Author writes first book SPY GODDESS: LIVE AND LET SHOP. Gets great reviews. A nomination from Mystery Writers of America for Best Young Adult Mystery. Fans rejoice.

Author writes second book SPY GODDESS: TO HAWAII, WITH LOVE. More great reviews. More fan rejoicing.

Author writes third book SPY GODDESS: THE SPY WHO TOTALLY HAD A CRUSH ON ME and…the publisher says “Sorry no more Spy Goddess novels.”

Ouch.

We try a couple of Manga versions of Spy Goddess to see if that will work. It doesn’t. And I get angry letters from readers who ‘hate’ manga and actually ‘curse’ me for turning their beloved novels into ‘cartoons’.

So the manuscript sits there lonely on my hard drive, yearning to breathe free. Fans continue to email and send letters. Actual hand-written letters, asking me when the next book will be out. And all I can tell them is there won’t be another book.

Except now there is. While all of this time passed, these things like I-Pads and Nooks and Kindles and Kobo’s and Lions and Tigers and Bears started cropping up all over the place. And I started thinking, I bet if I could put SPY GODDESS: THE SPY WHO TOTALLY HAD A CRUSH ON ME out as an ebook, people would buy it. So will they? Time will tell. But if you’ve been waiting for more adventures of Rachel Buchanan and Mr. Kim and Blackthorn Academy this new book picks up right where SPY GODDESS: TO HAWAII, WITH LOVE left off. For all intents and purposes the Manga never happened. Never. Happened.

I’m considering this as an experiment. If it works, then more Spy Goddess books could follow. I hope you’ll pick up…err…download a copy (I’ll never get used to saying that) and let me know what you think.

And tell all your friends!

Your authorness!

Michael P. Spradlin

PS For those of you who don’t have an e-reader, fear not, follow this link and you can download a PDF that you read on a computer!

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/98104

©2012 Michael Spradlin Blog. All Rights Reserved.

For most parents it’s the hap-happiest season of all. Teachers are preparing their lesson plans and librarians are pouring over reading lists and getting everything ready for their hordes of students to return.

But it’s also Back-To-School time for authors as I and many of my fellow authors start up a new year of school visits. If you write children’s books, appearing at schools and talking to young readers about the importance of reading and writing and books is one of the great side benefits of the job. Writing tends to be a solitary occupation and you spend a lot of time in your own head. (I know…scary!) Having a chance to get out of your office and talk to students and hopefully offering them even a spoonful of inspiration is a tremendous side benefit of being a writer.

Almost all of my author friends make school visits. Some spend the entire school year on the road traveling from one town to the next. Others do only a handful, keeping their eyes instead on the always-approaching deadline.

Having done this for a while now, and having talked with many of my writer friends who have been doing school visits for a much longer time. I’ve come up with a list of hints, tips and tricks that you can use to make your Author visit a tremendous experience for your school, the author, and most importantly your students.

1. The Honorarium

Most authors require an honorarium for school visits. Some who have only published a book or two, ask for modest amounts, some award-winning authors and illustrators command much higher figures. This speaker’s fee is often the greatest obstacle to schools hosting an author event. Budgets are tight for schools and libraries; there is no question about that.

But what must be understood is that the vast majority of writers, especially in children’s books, are not able to make a living from solely from their writing. It is sad but true. Not every author is a major-bestseller living comfortably off his or her royalties. Most of us work another job. To schedule a school visit we usually have to take a day or more off from that job. If we’re traveling to another state, it’s usually three days out of our schedule to make an appearance. (Understand this is only a fact not a complaint).

Yet if a school is creative there are many ways to help defray the cost of the honorarium, at least in part, if not fully and make the visit a break even day. Here are several suggestions

A. Have An Organized, Pro-Active Book Sale Before The Author Arrives.

And by organized I mean, don’t just send a photocopied note home with the kids telling parents the author will visit in a month. Appoint a chairperson of the pre-order campaign. Get your PTO’s or PTA’s involved. Send home multiple copies of the order form with your students. The more times it’s sent, the better chance it has to get out of the backpack and into the hands of the parents. Make sure the information is posted on the schools website and in school newsletters. Put up posters in the hallways. Make a display in the school library or the office. Post notices of the impending visit at your local public library. Talk to other schools in your district about sharing the costs. Get your local media involved and list the event online with local newspapers, TV and radio stations.

If you work with a local bookseller, most will offer schools a discount for author visits. If you’re creative, focused and organized at selling enough books, you can pay for or greatly defray the cost of the honorarium and are that much closer to a great author event.

B. Look For Partners In Your Community To Help Defray The Costs

As I already mentioned a local and energetic bookseller can help. But there are other sources of funding in your community you may not have thought of.

• Your local public library. Many libraries get grants and funding for special events. Many libraries get grants and funding for special events. Most authors are willing to speak at a school during the day and a library event in the evening. Your local library can help you publicize the visit, sell more books and again, defray the cost of the honorarium.
• Approach local service clubs like the Kiwanis and Rotary Club for donations toward the author visit. Most clubs are willing to pitch in a few hundred dollars for an event like this. And you can also offer the author as ‘programming’ for the club. Most clubs have weekly or monthly meetings and they are always looking for speakers. If you schedule the visit around the club meeting you can offer the author as a guest speaker. And don’t forget these clubs are made up of Parents, Grandparents, Aunts and Uncles who would love to purchase an autographed book for the child in their life. Another sales opportunity!
• Look for potential grant money at your city, state or county level. Offer the author visit as a fundraiser for your local literacy group. There are many organizations out there that offer grant money for ‘educational purposes’. Last year I made a school visit to Missouri where a county organization had not only funded the honorarium and travel expenses, they also purchased a book for each student in the 6-8th grades and a classroom set of all my books for each teacher! It was all funded by a local county organization whose mission is to promote reading and literacy.

2. Prepare Your Students For The Author’s Visit

This is especially important for the non Rick Riordan’s and Jeff Kinney’s among us. There is nothing more deflating for an author to visit a school and find none of the students read or are familiar with your books. Believe me it happens. If you have an interest in a particular author, make sure at least some of your best students have read at least one of his or her books. It makes the Q&A sessions go so much better!

3. Visit The Author’s Website

Many authors have a wealth of content on their sites to help make your job easier. For example, I have PDFs of customizable event posters and order forms so each school can create their own individual materials. My website also outlines the different type of presentations I do, from ‘writing workshops’ to ‘hands on history’. Discuss with the author before the visit 
what you think might most appeal to your students, or help meet the curriculum needs of your school. Most authors are flexible and can tailor a presentation in a lot of different ways to make it more meaningful to your students and educators.

4. Remember It’s All About Fun

An author visit is something your students should look forward too. With the proper preparation, and yes, a little bit of extra work, you can give your students an experience they’ll remember for a long time, maybe forever. And you might even connect that reluctant reader with an author who will turn them into a lifetime reader.

Isn’t that’s what it’s all about?

(Check my website for some links to some other articles on hosting a great author event!)

Like this post? Please share it, via one of the links below.

Your authorness,

Michael P. Spradlin

©2012 Michael Spradlin Blog. All Rights Reserved.

How many times have you uttered a phrase or quip and said “That ought to be on a t-shirt!” Personally I know I’ve said it at least 3,678 times in my lifetime. Trust me. I keep track of these things. And since illustrator Jeff Weigel and I have started collaborating on our Zombie books, we’ve found a lot of the designs and phrases from our books cry out for a t-shirt.

And that’s where Nerdtastic Designs comes in. We’ve created a little spin-off company that creates t-shirts from some of the best illustrations from our books. Plus a few others that we’ve come up with along the way that we just think are darn funny. 

So, take a moment to check out all of our designs including our newest, the Mt. Rushmore “Zombie Nation” design and of course our extremely popular Civil War Buff designs. All of them are unique, fun and quirky. The perfect gift for that hard to buy for unique fun, quirky person that you need to buy a gift for. You know who I’m talking about.

The best part is, you can take your favorite design, and with our print on demand technology you can have a t-shirt in just about any size and with over dozens of colors to choose from! It’s like Build-A-Bear only with t-shirts!

Watch for a Nerdtastic Designs Website soon but in the meantime:

Visit our shop today!

Be a friend on Facebook

Tell all your friends!

Your Authorness

Michael P. Spradlin

Also don’t forget we have Zombie themed Christmas Cards too! Visit www.zombie-cards.com for details!

©2012 Michael Spradlin Blog. All Rights Reserved.

So without  further ado:

Know a dad who is a history lover? Social studies teacher? Reads big, thick biographies of obscure Civil War generals? If so they need a ‘Civil War Buff’ t-shirt. Available in a design with General Grant or General Lee.

How about a Dad who has a really great sense of humor? Or has visited the Arctic Circle and seen two polar bears in the wild? In that case, the ‘Bi-Polar’ t-shirt is for them!

Does Dad like Pirates? Has he already been to see Pirates of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides seven times? If so, he needs a ‘Got Rum?’ t-shirt. (And okay, he should really have a copy of Pirate Haiku, also. Sorry. Can’t help myself).

Is the Dad on your list into computers? Then he needs a ‘Spambot’ t-shirt.

And if you know a Dad who loves horror movies and zombies, who thinks George Romero should be elected President then check out one of our zombie themed t-shirts! My personal favorite is ‘Always Double Tap’.

There you have it! A gift for any and every Dad!

You’re welcome!

Your Authorness,

Michael P. Spradlin

©2012 Michael Spradlin Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Your New York Times Best Seller Authorness here! (I never get tired off the sound of that!) Here with a few little tidbits to make your holidays a little smoother and more fun! Just one of the many services we provide here at Team Spradlin HQ.

But first, have you entered my contest yet? No? WHY NOT? It’s so simple. In fact you’re half way there. All you need to do is read one of my blog posts and post a comment. Comments such as “Hi!” “Did I win the contest?” and “Does this comment qualify?” all work. That’s all you need to do to win valuable prizes! So what are you waiting for. It’s a contest in advance of my my new picture book Baseball from A to Z, which is coming this spring, so don’t swing and miss!

IT’S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE ZOMBIES: A Book Of Zombie Christmas Carols is #21 on the New York Times Best Seller List! Its third week on the list! And it’s getting all kinds of great publicity including holiday roundups in The New York Daily News, The Baltimore Sun Book Blog, and LA Weekly.com. And this week, I made a visit to New York City to visit the FANGORIA Radio studio on Sirius/XM. Here’s a picture of me in my official Radio Guy Earphones. It was a great night and special thanks to Kelly, Kateri, Rebecca and Aaron for rocking out on the carols. It was great fun talking to a national radio audience about the book.

So as you’re finishing up your holiday shopping, here is my annual MICHAEL SPRADLIN, NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLING AUTHOR, HELPS YOU CHOOSE WHICH OF HIS BOOKS WOULD BE PERFECT FOR THOSE EASY AND HARD TO BUY FOR INDIVIDUALS ON YOUR LIST list. I do what I can to help.

Boys Ages 10 and up.

The Youngest Templar Series–This is perfect for boys who like action-adventure novels like Ranger’s Apprentice or the Percy Jackson Novels.

Boys and Girls 14 and up.

It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Zombies–This book is rated T For Teen. More than two dozen slightly twisted and definitely upside Christmas Carols with macabre art by Jeff Weigel.

Girls 10 and up

The Spy Goddess Series–Available in reasonably priced paperback editions. Full of action, intrigue and suspense. And humor. And action. And humor.

Boys and Girls ages 4-8.

Daniel Boone’s Great Escape–Daniel Boone is running for his life, literally as he escapes from Shawnee captivity. Young readers will enjoy this thrilling true story!

Texas Rangers: Legendary Lawmen–Young readers will enjoy exploring the Wild West as it was tamed by some of the toughest lawmen around.

And don’t forget, Baseball from A to Z and Off Like the Wind: The First Ride of The Pony Express will be on sale in the New Year, so gift cards or Coupons for a book will make a nice surprise for a young reader once the holidays are over.

That’s all for now. Happy Holidays to you and yours!

Your New York Times Best Selling Authorness

©2012 Michael Spradlin Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Things are progressing nicely on The Youngest Templar: Trail of Fate, the next book in The Youngest Templar Trilogy. I’ve just gone through the copy edits and over at http://www.theyoungesttemplar.com/ we’ll shortly be launching a countdown calendar for the October 29, 2009 on sale date. Also, if you’re a Facebook user, please sign up to be a fan.

Our School Library Journal review of The Youngest Templar: Keeper of the Grail has arrived and they call it a “fast paced historical adventure…” and an “exciting story.”

But probably the biggest news on the horizon is that it is now less than two weeks until New York Comic Con! I can’t wait. I’ll be speaking and signing on Sunday so please check out the schedule on my events page. If you live in the New York area, you have to check out the con. It’s fairly cheap to get in, and you can see panels with some of your favorite writers, sneak peeks of some of your favorite television shows and movies and just generally have a blast.

Things are also progressing well on the foreign front for The Youngest Templar. We’re getting more interest in from other countries and it’s now on sale in several more countries including Finland and Sweden. Here is a look at the Finnish cover.

There is a lot going on in 2009 and I’ve finally updated my events page. So please take a look and if your going to be near any of these places, please come by and say hello.

Peace,

Out.

PS Also here is a picture that shows a slow day in Lapeer, Michigan for my December Book Signing at the Book Shelf. Mom always said someday I’d have my name in lights.

©2012 Michael Spradlin Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Nothing is ever going to be perfect, but I have adopted a philosophy that always seems to help me through the bad times. And that is whenever there is a recession or a downturn or some other negative event, I refuse to participate! That’s right. When things are bad there can also be times of tremendous opportunity. For example we just refinanced our house and saved a ton of money each month. Because the housing industry is in such turmoil lenders are begging for good customers. We had banks tripping over themselves to get our loan. As the old saying goes, sometimes when a door closes, a window will open. Opportunity out of chaos.

It’s hard and it’s scary during times like these, and I’m no stranger to them myself. I’ve been without work, heavily in debt, with no health insurance and a family to support. But you make it through. You keep your head down and push on. Then one day you look around and things aren’t so bad anymore.

I just want to say as we head into the new year to keep your head up. Keep smiling. Refuse to participate in the bad times. This too shall pass. Also, buy more books! At the very least reading will allow you to escape from your troubles for a few hours!

In a prime example of burying the lead, and on a more relative note, as you can see from the headline I HAVE FINISHED BOOK 2 IN THE YOUNGEST TEMPLAR TRILOGY. Done. Finito. It is called The Youngest Templar: Trail of Fate and will be published in September of 2009. I will also tell you that the cover for the book, which I can’t reveal yet, will be knocking the socks off of all you. So stay tuned for a reveal and sneak peak excerpt coming up soon.

The Youngest Templar: Keeper of the Grail appears to be selling well. I’ve heard from the German folks that it’s a big best-seller in Germany this year. It’s hard for me to imagine but it’s exciting nonetheless. Book One has also garnered some great reviews including this one at www.templarhistory.com. Check it out.

Also, speaking of Templar History, as many of you know I’m a big fan of the comic book both as a literary and an art form. If you want to read a fascinating comic on the history of the Templars, I highly recommend Outremer by Stephen Dafoe. It’s available here. It’s first rate and a great introduction to the Templar origins.

Be sure to keep an eye on my events page also as I begin posting my 2009 appearances. I’ll be attending New York Comic Con again this year and have the great good fortune to be speaking on two different panels. I’ll also be attending IRA in Phoenix in February and the Texas Library Association in Houston in April.

Many thanks for all of your support in 2008! I’m excited and looking forward to 2009.

Have a safe and Happy Holiday!

Your authorness,

Mike

©2012 Michael Spradlin Blog. All Rights Reserved.

But the travel has made it very difficult to keep up with the blog and for that I apologize. I’ve been revising a couple of books and had other deadlines to deal with and to be truthful, I sometimes find a 500 word blog post to be immensely more challenging than a 60,000 word novel. I’m not sure why that is. Trying to be relevant and pithy in so short a space is just beyond my writerly gifts I guess.

However there is some news you should know about. This week, all week long, as in every day, I will be guest blogging at the Penguin USA blog post. You can check it out here. All week long I’ll be talking about writing and researching The Youngest Templar: Keeper of the Grail. That’s right. Every single day. A whole new blog. No problem. Really.

I’ll also be appearing at the upcoming Ohio and Kentucky book-fairs. And shortly I’ll be writing about a wonderful event that I just attended at my hometown library in Homer, Michigan. A great day with tremendous support from a wonderful community. But I need some time to digest all of the thoughts and feelings about the day before I write about it. So stay tuned!

As always, thanks for reading!

Your authorness,

Mike

©2012 Michael Spradlin Blog. All Rights Reserved.

I find myself pacing. Sitting on my hands. Trying to write, trying to focus on anything but the calendar. 12 days until The Youngest Templar: Keeper of the Grail goes on sale.

Reviews are coming in. Booklist praises it for “deadly action” and “uncompromising descriptions” and says “the stirring saga ends with a true cliff-hanger, priming fans for the next installment.” So yay! I’ll have the full review posted on the site soon.

Also, if you haven’t yet, please visit The Youngest Templar website at www.theyoungesttemplar.com and check out all the reviews and praise and keep an eye on the countdown clock.

September 18th. It’s almost here.

Back to pacing. (Um…unless my agent and editor are reading this post in which case I meant to say back to writing!)

Ciao!

Your authorness

©2012 Michael Spradlin Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Ol’ Dan’l is running because he wants to be one of the first to arrive at his local bookstore to pick up a copy of Daniel Boone’s Great Escape which is now on sale. He knows that if he isn’t quick, they will all be sold out and he doesn’t want to be disappointed.

The thing is, Ol’ Dan’l is pretty quick. You see Daniel Boone’s Great Escape tells the true story of how Boone ran 160 miles in just four days time to escape captivity. So if you’re going to beat him you’d better get started!

I’m just sayin!

©2012 Michael Spradlin Blog. All Rights Reserved.