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Category Archives: Projects

Steven gets a web site

Posted by Dan on November 9, 2009 1 comment

Steven the Vegan LogoOkay, this post name sounds like the title of an After School Special, but it’s not. My second book, Steven the Vegan which is currently being illustrated is getting its own web site. I have been working with a friend I found through Twitter.com Chris Spooner (Spoooooon!) on a design for Steven’s web site. Chris did the graphic design of the web site for Eartha the Sea Turtle and I knew when I was ready I’d have him design Steven’s.

Eartha’s web site is primarily geared toward the book and free coloring pages, whereas Steven’s web site will be a blog. The blog will include recipes, and interesting information on a vegan lifestyle. Many people do not know the difference between a vegan and a vegetarian. Some believe that vegan is a shorter word variation for vegetarian. I assure you it is not.

Steven’s book was inspired by the notion that young kids today will have a hard time explaining to their peers the concept of a vegan. Additionally, kids are finicky eaters. I am going to focus on kid-friendly vegan recipes, including vegan mac & cheese, sandwich wraps and more.

I have recently signed up with Kitchen Monki, an online resource for sharing recipes, planning meals and more. I will be embedding the recipes I put there on Steven’s web site.I am also teaming up with Meatless Monday to promote a monday meal, without meat. All the meals can be made by anyone. Whenever possible I will include links to where people can purchase the ingredient, but in most cases local grocery stores will have them.

Of course the site will also serve as a way to promote the upcoming book. I feel these affiliation will assist with the marketing of the book. We’ll find out in due time. :)

Links : Kitchen Monki, Meatless Monday, Spoon Graphics

An awesome illustrator

Posted by Dan on November 5, 2009 No comments

I’ve started receiving sketches of the illustration for my next book, Steven the Vegan. My illustrator, and long time friend Ron Robrahn is bringing my vision to life. Ron has always been an amazing artist. He does a great job of taking words on a page, and breathing life into them. You could tell him you want to see an orangutan in a kitchen making toast,  upset that the jar of jam is empty, and he would whip it up in no time flat. (Why do I have a feeling that when he reads this, he will draw it.)

In high school, Ron and I created a computer animated cartoon and won the Art Contest that year. Ron drew the characters on graph paper, and I recreated them pixel by pixel on an old Apple IIe using a program called Take II. Each frame was custom drawn, and edited. I can’t remember how long it took us, but it only lasted about twenty seconds, and that included a commercial interruption.

After high school, Ron and I lost touch. We occasionally were able to reach each other, and I learned he was doing caricatures for Disney in Orlando. I had already hired an illustrator for “The Tale of Eartha the Sea Turtle” when I found him on Facebook.com. I sent him a PDF of the book, and asked him to “draw” Eartha. Of course, he nailed it. He created some illustrations for the web site, and I knew he would be illustrating my next book.

We bounced some ideas around. Ron has some characters he already has created that we are looking into putting into print. My latest book, Steven the Vegan, is what he is illustrating now. I described Steven to him, and BAM again, he nailed it. Below is a sample sketch of what some of the illustrations will look like. I am extremely glad to be working with Ron on this, and hope to be working with him for a long, long time.

Sample Sketches

7 Days

Posted by Dan on October 29, 2009 No comments

7NumberSevenInCircleSeven days ago I made the decision to move my book to CreateSpace.com, Amazon.com’s print on demand service. Today I received notice from them that I will be receiving my printed proof in 10-15 days. It took seven days to do with CreateSpace.com what it took several months with AuthorHouse.com. Not to mention that the per copy price from AuthorHouse.com was over 2 times the price from CreateSpace.com. AuthorHouse.com told me it will take thirty days to cancel with them. Why does it take thirty days to cancel a book that was never printed?

Progress on my next book is going well. The character development is just about done, and progress on the main pages is beginning. I have also been working on setting up the web site for the new book as well.

I’ve been doing some research into different children’s novels for the next project on the list. Character development, and story plot has begun on _a__a_y Wy___ and the _a_e _a__da. (Sorry for being cryptic, but too bad.) The main character was developed by my friend Ron years ago, and I am glad I can help turn his vision into a book.

I’ve registered the ten ISBN numbers with my new publishing company. Oh that’s right. I never told you the name of it.

Publishing in a new direction

Posted by Dan on October 22, 2009 No comments

As some of you already know, I’ve been having problems with Author House. So this week I sent them an email telling them that I am no longer publishing my book through them. I have asked them to refund my payment for services, and I have decided to take the entire publishing process in a new direction.

Upon the advice of several people I have been communicating with on LinkedIn.com, I have decided to start a publishing company, and publish my own books. By utilizing print-on-demand services like CreateSpace.com, I can publish and print my book on my own.

I purchased a block of ten (10) ISBN (International Standard Book Number) numbers, and I am currently working on reformatting the book for the new CreateSpace.com standard. This paves the way for me to create ten books, and publish them under my new publishing company. I actually may get the book printed quicker this way, than if I continued with Author House.

Although it sounds like a set back, it actually will work out for the best in the long run. My next challenge is marketing.

I’ll reveal the name of the publishing company soon.

Tom Petty was right!

Posted by Dan on October 7, 2009 No comments

Waiting is the hardest part.

Currently I am waiting for illustrations (No pressure Ron!) and I am waiting for Authorhouse to finish modifying the cover for Eartha the Sea Turtle.

I sent Authorhouse all the PDF pages of my book, and a PDF of the cover on the 25th of September. I was told that they would begin my book on the 30th. I emailed Authorhouse yesterday and asked them what is taking so long. They replied…

“We will still put the PDF’s together and then add the ISBN assignment and bar code, along with the AuthorHouse logo information. We are completing covers in the order that they come in, which is the reason for the 10-15 day timeline.”

isbn-13_9781438945927_88768Um, what? That’s like 15 minutes of work. I went online, found a web site that generates ISBN-13 barcodes and created my own. (Yes this IS the correct ISBN number for my book)

So what’s left… adding their logo, and inserting a page that says copyright…blah blah blah. Let’s face it, they should be able to do a cover an hour a LEAST. So if it takes 10-15 days for the cover to be done, they obviously don’t have enough people to get the job done.

(Gripe session over. Please return to whatever you were doing.)

First Audio Sample

Posted by Dan on October 5, 2009 No comments

I just got to listen to the first audio sample for the reading of Eartha the Sea Turtle. The company FrogDog Media, is turning the story into an iPhone / iPod Touch application. The application will read the story to children, or allow them to read it themselves. Turning the page is done by swiping your finger across the device.

It may sound odd, but hearing someone else read your story is pretty awesome. It was only a sample though … I wonder how it will end?

istorytime

Meet Steven the Vegan

Posted by Dan on October 3, 2009 No comments

Steven

Here is a preliminary drawing of Steven from the upcoming book, Steven the Vegan. Steven will be joined by several classmates. As progress continues, I will post updates here. Very excited for this book, and to be working with my long time friend, Ron.

Progress on Eartha’s book moves forward and a new book is in the works.

Posted by Dan on October 3, 2009 No comments

Well after several failed attempts to get AuthorHouse.com to approved the formatting of my book, it was finally approved. On September 30th it went into “Galley Design” phase. (No idea what it means … I think they may this shit up). It’s now passed Galley Design phase and is now in Galley Quality Assurance. This means that someone is checking all 32 pages. Oh my, that could take weeks. According to them it can take 10 to 15 days. (It’s a children’s book people. I can write a new book in that period of time … and I did!)

On the more productive side, I did design and order the postcards featuring Eartha that will be sold with the special signed edition. Each postcard has a different photograph of the real sea turtle named Eartha, along with a one word message. The messages are Protect, Endangered, Conservation, and Respect. On the back of each is an explanation of each of the words.

On the new side of things, I wrote a new book entitled, “Steven the Vegan”. This book is a bit special too since it is a topic that is close to home, and I get to work with a childhood friend of mine, Ron Robrahn. Ron is an amazing illustrator and cartoonist. I know he is excited about our joint venture as much as I am.