Finding Great Children's Books Online With Toppsta
One of the hardest things about being an independent author is getting people to see your books, especially if they are to be found amongst the thousands online.
Amazon is the biggest online retailer of children's books by far, But it really only works well if you know what you are looking for. If you are looking for something new, you are unlikely to discover the best books, rather the books that sell really well. This means books that have been published for a long time, or books that have been put out by celebrity authors, or those that are already bestsellers. Because Amazon promotes books that already sell well on Amazon, it is only easy to find books that are already successful.
So where do you go if you want to discover new books for children? Where can you find ones that are written well and enjoyed by kids no matter who has published them, or how famous the author is?
This is where Toppsta comes in, by collecting reviews and ranking books accordingly. The Toppsta website says,
“We collect reviews from children and parents (and grandparents and librarians..) and ... you’ll find the top books for each year from babies to teenagers and every age in between!
We hope you’ll discover new books, new authors and new series and we’d love it if you’d join our community and write reviews of children’s books you’ve enjoyed. It takes less than 5 minutes to write a book review and you’ll be helping other children (and parents) find the very best books to read.”
I'd recommend you head over to Toppsta and review some books you've read and discover some you haven't. And a giveaway of FAB Club is running in the month of September 2018. Click the image below to head to Toppsta and enter.
click to find FAB Club on Toppsta
Billie Was the Best Dog Ever
I can't believe I won't see this happy little dog again. He was such a goof.
More in the newsletter. https://mailchi.mp/d7980bcc5ab2/goodbye-to-billie?e=9812af8df3
Herne Bay Cartoon Festival 2018
Last weekend was the Herne Bay cartoon festival. I think this may be the sixth time it has run and it's a great little event. It is organised by local residents Sue Austen and Steve Coombes as well as cartoonists like Royston Robertson and a lot of volunteers. Only about 30 cartoonists attend and the festival uses lots of little venues. It was great to go back to where I used to live as a student. Not much has changed apart from the type of people who live there. I think they will ultimately change this threadbare Kent seaside resort for the better. They have to contend with a lot of postwar ropey building stock and a pebbly beach that is strewn with litter, but with people like the cartoon festival organisers working on it anything is possible.
I ran a cartooning workshop at Beach Creative on Saturday and there were a lot of creative kids there. Toast cafe next door do fabulous lunches.
There were a lot of great exhibitions on around the town, Including the funny women exhibition at the seaside museum. Unfortunately no one knows who drew my favourite cartoon of that exhibition but I was happy to see Tove Jansson Moomin originals.
Some of us spent a blisteringly hot Sunday morning baking on the pier. We were painting and drawing big cartoon boards. I had one of the holey boards which was great fun to watch when I was finished and had got back from throwing myself in the sea. After a restorative ice cream we had a cartoonists carousel ride before I dashed for the bus to head to Canterbury and another trip down memory lane.
More photos of the event here: https://procartoonists.org/feeling-the-heat-at-yet-another-sunny-herne-bay-cartoon-festival
