S.D. Smith's Blog, page 33
June 28, 2016
How You Can Help After The West Virginia Floods
Many of you probably know me as “that guy from West Virginia,” or “that West Virginia author.” I’m good with that. I love this state so much. As most of you know, we were hit hard by flooding.(If you aren’t aware, here’s a story about it.)
Prayer is needed. This beautiful state is already up against so much.
If you are interested in helping on top of offering prayers, here is another way you can, even if you’re far away.
The Greenbrier Valley Flood Recovery and Relief team has an Amazon wish list of supplies needed right now.
You can engage your kids and pick items your family wants to send to help. My kids were eager to share their own money and be involved in helping.
Bible Center Church and Union Mission are doing great work (many friends there in Charleston), and is another great option to consider. There are lots of people helping. A lot of my readers are from outside the state, so the wish list is a good option for them. If you know of a good resource helping, let me know!
There are possibly better ways, sure, but this is something. Thank you for considering it.
June 12, 2016
Kickstarter Success For The Green Ember Book II: Ember Falls! Thank You!
This is my niece. She brought me $3 and said, “Uncle Sam, I want to back Ember Falls!”
A wonderful end to a deeply encouraging 26 days. Speaking of the end…
Hooray, hurrah!
This was so special. It’s hard to adequately express how thankful we are for your generosity and help. Thanks to everyone who backed this project at whatever level. We are delighted and grateful.
So many of you jumped in and helped in various ways above and beyond backing the project. You were part of the team that helped get the word out and encouraged others to join in and share this adventure. There were EF Launch Groupers, Potato Peelers, Read-Aloud Revivalers, Story Warrenites, and many other gangs of allies who made an incredible coalition that never failed to deliver encouragement and support to our little project.
I would love to name every name and list every blessing, but I can’t here. But you know who you are. You were on our side, and I will remember it.
For our team, we’ll take a moment to enjoy this tremendous gift tonight. Then we’ll get right back to work.
We have a book to deliver.
–Sam
June 8, 2016
Clarkson Set To Return As Narrator In Highly-Anticipated Audiobook For The Green Ember Sequel (3 DAYS LEFT TO ORDER!)
Clarkson at C. S. Lewis’s home, the Kilns.
I’m so happy to share this news! My friend Joel Clarkson will return to narrate Ember Falls, available to order for only 3 more days on Kickstarter! (Ends June 11.) Here’s the release from Story Warren Books. –Sam
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Story Warren Books today announced that Joel Clarkson will narrate Ember Falls, the highly-anticipated sequel to Best-Selling and Audible’s Children’s Audiobook of the Year Finalist, The Green Ember.
The Green Ember has sold tens of thousands of copies and been a top-seller at Audible and beyond. Ember Falls, including the new audiobook, is available for order on Kickstarter until June 11, and is scheduled for worldwide release later in 2016.
This news has delighted series author, S. D. Smith. “Joel Clarkson’s performance in The Green Ember was excellent. His careful attention to each character’s voice and his serious way of approaching the story resulted in a top-quality narration that is a gift to listeners. I’m grateful for that because most of the listeners are kids (including my own kids), and Joel’s performance is respectful, warm, and engaging. Along with thousands of others, I can’t wait to hear his narration of Ember Falls.”
On top of narrating the beloved middle-grade adventure, Joel Clarkson also composed and performed new original music for the beginning and end of the audiobook. A composer, arranger, and conductor, Clarkson has done orchestrations for films and released several albums of solo music as well as contributing one half of the Two Benedictions, a musical collaboration with Joy Clarkson, his sister.
Joel Clarkson is happy to return to the world of Natalia, where The Green Ember Series is set. “After being immersed in S. D. Smith’s delightful and compelling fantasy, The Green Ember, I am thrilled to be able to bring these wonderful characters to life in audiobook form again. The world Smith has created is chock full of key elements that make up a great tale—striking, multifaceted landscapes in an alluring world, a gripping narrative full of heroism and excitement, and of course, brave, adventurous rabbits! S. D. Smith has a distinct gift for old-fashioned storytelling of the finest sort.”
June 6, 2016
Stretch Goal #1: ACHIEVED! —> Stretch Goal #2: ANNOUNCED!
Yahoo! We reached 900 backers for our Ember Falls Kickstarter! That is really wonderful. More readers and more opportunity to spread the stories further. Thank you! That means EVERYONE who backed (and will back) the project over the next 5 days will receive an audiobook download card for the best-selling, fan-favorite adventure, The Green Ember! (You can keep, or share it, as you like.) This audiobook is performed brilliantly by Joel Clarkson, and was a finalist Audible’s Kids Book of the Year! And you’ll all receive 2 brand new propaganda-style stickers of Heather and Picket. Pretty sweet.
Let’s do it again!
This time, if we reach 100 more backers—1,000!—we’ll throw a download card for The Black Star of Kingston audiobook, read fantastically by stage actor Eric Fritzius, into EVERY BACKER’S shipment. (To share, or keep.) I love this audiobook and I want more people to hear it! Along with that, we’ll add in a fun sticker set of the characters from Black Star, created from Zach Franzen’s amazing illustrations. 8 stickers in all!
So, keep spreading the word, friends. Only 5 days to go! Please tag Sam on his Author Page, or on Twitter. Thank you!
–Sam and Andrew
May 27, 2016
Base Goal…Achieved!
We are very happy to announce that after 9 days, we have reached our initial goal of $40,000! This means that, no matter what else happens, this Kickstarter has been a big success!
58% of publishing projects on Kickstarter fail, and only 2.6% of publishing projects succeed above the 20K mark. So this is a rare and wonderful experience! And YOU made it happen.
We can’t tell you how grateful we are for your support. So many of you have been more than just backers, you have been enthusiastic advocates for this project and the whole series. We have watched gratefully as you’ve given our small voice a loud amplifier, allowing us to reach many, many more readers. What a gift!
So, this was a big, ambitious goal. I know. I know. I got some emails from people early on saying, “Umm, why do you think you could possibly reach such a huge goal?!” It was frightening, for sure. But we wanted to have a challenge, to be bold, and most of all we wanted to try to reach the many thousands of readers who loved The Green Ember to let them know the series was carrying on. Usually, readership of second books in a series tend to drop off dramatically. We believe in this story and in this series, and we want to find the tens of thousands of readers who connected with the first book and let them know there’s more. We also wanted to invite more and more new readers to the series.
We have around 750 backers. That’s amazing! But it doesn’t take a Math Wiz (thankfully) to figure out that we have connected with only a fraction of those who loved the first book.
We have reached our base goal, and we are so delighted! But this campaign has two more weeks and we want to stay after it. It’s not over. You guys have been an unbelievable team! Thank you! This feels like a big home run. But, it’s a home run in the bottom of the fourth inning. It’s huge, but there’s a lot of ballgame left. (
I know there are questions about Stretch Goals. We’ll have more details about those soon. For now, do a cartwheel and let loose a gleeful yowl! We made our initial goal! Success! Thank you so much!
When we made our $10K goal and The Green Ember was funded (October 4, 2014), it was 1am and Gina and I were the only ones awake.
This time, we pulled off the road and shared the news with the whole family!
Thank you!
May 25, 2016
Getting Super Close To Our Base Goal! AND…Bringing S. D. Smith To Your School/Homeschool Group For An Author Visit Is EASIER Than You Think
We are 9 days into this…and over 90% of the way to our base goal in this Kickstarter! Thank you so much.
This is exciting! Most exciting of all to me is the new readers we are reaching and that we’re inching closer and closer to getting Ember Falls into your hands!
And now, may I present to you a bold sentence wherein I shall refer to myself in the third person?
Bringing S. D. Smith To Your School/Homeschool Group For An Author Visit Is EASIER Than You Think
A homeschool group in Pennsylvania just nabbed the first Author Visit tier. That’s great! I’m excited about that because it means I get to go speak to and meet awesome reader kids.
I know that tier can feel like a lot of cash, but really all you need are 50 families to do 20 bucks each. Does your school or homeschool have that? Or 33 families to do $30 each. And you will each get a book, which I will sloppily sign in person.
Great news! We’re changing that tier to add more books. Now, if you get the Author Tier, you will get 50 books instead of 30!
And lastly, you will get 50 (50!) copies of The Green Ember audiobook download card to keep or giveaway. Those are worth $19.95 each. (That means the cards alone are worth just under $1,000.)
I hope some of you will take us up on this offer that just got a LOT sweeter!
Two Reviews
This is the latest review of The Green Ember. It’s by an 11 year old boy in Illinois. It is wonderful and contains this:
“It is the best book I have ever read. It’s filled with betrayal, fights, attacks, retreats, and mysteries that you can’t put down. I thought that I had already read it and that it was boring but I read it anyways. I was totally wrong. I love this book.”
How amazing is that?
And this is the first (and only) review of Ember Falls in the world. It’s from my friend, author Glenn McCarty.
I’m very grateful for both!
Thanks again for your incredible support. We are getting super close to our target!
Onward! And thanks again!
Your friend and mine,
Sam
May 20, 2016
Halfway There!
(This was my update a couple of days ago, after we passed the halfway mark.)
It’s so hard sometimes in life, to keep from referencing Bon Jovi. Especially when you are literally halfway there and simultaneously living on a prayer. But I managed to do it, somehow.
Thank you so much for your generous support of this project. We believe that, though it is a really big challenge, we can make our goal.
It’s not going to be easy. Kickstarter projects nearly always dip sharply after the first few days. So we’ll need your help sharing this story with all our friends to reach our ambitious goal.
One thing we have going for us is a really large group of readers who loved the book. That’s huge! Just have a peep over at the Amazon reviews and you’ll see a sample of the reaction people have had to the book. My point is that there are lots of fans of The Green Ember out there, people who will eagerly support this project–IF THEY HEAR ABOUT IT.
So we’ll keep sharing and inviting friends, new and old, to embrace and help spread the word about this new story with an old soul.
Why?
I think it’s a great way to love kids.
It’s exciting and enjoyable for children. Rabbits with swords! Adventure! Yeah! It works on that level. And I LOVE that level. But beneath the adventure, there’s a well of meaning that resonates with parents and kids in a deep way.
In an era marked by hostility to children, from slight regard to real abuse and violence, sharing soul-shaping tales can be a profound act of hospitality. And what’s more, it can offer a kind of armor of the heart for the battles ahead of them.
I see storytelling as a vocation rooted in love. I love, and want to serve, young readers.
I want to serve families. Your family. Serious business.
Thank you SO MUCH for helping us share this story with the world.
There’s still a steep mountain to climb, but it’s bracing to look left and right and see so many fellow mountaineers. We can do this, together.
With love and deep gratitude,
Sam
May 16, 2016
May 9, 2016
What Do I Mean By “A New Story With An Old Soul?”
I want to tell new stories with an old soul.
I want to look forward, to hope and dream, to gaze through the fog to the certain dawn of the true New World. I’m optimistic. In a big way.
But I also love looking back. I want to echo. I want my tales to resound with old words, old ways, and old wisdom.
I want to make vintage adventure.
Stories matter. Fiction shapes our affections like nothing else can. This is perhaps especially true when we are young. But why new stories with an old soul?
My friend (and the illustrator for my books) Zach Franzen is kind of a genius. When I run out of clever things to say, I usually pull out a Zachism and run with it. (Warning: It’s about to happen again.) He has been a cheerleader for the “New Stories, Old Soul” side from the beginning. He contends that most publishers don’t want to release new books with old virtues. If people want those, it’s easier and cheaper for the publishers to just release the old books again. So the virtues featured in those books are for now, he says, trapped in amber. They are museum pieces. So Zach has been a partner in more ways than just by illustrating my books. He’s been an encouragement, believing that those old virtues can live on in new adventures—that they can be seen in the wild again.
I want to uncork some vintage adventure on a generation of thirsty young souls.
When I wrote The Green Ember for my children, I hoped they would love it and that the story would capture their hearts. I’m so grateful that it did and that they wanted to give others a chance to enjoy it too. When we were finally able to share it with other families, we began to hear that many of them also seemed to resonate with this new story and its old soul. That made us glad, like seeing the look on a dinner guest’s face who loved the food and enjoyed the laughter at the table. We shared something of our family’s life and other families welcomed it into their own homes and hearts. What an honor. What a privilege!
I want to keep doing it. So I wrote The Back Star of Kingston for my kids. And for all the kids who loved (or might love) The Green Ember. And now I want to share Ember Falls with you. My kids loved it, and I hope yours do too.
Ember Falls is a story and that’s it. It’s not a tricky vehicle to teach truth. But I hope it is truthful. It’s not meant to sneak in a moral lesson, but I hope it burns with the fire of moral imagination.
I hope you enjoy it.
Ember Falls will launch on Kickstarter in one week, on May 16, 2016.
Note: This is adapted from a piece that first appeared at my friend Sally Clarkson’s blog.
April 26, 2016
The Green Ember Book II: Ember Falls…Is Coming! Here’s When And How You Can Help
Dear Friends and Allies,
We have a date! A date for what, Sam? A date for The Green Ember Book II: Ember Falls Kickstarter!
The Kickstarter will launch on May 16. We are stoked! I hope you are too.
One of the many amazing things I’ve experienced in this author adventure is how many of you have started off as readers, but moved on to become friends and allies. My place beside you! Lots of you have asked what you can do to help when the next book comes out. Thank you! Here’s what would help, mucho:
Join our Ember Falls Facebook Launch Group!
This group will be the place where I’ll be sharing behind-the-scenes stuff. It will be THE place to stay informed of what’s happening before, during, and after the Kickstarter is done–and when the books begin shipping. Launch missions will start before the Kickstarter begins, so please join today!
Kristen Usher has joined our team (official title:High Lady of Contagious Pizzazz, Supreme Executive of High Fives, and Secretary General of Ginger Outreach). She is leading this launch group that will help spread the word about The Green Ember series far and wide.
Are you on board for this New Stories With An Old Soul project?
Join up! (Go here and ask to be added.)
I think this is going to be fun. Kristen isn’t called “High Lady of Contagious Pizzazz” for nothing. The launch group will be awesome.
I hope you’ll join up and join in. Launch Missions start soon.
Thank you!
Sam
P.S. Ember Falls is coming!
