A Request?

                        So I wrote a book.

                        Let me clarify that.

                        I wrote about 21 stories that I’ve compiled into a book.

                        It’s a big book….. about 650 pages.

                        It was going to be titled: War and Peace

                        But someone’s already used that one, so I settled for:

A Collection of Short Stories for Young Bookworms.

The reason that you all are seeing this now is that I’d be a fool not to reach out to folks that I already have an acquaintance with. It’s like the guy who becomes an insurance salesman…. the first people he speaks to are his family and friends, who in turn refer him to what eventually becomes his extended business family, etc. etc. etc.

 Make no mistake here, this is a self-published project. Simon and Schuster did not compete with Random House for the honor of getting the publishing rights and in turn send me a hefty advance for my troubles. I used a wonderful indie-publishing outfit called BookBaby, which happens to be right here in New Jersey but may as well be in Timbuktu because everything is done on-line. They offer many tutorials to help authors write, organize, and promote their books. One of the first things that they recommend is to reach out on whatever social media platform that one may have and start there.

That would be here.

Now the backstory……

About ten years ago, my (at that time, seven-year-old) granddaughter Madeline, came to me with some questions about the Titanic. Mostly questions about a big diamond and Jack and Rose, but I was able to set records straight and answer her other questions as I’ve been a student of the Titanic for as long as I can remember.

An idea came to me to take Maddie, her brother Andy, and parents Heather and Jim, and insert them into a custom storyline with the Titanic as the focal point. This is similar to an old book series that I read as a kid called “We Were There at / with….” This series took a young girl and boy and inserted them into historical situations and told the story from their point of view. A classic example of Historical Fiction that was very successful in its quest to have young readers experience history from their points of view.

That story, Maddie makes a Friend, is about Maddie meeting and making a friend of Thomas Andrews, the designer of the Titanic whilst they were aboard. When you write about people that you know, you get to weave their personalities into the fabric of the story, which in turn makes that story just a little more special than just placing them there. That became my goal in this and all of the subsequent stories that followed.

After I wrote that story, I needed to write one about Andy. And then about Augustus, and his sisters, Adelaide, and Eleanor, and then my grand-cats, CubScout and LingLing (who you already know from Critter Sitting). This developed further when I added Nieces, Nephews, and Others into this family of stories. Not all are historical in nature, as matter of fact, most just revolve around those particular person’s interests. These range from princesses, unicorns, and orcas to Top Gun, big trucks, F-18’s, and furry animal families. I don’t make up the kid’s interests, they already have those. I just get to write a story about them and their particular fascinations.

            That’s how one gets to over twenty different stories just itching to be compiled into a book! This book is suitable for anyone that can read from youngster to adult, and the stories also lend themselves to being read to kids even before they learn how to read.

This is not just any book mind you…. this is a hard-bound, complete with dust jacket, real, no cheap imitations of, hefty tome of stories that are good for all to read. You need not be one of the subjects (as the stories stand well on their own) just as any story would with characters that have names attached. It’s just that these are a little more special to those that are the subjects.

            I need to go on about the dust jacket for a moment as this alone is a work of art, no pun whatsoever intended, it truly is. I commissioned Erin Brady who is an artist/website designer/graphic artist who designed our new website and menu at the Chatterbox. She is absolutely wonderful to work with. I asked her to come up with a hand drawn rendition of the subjects of the stories and incorporate them all into a book cover. She succeeded in doing so, way beyond my wildest dreams! She read each story and worked all of the subject matter into a seamless front and back of the cover and dust jacket. It is a sight to behold!

I elected to go the Hardbound, dust jacket route because if there is one central theme to my life, it is probably books. I have had a library in one form or another for as long as I can remember.

With mostly hard-bound books in my collection.

 If I came across a book that I liked in soft-back, I would scour the internet in order to find the oldest (First Edition!!!) version of that book, procure it, and add it to my Library.

            Hence my affliction of Hardbounditis.

            Thankfully there is no cure for this malady.

There is a cure, however, for my desire to propel this endeavor to the top of the New York Times Best Seller list and that’s where you all come in!

Well, not really as I don’t harbor any anticipation of that becoming a reality, but I’d be a fool not to admit that it is any author’s aspiration for that to occur!

But….. if you so desire, here is how you may procure a highly-prized First Edition of this relatively unknown Literary Masterpiece 😊

            First, I need to let you know that this is not an inexpensive book.

It is considered rather pricey at $48.00, but if you do the math, there are twenty-one stories inside which makes it just $2.28 per story! What a bargain! (FYI, I don’t set the price, it’s a formula based on size and binding)

            But wait!

If you order now I will add to your order a free Ginzu Kitchen Knife Collection and an additional one-hundred square feet of your choice of floor covering!

            Order now! Operators are standing by!

Ok, really, here is how you may order this book. It is obviously print-on-demand, as no one is inventorying it!

            And….. yes, there is a discount available for you and anyone that you care to forward this to (think friends and relatives that have kids, grandkids, etc. that you think may enjoy some fun stories)

This book does have an official ISBN # but you do not need it to place an order.

Go to:  www.bookbaby.com

Find their ‘Bookstore’ and enter my name (Don Hall) or the title, A Collection of Short Stories for Young Bookworms, and it will bring you to my “page”.

Order a book (or several!) use code Chatterbox to get $15.00 off of that $48.00 cost which brings it down to $33.00 or just $1.57 per story!

            If you do decide to purchase one, I would truly like to get your feedback on any aspect of the book. My personal email is in the front pages of the book, so there’s no secrets, but here it is again now for you, donhall930@gmail.com I welcome any comments or questions even before you may decide to procure one.

Thanks for reading this! (and hopefully the book!)