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http://www.kacairns.com/

How To Become A Writer- The Writers' & Artists' Yearbook

Earn Money With The Writer's Bureau

HOW I SELF-PUBLISHED MY CHILDREN’S BOOK AS A PAPERBACK

After I wrote my children’s book Sophie and Crystal Carter and The Unexpected Secret and got nowhere with the traditional publishing route, I decided to take the plunge and self publish.  A lot of Authors such as Beatrix Potter,Virginia Woolf, D.H. Lawrence and William Blake have all at some point in their writing career, self-published their work. So if you have written a book and haven’t gotten anywhere with the traditional route, maybe self publishing is for you. My personal experience of self-publishing happened in 2005 when I was 21. I loved Art, Design and I’d written a book so I began to do my research using a book called The Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook. This book had pretty much everything in it that I needed to know about self-publishing a book. At the time I was studying English at college so the only money I was getting was the money I was getting for attending college. Once I’d worked out the cheapest way to publish it, saved up my money, and done my research, I began the self-publishing process. I designed, drew and painted the front and back cover of the book and also designed the spine. I went through my manuscript several times, checking for spelling mistakes, making sure the page margins were the correct size and writing up all the relevant pages such as the copyright page. Once I’d finished editing the book I bought the ink and the paper and began to print it. I used my printer at home and sat in my bedroom for hours, printing out every single page of my book. Once I‘d done this and I had a few hundred copies of my book printed out, I then took it to the local printers. They scanned my front and back cover, added the spine and printed the covers out. They then glued a cover onto each book until all of the books were ready.  When I picked up the books from the printers I was quite excited and proud once I saw the end results. I had two hundred physically copies of my book in front of me and my next job was to sell them. I’d done research on how and where to sell them and gave some copies to the local book shop on sale or return. This meant that I would give them copies of my book that they would display in their shop and they would only pay me for each book if and when they sold. I also sold copies to family, friends and local people that I knew. I contacted the local newspapers and they wrote an article about my book and I also went on local radio. I spent some time at local Primary schools, reading it to children. The whole process was really enjoyable and a learning curve for me. My main aim was not to expect to print and sell hundreds or even thousands of copies of my book, but to simply see what kind of feedback
I would get. All the feedback was positive and I was happy that people were able to enjoy reading my book as much as I’d enjoyed writing it. In the end I sold about 400 copies but didn’t have the funds to continue with the process, but some years later my book had a second chance when I was able to publish it on Amazon as an e-book and paperback. I am currently writing the follow up to Sophie and Crystal Carter and the Unexpected Secret, which I’m hoping will be enjoyed by people as much as the first one was.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00E9EV34U

FREE E-BOOK

Will Sophie and Crystal defeat the ultimate evil? Download my book for free and find out. Please feel free to leave a review on Amazon.

 http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00E9EV34U

Have you joined Pinterest?

Have you heard of Pinterest or have you joined yet? When you find awesome stuff on the internet you can use Pinterest to save it. Pins on Pinterest are visual bookmarks for anything that you find and want to keep.  So what can you do with these pins that you save on Pinterest? You can pin them to a board which has a specific theme or subject. For example, if you love Zumba and you find pictures/ information about Zumba online, you can pin it onto a board on Pinterest and call the board Zumba, just as if you have organised them into a folder. You can follow other people’s boards if you’re interested in the things that they are pining onto their boards. Other people who have joined Pinterest can follow any of your boards too. If you see a pin that you really love, you can pin it to any of your own boards. You can like other people’s pins and they too can like anything that you pin.   

So how exactly do you create a pin? You simply go onto one of your boards and click on add a pin and select the web or your computer to upload a picture you like. Once you’ve uploaded your image, you need to select the board that you want to pin it to from your drop down menu, then write a description of what your pin is. You also have the option to share your pin with Twitter and Facebook by clicking on the boxes   underneath your description. Then once you click on pin it, it will pin it onto the board that you selected. If you have pins that you want to promote that you have pinned to a board, you don’t have to go through the whole process that i’ve just explained, you can simply go onto that pin and re-pin it as many times as you like. This is a really awesome site and there are so many things on it that are interesting and helpful and fun. 


http://www.pinterest.com/kellycairns9

The Writers Bureau

Have you ever heard of The Writers Bureau? The Writers Bureau is a creative writing course that you can do from home in your own time. The course was designed to help people to learn how to make a career out of creative writing by being a freelance writer. What exactly is a freelance writer you may ask? When you are a freelance writer it means that you are self-employed and can work for one publication or several. Being a freelance writer means that you can choose your own working hours, choose who you want to and don’t want to work for, you can work from home and choose when you have holidays. The course teaches you how you can make money from writing short stories, articles for newspapers and magazines and even how to write a book. This creative writing course is a first-class home-study course and was written by professional writers. You will get a tutor who will support you through the whole course, giving you expert personal guidance. Your tutor will also give

you advice on presentation, copyright and style. You will get guidance on how to sell your writing and if you don’t make money from writing after completing the whole course, you will get a full refund, guaranteed. So if you are looking for a creative writing course that will teach you how to earn from your writing, I recommend this course which I do myself and think is awesome. You can earn while you learn, it’s ideal for beginners and you don’t need any special skills or qualifications to enroll. If you are serious about a career in writing, this course will teach you everything you need to know to be successful. You can get free details about this course with no obligation to buy, by filling in the form on their website.

http://www.writersbureau.com/

Advice for writers

Have you ever wanted to be a writer but have no idea where to start? When I realised that I had a passion for writing I didn't have a clue where to start. One day when I was doing my research, I came across a book called The Writers & Artists Yearbook. This book is an awesome resource for writers and has lots of information in it. Everything that I learnt in the beginning was from reading this book. So what exactly is The Writers & Artists Yearbook and what information can you gain from it? The Writers & Artists Yearbook is a directory for writers, artists, illustrators, photographers, designers and playwrights. The book is published every year and has been since 1906. It was written for writers and artists to give advice, information and encouragement. It includes a directory of book publishers, newspapers, magazines etc. Everything you need to know about writing is in this book. Everything from writing a book to information on copyright can be found. You can also find articles in this book that were written by famous authors. These authors have used The Writers & Artists Yearbook as a stepping stone or starting point. So if you are seriously considering a career in writing or even if you'd like to be an illustrator or designer, this book is the best thing for you to purchase. Not forgetting that there is also a website for this book, which also has lots of awesome information on it.

Check out my children's book that I wrote with the help of The Writers & Artists Yearbook 

UK https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00E9EV34U

US http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00E9EV34U

M.A.G.I.C

                ★★★ ★★★★★★
magic   Unicorns are magical

One of my favorite legendary animals is the unicorn. When someone describes what a unicorn is, they describe it as a beast that has a large, pointed, spiraling horn. This horn projects from the unicorn’s forehead. The unicorn was represented graphically by sketch and was sketched in ancient seals. An ancient seal is a stamp or engraving that is set in either stone, metal or a hard substance like crystal. The ancient seal would be a symbol or a figure that was used to make an impression on clay or wax. It would usually be attached to an object for example a document or possession; this would give it authenticity, ownership or authority.  When the Ancient Greeks carried out studies about organisms such as animals in their environment, unicorns were mentioned. Another fact i found out about while researching the unicorn was that there is an animal in the bible that is called the re’em. When the word re’em was translated, it was associated with the word unicorn. In European Folklore a unicorn was usually described as a goat-like or horse-like animal. They described it as an animal that had a long horn and cloven hooves. However, in the Middle Ages and Renaissance Times, the unicorn was described as a creature that was very wild and lived in the forest or woods. It was believed that the unicorn was a symbol of purity and grace. It was a creature that could only be captured by a virgin. According to encyclopedias’, a unicorn's horn had the power to make poisoned water clean and pure to drink (purified) and was able to heal sickness. In the Renaissance and Medieval Times, people would sell the horn of a narwhale (a whale) and say that it was a unicorn’s horn.

           ★★★★★★★★★★★★★

advice     Writer's & Artists Yearbook                     

The very first thing that I'd like to tell you before I give any advice is how I got into writing. It was 1998 and I was fourteen years old. I had to write a story for a Primary School student in year 3/4. I went to the school like everyone else and gathered information from the student. Things such as what was their favorite animal, what did they like etc. This information was to help me to write a story that had things in it that the student would like and was interested in. Once we had this information we planned what our story would be about and spent each English lesson writing and illustrating it. I loved the whole process of thinking of ideas, writing an outline and designing what the book would look like from front to back. Once it was finished, the feeling I got from putting this book together and the feedback I got from the student was awesome. I began to make books at home in my spare time and it became one of my hobbies. I started out doing books about birds. The reason for this was because I also drew in my spare time and one day when I spoke to my uncle and told him that I loved drawing but never knew what to draw, he showed me his drawings of birds. So I started to get books about birds and I would draw then and write a little bit about each bird. I put all the drawings and information together and stapled them together so they were books. I really enjoyed the process and would take them into school to show to my English teacher. I then decide to do some research about how to write and get a book published, at this point I didn't have a clue about anything or where to start. I came across a book called the Writer's & Artists Yearbook, which is like a bible for writers. It had so much information in it and told me everything I needed to know. So once I did my research I wrote and illustrated a book called birds and started sending it to publishers. The first bit of advice i'm going to give you is when you write, write about things that you love and are passionate about. The best piece of advice I can give you when you are starting out is to get a copy of the Writer's & Artists Yearbook. This book is awesome and has so much useful information in it.  It's a directory for writers', artists', designers' and many other talents. It has information on writing a book, the publishing process, a list of publishers, information about copyright and lots more. This was my starting point and where i got a lot of my information and knowledge from. Here's the link to the website for the Writer's & Artists Yearbook where you can get information and purchase your own copy of the book.  https://www.writersandartists.co.uk/

giveaways  

★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★

 Win a paperback, signed copy of Sophie and Crystal Carter and the Unexpected Secret

If you'd like to win a copy of my children's book, Sophie and Crystal Carter and the Unexpected Secret, please follow these rules below. 

Visit my website http://www.kacairns.com and answer the following question.

How old was I when I first discovered my love and passion for writing? Once you have the answer, send me an email to kelzkids1983@yahoo.co.uk with the title 'book giveaway' and your name. I will announce the winner in my next M.A.G.I.C blog post.

★★★★★★★★★★★★★

illustrations       Unicorn


Check out my drawing of a unicorn! This is how I drew it  
http://www.wikihow.com/Draw-a-Unicorn

creativity  How to make unicorn  poop cookies

I thought Id share this recipe because it's awesome. I had a go at making some of these myself with my daughter and we had a lot of fun. It was very messy and not a good idea for me to use my hands to mix in the food colouring, it took a few days to get rid of my green hands! So how did my cookies turn out? Well they came out multi-coloured and a little darker in colour than I wanted and they also came out square, but they tasted amazing. Here's a picture of my unicorn poop cookies. I think I need to have another go at making these! If anyone manages to make these and they look way better than mine, (which wouldn't be hard) please email me a picture of how yours turned out, i'd love to see them and put them on this blog. 

Here's the link to the website where I found the recipe for making unicorn poop cookies. Have fun!
http://kidsactivitiesblog.com/53796/unicorn-poop-cookies

Zac reading Sophie and Crystal Carter and the Unexpected Secret

Zac reading Sophie and Crystal Carter and the Unexpected Secret

My children's book, Sophie and Crystal Carter and the Unexpected Secret

My children's book, Sophie and Crystal Carter and the Unexpected Secret

My children's book

My children's book