We organised a family walk at Borthwood Copse, IOW today, to celebrate the launch of our autumn children’s book called Jack and Boo’s Wild Wood. The day was perfect, a sunny crisp autumn day, leaves turning golden and red, and crunchy scattered all around. I set up shop half hour before the start on a flowery fold-up chair (very me) and a pile of books to my side. I felt a little conspicuous at first, but soon got into the flow of chatting to people out on their regular Sunday walk, and within half an hour I’d sold 3 books.

As the day progressed I regularly got to give out scavenger hunts and maps to families with children, some being regulars to the wood, others pleased to have discovered the wood for the first time, and many saying they’ll come back to walk again. I sold 2 more books, making a grand total of 5 – not enough to retire on, but certainly more than I expected for a small outdoor event.

It was great to hear people walking out of the wood reporting back on tales of seeing families walking around with the scavenger hunts picking up acorns and beech masts and spotting red squirrels. I also got a few leads for future events working with children and the Isle of Wight County Press photographer turned up for a photo shoot with our children in the wood, so we are hoping for some great publicity in the next paper if we’re lucky.

I’d like to thank the senior and local warden of the Isle of Wight National Trust for letting me do the event at Borthwood Copse, to the local paper and all the people who helped promote the event and who came along today.

We will be arranging a companion walk to this one, next spring, in Borthwood Copse, when the wood will be full of drifts of bluebells, and also look out for more Beachy Book walks coming in the future.

“Jack and Boo’s Wild Wood lays down a lovely list of things for children to do in the real world of nature. I urge you to read it and then let them enact it for themselves. Only then will we have future generations who will love wildlife enough to protect it.”

Chris Packham – Naturalist and BBC broadcaster.

To celebrate the launch of Beachy Book’s second children’s book, Jack and Boo’s Wild Wood, Island author and award winning publishers, Philip and Eleanor Bell, are inviting families and children (or anybody who loves a walk) to a free wild walk and scavenger hunt in Borthwood Copse, one of the Island’s most ancient areas of woodland, owned and managed by The National Trust.

The event takes place on Sunday 23rd October, between 12 and 3pm, at Borthwood Copse, Alverstone Road, Apse Heath, off the A3056 Newport-Sandown road. There is a small Parish Council carpark near on the Alverstone road. Also No. 8 bus stop outside the Borthwood entrance.

The family walk is about a mile long, can be done at your own pace and is suitable for young children accompanied by adults. The paths around the wood may be muddy so bring wellies if you need them. Philip will be at the main entrance to Borthwood (on Alverstone road) to meet you and give you a wild wood scavenger hunt and map, which, if completed and returned to him, offers £1 off the purchase price of a signed and personalised copy of Jack and Boo’s Wild Wood. Beachy Books will be donating £1 from the sale of each book to help The National Trust’s Borthwood Copse conservation work.

Jack and Boo’s Wild Wood contains photographs taken in Borthwood Copse and the adventure was inspired by the authors’ own family walks with their two children. Philip Bell says, “Our children can be reluctant walkers at times, but when we get them out on a woodland walk they have a real adventure full of imagination, nature spotting and scavenging. And in autumn, when the leaves are turning golden and red, the wood looks gorgeous.”

Following on from their first award winning children’s book, Jack and Boo’s Wild Wood is set in an ancient wild wood. Under canopy of trees they forage like squirrels from spring to autumn, for new shoots and summer fruit, windfall seeds and fallen leaves. Climbing logs, jumping roots, avoiding woodland trolls, spotting butterflies, listening to cuckoos and woodpeckers, counting ducks and even finding a secret swing deep in the woods. The book is both part story and part nature spotter guide, with real photographs taken in some of the Island’s most beautiful woods, including Borthwood Copse.

Jack and Boo’s Wild Wood is priced at £5.99 (ISBN: 9780956298010) and can be ordered direct from the publisher, or purchased at Waterstone’s in Newport, Made On The IOW or ordered via Amazon and other online retailers and bookshops.

I’ve been in the laboratory for a few weeks rewriting our website – well customising a wordpress blog, which has caused it’s own set of extra coding problems and, at times, led me to utter distraction. Anyway, I thought it’s time to air it publicly and consider it a work-in-progress. If you’ve seen our previous site, you’ll not notice a massive change in branding, colours or layout, so what has changed?

Over the past few months I’ve noticed, mostly through using Twitter and social networks, that people are increasingly accessing the web from iPhones, iPads and other smart phone devices. When I viewed the old website on a mobile it looked dreadful – you had to scroll all over the place and zoom in. I hope my changes have now addressed this and this new website should shrink to fit, so to speak.

The other main change is at the top of the site, you’ll hopefully see a nice page-flippable Beachy Books catalogue so you can scroll through all our books (2 so far, with 1 more coming at Christmas. OK, it’s not loads but what do you want, blood?). I could have knocked this out in Flash, a bit like I use for my book previews, but devices with little ‘i’s in their names, iPads, iPhones, etc, in their wisdom, don’t run Adobe Flash. I hope my solution provides a universal book catalogue that should work across devices. I admit, on a small screen, you may need to still zoom in to see the detail.

UPDATE: I’ve temporarily disabled this “flipping” book at the top as, ironically enough, causing problems on iPhones and some other phones. Hey ho, back to the drawing board.

Anyway, I’d appreciate your feedback, especially those with smart phones, tablets, etc. As I say, it’s not set in stone so I can tweak it as we go.

UPDATE – Known Issues:

On mobile devices (and narrow screen displays) there’s a gap that appears under the “flipping” book catalogue at the top and the main menu. Yes, this is annoying and crap of me. This is one of the bugs I have yet to fix. If anybody can fix it I’ll give them a free Jack and Boo book.

We’d like to say a big thanks to the team at Wildlife Watch magazine (the junior branch of The Wildlife Trusts) for featuring our two Jack and Boo children’s books (Jack and Boo’s Wild Wood and Jack and Boo’s Bucket of  Treasures) in a competition in their autumn issue – out now to junior members of Wildlife Watch. It’s a fantastic magazine packed with information on UK wildlife and well worth the modest membership fee.

For obvious reasons we’ve not shown the actual competition, but if you get the magazine all your children have to do is to identify the wildlife illustrations taken from the spotter guides in both books for a chance to win 2 signed copies of each of our books – and there are 5 sets to give away!

Interestingly they thought the reading age was 6-8 years, which shows a picture book doesn’t have to be for pre-school! Loads of children in primary schools have enjoyed reading some of the challenging prose poetry in our books, as well as identifying nature in our spotter guides.

Have you ever wanted to know how to make and write your own mini-children’s book? Philip Bell, award winning local children’s author and publisher at Beachy Books, will be at Quay Arts Artists’ Book Fair, Newport, Isle of Wight, on Saturday 28th May between 11am and 4pm, showing you how!

All children are welcome to come along and get a free folding paper book with top tips of how to write their own story with advice on hand from Philip and some inspiration from a display of books recently created by children from Newchurch Primary School. Philip says, “My story books will show your children how they can use their own experiences to write unique stories – and they’re great fun too!”

Philip Bell will also be signing copies of his children’s picture book, Jack and Boo’s Bucket of Treasures, which recently won the Children’s Award in the David St John Thomas Charitable Trust Self Publishing awards, in association with Writers’ News and Writing Magazine, in London on May 11th 2011.

Philip says, “Jack and Boo have gained a strong following worldwide, including many Island families and children. We’d love to meet some of our fans so they can see how we make our books and get an exclusive first look at a proof of our next Jack and Boo adventure, before it’s published.”

Jack and Boo’s Bucket of Treasures follows the adventures of two children on a beach finding treasures washed ashore at low tide. It also includes lots of real world nature images, a spotter guide and family beach ideas, which combine into fun, fact-filled fiction. Beachy Books is a family-run publisher on the Isle of Wight, founded by Philip and Eleanor Bell. Jack and Boo’s Bucket of Treasures is available to buy in Waterstone’s Newport, IOW or via this website.

Beachy Book’s first children’s picture book, Jack and Boo’s Bucket of Treasures, has won the Children’s category of the 2011 David St John Thomas (DSJT) Charitable Trust Self Publishing Award, in association with Writers’ News and Writing Magazine, held on 11th May 2011 at Mary Sumner House in London.

Philip Bell, author of the book was there to collect the award, including a cheque for £250, from David St John Thomas and had his photograph taken along with winners from other categories in adult fiction, non fiction, poetry and anthologies.

Philip said, “We were thrilled to have been nominated for this well respected award, and then to have finally won the children’s category has made all our hard work worthwhile. We are very grateful to the trust and it has really inspired us to keep self publishing!”

DSJT Charity Founder and President of Writing Magazine, David St John Thomas, praised Jack and Boo’s Bucket of Treasures and said, as well as winning the Children’s Award, the book also came “highly commended” for overall Self Publisher of the Year from all categories, and said it was seriously considered for The Winner of Winners award.

Jack and Boo’s Bucket of Treasures was written, designed, illustrated and published by husband and wife team, Philip and Eleanor Bell, under their publishing company Beachy Books. It follows the adventures of two children on a beach finding treasures washed ashore at low tide. It also includes lots of real world nature images, a spotter guide and family beach ideas, which combine into fun, fact-filled fiction. The book has a unique look and style, written in poetic prose with bright illustrations over real photographs. Illustrator, Eleanor Bell said, “We draw inspiration from our own family days out with our two creative children – the real Jack and Boo!”

It’s been a great year for us, our first proper year trading and sales of Jack and Boo’s Bucket of Treasures have been better than expected, considering we didn’t crank up the on-line promotion until late in the year, when I learnt how to use Twitter. I’m still learning. As well as helping promote the book, an unexpected bonus has been talking to some great supportive people, some of whom have become friends  in the “real” world at a local book group filled with diverse funny intelligent people, all passionate about books.

We had our first two book signings in Waterstone’s, which was a real eye opener, one being a bit quiet, the other seeing us sell all but one book. The best bit was being able to chat to parents and kids about the books and get immediate feedback.

We got some great reviews of the book from various book bloggers, but failed to break the “industry” websites and papers, finding out the not very shocking truth that most publishers pay to get their books reviewed. We did get out book stocked in some other independent book shops, galleries and tourist information centres, and seeing it on the shelves gave us a boost. Many thanks to all.

We made a quick film of the book to help promote it, but mainly to entertain our kids, which helped spread the word and was great fun to make ( if you listen until the bloopers at the end!)

We took time to judge our own book by its cover, so next year we are going to give all future Jack and Boo’s a bit of a makeover, taking on board feedback we’ve had from both public and industry. Never stop learning.

During the recent snow we got inspired after a family walk out with the camera and made Jack and Boo’s Snowy Day eBook in a day. Well, we failed to make it in a real day, but we did get it all done – written, illustrated, published – in 24 hours, which was a great challenge and got us seriously thinking about exploring digital content further in the new year, including eBook versions of all future picture books and mobile phone Apps. That is, if I can still remember how to code!

So, what next for 2011? We hope to create a proper eBook release of Bucket of Treasures and special educational versions, such as Braille and large print. We are very near completion on our spring release with Jack & Boo’s Wild Wood and are also creating a summer adventure all set on the Isle of Wight. As I look to to my right, I also see the initial ideas for next year’s winter book. And it has nothing to do with Jack & Boo either, so watch this space.

Of course, all of the above could change. Best thing about independently publishing  is we can change plans, react to demands, produce books for smaller niche markets. I believe real books will continue alongside eBooks, and interactive books will really start to grow, converging with the games market. I think we’ve only just started to exploit social media for promotion and as a tool to engage directly with readers. The publishing industry is slowly getting there, however most barely engage or only push their own promotional messages. Bloggers hold much of the power of book buying with word of mouth reviewers and this seems to be growing as more people now buy books on-line, which I hope will reduce the power that big bookshops and supermarkets have, without killing independent bookshops. It’s a noisy world to try and be heard in, but it truly is the digital revolution, and the creative power has thankfully returned to the people.

We would like to thank everybody who has supported us and bought the book. We hope you and your children have many happy reads to come!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2010 from Beachy Books!

I was apprehensive before our second Waterstone’s  book signing in Hastings on 31st July for Jack and Boo’s Bucket of Treasures. This was due to our first signing in the Isle of Wight being a bit quiet because of torrential rain. This time we had a full day slot booked from 11am till 5pm, and despite the weather initially bringing rain (a bad omen I had thought), it turned out to be a great day. Again, we were welcomed by very friendly staff who set us up on a table in the children’s area, provided comfy soft seating, free balloons and, importantly, quick access to a Costa coffee upstairs!

Apart from a lull at lunchtime I spent most of the day chatting to families and children who came in, after an initial nervous few minutes of reticence to approach browsers and tell them about our picture book. I found that families would overhear me talking to others about the book, and then come over to take a look. There was a good mix of Hastings/Bexhill locals and holidaymakers who all responded well to the book, some recognising where the photos had been taken.

The attraction of our free colouring sheets, word searches and balloons soon pulled in the kids, with parents enjoying a brief respite from childcare. I had one very friendly and chatty little girl who sat and coloured in our Jack and Boo sheets for an hour, which really helped attract other inquisitive children to sit next to her and join in the fun. Of course this gave me a good excuse to make my sales pitch to their parents.

I really had some great chats with people and received some very complimentary remarks on the book. In the end I didn’t get around to doing any book readings (or taking photos in the heat of battle) as I was chatting so much. In any case, it didn’t matter as out of the 20 books ordered by Waterstone’s for the signing, I shifted 15 signed copies!

We are truly grateful to Waterstone’s for giving us the slot, and importantly the parents who parted with their hard earned cash to buy a book or two on the day. We appreciate it and hope you’ll tell your friends about it, and want to buy future Jack and Boo sequels.

Looking forward to the next one.

We have our second book signing at Hastings Waterstone’s on 31st May 2010 between 11 and 5pm. We are brining along some beachy-theamed activities, such as colouring, make-your-own jack and boo picture, word searches, etc. If you want to get a personalised copy of our children’s picture book or meet us then come along.

It’s also the start of Old Town Carnival Week in Hastings with the grand opening on Winkle Island, a Tug-o-war and a free beach concert!

So come along for all this fun in Hastings plus please try and pop into Waterstone’s and get a book to keep the children entertained on your visit to Hastings. There are some wonderful beaches in East Sussex, and many of the images from the book were taken on Bexhill beach, which is just up the road and also worth a visit. Especially the De La Warr Pavilion.

Just for fun we put together this video of our new picture book Jack and Boo’s Bucket of Treasures. Deliberately lo-fi it has been a labour of love and immense fun to make on a few hot evenings.

My son, the real “Jack” offered his services for the voice-over and did a fantastic job and if you watch to the end we’ve included some hilarious out-takes were he just couldn’t stop laughing during recording. Happy viewing!