Raising Money to Publish the First Children's Book on Mary Dyer

Please help me make my book Mary Dyer, Friend of Freedom a reality. The book is written, edited and formatted, but I need your help setting up an author website, creating some marketing materials and covering a few publishing costs. Any amount you can contribute to Indiegogo will be greatly appreciated. And you'll get a copy of the book and more!

So thanks for your help in putting Mary Dyer's story into the hands of young readers everywhere. She is a forgotten hero, but your contribution can change that.

Thanks!

My Next Book: Mary Dyer, Friend of Freedom

My next book is Mary Dyer, Friend of Freedom. Mary was the first woman executed in America for her religious beliefs. Her death spurred a revolution in the colonies to enforce religious tolerance. Even King Charles II in England got involved.

The book will be published by Atombank Books, a new company set to launch late this summer. It looks like Mary Dyer, Friend of Freedom will be their first book (Yay! -- Thank you Amy Tombank!). Unfortunately, I need help meeting some additional expenses, including setting up a full author website, creating marketing materials for schools and libraries, and some publishing costs. Right now, I'm trying to raise those funds through Indiegogo -- with your help.

Mary Dyer is a forgotten civil rights hero, and her death helped make many of our First Amendment freedoms possible. It still amazes me the amount of religious intolerance we see, and I'd love to put Mary Dyer, Friend of Freedom into the hands of schoolchildren everywhere. I'd love to spread her message of religious tolerance for everyone. So if you can help me, please visit Indiegogo and contribute what you can. Trust me -- any amount will be greatly appreciated -- and you could easily get a free copy of the book and learn much more about this remarkable woman.

Thanks for your help!

Book Details: Middle-grade non-fiction for children 8-12 years old. Approximately 104 pages with illustrations, a timeline, and a glossary. Mary Dyer, Friend of Freedom is the first book for children about Mary Dyer, and will be marketed largely to schools and libraries to add to their collection of civil rights leaders.

How I Sold My First Children's Book

An unexpected way into children's literature.

There’s a saying in Hollywood: There’s the way you’re supposed to make it, and the way everybody actually made it.

The same could easily be true of kidlit. The way it’s supposed to work is you submit your work to an editor or agent, they call you back and your book is sold. That’s it – clean, simple, wipe your hands and start your next book.

But not so fast. Consider these three.

• Mo Willems went and won six Emmy’s as a writer for Sesame Street. That got him an agent. Two-and-a-half years later, he (and the Pigeon) had a book deal. That’s nearly two Emmy’s for every year he had to wait!
• Jon Sciezska got thirty rejections for his first picture book. Then he found out his wife worked with the wife of an illustrator – Lane Smith. Lane agreed to illustrate his book, and one of the editors he’d already sent it to now decided she liked it. I can’t tell you how many rules were broken here (resubmitting? Having your own illustrator? My God!), but that’s how The True Story of the Three Little Pigs found its way into print.
• Nick Bruel (Bad Kitty) was working in a bookstore when he noticed one woman always coming in and buying children’s books. When he asked her about it, she said she was a children’s literary agent. He said he had some illustrations he’d like to show her. That’s how he got his agent. No conferences, no referrals, no cold submissions. Just a book store and a lot of talent.

The story of how I got my first kidlit publishing contract isn’t so dramatic, but it does show there are other ways in the door. I answered an ad on a website. They said they were looking for writers to write children’s books about celebrities from the ‘40s and ‘50s. They already had Frank Sinatra, but were looking for others.

I thought about this for a while. I figured everyone would pitch Elvis or Marilyn, or maybe Deano to complement Frank. Maybe even the Duke. Who could I pitch that somebody else wouldn’t? Nat King Cole? Buffalo Bob? Trigger the Wonder Horse?

And that’s when it hit me – if there’s one celebrity from that era that children still know, it’s Judy Garland. Shirley Temple had faded, and so had Mickey Rooney. But The Wizard of Oz has kept Judy Garland in front of millions of kids, even today. And that’s how I pitched them.

Seven days later, I was asked to draw up an outline for the book based around the Frank Sinatra model. I did, and four days later, they hired me.

But here’s where it gets really interesting: they wanted three books at three different levels – K-1, 2-3, 4-5. The books were not going to be sold to the public, but were to be distributed to long-term care patients. And it was a flat-fee freelance job with no royalties or advances or future books.

Nothing glamorous. No pigeons driving buses; no wolves setting the record straight, or bad kitties flipping through the alphabet, just three biographies on Judy Garland. But it counts. That’s my entre into children’s publishing, and I’m thrilled to be there. It goes in every query letter I send out – you know, while I’m trying to land that editor or agent. 

Because that’s how you’re supposed to do it…

Even when you’re not.

The Best Picture Books Featuring Exotic Animals

Here are some picture book animals that defy common wisdom.

What do you think of when you think “exotic animal?” Alpacas? Komodo dragons? Marmosets? Pythons? Blue-tongued skinks and Argentinean tegus? Sure, those are exotic. But in the picture book world, so are tigers, salamanders, slugs and bobwhites. Why? Because they don’t sell.

In picture book language, exotic animals are any animals that don’t sell well, no matter how common they are. This is why we see plenty of picture books that feature cats, dogs, cows, ducks, and monkeys. Kids know them and love them. Familiarity breeds cash.

Now, this doesn’t apply to non-fiction picture books, which are designed to teach young readers about capybara, geckos, three-toed sloths and the unfortunate albatross. But when it comes to fiction, making an “exotic” animal your hero often leads to a rejection letter that says they love the story, but could you make the main character a duck? Or anything else you’ll find on Old MacDonald farm.

So here’s a list of some authors who took a chance on strange little critters and found (great) commercial success.

Top Exotic Creatures in Picture Books

1. Wombats. These are a recent arrival on the picture book scene, but have proven immensely popular and may become an “it” animal, thanks largely to Charles Fuge’s delightful “Little Wombat” series. Following in those cute footsteps is Wombat Walkabout by Carol Diggery Shields. It contains enough Australian slang to make any wombat homesick. And you know your species has arrived when it earns its own holiday book. Christmas Wombat by Jackie French gives us the high holidays Down Under
2. Iguana. Another animal rarely seen in picture books, but popping up more often is the iguana. T.E. Watson’s (2001) and Karen Kaufman Orloff’s (2004) two different I Wanna Iguana books might make any kid actually want an iguana, and Orloff’s has now launched an entire “I Wanna” series. There’s also Mañana Iguana (Ann Whitford Paul), which gives the desert lizard a Mexican flair, and Private I. Guana (Nina Laden) that gives the little-seen lizard a detective license and air of mystery.
3. Llama. There aren’t many books that feature a llama, but what Anna Dewdney started has led to a wildly popular series. There’s Llama Llama Red Pajama and Llama Llama Mad at Mama and a whole bunch more. Llama is fun to say, rhymes
   
   with plenty of words and, unlike wombats and iguanas, hasn’t inspired a lot of imitators.
4. Naked Mole Rat. And coming in as the most exotic animal in picture book fiction is the naked mole rat. Any surprise? Mo Willems’ Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed is the only fiction picture book to feature the naked mole rat because even Mo struggled to make them cute (of course, he succeeded!). And even though he has several series under his belt (Pigeon, Elephant and Piggie, Cat the Cat), he’s resisted any pressure to create Naked Mole Rat Plays Dress Up, Naked Mole Rat Goes Trick or Treating or Naked Mole Rat with Nothing but the Radio On.

So exotic animals can be blue jays or cardinals, but not pandas or lions. In picture book parlance, an exotic animal is anything that doesn’t sell – until it does. I’m thrilled that some authors and publishers have defied convention, and I hope we’ll see more exotic animals like bandicoots or bush babies in picture books. Who knows? It just might get kids to read some of those small-selling non-fiction books about their new favorite (and strangely exotic) animal!

KidLit Buzzwords: Skinny Books

Why are skinny books all the rage in some children’s literary circles?

At more than a few writers conferences, skinny books are all the buzz – particularly in non-fiction circles. So what are skinny books? They’re thin – typically 28 pages – with glossy covers and plenty of illustrations or photographs. They’re typically stapled together, but they can be bound by glue. They’re often used in non-fiction, particularly biography, history and science, but are also found in fiction. If you think that skinny books are tough to define, you’re right, but here’s what really makes them “skinny”: they have fewer pages or words than other books in their category, whether they be picture or chapter books.

One reason skinny books work well in non-fiction is that they can be crammed full of information, tidbits and trivia without taking up much room or losing much narrative quality. However, hundreds of books are created or re-released as skinny books and manage to maintain complete story lines and character development.

Why Skinny Books Are Popular

1. Kids think they’re a quick read.
2. Readers can consume plenty of information in easy-to-digest format.
3. They can easily be serialized.
4. They are sold at an affordable, trade price.

The downside, of course, is that you don’t often see them in libraries. They’re not durable. The covers often tear off easily with repeated readings or mistreatment. Fortunately, they’re cheap to replace if you need to buy another one for your young reader.

Well, that’s the skinny on skinny books.

New Christmas Classic Picture Books

Five great new Christmas picture books.

There are plenty of classic holiday picture books out there. How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss, The Snowman by Raymond Briggs and Olive the Other Reindeer by Vivian Walsh immediately come to mind. But there are plenty of new Christmas picture books to choose from. After all, Christmas is the season for giving, and publishers keep giving us new Christmas books (because they sell!).

Here are a few Christmas picture books I've thoroughly enjoyed.

1. Bad Kitty Christmas – Nick Bruel returns to the picture book format that launched Bad Kitty in the first place. This time, he spins two stories into one book, the first featuring Bad Kitty’s antics early on Christmas morning told, as always, with a romp through the alphabet. The second finds Kitty on his own, with no place to go for Christmas, until he finds a caring stranger. Christmas gains a new and heartwarming meaning for both of them.
2. Pete the Cat Saves Christmas -- Author Eric Litwin uses his rhythmic abilities to set a new Pete the Cat story to The Night Before Christmas. Santa’s sick and Christmas could be cancelled. It’s up to an enthusiastic Pete the Cat to deliver all the presents – and in the spirit of Christmas, he gives it his all. Illustrated by James Dean.
3. Charlie and the Christmas Kitty -- Poor Charlie. Everyone’s favorite ranch dog gets a Christmas present he didn’t want – a cat! If your child balks at socks or sweaters or that thing they can’t figure out from Aunt Gertrude, then this book could teach them to appreciate it (even if it’s not as a kitten!). Written by Ree Drummond and Illustrated by Diane deGroat.
4. Turkey Claus -- In this sequel to Turkey Trouble, Turkey’s still in trouble. He may have survived Thanksgiving, but now Edna wants turkey for Christmas dinner! Can Santa get him out of trouble? What’s our intrepid turkey to do? Written by Wendy Silvans and illustrated by Lee Harper.
5. How Do Dinosaurs Say Merry Christmas?-- This series from author Jane Yolen and illustrator Mark Teague is a picture book phenomenon. If your little reader already knows How Dinosaurs Say Goodnight or I Love You, then this book is a great fit in the series. I mean really, Christmas wasn’t even around yet, so how did they say “Merry Christmas!”? And I know this one’s a week late, but there’s also a How Do Dinosaurs Say Happy Chanukah book, too.

 

So if you haven't picked up a Christmas picture book for your little reader(s) and are looking for something fun that they'll probably want to read next year (or they just like cats), try one of these new Christmas classics.