A power charged interview today with Middle Grade Author Brett Perkins who launched his first book The Prison for the Magically Cursed to best-selling status on Amazon in 2022. With his next book in the series coming out very soon, he sat down to chat with me about how to write and market a middle grade book. This and so much more in today’s interview.
About Brett:
Brett Perkins is a primary school teacher/author from the picturesque Central Coast of New South Wales, Australia.
For over twenty years, Brett has been encouraging his students to embrace their imaginations and create their own incredible stories, all the while continuing to fulfill his own dreams of writing.
He lives with his two dogs, Colt and Storm, and finds pleasure in reading, watching a scary movie, or picking up a paintbrush and escaping into art. He loves to travel all over the world and is a massive Pokémon fan.
I was lucky enough to get Children’s Book Author Darcy Pattison on the show this week, who has published more than 50 children’s books under her own publishing house – Mims House. We talk about how to write a non-fiction picture book, exploring merchandise opportunities for your books, marketing, school visits and so much more! Enjoy the episode and enjoy my intro where I talk all about pushing yourself as an author to write more words!
MORE ABOUT DARCY:
Children’s book author and indie publisher Darcy Pattison writes award-winning fiction and non-fiction books for children. Her works have received starred PW, Kirkus, and BCCB reviews. Awards include the Irma Black Honor award, five NSTA Outstanding Science Trade Books, two Eureka! Nonfiction Honor book, two Junior Library Guild selections, two NCTE Notable Children’s Book in Language Arts, a Notable Social Studies Trade Books, and an Arkansiana Award. She’s the 2007 recipient of the Arkansas Governor’s Arts Award for Individual Artist for her work in children’s literature.
Always active, before her tenth birthday, she (almost) climbed the Continental Divide, turning back at the last twenty yards because it was too steep and great climbing shoes hadn’t been invented yet. Before COVID, she rode a bicycle down a volcano in Bali, Indonesia and hiked in the U.S. Rockies. On her bucket list is kayaking the Nā Pali Coast of Hawaii and eating curry in Mumbai.
Hold on tight for another wonderful interview that will encourage you to push forward in your Author journey. Sandra has such an encouraging and practical “get it done” attitude – I changed as a person and as an author from her interview and I’m sure you’ll do the same. Plus my introduction is a long one today because her interview really did trigger a transformation in me.
Enjoy the show!
More about Sandra:
Sandra Bennett is the International Award winning author of the Adamson Adventures. A series of middle grade books for readers aged 7 -12 years. Secrets Hidden Below, book 1, was shortlisted in the Australian Speech Pathology Book of the Year Awards 2019, while Fossil Frenzy, book 3 was a winner of the Queensland Writers Centre Adaptable Competition 2020 enabling Sandra to pitch the manuscript to film producers for the Gold Coast Film Festival. Fossil Frenzy was also a Finalist – Children’s Fiction International Book Awards 2021 and received an Honorable Mention Middle Grade Fiction Royal Dragonfly Awards 2021. Sandra has also published two picture books and two early readers. She has ten short stories in various anthologies and wrote a graphic novel for low literacy learners in Papua New Guinea for Library For All.
As an Australia Reads Ambassador, Sandra enjoys author school visits, presenting writing workshops and talks wherever she can to encourage a love of reading by engaging and delighting young readers with her thrilling adventures. Increasing literacy in our children is Sandra’s passion, and as such she writes books that help both parents and teachers build children’s literacy through read-aloud stories, one great adventure at a time.
Adam Wallace, New York Times best selling author joins me on the podcast today and tells us all about how he discovered his love of writing children’s books and today combines self-publishing and traditional publishing to make a full time living. He is incredible at doing school visits and gives the best advice, so if you’re considering doing any – listen to this episode!
We do talk about his course on School Visits, but this is no longer available unfortunately. However you can find his free resource on the topic and more at: https://www.adam-wallace-books.com/
Welcome back to the show in 2023, and I have more incredibly informative, and inspirational interviews planned for you this year. Unfortunately I am still tackling some technical difficulties in my search for the perfect way to record interviews, but I will not give up until I get there. So in todays interview there were several glitches, but it was totally worth persevering as I learned so much from today’s guest. Without further ado, I was privileged to interview Jessie Cunniffe who is a professional book blurb writer and coach.
In this interview you’ll learn the secrets of salesworthy book blurbs and discover how to implement them in your own blurbs.
Jessie has generously offered 10% off her Book Blurb Magic course and all of her book blurb services with the code ELENAPAIGE – so get blurbed right now.
Enjoy the show and learning all about book blurbs!
ABOUT JESSIE:
Jessie Cunniffe* is a professional blurb writer and book blurb coach from Sydney, Australia. A passionate advocate of the indie author community, Jessie has dedicated herself to taking the pain out of blurb-writing with her custom blurb-writing and critiquing services and two signature courses: Book Blurb Magic and The Spicy Blurb Playbook. When she’s not writing or dreaming up the next BBM product, Jessie can be found in high school classrooms with a guitar in hand, and has been a regular contributor to the arts pages of one of Australia’s most highly respected newspapers for the past decade. On the occasion that she manages to snatch some reading time, she’s probably buried in P. G. Wodehouse or Agatha Christie.
*Pronounced ‘k-NIFF’
IMPORTANT LINKS:
REMEMBER TO USE THE CODE ELENAPAIGE to get 10% off the Book Blurb Magic Course and all of Jessie’s services.*
*I’ve included Jessie’s products on this page because I have personally bought and used the Book Blurb Magic course, and want you to also gain the benefit, so if you take action, I will earn some coffee money, ie it’s an affiliate link. Remember to use code ELENAPAIGE to get 10% off.
In today’s interview I overcame many technological difficulties and blocks to get the most amazing wisdom and advice from author Edward Trayer – it was well worth the many re-takes and effort involved. We got there in the end and talked about The Wishing Shelf Book Awards, a review and award service that was founded by Edward and today enjoys great success and helps authors become “award-winning.” The wonderful thing about this award is that your book is reviewed and/or judged by the age group you’ve written it for! As well as this we talk about how to write a book a child will truly enjoy and how to do school visits successfully and make them a big part of your marketing efforts. A brilliant interview from start to finish, enjoy today’s show.
ABOUT EDWARD:
Edward Trayer, writing under the pen name Billy Bob Buttons and Hickory Crowl, is the author of eighteen children, YA and adult books, including the 2014 UK People´s Book Prize Winner and UK bestseller, I Think I Murdered Miss. He is also the organiser of The Wishing Shelf Book Awards.
Today I had the pleasure of interviewing Vinh Giang, Keynote Speaker, Entrepreneur, Magician and Communication Teacher.
We talk all about Vinh’s journey through his professional and creative career, and the pivotal role improving his communication skills had through it all. He is now the most incredible teacher of communication skills distilling what he’s learned over the last 20 years to help others grow their influence, authority and connection. If you’re interested in doing videos or school visits to connect with your audience, you’ll love the communication skills Vinh shares with you in the interview. Enjoy the show.
What a joy it was to speak with best-selling Australian author Michael Wagner. With over 80 books written and published, Michael knows a thing to two about how to write books with humour that kids will love. And you will know how to, once you’ve listened to this interview!
More about Michael:
Michael Wagner is the author of more than 80 books for children including the much loved Maxx Rumble series (still in print after 17 years), the bestselling TheUndys series, the So Wrong series (shortlisted for the 2019 and 2020 YABBA, KOALA and KROC Awards), and the CBCA Notable picture books Why I Love Footy, Why I Love Summer and Bear Make Den (co-authored with his wife Jane Godwin).
Before becoming a full-time author, Michael spent ten years as a radio broadcaster with the ABC, wrote and produced animation for television, wrote comedy for ABC Radio National and 3RRR, grew up in a housing commission flat, and played in a band that almost became famous. He’s the father of two and married to fellow author Jane Godwin.
I had a blast interviewing illustrator, top Skillshare teacher, and speaker, Tom Froese. Although we are talking about drawing and illustration in this interview, as an author I know you will learn many valuable skills and attitudes that will help you find your style, overcome creative pain points in the journey, and keep going until you become a professional children’s book author.
More about Tom:
Tom Froese is an award winning illustrator, teacher, and speaker. He loves making images that make people happy. In his work, you will experience a flurry of joyful colours, spontaneous textures, and quirky shapes. Freelancing since 2013, Tom has worked for brands and businesses all over the world. Esteemed clients include Yahoo!, Airbnb, GQ France, and Abrams Publishing. He is currently taking on highly creative projects of all kinds, including maps, murals, picture books, packaging, editorial, and advertising. Tom graduated from the Nova Scotia College of Art & Design with a B.Des (honours) in 2009.
As a teacher, Tom loves to inspire fellow creatives to become creatively empowered. He is a Top Teacher on Skillshare, where tens of thousands of students have learned his unique approaches to illustration. As a speaker, Tom is a passionate voice in the creative industry, aiming to inspire and equip the next generation of creatives and commercial artists. Tom has been invited to deliver workshops and lectures across the US and Canada, including ICON 10 in Detroit and Skillshare HQ in New York. In 2020,* he will be a curated TEDx speaker, where he will share his message of creative empowerment to a global audience. Tom also has a YouTube channel dedicated to inspiring and informing folks interested in the creative industry.
Today’s episode is with author Kate Gordon, and we talk a lot about how to be a self-starter and go-getter! Kate is a true example of deciding she wants to do something, then setting off to learn how to be successful at it. She followed her passion for writing and ponies and created a wonderful side hustle, which one day she hopes will be her full time career, and I’m sure with her determination, courage and perseverance it will be.
I hope you learn a lot, get inspired and enjoy the show.
More about Kate:
Kate Gordon spent 90% of her childhood reading books about ponies and magical adventures. The other 10% she spent galloping around the garden on an imaginary horse – until she was able to ride a real pony of her own.
Now she’s penning fantastical adventure stories about brave friends, ponies and unicorns.
Kate is inspired by the magical mountains of Central Otago in New Zealand’s South Island where she lives with her husband, three dogs, and two cats. She’s currently working on the second book in the Unicorn King series called Sasha and the Warrior Unicorn.
Kate is also the founder of the online bookstore, Kiwi Kids Read Kiwi Books, which is dedicated to supporting New Zealand authors writing for children and teens, and helping showcase their fantastic books to Kiwi book buyers.
