1 Year Anniversary of The Dreamers!

It's hard to believe. One year ago, today, August 9th, The Dreamers: A Story of Sam Kullen launched into publication. It's been held on bookstores' shelves (online and off) for an entire year. And what a year it has been!

As the author, I have earned several awards from The Dreamers, including Top 50 Idaho Author, and Idaho Student of the Year, to name a few.

To this day, The Dreamers has maintained ONLY 5-star reviews on Amazon.com, and continues to get very positive reviews at places like Goodreads, and others.

TheDreamersAdventures has gained nearly 7,000 views since The Dreamers' publication, and the stats continue to steadily grow. Sam's blog has also had views from nearly 30 countries worldwide.

I've had book signings all over, as well, from Idaho to Colorado, signing books to people of all ages.

This last July, I taught two week-long writing and publishing classes on a college campus. See my post, CSU Writing Project for more information about this.

With over 11 HUNDRED twitter followers, nearly 100 Facebook Likes, and guest posts, interviews, and spotlights all over the Internet, The Dreamers is becoming more and more "famous" online! :)

With The Nightmarers' release looming ahead, this audience is sure to get bigger, and the series itself more popular. I am very excited to be able to say that I published the greater part of a series before finishing my first year of high school.

As I build my audience and platform, I plan to submit some of my other ideas to "mainstream" publishers, and lead myself to my ultimate goal, New York Times Bestseller.

As future years come and pass, I know that I will be getting closer and closer to that goal. I thank you so much for reading this post, The Dreamers, other bits and bobs about me online, or all three. Thank you for helping me achieve my goal, and getting closer and closer to living MY dream.


Thank you for the great year, and for many more to come!

Dream on!
Oliver Dahl
&
Sam Kullen

P.S. As a technical difficulty, my past post, "News and the New Look" has been deleted, along with its comments. Don't ask me why, it just happened. I am angry and sad about it too. It truly was a great post. It will be missed. Sorry, everyone.

Giveaway

Hey, everyone! I think it's about time I do a giveaway! What do you think? For those fans with eReaders--Kindle, Nook, iBooks, Sony, etc.--who would like a copy for their device, now is their chance to get one FREE! Not only that, but when you order now, we'll double your offer! ...Okay. That's not entirely true. I'm getting sales pitch-y. Sorry.  : )

Anway... The winner receives a FREE eBook edition of The Dreamers which ALSO will happen to be signed TO the winner in the eBook. They will receive an autographed eBook, just like a print reader would get their copy signed physically. How does this work? Click here to learn how!

The giveaway will last until July 31, and will start at the end of June. To get your name entered multiple times, you can follow the instructions in the giveaway. Best of luck to everyone!  : )

a Rafflecopter giveaway

CSU Writing Project

This week, I was able to teach two separate, weeklong classes at CSU (Colorado State University) to students interested in writing. I was able to work with some great people, and inspire a lot of amazing young writers. I was flown out to Denver and taught two different age groups.

Students going into 4th and 5th grade were taught the writing process, as well as writing tips. They interviewed their characters, learned some pointers on how to brainstorm and prewrite, and got a taste of how to get published. They had fun learning about how to make their writing shine.

Students going into Middle School, (6-8th grades) were taught a weeklong, in depth discussion on how to get published. They were educated on how to prepare their work, publish it, and then promote it. (The Three P's). Lots of questions were answered, and information learned. These kids now have the knowledge they need to get published.

 I love helping and inspiring anyone, but especially fellow students. One of my favorite parts about my week stay in Colorado was hearing from two kids that I helped inspire them to co-write a book together and get it published! Hearing that you inspired someone, from the person you inspired, to do something as great as publishing a book is truly amazing! Since they both will probably end up reading this, I wish them the best of luck!

To any other young writer who didn't attend, or needs to hear the advice I shared again, I departed with some "words of wisdom" during the concluding day. This is worth repeating. Don't give up. Don't let anyone tell you that you can't. You CAN! You can always write! You can always publish! Nowadays, publishing is even easier than ever with the introduction and success of self-publishing. Don't give up! Keep to the Dream and stick in there! Seeing your work in print, or your name on a book or website is worth every hard moment, every button on your keyboard you press, and every minute past the hour that you spend laboring on your writing. Keep that in mind. Keep up the good work!

 Dream on!
Oliver Dahl

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.