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
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