The Facebook Favours Contest

In August we announced a contest on Facebook.  All of our authors entered; some with more than one novel.

The first round entailed "liking" and "sharing" the novels on Facebook and Twitter.

A certain minimum threshold of shares and likes had to be achieved for the novels to make it through to Round 2.  Four novels survived the first round, which unfortunately eliminated "Mercury Silver" with all our short-story authors.

The four novels below:

  

(Find the details here: http://www.pkaboo.net/fbcontest.php)

Round 2 entailed downloads of the winning novels within a certain window of time / to a certain maximum number of copies.  

Why so vague, P'kaboo?  Because we are pioneering.  We agreed with the authors on a maximum number of books, and a cut-off date.  

I can say that the downloads were a huge success.  And the window on Round 2 closed in due course.

Round 3: Review and win.

This round will be open until 1 February.  

Readers who wish to write a review of the story they have read, can do so and stand a chance to win.

Post your review on Goodreads; then send us the link, and we'll look.  If you win, you can take your pick of one paperback book out of our shop - including the music books and multimedia DVDs and CDs!  The book or item will be mailed to you.

This is of particular interest to people who e.g. read "Lupa" and now wish to order an "Everywhen Angels", or "Tabika 1" and wish to order a "Tabika 2", etc.  

Other news:

"The Everywhen Angels" (Marie Marshall) and "Raider" (Lyz Russo) will come out in paperback not too far in the future.  The books will have to be pre-ordered though.  

 If you wish to pre-order a paperback copy of Marie Marshall's "The Everywhen Angels" or Lyz Russo's "Raider", please

  contact us at this link.

NEW RELEASE: The Everywhen Angels

Late last night we completed everything for the first release of 

The Everywhen Angels.

Another intriguing novel by our talented Marie Marshall!

Below an introduction to the YA novel by our partners in Scotland, the Bookseeker Agency. 

This precedes another YA novel from the same author, for lovers of paranormal and vampire fiction; we are hoping to bring out "From My Cold Dead Hand" early next year.

Read and enjoy:

News, 10th December 2013

December 10, 2013 by bookseekeragency

With a fanfare, we can announce that Marie Marshall‘s new novel aimed at older children and teenagers, The Everywhen Angels, is now published. It tells a story of kids in a comprehensive school on the outskirts of London, who find themselves with strange powers. Perhaps they are the first skirmishers in the great battle of Armageddon – but how would they know? Despite their visions and their adventures, they have to deal with the normal stuff of teenage life – homework, parents, bullying, dating, not talking to strangers, bereavement and so on. But do they really know what is going on? Angela, the poet with the questioning mind believes they don’t; hers is the first pair of eyes through which we see the story. Charlie, her boyfriend, is a young man with a vision – but does he really appreciate the trouble he’s in? He tells his story backwards, from the last scene to the first and makes the reader question what is good and what is evil. Ashe is the youngest and smallest of the group – diagnosed with Asperger’s, he is in fact the key to everything. But that isn’t to say his path is easy. The novel is not just a fantasy adventure. It’s action breaks the rules of time, encompassing murder, a bomb outrage, a flood which engulfs London, and the Battle of Waterloo; it’s themes include guilt, courage, cowardice, and delusion. The author says of it: “I believe children can handle difficult philosophical questions. They can handle stories told in a strange way. Young readers are much more intelligent than adults give them credit for.”
The Everywhen Angels is available direct from P’kaboo publishers in eBook form, with possibly more formats becoming available in due course.


(... Excerpt from the Bookseeker Blog)


The Everywhen Angels is available at the P'kaboo shop in epub and pdf ebook format, and will also be available on Amazon shortly, in Kindle and paperback.

Updates from our "forn" partner in Scotland: The Bookseeker

http://bookseekeragency.com/2013/11/24/news-items-24th-november-2013/

Our client Marie Marshall reports that The Phoenix Rising from the Ashes, the first major anthology of sonnets of the early third millennium is now published. Marie is Deputy Editor of thismagnum opus; details can be found here, and will be up-dated as often as necessary. There are still some eBook copies of Marie’s novel Lupa available for free download at P’kaboo Publishers; look for the link which says ‘Winning Title! Limited Free Download’.

Marie also reports that her novel for older children, The Everywhen Angels, is still in the preparation stage. She has finished her new teen-vampire novella, and is in talks not only with her publisher, but also with an illustrator with a view to presenting it as a graphic novel. More news as it is available.

The Aval-Ballan Poetry Competition is long over, but occasionally their web site receives selfies from the prizewinners with their prizes. Here’s one from Sam Smith.

There is a new concern that hosts selected books with an adult content. It goes under the name of HoneyMead Books, and you can find its web site by clicking the logo at the bottom of this update. It is by no means a come-as-you-please self-publishing site. Iain Rossouw of HoneyMead says that each book  they publish as an eBook will be carefully vetted for strong story-lines that must take the forefront. Also all books that go through HoneyMead Books still undergo editing etc. as with every traditional publisher and unlike self-publishing sites. Worth keeping an eye on this publisher if you write adult-themed fiction.

Updates

The Download Zone is open.  4 books are available as free ebooks for a limited window; visit the Contest page to find them.  But hurry.  People are already downloading.  Get your copy before they are all gone!

The Bookshop has been refreshed; now you can find a link at every book for writing a review.  The shop has also been made marginally more user-friendly.

Please note that the "News" page will be discontinued.  Smaller updates are posted on the Facebook Page; more significant ones, on this blog.

   

Round 2 of the Share Contest: Downloads andReviews

With the 1st of October, Round 1 of the Facebook Share contest has closed and Round 2 opened.

Now there are 4 books available for a limited number of free downloads:

http://www.pkaboo.net/bookshop.html#lupa

Lupa by Marie MArshall

http://www.pkaboo.net/bookshop.html#solarwind

The Mystery of the Solar Wind by Lyz Russo

http://www.pkaboo.net/bookshop.html#almostdead

Almost Dead in Suburbia by Douglas Pearce

http://www.pkaboo.net/bookshop.html#tabika1

Tabika by Leslie Hyla Winton Noble

In the second round, you can win a P'kaboo paperback (any one of your choice) by submitting a review of a book from the 4 that you have read.  The paperback doesn't have to be the same as the book you reviewed or even downloaded.  Write a good review or bad - the 3 winners are determined by lucky draw.  Certain standards will be applied though - reviews must not be shorter than a paragraph to qualify, and pls no sms lngage.

Third book moves into "The Zone"

Almost Dead in Suburbia

has just moved into “The Zone”.

Well done Douglas Pearce!

The books that have made it into second round so far are:

Lupa by Marie Marshall

The Mystery of the Solar Wind by Lyz Russo

Almost Dead in Suburbia by Douglas Pearce

Please visit this page to find out what other books there are in the contest.

A Winner!

Lupa by Marie Marshall

is the first of our Facebook Share contestants to move into the “Free Downloads Zone”.

The “Zone” will open on the 1st of October, so stay tuned…  A limited number of copies is going to become available for free download, from the P’kaboo website.

There is something immensely satisfying in being the first in something.  Well done, Marie!

Please boost the other books, too:

Visit this page and share books to move more into the “Zone”.

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Thank you for participating!

The Immy Series

One of our authors, Leslie Hyla Winton Noble, completed this beautiful series for children:

These DVDs contain the story of Immy, a little girl who encounters a dragon.

(Pls excuse the graininess in some of the photos, especially “Immy goes Flying” – it’s the angle of the light.  Will have to retake the pics at some point.)

Music:

The stories have musical backings, with Peter-and-the-Wolf style themes for the characters.  The themes adjust to the mood of the character and the story.

Options:

You can play the DVD and watch the slides with images and text, to read to your children or allow them to read themselves; or you can select the voice-over option, in which the author reads the story to the listener, timed with the slides (and with early readers being able to follow the sentences on the screen).  The DVD insert is actually a booklet containing the complete story, just the right size for small hands as they page and listen to the author’s voice (or read the stories themselves).

Learning benefits:

This is a very versatile, multimedia children’s book, which by not being an ordinary video stimulates the imagination of preschoolers.  The themed music teaches them to recognize different instruments and musical themes, even when they come overlaid or modulated.   And for the parents:  The stories are especially cute, Immy is a sassy youngster with a lot of sparkle and character.

Easy to read, large print; endearing characters with which children can associate.  The multimedia combination encourages young children to read.

For those who like moralinic acid as an essential supplement to childhood literature:  There are hidden life lessons in each of the stories.  Immy learns something every time, and sometimes, so does the dragon.

Author, illustrator:

The enchanting illustrations are done by Amanda Fieldgate, a very promising young artist.

Story and music are by Leslie Hyla Winton Noble.

Leslie & Amanda: You’ve (to put this in English) supplied us with a fresh consignment of pride.  Well done!

Literacy Month Celebration

Glenstantia Library, Wednesday 11 September:

The Glenstantia Library is holding Literacy Month celebrations this coming Wednesday, from 15h to 18h.  Features include a young South African author speaking about his latest release; and P’kaboo Publishers speaking to an audience of school children and teachers about what we do, how we go about e-publishing and what paperback publishing entails; our books and our authors; and the competitions we have running currently.

Thank you to Therese Els for organising this!

(Image:  Library User Group, and audience at the launch in December)

Glenstantia Library and Literacy Month

Glenstantia Library, who hosted our launch in December, contacted me to see if we can't do something together for Literacy Month.  They are launching a new author and it was suggested I join forces and bring our books.  I'm off to discuss with them this morning.

This is like an answered prayer.  I can use every bit of logistic and practical help I can get, with promotions.

As I was picking up kids from school yesterday I noticed a headline, along the lines that "South Africa barely reads any books".  I had to smile.  It's no amazing new revelation; but the timing is great.  Someone is creating awareness for books.  This falls right into the time frame for our Facebook contest, our Teen writing contest and our ebooks schools giveaway.

A spacious, modern library - and so is their attitude.  (Img from launch in December)