an hour. And he broke it down!!!! He basically told me what I needed to do on my own so that I don't have to pay a self-publishing company. He shared with me that what they were charging me to do I could do. For example, they were going to charge me almost $300 to copyright my book, buy and register my ISBN(one ISBN) and submit my book to the Library of Congress. Let's just say you can buy 10 ISBN's for $250. I will share more about the process later but the moral of the story is, if you are willing to do the foot work you can save some money and have complete control over your project. Prior to speaking with Jerry Craft I had sent a ton of emails again to any and all websites that had any information about Nancy Devard. About a month later, she responded! It took several conversations and meetings and conversations and meetings and finally she decided to take on the project! From there, the ball was completely rolling and it was just a matter of time....a lot of time because you cannot rush art (trust me I tried but that will be another blog posting : )

So here we are...the book is complete and the marketing and promotions have begun. I have a team of supporters and I have FAITH. I know that this project is a true work of HEART and I am proud to announce that in February SUMMER IN THE CITY will be available for purchase!

PRE-ORDER YOUR COPY  STARTING FEBRUARY 2013

Over the next few months I will share my journey and lessons learned. I will talk about the publishing process and discuss why I decided to start my own publishing company. I will also be sharing *freebies, hosting giveaways and will provide a teacher's companion. Please follow and share and help me get the word OUT! THANKS!

Click here to follow my Summer in the City Facebook page. This is so exciting and I plan on making it fun for everyone : )

Have a great weekend!