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I first met Ella through the mom bloggers club. Her willingness to help provide free books to young readers touched me hugely. I was so impressed with her good samaritan ways I wanted to find out as much as possible about her. My intent is to help Ella get some exposure so parents can find out about what services she makes available. I proudly present to you today, Ella Johnson.
Can you tell the readers about yourself?
I was born in England. I majored in Fine Arts and Education in Nigeria. I taught Fine Arts from nursery school to secondary school level before moving back to England. In London, I worked for Her Majesty the Queen as a Civil Servant in different departments of the Home Office for 10 years, from Administrative Assistant to Executive Officer. I then moved to the United States in 2006.
What inspired you to start Memorable Children’s Book and Gifts?
After living in the United States for a year without successfully finding employment, I decided to start my own business. Since I had experience in education, I decided to start Memorable Children Books & Gifts (MCBG). By the way, my husband came up with the name because the first products I offered were personalized books and gifts.
To date, how many free books have you been able to giveaway?
Wow! Between live events, my website and my blog it has to be over a thousand books in the last three years. And this isn’t including my annual “Back to School” supplies giveaway I started in 2009.
Do you find it challenging to obtain books for your giveaways?
There are two parts to this answer.
1) No, it wasn’t challenging at first because I was giving away books that I had originally purchased for the business. But I always wanted to do more because we need to keep children interested in books and the joy of reading.
2) But when I started reviewing books, it was challenging to find many authors that would allow me to review their books.
As my blog and website have become more popular I’ve been blessed with many authors contacting me to review their books. After reviewing the books for the authors, I’m glad to offer the new books as a giveaway.
How do you determine which parents to give free books to?
If I had the means, I would love to give every parent that participate in my giveaways a free book. That’s why I created ‘Mymcbooks Birthday Library.’ So that all children listed between the ages of 2 to 5 will have a book once every year till they turn 5 years old on their birthday. But back to your question, I use Random.org to select the winner.
It appears that you do a tremendous amount of work with all that you do; can you explain what typical day looks like for you?
I’m in my home office at 9:00 a.m., researching for new products for my website and books to review. My day also consist of taking and filling orders from customers. My Post Office personnel know me well.
I research which events and festivals I will participate in throughout the year. I’ve built a wonderful network of friends who are vendors at these events also. We keep each other update on the best event that will benefit our businesses.
I also have online friends out of my area that have been instrumental in my success such as; Tina Peterson — The Book Lady of Ubourne Books — and Kathy of “I’m a reader not a writer.”
Is there anything else you would like to share with your readers?
Reading is fundamental to whatever your children eventually want to become when they grow up. Encouraging your children to read enriches their choices and opportunity in life. Please encourage reading so all children will be more well rounded citizens of the world.
Thank you for this interview. For more infromation about Ella Johnson refer to the information below. Thank you for your time and interest.
Ella Johnson
Memorable Children Books & Gifts
Email: [email protected]
Website: mcbooksandgifts.com
Blog: http://mymcbooks.wordpress.com
Book Store:
Phone: 813 -995-5286
