Sunday, March 29, 2015

A Special Message To Parents, Grandparents, Teachers, or Anyone Who Cares About Children


In 2001, I made a conscious decision to write adventures & mysteries for children. My target was middle grade readers. Why? It’s that stage in life when they are still kids while, at the same time, they can’t wait to be all grown up.

The down side to this age is it also is a time when children, especially boys, begin falling away from reading in favor of video games, TV, videos, computers, and other electronic devices. So how could my books make a difference at this critical time of development?


I grew up hating to read. We didn’t have much in the way of electronics back then, but I’d rather be doing almost anything besides reading as a child. I guess that’s part of the reason why I followed a life of audiovisual production including TV commercials, corporate videos, dramatic and documentary films, music videos, video concerts, and many more. How does this impact me as a potential author for kids?

The books I write tend to be crammed with humor, action, adventure, mystery, lots of dialog, and not much in the way of boring details or descriptions. Many adults have responded by telling me my books were the key in turning children in their care from struggling, reluctant readers into avid readers. Why has this been?
My style of writing brings the same visual elements and heart-pounding action and adventure from my film and video projects onto the pages of my books. But it hasn’t come easily.
The first publisher released 6 of my books. Not long after, the company went bankrupt. Suddenly I found myself starting out all over again. A second publisher experienced the bankruptcy of their distribution company, virtually stopping this publisher in its tracks. A third publisher, just this year, decided to stop publishing altogether, returning rights to the books they had published back to the authors.
Today, I have contracts for a number of books. Several of these will be released starting this coming July. Others are slated for publishing by an education publisher, including instructional materials, for use in the classroom. Most of my books will be readily available in print and as       e-books.
Please return to this blog to keep up with developments. Soon I’ll begin revealing the covers for a number of the books scheduled for release in the coming months.
If you have any questions, feel free to contact me directly at mander8813@aol.com
Thank you,
Max Elliot Anderson

No comments: