Tag: Kick it to Me

Day 12 ‘Live art in the Mart’ – LITERATURE ALIVE at Prahran Market

Posted on by Neridah

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Saturday morning dawned bright and sunny and it was a beautiful day at Prahran Market.

There were children doing drawing and doing writing workshops on long white trestle tables with the assistance of Kevin Burgemeestre and Mandy Cooper. There were more little children getting their faces painted. It was a very festive atmosphere.

Proceedings kicked off with a little girl called Natasha reading out aloud her story. She took that microphone and went for it. A natural talent, I believe.

Kevin then showed the children some of his illustrations and artwork and how he goes about writing a children’s picture book. Kevin had two dioramas on display from his book ‘B for Bravo.’

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Heather Gallagher read her story ‘The Plug Hole’ which the children just loved. 

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I then read my latest book ‘Kick it to Me!’ 

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‘Kick it to Me!’ is published by One Day Hill www.onedayhill.com.au

They publish culturally significant Australian stories. An awesome independent publisher.

Nadine recited her picture book ‘Roar’ and there were plenty of roars in response (this is us roaring!)

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Nadine also read to us her delightful story ‘Nan’s Umbrella’. She had a few tricky questions for the children afterwards, which they were able to answer with no problems at all (they were definitely listening).

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Kevin and Mandy launched into their chosen story time books and the kids rolled around on the hay bales and beanbags, having a ball. Both Kevin and Mandy are master storytellers; excited little people invaded their personal space on more than one occasion. Kevin and Mandy were a big hit. Mandy also has the most beautiful singing voice; she’s missed her vocation!

 Heather read a chapter from her new book ‘Ferret on the Loose’ just recently published by New Frontier. It was hilarious.

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‘Ferret on the Loose’ by Heather Gallagher is a Little Rocket from New Frontier publishing. It’s for 7+ readers and is available at any good bookstore. There’s a rocket to make in the back of the book. That’s pretty cool!

All in all, it was a perfect day at Prahran Market.

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(Thank you to my biggest fan, the wonderful Toby)

I felt quite sad when it was time to say goodbye to Nadine, Heather and Helen, and Kevin and Mandy. As Maurice Saxby Mentees, we have had the most amazing two weeks. But as Helen kindly reminded us, it’s not the end; it’s just the beginning of our friendship.

Nadine, Heather and I (and Laura who is overseas) are already planning our next catch up!

A big thank you must go to Helen Chamberlin for looking after us and guiding us through our work and to Pam Horsey from C.L.A.N who has done a wonderful job planning and organising everything. A big thank you must also go to N.E.E.F and to Stonnington Council.

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Day 8 Maurice Saxby Mentorship

Posted on by Neridah

Day 8 Readings Bookstore, Lygon Street, Carlton

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This afternoon, we met with Emily Gale at Readings Bookstore in Lygon Street Carlton.

Readings is an independent bookstore with six retail shops in Melbourne. They have a real literary scene going on as they regularly host a ‘calendar of events’ including book launches, authors-in-conversation, panels, signings and performances. Their website and blog is very snappy too, free shipping for books bought on-line and great book reviews on their blog.

Anyway, Emily is a Children’s and Young Adult Specialist at Readings. She knows a lot about book selling and tried to give us an idea about how it works. There’s a section in the Children’s Books area that’s set up for new titles and it covers four levels. The top level is for new books and the other books on the lower levels are books that Readings sell at least once a week.

The shelf life of a book does vary but four months is about average. Some distributors have certain conditions; such as the bookseller only has a year to sell them before they stop accepting returns.

To remain in the bookstore, to remain in Readings, a book needs to sell at least one per month.

Thankfully, I found my book from One Day Hill Publishing. It went into paperback at Christmas; so I was relieved and happy to see it there.

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www.neridahmcmullin.com

www.onedayhill.com.au

Emily spoke about writers coming in and saying ‘hello’ and how much they enjoyed this, and that this sort of was promotion was still a good way to get your book into a bookstore.

Heather asked a very valid question, how could we get our books reviewed by Readings? Just ask, they said and all books would be considered. Yay!

Emily also gave us the heads up on what sort of children’s books people are asking for:

  1. Decent Mother’s Day books that are not pink and fluffy and full of perfect women.
  2. Toilet training books that don’t mention the word ‘potty’
  3. Junior/Middle Grade fiction is always popular.

Then we found out that Emily is a published author herself (this is her first YA book launched in Australia, she’s from London) and it’s the ‘book of the month’ at Readings.

Congratulations Emily!

It’s called ‘Steal my Sunshine’ and it’s published by Woolshed Press (Random House). This is Emily’s very cool website and there’s a sample chapter on there to read! www.emilygale.co.uk

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Readings is an awesome bookstore, thank you Emily for your advice and expertise on Children’s books and thank you Readings for supporting emerging writers.