Parents, subscribe to the blog so you know when the art is needed if you have a budding artist in your midst!
And don't forget that kids can always contribute ideas they'd like to see make an appearance in later books. That's done here.
Kids can warm up the pens and pencils for some serious artistry, as the second book of "The 7" series is nearing completion and I hope will be finished in April. At that time, I'll put out the call for artwork so the book can be finished and published, featuring 7 new young artists.
Parents, subscribe to the blog so you know when the art is needed if you have a budding artist in your midst! And don't forget that kids can always contribute ideas they'd like to see make an appearance in later books. That's done here.
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Rochester, MI, teachers and parents ... looking for a new book to recommend to your students or children? Then I hope you'll see what The 7 is all about. Because for a limited time, I will GIFT digital copies from Amazon to those students whose parents request it. (Parents will need to let me know their Amazon e-mail address to receive it. I'll also ask them to tell me which school their child attends so I know they're in the district.)
Kids will need a Kindle or Kindle app to read the book on. Amazon Prime members with Kindles ... please borrow the book for FREE. If you do this, it helps me to gift more copies to those who don't have Kindles or Amazon Prime. Please subscribe to this blog (right-hand column) for updates to this offer (and future offers ... announcements about when kids can illustrate for future books, etc.). Since this offer largely comes out of my pocket, I can only offer this for a limited time, and will announce when the offer is about to close. Not one to rush things <cough>, I've finally made The 7 available exclusively on Kindle. (Of course it's still available in print form as well.) If you're an Amazon Prime member with a Kindle, you can borrow it for FREE. Otherwise it's just 99 cents for a fun, fast fantasy adventure for kids.
Buy it here. Well, I love to do things meaningfully. So after waiting a while to get The 7 prepped for Kindle, I began that process several weeks ago with the goal of launching it on January 21 ... "7" months after the book was first released.
Alas, I checked in with my publishing company today to see where that process stood and there was a message saying, "Please approve us to begin conversion." What? I have no idea how this was missed several weeks ago when I paid and thought the process was clearly underway. But now I have approved and imagine it will be ready for Kindle soon. Fingers crossed. When it's set to go, I hope you'll bring the magic of Lithaea into someone's life! Having a little fun with the end of the world (officially today), I purposely published The 7 on June 21, 2012 -- 6 months ago. Because after all, in The 7, there is a tribulation coming to our world. A time of war and misery for humanity ... unless enough people venturing into Lithaea will do something about it. And that includes the heroes of our book, Matthew and Christian.
Meanwhile, I've slacked a bit on getting the Kindle version ready, but I'm working on that now, so I hope that The 7 will meet the Kindle in a few weeks. I will be giving away the Kindle version for a few days when it first launches, so keep an eye on this blog for details. After that, it will be just 99 cents. Only a brief blog today to mention that I've begun work on the second book of The 7 series. Since books like these have lives of their own, I cannot entirely say where this will go. But I woke from a dream some weeks ago that gave me one idea for the series, and when I went to write it down in the middle of the night, a flood of additional ideas came to me and I wrote until the flow stopped. So ... I'm pretty excited about what I'll be able to share and hope that you'll enjoy as the books take shape.
A great big thanks to the Rochester Patch (and Laura Cassar) for a terrific story about the launch of The 7, and to the Royal Oak Patch (born and raised there) for republishing it. Laura did a nice job of understanding my goals for this project and sharing that with their readers. The Patch organization does an excellent job of making you feel connected to your community, making sure you know what's going on, and I highly recommend getting onto the mailing list of the Patch in your neck of the woods. CreateSpace is an incredible publishing system for the independent publisher. One of their two minor flaws is that you can't approve a book and set the publication date in the future, giving time for early reviews and for the book to filter onto Amazon (where they could have a "Pre-Order" button). This, despite the fact that they're owned by Amazon.
However, it took only 2 days from the publication date of The 7 to get onto Amazon. At just $7 with free shipping for Amazon Prime members ... well, it's a heck of an adventure bargain. I hope you'll stop by and grab a copy or three for the young'uns in your life. It's official -- The 7 was published today as the first in a series of 7 books. An epic fantasy for kids and for those of us who still think we're kids. And of course illustrated by kids, which is a completely magical addition to the project. (These kids were a blast to work with, and I hope other fans will contribute art for this website!)
Links to purchase carry over to the web store where the book is initially for sale, but in the next few days it will appear on Amazon as well, and buttons will change over to Amazon. Libraries and bookstores can also through traditional distribution channels. I hope to have a Kindle version available by the end of summer, but the printed version is just $7 and of course will have free 2-day shipping for Amazon Prime members. |
Steve McCardell
Author of "The 7" and excited to share this fantasy adventure series with kids and "kids at heart" everywhere. Archives
February 2015
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