Another newbie - a children's author

Hello guys,

I'm a children's author - my Joshua Files books have been published in eight countries so far and rights sold into a total 17 territories, including very recently the USA so if you have children aged between 10-14 you might possibly hear of them in the next few years if not sooner. With any luck.

I'm not going to say any more about my books in case I fall foul of the 'solicitation' thingy...just wanted to give myself context in this intro.

I've joined specifically to go answer some queries on www.abovetopsecret.com... about some websites we created as part of a Joshua Files Alternate Reality game. They were sitting there quietly minding their own business until the movie site for 'The Fourth Kind' linked to one of our fake conspiracy in-game sites.

heh heh. We've had a disclaimer on that site from the day it opened, as we do on ALL the in-game sites. My publisher is Scholastic Children's Books UK and they take dissemination of info to children very seriously.

But either The Fourth Kind guys don't mind that it's a bogus site or else they didn't look very hard at the site.

Even funnier, someone basically ripped off one of the fake articles we had on the site, which provided some clues in the game, and put up a site with that info. Probably to sell Google Ads, but maybe, as some on ATS have suggested, it's a fake site to promote The Fourth Kind.

I don't mind the story being ripped off, in fact I think it's pretty funny. I didn't even recognise it at first, until I realised the name of the archaeologist sounded familiar. (I'd used the name of my brother's Swiss landlord in my article).

Anyway, the movie site is sending us traffic and some of that is going to on a site we've created to give some balanced information to young people about 2012 and the ancient Maya, which forms the backdrop of the books.

It's all good fun but it does illustrate how important it is to verify the information on any website.

We made it pretty easy to see that our site was fiction. The guy who has 'borrowed' our story is passing it off as real. But wily ATS users have already got their suspicions that our conspiracy site is bogus...

Anyway, I'll go post on that forum and clear up that particular little mystery.

Be Seeing You.

reply to post by MGHarris


Nice to see another writer here. I'm sure you'll fit right in.

Welcome to ATS.



[edit on 22-9-2009 by mikerussellus]

Hi,

What a great idea... I would have loved to have learned about Mayan culture when I was younger. I've not read anything you have written but I'm sure if i was reading about 2012 prophecies when I was a kid it would have scared me to death! (This by the way is not a bad thing, kids like and need to be scared!!)

Welcome and please, don't just limit yourself to the thread you linked to, spend a bit of time reading some of the crazy stuff that goes on here.

Peace.

Not sure if that was an intro or a pitch..but welcome.

has made one thread and one post. I say pitch.

reply to post by nixie_nox


actually, he posted in the thread which he linked to, clearing up the issue. He's hardly pitching a book for tweens here.

Originally posted by Crakeur
reply to post by nixie_nox

 

actually, he posted in the thread which he linked to, clearing up the issue. He's hardly pitching a book for tweens here.

Thanks Crakeur.

You're right, I'm not pitching, just doing full disclosure. And as for how little I've posted...(someone elsee's point) I only just joined and it's late here in England!

But mainly I joined to clear up the issue, as you've realised.

reply to post by MGHarris



Welcome to ATS, have fun

reply to post by Crakeur


Sorry I was half joking following up the previous comment. Not very articulate when I am tired.

But mainly I joined to clear up the issue, as you've realised.

A noble cause, it would seem. Disclosing for naught but the enlightenment of others and the dispelling of falsehoods is, sadly, witnessed very rarely. Well, that is except for around THESE parts.

Welcome aboard.

reply to post by MGHarris


no worries.

was their use of your site a planned cross-promotion or did they use your site out of pure random luck? Kinda cool to get the free PR if it's the latter.

reply to post by MGHarris


Welcome here

Here is a Link to our short story section

And here is a link to our recently added collaborative writing section

Please feel free to read around and after you have made 20 posts you can start a NEW thread of your own..(Its the ATS rules not mine)... I hope you will feel inclined to share a little with us.. The short story section is full of member contests... you can tell those short stories from others by the prefixes before the thread titles...

I hope to see you around the writer section.

Welcome here.

Originally posted by Crakeur
reply to post by MGHarris

 

no worries.

was their use of your site a planned cross-promotion or did they use your site out of pure random luck? Kinda cool to get the free PR if it's the latter.

Pure random luck! The publishers are delighted.

Thanks also for welcoming me to your writing section. I am very out of practice with short stories, I must admit, been working pretty hard on novels and it's a different technique. I think I've forgotten how to do that concise thing with the twist at the end...
Maybe I should practice more.

Just for clarity, M G (Maria) Harris is a lady.