Pretty please ... help turn Aunty Arty into print ...

Jet Black Publishing has launched a December Kickstarter campaign to help raise funds to turn five of their ebooks into print-on-demand books. One of those ebooks is mine - Aunty Arty and the Disquieting Muses!

Aunty Arty is about entering the world of art and a beautiful relationship blossoming between an aunty and her niece. Aunty Arty and Frieda find themselves in Georgio de Chirico's painting 'The Disquieting Muses', they meet a statue who has been cursed by Cupid’s lead arrow, sentencing her to a lifetime without love ...


Jet Black Publishing is a new ebook publisher based in Melbourne and they were brave enough to take this quirky children's story on. I had the freedom to contact my own illustrator ... that's where I found Narelda Joy and this is where the Aunty Arty story became truly magical ...





Narelda and I worked closely for many, many months on The Disquieting Muses. I watched as she transformed my story into a visual feast. Together, we developed activities for children, a teacher resource pack and a video about creating Aunty Arty. It was a truly exciting and creative time - we were full of energy and hope and love for our characters and the story ...


But then the ebook was released and parents started telling me over and over again 'I want my children to read a printed book,' 'I like them to hold the book,' 'I like my kids to choose a book from the bookshelf'. Parents were wary of the bright lights of the ipad screen before bedtime.


I had to agree, what is better than sharing a physical book with a child at bedtime? We all love the way a child pauses over a great illustration and the way they like to hold the book and look at the back cover for something more ... making the joy of that story last just that little bit longer ...


Narelda and I finally met face-to-face in September this year (she lives in the Blue Mountains, near Sydney, and I live on the Mornington Peninsula, near Melbourne), after sharing a passion for our book via email for so long. We met at White Rabbit Gallery in Sydney, a contemporary Chinese art gallery, and over gluten free dumplings and chrysanthemum tea we discovered we got on just as well together in the real world as we did in our imaginary world.




I truly believe that we created something special together and that's why I would love to see these books printed and a hard copy to be held in children's hands.


So this is where we'd like to ask for your help to turn Aunty Arty into a print-on-demand book ... we'd love to see this book in homes, schools, libraries, galleries and bookshops ... and would love to create more stories in the series!


For $50 you could help Aunty Arty go on the greatest adventure of all - into print! You'll receive a copy of the paperback and a shoutout on social media. For $100 you'll get all this plus your name printed in the book on the 'producers page'!


Pretty please ... from as little as $10 you can be part of the Aunty Arty adventure here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1208819366/jet-black-publishing-print-launch