by jphilo | Apr 5, 2024 | See Jane Dance!, See Jane Dig!, See Jane Run!, See Jane Sing!
“I’d like to see Jane fix this,” I muttered after opening the first of the 20 book merch mugs* I ordered in advance of summer speaking events and spotted my proofreading error.
Do you see it too?
As a former teacher who corrected enough papers to kill dozens of trees and drained oodles of red pens, I deserve no mercy…at least not from past students.**
In my own defense, I have only two things to say:
- I ordered them while in the grips of a raging sinus infection that the second round of antibiotics I’m currently on will hopefully work.
- I actually caught and corrected the error, but neglected to click “save” before placing the order.***
After staring at the mugs in dismay for a couple minutes, visions of red pens danced in my sinus-fogged head. “Hiram,” I asked my husband, “is the pack of multicolored Sharpies you bought still around somewhere?”
As a matter of fact, they were in his desk.
I plucked out the red Sharpie, picked up a mug, and did this:
Do you think they can be sold at book events if I inscribe each mug with whatever red pen message the buyer requests…within reason of course? Or use them as door prizes? I’d love to hear your suggestions, too, so leave them in the comment box.
*The mugs in the picture are all identical. They are arranged at different angles to show the 4 different covers that circle each mug.
**Those students, now adults with their own kids and grandkids, are very forgiving people. After I posted a picture of the errant mugs on Facebook, several of them wanted to know how to order them.
***The error has been corrected for a second time, and the save button clicked for the first time. Sigh!
by jphilo | Feb 1, 2024 | Reviews, See Jane Dance!, See Jane Run!, See Jane Sing!
See Jane Run! is close to 50 Amazon reviews. So close, in fact, I’m breaking out my dance moves and choreographing a little something to record on video when the milestone is reached. 50 reviews, by the way, is when Amazon sits up, takes notice, and begin to assist authors and publishers in promoting their books. It’s a big deal. So how close is See Jane Run! to 50?
Drum roll please……
As of today, See Jane Run! is sitting at 42 positive reviews.
If my math fact memory serves, only 8 more reviews until spunky Jane can grab the Amazon promotion ring. I know more than 8 people who haven’t yet reviewed the book have read and liked it. If you’re one of those people, I’m on my knees begging you to write and post your review on Amazon. Just go to See Jane Run! on Amazon, scroll down and click on the white “Leave a Customer Review” (it’s on the left hand side beneath the starred ranking graph), and Amazon will walk you through the process.
I promise to post a Facebook video of me doing a happy dance when the big 5-0 is reached.
In case you’re wondering, See Jane Sing! has 31 reviews and See Jane Dance! has 24. The See Jane Dance! number delighted me considering I haven’t been able to promote it much due to health issues that began shortly after it was released. Once again, I am down on my knees begging for reviews. Once again I promise to post a happy dance video when those books reach the magic number too.
Also my dance moves are epic. You don’t want to miss them.
by jphilo | Dec 31, 2022 | Mystery Update, See Jane Dance!, See Jane Dig!, See Jane Run!, See Jane Sing!
Introducing the See Jane Run Advisory Board gives me great pleasure. The board’s formation came about when the 7 and 4-year-old grandchildren were back seat passengers in our car a few days after Christmas, 2022. Hiram was driving so I directed all my attention to the following conversation. It began when the 7-year-old became curious about the box on the seat between him and his sister. It contained copies of See Jane Run! and See Jane Sing!. The 7-year-old opened the box and used his burgeoning reading skills to read the titles, emphasis on burgeoning as you’ll see below.
“Is Seejane the girl on the front of these books?” he asked.
“Yes, but since there’s a space between ‘See’ and ‘Jane’ it’s pronounced ‘See Jane.'” I explained.
“Oh, I see. Jane is the girl. Why are there different covers?”
“Because they’re two different stories. The first is See Jane Run! and the second is See Jane Sing!”
“What kind of books are they?”
“They’re mysteries. Jane catches bad guys.” I added a bunch more, but all of you have heard the spiel, so there’s no need to subject you to it again.
The 4-year-old piped up. “Are you going to write more of these books?”
I told them about the upcoming titles, See Jane Dance! and See Jane Dig! With that the floodgates of their imaginations burst wide open.
“Grammy, you should write See Jane Christmas!” said the 7-year-old.
“That’s a great idea, and there’s actually a Christmas program in See Jane Sing!”
Back to the 4-year-old. “How about See Jane Halloween! instead?”
“I have a better idea,” said the 7-year-old. “See Jane Underground! where they go to London and catch bad guys in the underground subway.”
“Or See Jane Invisible Hole! where they dig a hole and it’s invisible and Jane jumps in and the bad guys don’t see it and they fall in…”
The 4-year-old went on and on, but I missed the gist of her plot line because my mind was on how anyone would see Jane do anything in an invisible hole.
“Grammy,” interrupted the 7-year-old. “You could make Jane statues to sell. And tee-shirts.”
“And earrings,” added the 4-year-old. “And you could give Jane a sword and a shield and a gun to shoot bad guys,”
“Jane doesn’t like guns. She doesn’t own one.”
The 4-year-old gasped and after a dramatic pause proclaimed. “You could write See Jane Freeze! and Elsa from Frozen could freeze the bad guys.”
“How would you two like to be members of the See Jane Advisory Board? I’ll serve treats at meetings.”
“Yes,” they shouted as my husband pulled into the garage.
That, dear reader, is the humble beginning of the See Jane Advisory Board. Leave a comment if you’d like to join the team. I’m not sure how much we’ll get done at our meetings. However, I can assure you that our gatherings will be entertaining and there will be treats!
by jphilo | Oct 26, 2022 | See Jane Sing!
The See Jane Sing! virtual launch party is a go. The fun kicks off at 1:00 PM (CST) on Saturday, November 19 on Zoom. Everyone who attends will be automatically entered into a drawing for the following prizes:
- Two people will win a batch of the featured See Jane Sing! recipe, baked and hand-delivered (or mailed) by yours truly. The picture at the top of the page is your hint as to the nature of the recipe.
- Two people will win signed sets of the first two books in the West River Mystery series, See Jane Run! and See Jane Sing!
Winners will be announced at intervals throughout the party.
Many of the scenes in See Jane Sing! revolve around the school Christmas program, so the virtual party is doing the same. There’s going to be Christmas program show and tell:
- I’ll share photos, memories, and the Mr. and Mrs. Santa costumes I made for Christmas programs during my country school teaching days.
- Former students (and their parents) who attend the party can share memories and pictures, too.
- Anyone who attends is invited to participate in Christmas program show and tell, also.
Before the party ends, I’ll do a reading from See Jane Sing! and answer your questions.
You must register ahead of time to attend the Zoom party. Click here to register.
You will be asked to provide your name and email. That information will only be used to email you the link to the party. I promise not to pass along or sell your information to anyone. You, however, are more than welcome to share the Zoom registration link to others who might like to attend the See Jane Sing! virtual Book Launch Party. The more the merrier, right?
If you have any questions, leave a comment below or use the “Contact” link at the top of the page, and I’ll get back to you.
by jphilo | Oct 21, 2022 | See Jane Sing!
The See Jane Sing! preorder bonus is now available! It is a scrapbook of pictures and reminiscences about the small town and remote South Dakota county that are the models for the fictional community of Little Missouri described in the West River Mysteries. The scrapbook is packed with old photos taken during the 7 years when my husband Hiram and I (and later our son) lived there, as well as more recent pictures taken during our many visits there. The photo on the scrapbook cover, pictured above, was taken during this summer’s visit when Hiram and I hiked to the Little Missouri River.
Here’s the deal on how to get your hands on the West River Mystery Series Scrapbook for FREE:
- Preorder See Jane Sing! on Amazon before November 1, 2022.
- After placing your order, click on the “Returns & Orders” button in the top right corner of the Amazon web page.
- Download an electronic copy of the invoice/receipt for your order or take a screen shot of it.
- Send an email to anne@midwesternbooks.com. Type “See Jane Sing Bonus” in the subject line. Attach the electronic invoice/receipt in the body of the email.
- Your PDF copy of the scrapbook should arrive shortly. If it doesn’t, send me an email via the contact button at the top of this page.
Also, my apologies to those who have tried to contact me using that button before now. I recently discovered that it didn’t work. My virtual assistant got right on it, fixed the issues, and sent a barrage of test emails from various devices to make sure it is working properly. All the tests were successful, so it seems to be fixed. If, however, you send an email using the contact form and don’t hear from me within a week, please leave a comment below. Thanks for helping to monitor the situation. I hope you enjoy the See Jane Sing! preorder bonus!
by jphilo | Sep 29, 2022 | See Jane Dance!, See Jane Sing!
This fall’s West River Mystery news is here. Depending on where you live take a minute to buckle up, settle into the saddle, or fill your travel mug with coffee because we’ve got a lot of ground to cover. Here goes:
- See Jane Sing’s release date of November 1, 2022 is one short month away. The Kindle version is available for pre-order on Amazon right now. Every pre-order improves a book’s Amazon visibility on the release date for logarithm reasons to boring to go into here. (Plus I can barely spell the word logarithm much less understand how they work.) To sweeten the pot, customers who pre-orders will receive an electronic scrapbook with pictures of and stories about the real life experiences that inspired the West River Mystery series. Also, the names of the customers will be entered into a drawing. The winner will receive a batch of the goodies featured in the recipe at the end of See Jane Sing! The goodies will be baked and mailed by me to wherever the winner lives.
- I completed the first draft of See Jane Dance! (That’s Book 3 in the series, which will be released in the fall of 2023.) If you heard a cataclysmic shout the afternoon of September 20, that was me shouting for joy.
- With the rough draft finished, I’m madly working on marketing stuff. Book launch team members have received their advance reader copies of See Jane Sing! as they prepare to write and post honest reviews on Amazon on or soon after the book’s release date. If you’d like to join the team, leave a comment below. I’ll respond with more information.
- Last but not least, I’m compiling a list of media outlets (newspapers, radio stations, television stations) to send a West River Mystery Series press release. I’m also gathering names of libraries and book stores open to author programs. If you know of reporters, radio talk show hosts, librarians or book store owners in your area who fit that bill, would you leave a comment below?
Well, that wraps up this fall’s West River Mystery news. Thanks for entering into the fun. It means so much!
