Tag: better buckle up

Better Buckle Up book video

There were many stages in the making of Better Buckle Up book video.

1. The making of the flash file that turned the pages of the ebook.  Pain point 6/10 – only involved slight swearing at InDesign.
2. The recording myself reading the ebook and turning the page at the same time.  Pain point 7/10 – used Camtasia for screen capture. Hard to keep the mouse in the right place to turn pages nicely.
3. The hating of hearing my voice on the recording. Pain point 10/10 – I thought my Northern accent had mellowed! Spent more time listening to voice artists on Fiverr. Couldn’t decide. Went back to me.  
4. The making of the animation for the Intro and Outro of the video. Pain point 0/10 – because I didn’t do it 🙂
5. Cutting the video together. Pain point 8/10 – involved copious amounts of swearing at Premiere Pro. Was OK once hubby decided I was unteachable and just did it for me.
6. The adding of the music.  Pain point 9/10 – not that this stage was unpleasant but it took forever to audition possible sound files in Audioblocks library. Then a further forever to cut them together with the video.  

 

Hope you like it.

Suzie xx

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Picture from a fan of Better Buckle Up

I received some lovely colouring today from a fan of Better Buckle Up. I think they’ve done a great job, don’t you?

Download your own colouring sheets

If you would like your own activity pack based on the book, you can download it for free here.

There are colouring pages, spot-the-differences and finger puppets of Ollie and his mum as they go on a journey to discover all the exciting things you can do if you wear your seat belt. Once you’ve finished your pictures, why not email them to me at [email protected]. I love to see them and I’ll display them on my site.

Have fun 🙂

Suzie xx

P.S. There’s also more pictures for you to colour based on Things Evie Eats to download too.

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Giveaway Ends Today!

Today is your last chance to win an autographed copy of Better Buckle Up in the Giveaway over on Goodreads.

Entry is free and open to people all over the world. Although you do have to be a member of Goodreads, signing up is free and easy too.

Better Buckle Up is a children’s picture book that aims to make car safety fun. You can find out more here but this is what people are saying.

The colourful illustrations are delightful and add a level of humour for the parent to enjoy, while reading the story with their young family.   Callie Carling

A delight for parents and children.     Murboyd

This book does an excellent job reinforcing the importance of buckling up … in a manner that empowers the child to choose and cooperate.    L. Favreau

A very clear and positive message, in a captivating story.    P. Edwards

The winner will be chosen by Goodreads when the competition closes at midnight on 21st June.

So click on the form underneath for your chance to win.

Good luck.

Suzie xx

 

 

Giveaway on Goodreads: Better Buckle Up

Starting today, there’s a chance for you to win a shiny, new, paperback copy of Better Buckle Up in the giveaway over on Goodreads autographed especially for you or your child.

Entry is easy.

Click on the link below.

(You do have to be a member of Goodreads, but it’s free and there are lots of other interesting books for you to try for as well)

Better Buckle Up aims to make car safety fun. You can find out more here but this is what people are saying.

The colourful illustrations are delightful and add a level of humour for the parent to enjoy, while reading the story with their young family.   Callie Carling

A delight for parents and children.     Murboyd

This book does an excellent job reinforcing the importance of buckling up … in a manner that empowers the child to choose and cooperate.    L. Favreau

A very clear and positive message, in a captivating story.    P. Edwards

The winner will be decided by the Goodreads team on 21st of June.

So, don’t delay. You have to be in to win.

Good luck.

Suzie x 

Update.

I just had to update you with this this screenshot from Amazon.

Better Buckle Up is at no. 5 in the children’s ‘cars and trucks’ category. Squeee!

Yes, I know it has a long way to go to reach Amazon’s all time no. 5 but I was still excited anyway.

I’d like to thank all the people who have downloaded the book since it went live on Wednesday and especially those who have taken the time to post a review. Reviews means so much to authors.

I hope you and your little ones are enjoying the story and are chanting ‘Better Buckle Up’ when you fasten them in their car seats.

Love Suzie x 

First reviews

I’m thrilled that the first reviews for Better Buckle Up are coming in.

Here’s what people are saying.

Delightful Illustrations and Effective Story             L. Favreau

As a professional child care provider I’m always looking for books that will help solve problems for my parents. This book does an excellent job reinforcing the importance of buckling up, not for fear of being hurt in an accident (a concept that is too abstract and potentially too scary for some) but in a manner that empowers the child to chose and cooperate.

My child rearing mantra is “Distract and Redirect” a theme this book gets perfectly. Rather than ordering her child to buckle up or lecturing, the mother gives her son concrete observable examples of what benefit he gets by cooperating. The choice is self-motivating rather than forced upon him.

And it works like a charm. Giving children incremental power over their lives instills confidence. Especially well done given that the outcome isn’t really a choice-they have to buckle-up, it’s the law.

I read this on my laptop. The illustrations are vibrant and clear, jumping off the page. I hope it is available as a board book soon.

Absolutely adorable!      Murboyd.

Absolutely adorable! A charming book to help parents and their kids when it’s time to lock up the car seat belt, and done in a fun way. It’s quick, which is good for youngsters, and the pictures are a delight. Little ones understand race cars and space ships and dune buggies and . . . I won’t do any more spoilers of the cute lures to convince kids to buckle up. It has the added advantage of giving them ideas for pretend while they are in the car seat. I loved the bright smiles on the car drivers, etc, as they zip and soar, and always, never too obvious, the seat belt.

One other fun thing about the book is that if you double-click on the print, the words enlarge for easy reading. I didn’t have any trouble reading them before, but thought that feature might be neat when the children get old enough to read themselves. Not to mention just plain fun for young and not so young!

For you fellow Paperwhite readers, I have a Paperwhite and it won’t let me read it there. It downloaded fine, but won’t open, but I also have my computer, a tablet and a Blackberry Passport, and it works perfectly on all of them. You won’t want to read this in black and white anyway! The color pictures are too good to subdue!

A very clear and positive message, in a captivating story.     P. Edwards.

A really enjoyable read for all. A very clear and positive message, in a captivating story. Lovely colourful and interesting illustrations with lots to look at on each page. Every read you spot something different to talk about and discuss. Looking forward to many more reads to come!

 

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So there you have it. Don’t know why it won’t open on a Kindle PaperWhite … will investigate.

A big thank you to all who have bought Better Buckle Up and especially to my first reviewers.

Suzie x

Launch day for Better Buckle Up

Better Buckle Up has finally been cleared for launch.

A book aiming to make car safety fun, follow Ollie as he drives a fire-engine, a racing car and even a rocket … all whilst wearing his seat-belt, of course.

At the time of writing it’s only in ebook edition although I’m hoping/praying/begging that the print version will be available in the next few days. (See here for the reasons behind the delay)

I hope you’ll check out the book. It costs £2.12 to UK readers, $2.99 in the US and if you’re a member of Amazon Prime you and your child can read it for free.

Suzie x

Pre launch Panic.

Well, I’m looking at the countdown timer for the launch of Better Buckle Up and having a pre launch panic.

Two hours!

This was not the post I was expecting to write. I thought I had things organised so early on. But the print version has been beset with problems. I had to lighten the picture files as they were too dark and I changed the binding from saddle stitch to perfect bound, so that delay was my fault. But, having been told by the printer that the cover file would be OK for both types of binding, it caused problems with the trimming. I mean, they almost cut the bar code off! And it took a while to figure out why it was happening. So that delay wasn’t my fault.

Has it been fixed? I’m still waiting for UPS to deliver what will hopefully be the final proof of the print copy which will then be available in the next few days.

So, it’ll be a soft launch tomorrow. Just the ebook will go live on Amazon. It’ll cost £2.12 to UK readers, $2.99 in the US. Members of Amazon Prime can check it out for free.

Suzie x

Better Buckle Up photoshoot

Another Better Buckle Up photoshoot and I just had to share these pics.

My little model did a great job at looking suitably fed up at the prospect of sitting in his seat.

I think we have a budding actor on our hands here.

Suzie x

Better Buckle Up …

… Day 2 May #AtoZfavbooks challenge.

Day 2 of #AtoZfavbooks challenge and I’m featuring my very own Better Buckle Up.

Having your child securely fastened in his car seat is critical for his safety … but often they don’t appreciate being strapped in. My grandson would scream as soon as he even saw his car seat. This story tries to make car safety fun.

“Ollie doesn’t want to sit in his car seat until his mum points out all the exciting things people do that requires them to wear their seat belts.”

Not published until 18th May, the book is available to pre-order on Amazon and has paperback and ebook editions. Check out the bright illustrations here.

Suzie x 

P.S. Don’t forget to share your favourite book title starting with the letter B in the comments below or post them on facebook or twitter with the hashtag #AtoZfavbooks so I can find them.