True Stories from the North Pole

11/10/2023

Have you ever wondered what happened when Santa received the letter from the girl who wanted a hippopotamus for Christmas?

When Santa read the letter knew he had to grant the girl's wish.

But how would he find a hippo, get it all the way from Sub-Saharan Africa to the North Pole, and then deliver it on Christmas Eve?

The elves executed their plan to get the orphaned hippo from its home to the North Pole with few issues.

Santa figured it would be no big deal to load the hippo on the sleigh and take off, but he was completely unprepared for what happened when the sleigh took off on Christmas Eve.

Find out what happened next!

"A Hippopotamus for Christmas" is available on Amazon and is on sale today!

Click the link in the comments to purchase your copy.

10/10/2023

"A Hippopotamus for Christmas" is available on Amazon for $11.99 today and tomorrow during Amazon Prime Big Deal Days.

This is a great story to share with children who may already have a live animal on their list for Santa.

Santa John of Georgia tells the story of what happens when he takes off with a hippo in his sleigh on Christmas Eve.

In his excitement to grant a girl's dearest Christmas wish, Christmas is almost ruined for everyone.

Click the link in the comments to order your copy today.

24/09/2023

Merry National Punctuation Day!!

Please join in celebrating "... the lowly comma, correctly used quotes, and other proper uses of periods, semicolons, and the ever-mysterious ellipsis." (http://www.nationalpunctuationday.com/)

To celebrate, we could do any of the following: add lots of exclamation points to all our posts; try to create a post using all the punctuation marks; or live on the wild side and not use any!

Won't you join the celebration?

It can be a fun-filled day for everyone -- even those who struggled with high school English (or have forgotten all the punctuation [and grammar] they ever learned)!

Or we can just use them to make cool emoticons out of them! :-)

12/08/2023

Merry Elephant Day!

Lately, Bruce has been a bit homesick for his home in Sub-Saharan Africa. He’s especially been missing his friends, the elephants.

To make him feel better, the elves told Bruce the story of Dumbo the Elephant.

Although Bruce was startled by his first flying experience, he longingly watches the reindeer practice their takeoffs and landings and wonders what it would be like to fly.

The elves made Bruce some ears and a trunk so he could dress up as an elephant for Elephant Day.

09/08/2023

What's a book that you love?

All of us at True Stories from the North Pole would love for you to put "A Hippopotamus for Christmas" on your list.

Check it out at the link in the comments.

01/08/2023

We are so excited that our first review has been posted!

If you've purchased a copy, we'd love to hear what you think.

Check the link in comments for details.

31/07/2023

What an exciting weekend at the North Pole!

Bruce and the elves spent the weekend checking the rankings on Amazon and excited that they made it to #43 in all Children's Christmas Books and #3 in Children's Christmas Books New Releases.

Now the elves have a new mission - to get reviews on the book on Amazon.

If you've purchased the book, we'd love it if you'd take a moment after you've read it to tell the world what you thought of it.

Check the link in the comments for details on how you can be entered to win an Amazon gift card.

30/07/2023

How exciting is this?!?! 😁

Mrs Claus has been checking Amazon regularly and tracking our sales ranking.

We are currently 4th on the New Releases for Children's Christmas Books on Amazon.

While that's pretty darn cool, it's even cooler when you realize it's behind three big name books that haven't even been released yet!

Santa John of Georgia, Mrs. C, the elves, and Bruce all thank you for making this possible.

Amazon does not count books until they're shipped, so we may yet hit #1 on the New Releases and make it into the top 10 in the Children's Christmas Books category.

We're giving away a $25 Amazon gift card.

Click the link in the comments for details.

29/07/2023

28/07/2023

Wina, thank you for purchasing our book!

We're so excited to see our book in real life!! ❤️🤶🎅💚

28/07/2023

Tomorrow is the big day!

At the top of Bruce's wish list is to be someone's favorite Christmas story!

Share your favorite Christmas story in the comments.

28/07/2023

We are so excited to have been interviewed on the North Pole Radio. You can hear about the book and learn more about Santa John of Georgia and Mrs C.

Listen now wherever you listen to podcasts or at northpoleradio.buzzsprout.com!

27/07/2023

Just two more days until the launch of "A Hippopotamus for Christmas"!

Little did Bruce know when he left his home in Sub-Saharan Africa with the elves, that he'd end up becoming a beloved Christmas character.

Rudolph has been giving him tips on how to handle all the attention.

Have you signed up to win a copy of "A Hippopotamus for Christmas"? It's not too late!

Click the link in the comments to sign up.

26/07/2023

3 Days until "A Hippopotamus for Christmas" book release!

Preparations for Saturday's festivities are ramping up!

The elves have taken over the kitchen from Mrs. C and are working on making cookies.

Share your favorite Christmas cookie in the comments.

25/07/2023

4 Days until "A Hippopotamus for Christmas" book release. Everyone at the North Pole is excited.

The elves have wondered if the story of Bruce the Hippopotamus has what it takes to be made into a Christmas show or movie.

Share your favorite Christmas movie in the comments.

24/07/2023

5 Days until the release of Santa John of Georgia's new book, "A Hippopotamus for Christmas"!

Since the story of Bruce all started with the song, "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas", Bruce asks for that song every time the elves take requests. 🦛 🎄🎅🏻

When he dances, Bruce shakes the whole workshop!

The elves really need some new songs to play.

Help the elves out and share your favorite Christmas song in the comments.

Hopefully, Bruce's favorite song will only play a few dozen times today. 🤣

23/07/2023

6 Days until "A Hippopotamus for Christmas" is released!

Bruce and the elves are so excited that it truly feels like Christmas in July!

And they would love to give some gifts - autographed copies of their new book!

If you would like to receive an autographed copy of the book, help Bruce and the elves spread the word!

Click the link in the comments to view the giveaway rules and sign up for notifications.

Enter from now through the release date, Saturday, July 29.

We will select 5 winners from everyone who participates.

Be sure to check for the post each day to get another chance to win!

22/07/2023

Where in the world are you?

Bruce and the elves are getting excited because it's just under a week until the release of their book, "A Hippopotamus for Christmas".

The final version of the book has been sent to the publisher, so all that's left to do is spread the word.

They are curious where everyone who is following them is located.

Share where in the world you are in the comments.

20/07/2023

The elves have found a checklist for publishing a best-selling book and they've checked it twice. ✔✔

They really want their story to be a best seller and they know to do that, a lot of people have to buy the book when it's released on July 29th.

In order for a lot of people to buy the book they have KNOW there's a really great new book for them to buy and when and where to buy it.

For the last few days they've been brainstorming ideas on how to get the word out.

🛷They asked Santa about borrowing the sleigh and leaving notes about the book at every house Santa visits on Christmas Eve. He said that although he loved the idea, he could only authorize the use of the sleigh for toy delivery purposes.

📣Next, they thought about buying space on a billboard in Times Square but Mrs. C said it would take more than the entire toy-making budget for the next five years to purchase the ad they had in mind.

📰 Bruce thought making signs and putting them up all over the North Pole might work, but the elves reminded him that everyone at the North Pole already knew about the book.

Then the elves remembered that there are Santa's helpers all over the world who can help them!

Share any ideas you have for how the elves can spread the word about "A Hippopotamus for Christmas"!

Santa John of Georgia, Creatively Techy, Santa John Georgia, Jenny L Watt

18/07/2023

Santa John of Georgia and I ran into a bit of a hiccup in submitting our book to Amazon. The credits on the front cover didn't match what we set up in KDP for the authors.

So, we had to make an adjustment and resubmit.

Keep your fingers crossed that 🤞🏻everything will be ready for our July 29 release date.

Check out the link in the comments to get updates via email.

15/07/2023

Santa John of Georgia and I thank you!!

We're not even officially live yet, and we're number 1 in new releases for Children's Christmas books on Kindle.

AND we're number 98 in all Children's Christmas Kindle books.

Click on the link in the comments to preorder your copy on Kindle so we can keep the momentum going!

14/07/2023

While Mrs. C was checking on the delivery of the latest proof, she decided to check the listing on Amazon.

She discovered that it had a sales rank of #108 in Children's Christmas Books (Kindle Store).

Could it be that someone had already pre-ordered the book?

After a quick search, she discovered a pre-order report on the Kindle Direct Publishing dashboard. She waited for it to load and ...

Two wonderful people had already placed an order for the Kindle version!!

She dashed off to tell Santa John of Georgia and the elves the good news.

The elves decided that they wanted to break the top 100 and to do that, they needed to switch to marketing mode.

Mrs. C knows those creative and industrious elves could easily get them to the top of the sales ranking when the book releases on July 29.

The link to pre-order the book is in the comments.

Please comment to let us know when you pre-order the Kindle version so we can check the sales rank and update the elves.

13/07/2023

The proof copy arrived yesterday after a slight delay. After they opened the package and saw the books, Bruce and the elves danced around excitedly at seeing their book in print.

Their excitement turned to disappointment when they noticed a typo - despite reading and rereading the book dozens of times. They also found a few formatting issues that were apparent upon holding the book in their hands.

Santa John of Georgia reminded them how far the book had come in the last few months and that once those few issues were fixed, they could resubmit and everything would still be ready by the release date of July 29.

The elves got to work, made the changes, and went through everything one more time. When they were sure it was the absolute best it could be, they submitted all the changes, and ordered more proof copies.

The elves are back to checking Amazon regularly for shipping updates.

12/07/2023

The elves have been regularly checking their proof order for its delivery status. It's due today!

Everyone is excited to see how it looks.

09/07/2023

The elves and Bruce have butterflies in their tummies as they contemplate the repercussions of submitting their story for publication.

❓ Is everything spelled correctly?
❓ Have they corrected all the grammatical errors?
❓ Does the story flow well?
❓ Did they include all the "Easter Eggs" for everyone who send in feedback?
❓ Are the pictures as good as they could be?

They decide to wait until they have a chance to review the proof copy before they make the final submission.

There are still 20 days before the release date of July 29, but everyone at the North Pole, including Santa John of Georgia, is on pins and needles!

06/07/2023

Have you read the story about how a hippopotamus came to live at the North Pole?
The elves are so excited to finally share the story with Bruce!
They've been working on the story for a few months now, and thanks to all the help and feedback from elves all over the world, the story is about ready to be published.
We are taking input on the story for a few more days before we declare it final and send it to Amazon for publication.
Check out the link in the comments to read the story.