Mamá
Graciela’s Secret
Publication
date: October 10, 2017
Illustrated
by Sheila Fein
MacLaren-Cochrane
Publishing
www.maclaren-cochranepublishing.com
36
pages, 3-7 year olds
Description:
Mamá Graciela’s TENDER,
CRUNCHY, SPICY bacalaítos fritos are the best in town...
Local customers (including
stray cats!) come from all over the island to enjoy her secret
recipe. But when the Inspector discovers that Mamá secretly caters
to so many cats and he threatens to close her tiny restaurant, Mamá
must come up with a plan to save it—and all of the animals she
loves.
About the author:
Mayra
Calvani writes fiction and nonfiction for children and adults and has
authored over a dozen books, some of which have won awards. Her
children's picture book, Frederico
the Mouse Violinist was
a finalist in the 2011 International Book Awards; her anthology
Latina
Authors and Their Muses
was a First Place winner at the 2016 International Latino Book
Awards; her nonfiction book, The
Slippery Art of Book Reviewing,
was a Foreword Best Book of the Year winner. Her stories, reviews,
interviews and articles have appeared on numerous publications like
The
Writer, Writer's Journal, Multicultural Review, Bloomsbury Review,
and others.
She
lives in Belgium with her husband of 30+ years, two wonderful kids,
and her three beloved pets. When she's not writing, editing, reading
or reviewing, she enjoys walking with her dog, traveling, and
spending time with her family. www.MayrasSecretBookcase.com
About
the illustrator:
Born in Queens, New York and living in Los Angeles since 1987, Sheila Fein has always been inspired by the changing world around her. Earning her BA in Design from Buffalo State College of New York, her concentration was on drawing, painting, printmaking, and photography. Sheila's education as an artist has taken her everywhere from Fleisher Art Memorial in Philadelphia to Bath University in England. Today, Sheila Fein runs two figurative workshops, Imaginings Sketch in LA and People Sketchers in Thousand Oaks. She has been featured in numerous collections, magazines, books, solo and group exhibitions. Her paintings and drawings reside in public and private collections. Sheila loves to make the imagination of others a reality and has done so through her commissioned Fein Fantasy Portraits and Interactive Paintings. In addition to being a fine artist Sheila works as an illustrator. She just completed the book "Mama Graciela's Secret" for Maclaren-Cochrane Publishing.
Born in Queens, New York and living in Los Angeles since 1987, Sheila Fein has always been inspired by the changing world around her. Earning her BA in Design from Buffalo State College of New York, her concentration was on drawing, painting, printmaking, and photography. Sheila's education as an artist has taken her everywhere from Fleisher Art Memorial in Philadelphia to Bath University in England. Today, Sheila Fein runs two figurative workshops, Imaginings Sketch in LA and People Sketchers in Thousand Oaks. She has been featured in numerous collections, magazines, books, solo and group exhibitions. Her paintings and drawings reside in public and private collections. Sheila loves to make the imagination of others a reality and has done so through her commissioned Fein Fantasy Portraits and Interactive Paintings. In addition to being a fine artist Sheila works as an illustrator. She just completed the book "Mama Graciela's Secret" for Maclaren-Cochrane Publishing.
Book info:
ISBN:
HC
978-1-365-86153-6
SC
978-1-365-86155-0
ISBN
Dyslexic Font Version:
DY HC
978-1-365-86154-3
DY
SC 978-1-365-86156-7
**This book also has version
printed in the Dyslexic font, the typeface for people with dyslexia.
Go to www.dyslexiefont.com
to find
out more about the typeface.
Suggested
Retail Price - 17.99 Hardcover & 13.99 Softcover 40 % Discounted
Price – 10.80 Hardcover & 8.40 Softcover
Available
through - Ingram
- Discount 40% Returnable
– Yes
MacLaren-Cochrane
Publishing – Discount 40% - Orders@maclaren-cochranepublishing.com
Returnable
– Yes
Publishing
company Contact Info: MacLaren-Cochrane Publishing 1024 Iron Point Rd
100-1478 Folsom CA 95630
916-897-1670
Tannya@Maclaren-cochranepublishing.com
www.maclaren-cochranepublishing.com
MacLaren-Cochrane Publishing
620 Buchanan Way, Folsom, CA 95630 916-897-1670
www.maclaren-cochranepublishing.com
And now for my interview with the amazing Mayra Calvani:
Cassandra's Writing World: What’s your
favorite under-appreciated novel?
Mayra Calvani: The Goldfinch,
by Donna Tartt comes to mind. It did win a Pulitzer Prize and
received a lot of hype, probably because Tartt comes up with a book
every ten years, but a study revealed that the majority of people who
bought the book never actually finished reading it.
CWW: What’s the
best way to market your books?
MC: Start with the
right mindset, one of success. Setup a mailing list early on, even
before your book is published. Likewise, start recruiting reviewers
and form a street team at an early stage. This can be time consuming,
but there are companies who can do it for you. Don’t be all over
social media. Choose one platform and commit to it. Be genuine in
your posts. Your best marketing tool is actually your next book,
especially if you self-publish.
CWW: What kind of
research do you do, and how long do you spend researching before
beginning a book?
MC: Naturally, this
depends on the book. For my YA Egyptian mythological fantasy series,
which I write under a pen name, I did and I’m still doing tons of
research online and at the library. I even took a 50-lecture course
online about ancient Egypt.
CWW: How many hours
a day do you write?
MC: At the moment I’m
writing one and a half hours a day, Monday through Friday, but I’m
working towards increasing this to at least three hours.
CWW: How do you
select the names of your characters?
MC: Sometimes they
just come to me. Other times I search online for names that will fit
with the character’s ethnic background.
CWW: What is your
favorite childhood book?
MC: I don’t have
only one favorite, but I remember that I loved fairytales of all
kinds, as well as Disney stories.
CWW: How long on
average does it take you to write a book?
MC: Depends on its
length. A first draft for a picture book might take me only one day,
but of course editing and polishing may take weeks or even months.
For a long young adult novel of 90,000 words it has taken me up to
two years to complete it. A 25,000-word novella may take me a couple
of weeks to write and several more weeks or months to revise. One of
my primary goals at the moment is to increase my writing stamina so I
may complete projects at a much faster rate.
CWW: What books
have most influenced your life?
MC: In terms of my
writing, the authors who first influenced me the most were Agatha
Christie, Stephen King and Anne Rice. I read them at a young,
impressionable age and they sparked in me a love for mystery and the
supernatural. In the last couple of years, I’ve become a great fan
of Donna Tartt and Joyce Carol Oates. I see Oates as a mentor and
role model, and Tartt is such a master writer at the level of
sentence and characterization that I always learn from her. A pity
that she publishes a book every ten years!
CWW: How do you
develop your plots and characters?
MC: It’s slightly
different for each book, but usually I’ll have an idea that simmers
in my mind for months, sometimes years. When this idea feels ready to
be born into a book I start brainstorming, then creating a very lose,
very flexible outline. I’m what they call a plotser, a combination
of a plotter and a panster. I usually have a good idea of the
beginning and the end, but not exactly what happens in between except
for some pivotal moments in the story. Once I have this outline, I
may still do a chapter by chapter description of what happens or I
may start writing right away. It depends. During the actual writing I
may discover things that steer me away from my initial outline. For
the most part, this is perfectly ok and organic. For my main
characters I sometimes do character sheets, though I have to admit I
don’t enjoy doing these so much. I prefer to open a file in Word
and simply have the character talk to me in a stream-of-consciousness
way. This can be surprising and many times great ideas will arise
from this method. I also may use this method to plot the story in the
brainstorming stage.
CWW: What are your
future project(s)?
MC: My agent is
shopping around another picture book of mine. I’m also working on
book 2 of my YA Egyptian mythological fantasy series that I write
under my pen name Zoe Kalo (www.ZoeKalo.com)
and which I hope will be released next spring. Besides these main
ones, I always have various projects in different types of
development going on, as well as ideas for other books simmering in
my mind. People often ask authors how they get their ideas, but the
question should be how they handle all the ideas they get.
One of my fears is that I won’t have the time to write them all.
CWW: Do you have
any advice for someone trying to get published?
MC: Read as much as possible, especially in your genre. Write the best
book you can possibly write. Don’t settle for “good enough.”
Don’t give it to your mom or husband to edit unless they know how
to edit a novel. Hire a professional editor. If your aim is to go the
traditional route, you’ll have to query agents. www.AgentQuery.com
is a great resource. The current publishing market is tough and even
if your book is great you may not find a publisher, but a lot has
changed and indie publishing is always a possibility. Whatever the
case, stay true to your vision and don’t let anyone steer you away
from your dream.
Thank you Mayra Calvani for joining us and thank you to the readers. Happy Writing and Later days ya'll!!!
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