Why self-publishing kickstarted my childrens lit career

Why self-publishing kickstarted my childrens lit career Why Self-Publishing Kickstarted My Children's Lit Career Native Finn,  Tuire Siiriainen  is an illustrator and the founder of Blueberry Pie, a self-publishing company. With the help of a Kickstarter campaign, she published her first book through her company in August 2016 - a personalized children’s adventure called "Message in a Bottle." Read on to hear how the campaign was fully funded in just two weeks.I was born in Finland, and have always seen stories around me. A lot of my inspiration came from my surroundings - forests, lakes, countryside cottages, and animals - but especially from children’s books. Rather than Roald Dahl and Dr. Seuss, my favorite authors growing up were Astrid Lindgren (author of the Pippi Longstocking series), or Mauri Kunnas. Books about strong, Nordic children doing stubborn and seemingly foolish things have inspired me up to present day.During university in Belgium, I studied marketing - which is a form of storytelling itself. While in school, I rediscovered the magic of drawing and returned to the picture books of my childhood. When I reached the end of my studies at the age of 23, I knew that I wanted to create my own picture book.From a book idea to self-publishingI was never fascinated by the idea of traditional publishing. To me, it seemed slow and stiff, and even though I’m the first one to acknowledge the value of a printed book, the ways of publishing them felt out-of-date.Then I discovered the world of personalized children’s book and heard about print-on-demand (POD). It hit me instantly - this is how I want to create my book! I saw the unexplored possibilities of POD technology that would allow highly creative and inventive story concepts to come to life. "I saw the potential of POD  for  bringing creative and inventive story concepts to life." @MIABBook The StoryIn the summer of 2015, my partner Wojtek and I came up with the idea for our first children’s book, Message In A Bottle, during one of our forest walks: A lone bottle with a message inside is found on a beach by an animal. On the bottle label, there is a name and an address. The animal decides to deliver the bottle to its rightful owner, and with the help of many other animals around the world, the message in the bottle finally reaches its intended destination - and the mysterious message is revealed.The message in the bottle is created by the giver of the book, whether it’s a family member or friend. And the name and address on the bottle belong to the real child - the reader of the book. This is where the personalization aspect of the book come into play.Gathering a teamWe hesitated regarding whether or not I should illustrate the book because I had no professional experience - but, we knew I could draw. In the end, my drawing passion, paired with the need for constant marketing artwork, led us to picking our illustrator: me.Our digital agency had been working on the â€Å"Message In A Bottle† website since May 2016. They had the big challenge of creating an online platform where it would be easy to personalize and order the book. This meant submitting the child’s name, address, country and a personal message for the bottle, personalizing the world map page to show the route Kiki took to deliver the bottle, previewing the personalized book and creating a print-ready file to be sent to the print house.In July, all of the illustrations for â€Å"Message In A Bottle† were completed. And after countless website tests and print proofs, our website went live end of August.Since the launch, we have delivered over 100 personalized books to children all over Europe: the Netherlands, United Kingdom and Germany to name few. It’s the reaction of children that has completely touched our hearts. Hearing how much they lo ve their own personal book and how Kiki has become a beloved character in the whole family has been the most amazing reward.One year ago I had no idea where to start in terms of publishing a children’s book. Now I can’t wait to begin my second one!Fore more resources on writing and publishing a children's book, don't forget to check out these posts:How to Publish a Children's BookHow to Write a Children's BookHow to Find the REAL Target Market for Your Children’s BookVisit the Message In A Bottle website to personalize and purchase your own copy!If you've run your own campaign, what have been your positive or negative experiences? Did you have any learnings or takeaways from the experience?  Leave your thoughts, experiences, or any questions for Tuire in the comments below.

Nickel Element Facts and Properties

Nickel Element Facts and Properties Atomic Number: 28 Symbol: Ni Atomic Weight: 58.6934 Discovery: Axel Cronstedt 1751 (Sweden) Electron Configuration: [Ar] 4s2 3d8 Word Origin: German Nickel: Satan or Old Nick, also, from kupfernickel: Old Nicks copper or Devils copper Isotopes: There are 31 known isotopes of nickel ranging from Ni-48 to Ni-78. There are five stable isotopes of nickel: Ni-58, Ni-60, Ni-61, Ni-62, and Ni-64. Properties: The melting point of nickel is 1453Â °C, the boiling point is 2732Â °C, specific gravity is 8.902 (25Â °C), with a valence of 0, 1, 2, or 3. Nickel is a silvery white metal that takes a high polish. Nickel is hard, ductile, malleable, and ferromagnetic. It is a fair conductor of heat and electricity. Nickel is a member of the iron-cobalt group of metals (transition elements). Exposure to nickel metal and soluble compounds should not exceed 1 mg/M3 (8 hour time-weighted average for a 40 hour week). Some nickel compounds (nickel carbonyl, nickel sulfide) are considered to be highly toxic or carcinogenic. Uses: Nickel is used primarily for the alloys it forms. It is used for making stainless steel and many other corrosion resistant alloys. Copper-nickel alloy tubing is used in desalination plants. Nickel is used in coinage and for armor plating. When added to glass, nickel gives a green color. Nickel plating is applied to other metals to provide a protective coating. Finely divided nickel is used as a catalyst for hydrogenating vegetable oils. Nickel is also used in ceramics, magnets, and batteries. Sources: Nickel is present in most meteorites. Its presence is often used to distinguish meteorites from other minerals. Iron meteorites (siderites) may contain iron alloyed with 5-20% nickel. Nickel is commercially obtained from pentlandite and pyrrhotite. Deposits of nickel ore are located in Ontario, Australian, Cuba, and Indonesia. Element Classification: Transition Metal Physical Data Density (g/cc): 8.902 Melting Point (K): 1726 Boiling Point (K): 3005 Appearance: Hard, malleable, silvery-white metal Atomic Radius (pm): 124 Atomic Volume (cc/mol): 6.6 Covalent Radius (pm): 115 Ionic Radius: 69 (2e) Specific Heat (20Â °C J/g mol): 0.443 Fusion Heat (kJ/mol): 17.61 Evaporation Heat (kJ/mol): 378.6 Debye Temperature (K): 375.00 Pauling Negativity Number: 1.91 First Ionizing Energy (kJ/mol): 736.2 Oxidation States: 3, 2, 0. The most common oxidation state is 2. Lattice Structure: Face-Centered Cubic Lattice Constant (Ã…): 3.520 CAS Registry Number: 7440-02-0 Nickel Trivia German miners seeking copper would occasionally come across a red ore with flecks of green. Believing they had found copper ore, they would mine it and take it in for smelting. They would then find the ore produced no copper. They named the ore kupfernickel, or Devils copper since the Devil switched out the useful metal to confound the miners.In the 1750s, Swedish chemist Axel Cronstedt found kupfernickel to contain arsenic and a previously unknown element. We know now that kupfernickel is nickel arsenide (NiAs).Nickel is ferromagnetic at room temperature.Nickel is believed to be the second most abundant element in the Earths core after iron.Nickel is a component of stainless steel.Nickel has an abundance of 85 parts per million in the Earths crust.Nickel has an abundance of 5.6 x 10-4 mg per liter of seawater.Most nickel produced today finds its way into alloys with other metals.Many people are allergic to nickel metal. Nickel was named the 2008 Contact Allergen of the Year by the A merican Contact Dermatitis Society. References Los Alamos National Laboratory (2001), Crescent Chemical Company (2001), Langes Handbook of Chemistry (1952), CRC Handbook of Chemistry Physics (18th Ed.) International Atomic Energy Agency ENSDF database (Oct 2010)