Literacy Day in Phoenix

We never know who we will be blessed to meet. For the second year in a row, Emerson was invited to participate in the Annual Literacy Day sponsored by the City of Phoenix Human Services Department.

The opportunity came from a chat with another mom at our neighbor's son's birthday party in February of 2010. We talked about both our jobs (she works for the City of Phoenix) and I shared with her our business card for TINK INK Publishing. She must have passed it on to a friend at work because a couple of months later we received a letter from the Head Start Program inviting Emerson to read to students on Literacy Day.

The goal of the annual event is to bring awareness and recognition to the importance of early childhood literacy. Each year, community and civic leaders join students throughout Phoenix in the classroom to share a book chosen for Head Start that promotes interaction and movement from children.

In addition to this year's Head Start book by the incredible Eric Carle, Emerson shared The Bay Gull to an excited classroom of preschoolers. Some of these desert children have been to San Diego and spotted a lighthouse before but all were in awe of the horse shoe crab - a real treat for kids in AZ!

Literacy Day in Phoenix

Storytelling Festival at Paradise Valley Community College

Early in December, Emerson  joined Paradise Valley Community College's Festival of Tales. This event  happens every spring and fall offering PVCC students the opportunity to showcase their skills to a live audience of enthusiastic children.

The event is free to the public and children can participate in over 20 different activities including creative crafts (like this fabulous drum made from plastic cups and tape which the kids painted) and live storytelling that bring real or imaginary books to life.

We were honored to be invited as a guest Author/Illustrator for the third time. For this event, we had an activity table for children to create their own Bay Gull popsicle stick puppet. Each child received a picture of the Bay Gull that they could decorate with crayons, markers, glitter and feathers. Googly eyes completed his look before they cut him out and glued their Bay Gull to a stick.

Emerson read The Bay Gull story as they completed their crafts. 

In just three short hours, over 70 Bay Gulls were created at our table! It was a very fast, fun event.

In addition to all the amazing activities, PVCC has partnered with Reading is Fundamental and each child can select 3 or more free books to bring home with them from the event, too! If you live in AZ, "like" TINK INK Publishing on FB to find out about the next event in the spring.

Storytelling Festival at Paradise Valley Community College

To Amazon or Not To Amazon...

When stepping into the door of having a published book, the issue of whether to put our book on Amazon came up in several conversations with other self-published authors. Prior to this venture, we had not realized that people stood either firmly for or against this method of book distribution.

We quickly realized that this was actually going to be a thought out marketing decision. In reality, everyone can list their books on Amazon if they are willing to give Amazon 55% of the profit from every sale. Add in the shipping costs to the Amazon Fulfillment Center (covered by the publisher) and, for most self published authors, this is a money losing sale.

Based purely on a consumer perspective, we wanted to be represented by one of the largest online book retailers. Fortunately, our production costs were nearly covered by the 45% commission so we went ahead and listed The Bay Gull. In fact, it was even exciting to us and others that our BOOK was listed on Amazon. Friends and family were definitely impressed!

We think of the potential profit loss for each book sold on Amazon as a marketing cost. We know that many people enjoy being able to buy our book from a major online site and Amazon outsells our own website 2-to-1.

Here is a HOT tip - there is a way to potentially avoid the 55% commission and still offer your books on Amazon. A few months ago, we signed up for an Amazon Seller Account to move some extra books in our own personal library. It just occurred to us that we can compete with Amazon on their site and offer our book through our own seller account!

We priced our book a few dollars less than the list price ($10- instead of $12.95) which may be more appealing to bargain hunting buyers. We also listed the book "Signed by Author" which, of course, it can be since it is coming from our home. After adding in a "Shipping Credit," our potential net profit from Amazon is $10.15. Compared to the $5.83 they are currently paying out on each consigned book sold through Amazon, our commission will be 75% higher and we can turn a profit on the sales.

This is a brand new strategy for us and one that we hope can work for other self-published authors seeking an Amazon presence.

To Amazon or Not To Amazon...

Monthly Storytime at Local Farmer's Market

As local farmer's markets become increasingly popular throughout the nation, we are fortunate to have an "in" with a continuously growing market going on it's 4th successful year.

Momma's Organic Market originally started in the front yard at Christa Esquibel's mom's home. After the first busy season in her mom's residential neighborhood, Christa, along with her partner and sister-in-law Emy Porter, moved the event to the "new" Park West shopping center off of Northern and the 101 in Peoria, AZ. 

Today, the market has grown to four local farms providing organic produce plus over 100 vendors offering a variety of products including food, personal care products, clothing, pet supplies, jewelry and home decor. In addition to hours of endless shopping, Momma's Organic Market has a petting zoo, a bounce house and a *world famous* story time including author/illustrator Emerson Colwell, Jr.

This month, our audience had a lesson in cartooning after the book reading. Children are quick learners and follow directions so well. We had tables full of fascinated girls and boys successfully drawing the cutest sea gulls ever!

One thing that is so fun about all our story times is that we always meet fabulous new friends who are very familiar with the East Coast. Our recent event included a family that has vacationed in Westerly, RI for over 30 years. We were excited to chat with them about Rhode Island and help them out with multiple copies of The Bay Gull for their family and friends!

Momma's Organic Market is the third Saturday of the month from September - April. The first 200 customers receive a free reusable bag filled with coupons and fabulous goodies from local businesses. For more information including becoming a vendor or featuring a gift for the bags, please contact Christa Esquibel at (602) 703-7154

Monthly Storytime at Local Farmer's Market