Listen to live interviews with authors
Reader Views has partnered with Inside Scoop Live. This fantastic website brings live interviews to you so you may hear the personal thoughts of authors regarding their books and issues.

Fiona Ingram’s earliest story-telling talents came to the fore when, from the age of ten, she entertained her three younger brothers and their friends with serialised tales of children undertaking dangerous and exciting exploits, which they survived through courage and ingenuity. Haunted houses, vampires, and skeletons leaping out of coffins were hot favourites in the cast of characters.

Although Fiona Ingram has been a journalist for the last fifteen years, writing a children’s book The Secret of the Sacred Scarab was an unexpected step, inspired by a recent trip to Egypt. The tale of the sacred scarab began life as a little anecdotal tale for her 2 nephews (then 10 and 12), who had accompanied her on the Egyptian trip. This short story grew into a children’s book, the first in the adventure series Chronicles of the Stone. The author is already immersed in the next book in the series—The Search for the Stone of Excalibur—a huge treat for young King Arthur fans. Although Fiona Ingram does not have children of her own, she has an adopted teenage foster child, from an underprivileged background who is just discovering the joys of reading for pleasure.

Synopsis: The Secret of the Sacred Scarab by Fiona Ingram brings a 5000-year-old mystery to life when a scruffy peddler gives Adam and Justin Sinclair an old Egyptian scarab on their very first day in Egypt. Only when the evil Dr. Faisal Khalid shows a particular interest in the cousins and their scarab, do the boys realize they are in terrible danger. Dr. Khalid wants the relic at all costs. Justin and Adam embark upon the adventure of a lifetime, taking them down the Nile and across the harsh desert in their search for the legendary tomb of the Scarab King, an ancient Egyptian ruler. With just their wits, courage, and each other, the boys manage to survive only to find that the end of one journey is the beginning of another!

Topics of conversation:

• Recent awards, the importance of competitions for authors.
  
• Fiona talks about her careers in theater and journalism, and how they influenced her fiction writing.
• The trip to Egypt that spawned The Secret of the Sacred Scarab, children's fascination with Egyptian culture, how it related to modern day.
  
• Bringing educational elements into her writing, creating real-life characters that make mistakes and learn common lessons as readers.
• Global literacy, statistics in South Africa, great advice for parents to encourage reading in children.
• The importance of establishing an online presence for authors - social networking, interviews, book reviews, blogging, etc. - critical steps for success.
  

Listen to interview with Fiona Ingram

Experts share their secrets
Authors Access is a joint project of Loving Healing Press and Reader Views. Each week we bring insightful interviews from people around the world who can help you get your work published, and if already published, noticed! The forum is geared for writers, both published and unpublished. Your hosts are Victor R. Volkman, owner/publisher of Loving Healing Press and Irene Watson, Managing Editor of Reader Views. See the lineup for future presentations and listen to previous podcasts.

On March 4th, 2010 Irene Watson moderated a roundtable with Tyler R. Tichelaar and Victor R. Volkman on how to successfully sell your books at conferences, craft shows, and regional, seasonal, and special interest fairs.   Tyler specializes in working regional craft and seasonal fairs and has achieved some remarkably good results.  Victor exhibits at professional conferences for social workers, psychologists, and mental health fairs.  Together, they addressed the following issues:

• Managing bathroom breaks
• Dealing with “show management”
•  Supplies You May Want to Buy as an exhibitor: tables, tablecloths, acrylic book stands and signholders, posters, Director’s Chair, Tschokte items (pens, post-it notes, to give away),
• The Fine Print: watch out for proof-of-insurance, mandatory carpet purchase, furniture rental, and more
• Indoor vs. outdoor shows: foot traffic, weather, customers, pros and cons
• How to lure people to your booth
• Being prepared for any situation
• Offering exclusive specials
• Which shows work and which ones don’t
• Determining whether you succeeded  

Victor R. Volkman is the owner of Loving Healing Press Inc. whose mission is “redefining what is possible for healing mind and spirit” and his press has produced more than 100 titles since its first book rolled off the press in 2004. He also manages the other imprints including Modern History Press which tells “empowering stories of conflict and the struggle for identity in modern times.” MHP features multicultural writers as well as those of veterans, and others who have had difficulty finding their place in the world. His latest venture is Recovering the Self: A Journal of Hope and Healing which is a quarterly anthology of writings about abuse recovery, addiction, grief, trauma, and personal growth issues.

Tyler R. Tichelaar is the owner of Marquette Fiction which has produced five books of regional fiction spanning 150 years on the shores of Lake Superior in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. He is also the owner of Superior Book Promotions, a full-service editorial shop which provides proofreading, editing, and manuscript evaluation. Tyler has a PhD in literature and has taught at three universities.

Listen to Victor Volkman & Tyler Tichelaar - Successfully Sell Your Books at Conferences, Craft Shows, and Fairs

Next show: Authors Access will interview Walt Shiel - Cataloging, Indexing, Typesetting, and more… what does it mean?