Thanks for a great Book Launch!

Thanks to everyone who came to the Book Launch Party!  It was wonderful to see each one of you who came out. We had a great time and everything went smoothly.  So many thanks to all the volunteers who helped out!   Although the numbers weren't what we hoped, it was a fun time and a great celebration. Thanks to you all!  If you missed it, keep your eye on the blog (or sign up to Follow by Email), because there will be smaller local events coming up where you can buy a book, meet Bethany, and get her to sign your copy.

You are Invited to a Book Launch Party!

At age 10, Bethany Zimmerman wrote a beautiful story called "The Lotus Princess."  Join us in celebrating its release as a published children's book on November 29, 2014 at Langley Christian Middle School (22702 48th Ave., Langley).  The party is from 1 pm to 4 pm, and a reading and question period will be held at 2 pm.  Bring your kids so they can see what kids can accomplish, and tell your friends too!

The Lotus Princess is in Print!

After the layout and cover were finalized, Bethany and Rebecca signed a contract saying that they were finished making changes (any further changes would cost extra money).  Word Alive then sent out the first ever physical copy of The Lotus Princess, the "Author Copy."  It arrived the day after (Canadian) Thanksgiving, and were we ever excited!  It looked a bit different in print than on screen, and it felt a bit surreal to actually have a physical book in our hands.  However, it was perfect -- time to start printing more!  Rebecca took a bit of time to decide how many copies to order, and then we gave the okay and printing started for the copies we will sell and distribution started for other bookstores.  Amazon was the first to have Bethany's book available online, and shortly after that the 300 copies Rebecca ordered arrived!  Rebecca started planning a Launch Party and designing promotional material (a Launch Party poster and a bookmark), and now The Lotus Princess is available for everyone!

Thanks to Bethany's Uncle Brad for a great tip on the design of the poster!

The kids at Bethany's elementary school were so excited to each receive a bookmark!

The Lotus Princess is at Chapters

Great news!  The Lotus Princess is now available to be ordered from Chapters, Indigo.ca, Coles, Black Bond Books, and various bookstores who order through Book Manager.

It's awesome that it's widely available. However, Bethany will get a higher percentage of the price if you buy directly from Rebecca or online from Deb's Homeschool Canada Store. 10% of the profits will be given to charity, and the rest will be used for Bethany's education.  Thanks for buying!

What's in a name?

Part of the assignment when Bethany was writing The Lotus Princess was to include items that were authentically Chinese. So, she researched the names so that they would match the personality of the characters.  According to this site on Chinese name meanings:
Mei Lien means Beautiful Lotus (Mei means Beautiful, and Lien also means Daughter of the Sun)
He Ping means Peace
Ju Long means Powerful, Gigantic Dragon
Huang Fu means Rich Future

The Cover Story: You judge a book by its cover

We actually started working on the cover right at the beginning of the process.  While working with the editor on the text, we were also working with the Publishing Assistant, Kylee, on the author bio and description of the story.  We struggled with the decision of whether to include an author picture or not, but eventually decided not to for privacy reasons.  The original bio was a little longer, but in the end we cut one sentence so that the balance between the description and the bio would be better.

The description started short: "When Princess Mei Lien sees the injustice of her father's rule, she has to do something about it.  Kindness wins the day over magic, strength and cleverness."

Next, it was too long: "When Princess Mei Lien sees the injustice of her father’s rule, she has to do something about it. But her father, happy with the status quo, uses his magic to turn her into a lotus flower! Will the kind He Ping be able to save her and help her turn the conditions in the village around, or will she fall into the hands of the powerful (but not very considerate) Ju Long, or the crafty (but not very compassionate) Huang Fu?"

Finally, we settled on this: "When Princess Mei Lien sees the conditions of their town, she knows she must do something. Frustrated, her father turns her into a lotus flower to prevent her from protesting his rule. Will kind Prince He Ping find her so they can rescue the kingdom together?"

Before the back cover text was finalized, we also had the opportunity to choose from a few options for the front cover. Our favourites were the first and fourth.

This one looks like the title page.

This is the one we chose, but can you spot the difference?

Rebecca suggested using a "Chinese looking" font, and it worked well with this cover option.

The cover is what sells the book, since most people don't read through it before buying.  We think it turned out great!

The Lotus Princess is in the Newspaper!

The Langley Advance printed a great article about The Lotus Princess!  Read the article online: Langley girl's princess story launched.  Thanks to Ronda Payne for the interview and write up.

Putting it all together

The next stage in the publishing process is the layout.  At this point the pictures and text are put onto the pages, with background borders and page numbering.  The title page, bibliographical information, dedication and paging are set.  Let's take a look at how it developed:

 It was so exciting to see copyright, ISBN number and library information on the bibliographic information page.  It was finally on its way to being a "real" book!  On this page you can see the normal background which forms the border for many of the pages.  On some pages, it is another colour or a pattern which matches to the illustration for that page.

 Bethany and Rebecca couldn't agree on the title page, so the illustrators gave us several versions with purple or green backgrounds and with or without sleeves.  Rebecca's favourite was purple with sleeves, but Bethany's was green with no sleeves.

As you know if you've seen the book, we went with green with no sleeves.  The layout artists added the beautifully formatted title and author name. They also created a "The End" page for the end, as Bethany had in her original, in order to make the number of pages come out even.

Something hidden!

We asked the illustrators to hide something in the story to represent Bethany's background: Swiss on her dad's side and Dutch on her mom's.  Can you find the objects?

The Wedding

The last page of illustrations.  Even during the process, we had the chance to comment and ask for tweaks to the illustrations.  See what happened with the wedding picture.

Bethany's original

Early version of illustration

The final version turned out great!

Magical flowers

More illustrations!  Bethany's magical flowers, and lotus flower -- followed by the final version.

Ju Long's flowers

Ju Long and flowers

Huang Fu's flowers

Huang Fu and flowers

Bethany's cover page, showing the lotus flower beside the magical other flowers.

The Princes and the Old Woman

Let's see how some of the other characters began and turned out.

Bethany's three princes

Three princes, final version

Bethany's old woman

Old woman, final version

The Transformation from Lotus Flower to Princess

The illustrators next provided a storyboard, with one colour illustration and the rest in black and white line drawings.  Here we discussed the transformation scene.

Bethany's original resembles Birth of Venus in how she emerges from the flower off balance. (Note: Birth of Venus is a nude painting, be aware before following the link with young children.)

The storyboard original resembles Aladdin's lamp in how the magic pours from the flower.

The final version resembles the Hindu goddess Lakshmi (alternate picture) and the Buddhist Quan Yin, who also stand on a pink lotus flower.

Bringing the Lotus Princess to Life

Creating illustrations was the next step in the process.  First we decided that, although some of Bethany's illustrations were amazing, the quality was not consistent enough for publishing (and Rebecca's scanning skills were not adequate for publishing quality).  So Word Alive Press provided a team of illustrators to take Bethany's concepts and re-create them in professional quality.  Bethany and Rebecca looked at examples of Word Alive's children's books and thought about the style of illustration they were interested in.  They wanted simple illustrations that nevertheless reflected both a Chinese style and the personality of Bethany's originals.

The illustrators began by providing character sketches of Mei Lien and the Emperor.  Here are Bethany's originals, the first version from the illustrators, and the final version.  You can see how the characters stayed the same, but the final quality was much better than Bethany and Rebecca could have achieved at that time.

Mei Lien on her balcony

First character sketch -- so exciting to see!

Final character sketch

Bethany's "Confrontation with Emperor"

Final version

How can I get a copy of The Lotus Princess?

So glad you'd like to buy one of Bethany's books!

The very best is if you can make it to the Launch Party, Nov. 29, 2014, 1-4pm (just drop in, or come at 2pm for the reading).  If you want to make sure we don't run out before you get there, you can reserve it ahead of time by emailing lotusprincess2014 (at) gmail (dot) com or talking to Rebecca.

If you can't make it to the launch party, or need to get it in the mail before the Christmas rush, you can email lotusprincess2014 (at) gmail (dot) com or contact Rebecca and she will get it to you sooner.  If you live nearby, we'll make arrangements for personal delivery.  If you are not local, it costs $6 shipping in a photo mailer to prevent bending, or $3.25 if you just want it in a plain paper envelope.  (If it arrives damaged in the photo mailer, I'll replace it for free.  Choose the paper envelope at your own risk to save some money.  Shipping cost will increase for more than one book.)

If you buy from Rebecca directly, it costs $20 each for fewer than 10, or $18 each for 10 or more.  (They make great Christmas presents.)

It is also available from our friend Deb on her homeschool book website:
http://www.homeschoolcanadastore.ca/products/the-lotus-princess
(scroll down if you don't see it immediately).  She's charging $19.99 plus tax and actual shipping costs.

It is available on Amazon.ca for $22.81 (Canadian) plus tax, eligible for Super Saver Shipping if you buy over $25.  Amazon.com has it for $17.48 (US) plus tax and shipping. Follow the links in this paragraph or search "lotus princess zimmerman".

Barnes and Noble has it online for $17.12 US plus tax and shipping, and since it is available online it should be in the in-store ordering database as well.  So you can go to your local Barnes and Noble store and have them order it in.

It will be available at Christian bookstores, Chapters, and other bookstores soon -- ask them to order in a few copies for their shelves when they order yours!

The Books Arrived!

 The copies of Bethany's book finally arrived today!

It is so exciting to see her name in print!

The official book launch party will be November 29, 2014 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. at Langley Christian Middle School (22702 48th Ave., Langley).  A book reading and question period will be held at 2 p.m.  All are invited!

The Lotus Princess costs $20 and will be sold at the book launch party.  It is already available on Amazon, and can soon be ordered from Chapters and other bookstores (it takes a bit of time to get into the bookstores' databases).  If you can't wait for your copy, contact Rebecca at lotusprincess2014@gmail.com and she'll see about getting one to you sooner.