Ahoy, me hearties! Carter Humbolt in the house, coming to you from sunny St. Augustine, Florida. Because of my pirate obsession, all my friends usually refer to me as Captain Carter. But on December 3rd, with the publication of a book about the amazing treasure hunting adventures that my friends and I (barely) survived, the world will come to know me as… wait for it… LACKBEARD. Seeing as how we’ve still got a few months before Common Deer Press drops Lackbeard on society, I t

Happy Friday, everyone! Since we’re entering the last weekend before Halloween, I hope you’re all getting the finishing touches on costumes and enjoying some spooky entertainment. I know I’m hoping to fit in some pumpkin carving between literary events and other commitments. If you can tear yourself away from horror movies and costume prep, check out what we found around the web this week! On Writing about Childhood Fans of kid lit might be interested in Nicole Rivas’s Lit Hu

SERGEANT MEGATRON 5000: TODAY I AM INVESTIGATING THE PERSONALITY OF DETHBERT'S GREAT AUNT GRUMBELOID. THANK YOU FOR JOINING ME, GREAT AUNT GRUMBELOID. GREAT AUNT GRUMBELOID: No worries. There wasn't much on the telly box this evening. SERGEANT MEGATRON 5000: MY NAME IS 22 CHARACTERS LONG— INCLUDING SPACES—SO SOME PEOPLE CALL ME "SARGE" FOR SHORT. ARE YOU KNOWN BY ANY OTHER NAME? GREAT AUNT GRUMBELOID: My name is only 21 characters long—including spaces—so I've never felt the

Way back on August 27th, I promised you that I would write a post with tips for a memorable launch party. I also promised you a summary graphic that captures the key points in a checklist from our four-part series "How to Successfully Launch a Book." This post fulfills both of those commitments! You can download your infographic, so you'll have it to refer to whenever you like. And now, on to planning a memorable and successful launch party. Two to Three Months in Advance: 1.

Welcome back to Around the Web, wherein I share what I, and the other CDP folks, have been reading online this week. I hope you’ve had a fantastic week and that you’re ready for some weekend reading! Forest of Reading Our publicity assistant Siobhan offered a wonderful list of spooky reads for Halloween, but if you or someone you know is looking for some more kid lit reading recommendations, then I suggest checking out the Forest of Reading nominees. There’s lots of cool book

As Fall arrives, and the leaves turn colours, Halloween is quickly approaching. We at Common Deer Press love this time of year. And to celebrate it, we've gathered up the 25 Best Kids' Books for Halloween. Prepare to hide under the covers and keep the lights on with these spooky reads! The Boatman by Kat Hawthorne To cope with the death of a family member, Isabel (Izzy) Wixon retreats into a fantasy world where she meets ghosts and a talkative ventriloquist’s dummy and befrie

In earlier articles, I have talked about the importance of defining a niche and setting up a blog with its own domain name. In this article, I will focus on three key factors for storytelling or blogging success, namely Content, Consistency, and Community. First, I want to enter the world of social media, as we haven’t touched much upon this very essential area yet. To be or not to be on social media Well, that is the question. Being on social media is not a requirement, howe

A.T. Balsara's young adult novel The Great & the Small continues to gain recognition. The Great & the Small has already been included in the Spring Issue of Best Books for Kids & Teens, been a finalist in the 12th Annual National Indie Excellence Awards, and earned 2nd Place in the Purple Dragonfly Book Awards (Sci-Fi & Fantasy category, and YA category). Now, Balsara's novel about rats and rebellion has won a silver medal in the Moonbeam Awards! The Moonbeam Awards "are inte

Hello everyone and happy Friday! Today, as usual, I’ve got some interesting links for you to check out! If you're interested in language, law, and books, read on. Voldemorting You’ve heard of search engine optimisation, right? Well, Voldemorting might be its opposite. Voldemorting—which comes from Harry Potter’s dark lord—is a phenomenon in which writers avoid names or terms by using an alternative. If you like word play (or just want to know what people are talking about on

In my last article, I gave a brief presentation of myself, how I was born and raised in Sweden and from there ended up in Florence, and how I started to write about wine. Today, I will delve more deeply into how I got started with my blog and the mistakes that I learned from. It is all a learning curve when you start out, nobody has the answers from the beginning. However, I think that it is crucial to ask yourself the right questions and be curious. This helps you try new th