Autographed eBooks

Times are changing, and with it, technology. Readers and fans of authors could get their books signed by the author, and have been able to for many, many years. Until the introduction of the eBook. Since this monumental invention, more eBooks have been sold than print books in some bookstore's cases. But...what does this mean to the fan, and the reader, who has a Kindle, or a Nook, or an iPad?

In some cases, readers had their favorite author sign the back of their kindle, or autograph their iPad case. But, as I said before, technology is changing. And in such a way that readers can still get their eBooks signed. Yes, really.

A program called Autography, and other apps similar to it, now allow the author to sign eBooks for authors, just as they would sign a print book. Readers can now have a shelf of their autographed books, just like they would on their print bookshelf!

This is how the autograph appears on my iPad's iBookstore:

Pretty fancy, right? I think it's pretty neat. If you think the same, comment with your email address, and a name to sign to, (the one above is signed to my name) and I will send an eBook your way.

eBooks are $3.99, but the signature can be accessed for free. You can share the signature with your friends and followers on Facebook and Twitter. To access the signature, you will receive an email with a subject like, "Oliver Dahl has sent you an autographed copy of The Dreamers". Open this email, and follow the link to Autography's website. At the top of the landing page is a link that says "Preview Signature". From there, you will be taken to another page that shows the signature I sent you. You should then be able to right click on the image and, "Save As", or share directly to Facebook and/or Twitter.

I will try to get the signature back to you within one to two weeks, although I can usually send it within the first week.

Thank you, Dreamers of the world! I hope you enjoy this amazing new feature for The Dreamers as much as I am!


Dream on!
Sam Kullen
&
Oliver Dahl

Stereotypes Against Young Authors

The New York Times posted an article on the front page of their newspaper on March 31. I found that the article set up certain stereotypes against me and others like me. While many teen authors are relying on their parents for financial support, not all are. I myself payed for every aspect of the publishing process. If I had no money, I always payed my parents back. With enough stereotypes out there already about young writers, I felt that I had to do something. So...I sent this letter to Elissa Gootman, the writer of the article.

 

* * *

 

Hello, I read your article on self-published young authors, posted march 31st, today, and found myself, well... A little envious. I myself am a teenage author, and although I am sure you have gotten a few other emails from other young authors like me, I hope that you can read mine, and see my story as something different from those others that have contacted you, and those you sponsored in your recent article. I hope to give you something to think about.


To get to the point, as I'm sure you don't want to read my life story, I DID self-publish, but I payed the prices, at 200 dollars, myself, earning the required money after selling my own books! My parents were always there for support and editing, but did not pay a penny in my publication. This helped teach me valuable lessons, like money management, and hard work. Perhaps unlike Ben Heckmann, those 200$, compared to his 250$ got me in print, and eBook format in over 8 of the largest eBook retailers in the world. I have sold around 300 copies of my book so far, and has been out since last August, less than a year! My book has earned me the title of being one of the Top 50 Authors in my entire state! (Idaho). I was also chosen this year as my state's Student of the Year by the PTA.

As for the question you posed in your article "Paying to Get Your Child's Book Published", as to whether or not self publishing children's books is a good idea or not, my personal belief is YES! ...for the most part. I believe the book should show some merit, and definitely be able to compete with books written by adults, as my book, along with others, has. I found the comment about an Obligitory trophy at the end of a soccer game both true and stinging. However, you have to ask yourself, how many kids play sports?

The answer...well, a lot. :) most children, I would say, have played a sport. Then, how many kids end up writing a book that could potentially compete with books written by adults? Not many. In fact, rarely does a kid do this! I believe that, yes, DEFINITELY a child should be rewarded for doing such a feat! Again, only IF the book can compete with the adult world. If not, I don't believe it should be published. Self-publishing should be used carefully. This goes for adults, too. If the literary quality of any book isn't any good, it has no right being in the market, I'd say. To those kids that definitely have good quality writing, I believe they have just as much of a right to be in the industry as Suzanne Collins and James Patterson! Not all books will meet the standard set by these authors books, as is apparent with Adult-written books and teen-written books Alike.


All the same, I do not believe parents should pay for their children to get published, just because they want their little darling to feel good about themselves. I have found that if you value something, you can save up and get it. Using money earned from selling my book, I have been able to purchase the new iPad. If the young writers in question truly want to get published, and have the merit to succeed, I also believe they should pay for their own publication. It would give the author a better image than to tell people, my mommy and daddy payed to publish my book.

I love the fact that I can tell people I wrote and published my book on my own. The only part my parents payed in the entire writing and publication process was editing, which is, of course, necessary.

Again, I really hope that I gave you something to think about and consider. I found parts of your articles assuming kids were all published by their parents, somewhat stinging. I believe that I am a definite exception to this stereotype.

 

Author Eccentricities

If you follow me on Facebook or Twitter, you know that I said I was posting a post about how weird I am. Well...here it is. You also know that I mentioned doing 2 posts...in 24 hours. The other post refers to 100 years since the (Edmund Huntle sunk) Titanic. Also, if you're looking for the #TCWT blog chain post, you've found it. Thanks for checking me out. It means a lot. It would be way cool if you took the 15 seconds or less it takes afterward to check out another post, or one of my pages up top. Or you could watch my book trailer. Ok...if you did all of that, it would probably take more than 15 seconds, but it would still mean a lot. Please do me that favor. If you don't want to, at least check out my book, The Dreamers, and maybe buy it. :) Just kidding, you don't have to. But it is pretty good. In fact, it's awesome. And that's why you're here. Because I am awesome. ;)

But...I am also kind of weird. Wait, what's that you say? (or at least think amidst your thoughts of leaving this post). The reason you're hear is to here how weird I am? Not how awesome? Oh yeah...it does say eccentricities up there. Well, thank you for pointing out the obvious. I guess I'll get on with the post.

Okay. That was my strange introduction. I really want to thank you for checking me out. It really is awesome! If you couldn't tell by my introduction, I am kind of sarcastic. My thank you doesn't have a trace of sarcasm. Seriously. The fact that you are reading what I am typing right now is really pretty awesome. Think about it. O.o

I am told that I am actually not that sarcastic in person. I can see how that is true. It easier, and more fun, to be sarcastic in a blog post. I sound more like my main character, Sam. Maybe that's where I get it. Hmm... In fact, if I were to talk like this next to people who know me, they'd probably be surprised.

Enough procrastinating. (I'm good at that too.) On with the post.

I am fourteen years old, and published my first book when I was thirteen. I am one of my state's Top 50 Authors, and was also called to be Idaho Student of the Year for 2012 by the PTA. I like reading, writing, building, drawing, and most stuff that involves creating. Destroying can be pretty fun, too, though. If for some reason, you actually want to learn more about me, or my main character, (alter ego) check out my About Me page. Welcome to my blog. Welcome to this post.

First weird thing about me. I have a strange taste of music. I still like a lot of songs that most people enjoy, but I also like artists that not many people like, or at least, admit to, liking. As a writing tip connected to music, I have found that it is best to have music that matches the mood of what you're writing. For general inspiration, (and AWESOME music videos) check out the PianoGuys on YouTube. They did the music in both of my book trailers.

I don't play a lot of video games. Most kids my age, and older and younger, do, but I just don't. Lots of people think that's weird. When it comes to iPad games...well, you've got me. :)

Since another part of this post is my habits as a writer, I'll go into those.

I usually have a lot of water and snacks nearby when I write so I don't have any excuses to go out of my room and stop writing. I hole myself up in there quite a bit. But, if it results in two blog posts in one day, and two. Haters of intense editing added? I'd say it's worth it. At least, today... :)

Another habit I have is checking stats as I write. How many pages, words, etc. especially during NaNoWriMo. If you want to know why that is, I've added a link to a post where I explain it. Hey, look at that! I've added a few other links here! Check them out! They're pretty cool, I promise. Well, most of the time. :)

As I briefly mentioned before, procrastinating is definitely my worst habit. Yup. I have a shirt that says "hard work pays of later, laziness pays off now." Unfortunately... I tend to live by that shirt a bit too often. :)

Anyway, thanks again for checking out my post! While you're here, check out my other stuff, like I said before. It's not like you have anything better to do than support a young author on his blog by taking five seconds to click a button, do you? Haha...I'm so mean. I'll use reverse psychology as I have in the past. DON'T click around my blog. I'll bet you can't help it. :P

Maybe one of these ideas will pay off...

Dream on!

Oliver Dahl

(& NOT Sam Kullen this time, he has to do homework).

Titanic: 100 Years

Tomorrow, April 15, marks the 100th anniversary of the tragic event that changed the world. Possibly one of the most well-known ships to ever sail the sea, The Titanic, or Unsinkable, proved its name wrong 100 years ago, tomorrow. Only 705 passengers survived the event...leaving another 1523 out of 2228 under the waves.

The world knows the Titanic hit an iceberg, which then sunk the ship. When discovered in 1985, it was found that the ship had split into two pieces. Even with this information known, the scientific community of this area in history still debates on how it actually sunk. While other ships probably communicated with others, including the Titanic, telling them that there were icebergs ahead, the Titanic, thought to be "unsinkable," plowed through. Thus began the most famous maritime disaster in history. For more info about the Titanic, click here, as everything that follows is purely fiction.

Above, it says, "the world knows." As Dreamers, we know that it wasn't an iceberg that sunk the Titanic. At least, not directly. At the time, the Dreamers were a small group, perhaps a dozen, not much more. Edmund Huntle, the so-called "founder" of the Dreamers was posting his findings in newspapers and magazines around the world, wherever someone was foolish enough to mistake it as a fiction piece. Those wise enough to mark it as truth and explore Edmund's "Dream Realm," became Dreamers. These men and women had enough creativity that they broke the psychological boundary that holds us back when we Dream. This gave them the ability to literally live inside of their dreams, as we do day-to-day. It also gave them the power to make whatever they dreamed become reality. Unfortunately for Edmund, and all of his fellow passengers on the Titanic, this was uncontrollable to the point where even nightmares could become reality. And so they did.

While searching the world for new Dreamers, Edmund boarded the Titanic as it left on April 10 to pick up passengers and mail in France. On April 11, the ship, with Edmund on it, left Queenstown, Ireland towards New York.

The night of April 14, three days into the voyage, a single man dreamed what would become a nightmare for everyone in the world. Edmund was haunted by the accounts and messages from other ships ahead of them, warning this enormous ship, and others near, of icebergs near their waters. His mind continued to worry, even as he fell asleep. This sparked the dream. A mere hour or so later, strange sounds echoed throughout the cabins. Passengers wearily awoke, worrying also, what the worst could be. Edmund, trapped in his dream, reminded unaware that the world around him was falling. And that he was falling with it.

The ship fell, and the scant number of lifeboats were filled. More than a thousand helpless passengers were left behind. One of these was Edmund, fitfully asleep until he fell beneath the waves, into oblivion.

Thankfully, these kind of things can be avoided nowadays, as Dreamers have developed rings that keep them anchored partway into consciousness as to allow them to control their dreams better, and use this ability to help the world, and inspire growth.

What would YOU dream if you had a Dreamer Ring?

Dream on!

Sam Kullen

&

Oliver Dahl

Young Author Spotlight: Spencer Brokaw

Today, I have the honor of introducing to you a fellow teen author, and online friend Spencer Brokaw. I am going to be starting a series of blog posts that sponsor, or spotlight young authors around the US. I learned about Spencer when he did a guest post on a twitter follower's blog. I commented on it, we got in touch, and, as a result, you are reading this right now! I want to thank him for helping me out on his site as well, and hope this can be the first of many blog posts to follow.