So you want to write and/or illustrate a children's book. NOW WHAT?

Parts and pieces for a past submission

I have been illustrating and designing professionally for over 25 years, but I didn't discover children's books until after our daughter was born. That's when I truly fell in love with them and became serious about pursuing children's publishing. It was quite a humbling experience and I made a lot of mistakes. Tahoe publisher Bona Fide Books has asked me to give a talk and workshop on the subject. This month I will be sharing my mistakes and everything I've learned in order to help others get a better start in children's publishing. If I had known all of this information when I started out, it would have saved me years! If you are in the area...I hope you will join me.

Information from the publisher:

Bona Fide Books is offering a two-day session -
“So You Want to Write and/or Illustrate a Children's Book. Now What?”
Thurs. Mar. 22 from 7:00 - 9:00 p.m. (FREE)
and Sat. Mar. 24 from 10:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. ($75)

Writer and illustrator Kristen Schwartz will be leading this two-part session aimed toward helping writers and illustrators of children’s, middle grade and young adult books find their footing in the publishing industry. The Thursday session is a Q&A and a breakdown of top tips and tricks for creating and submitting marketable work for younger audiences. This session is free and open to the public, to be followed by a $75 intensive, personalized class Saturday Mar. 24 from 10 a.m.-2:30 p.m., including a half-hour lunch break. Part two will include familiarizing writers and illustrators with industry tools and the query process, and working directly with attendees on how to publish their personal projects. Space is limited; call now to reserve your spot in the Saturday session. 530-573-1513.

For more information, contact Kim Wyatt at Bona Fide Books or visit our website

The Saturday session is intended to help writers and illustrators learn what specific steps need to be taken on their individual projects to keep them moving forward toward publishing. I will also be introducing the art of talking about your work, so that when an opportunity comes up to tell people about your project, you don't draw a blank (been there, done that). This will lead into the query process and researching publishers that are a good fit for you. It will be a full and productive day, so bring your projects with you!  Feel free to contact me if you have questions.

PubSubPackMo 2012: FINALE and BONUS DAY

Past promotional postcards

PubSubPackMo 2012 was an even greater success than last year. My mailing list has nearly doubled, my new postcards have been ordered and my labels are ready to print. I did things a little differently this year and it went pretty smoothly. Along with names I collected throughout the year, I used lists of publisher names I found online and didn't pick up the 2012 Children's Writer's and Illustrator's Market, although I did use past editions. Things are changing way too rapidly to rely on anything other than publisher websites these days, so all I needed were publisher names to get me started.

I know this isn't exactly an exciting topic and I heard a lot of crickets in my blogging audience, but it's important to stay on top of things when you're putting your best work out there. I came up with 26 new publishers to mail postcards to, 6 that want email submissions and 6 that need a separate mailing list. The last 6 look promising, but I don't have the right work to send to them yet. I need to create a new category of work to fit their subject matter. The main type of new work I'm considering is in nature, which I've done for other markets and would love to do for children's books. I will continue to collect publishers in this category throughout the year and create some pieces that could cross over.

Stay tuned. I'll be doing another post in a couple days to announce the details of my March workshop for writers and illustrators embarking on their own journey into children's publishing. Contact me if you'd like information sent directly to you. Until then, it's back to the drawing board for me...