It’s hard news to read but not necessarily surprising. Always clean cut, hilarious, inspirational, brilliant and kind it’s hard to imagine Robert Munsch, famous children’s book author, sad but he is human after all.
With over 42 beloved children’s books published and a vast number of them on the bestsellers list Robert Munsch is to be greatly respected and admired as an author. As a person, the revealing confession made public May 15, 2010 via his own website (www.RobertMunsch.com), he’s made mistakes but should these mistakes reflect poorly on his ability to make our children laugh, smile and want to read?
I often turn away from “outstanding” talented artists because I don’t agree with many decisions they make. Role models should teach us the importance of living life to its fullest without hurting others. They need to act responsibly, to be someone I can respect and want to be like. I feel they can make mistakes but if they continue to make them and bombard the media with stupidity and their denials I cannot support them. Robert Munsch, however, was open and honest with his family, sought help, was responsible enough to be sober while caring for or speaking to children and wrote and told terrific stories that gets children reading!
Will I see him live again? Absolutely. I want my son to experience a great stage presence. Will I buy one of his books? Of course!
Do I think Robert Munsch dealt with his troubles in a way I hope my son will avoid? There’s no doubt about it.
Life is about learning and this is definitely one of those moments you sit back and evaluate the importance of the lesson, the teacher and the message.
Of course, this is just my own opinion and I am hoping to hear from you about what your thoughts are. Feel free to comment below or send me a private email if you wish your comment to remain private.
Oprah had a dream and it came true. She dreamed of being an actress, she knew she’d be an actress, she gave all she had and did all she could until she became an actress and now she’s making our dreams come true.
I have a dream and it’s coming true. When I published Sending You Sammy I didn’t dream it would be a challenge to get media to cover it’s story. With the intention of changing the reversing the rates of childhood obesity and literacy in North America I thought local media would love to cover it. Come to find out I needed to dream bigger!
Instead of setting my goal to be covered locally I soon was covered nationally by Canadian Living and now my dreams have increased dramatically – I want to be heard all over North America and beyond. I can do that by being on Oprah.
So please, watch the video, vote for it and, if you have a moment, please email Oprah about it. I’ll get her attention so I can get yours.
We’re often asked what we would do IF we had a million dollars. Reading this question today I felt obligated to tell you what I will do WHEN I have earned that amount of money. Yes, I said earned – not win, stumble upon, luck into, etc. The only way I feel I’ll do what’s right with the million dollars is if I earn it fair and square.
I’m a bit selfish in that I’m first going to build my husband the house that he’s always wanted – out of straw bales so it’s not going to cost that much. It’ll be one level with a massive garage, an indoor pool and a fenced in back yard for a few puppies to romp in. He’ll have his ping pong table and a pool table in his own “man’s” room, I’ll have a library for myself. He’ll have a lamborghini in the garage along with a motorcycle, an ATV and a snowmobile. He deserves all of this for supporting everything I do and continuously putting my son and me before himself.
The rest of the money I will reinvest in literacy and the health of children. Being able to financially support a charity with cause I believe in so much is something I look forward to doing. To get books to kids around the world, wait… to get GOOD books to kids around the world, to publish authors and promote those who deserve to be promoted will be something I will always do.
As a millionaire my wealth will continue because I will give most of it away to those who most deserve it, keeping only what’s needed to earn another million for myself.
When I have a million dollars…
I will be rich financially,
I’m already rich every other way
Thanks for reading,
Sarah Butland
PS: Of course I’ll let you know when the money arrives in my bank account!
When my son held on to my book, Sending You Sammy, for the first time at 2 and a half months I was astonished! I immediately shared the picture with family and friends and knew when I discovered a photo contest where a newborn can be on the cover of a Canadian magazine I had the winning picture.
This shot of William is a cherished one and has taken the lead in the Baby Stages contest which I am so very grateful for. Because of you, my friend, my fan, my family my son is going to be a star in Canadians eyes, not just his parents eyes.
Although we are currently in the lead you can show your support by taking a minute of your time to cast your vote. Please do to show how much you care about literacy.Baby William for Baby Stages
Literacy is important in our daily lives all year round but January 27th was named Family Literacy Day to highlight all the possible ways you can encourage reading or mathematics in your life and for those around you.
For more information on today please visit its creators at:
ABC Canada
Whether you’re baking cookies, reading a favourite book, singing a song or writing one, take some time today to ensure your child, parent or friend knows how vital reading is. Recognize someone for taking part in something they normally wouldn’t and, maybe most importantly…
Thanks for reading!
Sarah Butland
Off to read Winnie the Pooh to my little one. What are you doing today?
I am sick and tired of being reminded twice a week as to how our current government is allocating our tax money. About twice a week, every month or more, we receive unaddressed mail asking us to “vote” on which party in our country is doing a better job at __________ – every time it’s different. Normally the Conservative Party’s box is in much larger text than the others – is this because too great of the Canadian population cannot read?
Although these are printed in black and white the full sized papers too often only end up polluting our dumps and make our mailman come up our driveway only to deliver this garbage. We will vote when there’s a re-election which I wish was sooner than later. It’s ridiculous and discouraging to see what our tax money is paying for when so many dollars were taken away from crucial aspects of what makes Canada Canadian.
I’m an author struggling to spread the word of literacy and the solution to childhood obesity, meanwhile the Conservatives are conducting their own surveys asking the disturbing illiterate population which government is voicing the right platform.
Please let the government, Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Garry Breitkreuz, MP listen to their voters and make a difference instead of continually asking us if we think the other governments would. News to the Conservatives – you are currently in office, do something!
With response to Prime Minister Stephen Harper‘s lack of support for literacy, Canadian authors, and the arts much has to be said about the creative ways people are bringing his attention to their importance.
Today I learned of Canadian author, Yann Martel’s creative way of doing something and, although I love the idea I can’t help but think it can be improved. In response to his sending a piece of his own literary choosing Yann Martel has established a website to document his efforts. What is Stephen Harper Reading? has his complete list, thus far, of books that Martel has sent to the Canadian Prime Minister as well as a record of the governments response to each – if there is one.
With books such as The Lesser Evil: Political Ethics in an Age of Terror, by Michael Ignatieff, The Dragonfly of Chicoutimi, by Larry Tremblay and The Island Means Minago, by Milton Acorn, Yann Martel’s collection includes some great Canadian authors but they are too difficult to establish. With the list filled with international authors I have to wonder why it’s not focused on the many Canadian greats of our time and before.
With the lack of support within our own country, in particular from our government, I find it difficult to understand why a fellow Canadian author wouldn’t focus his attention, thus the governments attention, on authors such as Robert Munsch, Margaret Atwood, Roo Borson, Jane Urquhart, Sheree Fitch and the list goes on. I was able to easily find a well established listing of Canadian authors online simply by Googling “Canadian authors” and am sure it’s just as easy to order these books and have them mailed to Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
I was nothing less than disturbed to see Where the Wild Things Are and In the Night Kitchen, stories and pictures by Maurice Sendak as Martel’s most recent mailings. With all due respect, Where the Wild Things Are will always be remembered as one of my favourite childhood books but just recently I lost respect for the work when reading In the Night Kitchen. It’s books like this one that have me wondering why my own work, with the best of intentions and wholesome story line and pictures, isn’t sought after for schools and libraries.
After hunting for Yann Martel’s email or mailing address to include my own book and letter explaining this I came up competely empty handed. I’m amazed that such a great selling author doesn’t have his own website or seem want support from his fans and followers. If someone is able to get in touch with him please pass on my website to him and maybe someday soon, before Prime Minister Stephen Harper is replaced by someone who does support our country, he’ll contact me for my book and support.
I’ve decided to keep a blog about my attempts (successes and failures) of marketing both Sending You Sammy and Brain Tales – Volume One and welcome suggestions from any visitor who wants to assist.
Press/ Media
I was featured on Rogers First Local where my efforts at helping literacy and childhood obesity were seen by viewers in my home town. I was in contact with CTV briefly but it never paned out.
Sending You Sammy was successfully featured in a small article with the popular national magazine Canadian Living. This had a fabulous impact on sales during its month of publication (April 2007) and made me truly appreciate what Canadian Living stands for.
Local newspapers have shown interest but did minimal to be receptive to the news. I was depending, I guess too primarily, on local papers want to print stories of, not only local authors but, current newsworthy topics such as childhood obesity. I thought they would want to be part of the solution as well as supporting someone locally. One local newspaper even asked for a copy of Sending You Sammy with the intention of printing something if it deemed newsworthy but later declined, saying it wasn’t something their readers would be interested in! And yet each and every North American newspaper prints headlines daily of the problems of childhood obesity but feels it’s readers doesn’t care about the solutions to it!
I have been featured on CBC Radio as a guest local author and on a Canada Day program as an up-and-coming Canadian author. I am extremely grateful for this exposure but not convinced it was the perfect avenue/ audience to generate sales.
I’ve also written my own press releases for websites such as Free Press Release which offered me the opportunity of writing my first official press release. It took some revisions, as all writing does, but I think it turned out pretty well. Take a look at Childhood Obesity – Let’s Talk Solutions.
Book Signings
These have proven difficult no matter the form of advertising as it’s success can base simply and primarily on the weather. While encouraging kids to be active with Sending You Sammy it’s hard to blame parents for (assuming they are) taking them outside to enjoy a beautiful sunny day.
People need to be at the store – be it for you personally or shopping in general. Going to a conveniently located and popular store for new books is certainly recommended which I’ll be looking to do in the near future.
I will keep you posted on my success for that event (as well as ample notice for you to go).
Website
I have a website specifically for Sending You Sammy up and running which is a highly ranked site in Google but only if you know what to look for. I’ve had people from all over find the site as well as corresponded with some of my visitors.
This has been good exposure for me as a writer, both www.AdventuresOfSammy.com and www.SarahButland.com, and I would recommend every author invest in setting one up. With that being said, thus far I’ve had minimal sales response based directly on either site.
I do have a lot of success with signups at BananaBoyFans.com but for children it’s about education, not selling.
Offering Books/ Stories for Reviews
Word of mouth is proven to be the most effective way of marketing so reviews on book sites can be vital.
In it’s beginning stage, I have been sending/offering stories from Brain Tales – Volume One as well as access to the Sending You Sammy Ebook. Thus far I’ve had minimal but great response to the stories I’ve sent; with only one semi negative review I know I must be doing something right.
I am keeping a close eye on reviews and sales during this introductory offer as I’ll need to decide if it’s worth leaking bits of my book or not.
Webvideos
Marketing guru’s have been convincing whoever will listen that videos are the newest source of getting out the word for your product. I quickly jumped on board and taped a preview for Sending You Sammy as well as had my husband do a video review of it. As soon as they were taped we blasted them on every video website we could including YouTube.com, MySpace.com, Revver.com, etc. This was immediately followed with a blitz of offering a refund on the purchase of my Sending You Sammy ebook for a video review.
This offered no response although the videos can still be found online :
Facebook and MySpace are two popular social networking sites that anyone can belong to. These sites can be a terrific way of gathering a following as well as meeting people of like mind from around the world.
In my circumstance I do stress that they can be as I’ve had no response from MySpace and very little from Facebook. I do have, and love, my faithful followers on Facebook and feel indebted to them for remaining a part of my group/ page but it seems to be at a standstill with no growth or activity despite my attempts at spicing it up.
Plain Old Word of Mouth
Being a shy author has it’s drawbacks and not being able to market yourself is a tremendous disadvantage. Being employed full time in an office of hundreds of people still, two years after the publishing of Sending You Sammy, the majority of people don’t know what I do outside of the building.
It’s humbling when an newly met co-worker asks me if I’m the same person that wrote this or that book as I rarely announce my success, even to those I’m somewhat close to.
Boldness and ego are great aspects of promoting yourself, unfortunately I lack great amounts of both so I let others do the talking for me.
Interviews
David K Ewen invited me to conduct my first Blog Talk Radio interview on his show Today’s Author and I eagerly accepted. This was a great experience more for getting a radio interview under my belt early than for sales.
I do recommend taking full advantage of any opportunity with the opinion that it will be just what you need to succeed. David K Ewen offered a fantastic opportunity on his “Today’s Author” show and it can still be listened to today at Today’s Author is Sarah Butland.
A fellow author, Kelly Moran, who I met through Facebook, regularly interviews authors she knows for her own Blog site. Kelly offered to host me and, upon accepting her offer, promptly sent me her questions.
With my answers I promised three copies of Brain Tales – Volume Oneto her readers/ those who commented on the interview.
Make sure you check it out for your chance to win a free book and subscribe to her blog so you don’t miss out on meeting other authors and winning books.
I’ll update after it takes place with its level of success.
School and Daycare Readings/ Handouts/ Posters
Writers in the Schools Program (WISP) of New Brunswick made contact with me last year in regards to visiting schools about Sending You Sammy. I was more than happy to and was thrilled when I had a school call right away.
Knowing the kids wouldn’t buy but their parents could if they knew who I was or what the book was about, I got busy preparing handouts for the kids to take home. I had a colouring page/ fan club certificate and bookmarks printed which the kids loved but generated little to no activity in sales.
As an added touch I’ve also been leaving behind copies of the Adventures Of Sammy poster at each visit – whether it was at a school, day care or store. These have also seemingly gone ignored but I’ll continue my efforts as even if they generate one happy / healthy kid I deem it necessary even if others don’t.
Emails, Emails, Emails
Sending Emails are the most cost-effective way I have found to contact a lot of different channels in regards to my books. Unfortunately these emails tend to be easily ignored as well.
No matter how creative I have been with both the email and who I’m sending it to I’ve had little to no response. Even phone calls are going unanswered which makes me wonder how companies get by with such a lack of customer service.
Bat as it doesn’t cost anything but my time I will continue sending as many as I can to whoever I feel should be interested. If my emails continue get to someone important, like the one to Canadian Living, to pay attention the possibility of sales growing is tremendous. One also just recently caught the attention of someone holding a local event where they may host a book signing like never before! I’ll know more about this on Tuesday.
Canadian Children’s Book Center (CCBC)
TD Canada Trust hosts a Book Week in Canada which promotes literacy in schools and communities by sending Canadian authors to different parts of the country. While travelling, chosen authors are booked for the week at various functions to promote themselves, their book and, most importantly, literacy. This even is in conjuction with the Canadian Children’s Book Center.
The CCBC is, of course, a national non-profit organization which promotes the countries children’s book authors. After researching for weeks I decided the membership fee was an expense that would be well worth the reward as it is something you need to be a part of to travel with TD Book Week.
Soon after joining I was mailed a welcome kit complete with a letter explaining what day my benefits would expire and their own magazine. Soon after I received another fantastic magazine put out by them and then months went by without another word.
I decided to see my listing on their website and I was devastated to not be able to find myself. I immediately sent an email asking for a listing of what my membership fee included and I received the response saying I would have a listing which was accessible to schools for visits. When I forwarded them my information it was declined for display because I wasn’t the winner of such-and-such an award.
Greatly disappointed to learn that I wasn’t qualified for any award they mentioned to have me qualify and have spent $60, the annual fee, to receive a few magazines advertising others. Although I’m glad to have experience as well as support other authors I will not be signing up again unless there is a specific purpose for it.
Frye Festival
The Frye Festival is a literacy event like no other in the country – literally. It celebrates authors in both of Canada’s official languages (English/French) and is based out of my city of residence in Moncton, New Brunswick.
A fantastic event supporting literacy, Frye welcomes applications from writers and storytellers at all stages in their careers. Although I’ve been to several events my application for 2009′s events was declined.
I will keep trying as I know my message is important and know that, in a few years, I’ll be quite comparable to the other applicants.
Sammy at the Zoo
When I learned of the Tomar-a-thon being put on by the local Magnetic Hill Zoo in Moncton, New Brunswick I contacted them immediately. I thought, what a better way to support a great cause with a great book when they are both promoting exercise and wellness. They welcomed me for which I am extremely thankful for and was there to welcome everyone in before their run.
Creating buzz for the zoo through Sammy by donating $5 for every book sold today I was able to contribute to a wonderful cause. And to have my book promentently out for display at the zoo created a lot of buzz for Sammy and me. The zoo even promised to think of me again which I am grateful for and will do what I can to help.
Like
to her readers/ those who commented on the interview.
. I was more than happy to and was thrilled when I had a school call right away.
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