Plastic Bottle Top SCAM exposure

Are you collecting plastic bottle tops from milk bottles or similar? Hopefully this helps the environment.

 If you are collecting for a wheelchair, then this is a SCAM.

There is only one agency collecting plastic bottle tops for charitable purposes.  That is LUSH, take your bottle tops into any of their high street shops.

www.zoeainsworthgriggbooks.com

Review of Frozen the DVD

This film from the Walt Disney stable is destined to become a classic for many years. Loosely based on the fairy tale of The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Anderson, I am sure he would have been delighted. The graphics are wonderful and best viewed on the big screen but the animations will delight everyone. The twist in the ending, would gain approval from Carl Jung and 1960's feminists alike. A thoroughly deserved box office success.

five stars - thoroughly recommended

Brought to you from -  Planet Somerset

Review - The Snow Cat

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UEkd51sWJA

This engaging story of cat magic will delight all kids 3-9 years of age whether they read it themselves or  read the story by an adult.  Available only on kindle. With original illustrations and in verse. Kids will enjoy the story of sledging.. The book includes a link to a you tube film about cats. A story for the train or the plane.

For this and other stories go to

www.zoeainsworthgriggbooks.com

Self Publish? My experience.

Self  Publishing Cost Effective and Easy.

A few tips on getting into print

I have made all the mistakes of a first time writer and wanting to publish.  I got caught by self publishing firms that promise the earth and don’t deliver.   I have experimented on the internet until I have now honed this process.  If you are content to electronically self publish this is my overview of how to set about it.

If you want to have a few hard copies at your disposal, this is also possible with this method.

The First part is your creative skill

·         Make your document. 

·         You may want to embellish with clip art or photographs, this enhances the document.  You can use your own or photos on line. Beware of copyright- on photographs it can be an expensive mistake.

·         You may want to number the pages- this is required if a long novel.

·         On your last page include a photo of yourself and a profile. People want to know your qualifications and who you are.

Part Two

·         Log onto www.Smashwords.com  and download their guidelines.

·         The most important thing is the title and the font which is explained

·         This is an example of one of my book title pages as recommended by Smashwords.

The Plucky Police Car

By Zoe Ainsworth-Grigg

Published by Zoe Ainsworth-Grigg

Copyright 2013 Zoe Ainsworth-Grigg

Discover other titles by Zoe Ainsworth-Grigg at

http://www.amazon.com

© All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author

When you have done this

You will also have to produce a cover with an image that is acceptable TO SMASHWORDS.

You can go to https://www.createspace.com/Help/Book/ArtworkDownload.do

To create a book cover or if you have a high resolution photograph of the correct size you can add text at www.addtext.com

Step Three

·         Go to Amazon and log on to their front page.

·         Right at the bottom of the page is a heading “make money with us” and under that “INDEPENDENTLY PUBLISH WITH US”.

·         Go through the details of publishing and then it is best to upload your coverto Smashwords specification.

·         Continue and publish on Kindle.

·         You can come back to this and edit at any time, more later.

Step Four

·         Go back to Smashwords and using your produced cover image.

·         At this stage make sure to get your free ISBN number. Useful if a library buys your book.

·         Go back to Amazon and add the ISBN number by editing the document.

·         Add this number at the bottom of your document so that when you make a hard copy it will be there.

You are now published electronically

 

Publishing a hard copy

There are two sites which will help with getting you document ready

Picture books www.blurb.com

Mainly text documents www.lulu.com

Choose your printing company as there are many locally that give good deals.

To experiment go to www.printing.com   or any other online printing sites.

Step Four

·         Choose the option  “Brochure” at www.printing.com

·          and the size of your book

·         It is important which ever printing company you choose, to determine how they would like to receive the cover and back page. Usually they require a pdf document which includes the cover image

·         Play about with the paper weights until you find something that you like within your price range.

·         Copy the details of paper weights and details of the cover paper weight if you are then going to go to a local printer.

·         Ask printers for prices; be specific of your requirements.

·         Accept and remember to include in the order a number of copies that you will give to relatives and friends.

·         Do not set a price on the print.

·         Order

You are now in print and published.

You can now sell your book on Amazon too.

Step Five -Advertising your book

·         Facebook, twitter, electronically, there are group sites for Kindle ( Kindlefancast) and other group Facebook sites.

·         Selling to friends; this is the most lucrative when you are starting out as an author.

·         Book signings.

·         Table at local fairs.

Consider giving a copy to your local library.

Zoe Ainsworth- Grigg

·         © All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author

Book Give Away

I am giving away copies of my first book: Here is the link

http://www.thechildrensbookreview.com/weblog/2014/04/miss-flimps-destiny-by-zoe-ainsworth-grigg-book-giveaway.html

Reviews of children's books by Zoe Ainsworth-Grigg

Z

Reviews of books by Zoe Ainsworth Grigg

The Fabulous Miss Flimp

This is based on my mother’s life. As a Quaker she was born in the 1920’s and lived through the second world war.  She was an artist and worked for the Quaker chocolate firm Cadburys. In the thirties She painted many scenes for chocolate boxes having graduated from the Birmingham, School of Art  They encouraged her to join the Quaker ambulance service When WW2 broke out.

As an extension of that, the story is about partying. We all love to party, what girl doesn’t? but there comes a point when we take stock of what we do and wonder if we should spend more time working on the things that are important.  What is important?

Miss Flimp has life experience in emotional things: love, friendship and goodwill.  Will she succeed in life? – read the book.  The ending is a metaphor or us all.

I will give a free pattern to make the Miss Flimp doll with every purchase please contact me through my website.

Miss Flimp’s Destiny

The first book of the series. Miss Flimp is a doll who is lonely and frustrated and largely ingnored.  This happens from time to time to us all.  What can she do to alter things? Out of boredom one night she uses the computer.  Then fate takes a hand.

That is a metaphor for everyone’s life, our lives are a combination of creative ideas, hard work and a smattering of fate.

We all wonder what our lives will be like in the future. Miss Flimp is made happy by her eventual destiny.

Miss Flimp’s Friend Loves Books.

This book was written for my very young granddaughter who loves books. Educationally she will grow into it.  It is interactive and invites children to write their own story. Recently chosen by Norton Fitzwarren CofE Primary School as their term project.

I was inspired by the fact that there are sites on the internet that publish books written by children and I wanted to write a book that would inspire them to do this .

Available www.amazon.com and also at my book store at Blurb.com

Promotion

Competitions

Write a poem about the mice on the website and I will publish the twenty best in an ebook.

www.zoeainsworthgriggbooks.com 

The Plucky Police Car

This was written for the boys in my family.  All little boys seem to like cars.  This is based on a true story about a police car a Ford Escort that was renovated by enthusiasts. The book contains a link to the news item on the BBC.

Available at www.amazon.com

And also at my book store at Blurb.com

Promotion Tell me what is the model of your favourite car?

Miss Flimp’s Sister takes the Train.

The idea about the book.  Travel is not without its dangers.  We meet all kinds of people on trains and buses.  We all have a friend that is a “Know it all” Miss Gamp is a “Know it all!” We don’t know what accidents might happen or what we can do. This is a book about experience teaching us a lesson in life.

Promotion Tell me about your favourite toy and answer the question---- How does Miss Gamp get home?

 contact me on www.zoeainsworthgriggbooks.com

The Mysterious Magic of Cats

This book was inspired by my cats Millie and Poppy.  They say that people own dogs but Cats own their  owners.  Certainly our cats get us to do quite extraordinary things Poppy meows when she wants the fire on or the door opened or treats or food, she loves to sit in the airing cupboard.  Whereas Millie is a garden cat.  This territory is hers and she tries to get us to stay in the garden and come out in the garden as much as possible

This book is for cat lovers everywhere. A family moves into a new environment and encounters difficulties.  Cats in the vicinity come to their rescue and hep them to find friendship.

Available at www.amazon.com

Watch the film of my cats www.zoeainsworthgriggbooks,.com

If you read this book put a photo of your cat and a review on my website.

Miss Flimp Fundraises

This is a free book and will remain so.  The book is an introduction to the world of Miss Flimp.  It is based on my hobbies.  I volunteer for a charity and do a lot of work for them.  I also belong to a craft cooperative and sell my craft work.  I often sell my craft too for Purple Field Production www.purplefieldproductions.org

I think children do get worried about some of the adverts about the disadvantaged .  Even if we spend just a little of our time thinking about them this gives us peace. Find craft activities to sell for charity zoeainsworthgrigg.blogspot.co.uk

Christmas and Miss Flimp

This features the Celebration of Light in Wellington, Somerset that happens every year. there is a youtube film of the event . Please come and join us.

My Profile

An important part of my life is being a Quaker and engaging in promoting peace.  Peace of mind as well as the resolution of conflict.  I have worked in conflict resolution professionally in my career and have used Person Centred Art Therapy to counsel people. I hold a Diploma in Psychoanalytic Psychology

Free Game for children aged 3 plus

www.zoeainsworthgriggbooks.com

games for children on the top bar



How can we help our children with better reading skills?

One way is to encourage shape recognition, and this can be done in play.  Please try the free game of matching pairs available on this site.  It encourages children to recognise shapes and that is how we learn to read.