“Twas The Night Before The Egg Bowl” Book Signing In The Grove Saturday, Sept. 17

Kathryn Hood will be releasing her new Ole Miss Children’s Book, “Twas the Night before the Egg Bowl,” on Alabama Game Day, September 17, 2016 at a signing in front of the Ole Miss Student Union. The Barnes and Noble Ole Miss Campus Book Store is sponsoring the event which is Hood’s fourth book signing for the Ole Miss book store.

Joining Kathryn Hood at the signing is Alicia Marie Venchuk who will be playing and singing two Ole Miss songs with lyrics by Mrs. Hood, “The Ole Miss Rebel Blues” and “Go, Rebels, Fight!” Alicia Marie was honored to be named “artist to watch” by Paul Gilbert in the Guitar Player Magazine in 2011, and is one of nine instrumentalists included in Buddy Guy’s “Guitar Prodigy Line-up” on his website.

She has performed at the Chicago Blues Festival, the Detroit Jazz Festival, Buddy Guy’s Legends, The Detroit Institute of the Arts and the Idlewild Music Festival. Her video channel (bluesbaby8) has received over a million views on YouTube.

Alicia Marie, a solo electric and acoustic fingerpicking artist, is the member of four bands: RJ Spangler’s Kansas City Six, Big Al and the BRotheres’ of the Blues, Catfish Pie and is the guitarist for the University of Mississippi’s top jazz ensemble, The Mississippians. A second year doctoral student in English at Ole Miss, Alicia Marie is a vocalist and guitarist who specializes in various genres, mainly old school blues, jazz, funk and folk music.

Hood will also be signing copies of “Ole Miss from A to Z,” which has become an Ole Miss children’s classic, as well as her “Ole Miss Activity Book” and Ole Miss Rebel Blues CD. “The Ole Miss Rebel Blues” is played in Vaught Hemingway Stadium after home games.

Catawomper Press, LLC has published all of Hood’s books, including “The Adventures of Foxy Reb,” which she co-authored with Rebel Rags owner Terry Warren. Catawomper Press obtained collegiate licensing for The University of Mississippi in 2013.

In order for a book or any product to be licensed by CLC for the University of Mississippi, the completed product must be approved by both Ole Miss and the Collegiate Licensing Company. Obtaining CLC licensing is an arduous process that many small business owners have told the author they prefer not to undertake. Hood said that she didn’t have a choice but to pursue licensing because at the time she completed her first book, she was unable to find a publishing company in Mississippi with collegiate licensing for Ole Miss that published children’s books.

Kathryn Hood

“The problem with getting a collegiate license for a children’s book is that Ole Miss must approve every detail of the book after the book is completed and the illustrations are in print-ready form,” Hood said. “Unlike other products licensed such as a cap or tee-shirt, a full-colored children’s book is more complex. Ole Miss may require changes in the author’s text and/or content of the drawing. I had to redo several illustrations that appear in my new book three times. Often it is difficult to get the colors exactly right since the illustrator’s shading can slightly change the pantone colors required by Ole Miss. I am happy to make the changes required, but it can be costly to have to redo illustrations after the artist hands me the finished project.”

Ole Miss wants all products licensed by them and CLC to be of high quality and to accurately represent The University’s image. Only products approved and licensed may use the CLC seal. A percentage of all sales must be paid through CLC to Ole Miss. When I started my business, the fee was 10% of the sale price. Now it is 12%. I think it is wonderful that when an Ole Miss fan buys my books, they are indirectly donating 12% of the price to the University. The same is true of all Ole Miss items which bear the CLC seal.

An author from Madison who has just written another Ole Miss alphabet book published by Mascot Books called me for advice on the business side of writing children’s books. After telling her everything I could think of that I had learned over the past 4 years, I concluded with this piece of advice: “Write your Ole Miss children’s books because you want to share your love for Ole Miss with future Rebels, not because you want to make money.”

Hood hopes to have another book out this football season. “Be a Fan like Finn” is a story about two double first cousins, Finneous R. Landshark and Muddford R. Catfish, who are avid Ole Miss fans. Finneous, Finn for short, is a young landshark who is a good sport and knows how to behave at Ole Miss games. His cousin Muddford, better known as The Mud Cat, is about the worst sports fan one can imagine. The comparison between the two cousins is funny and entertaining and teaches good sportsmanship at the same time.

Kathryn Hood

My books may be purchased from my website, KathrynHoodBooks.com, as well as in over 25 stores in Mississippi and the Memphis area. Several owners of these stores have invited me to sign in their booths at events like Mistletoe in Jackson, Celebration Village in Tupelo, and The Canton Flea Market Arts and Crafts Show. I will share a booth at Hotty Toddy Holiday Market with local artist Holly Clay.

This year I had a booth at the Ole Miss Ladies’ Football Forum which was a lot of fun. I have purchased a landshark costume and a Foxy costume. I hired two Ole Miss theatre students to wear the costumes, greet customers at my booth and have their pictures taken with them. Children loved them!

By Kathryn Hood

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