Did you ever climb trees when you were young? I once climbed a Loblolly, but only made it 3/4 of the way up because the three swayed so much I was frightened it would break. Ha! If I'd only known just how strong it was...
The Longleaf Pine is native to Florida, and other parts of
the southeastern US. It is a much slower growing pine than the Loblolly or
Slash Pine and therefore has lost most of its habitat. The faster growing
Loblolly is what is found in over half of the southern tree farms now, which
take up 29 million acres.
I prefer the look of the Longleaf and was pleased
to find a website dedicated to the promotion, restitution of habitat, and well
being of the tree. As a native Floridian, native plant species are important to
me. We have so many invasive plants that have taken hold of the landscape and
changed it, for good or bad. Loblolly Pine is native as well, but was not as
all-pervasive as it is now.
Some fun trivia: Loblolly pine is the first among over 100
species of Pinus
to have its complete genome sequenced. As of
March 2014 it is the organism having the largest sequenced genome size. Its
genome with 20.15 billion base pairs is seven times larger than that of
humans. (from Wikipedia)
Longleaf from the air
Old Longleaf
A good sized, medium Loblolly pine
Loblolly needles
Longleaf needles
Sunset Longleaf stand
A Loblolly Tree Farm
When first settled, piney woods were a mainstay of
agriculture in the southeast, for building ships, furniture, homes and many
other things European humans needed. And piney woods have gone on to become one
of the dominate producers, even giving cotton a run for its money. But animals
use them too, dead and alive, for food, shelter, and nesting. Birds, deer,
squirrels and smaller mammals all depend on piney woods for their survival.
Loblolly timber
Take a look at this video and it will give you an idea of
just what a
precious resource Longleaf Pine forests were and still are…
Angel
in a Fur Coat (first book in the series) begins in a
faraway place where angels are trading their wings and halos for fur coats to
be born on earth as dogs. First, they must learn what it means to be a dog, so
they go to school. They learn about dog breeds and various dog jobs, and after
graduation they get their fur coat and are born to find the person they were
made for.
Now, as Fur Angels on earth, Legend of the Pink Toe
explores the wonderful world of dogs through the eyes of one special little
angel who bears the mark of a legend…a pink little toe.
The legend is unleashed in Wayward Angels when
fifteen-year-old Rebecca is pulled into the fantastical world of Fur Angels by
her roommate, eleven-year-old Tanisha, who believes in fairytales and Angel in a Fur Coat is her favorite
book. Life isn’t easy for the students of Tikkun Olam, a facility for troubled
kids also known as the crazy kids. But with the help of therapy, friendship,
and a little therapy dog, Peanut, maybe a fairytale ending isn’t all that
impossible.
Dolittleology
dives deeper into the phenomena of human and animal communications.When fourteen-year-old Billy Cohen claims to
talk with his Pug named Stimpy, he is admitted to the Tikkun Olam Institute.
Once a psychiatric treatment facility for kids, but things aren’t what they
appear to be. Billy discovers secrets hidden inside its walls and within the
subconscious of his mind.
Every author’s dream is to publish a book and have
it fly off the shelves. Promotion gives your book wings to fly. With millions
of books to choose from, how do I get people to pick my book ─ or even see my
book? That seems to be a common question among authors.
I begin with my website. Right now I have two sites
that are linked to one another. My book site: www.FurAngelSeries.com and my fun, everything-else site: www.Gooberella.com
I envision my websites as a tree trunk where all my
treasures are waiting to be discovered. I try to keep my sites simple. Book
covers are displayed with a short blurb and a buy button that takes you to
Amazon.
Each social media outlet I use is a branch of my
website (tree) that reaches out to people all over the world. Every promotion I
do leads back to my website. I try to make my branches fun and creative.
Something people can relate to, makes them smile and laugh. I’ve designed my
tree branches to fit my writing genre which is the fantastical world of
talking- dogs. Yes, my tree is colorful, magical, and a little nutty and so are
my branches.
My first branch is Facebook, and the groups I
subscribe to are filled with talking-dogs, dog photos, contests, and a lot of
caring people with a love of dogs. My dogs are known as the 3 Goobers. They
support dog related charities, auctions with donations of autographed books, as
well as host their own dog photo contests where the winners win…you guessed
it…signed books.
Other branches are, Twitter, Pinterest, and
Instagram. I always carry a camera with me and post at least two pictures a day
on these outlets followed by a link to my website. Remember, all things posted
should lead back to your website.
Anything related to your writings that could branch
off and lead back to your books is a form of promotion. I also sell art work of
my books illustrations on a site called society6, www.society6.com/gooberella.
They put my illustrations onto shirts, pillows, bed covers, rugs, shower
curtains…basically just about anything. And once again, everything leads back
to my main book website.
As far as sales go, Amazon is my biggest outlet. It
allows me to share my books all over the world. They have many promotional
options for authors. If used in conjunction with independently operated
promotional sites, authors can gain good exposure.
And finally, book signings. I love going to schools
to give book presentations. It’s fun talking to students about my books,
writing techniques, the publishing process, and playing my talking dog videos.
The kids love them. Book festivals and book store signings are more for author
interaction rather than sales. Festivals usually charge a pricey booth-space
fee, and bookstores take up to 50% or more of sales. But it’s always fun
talking with customers and autographing books to them and their dogs.
Book promotions can be hard and tedious but with a
little creativity and thinking outside the box it can be a fun adventure.
Cynthia Enuton
Cynthia grew up in Maryland and received a BA degree
in Psychology from the University of Maryland (UMBC). She worked at a State
facility for severe emotionally challenged adolescents for over 13 years.
Cynthia currently resides in Jacksonville, Florida, as a children/YA author and
travels with one of her Fur Angels, Augie Dog, to book signings of the Fur
Angel Series.
