Photo Credit: Stuart Webster

I figured you only get to launch your first book once, so I might as well do so in style.

I’m excited to announce that the official Melbourne launch of Charlie Weatherburn and the Flying Machine will be at The Book Grocer, a lovely bookshop on High Street in Northcote. I hope you can join me!

Here are the details:

• When: Sunday, July 31st, 2-3pm
• Where: The Book Grocer, 263 High Street, Northcote
• RSVP: Via the Facebook event page

It promises to be a fun afternoon for both children and grown-ups alike. Here’s why:

• Very cool door prizes (including a limited edition print by yours truly!)
• Beer and wine provided
• Entertainment for the kids, namely the hugely talented Jodie Whitehurst, a local singer/songwriter, who will be performing songs for the kids (including plenty of favourites!)
• I’ll be doing a reading (anyone want to play the drums for me, ala Bookaboo?)
• I’ll be signing copies, and will even have a handful of copies available for sale.

Important: be sure to RSVP for the event on Facebook.

I’d love a big turn-out, so bring the whole family along for an afternoon of fun, and tell your friends.

See you there!

Matt

I expected to be writing this post a few weeks ago. Nevertheless, it’s still just as exciting, despite the delay …

My book is available now. As in, for sale, for real! Yaay! Come and get it!

Some of you may have questions. Hopefully, I’ve pre-empted most of them below:

Who’s it for and what’s it about?

Charlie Weatherburn and the Flying Machine is for children aged between 2 and 6, although I’m hoping that adults will enjoy it too. It’s written in rhyming verse, and contains lots of bright, colourful illustrations. Some of the words will be a little beyond most two-year-olds, but there are lots of pretty pictures to provide plenty of context. Fundamentally, the story is about a bumbling mathematician who devises a grand plan to achieve the impossible — solo flight. Really, though, it’s a book about following your dreams, and celebrating the beauty and power of mathematics and numbers.

What’s the quickest way to get my hands on a copy?

You can order the book in paperback from Lulu, a print-on-demand service. Depending on the part of the world that you live and the shipping that you choose, your order will take anywhere between 3 days and several weeks to arrive.

Who is your publisher?

I am. As in, it’s a self-published title. I opted not to approach a traditional publisher, for several reasons, which I’ll elaborate on in a future post.

We see each other regularly. Like, I’m almost your best friend. Don’t you have any copies that I can just get from you directly?

Possibly. I have ordered a handful of books for friends and family, and will have some for sale at the launch party (details to be announced soon). If you’re really my best friend, I’ve probably handed you a copy already. Otherwise, the best way to get your hands on a copy is to order it from Lulu.

I’m a reviewer of children’s books. Can I have a review copy?

Quite possibly. Shoot me a mail at hello@charlieweatherburn.com and let me know where your review will be published, and we’ll work something out.

Can I buy it as an ebook?

You can, actually! The Kindle version is available for purchase right now, while the ePub version (for use on iPad, iPhone and other mobile devices) is coming soon.

Aren’t you a web designer? Why did you write a kids’ book?

I am, but this was an itch I had to scratch. You’re right, though — I do design web pages during the day. I made this book during my evenings (actually mostly in the middle of the night). If you need help with web stuff, let’s talk. I’ll go more into why I wrote this particular book in a future post.

Will you write any more?

Maybe.

How can I stay up to date on things related to the book?

Sign up to the email newsletter, or Like the book’s page on Facebook, and you’ll be kept in the loop.

Will you have a launch party?

You betcha. Watch this space for details. If you order a copy now, it will arrive in time for you to bring it along to the launch for me to sign!

I have a couple of other exciting announcements to make in the next week, including details of the launch party. Until then, I’d love to hear any feedback you have about the book!

Buy now from lulu.com »

Ash from the Chilean volcano, courtesy of Tom Burke

This week someone asked me: “Why can’t I buy your book yet?”

My reaction to this question was mixed; on one hand, I’m delighted that I know I’ll have at least one customer (Woo!). On the other hand, I’m gutted that I can’t begin taking orders and shouting from the rooftops about my book just yet, especially when I thought I’d be doing so a couple of weeks ago.

Here’s why: the final proof hasn’t arrived.

A proof is just that—evidence that the final product meets my standards of quality. Being a perfectionist, these standards are quite high. I’d hate for my first customer to write in and complain that there was a typo on the back cover, or that the text was too small to read! I ordered a proof earlier in the publishing process, to see what the paper quality and print production was like, but the book wasn’t finalised:

• The page size was different from the final product (the available page dimensions are different depending on whether you’re selling a book in retail or just printing a copy for yourself).
• The cataloguing information on the copyright page was made up (I was still waiting for it to be delivered at the time).
• The ISBN on the copyright page was incorrect (I’d mistakenly uploaded the PDF containing the ISBN for the eBook instead of the print book).
• A couple of the illustrations needed some tweaking, as the colours reproduced slightly differently on paper to the computer screen.

Basically, it contained some errors that I was aware of (and some I wasn’t), but it was sufficiently completed for me to determine whether Lulu was the right printing solution for me, and gave me the opportunity to tidy up a couple of pages. However, I still need to check that the things I fixed in that early proof look OK in the final proof, on the new page size.

So for the past two weeks I’ve arrived home from work each day, my heart racing with the possibility that the final, completed copy of my book has arrived … and each day I’ve been disappointed. It’s entirely possible that the package has been delayed by the ash from Chile’s Puyehue-Cordon Caulle volcano, which has also disrupted a ton of passenger flights in Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Australia and New Zealand. So in the grand scheme of things, I’m happy to gain some perspective that I’m not stranded in another city, like so many others.

At some stage in the next week or two, a parcel will arrive containing that final proof. And when it does, I’ll be flipping the switch to take my first sale. It will be an exciting time, and I hope you’ll find the finished product worth the wait.

Here’s something to whet the appetite of you and your children while you’re waiting patiently for Charlie Weatherburn and the Flying Machine to become available for purchase—some free colouring sheets.

One of my daughter's early attempts at using a Wacom Tablet to colour in Charlie

While I was drawing the frames for the book, my daughter would see me colouring the images on the computer (yes, I used Adobe Photoshop and a Wacom Tablet, not real paint!) She would ask if she could colour them in too, and I was more than happy to oblige. Sometimes I’d print off some of the black-and-white illustrations for her to colour with her crayons, and occasionally I would sit her on my lap and show her how to use Daddy’s special computer pen to colour in Charlie on the screen in Photoshop, while I changed the colour for her as requested. Now that was a special treat!

Now your kids can enjoy colouring in Charlie as well! I’ve chosen four of my favourite frames from the book, and turned them into colouring sheets that you can download for free.

I’d love to see pictures of your children’s colouring efforts. Link to them in the comments!