Final vote for Teapot Tales 3 cover!

We have a winner! Now it's time to narrow it down.

The voting total came to:
(One person voted for two different ones, so her vote was split between them into a half-vote. I, myself, did not vote; I only vote if I'm needed as a tie breaker.)

#1 – 1.5 votes

#2 –  4 votes

#3 – 0 votes

#4 –  3.5 votes

This means that #2 has won!

So now we need to vote on which of the #2 covers we want to use.

(If you like the font used on a different one from the one you vote for, you may say so along with your vote.)

Here are your choices. Please comment on this post with the # of the version of the cover you like best.

You have until Sunday, the 11th of October, to cast your vote. The final cover will be revealed on Monday, the 12th of October.

#1: 

#2:

#3:

#4:

#5:

Jingle Bells Anthology Project #JBAP

This is an idea brought up by members of the Chapter Book Challenge and I like the idea, so I'm making it official.

The idea was to create an anthology of Christmas stories for children. Now, I realize that not everyone celebrates Christmas, and I can't call it Winter Tales because Christmas doesn't fall in Winter in other parts of the world. So we're calling it "Jingle Bells." Not sure what the subtitle will be - "Stories for the holiday spirit," maybe?

This time, as many of us struggled with the 700-word limit on Teapot Tales, there will be a 1,200 word limit (with a 300-word minimum).

Stories should be kid-friendly, but do not necessarily have to be written FOR children. We will be writing these as stories that would be acceptable for 8 to 13 year old children to read.

These stories can be magical, heart-warming and anything in-between. We want people who read these tales to feel that warm, tingly, heart-touching effect from our words. You know, show them your holiday spirit! Make sure they FEEL it!

Stories are preferred, but we will accept some poems.

Artwork will be accepted (black and white/line drawings), but remember, there may be stories that are for Hanukkuh, the Winter Solstice, Yule and Kwanzaa too.

And we will need a cover. (If no one can manage a cover, I'm sure my husband has some artwork that will work.)

As with Teapot Tales, proceeds will go towards the Chapter Book Challenge. The book will be made available in Kindle and print format. For print format, we are going to need to have the edited stories in and ready no later than September 30th October 8th. Otherwise, I cannot guarantee that the print version will be available by Christmas, and I know many of us will want copies to give as gifts.

If you are American, your story will keep its US spellings and colloquialisms. If you are Australian or English, your story will also retain the spellings and colloquialisms for your area. This way, there will be only one version to publish, rather than one for each form.

The Kindle version will maintain the clickable linking format that it had in Teapot Tales, and unless you send me a new bio (or did not contribute to Teapot Tales so I don't already have your bio), your bio from Teapot Tales will be used.

We will need to reach a minimum of 25 stories for this to be a viable idea though.

And there is one big change to this one:

It is not limited to only ChaBooCha members! Anyone who can write an enjoyable story can submit a story.

The Chapter Book Challenge Anthology Project #ChaBooCha

A new plan has been forming and has been discussed in the Chapter Book Challenge Facebook group. This plan is to create an anthology which will be available in print and e-book formats and available through Amazon. This anthology will be full of flash fiction pieces, ranging in length from 300 words to 700 words. These flash fiction pieces will be fairytales, but not just any fairytales; these fairytales will either be twists on the classics or completely new fairytales. All proceeds from this anthology will help to fund the Chapter Book Challenge with things like buying (and mailing) prizes, paying for Chapter Book Challenge domains, creating a website and marketing the challenge.

Everyone in the challenge is welcome to submit a flash fiction story. Not every story will be accepted immediately though; some will need revision. This anthology will be professional in quality, both in the quality of the stories and in its presentation. This means everyone must be willing to make revisions upon request. There will be three or more of us in charge of the edits.

One member has suggested that some of the writers in this challenge who are also illustrators could submit some line drawings to add to the book. While not required for the anthology, it would give it extra appeal. These stories can be the kind of stories that older children can read but that might also appeal to adults.

The title of the anthology and the cover are still to be decided upon. Once most of this is in place, we will have some titles to vote on and some covers to vote on for contributing members. This will happen later on in the process though.

We are still listening to ideas and brainstorming for the anthology. It would be wonderful if some of you would be willing to come to the Facebook group or join the event and chime in with your ideas. Let us know whether or not you think you would be willing to contribute a story to the anthology.

Everyone who contributes a story that gets into the anthology will get the option to have their website included in the book, along with a listing of all of the authors.

Take some time re-reading some of the classic fairytales, both for ideas and for a reminder of the type of stories we are looking for to include in the anthology. Check out some of Hans Christian Anderson's fairytales, Grimm's fairytales along with some of the more obscure fairytales.

We need everyone's input on this because we want this anthology to be something we can all be proud to be a part of, and also, we need to make sure that, if several people decide to write twists on classic fairytales, we don't get seventeen people writing a twist on the same fairytale.

If you want to be a part of this, please go and join the discussion with the Facebook group or in the Facebook event and also sign up here so that you will get further e-mails about this project.