Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
This is my first book and my co-author second book. We love the world and unlimited imagination of children and being able to write and create in that world.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The Sprocketeers: Great Giza Gonzo is my first book of the series of other Sprocketeers adventures, to follow. A long time friend, Ben Cornwell, who is a sales guy that works in the merch world, approached me two years ago about doing an animated children’s educational history series with a steampunk flare to it. Through research, we found out that no one would financially support it, to give it the light of day at that time and we decided to do something that would be more of an action adventure, steampunk based around the twins, Alyx and Cooper. My team and I created the synopsis, character descriptions, scripts and illustrations for all aspects of The Sprocketeers. It was my idea to establish our concept as a book first and then we hope into an animated project.
The inspiration for writing The Sprocketeers was based off a lot of influences John and I have had growing up including Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Dr. Seuss, and various action adventure books we read when we were children and books we still reflect upon. Beyond books there are lots of animation, art, historical influences and children we actually know that gave us a load of inspiration to create this book. We also found that Chris Friend’s art work, our illustrator on the project. to give us a huge amount of inspiration as he made a lot of images come alive in his work with us. The book project was very collaborative effort by John Stapleton, Chris Friend and Zach Hall.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
OH Yes!! Whenever ideas come to me and I am not at my desk, laptop or smart device, I jot down notes, phrases, ideas on any piece of paper or otherwise that I can get my hands on and sometimes even on my hands. A lot swirls around in my head before it hits the computer or the paper. I’ve learned it’s best to write it all down one way or another before the idea leaves me.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
Dr. Seuss, E.B. White, Encyclopedia Brown, Fancy Nancy, Hardy Boys, and really digging the Rosie Revere and Andrea Beaty’s current works
What are you working on now?
Currently, I am working on a new children’s book about fish and life, due out in April 2014, a book on dirt for all children and some child like adults and another book on if a heart had arms. We also have a pile of ideas for future Sprocketeer adventures.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
We are still trying to figure that out since it is my first book and we are without a publisher ad DIY. We have been trying Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, and our own website:
https://www.facebook.com/TheSprocketeers
http://worldofthesprocketeers.com
Amazon: http://ezrd.me/r/?rd=082U9YSprock
Do you have any advice for new authors?
ebooks, for children, are great avenue for those of us without publishers and can be done with a small amount of costs compared to the traditional print method. it’s super helpful to build a community of other authors, book or reading enthusiast around your genre or topic. The world wide web is the best tool for most of this.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
I’m constantly hearing great advice and words of wisdom. Here’s are couple I put at the top of the list:
It’s better to have tried and failed, than never have tried at all
Use keywords in your title
You can always take a positive from a negative
The only real failure in life is not to be true to the best one knows
What are you reading now?
“Raising Happiness” by Christine Carter and “Animals Make Us Human” by Temple Grandin
What’s next for you as a writer?
I want to explore creating more variations on children’s book and also illustrate one or two of them myself. I have a endless list of ideas for children’s books and I want to create a colorful, in more ways than one, open world of imagination that would inspire young readers to do amazing things.
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
“Oh , The Places You Will Go”, “LaChapelle Land”, “Meditations to Change Your Brain”, “How to Get off a Deserted Island Fast”
Author Websites and Profiles
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