Transcripts
1. Class 4 Intro/Welcome Back!: Hey, welcome to writing a picture book are for. In this series I've shared a lot of important information about how to go about writing your very own children's book. From creating characters kids love in class number 1, to actually building your story brick by brick in class 3. Now that you've picked out engaging characters, you've learned how to bank story ideas for future manuscripts. And you've discovered to winning formulas for constructing and writing your story, it's time to tackle the most important tool for your future success. We will also discuss the pros and cons, both traditional and self-publishing so that you can make an informed decision as to what would be the best route for you to take. You explain the difference between a cover letter and a query letter and give you some insight as to what today's publishing editors require from you, the author? I'll answer the question I hear the most. How do I go about finding an illustrator? Finally, we'll talk a little bit about life after publication. In other words, you have this great book in your hands, but you don't know what to do with it. How do you get it into the hands of young readers? I'll let you in on a little secret. Writing the thing was the easy part. Join me. Lisa, Michael's, as once again, we dive into the world of picture books.
2. Sharing/Getting Honest Feedback: So now you finally written down your story and you're thinking, okay, so now I have to read it to my spouse or my best buddy or my kids or my mom? Yeah. My mom will listen without rolling her eyes. Sure she will. And my husband will put down the remote. I can dream. The truth is all these people are the ones you should avoid. Yep, don't even go there. You'll get more honest reactions from your dog. My manuscript, don't you, Eloise? Traitor. I get no respect. Let's review that again. Your significant other is heavily invested in the relationship, but they have with you, and they need to be supportive no matter what. They simply will not be responsible for whatever results may come from any negativity. And you'll only get smiles and nods. Now I know some of you are like Mitanni tells me the truth no matter what, even if it hurts. Really. Where were we? Oh, yeah. Your best friend? This person is more likely to be honest. But do you know any of the rules for writing children's literature? They might say it needs a bit of work. So you'll know that they're being honest, but then counter that with the concept is brilliant in order to support lovely pump you up. Now what is their opinion worth? Really? Little kids love everything mommy's do, because your love is attached to it. Every young child believes their mom is the smartest and the prettiest. Hitting your picture book manuscript to your teenager makes even less sense. It's like a fasting to be insulted. Mom. Yes. So let's talk about parents. Parents come in a variety of types. The type that want to fix everything you do, even when there's nothing wrong. The type that think that you can do no wrong. The type that finds something wrong in everything you do. And the ones who believe that everything their children do is amazing. What are the odds that any of their opinions really help you? I think you know. So who should we trust to give us honest, helpful feedback? You guessed it. Strangers who also write kids LET they're not invested in a relationship with you. They're more likely to tell you what they think will help to improve your work. And isn't that what you really want?
3. Critiquing Correctly and Respectfully: Let's talk about standard critiquing methods beginning with the critter sandwich. If you haven't had lunch yet. But they'll look pretty good. But the sandwich that I'm talking about is the standard method of critiquing that's used by critique prose across the globe. When you critique another writer's work, remember to sandwich in some positive, supportive remarks along with any necessary corrections. Treat your fellow writers with the respect that they deserve. Just like you. They mustered up the courage to send their work out into the world. And for that reason alone, you must be kind, hey, you never know, you might run into them at a conference or a workshop. If you only pointed out their manuscripts flaws, they might paint you as an overly critical jerk and avoid you. How embarrassing would that be? Every critter develop some tweaks, their own method of critiquing. Over time. We talked about the sandwich method, which everyone should be using. The line by line method is very thorough but time-consuming. If you haven't critiqued much. You read over each sentence, commenting as you go along. This is most useful for those authors who clearly don't know standard rules for children's book writing. As you have the opportunity to explain your thoughts as you go. Unfortunately, you also run the risk of intimidating your author by using this method. Temperature comments with reminders that it's not personal. You're only trying to help them improve their work with your suggestions. I call this my pros and cons method. I go down the list that I've created and ask myself how the story performed, then I explain my findings. Here's a critique using this method that I did first story about a child learning to swim. First, let me say that I thought this was very sweet. I could picture it all in my head and I was right there with her. You did a nice job in bringing the reader along on our journey of growth and discovery and helping us to feel and understand her trepidation. I also like the fact that the character was never named and her age wasn't mentioned. As I'm sure you are aware, this is very unusual, but it works in your story because it allows the reader to quite easily picture herself in the role. The story has a clear beginning, middle, and end, and it flows nicely until we got to the part where she actually jumps in. Did you hear how I sandwiched in praise for all the good things that the author did with her story. Did you notice how I tried to be kind in my assessment of all the things that needed improvement. Okay, so admittedly, when you're learning to critique, you probably won't dive in this deep. But remember, you're trying to help. And that goes a long way. Before I began this critique, I asked myself things like, Was there an obvious plot? Was the author quick to identify the problem that needed solving? Could I hear the characters voices? Did the main character solve his or her own problem or issue without an adult assisting? Was the manuscript written tightly without wasted words? Did they use descriptive words that will be seen in the illustrations? If so, they should be removed. Look, I know this seems like an awful lot to remember that you can do this. Don't be intimidated by the critiquing process. Even new authors have the ability to help others. You are a fresh set of eyes looking at the author's work from your own unique perspective, that alone is worth something as you could spot an issue that the author hadn't even considered, you know, more than you think you do. Helping others is a great way to share what you've learned along the way and solidify the information that's in your own head. I hope you'll keep going. You're about to find out how I learned to write.
4. My Story: Hey, we're back. So I wanted to take a pause and tell you just a little bit about my story and how I got started. Hey, if I can do it, anybody can. The truth of the matter is, I'm an illustrator. An illustrator who learned how to write. Back in 2000, I got my very first computer and I realized pretty quickly that I could use it to make art, not just art, illustration. And that led to thinking about, well, children's books. And how could I possibly create children's books using this brand new thing that had just come out and was dumped in my lab. It was incredible. I opening and it just totally rocked my world. So I decided to go to the bookstore and checkout children's books and see what that was all about. And I stumbled over the endcap area and there sat Shell Silverstein Facebook where the sidewalk ends. And I saw all the cute little illustrations. And I fell in love with the poems. And for some stupid reason I thought, Oh, I can do that. How naive was I? Anyway? So I pick it up and I read it cover to cover. In less than maybe an hour and a half, sitting there in the bookstore drinking my coffee and totally oblivious to the rest of the world. And when I woke up and realized where I was, I had The dissected this book and fallen in love with the idea of becoming a children's book illustrator and possibly writing something one day that other people might want to read. And so I went home all excited and all wound up and got back on my computer and started looking for anything that I could find that had to do with organizations that helped people do what I was hoping to do. And I stumbled over the STB wi, the society of children's book writers and illustrators. And if you haven't discovered them yet, you need to check them out. It's www dot MSC be W, i dot o, RG. Go there. You owe it to yourself. If you've come this far in my classes already, then you definitely need to check it out and become a member. It will totally changed the whole thing for you. So fast forward, I joined the SC BWI really quick and found out that they had a local critique group. And boy was I excited because I thought, Oh, I'm going to meet another Illustrator or somebody else who has the same ideas as me and the same ambition and can help me with my artwork and helped me to improve. And I was really thinking, I'm going to have a mentor and this is going to be great and I'm going to just fly through this thing, leaps and bounds, and I'm going to be published tomorrow. Yeah, right, So that didn't happen. But something really wonderful Did I found six incredibly talented women in this critique group and I didn't know it yet. But they were going to teach me how to write. Bombed out. I mean, there wasn't an illustrator in the bunch. And I thought, what have I got to contribute to these authors who clearly are extremely talented and way beyond my league. And so I thought, well, I can't give up yet. So I went to the meetings and I sat through them and I was very quiet for the first few meetings. I didn't say much at all. I just listened. And through the listening, I started to learn. And it started to sink in. And then I started to think about what I didn't have to contribute because I was an illustrator. They weren't, they didn't know how I see things and how I conceptualize their writing and could turn it into something visual. So I started to realize that I had a special point of view. I had something they didn't. And I started to think about how could that possibly help them? And in helping them. I was helping myself oh, for about a year, I guess. I went to meetings and I listened as the critiques went around the room and people were reading their stories and, and I contributed as much as I possibly could for my illustrator perspective. And things went really well and I learned a lot. And in 2004, a year later, I was ready to write my own book and illustrate it as well, which I did, and passed it around to all of them and got their critiques and their opinions. And they helped a lot too, revise it with me and make it better. And eventually I send it out for submissions with big hopes. So here is, without further ado. This was my very first book that I did, purple Piggies. And it went nowhere. But it did receive some actually good feedback. I got some letters back from real editors and they were very encouraging and that helped me a lot. It really gave me quite an ego boost, as you can imagine. And it didn't tell me that I was on the right track and that I'm just needed to figure out the right way to go about it. So I kept working at it. I didn't take no for an answer. I send it out probably to 10 different publishers. Got back three really great letters that were very supportive and encouraging. And then I decided maybe I should listen to what they told me. And mostly what they were telling me was that my illustrations were not up to par. Go figure. I didn't see that coming. So as an illustrator termed author, I was really surprised when they came back and said to me that I needed to improve my illustrations. Well, I joined this Writers Group and now I'm a better writer. So since the SUB wi doesn't have any illustrators in my area, I'm going to look for one online. I'm gonna see if I can find a group online. So that's what I did with back to my computer and send out feelers. And before I knew it, I was smack dab in the middle of this fantastic group of Illustrators. I can't believe how lucky I am. And they're just so incredibly supportive and talented. And it helped tremendously. Okay, so fast forward six years, I attended meetings and went to conferences and took workshops. And I revised manuscripts over and over and over again. I critiqued others. I learned from all of those wonderful writers. They helped me to become better at what I was doing. And in 2010, I formed my own online critique group. It ran for seven years. And we had at least 25 writers ongoing coming in and out through the doors of the yellow brick road. And it was a wonderful environment in which to learn. And that's what got me here today, thanks to the yellow brick road, I've been published in magazines and I've had sections of books that I've written and contributed to. And in 2017, I began professionally doing content editing and critiquing. And it's just been a wonderful wild ride. I've illustrated in published at least 25 plus children's books since 2003. But I will always and forever be the illustrator who learned how to write. And if I did it, you can too.
5. Preparing Submissions: Hi and welcome back for Video Hive. Louise wanted to see herself. She gets so excited. Archie, you a pretty girl. Okay. Are you happy now? You said Hi everybody. At your yellow RUN D Well enough about me. And Eloise has made her cameo appearance. Now that you know who should be critiquing your work and how to critique the work of others. Let's make sure that you're formatting your manuscripts correctly before you start sending them out into the world. Here's an example of how I formatted my manuscript. Odysseus pride, the one we talked about in the previous class. Notice that at the beginning I put my own name, my address, and my phone number, and my email address. I wanna make sure that they can get a hold of me if they're interested. Next comes the publishing companies name, the publisher street address, state and zip, and then the editor's name. If you have it. If you don't have the editor's name, It's okay. Look at the guidelines and see if they have asked you to address it to anyone in particular. Could be an associate editor or someone else. If you do have a name, that's where you want to put it. Next, you want to drop down about halfway down the page and type in your title. You want to put it in all caps in 14 point font. And then dropped down the next line down and put in your name again, all in caps. Unless you've been told otherwise. In the guidelines, dropped down to more spaces and begin your story, make sure that you're indenting is correct. You want to be at least three spaces over. I've got six spaces over on mine. The body of your story should be in 12 point font. And it should be something simple like Arial or New Times Roman. You want something that's going to be easy on the editors eyes. Hey, read a lot of manuscripts in a day. Finally, you wanna make sure that you have one-inch margins all the way around top and bottom. So I decide. And last but not least, if you have more than one page, which undoubtedly will flip them over and on the back of each page, make sure that your name, address, and email address is on the very back top corner. That way, if your manuscript gets separated in the editor's office and part of it winds up on the associate editors desk and part of it's on the editor's desk. Eventually, they'll find their way together again. You don't want your manuscript getting split up and lost just because your name's not on the individual pages. Correctly formatting your manuscript not only shows others that you are a true professional, it also demonstrates how much you respect their time and the fact that they're willing to read your work. The standard requirements are one inch margins all the way around the page. No misspelled words, spellcheck catches most of these. A sincere attempt to use proper punctuation. It's very obvious when a writer doesn't know how to use punctuations, make it your business to learn the function be 12 points, New Times, Roman or Arial, nothing fancy or colorful. Anything else will cause eye strain for the editor. Reads all day long. Use plain 8.5 by 11 paper. Don't do anything unusual, no graphics, no colors, NEF and fancy. Your story should be the main attraction and memorable enough. Your title would be centered halfway down the first page, followed by your name. For critiques only, add the word count underneath your name. This should be followed by three blank spaces and then your manuscript begins. Now you're probably wondering, how do I figure out where to send my work? As you embark on your new writing career, keep in mind that the industry is changing every minute. Part of your job is to keep up the work, those changes into your writing and submitting routines. It's always nice to have a few online lists of publishers. As your go-to. Over time, you will grow your own list, tailoring it to fit the type of books that you hope to publish. Publishers that are specifically a good fit for you. Here's a few lists to get you started in your search. So let's walk through a submission search together. Going down the list of publishers, read each description. It tells you what they publish, along with the information about each company. When you find one that looks promising, click on the name to go directly to the website I've chosen Sleeping Bear press. Next, look for the submissions link. They made it easy to find, but not every site does. Once you were into the submissions page, read it carefully, looked to be sure that they are seeking that type of book that you have written. If not, go back to your publishers list and move on. If they do publish the type of book you envision for your manuscript. Read on. Look for the submissions. Address, read the submission guidelines thoroughly. Don't miss anything as it could cost you causing a guaranteed rejection for not following the guidelines to the letter. There are other ways to find publishers as well. My favorite and most productive way to find a publisher that's right for me, is to go to the bookstore. One is my favorite place on earth. To, I can physically look at the published books, drinking in the illustrations, examining the formatting and the construction and the page count. Notice the font, type and the cover design. And if I really love a book and I can imagine my manuscript produced in a similar way. Then I look inside at the front matter to find the publisher's information. For example, I happen to have here a copy of Tommy DPA Ola's book. It's even signed. The art lesson. I'll let you get a sneak peek. There's a signature pretty cool home inside. If you open it up and you look at the front matter, you can't find anything and doesn't help. But if I go all the way to the back and I look at the back flap, There's the information right there on the bottom gives the publisher's name and the address. And nowadays sometimes they even put the website on there. Now this is an old book from 1989. Here's a newer book. Isn't this? Q. This one sprite Debbie, who Neo, close friend of mine. And if you open it up and looked in the front at the front matter. Now, sometimes you'll find that on the front flap, but not this one. We opened it up and inside bright page, if you read through, it says first edition and write in there is this guy, pony press and it gives their address. And it also gives info at Skyhorse publishing.com. So it tells you exactly where to go to find their information. So it depends on the age of the book as to where you're going to find that publisher information. But it's there. You just have to look hard to find it. Before we move on to the cover and query letters, I want to share a little bit more with you about the whole critiquing process when you ask or pay someone to critique your manuscript, remember that it's not you that they're assessing, it's the work that you've produced. And you need honest feedback. Even if it hurts, the truth is no matter how kind a critique or is, the critique, always feels personal, unless you make it a point to remember why you asked for it in the first place. Critiques help us to grow exponentially, pointing out the things that we somehow overlooked, they force us to see our work from an editor's point of view. And that my friends is worth its weight in gold.
6. Cover Letters: I'm glad you are too. You just took in a lot of information. So we're going to fast forward just a little bit to play. Pretend. You've just written an incredibly unique manuscript. And you fleshed out some wonderful characters that kids are just gonna love. You've had your Manuscript critique several times and you've tweeted until you can't stand, look at it anymore than you through your fears right out. And you pay for professional critique from a Content Editor. And they help you polish it until it sparkles. And Jin's, it's better than anything you ever imagine. You are capable of finding. You're ready for submissions, right? Well, sorta hold on their partner. It's about to get rough. It's got ruddy the ad mystify a hover on that. But I don't know. That kind of scared me. They are that scary would cover letters can be very intimidating for both new and seasoned writers because they are every bit as important as the manuscript itself. If your cover letter isn't written and formatted properly, it's very unlikely that your manuscript will ever get read. A port cover letter is a clear indication that the author hasn't done any research or taken the time to find out what is required. If you were an editor looking for the next great storyteller, would you bother going any further? Let's take a closer look at that last Cover Letter. You might think it's not too bad. But let's take it apart and see what's really happening here. It has one inch margins, just like your manuscript. Check, great job. It has all your information at the top left corner. Jack. Sure, on our roll, it addressed the editor. Now let's read the synopsis. This is where things begin to unravel. Your synopsis should sound very much like the story we're enclosing. It should sound like you wrote it, not some sales associate. Yeah, it's a sales pitch, but it shouldn't sound like one. Editors get those every day. In this first sample, the first line doesn't tell us much about Otis or that he is the main character. Oldest is a smart pug. He belongs to six year old Sophie. The second line leads us to wonder if Sophia's the main character. On Easter morning, he snatches Sophie's bunny ears and buries them in the backyard. The third line tells us about Odysseus actions, but doesn't tell us why he does these things. So as this story about Odysseus, Sophie, Easter theft, why? When Sophie realizes they're missing, she's upset and oldest knows that he must do something will owe to save Easter. This next sentence leaves the editor asking more questions. And finally, the synopsis ends with a question that the editor can't possibly answer. This editor who wants to know what it is you're selling? So let's rewrite that synopsis. The first line does triple duty. It tells us who our main character is, his motivation, and it identifies the protagonist. Oldest adores Sophie, but he hates Easter. The second line tells the editor what Odysseus problem is. No self-respecting pug, Where's bunny ears? Yet he knows he'll give in once she lovingly places them on his head. Second line again tells us what his problem is. The third line confirms that Odysseus attempts to solve his problem on his own as main characters are supposed to. When he fails, he imagines many ways to stop Easter from comic. But when Odysseus pride ruins Sophie's Easter, he knows that he's the only one who can save the day. The final line reveals the final outcome without giving away too much. Do you see how this one's better? There's no question that a synopsis is difficult to write. Even seasoned writers struggle with them. I know I do sometimes condensing your entire story into a short paragraph can be near impossible, but you do get better at. You must identify your main character, the protagonist, then reveal their problem. You also need to get right to the heart of your story. In this case, 0 does, puts his own needs aside because he loves his Sophie. Finally, you need to hint at a satisfying conclusion, enticing the editor. Making the wonder if your story is as great as it sounds. All in an attempt to make them read it. The reason you must do all of this in a single short paragraph might shock you, believe it or not, when your cover letter lands on the associate editors desk, he or she will glance over it for about 30 seconds. If the first few lines of your synopsis don't grab their attention, it's unlikely that the editor in chief will ever see your submission. The associate editor is the gatekeeper. It's their job to pour over every submission that is received before it goes to the big boss's desk. If you haven't followed the guide where your cover letter didn't deliver what they're looking for. They'll quickly pass on your submission. Unfortunately, it will wind up in the slush pile for some young intern to go over and learn from. Or it could be rejected entirely. But if the associate editor sees promise in your submission, they will then forward it directly to the boss's desk, the editor in chief. If you make it to that desk, you did everything, right. Rejection can still happen for a number of reasons that have nothing to do with the quality of your submission. You can be rejected because there's already a similar story that was recently accepted or they've met their quota for this year's publications and have budget restrictions. Or there could be changes within the company. It could just be all about bad timing. The truth is, with the large number of manuscripts that are now being received every month, editors just don't have the time to respond with explanations as to why each submission is rejected. Remember, editors are in this business to make money. It's up to you to convince them that your manuscript is something they can't afford to pass up. Now that you understand the importance of a brief but great synopsis, Here's how you follow it up. The next paragraph should contain your story's title, word count, and intended age group. Follow that with a section explaining why you feel you qualified to write the story. What inspired you? Why did you feel compelled to write it? Whatever information you share. Remember to keep it very positive and professional. You don't want to come across sounding like a real rookie. Don't say something like, I've never been published before. So I hope you'll give me a shot. You're just pointing out the obvious and you're sounding desperate in the process. So negative. Don't say, I'm sending you this because my kids does love it. That screams novice. You might as well say, my children, who tell me what I want to hear. My only focus group and you should take their word for it because well, they're kids. Yeah. The next section should highlight any successes that you've had. If you haven't had any publications, skip this part. I know you'll be tempted to embellish it with something like if you publish me, I'll work really hard. But don't do that. Also, you can and should include in this section any classes, workshops, or seminars that you've participated in. And if you are in a critique group that shows them that you are serious and you understand the revision process. Unless you are a professional illustrator, do not send illustrations with your manuscript. But if you are and your including the dummy book, mentioned it in the next paragraph and explain your qualifications for doing so. In the following paragraph, tell them if you are able to assist them in marketing your book. Have you done school presentations? Have you set up your author website or Facebook page? Do you have a following as a writer? If you haven't done any of those things, now is definitely the time to start thinking about it. Editors prefer to work with authors who were prepared to assist them in promoting their books. Gone or the gaze of publisher sending authors out on promotional tours. Nowadays, the successful book has everything to do with how much time the author is willing to invest in settling it. Finally, keep your closing short and sweet. Don't get carried away with the Yours, true leaves or thank you so much for your time and effort. Remember that 30-second rule. You've already been way past it by now. And hopefully you've convinced them to read your story. Now that you know how to write a cover letter, the query letter is pretty much the same thing, but sin, under different circumstances. If you haven't heard it already, chances are good that you will run into a scenario where the publishing company states that they are not accepting unsolicited manuscripts. Query letters are the solution to that problem. The very definition of unsolicited is not asked for. So you send them a query letter, asking them for permission to send your manuscript. And it gets your synopsis in front of them and it tells them about you and your book and the fact that you, unlike many other people who send manuscripts their way, can read guidelines. You are respectfully asking them to solicit your manuscript. And if they do, you are no longer unsolicited and you should immediately send it because they're interested in the first paragraph of a new cover letter that you will send along with your package. Briefly, thank them for their permission, followed by a repeat of your synopsis. Although you will want to address it to the person who granted you permission, it's possible that someone else might get it. Make sure that you have included everything that they need to know. Even if you are repeating yourself.
7. Agents: Hi. Many of you have told me that I needed to improve the lighting and the sound quality of my classes. I guess you want to hear what I have to say. Configure that. Anyway. I heard you and pretty cool, right? You have asked me about agents. So here's what I've learned. Agents are wonderful for getting your manuscripts sold. If you've already had a bit of publishing success, but not so much for the new unpublished author. There are several reasons why new authors must be educated in the business, requiring extra time and hand-holding. New authors expect instant success and are disappointed if the agent doesn't report back regularly regarding their efforts to find a publisher. New authors seldom understand the monumental effort that it takes to get there manuscript in front of publishing editors. New authors don't always comprehend the fact that not every manuscript fits every publisher. Meaning that even agents have to be in the right place at the right time with the right manuscript. Your manuscript could be the greatest that your agent has ever read. But that doesn't automatically mean that publishers will buy it. If you've never had anything published. Sometimes that alone will make a publisher thing twice. Think about it this way. Imagine that you are a traditional publisher and you're about to sink thousands of your company's dollar into a brand new book. Your success is riding on your decision. You pick a new inexperienced author or a seasoned, proven professional writer who knows exactly what is expected and has a built-in following. Kids who are eager to get their hands on that author's next big thing. Agents know that new unpublished authors are usually a very hard sell. So more often than not, they avoid them. Getting an agent is usually harder than finding a publisher on your own. Finally, consider the fact that if you do manage to find an agent with your brilliant, perfect manuscript, that agent will take around 25 to 30 percent of your paycheck right off the top before you ever see a dime.
8. Traditional vs. Self-Publishing: We've talked a lot about how to submit your work to traditional publishers. I've shown you how to create an enticing cover letter. I've explained how to format your manuscript and follow publisher guidelines. I've shown you how to find publishers and their mailing information. Now I'm going to walk you through properly assembling and mailing your work, print off your cover letter, and make sure that you signed it. Next, you're going to print off your manuscript. All the pages. I have three. Make sure that you put your contact information on the back of all your pages, with the exception of the very first page, we want to make sure that if your manuscript gets separated, that all the other pages can be found. Finally, you want to take your manuscript pages, all of them. A cover letter, and place your cover letter in front of your manuscript. And then you want to make mall nice and neat, know paperclips, no staples, nothing. Just the pages. Really put them in a flat envelope like this one. That everything inside label it correctly according to the guidelines. And you're good to go. Male that puppy. There are more people self-publishing now than ever before. There are many reasons for this. But for the past 10 years, the number one reason has been frustration over rejection by traditional publishers. Before you give up the traditional route, consider why you're being rejected. Have you done everything that you've learned in this four-part course? Is your story extremely unique or told in a new and more modern way? Do your characters have strong voices that young children can identify with? Is your lesson subtle or hard for kids to spot? Is the story appropriate for picture book age children ages four to seven? Is your cover letter or query letter well-written? Or you careful to follow all of the publishers guidelines. Did you target publishers who specifically publish books like yours? When you know that you've done everything that you possibly can and you're ready to move on to another option, then self-publishing might be the answer for you. Here's a few more reasons why that many authors today are deciding to self-publish. Number one, there's an increasing number of self-publishing options and websites. Number two, the realization that traditional publishers control every aspect of the process. Number 3, traditional publishers choose the illustrator for your book, and you seldom have any communication with the illustrator until the book is published. Number for social media has made it easier for authors to market and promote their own books. Number 5, traditional publisher seldom pay more than 5% of each sale in royalties and many have stopped giving advances when purchasing the manuscript. Self-publishing increases the possibility, a much higher profit margin. And finally, number six, children's book publishers now expect authors to assist in marketing and promotions. They no longer send authors on book signing tours. Like the days of old. If you decide to self-publish, keep in mind that your book will be competing with those traditionally published. Self-publishing is not simple. And there are many pitfalls to watch out for. Your self-published book will need beautiful illustrations that look polished and professional. You will need to find and pay a reputable, experienced illustrator who will communicate with your printer to find out all the particulars for producing properly sized and formatted illustrations. Your new manuscript will need to be revised and polished until it is the best that it can possibly be before you put it in the hands of impressionable young children. That means looking out for and paying a reputable content editor who knows the business of children's book publishing. Once the story is well-written, you'll need to hire a proofreader to ensure that there are no spelling and grammatical errors. Don't assume that your content editor will do this. Avoid vanity. Publishers. Any company who asks you for thousands of dollars in exchange for publishing your book is a vanity press. I can't stress this enough. Traditional publishers slash real publishers. They pay you, you don't pay them. And if you're self-publishing, you shouldn't have to spend more than a few $100. At best. The most expense you will have is your Illustrator. And they're very upfront about how much they expect. I should know, vanity publishers will skirt around the truth, promising you marketing assistance and easy publishing. In the end, you will have paid thousands for a pile of poorly produced books that you'll have to try and sell all by yourself. There are a lot of sharks in the water pretending to be something or someone that they're not. If you choose to self-publish, be careful.
9. Collaboration: A picture book needs illustrations to bring the story to life. If you decide to self-publish, the illustrator should be respected as your creative equal. When egos are kept in check, this collaborative partnering produces magical results and often lifelong friendships. I've illustrated dozens of picture books and worked with lots of self-publishing authors. One of the things that I've learned is that few authors realize what's involved in creating illustrations or book is your baby and my right. Your illustrator needs to be just as passionate and excited about your project as you are. Otherwise, your publication story could become your nightmare. And finding the right Illustrator is every bit as important as writing your story. Illustrations should enhance your written text. Adding new elements that are not in the written story. For example, in a picture book I illustrated craw fish do. There's no mention of a little green frog in Sammy's pocket. Yet it shows up on many pages adding emotion and fun to the scene. In a mouse in the White House. The text never mentions the chaos that is illustrated as the mouse runs through in the kitchen. Yet the illustration brings it to life with the batter spilling the cake, wobbling the fixtures, rattling, the pots boiling over, and the broccoli flying. The author told me that he never imagined I would draw it this way, but he loved it. And so do the kids. As a new author, you're just learning how all of this works. So you need an illustrator who's educated in self-publishing. Person you choose should have successfully completed at least one entire book prior to yours, preferably more. And there should be proof of their claim viewable on the Internet. Let me ask you this. Why would you pay someone to use your project as their very first practice run? Look for an illustrator who has a website or web gallery for you to look at and check out their work. Make sure that it fits your project and it's exactly what you're looking for. Make sure it contains samples of their previous children's book illustrations showing character continuity and the ability to create scenes and action. If they don't have a presence on the Internet, chances are they have no experience either. So how much help can they really be? I've heard so many scary stories from so many authors who hired inexperienced illustrators directly off the Internet on the cheap from sites like Fiverr.com who by the way, use clip art. They tweak it a little bit and then sell it back to you as new art. So wrong. Anyway. I've also heard about authors who hired friends or kids right out of college, thinking that it would give them the advantage of having complete control over the outcome of the illustrations. Don't do that. The problem with getting an inexperienced illustrator is that you could wind up paying for poorly executed illustrations that look amateurish. In this example, it's obvious the illustrator used free clip art found on the Internet. This Illustrator not only use clip art, notice that there's three different kinds of drawing styles, but they squished objects in to make them fit and the perspective is all wrong. Check this out. This author's book was so generic, it didn't sell. So she had a completely redone. What a difference? Now she probably promotes this new version. Imagine wasting all that money. Here. You think your book is done in, It's not. Each of those people had to seek out a true professional to fix the problem before they could go onto publication. That costs them more money than they would've spent in the first place if they hadn't gone. The cheap route.
10. Marketing & Promoting: Nowadays, no matter how you publish your book, you will need to do some marketing. Building an audience results in book sales. You can't just park your book on Amazon and expected to take off. Have you seen how many books are on Amazon lately? Trying to find a book is like trying to find your teenager at a Billie Eilish concert. You'll need to think about other ways to promote your book, like classroom presentations, trade shows, craft shows, and book fairs. They're all a great place to sell. But most require a fee to rent the booth for the show, which by the way, is a business expense come tax time. Teaching other aspiring authors a free crash course on how to publish their books is a clever way to sell copies of your own. Make sure you have copies on hand to sell at the end of your presentation. You'll soon discover that everyone wants to know how you did it. Prepare to build a professional looking website where followers can find out more about you. Don't overpay for a professional coder with all the simple building tools available, it's easy and inexpensive. This five-page site was designed using the books, illustrations, and photos for less than $300. It increases sales and is comparable in form and function to websites that cost thousands. It's a great idea to create a Facebook page for you and your character to safely interact with little readers and buyers of all ages. Post frequent updates to inform your customers of your new releases, book signing events, classroom visits, or embellish on your character's personality, giving him or her the spotlight? I know it seems like a lot, doesn't it? But if you do some pre-planning and you ask for a little bit of help from your community of fellow authors. I know that YouTube can find success as a children's book writer.
11. The Denouement: So here we are at the end of the series. I'm so incredibly proud of you. Look at how far you've come and how much you've learned. We started this series with a call to action. I showed you how to create characters that kids will love. I asked you to be fearless and take a leap into the pool of creativity and fun. And you began to understand how important it is to stake your claim proudly declaring, I'm a children's book writer. In the second part, this four-part series, I showed you where to find amazing stories and how to make them unique. We discussed how to find the time to write and how to preserve ideas for future stories. We got down to the nitty gritty in Part 3, I provided you with specific instructions and guides like free text pyramid and my story wheel to help you with each and every element of building your story brick by brick. We dissected my manuscript, Odysseus pride as an example from the exposition to the denouement so that you don't miss a single stroke and creating your own incredible story. We have covered a lot in this series. I've given you all the tools of the trade and a lot of my tricks. In this final class, you learned different methods of critiquing and its value. You learned how to format your work for submission to publishers. You discovered the difference between a cover letter and a query letter and how to write them effectively. You can now write a synopsis of your story, getting right to the heart of it in thirty-seconds flat. You know how difficult it will be to find an agent and why you might want to just go for it on your own for awhile. We talked about self-publishing and all that it involves. I warned you about vanity presses and inexperienced illustrators looking to rip you off. Finally, we touched on marketing and building an audience for your work. That's right. Your work. They call it that because writing for children is just that. It's work. But it's incredibly fulfilling when you allow your inner child to run through the fields of your imagination. My friend, the child in reaching out to the child. Thank you for being a part of my journey and adding to my story. The only thing left for me to say, welcome to the world of picture books.
Lisa Michaels, Pro Freelance Illustrator/Author
