Archive for Writers

Book Choice – The Beetle Book

The Beetle Book by Steve Jenkins Houghton Mifflin, 2012 32 pages

If you lined up every living thing on the planet, one of every four would be a beetle. Amazing, huh? Just like this book, which gives readers a detailed look at these creatures. You can find out what makes a beetle a beetle, the parts of a beetle, and the unique qualities of beetles (e.g. the forest fire beetle has special heat sensors that can detect fires more than 20 miles away!). You can find out about the smallest beetle (size of a period), the largest beetle (big as a hand), what beetles eat, how they talk, and their fighting strategies. Illustrations in this book are bright, colorful, and as detailed as the text, making it a great choice for Six-Traiters (not Traitors!).

The Midwest Book Review

Getting your book reviewed is an essential element in spreading the word about your book, especially if you’re an Indie author. An organization I have found to be accessible and useful is The Midwest Book Review (www.midwestbookreview.com). Located in Wisconsin (is that really Midwest?), the service has been around since 1976 as a resource for booksellers, librarians, readers, and writers.

A book review is a reflection of one person’s opinion at a moment in time. That’s what I say as a brace myself before reading a review of any of my works. Still, it’s helpful when the words are positive. Here’s what The Midwest Book Review said about one of my latest books, The Magic of A.C. Gilbert: “A love of the simple joys can take a man far. “The Magic of A.C. Gilbert” is a children’s picturebook styled look at Albert Carlton Gilbert, who is known by many as the man who saved Christmas by opposing Congress’ orders to cease all non-war production in World War I. With realistic, full-color artwork throughout, his life as a magician, athlete, and toymaker is discussed, making for an enticing story for young readers. “The Magic of A.C. Gilbert” is a choice pick for younger readers who want to pick up a bit of history. Recommended.”

Reviews at the site are archived for five years. Other helpful reader and writer resources are included at the site as well, as is the opportunity to join their cadre of reviewers. I reviewed books for many years (although not at this site), and I have found the experience very helpful in improving my writing skills along with my knowledge of the publishing market. Something worth considering.

Moving Targets

Moving Targets, my middle-grade novel about bullying, is making headway and moving closer to its publication date in February. The other day I had the great pleasure of sitting down with the illustrator who is creating the cover art for the book. Kurt Cyrus, the talented and experienced picture book artist (and writer too!) is putting the finishing touches on the “face” of the book. Here’s a snap of the artiste and a sneak preview. Check out Kurt’s website when you have a chance.

Rejection!

Got a rejection from Barron’s the other day. Nothing new there. I’ve gotten many rejections – hundreds – over the years. My very first book, The Chewing Gum Bookwas rejected by 75 publishers before it was accepted. Other works of mine have been rejected as much and never gotten accepted. That’s the nature of the publishing world: the overwhelming majority of manuscripts get turned down.

So yes, I am used to rejection. I use each rejection letter as a reality check. Okay, so this particular work is not right for Barron’s. Does that mean the work is not right for any publisher? Not necessarily, but it just might be. How will I find out? Keep sending it out. When I get to the end of all publishers, and all of them have rejected it, I have a question to ask myself: Do I have a need for this work to be published and available for people to read? If the answer is no, the manuscript gets filed. If the answer is yes, then I become the publisher. And the marketing director, and the promotions manager, and the sales team. Not the easiest route, for sure, but a way to assure that the book is born.

The letter I got from Barron’s was mostly the typical rejection letter: “we get a lot of submissions, we can’t answer personally, blahblahblah.” But there was a gem in the letter, at the bottom, waiting to be found. It was a quote from F. Scott Fitzgerald, a guy who knew something about the writing biz. “Never confuse a single defeat with a final defeat,” he said. This is a good quote to remember, for the writing world as well as the world at-large.

Lewis and Clark Revisited

It’s not hard to revisit the Lewis and Clark. It’s a classic tale of exploration, discovery, and then exploitation. It’s compelling, captivating, and it’s got something for everyone. Since I wrote the original Passage book back in 2003, I’ve made it a point to continue to encourage teachers and students to explore the topic. Not only did I redo the book with new illustrations and tine-tuned text, but I have rewritten a Lewis and Clark simulation that I am currently working with a local school to enact. It’s quite fun to see the kids (fourth graders, in this case) learn about this historic journey and, best of all, come up with questions that they then seek answers to.

With the republication of my Passage book, I was invited to attend the annual dinner of the Oregon chapter of the Lewis and Clark Heritage Foundation this past weekend. It was held at Fort Clatsop in Astoria, the site of the Corps’ camp during the winter of 1805-1806. The dinner was awesome, and I got to sign books and meet folks who are passionate and knowledgeable on all things Lewis and Clark.

The following day, we stopped by the Salt Works in Seaside, where members of the Corps of Discovery boiled sea water to obtain salt, a very important supply for the party. Seaside is a ways from the fort and I always wondered why they went farther than they had to in order to get water from the ocean. The answer eluded me for the longest time, but I finally found out. Hope you can find out too!

Hmmm. Why is the Salt Works so far from Fort Clatsop? They could have made it a lot closer. Why didn't they?

Open Mouth…

Okay, so I get a little testy these days, trying to make my way through the underbrush of the publishing world. I quit SCBWI when their market reports sunk to the level of absurdity, mainly listing markets that were not open for submissions or open to submissions by writers who had jumped various hoops (e.g. met them at a conference, previously published with them, said the magic word). So, I took up with Children’s Writer, a newsletter of writing and publishing trends. They have a market report as well which, it seemed to me, was heading down the same useless path as SCBWI. As a result, I wrestled with the idea of renewing my subscription. After much thought, I decided to reup for one more year and see what happens. I also wrote a note describing my concern. Here’s the response I got:

Dear Mr. Young,
Thank you very much for your renewal, and for your note about Children’s Writer’s Marketplace section. I understand that finding open markets is a primary reason for subscribing to the newsletter. Seeing a newsletter publish information only about publishers that accept agented submissions would be extremely frustrating, but I would like to point out that Children’s Writer, and especially the Marketplace section, does far from that.

I took a few minutes to annotate the publishers we have included in for six months, since our August issue. As you will see in the list below, publishers that accept agented submissions are the exception rather than the rule in Marketplace.

While I believe that Children’s Writer has an obligation to report on major new publishers, even if limited to agented submissions, these make up a small percentage of those companies we list in Marketplace.

I hope the following is helpful to you, and that you find all of Children’s Writer informative and expansive. Thanks again for writing.

Sincerely,
Susan M. Tierney
Editor in Chief, Writer’s Institute Publications

August 2012 (21.1)
Write Integrity Press PITCH; NON-AGENTED
The Collaborative QUERY; NON-AGENTED AND AGENTED
Quirk Books QUERY; CHAPTERS. NON-AGENTED
Spaceports & Spidersilk COMPLETE MS. NON-AGENTED
Fun for Kidz NON-AGENTED
Pockets NON-AGENTED
Smart Pop Books QUERY, PROPOSAL. NON-AGENTED
Cool Well Press SYNOPSIS, MS. NON-AGENTED
Irene Goodman Literary Agency AGENT OPEN TO SUBMISSIONS
Merit Press Books HAD NOT ANNOUNCED AGENTED/NON-AGENTED POLICY
Wisdom Tales MANUSCRIPT. NON-AGENTED
AMP! Comics for Kids QUERY. NON-AGENTED

September 2012 (21.2)
Shadow Mountain QUERY, CHAPTERS. NON-AGENTED
namelos DOES EDITORIAL EVALUATIONS, CONSIDERS MSS FOR PUBLICATION. NON-AGENTED
P& R Publishing PROPOSAL. NON-AGENTED
Pajama Press PITCH. NON-AGENTED
Zumaya Publications QUERY, SYNOPSIS. NON-AGENTED
Blue Apple Books NEWS ON POLICY CHANGE; SHIFTED FROM OPEN TO UNSOLICITED TO AGENTED.
Star Bright Books QUERY OR MS. NON-AGENTED
Milkweed Editions SUBMISSIONS MANAGER. NON-AGENTED
Topaz Publishing SYNOPSIS, MS. NON-AGENTED

October 2012 (21.3)
August House PROPOSALS. NON-AGENTED
Mitchell Lane ASSIGNMENTS. SEND RESUME, SAMPLE. NON-AGENTED
Appleseeds QUERY. NON-AGENTED
Cobblestone QUERY. NON-AGENTED
Highlights Hello. IMPORTANT NEW PUBLICATION TO NOTE. NOT AS OPEN AS HIGHLIGHTS, WHICH IS COMPLETELY OPEN TO SUBMISSIONS.
Red Sofa Literary AGENT OPEN TO SUBMISSIONS.
Girlworks QUERY. NON-AGENTED
Youthlight QUERY. NON-AGENTED

November 2012 (21.4)
Home Education Magazine SEND ARTICLE
Aladdin AGENTED FOR MOST FICTION, BUT FOR SERIES — WORK-FOR-HIRE ASSIGNMENT, QUERY WITH TARGETED PROPOSAL, NON-AGENTED
Harper Voyager ANNOUNCEMENT OF AN OPEN PERIOD FOR UNAGENTED SUBMISSIONS
Spencer Hill Press QUERY PLUS 10 MS PAGES. NON-AGENTED
Blaze QUERY. NON-AGENTED
Beyond Centauri COMPLETE MS. NON-AGENTED
Common Call EMAIL FOR INFO. NEW RELIGIOUS MARKET THAT COVERS FAMILIES. NON-AGENTED
WebMD, the Magazine QUERY. NON-AGENTED
Times They Were A-Changing. CONTEST/COMPETITION FOR ANTHOLOGY. NON-AGENTED
B&H Kids NEWS OF COMPLETELY NEW CHILDREN’S IMPRINT. AGENTED
Seventeen. QUERY TO APPROPRIATE EDITOR. NON-AGENTED
Dramatics COMPLETE MS. NON-AGENTED
Triangle Square Editions/Seven Stories Press COVER LETTER AND SAMPLE CHAPTERS. NON-AGENTED

December 2012 (21.5)
Kathy Dawson Books, Penguin NEWS OF NEW IMPRINT AT MAJOR PUBLISHER. PENGUIN IMPRINTS ARE LARGELY OPEN TO UNSOLICITED QUERIES.
Turtle COMPLETE MS. NON-AGENTED
FamilyFun MAJOR ACQUISITION, OPEN IN SOME DEPARTMENTS TO SUBMISSIONS.
Quake/Echelon Press REOPENING TO SUBMISSIONS IN FEBRUARY. NON-AGENTED
Sterling Publishing, Splinter COMPLETE MS. NON-AGENTED
Poisoned Pencil MANUSCRIPTS. NON-AGENTED
Odyssey QUERY. NON-AGENTED
Keys for Kids MANUSCRIPTS NON-AGENTED
Flashlight Press QUERY. NON-AGENTED

January 2013 (21.5)
Ranger Rick, Jr. MAJOR NEW CHILDREN’S MAGAZINE ANNOUNCED. SEND RESUME FOR CONSIDERATION FOR WORK-FOR-HIRE ASSIGNMENTS.
Scarlet Voyage/Enslow NEW YA LINE ANNOUNCED. OPEN TO SUBMISSIONS — EAGER FOR THEM. NON-AGENTED.
Hunger Mountain OPEN TO MIDDLE-GRADE, YA SUBMISSIONS. NON-AGENTED.
McSweeney’s McMullen’s OPEN TO SUBMISSIONS. NON-AGENTED
Parents QUERY. NON-AGENTED
Poppy/Little, Brown STAFF CHANGES AT MAJOR YA PUBLISHER. AGENTED.
Carolrhoda SUBMISSIONS POLICY UPDATE. HAS PERIODIC OPEN CALLS. ALSO AGENTED.
Adams Media PROPOSALS. NON-AGENTED
Splashdown Books OPEN TO SUBMISSIONS. NON-AGENTED
Clarion Books COMPLETE MS. FOR FICTION; QUERY, SYNOPSIS, CHAPTERS FOR NONFICTION. NON-AGENTED
Children’s Book Press OPEN TO UNAGENTED SUBMISSIONS. QUERY, SYNOPSIS, OUTLINE.
Teen Vogue. QUERY WITH CLIPS. NON-AGENTED

Uh, okay, so maybe perception does not always equal reality. I sent a response this morning, which included an apology. Note to self: Focus on the positive, the viable options, the possibilities. They’re out there.

Marketing Site

Looking to place your manuscript with a traditional publisher (yes, there are some left)? Check out this site: myperfectpitch.com. The site actually lists publishers who are open to unagented submissions. What a find! Let’s watch and see how often it’s updated.

Road Trip 2012

As if moving was not enough to keep me from “the pencil” add another interesting twist. My grown son has been on a work hiatus and doing a bit of traveling (Africa for four months). He had been living in San Diego for the past five years and I haven’t gotten to see him as much as I’d like, so when he returned from Africa and invited me on a cross-country road trip, I couldn’t resist.

So, for most of September I have been “on the road” from Oregon to Maine, exploring places I’ve never been (Yellowstone, Theodore Roosevelt national Park, Springfield, IL, Maine) and sharing places I’ve previously experienced (Black Hills, Gettysburg, NJ, NYC, Walden Pond). It was a blast and the time I spent with my son was filled with unforgettable moments.

But, what of the writing? The bottom line is simply that there is more to life to putting words on paper. That said, experiences form the basis of writing so I have many, many bases for doing additional works. Some have presented themselves directly; others with take time to bubble to the front of my mind. Other experiences will remain as such. And happily so.

You don’t always have to be scratching a pencil across a piece of paper or pounding away at a keyboard to be writing. Those are a necessary part of the process, for sure, but there’s always the planning stage and even the composing in your mind stage. I did a whole lot of both, believe me. And, I was greatly inspired by visits to the Kurt Vonnegut Library and Museum in Indianapolis as well as Walden Pond in Concord, MA.

Digging Out

Okay, the move is done, the boxes are unpacked (or put into storage) and life resumes, but there’s lots different. Like waking up to see clouds embracing the hills, the lake shimmering, the birds playing. A mile away cars and trucks thread their way along the lakeside and remind me that people are going places and doing things. There’s work to be done.

And what of this writing work? It appears to have stopped for now, but it really hasn’t. It’s going on – all the time – in my head. Characters, plot points, curious topics to explore. All of them, in there somewhere. I just haven’t had the wherewithal to formalize them onto paper or the screen. Some of them will remain for the plucking, others will dissipate.

Looking forward to moving forward (not “moving” again!) back into the world of words.

A First!

A writing milestone. My first book of fiction has now been published! Who Stinks? is picture book story about a bear who wakes up in the spring and smells something bad. Very bad. He stomps out of his cave and around the forest blaming everything he can find: a mouse, a snake, a blackbird, even a tree! In the end, it’s the wind who helps the bear discover who the culprit really is.

I wrote this story a while back – 1986. That’s twenty-six years ago! So, what’s taken so long for it to finally get published? Who knows? You can call it luck. Or timing. I think it was both those, plus a big dose of persistence. What else would make me keep sending it out all those years no matter how many rejection letters I got (and I got a WHOLE LOT!).

Some of the rejections had a personal spark to them (“a funny idea,” “good humor,” “we think kids would like it.”) and those helped me put it out to more than fifty publishers. My agent liked it and sent it to many more. A couple tastes, but no bites.

I could have just let it go, like I’ve done with so many other projects. But this book was different. And, I was getting positive feedback on it. Not just from editors, either. I created a large (11” x 17”) copy of the book, complete with illustrations I had done with the help from my five-year-old son. When I did author visits, I took the book along and read it to the kindergarten classes. The kids loved it, and the teachers would invariably say, “Why isn’t this published?” and I would reply, “I don’t know.”

And then there was the contest run by Writer’s Digest. I entered the story one year and was pleasantly surprised that it won third place in the Children’s Fiction division. Buoyed by that good news, I started sending it out to publishers once more. And again, no luck.

In 2011 I hooked up with E-Readia to digitize another book I had written. The publisher was excited about my work and asked about other titles I had available. Enter Who Stinks? He loved it, maybe as much as I did. No, of course not. Who could? But he liked it enough to offer a contract and an illustrator. Deal!
Since the signing, the children’s book part of the company has become Bushbaby Press (www.bushbaby.com).

So, what have I learned from this 26 year experience? Nothing profound, really. I already knew that persistence can pay off, I was aware that the market changes over time, and I had lots of experiences in frustration dealing with publishers. The most important thing I got from this experience is the idea that if you write something you like, do something with it, even if publishers don’t want to partner with you. In this case, I created my own copy of the book (complete with amateur home-made illustrations) and shared it with lots of kids. And they liked it! So, to have his book actually published by a real publisher is just the icing on the cake.

I’ll enjoy the icing.