Today I went to my first Usborne team meeting in Vancouver. Well, not in Vancouver proper - but out in North Delta... I think... Thankfully, my supervisor here in Vancouver (actually my supervisor's supervisor) offered to drive me out there! I'm not sure if I'd have found things on my own :) Thanks Becky!
I got to meet some people for the first time and some others were somewhat familiar faces from Convention. After a round of intros and a quick recap of Convention happenings, we got to see the New Titles for February, and yes (!!!), "How Big Was a Dinosaur?" which I went on about in my last blog is one of those releases! Definitely on my "gotta buy to restock my inventory and library" list this month!
There were a few other new offerings too that were mentioned at Convention and I thought would be kind of cool to add to my collection that are also in the new releases this coming month. Things like "Thank you" cards that kids can colour in and fill out. Pretty good value for money - less than $1 a card, so it even has the Dollar Store beat! And it is never to early to start making sure that Grandmas, Grandpas, Aunts and Uncles get thank-you's for all the wee gifties they give :) I think I'll be ordering a pack for Ryan (you will have to excuse his colouring outside the lines for now), and a pack for me. I think I'll use them when I have a home show and include one when delivering any books to the hostess - they deserve thanks too... I might leave those ones uncoloured though :)
On a side note, there are birthday cards of the same ilk that will be available soon - Usborne partially colours in the cards (thank yous, and birthday ones), so they are actually quite attractive on their own. Perfect to just give to a child as a birthday card, so they can colour it in themselves as an extra treat. Yup, you guessed it, I'm ordering some of those when they are available too!
Other new releases:
- some "side" books to the Very First Reading" series. They concentrate on the ABC's and 123's to help prepare a child for starting to read using the VFR series and its phonics approach (and any other approach come to think of it).
- some new Beginners series books, the one I saw was called "Monkeys" and looked really cute. The Beginner books for anyone wondering are about a Grade 2 reading level, but the information in the books is applicable over a much wider age range. I know Ryan loves looking at animals right now and these books look really well suited to read to him - just enough sound bites for him to grasp, and to give him ample opportunity to ask questions, even if it is just "Why?" or "How?" :) Not much of a talker yet my little one, although he seems to absorb everything like a sponge otherwise!
And now a few obvious plugs for my online shopping site and my business in general:
- the online shopping site has a catalogue feature and will filter the New Titles for any given month for you here: http://www.usborneonline.ca/catalogue/new_titles.asp?cat=1&css=1&org=107879. And there is a wishlist function where you can just add books that you might be interested in and it automatically emails me and I can follow up with you!
- since I'm restarting my business here in Vancouver, if anyone reading this is in Vancouver, or has friends in Vancouver, who might be interested in the same kind of business, having a home show and getting some free books, or maybe just want to check the books out (I do intend to have some open houses), let them know about this blog or direct them to my shopping site (http://www.usborneonline.ca/teenyweenybooks) where my contact information is!
Thanks, and I'll talk at ya later :)
Christine
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Monday, January 17, 2011
Kicking Things off!
Well, since I am fresh from Convention and all revved up about Usborne books, now is probably the best time to start a blog! I have no idea if I'll carry on, but I'm hoping to. I'd like to share thoughts on early literacy - since I've got a two year old son who is just starting down the reading road, and of course I'd like to share things about this amazing business.
I guess where to start is a bit about me and why I started with Usborne books. About 2.5 years ago, I gave birth to my wonderful little boy and I knew, even then, that I wanted to raise a reader... being a bit of a bookworm myself :) While wandering the stacks of a bookstore while in the UK, I came across a wonderful book called Stories for Bedtime (http://www.usborneonline.ca/catalogue/browse.asp?org=107879&css=1&cat=1&subject=EY&subcat=EYRT&id=2496) and fell in love with it. Being the curious type, I did a little research on the Publisher and found out that they had thousands of fun educational titles... and that they had a direct sales division as well... in fact that is how they primarily sell and promote their books - through home sales and parties! Only a very few titles are actually sold through bookstores and some are never available through bookstores. Who knew? So of course, I had to join up! What better way to make a little extra money in order to build a wonderful home library for my son... or more... the opportunity actually is really good - good discount/commission and at least for me, an opportunity to talk to people about a topic I am passionate about - literacy!
So at any rate, I do this part-time right now as I just enjoy the occasional evening out sharing the books and make pretty good money at my other job. I'm actually in the midst of rethinking my Usborne business and how I approach it as we just moved to Vancouver, leaving behind most of my friends and customers, and the "usual way" I was doing the business. Previously, I sold the books primarily through Open Houses with other friends who sold other home sales products, like Mary Kay, Epicure, Fifth Avenue Collection and Norwex! I got to do a bit of shopping myself at the same time. Well, now that has changed, so I guess I'll have to step out of my comfort zone and see if I can build a new customer base here, and (gasp) actually do some home shows!!
Now, onto the present... as I said I'm fresh from Convention, and fresh from seeing some of the great books that will be released or revamped this year. Just incredible! Probably my favourite is "How Big was a Dinosaur?" It's the latest offering in the Pipkin (a very curious little penguin) series. Ryan already has "How Big is a Million?", "How High is the Sky?" (http://www.usborneonline.ca/catalogue/browse.asp?org=107879&css=1&cat=1&subject=ey&subcat=eypb&id=3609), and "How Deep is the Sea?", so this will definitely be joining those on his bookshelf! There's also some great reference books being released - for all sorts of age groups. I just love how Usborne makes non-fiction children's books so interesting and fun. And of course, the illustrations are second to none! Have I said I love these books? Yes, probably a million times, right?
So, I guess I'll sign off for now, and think about some specific topics to spend some time talking about next time. Maybe a book review or two perhaps? :)
Christine
I guess where to start is a bit about me and why I started with Usborne books. About 2.5 years ago, I gave birth to my wonderful little boy and I knew, even then, that I wanted to raise a reader... being a bit of a bookworm myself :) While wandering the stacks of a bookstore while in the UK, I came across a wonderful book called Stories for Bedtime (http://www.usborneonline.ca/catalogue/browse.asp?org=107879&css=1&cat=1&subject=EY&subcat=EYRT&id=2496) and fell in love with it. Being the curious type, I did a little research on the Publisher and found out that they had thousands of fun educational titles... and that they had a direct sales division as well... in fact that is how they primarily sell and promote their books - through home sales and parties! Only a very few titles are actually sold through bookstores and some are never available through bookstores. Who knew? So of course, I had to join up! What better way to make a little extra money in order to build a wonderful home library for my son... or more... the opportunity actually is really good - good discount/commission and at least for me, an opportunity to talk to people about a topic I am passionate about - literacy!
So at any rate, I do this part-time right now as I just enjoy the occasional evening out sharing the books and make pretty good money at my other job. I'm actually in the midst of rethinking my Usborne business and how I approach it as we just moved to Vancouver, leaving behind most of my friends and customers, and the "usual way" I was doing the business. Previously, I sold the books primarily through Open Houses with other friends who sold other home sales products, like Mary Kay, Epicure, Fifth Avenue Collection and Norwex! I got to do a bit of shopping myself at the same time. Well, now that has changed, so I guess I'll have to step out of my comfort zone and see if I can build a new customer base here, and (gasp) actually do some home shows!!
Now, onto the present... as I said I'm fresh from Convention, and fresh from seeing some of the great books that will be released or revamped this year. Just incredible! Probably my favourite is "How Big was a Dinosaur?" It's the latest offering in the Pipkin (a very curious little penguin) series. Ryan already has "How Big is a Million?", "How High is the Sky?" (http://www.usborneonline.ca/catalogue/browse.asp?org=107879&css=1&cat=1&subject=ey&subcat=eypb&id=3609), and "How Deep is the Sea?", so this will definitely be joining those on his bookshelf! There's also some great reference books being released - for all sorts of age groups. I just love how Usborne makes non-fiction children's books so interesting and fun. And of course, the illustrations are second to none! Have I said I love these books? Yes, probably a million times, right?
So, I guess I'll sign off for now, and think about some specific topics to spend some time talking about next time. Maybe a book review or two perhaps? :)
Christine
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