Saying Good-bye to 2017: 12/29/17

Five Year Goal Review: October 2017

Welcome. Some time ago I signed up to be part of the brainchild of Misha Gericke: the Five Year Project. She created it with the idea that if you have goal and work towards it, visiting it each month, having that accountability, that that goal might just become a reality; given enough time. Five years-worth of time. I’m all for goals, so I signed up a little over two years ago. Initially, my goal was to have the novel I was working on at the time, The Newstead Project, become a bestseller. And while that goal is still on my list, it didn’t feel big enough, broad enough. Crazy, right? Like having a bestseller isn’t enough. But for me it wasn’t. I’ve been to bookstores. I’ve seen Amazon. There are many more than many books out there that have been bestsellers. And saying bestseller signifies money. It’s never been about money for me. I’m a pretty content person. I don’t need any more than I already have. What it has been about is influence. In so many ways this culture breaks my heart on a daily basis. A little background on why I say that. I’m a psychiatric nurse, meaning I work with people who have just tried to kill themselves. And if that wasn’t heart-wrenching enough, I also do ultrasounds at a clinic for people thinking about abortion, trying to show them there’s a better way. In both cases I weep with them. I love them. I want so much more for them than what they’ve been given. They, each of them, are the heartbeat behind my characters, my stories. Their cries are my cries. I want for them what they want; rich, full lives full of love and hope. And while I believe I’m making a difference on a small scale with what I do day-to-day, I know there are people out there I’ll never meet who are just as broken as those girls who come into the clinic, as that kid who just slashed his wrist. I want to love them, too. And so Black and White was born. It’s a publishing company created by my husband and myself. It started as such a small thing, and in a lot of ways it’s still small. It’s nowhere near the world-class publishing company that has become my new five year goal. At this point it’s just a seed, a dream. A goal. Over the past year or so others have joined us in this dream. We now have seven authors (including myself), three illustrators, and a composer. We have sole rights to produce patent-pending Ubooks :

 

 

We’ve won awards for two of our publications: Jellyfish Jones, which one Children’s Book of the Year from Author’s Circle.

 

And The Newstead Project, Novel of Excellence, Paranormal, also from Author’s Circle.
 

 

Just seeds. Just a dream. Just the sort of thing that changes the world.

 

 

 

Want to join us? You can. Right now we’re accepting submissions for short stories of all genres for Ubook publication. Also, beginning on Halloween we’re opening for submissions for Sisters Grimm—a fairytale anthology to be released Halloween 2018. I’m really excited about this one. Jessica Gadra is illustrating each story, which will be amazing. You definitely want to get in on this one. Trust me. Find out more here.

 

 

 

 

 Or support us by reading our stories. All of them are free. Find them here. And if you love them, share them. Your help is appreciated more than you know.

 

Until next time--

 

 

IWSG: November

Welcome. It’s the first Wednesday of the month, making it IWSG time. Thanks to Alex J. Cavanaugh and co-hosts for putting this on. Insecurities come in many shapes and forms, and this month for me they come in the form of a clock. This is the last week of my thirties. Birthdays, especially big ones, make me stop and reflect. Am I happy with my life? Have I done everything I wanted to do? Yes and no. All in all I’m content, so.that’s not what I’m focused on this year. Today, with less than five days left to be thirty-nine, I’m faced with the reality that my life is more than likely half over. Scary, right? The first half was pretty good. I wonder what the second half will bring.

 

Anyone else out there face these insecurities around a big birthday?

Beginning this month, there will be changes here on this blog, mainly that it will focus exclusively on writing related things. I’ve begun two other blogs:  setbooksfreedotorg, to highlight Ubooks, and  Black and White  to offer information on publishing with us. Hope to see you there!

 

 

 

Five Year Goals: Set Books Free

Today is the last Friday of the month, which makes it time to review some goals. A little over a year ago, I signed up for The Five Year Project with Misha Gericke  (waves hi and says many thanks for coming up with this brainchild and hosting it each month). Basically, it’s about goals and accountability. We begin by making a goal we’d like to achieve in five years, then we review those goals each month to track our progress. My goal: to have a world-class publishing company. I was never one to dream small. With just four years and counting, how is it going?

 

Really, really well.

1.    *Ubooks are up and running, with new authors and new stories joining the mix in November—look for flash fiction from Milo James Fowler and a picture book from Liz Daniels.

2.   A central hub has been created for a major marketing push, beginning in November—but you can get a sneak peek now—check out setbooksfree.org. I am super excited about this—it’s a site/push directly aimed at my target audience: Young Adults. With that in mind, they’ll be some major changes to this blog as well—look for those to begin on the first.

3.   Still actively seeking new authors. Our line-up is full for the rest of this year, but I may be willing to make an exception for a really great story. Who needs to spend Thanksgiving with family, right? I kid, I kid.  Seriously, though—I’ve read some really great stories lately and am excited to make a round of offers in the next couple weeks or so for publication next year.

That about covers it for now. If you get a chance, stop back on Monday, for a special Halloween surprise. Until then—

 

*patent-pending musically enhanced video book format, only available through blackandwhitepublishingco.com
 
 
 
 

 

A Little About Ubooks

What is a Ubook? That's a question I get a lot. Ubooks are a brainchild come to life, born back in my teens when I listened to music while I read--the music just seemed to bring the books to life somehow. And when I began writing my own books, I wrote to a playlist of songs that brought Joel and Rachel to life for me.

I can still remember going to my first SCBWI conference six years ago and telling someone how great it would be if somehow they figured out how to put books to music. Their response was: "I think they already have that." And with that the idea was buried. It didn't hit me that that same answer was given to me numerous times that conference, only those times it was in reference to the book I was pitching. I think that particular message is the favorite saying at conferences to crush the hearts and souls of the authors brave enough to put their work out their.
 
Anyways...

As it turns out, no one had written my book before, and no one had invented a way to combine books with music. The idea sprang back up again sometime last year, after my series was done. I thought about how cool it would be if my readers could experience my books the way I had, with the music that had so captured me. And then I remembered my book trailer that I had made so many years ago.

 The Newstead Project Trailer

It combined the story with words--sure it was just a line or two, but who was to say that's all it had to be? I was onto something, I just knew it. I started playing around with it and the first few tries were epic failures. The fonts didn't show up right, and the timing was still an issue, but I kept working with it and pretty soon I had it the way I always dreamed it could be: A page of text, appearing at reading speed, set to music. Ubooks were born.

The first Ubook: The Newstead Project, chapter one

 

 

In my excitement to show everyone the idea, it didn't take long before someone hinted at coping it, so earlier this year I filed a provisional patent on Ubooks.  Since then Black and White has published several chapters of The Newstead Project, both narrated and not, as well as Erron and Alphabet Soup. During that process Black and White picked up a few people to join our team who are as excited about this as we are: Marketing Director: Mikaela Burns, Musical Director: Nathan Moran, Illustrator: Gail DiCarlo, and Author: Judy Dickinson. We are thrilled to be working with such an amazing team, and because of them, Black and White is now open to submissions. I'll post more next week on what we're looking for exactly, until then you can check out our site here.

 

See you Friday,