Mar 25, 2014

Living Outside of the Target Audience

“No book is really worth reading at the age of ten which is not equally – and often far more – worth reading at the age of fifty and beyond.” ― C.S. Lewis


Time and time again people debate whether or not someone fits the target audience of a specific book. With the industry in such a competitive state currently and unfocused marketing being the death knell of most sales, it's important to know who your ideal reader is. Unfortunately, that creates a dialogue that keeps out a lot of people who would still very much benefit from the book.

So, let's start a dialogue. A fresh... no, a Garden Fresh dialogue. Let me tell you about the magic of Garden to Table, and why "a kid's guide" is so much more.

Mar 21, 2014

Monster Needs to Stay Awake for His Book Trailer!

As technology and media continue to change, so does our ability to utilize our creative outlets in fun and interesting ways. One of the coolest trends to jump out of the publishing industry over the last few years has been the book trailer. Feature films shouldn't have all the fun, right?

At first, the concept seemed like kind of a snooze to me. A trailer? For a book? Sounds pretty boring. I mean, books don't move, they don't dance, they don't sing--well, most books anyway. What could possibly be entertaining about a short preview for a book?

Well, as it turns out, there are a quite a few benefits to promoting books in this way. First, it's a different platform to garner support and exposure for your book. Not everyone in the world wants to sift through Amazon reviews or wade through pages and pages of new releases looking for the hottest picture books. It's far more enjoyable to get a hands on look at some art, some passages, and some reviews all contained within a two minute glance. Second, videos are far more dynamic than an image. You can garner so much more information with interactive text and artwork than with a cover photo. Even with the "look inside the book" feature on popular book vendor websites, there something much more deliberate about the specific art highlighted in book trailers.

The biggest reason to use a book trailer? It's FUN! You get music and movement, excitement and entertainment. The opportunity to captivate a new audience with your product is one any author and publishing press should look forward to. After all, that's sort of the name of the game, isn't it? Getting your book in to more hands?

We'd hardly complain!

So, of course, the point of this small discussion is that we have a new book trailer! Hooray! Take a look below and tell us what you think!

We promise: it's worth staying awake for.

Mar 18, 2014

A Book For Lunch

“Eating and reading are two pleasures that combine admirably.” - CS Lewis



I've talked before about the idea of book diets before, because I think the idea is magical and hilarious. This time though, I've decided to approach the idea of a book diet from a slightly more literal perspective. Not too literal because I'm pretty sure that ingesting books is relatively unhealthy, I highly doubt that there are many vitamins and minerals soaked into the pages of my favorite murder mystery.

Mar 11, 2014

Post-Winter Reading Lists, or Why Summer Can't Arrive Soon Enough

Typical Scarletta Employee Behavior
Winter has battered us all this year. Intense storms, bad road conditions, record lows... but I digress. This post is an ode to Summer, and the delicious books that we gobble up on our summer reading lists. This post is about why summer should already be here! Denzel has talked about book diets, the PW blog talked about vacation reading, and now as a publisher, it's time for us to start talking about summer reading.

Summer reading is important on so many levels. The majority of libraries create FANTASTIC reading programs designed to engage kids of all ages (we highly recommend you enroll your kids in one). Publishers come out with great lists for varying tastes (seriously, every publisher has summer recommendations). More people choose to read for fun - to engage themselves in books while on summer vacation (honestly, who doesn't enjoy a good book while getting a tan?).

So before you cover yourselves in books, here are our recommendations - a few books from the Scarletta catalog to add to the lists of our voracious readers...

Mar 7, 2014

The First Annual SEUSS! Awards: A Retrospective

With todays announcement of The Day the Crayons Quit as winner of the First Annual SEUSS Awards Choice Picture Book, we find ourselves at the end of one of the most exciting weeks in Scarletta history. A little chunk of that history hasn't been shared with you lovely people yet, and so I've asked the wonderful queen of all things Scarletta (Desiree) to share the details:

SEUSS Awards: SEUSS Choice Award


Hooray! The Day the Crayons Quit is the winner of the First Annual SEUSS Awards Choice Picture Book! Drew Daywalt and Oliver Jeffers are quite the team!

Want to share your appreciation for their work? Reach out to Drew and Oliver on Twitter @drewdaywalt & @oliverjeffers

Thanks for your participation and votes! We can't wait for the 2014 Picture Books to be every bit as wonderful as the past year's!

Mar 6, 2014

SEUSS AWARDS: Best Story Content


Congratulations to The Snatchabook! Helen and Thomas Docherty are the winners of the First Annual SEUSS Award for Best Story Content.

Interested in keeping up with the authors or congratulating them for their work? Reach out to them on Twitter @docherty_helen. 

Stop back tomorrow when we reveal the winner of the overall victor: the SEUSS Choice Award! 

Mar 5, 2014

SEUSS Awards: Best Illustration


Congratulations! Journey is the winner of Best Illustration in the First Annual SEUSS Awards!

Want to congratulate Aaron Becker? You can do so by following him on Twitter and letting him know you love his work! @storybreathing

Check back tomorrow morning to see who takes the cake for Best Story Content!


Mar 4, 2014

SEUSS Awards: Best Read Aloud


Congratulations and a big round of applause! Tea Rex is the winner of Best Read Aloud in the First Annual SEUSS Awards! 

Want to congratulate the author? Tell her how wonderful it is on twitter @MollyIdle

Stop back in tomorrow to see who gets the Best Illustrated award!

Thanks again for all your votes!

            

                    

                                                      

Springing Forward Into Celebration

Spring is nature's way of saying, 'Let's party!' 



Spring is the best season, and I will have none of your rabble rousing about "opinions" vs. "fact". It's simply the truth. Spring is full of flowers, warming weather, the freedom from boots, and my birthday. Spring is truly the best season.

But you're not here to hear me talk about those boring things, you want to know about books. Well fear not, because spring is also a great season for books. Full of great awards like our very own SEUSS Awards, birthdays celebrated by the likes of Ezra Jack Keats, Lois Lowry, and Shakespeare. Most importantly, spring is full of celebrations of the written word and the infrastructure in place to share it. Let me briefly acquaint you with some of the best, or my favorite, springtime celebrations of books and those who love them.

Mar 3, 2014

SEUSS Awards: Best Character


Congratulations! Unicorn Thinks He's Pretty Great is the winner of Best Character in the First Annual SEUSS Awards! 

Want to congratulate the author? Tell him how great his book is on Twitter @bobshea

Check back tomorrow morning to see who takes the cake for Best Read Aloud! 

Thanks for all your votes!