Sharon Watts's Blog, page 3

Series I audiobook on iTunes and Audible

We are happy to announce that the audiobook version of Kingdom of Hamelot Series I: Menagerie of Murder is for sale on iTunes and Barnes and Noble!

Now you can listen and read along to the stories. Or put them on your phone, iPod or computer to just listen as the stories unfold. Our narrators Greg Scheiderer and Joan Coombs do a magnificent job of bringing Hamelot to life.

You can get the audiobooks here:

Audible: http://www.audible.com/pd/ref=sr_1_1?asin=B00BCJSKRI&qid=1360279145&sr=1-1

iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/audiobook/kingdom-hamelot-series-i-menagerie/id601196970

Here’s a sample of what you’ll hear:

Teachers! Get our Series I: Menagerie of Murder for free!

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Help us spread the word!

During the month of February, we will  be giving away copies of our Series I eBook to public and private school (yes, you too, homeschoolers) teachers for use in their classrooms. While Doctor Leachum is typically opposed to giving anything away, even he sees the value of education.

We have consistently heard from our educator family and friends how Kingdom of Hamelot Series I: Menagerie of Murder should be used as a learning/reading tool in the classroom. With our eBook’s enhancements of audio narration, colorful illustrations, fun video extras and vocabulary definitions of challenging words, we agree!

And it’s just a fun, fun book. And fun means kids will want to read — and in that process, they will learn.

Our author Sharon Watts has long been a student of Elizabethan history and includes historically accurate details about the time period. (Whom did you visit when you needed your teeth pulled? Nope, not the dentist or even the physician! You need to read the book to find out!)

If you are a teacher and want to check out the eBook for your iPad, just drop Jen a note at jen@kingdomofhamelot.com.  (Please send from your school email address so we can verify that you are associated with a school.) We will send you a link for you to be able to download the book onto your iPad or iPad Mini. If you end up liking it and your kids use it, that’s great! All we ask is that you let us know and share with your friends how much you enjoyed the book. Maybe you could send a photo of your class or like us on Facebook! Or leave a review for us on Amazon, Barnes and Noble or iTunes.

Why are we doing this? We really do believe that great books (and using the fun bells and whistles of the latest technology) inspire kids to embrace learning. And we are self publishers. We’ve financed this book ourselves, and we are working to get the word out there. This is one way of creating buzz and momentum. And don’t forget – Series II will be out in March.

So send us an email, grab your iPad and join us beyond the mist!

 

Hamelot trading cards coming soon!

We are in the process of creating lots of fun marketing and promotional materials, including Kingdom of Hamelot trading cards. We will be giving away the cards to participants in our eBook focus groups in February and then we’ll be distributing them at events throughout the year. We have 11 characters right now, with more to come! Stay tuned for how to get your cards on these cards!

Menagerie of Murder now live on Barnes and Noble!

We are happy to report that Kingdom of Hamelot Series I: Menagerie of Murder is now for sale for the NOOK HD/HD+, NOOK Tablet and NOOK Color for $4.29. And it looks great!

So you can buy Series I now and then Series II in February….what are you waiting for?

Seattle kids and parents: Sign up for Hamelot focus groups!

Here’s our press release on the focus groups we will be holding a week from Saturday in the Hamelot-focused neighborhood of West Seattle. You must register so we can keep an accurate count for gift cards, giveaways and cupcakes! Ping Connie at connie@kingdomofhamelot.com for details!

Participants Needed For Parent and Tween Focus Groups

Seattle parents and kids are needed for two focus groups on Saturday, January 19, to discuss a new series of eBooks.

The eBooks are from the Kingdom of Hamelot, a series of poem-stories based in a mythical, Elizabethan-era kingdom. The world of Hamelot is rooted in historical facts about the time period and includes tales of magic, intrigue and deception, as well as friendship, acceptance and love. An enhanced eBook experience, the Kingdom of Hamelot takes advantage of new technologies, meaning the stories are accompanied by music and narration, timely vocabulary and rich illustrations—and even entertaining supplemental videos (featuring the pretentious and fictional historian, Thelonious Bouchez).

The focus groups will take place from 1:30 to 2:30pm at the Youngstown Art and Culture Center, 4408 Delridge Way SW. One of the groups will be for boys and girls between the ages of 8 and 13 and the other for parents.  Ideally parents and their kids can sign up together, but individual kids and parents are also welcome.  If kids are participating without their parents, they must sign in with another responsible adult who will also pick them up at the conclusion of the event.

Pre-registration is required.

During the focus groups, participants will be given a guided tour of the latest Kingdom of Hamelot eBook and will discuss their impressions of the book and their general reading and buying habits. Following the individual focus groups, we will join together in the main theater for cupcakes and a continued informal discussion.  In addition to the cupcakes, each focus group participant will receive a $5 iTunes, Amazon, or Barnes and Noble gift card and Kingdom of Hamelot giveaways.

The focus groups will be conducted by Wired Ballywho, a West Seattle ePublishing company.

Want to participate?  Contact us directly to register and find out more information.  We are looking only for kids between the ages of 8 to 13 and/or parents of kids of that age group.  In particular, we are interested in participants who enjoy eBooks and online learning. Due to the size of the location and the nature of focus groups, we need to limit each group to 10-12 people and will close registration once we reach our limits. You can email Connie Watts from Wired Ballywho at connie@kingdomofhamelot.com or call her (206) 290-7426.

Hamelot Word of the Day: Raconteur!

Can you tell stories well? Then you are a raconteur! Each of our eBooks features a robust vocabulary list for each of our stories, so you get to learn a little something while you are being entertained.

Here is today’s word:

Series II sneak peek! See rough sketches from our dragon slayer story

We haven’t even started our publicity campaign for Series I: Menagerie of Murder yet, but we are well underway on production of Series II: Exciting Title To Be Announced. Our illustrator Tasia Duckart has been cranking out the rough sketches for the illustrations for one of our stories about Brill Drageson, Hamelot’s aging dragon slayer. Tasia starts with these sketches and sends them to us for feedback. Then she spends hours and hours filling in the details and giving them color. Aren’t you curious to see what the final product will be? Stay tuned for February, when we will release the next series! Don’t forget that each of our eBooks feature Tasia’s awesome illustrations, audio narration, video extras from Thelonious Bouchez and vocabulary words and definitions!

In his youth, Brill Drageson was Hamelot’s fearless dragon slayer.

Brill was hailed throughout the kingdom as a hero!

Now, an old man, he is hobbled by pain and alone. Can he find a renewed sense of purpose or will he spend the rest of his life by himself?

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Another free eBook! “Beyond Hamelot with Thelonious Bouchez”

We love Thelonious Bouchez as much as he loves Hamelot. The star of our popular eBooks video features has compiled his videos from Series I and released them as a free eBook called Beyond Hamelot with Thelonious Bouchez.

Watch one of Thelonious’ videos below, then go get the free eBook!

New developments with the eBooks: Series I now on sale!

$4.99

Being a former reporter, I won’t bury the lede:

We have just released a compilation of our first four eBooks called Kingdom of Hamelot Series I: Menagerie of Murder . It is on sale now for $4.99 on iBookstore, Amazon and Vook. It will be live on Barnes and Noble within a week.
We are now offering Portrait of Doctor Leachum, a Controversial Man at the major retailers for free (if you still see it for $.99 somewhere, it just means it’s in the process of being updated). This eBook is part of the new Series I eBook.
We are pulling the individual eBooks from retailers: Portrait of Sir Jamison Bondgott’em, Portrait of Testin Gruberson and The Tale of To Tell or Not To Tell. All of these stories (and Leachum) and are included in the new Series I eBook.
We will be releasing this week another free eBook made up of the videos from Beyond Hamelot with Thelonious Bouchez. These videos were included in each of the initial four eBooks as fun, supplemental content.
We have new cover styles for the new Series I and Doctor Leachum eBook.

For those who have been with us since the beginning, you’re saying “whaaaaat?”

Here’s the deal: We knew going into publishing the first round of eBooks that we were learning, and we were going to make adjustments. In this new digital age of publishing, we are fortunate enough to do so. Because we had production hiccups in getting our content for sale on one of the retailers, it gave us time to hear feedback and suggestions from family and friends before we did a publicity and marketing blitz. And here’s what we heard: People loved the stories as a whole, but those who only read one or two of the Portraits (which are poetic introductions to the characters) were left confused and feeling like there should be more to the content.

Free!

With the help of our new team members Kevin and Brodie, we went to work figuring out the best solution. And we arrived at a compilation strategy. We took the first stories, added in some additional narrative and released them as a Series. Giving away the Doctor Leachum eBook and Thelonious video eBook (which have received rave reviews) will help drive awareness to Series I (and those being planned) and the Kingdom of Hamelot. We’ve heard consistently that we should have at least one free eBook to give people a taste of Hamelot and get them hooked. This strategy helps us accomplish that.

Don’t forget: We are full steam ahead on production for Series II, which we plan to release in February. Series II will allow us to continue to improve and build upon what we’ve learned. In Hamelot, as in life, there is always more, more and always more to learn and discover.

So there you have it. If you have any questions, concerns or comments, please drop us a line at info@kingdomofhamelot.com. We always love hearing from you!

Hamelot word of the day: Mankie!

We think one of the best parts of our eBooks is our vocabulary list of challenging or odd words at the end of the story. If your eReader supports this functionality, you can simply click on one of the highlighted words in the story, and it will “jump” to the definition in the vocabulary list.

Today we give you the word “mankie!” Drop it in a conversation today and see what folks say. But please, don’t call your teacher, mom or principal this…k?