Get your Kindle copy of "Teapot Tales" now! #ChaBooCha #ChaBooChaAnth

"Teapot Tales: A Collection of Unique Fairy Tales" is available to buy for your Kindle now. I now know how much work is involved in preparing an anthology of stories written by different people. It's a ton of work, but I am looking forward to doing it again next year. (I'll be doing it again later this month when I put together the anthology for the Creating a Female Superhero Challenge.)

This beautiful cover is created by Kelly McDonald who also has a story in the anthology.

This anthology holds an entertaining collection of fairy tales, from twists on the classics to completely new stories to enchant readers of any age.

All the proceeds from sales of the Teapot Tales anthology will be going towards the Chapter Book Challenge, helping keep it free for everyone to join.

Look for the print version to become available sometime in September. I'll be sure to let you know here when it happens.

Now, go get your Kindle copy of Teapot Tales now!

US version                                  

UK version

Teapot Tales - Vote for our book cover! #ChaBooChaAnth

I am posting all of the submissions I received for the book cover for the fairy tale anthology. It's up to you all to vote on which one you like best. I will not include names with the submissions, so no one can claim "friend voting." (Not that any of you would actually do that!) Also, I am not voting unless we need a tie breaker.

We have until midnight GMT tomorrow night to vote. Vote by stating which one you want as the cover in the comments. Each one will be given a number and you vote for the number you like best. Please ignore any titles in the pieces up for voting as some of these were sent in before we had chosen a title, so people left it as "title" or put a sample title in. Whichever one you choose will have the correct title in the finished product.

#1:

*****

#2: 

*****

#3:

*****

#4:

 

*****

#5:  

*****

#6: (This one is a concept cover, not the finished piece.)

*****

#7:

So there you have it. You have seven covers to vote on and a limited amount of time to do the voting. So get voting! I can't wait to see what the final cover is going to be!

Tea Pot Tales: a collection of unique fairy tales - the table of contents #ChaBooChaAnth

"Castle" by Cecilia Clark

We have a title for the Chapter Book Challenge fairy tale anthology and now we are getting together some covers for you to vote on. The cover vote will be up on the blog tomorrow for your vote. In the meantime, I thought it would be fun to list all of the stories (and their authors) that will be appearing in the anthology. So here is the table of contents for "Tea Pot Tales: a collection of unique fairy tales":

1.       Elf Dance by C. S. Frye

2.       Hansel and Gretel by Kelly McDonald

3.       Tears of the Dark Fairy by Rebecca Fyfe

4.       Rosebloom and Brujaja the Ogre by Brenda A. Harris

5.       The Frog Prince by Melissa Gijsbers

6.       Forever After by Jackie Castle

7.       The Frog Princess by Nicole Zoltack

8.       Snow White and the Pirates by Ashley Howland

9.       Stone Hearts by Melinda E. Lancaster

10.   Puss in Boots by Bron Rauk-Mitchell

11.   The Legend of Just So by Satori Cmaylo

12.   The Tortoise and the Little Bird by Elizabeth Gallagher

13.   Rooblefound by Linda Schueler

14.   Fighting Dragons by Robert Fyfe

15.   Crimson by Julia Lela Stilchen

16.   Before by Tia Mushka

17.   Prince Peter by Cecilia Clark

18.   Will the Stars Still Shine by Theresa Nielsen

19.   Tom Thumb in Hot Water by Yvonne Mes

20.   Jack and the Giant by David Jamieson

21.   Lis and Nat: A Story of Forbidden Love by Rebecca Fyfe

22.   Rapunzel by Melissa Gijsbers

23.   Midnight’s Tale by Brenda A. Harris

24.   Toadly Awesome by C. S. Frye

25.   Dicky and His Dragon by Elizabeth Gallagher

26.   Spring Folly by Jackie Castle

27.   The Sacred Sceptre by Nicole Zoltack

28.   The Three Little Cherry Trees by Linda Schueler

29.   A Name and a Wish by Ashley Howland

30.   Cindy and Ella by Cecilia Clark

31.   Unknown by Theresa Nielsen

32.   The Raven Girl by Rebecca Fyfe

33.   The Princess and the Pea by Melissa Gijsbers

34.   How Shadow Saved His Fairy by Brenda A. Harris

35. Faery Pond by C. S. Frye

As you can see, we reached 35 stories! We also have some beautiful line drawings (like the one above by Cecilia Clark) that have been created for the interior of the book. The Kindle version will be released soon, and the print version shortly after it. It's starting to get to the exciting part of the process where the end is in sight!

ChaBooCha Fairy Tale Anthology: time to choose a name and a cover #ChaBooChaAnth

photo credit: Fairy Magic Photos

We have an anthology that is slowly approaching it's production date. I'm shooting for a release date of August 1st, but that date is not yet a definite date.

We still have to choose a title for the anthology. We've had a couple of suggestions so far.

"Once" and "Once Upon a Challenge"

If you have other suggestions for titles, go ahead and suggest them in the comments and, sometime in the next few days, I will create a post listing all of the suggestions for your vote, either here or on Facebook.

Now, on to the cover: I know that we have some super creative members of the challenge, so I am going to leave it to a vote. I can probably convince my husband to create a cover to submit, and a few ChaBooCha members have discussed creating covers to submit. We will have the next three weeks to try and create the perfect anthology covers, the kind of covers that will appeal to people of all ages. E-mail me your covers at Rebecca (at) Fyfe (dot) net and I will create a post here and on Facebook for a vote on the best one.Voting will start on June 27th.

Some ChaBooCha members have submitted line drawings to include inside the anthology, and I am happy to include more. Make sure you sign your drawings, and there will be a page listing contributing artists within the anthology too. Cover artist will be credited separately.

The cover can be an idea that is just generic to fairy tales in general or magic, or it can relate to one or more of the stories that will be included in the anthology. Because, of this, I thought I'd list the topics of the stories which will be in the anthology (in no particular order).

Variations on the classics:
Rumplestiltskin
Little Red Riding Hood
Jack and the Beanstalk
The Frog Prince/Princess
Rapunzel
Snow White
Puss in Boots
Tom Thumb

Semi-original and completely original fairytales:
a story about a raven girl
a story about cherry trees
a story about a tree and a girl
a story about a little boy and the stars
a story about a little girl and the fairies
a story about a dancing girl elf
a story about the seasons
a story about an ancient turtle and a young blue bird
a story about a girl who outsmarts an ogre
a story about a man becoming a dragon
a story about an adventurous princess who saves a prince
a story about a girl who doesn't fit in and must find her place
a story about an ice-hearted dark fairy queen and a girl who needs her help
a story set in Japan, with a powerful woman and two young lovers

There are more stories than this, but this should cover most of the topics. There are other elements within these stories too, such as pirates, magical scepters, homicidal roaches and some hungry chickens. So dazzle us all with your creative magic and lets see what covers we can come up with! (If you're not sure about what a good book ocver should look like, browse the web or look at books on Amazon. Which book covers appeal to you? Which don't?

Since we don't have a title chosen yet, just put the title, temporarily, as "BOOK TITLE" for now, or wait until after the title has been voted on and chosen.

Announcing the winner of the "Once Upon a Time" anthology #ChaBooChaAnth

It's time to announce the winner of a print copy of "Once Upon a Time: A Collection of Unexpected Fairytales." Everyone who signed up to write a story for the challenge's anthology and sent in a draft of their story was added into the drawing. The drawing was done on May 7th using the random number generator.

The winner is:

Jackie Castle

Congratulations, Jackie! 

Latest news on the Chapter Book Challenge Anthology #ChaBooChaAnth

The Chapter Book Challenge anthology is coming along nicely. There are 21 people signed up to write a story for the anthology and another two who are in the maybe category and might still join us. The deadline for the first drafts is May 1st.  Some of the stories are already being turned in for editing.

I have been playing with ideas for the title and have a few selected for everyone to vote on, but I will get to it in another post. Once we have the title decided, we will begin working on the cover, and I am thinking we might make a competition out of it.

Although this is my first foray into self-publishing an anthology, it is not my first foray into self-publishing. And it is also not my first experience in contributing to a fairytale anthology. I have a flash fiction story in the anthology "Once Upon a Time: A Collection of Unexpected Fairytales."

Just for fun, I thought it would be good to have a prize awarded within the ranks of those of us writing for the ChaBooCha anthology. I've decided on two prizes, one for before the anthology is completed and one for after its completion.

Everyone who signed up to write a story for the challenge, once I get a draft of your story turned in, you'll be added into a drawing. The drawing will be done on May 7th, and the winner will get a print copy of "Once Upon a Time: A Collection of Unexpected Fairytales" sent to them.  There will be a second drawing done once the anthology we are creating is complete, and the winner of it will win a free copy of the Chapter Book Challenge anthology.

I am having fun reading the stories that are already turned in and am looking forward to reading the rest. Happy writing, everyone!

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.