Building Voices' Company Highlights |

28Apr 2015

Building Voices’ Company Highlights

by Taneeka Bourgeois-daSilva ⋅ Leave a Comment

By Taneeka Bourgeois-daSilva, Founder and CEO of Building Voices

1. CEO Taneeka Bourgeois-daSilva’s non-profit, TCD Kids Foundation was one of the finalists in the Lakers You Grant – March 2014.

2. CEO Taneeka Bourgeois-daSilva successfully launched a Kickstarter project – July 2014.

3. CEO Taneeka Bourgeois-daSilva and her non-profit, TCD Kids Foundation donated over 50 books to children in Torrance, Ca – July 2014.

4. Building Voices is steadily gaining interest from teachers, parents, authors, and fans of children’s literature. They have over 150 likes on Facebook, 120 followers on Twitter, and over 6,000 views on Google Plus – October 2014.

5. CEO Taneeka Bourgeois-daSilva’s article, “Try, Try Again” was published in the IBPA Independent Magazine – October 2014.

6. Building Voices published their first title, Broccoli Chronicles – November 2014.

7. Building Voices released the ebook for Broccoli Chronicles – December 2014.

8. CEO Taneeka Bourgeois-daSilva and her non-profit, TCD Kids Foundation donated over 20 books to children at the military Christmas party in Torrance, Ca – December 2014.

9. Building Voices published their first coloring book, Little Kids, Big Voices Coloring Book #1 – December 2014.

10. Building Voices published their first journal, Little Kids, Big Voices Interactive Journal – January 2015.

11. CEO Taneeka Bourgeois-daSilva and over 30 children’s authors attended a book signing event at Encino Charter Elementary – February 2015.

12. Broccoli Chronicles was one of the finalists in the Foreword Reviews’ INDIEFAB Book of the Year Awards – March 2015.

13. CEO Taneeka Bourgeois-daSilva takes picture with award winning author, writing mentor, and UCLA Writers’ Program professor, Lynn Hightower at the Santa Monica Barnes and Noble – March 2015.

About Taneeka Bourgeois-daSilva

Taneeka Bourgeois-daSilva is an authorpreneur, teacher, blogger, educational consultant, and writing coach. She wrote the award-winning Broccoli Chronicles and is the CEO of Building Voices and TCD Kids Foundation. She tweets at @taneekabdasilva.

23Apr 2015

National Teacher Day – Let’s Celebrate Together

by Taneeka Bourgeois-daSilva ⋅ 2 Comments

Teachers around the world will celebrate this year’s National Teacher Day on May 5, 2015. Teaching is more than a career, it is a privilege and an honor to mold our future generation into prominent leaders who will change this world for the better. Over the next week or so, I plan to reach out to teachers and educators across the world to share their success stories with the public. Please feel free to comment to this post and share how teaching has changed your life and your student’s life as well.

About Taneeka Bourgeois-daSilva

14Apr 2015

Taneeka Bourgeois-daSilva Visits Encino Charter Elementary

by Taneeka Bourgeois-daSilva ⋅ Leave a Comment

Welcome to my writer blog, teacher blog, and self-publishing blog

CEO Taneeka Bourgeois-daSilva attends book signing on Sunday, February 22, 2015 at Encino Charter Elementary in Encino, CA. Taneeka spoke to students about the importance of reading and gave insight to why Myrtle Beckle, Broccoli Chronicles’ main character, loves broccoli so much. She was able to connect with parents and other fellow authors to share her love of reading.

The event was such a success that the school is interested in doing it again in 2016. Taneeka is eager to showcase her new books at next years book signing. Click here for more pictures of this event.

About Taneeka Bourgeois-daSilva

10Apr 2015

Is Self-Publishing Right For You? Question #5

by Taneeka Bourgeois-daSilva ⋅ Leave a Comment

Before you decide whether or not self-publishing is right for you, take a look at the following question.

5. Are you willing to pay a vanity or subsidy press a large sum of money to do the leg work for you?

I’ve never worked with a vanity or subsidy press so I cannot give you any firsthand knowledge, but I have read a few articles that are in favor and against their practices. Vanity and subsidy presses have been given a bad name because they often ask for upfront money in order to publish your book. I’ve read that sometimes they do not deliver on what they promise and require that you purchase your books from them using their offset shipping methods. Many self-publishers prefer POD shipping so that they’re not inundated with tons of books that they are not able to sell right away.

It is up to you whether you want to give a vanity or subsidy press a chance or not, but make sure that you negotiate on the price and do not buy too many books unless you already have purchase orders on hand. Also, make sure that they deliver on everything that they promise you. If they promise to promote your book or provide you with 100 free copies, then make sure that you get your monies worth. Hope this helps!

For more information on POD and offset printing, check out this article from Publisher’s Weekly.

About Taneeka Bourgeois-daSilva

01Apr 2015

Self-Publishing: CIP Versus PCIP

by Taneeka Bourgeois-daSilva ⋅ Leave a Comment

Copyright page - copyright notice - copyright symblo - catalog in publication data

CIP Fact Sheet

Stands for Cataloging in Publication
Displayed on the copyright page
Available for books not yet published
Ineligible for publishers with less than 3 authors
For more information, please visit the library of congress.

PCIP Fact Sheet

Stands for Publisher’s Cataloging in Publication
Displayed on the copyright page
Available for books not yet published
Eligible for publishers with less than 3 authors
For more information, please visit cipblock.

The CIP and PCIP are both valuable because they assist book dealers and librarians with processing, shelving, and cataloging books into the appropriate categories. The CIP is created by the library of congress whereas the PCIP is usually created by a librarian with cataloging experience. Most libraries and bookstores will not carry your book without either a CIP or a PCIP because it’s too time consuming for them to create one for you and without one it’s too difficult to identify where your book is shelved.

Check out the PCIP created for Broccoli Chronicles by Adrienne Bashista at cipblock.com

Notice that the PCIP identifies the author, the illustrator, and the title of the book. It also lists the ISBN and the PCN/LCCN which is also provided by the library of congress. Next is a brief summary so that readers know what the book is about. There’s also categories such as: family, cancer, broccoli, etc which helps the librarians shelf this book into the appropriate category.

The library of congress will create a CIP for free. Double check to see if your publisher qualifies for one and if so, you should contact the library of congress at least 6 weeks prior to publishing your book. They usually only ask for one free copy of your book for their files. If your publisher doesn’t qualify for a CIP, then you will need to pay for a PCIP which can cost around $75. I hope this helps!