Life on Hold awarded Children's Literary Classics Silver Seal

         4RV Publishing received notice that Life on Hold by Beverly Stowe McClure was awarded Children's Literary Classics' Silver Seal. All authors of children's and young adult books should seek this honor.

    Literary Classics, believes literature is a critical component in the development of young minds. Through well-crafted literature, they foster creative thinking, enhance word recognition, improve cognitive skills, and help achieve a greater understanding of people and the world around us. 

     Literary Classics provides book reviews for children's and young adult books.  They also offer an international book award program and endorse exceptional literature through their Literary Classics Seal of Approval (a gold seal and a silver seal per category). Life on Hold met the high standards and received the silver seal.

        Congratulations to Beverly, and she has more books in the works. 

           4RV now has two books with CLC Silver Seals: Life on Hold and Walking Through Walls by Karen Cioffi, illustrated by Aidana WillowRaven (who also created the cover for Life on Hold). Both books can be found on the 4RV Bookstore.

Life on Hold receives CLC seal of approval

     Life on Hold by Beverly Stowe McClure received Children's Literary Classics seal of approval. The cover image (designed by Aidana WillowRaven) above shows the seal on the cover of the young adult novel.

      The next step for Beverly's book is the awards process. Hopefully, it will win a gold or silver award and be able to wear an award seal. We'll know later this year.  

      Life on Hold is the second CLC award winner from 4RV Publishing; Walking Through Walls by Karen Coiffi was the first and received both the seal of approval and then the silver seal award.

      Both books can be found on the 4RV Bookstore, as well as through other online book stores and brick and mortar stores.


 

Another honor for a 4RV book - Carla's Cloud Catastrophe

       Children's Literary Classics announced that Carla's Cloud Catastrophe, written by Beth Bence Reinke and illustrated by Ginger Nielson, has been selected to receive the Children's Literary Classics Seal of Approval. The CLC Seal of Approval is reserved for those books which uphold the rigorous criteria set forth by the Children's Literary Classics review committee.

     Carla's Cloud Catastrophe is a fresh and imaginative book about a day in the life of a young girl when all the clouds fall from the sky. All sorts of unexpected things happen when large billowy clouds are found in the most unlikely places, causing quite a catastrophe. When the town-folks try to find a solution for cleaning up the cloud mess, Carla comes up with a plan that saves the day.

     Children will love the illustrations which help this story come to life as young Carla puts her mind to helping resolve a mess which threatens to keep her from making it to her own birthday party.

     This honor is one of several awarded 4RV Publishing books this year. Congratulations, Beth and Ginger.

4RV Bookstore  
4RV Website  
 

 

Walking Through Walls Honored with the Children's Literary Classics Seal of Approval

As a 4RV Publishing author, I'm thrilled and honored to announce that Walking Through Walls has been awarded the Children's Literary Classics Seal of Approval!

This is the second award for my fantasy adventure based on and set in ancient China: In January 2012, Walking Through Walls won 1st Place in the Editors and Predators Readers Poll, in the Children's Novel category!

I want to thank Vivian for taking a chance on my MG/YA fantasy adventure book.

To check out the amazing illustrations done by Aidana WillowRaven, reviews and more information on Walking Through Walls go to: http://walkingthroughwalls.blogspot.com

If you'd like to get your own copy for your children at home or in the classroom, click the link:

4RV Publishing Book Store

You can view the Children's Literary Classics Review of Walking Through Walls at:
http://clcreviews.blogspot.com/2012/03/walking-through-walls-by-karen-cioffi.html

Contests and Exposure

I recently had a guest post on my site by award-winning and multi-published (80+) author Nancy Sanders. Working with her publicists and publishers, she learned a thing or two about generating exposure for her books, and one great way to do this is through contests.

Obviously, each author will need to determine their individual marketing budget and see if contests can have an allotted amount, but even if you’re on a tight budget, there are things you can do to generate visibility.

Nancy suggests first making a list of those award sites you’d like to submit to, keeping the free ones up first. Then, follow the guidelines of each and enter you book.

Try to keep in mind that it’s not necessarily about winning. Nancy advises that just getting your book “in the hands of judges” is important in itself. Many of the judges are important people in their own literary circles.

To find out more of what Nancy has to say on entering contests go to:
http://www.karencioffiwritingandmarketing.com/2012/01/submitting-for-awards-by-nancy-sanders_25.html

You can also check out Nancy’s site for even more information:
http://nancyisanders.wordpress.com/awards/

Since, I think contests are an important promotional and visibility tool, I allotted as much as I could to enter those contests I thought would make a difference. Contests I entered the end of last year include:

Boston Globe Horn Books Award (No fee, 3 books)

SCBWI Golden Kite Awards (No fee, 4 books)

Newbery Medal (No fee, 2 books)

IRA Children’s and Young Adult’s Book Awards (No fee, 1 book)
International Reading Association

The Eric Hoffer Award ($50, 1 book)

USA 2012 Book Awards ($69, 1 book)

Children’s Literary Classics ($95, 3 books)

Notice that the first four award contests have NO fee. You can definitely be a cost-conscious marketer. And, again, whether you win no awards, or one, two, or three awards, it’s the exposure and having the book seen by influential people that’s as important as winning.

Just a side note: one librarian I spoke with mentioned that the Newbery is one of the 'biggie' awards. After that comes the state awards. So, check these contest areas out!

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Learn about writing and marketing with Karen Cioffi at http://karencioffiwritingandmarketing.com. Sign up for her free newsletter, A Writer’s World, and get TWO free site-related e-books for subscribing. For professional and affordable writing services check out http://dkvwriting4u.com

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