We had a great time with excited young readers at Blue House Books in Kenosha, WI. It’s an adorable bookstore. If you’re still looking for gifts ahead of the holidays, reach out to Blue House to get your copies of MAIL-ORDER MONSTERS: CRASH COURSE (signed by me and the illustrator, Jeff) and THE HAUNTED STATES OF AMERICA (signed by me). Enjoy the pix. 🙂
The tips are turning. And so it begins.
My husband and I had a lot of fun this morning The Morning Blend, the TV talk show on Milwaukee’s NBC station. My hubby, Jeff, is a professional illustrator and did the art for the entire book, including 13 black-and-white drawings within. Some of that art was highlighted on the big screens behind us during our talk.
Hosts Molly Fay and Tiffany Ogle are a hoot and great to talk to, as always. Enjoy the talk by clicking here or on the thumbnail image below. Cheers!
I’ve been posting a whole lot lately about my new book, but posting is how we get word out about our stuff, right? So now I want to say THANK YOU to all of you who’ve reached out with congratulations and to support the book. You’ve given so much love, in fact, that Mail-Order Monsters hit a huge milestone its first day: an Amazon orange banner as the #1 new release for children’s robot stories. WHOOP, WHOOP! Sound the alarm! That is sooo much bigger than you may think, and I seriously thank y’all so much.
Being a genre bestseller is big because, when you search on Amazon for, say, “vampire stories,” the results you see are books with that content. And you better believe those results are ranked. Being #1, however briefly, is nothing short of amazing, even more when many of the other books in the category have the word Robot right in their title or they’ve ranked high for a very long time.
Mail-Order Monsters also hit #5 in new releases for children’s books on bullying and #14 in new releases for children’s Hispanic and Latino stories. I mean, amazing. I’m floored and so very grateful.
Anyway, release day was an orange banner day, and today I saw friends and had an orange-ish latte (my first pumpkin spice of the season). I’m going to hold y’all and these past few days very close to my heart. ?
Hey friends! Today is RELEASE DAY for my latest book, MAIL-ORDER MONSTERS: CRASH COURSE! It’s the story of a ten-year-old boy who’s so desperate for a new best friend that he orders monsters from an ad in the back of a comic book. Hijinks ensue. It’s a tale of friendship breakups and makeups, of monsters and robots, and of racing and chasing. Kirkus Reviews’s verdict is to get it! Perfect for ages 7-12. There’s even a little Spanish sprinkled in.
If you’re thinking about buying, please consider doing so TODAY because good first-day sales boost a book’s entire trajectory.
Thanks friends, and I hope the kiddos in your life love it!
I had an interesting conversation with a friend about “crashing” books and how we don’t recommend it for self-published authors. Crashing is an industry term for publishing on a timeline waaay faster than the norm. An example might be rushing to publish an exposé ahead of an election.
Big publishing houses have the resources to rush manufacturing and market the title on a shortened timeline. But most individual authors don’t have said resources. The thing is, they can publish quickly. But gaining marketing traction? Oof, tall order. In today’s media landscape, it’s hard for seasoned marketing teams to get eyes on their titles, and they’re juggernauts, comparably. It’s much harder for a single person to draw attention without help or major lead time.
Soooo, yeah. If you’re thinking about self-publishing your book and want to push the outer boundaries of the normal timeline, weeeelll, you could, but I wouldn’t recommend you give yourself that heartburn. My two cents.
Write on, Loves.
Three years ago, I planted a cherry tree knowing it would need time to establish itself before producing a lot of fruit. This year it’s yielding its first bumper crop, and the inaugural pie I made from it is positively faaaabulous. 
Since planting that cherry tree, I’ve added three raspberry bushes and one blueberry bush to my backyard. I plan to add more as I’ve found the benefits outstanding:
So, yes, I recommend you plant a fruit tree if it’s within your realm of possibility. Even if you don’t care to harvest, you’ll help pollinators. A win-win. But as you can see from the below pic, I won too. Homemade pie is just the absolute best.
Friends and neighbors,
I am thrilled to share that I’ve received a positively epic review for MAIL-ORDER MONSTERS: CRASH COURSE, my new middle grade fantasy. Kirkus Reviews, which is the industry gold standard and premier reviewer for stores and libraries, gave my book a verdict of GET IT.
They called my story “an entertaining fantasy romp that mixes uproarious japes with wise insights into friendship and forgiveness.” PLUS, they loved my writing style (!), saying, “Acevedo’s prose is colorful and evocative, with lots of rambunctious energy. Tweens will get a kick out of the spiky characters and vigorous storytelling.”
Wow, I LOVE this. Kirkus’s “Recommended Reviews” are treasured by creators, for good reason, as they assure readers that MAIL-ORDER MONSTERS is a good bet. Click here or on the preview below for the whole review. And please do consider buying the book for a young person in your life! 🙂
It’s been a wild ride since my husband and I created Fantasy Art Workshop’s Illustration Intensive back in 2016. We had just seven attendees that first year of our in-person workshop, but we gave it our all and continued to grow until we finally reached 77 attendees in June 2025. We’ve made more friends along the way than we ever imagined. We can’t say thank you enough to our core faculty, special guests, and all the people who devoted their time and energy to attend.
At one time we imagined our workshop would go on and on each year, growing bigger and better. We did finally fall into a groove and managed to create a smooth running workshop. However, everything comes to an end, and the time felt right for us to pursue personal goals we hadn’t had the time to tackle between planning/running the workshop, our individual industry events, and caring for an aging parent. Something had to give. Sadly, that meant shutting down the workshop we’ve all grown to love. This is simply another pivot for us, and how surprising that choices and pivots were recurring themes throughout all speakers’ presentations. Kismet.
We will carry many amazing memories from our time together. We hope you wish us well, as we sincerely wish you all the best on your own creative journey.
Friend and fellow author Valerie Biel runs a fun series on her blog called Strange But True, in which she asks authors to share the ways their research has taught them something new, encouraged a new hobby, or inspired them to travel.
I wrote how my need for a character to have a quiet, introspective moment led to her pulling out of her pocket a spinning top. As the words escaped my fingertips and became type, I was surprised by the triggered memory. I loved loved loved spinning tops as a kid. The toy’s hypnotic spin was the perfect way to slow this character down, if only for a moment.
To celebrate the completion of the final manuscript, I bought a spinning top, the first I’ve ever bought, I think. It’s the red, white, and black one in the photo above. It turns pink and purple when spinning, which is just wild. That flat blue one sitting next to it is from my childhood and earliest memories. Now, as an ode to the simple joys in life, I think I’ll start a small but meaningful spinners collection. Feel free to send tops my way. 🙂
If you’d like see the bigger top in action (and the amazement of my cat Deco), watch the video HERE,
Enjoy!
Silvia Acevedo
Silvia Acevedo
Silvia Acevedo
Silvia Acevedo
Silvia Acevedo
Silvia Acevedo
Silvia Acevedo
Silvia Acevedo