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...

Emerson invited to work with 7th Annual Literacy Day in Phoenix

TINK INK Publishing

Teaching, Inspiring, Nurturing Kids ~ Illustrated Children’s Books

 

Children’s Author & Illustrator Emerson M. Colwell, Jr. Honored to Participate in Phoenix Head Start Literacy Day

Phoenix Head Start Hosts 7^th Annual Literacy Day on Tuesday, April 20

Phoenix, AZ – Children’s author/illustrator Emerson M. Colwell, Jr. will be one of 66 volunteers helping to promote literacy with three to five-year-old children. The 7^th Annual Literacy Day, hosted by the City of Phoenix, takes place on Tuesday, April 20. This year, volunteers will be reading the book Hop Jump by author/illustrator Ellen Stoll Walsh whose popular children’s books also include Mouse Paint and Mouse Count.

More than 90 Phoenix Head Start classrooms will be visited and the volunteer list includes Mayor Phil Gordon, Councilman Bill Gates and City Manager Davis Cavazos.

All the Head Start classrooms will receive a copy of the book and 3,090 children will receive their own book to take home.

Mr. Colwell will be reading at Esperanza Elementary School, 251 W. Mohawk Ln, Phoenix, AZ 85027 at 9:30 a.m. and the media is welcome to attend.

About the Author

Inspired by his love for the Ocean State and the beautiful Rhode Island coastline, Emerson M. Colwell, Jr. wrote and illustrated his newly released first children’s book The Bay Gull. His second book, The Fisher Cat, will be released later this year.

Emerson resides in Peoria, AZ with his wife and three children.

For more information, visit www.tinkinkpublishing.com.

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Emerson invited to work with 7th Annual Literacy Day in Phoenix