CAN FAMILY FILMS CHANGE THE LIVES OF OUR CHILDREN?

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Saltwater TaffyThe question remains: can family films change the lives of our children?  We believe the answer is YES.

As young children, our lives are filled with many amazing dreams of tomorrow.  We believe we can accomplish anything and that nothing is out of reach.  Because of our age, we aren’t yet worried about what other people think of us and we have the organic ability to listen to our heart’s desire.  Then something happens…we begin to grow up.

Faced with the peer pressure and the overwhelming drive of fitting in, we withdraw from our dreams and develop the dysfunctional habit of playing small.  As a result, we shy away from anything that might make us appear vulnerable to our peers.

Over time, our self-worth is suddenly based on how many friends we have on Facebook, what label of clothing we wear, or how popular we are at school.  Saddled with this dysfunctional habit of playing small, we begin to change our character and in the blink of an eye, we lose sight of our dreams.

If a dysfunctional mental habit like this has the ability to derail a child’s future potential, is it possible for us to alter their direction by enhancing their entertainment experience with positive family films?

In 2013, only 23 family films entered the marketplace against 320 Contemporary Fiction titles.  Capturing an impressive 16% market share and $1.7B in revenues, family films continue to be the most profitable film ventures in Hollywood…year after year.  Based on these overwhelming numbers, we are currently in a fund raise to make Saltwater Taffy into a feature film for the entire family.

We have raised $1.5M against our budget of $5M, but we need your help.  We need to get in front of individuals who not only have the money to invest in family films, but in front of individuals who want to make a difference in the lives of our children.

BOOKMARKS FOR KIDS

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Saltwater TaffySaltwater Taffy

BOOKMARKS FOR KIDS

Our Bookmarks For Kids program continues to expand the reach of the award-winning children’s book, Saltwater Taffy.  This Accelerated Reader title is a race-to-the-finish adventure story for TWEENS, but then again, it’s an adventure story for the entire family! The story begins when five “tween-age” kids discover a map belonging to the great New Orleans pirate, Jean Lafitte. The discovery thrusts them from one treasure-hunting adventure to the next.  Endorsed by 12 Teachers of the Year, an Accelerated Reader title as well as a children’s book club favorite, Saltwater Taffy is unlike any other children’s book on the market. If you would like to receive a complementary package filled with the latest Saltwater Taffy bookmark seen here, please leave your comment below and be sure to leave us your mailing address so we know where to send the SAWEET package or marks.  Because of the popularity of the program, we need to ask that you handle postage fee.  $5 for 500 bookmarks is a SAWEETheart of a deal!!!!

 

Jim Carrey’s New Book ‘How Roland Rolls’

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rob nasonJim Carrey’s New Book ‘How Roland Rolls’

Actor Jim Carrey is one smart funny man, if you ask me.  After he was given a copy of Saltwater Taffy by John Raatz, What The Bleep Producer and founding partner of GATE (Global Alliance for Transformational Entertainment), he quickly fell in love with the amazing talents of our illustrator, Rob Nason.

After an introduction conference call with John and Rob, Rob met Jim Carrey via Skype and the two were off to the races with Jim’s new book, How Roland Rolls.  How Roland Rolls is a story about a wave named Roland who’s afraid that, one day, when he hits the beach, his life will be over.  But when he gets deep, he’s struck by the notion that he’s not just a wave — he’s the whole big, wide open ocean!  This amazing story of oneness simply illustrates the notion that we are all in this thing called life…together.

WRITER’S DIGEST CONFERENCE 2013

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Writer's Digest ConferenceI am pleased to announced that I will be speaking at the Writer’s Digest Conference 2013 in Hollywood on September 27 through September 29th.  My first talk will be part of the ‘pre-conference’ show, Self Publishing.  The mini-conference was such a hit during our April conference in New York, Writer’s Digest is bringing it to the west coast for the first time ever.

If you are considering the route of self-publishing, and why wouldn’t you, this mini-conference brings together some of the best minds in the business.  Will you go the indie route and print your own books, secure worldwide distribution or are you looking to hire a self-publishing company?  Which is the best route for you?  At this amazing conference for writers in the new era, you will learn about metadata (if you have no idea what that is, you should) and how not to get ripped off from the digital downloads of your hard work.

I’ll be sparking up the panel discussion of, “Congratulations! You published it, now how do you sell it?”  Moderated by the amazing Porter Anderson, we’ll cover every aspect of “WHAT’S NEXT” in self publishing.

On Saturday the main Writer’s Digest Conference West kicks into gear.  Here’s a description from the Writer’s Digest website:

Expand Your Brand: 10 Secrets that Every Self-Published Author Must Know

Speaker

Eric DelaBarre, Filmmaker/Speaker/Author

Description
Join successful self-published author Eric DelaBarre as he shows you how to leverage your own personal experience to expand your brand and turn your self-published book into a bankable product that’s attractive to everyone from book buyers to Hollywood executives. Eric shares his wild adventure of securing worldwide distribution rights for his book, Saltwater Taffy, with Perseus Distribution (even when the ‘proper selection channels’ turned him away), selling through 6500 copies of his book, and grabbing the attention of Hollywood producers.

As major publishers and the business of Hollywood continue to downsize, merge, and focus their attention on brand-name talents and proven ideas, self-published authors need to maximize their experience and talents or get left out.  If you want to see your book represented by a major distributor, sell through your print-runs, get the attention of Hollywood Producers, and know how to effectively market your socks off, you won’t want to miss this breakout session with someone who’s actually done it.

Reading To Children

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Reading to childrenREADING TO CHILDREN

One of the best things about being an author is reading to children.  There is an indescribable feeling (even for the most seasoned writer) when you glance up from the page and see the ignition of interest in the eyes of your audience.  When your audience is 400 ‘tweenage’ children at a time, this feeling is not only a rush of energy, it drives me to never stop doing what I do…no matter what.

On a recent author visit, I began my hour-long assembly like I always do…by reading Read more