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by Tara Lazar
I have a daughter who recently turned five and her favorite saying is “Why come?” (She mixes up “how come” and “why”.)
You may have children like this. They want to know about EVERYTHING, even the most mundane.
“Why come we have to take a bath?”
“Why come we sleep with pillows?”
“Why come we eat breakfast first?”
And the perennial favorite, “Why come we have feet and not wheels?”
I dunno, kid, I dunno. Sure would make life easier.
Kids are curious. They want to know WHY. Like WHY they can’t stay up past 8:30. And then WHY they can’t get up for school. WHY they can’t have a banana split for all three squares (“hey ma, it’s got FRUIT in it!”). And then WHY their stomach aches.
Just as Karma Wilson asks herself WHAT IF? as she writes picture books, I constantly ask myself WHY.
Every character reacts to a situation in their own unique, quirky way. If I create a store called THE MONSTORE where you can buy monsters, I have to ask myself WHY a kid would spend his hard-earned leaf-raking cash on one. There has to be a reason other than the monsters just being cool.
(Oh, and if you know a kid who actually rakes leaves for money these days, send them to my house, please. There are no fifth-grade entrepreneurs in this neighborhood.)
Kids cannot be fooled. If you don’t have a good reason behind a character’s actions, or even the entire story’s being, kids will see right through it. You don’t want “Why come?” to be the first thing they ask after closing the book. You haven’t succeeded if you haven’t immersed your reader in a fully believable set of events.
When I create a new picture book premise, I sit in a comfy chair with a notebook and scribble potential answers to WHY. I develop a long list of reasons for the character’s actions.
And my next secret? Those actions are usually tied to an EMOTION.
I can’t tell you how many picture book manuscripts I read which are devoid of emotion. A character MUST be emotionally changed. The way they start the story is not the way they finish the story. They have grown. They have learned. They have been emotionally altered.
It’s important to include an emotion that is universally understood by children.
What it FEELS LIKE to be picked last for the kickball team.
What it FEELS LIKE to have an annoying sibling.
What if FEELS LIKE to lose your favorite stuffed animal.
Heck, I’m an old lady and I still haven’t gotten over the 1979 disappearance of “Yellow Puff.” She was so yellow. So puffy. So stolen by my little brother if you ask me. (Hey, I got TWO emotions in there.)
So if your picture book manuscript doesn’t feel satisfying, ask yourself, “WHY COME?” It might just give you the answer.
Tara Lazar is the creator of PiBoIdMo, the picture book writer’s alternative to NaNoWriMo. Her first two picture books will be released by the Aladdin imprint of Simon & Schuster. THE MONSTORE, illustrated by James Burks, opens in 2013 and I THOUGHT THIS WAS A BEAR BOOK rolls into stores in 2014. She is represented by Ammi-Joan Paquette of the Erin Murphy Literary Agency. She prefers cheese over chocolate and chai over coffee. Visit her website for children’s book reviews, writing tips and other fun kidlit diversions. Oh wait, you’re already there!!!
by Tammi Sauer
When Tara asked me to contribute a post to PiBoIdMo 2009 I was honored. And, truth be told, scared. For me, getting a Really Good Idea is hard. Crazy hard. How could I possibly offer idea-getting strategies to others when I felt this was the toughest of all the writing challenges?
Well, that November I wrote the blog post. I also pushed myself to come up with 30 ideas. Whew. Wasn’t easy. It took me every bit of that entire month to get those 30 possibilities on paper. Most of those ideas were tiny snippits. A character. A title. A phrase.
One of those snippits, however, seemed as if it might have potential. Nugget and Fang. I thought the unlikely best friendship between a minnow and a shark might have the makings for a story. I brainstormed. I jotted down a first draft. And a second draft. And a third draft. With each draft the story got a little tighter, the word choice got a little better, and the humor got a little stronger. But I never really got that YES feeling from the manuscript. So…I put it away for a few months. Then I wrote a fourth draft. And a fifth draft. And I put it away for a year.
Then, in March 2011, my week to submit something to my critique group came around. I had recently finished my latest manuscript and I needed SOMETHING to send the oh-so-awesome PBJeebies. So I dug through my files. And found two old friends. Nugget and Fang. I read the most recent version. Then I revised. And revised. And revised some more. I started to get excited.
I sent the manuscript to the PBJeebies, and they pushed me to revise the manuscript a little more. That YES feeling came around. I shared the manuscript with my agent.
These are my favorite three sentences from her response:
“I absolutely love this manuscript! It’s hilarious, original, and wonderfully paced—with totally fun illustration possibilities. Yay!”
Oh, happiness! Oh, time-to-print-out-that-message-and-tape-it-to-my-computer!
The manuscript went Out There.
Months went by. Then I got the call. And I got ANOTHER call.
Two fabulous houses were interested.
After much careful consideration, I decided Nugget and Fang belonged at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Nugget and Fang is scheduled for a Summer 2013 release. I’m hoping it makes a really big splash.
Tammi Sauer, who owes an ocean-sized thanks to Tara Lazar.
Tara’s Note: Aww, shucks. I owe big thanks to you for being such a great role model!
by Erik A.K.A. This Kid Reviews Books
Hi there! My name is Erik. I am nine years old (but this month I will be the big 10)! I have a blog (thiskidreviewsbooks.com) where I review books, talk about reading and other book-related things. First of all, I’d like to thank Ms. Lazar for inviting me to be a guest blogger (she said she wanted a kid’s perspective, so HERE I AM) for PiBoIdMo 2011 and to write what I have learned this month by reading the posts each day. It has been a great month, hasn’t it? I have learned so much from not just the awesome guest bloggers but also by reading the comments of everyone that left one!
I don’t think I will ever see a picture book the same way! Picture books look like they are easy to write, but I now can see how much work and time it takes to put just ONE idea together into a book. One of the coolest things I learned was that adult writers really want to think like kids and want to know how kids see the world. I wonder how old we are when we stop thinking like kids? I actually think a lot of adults still think like kids but won’t admit it!
I like how the guest bloggers say how they get inspirations from the world around them. Things as simple as listening to kids talk (PiBoIdMo Day 23: Laura Murray Goes for the Giggle) or seeing things like kids see them (PiBoIdMo Day 15: Liz Garton Scanlon Sees Things Differently). I really liked the quote Wendy Martin used in the Day 19 post -“Everybody walks past a thousand story ideas every day. The good writers are the ones who see five or six of them. Most people don’t see any.” ~ Orson Scott Card
The quote really made me think. When my mom was driving me home from school today I looked out my window looking for what might be a good idea for a book and I think I noticed things that maybe I wouldn’t have before; like the kids riding skateboards on the sidewalk, a family going into a pizza place or a mom driving a mini-van full of kids. Have you noticed something in the world around you that you haven’t before this month?
I really liked the posts by illustrators that appeared this month too! It was really neat to see how illustrators get inspired by something like a doodle (PiBoIdMo Day 7: Doodle with Abandon Like Debbie Ridpath Ohi) or a kids drawing (PiBoIdMo Day 28: Aaron Zenz and “Friends”) for examples.
It’s really cool how all the authors participating in PiBoIdMo really work with each other, support each other and help each other discover new ideas or new ways of looking at things. My September 27th, 2011 post on my blog was titled “Children’s Book Authors are the Nicest People on Earth (and maybe other planets too)!” I really think that. I could tell that everyone here is super nice!
I really learned a lot about the “business” of writing books. Agents, marketing, editors, publishers, submissions, rejections…I’ve heard these words before but I never really knew how they fit into writing a book. It seems like a very complicated process!
I did come up with 30 ideas this month but I don’t think that all of them are really great—like my idea of “The Friendly Tornado” where a tornado helps people build houses rather than knock them down but my mom pointed out to me that small children won’t see tornados as so friendly and will probably be terrified of it. I see now that she has a point ☺.
I do think I came up with some good ideas too. Like “When the Lights Go Out.” It will be a story of how a family starts to talk, play games and read with each other when the lights go out in a storm and they can’t watch TV or go on the computer (this actually happened to us, HEY I WAS INSIPRED).
I really learned a lot this month and I thank all of you for letting me be part of this. Mostly I am really thankful that all you authors and illustrators that take your time and hard work and try to make books for kids like me. I love stories. I will always read the stories you tell and I hope to read your book when it is published!
by Congratulations on completing PiBoIdMo!
This activity generates such a feeling of abundance. Ideas everywhere! Some of these ideas have great promise, and some of them…don’t.
Photo: Daniel Plazanet (Daplaza)
I characterize ideas as pebbles or seeds. Pebbles are hard and immutable. They might be shiny, or pretty, or just dusty. But whatever they are, they’re rocks. They aren’t going to grow into something different.
Photo: Mrmariokartguy
But seeds…oh, seeds! Some look like pebbles. They seem hard and small and nondescript at first. But if you nurture them with questions, and time, and creativity, the seed ideas can grow into more—like a picture book.
So, how do I sort them out? I ask questions. I play around with answers. I try to be honest, even when I don’t want to. Here are some of the things I ask:
One premise from my PiBoIdMo list this year is: “I Won’t Come Down: Rhyming pb from pov of a kitten stuck in a tree. With a refrain? Who tries to get me down? Kid climbs up, but I climb higher. Fire truck? Where’s the fire? Need a personality for the kitten. Is she witty and clever? Scared to death? Sassy?”
1) Who is my main character?
Does my idea or premise suggest a particular character? Does she fit the situation perfectly? Or totally clash with it? In this case, as I re-read the idea, I know my main character kitten HAS to be a witty, clever girl. She appears to be stuck in the tree, but she’s really perfectly happy up there.
2) What is the conflict?
Easy-peasy. Everybody assumes she wants to get down, but she doesn’t. Sometimes the conflict isn’t obvious. Another of my ideas is about a pet cloud. Just an idea—but I don’t have a clue what the conflict would be (yet).
3) Does it make me ask more questions?
A good idea expands. It makes me want to explore possibilities. My treed kitten does that for me.
4) Has it been done a million times?
Uniqueness is key in publishing picture books. I’ve had manuscripts turned down recently that editors said they loved but that were “too similar” to books already published—even though the similarity is broad at most. In this tight market, publishers don’t want two “pet books” or whatever. I start on Amazon. I find 27 picture books including the words “kitten” and “tree” published over the past 25 years. Dang. That doesn’t mean any of them have the same premise, but I’ll need to do further research.
5) Can I see the book in my mind?
Picture books, of course, need pictures. Does my idea make me immediately visualize tons of images?
6) Is it a seed that will grow a short story instead of a picture book?
It can take years of reading to absorb the intrinsic difference between the two forms. Illo potential is part of it, but there’s more. If your idea depends on a twist/joke ending, it’s likely to be a short story. (The ending of a picture book should be surprising and satisfying, but not a joke/punchline.) If you can picture one great illo for it, but not 14, it’s a short story. If it involves complex plot points and many details, it’s a short story.
7) Does it stand up to repetition?
Will kids want to listen to this over and over? Will adults be happy to read it over and over? That’s a picture book.
As I play around with these questions, a seed idea will grow into the bare bones outline of a picture book. It will feel simple and essential enough to get a draft down in a single swoop. The manuscripts I’ve tweaked and tortured to death have just not cut it as picture books.
I’m not saying I don’t spend a ton of time revising! I do. I change points of view, try different main characters, etc. But if the essence of the conflict and character don’t fall into place quickly, I’ve come to accept that it’s probably just not a fantastic picture book idea for me to pursue.
So, read through your list of ideas. Play with them. Ask questions. Brainstorm conflicts and storylines.
Then, mark the ones that are ready to plant. They won’t all grow. But at least some of them are seeds, ready to bloom in the soil of your creativity, under the sunshine of your words.
As for the pebbles, don’t sweat it! They’ll make a nice little border around your garden of picture books!
Laura Purdie Salas is the author of many nonfiction picture books, but her first love is poetry and verse. Her newest book is BOOKSPEAK! POEMS ABOUT BOOKS (Clarion, 2011), and coming soon is a rhyming nonfiction book: A LEAF CAN BE… (Millbrook, 2012). She is also the author of STAMPEDE! POEMS TO CELEBRATE THE WILD SIDE OF SCHOOL (Clarion, 2009). You can learn more about Laura at her website (www.laurasalas.com), her blog (http://laurasalas.wordpress.com), and her mentoring service for writers site (www.MentorsForRent.com).
I bet you feel like a winner just because you have a journal full of ideas!
But hey, you get some swell SWAG, too. (Well, it’s not stuff WE ALL get, it’s stuff WE SOME get, but SWSG is too hard to say.)
All winners will be randomly selected on DECEMBER 8TH from the WINNER’S PLEDGE post. You must have SIGNED IN at the beginning of PiBoIdMo and SIGNED THE WINNER’S PLEDGE by DECEMBER 7th to be eligible. Your name must be in both places. (Sorry, there’s gotta be rules sometimes.)
Enough legalese; onto the prizes!
First, there’s THREE GRAND PRIZES:
Feedback on your best 5 ideas from three literary agents: Ammi-Joan Paquette, Jennifer Rofé and Kelly Sonnack.
Each grand prize winner will be paired with an agent. The winners will send their 5 best ideas (written as pitches) to their agent and the agent will respond with brief feedback suggesting which ideas are the best to pursue as manuscripts.
But that’s not all!
There’s MORE!
FOUR FIRST PRIZES!
Picture book critiques from Tara Lazar (who the heck is that?), Brenda Reeves Sturgis, Corey Rosen-Schwartz and Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen!
The following prizes have been generously donated, so please, if you like what you see, visit the shops and browse. If you don’t win on December 8th, consider making a holiday purchase from these lovely literary-savvy vendors!
MANY, MANY SECOND, THIRD, AND ELEVENTH PRIZES!
- An original painting by MONSTORE illustrator James Burks
- Beautiful coptic stitch journal and accessories from The Nib and Quill
- Gorgeous die-cut greeting cards from Christina Peressini at Nib & Tuck
- Colorful “Make Believe” print by Lily Moon
- Two practical and pretty book necklaces from JanDa Jewelry
- Two whimsical book photos of your choice from The Maple Tea House
- Super-Duper Reading Girl Hero brooch from Jam Fancy
- Lovely vintage Picture Books from La Brocante Magique
- A pile of picture books from my publisher, Simon & Schuster
Apples and Pumpkins
The Snow Angel
Fairly Fairy Tales
Catch that Baby
Aliens Love Panta Claus
Dinosaurs Love Underpants
Four Friends at Christmas
The Christmas Sweater
The Monster Princess
The Little Girl with the Big, Big Voice
Hootenannny! A Festive Counting Book
PHEW! I think that’s it. I might find more stuff under my bed, though. Speaking of bed, goodnight PiBoIdMo’ers! And thanks once again for making this event a huge success. Give yourselves a nice pat on the back—and speaking of bed again—a good night’s sleep! You deserve it!
OK, time’s up, PiBoIdMo’ers! (PiBoIdMo’ites? PiBoIdMo’igans?)
Do you have 30 new picture book ideas?
You do? Excellent!
Time to take the PiBoIdMo winner’s pledge to qualify for one of our amazing-Ringling prizes! (Sorry, there are no circus animals to give away. I just felt like rhyming. I know, I shouldn’t rhyme.)
I do solemnly swear that I have faithfully executed
the PiBoIdMo 30-ideas-in-30-days challenge,
and will, to the best of my ability,
parlay my ideas into picture book manuscripts.
Now I’m not saying all 30 ideas have to be good. Some may just be titles, some may be character quirks. Some may be problems and some may create problems when you sit down to write. Some may be high-concept and some barely a concept. But…they’re yours, all yours!
You have until December 7th at 11:59:59PM EST to sign the pledge by leaving a comment on this post.
Remember, this is an honor system pledge.You don’t have to send in your ideas to prove you’ve got 30 of them. If you say so, I’ll believe you! (But for the record, I have no interest in purchasing a bridge at this time.)
Those whose name appears on both the kick-off post AND this winner’s pledge will be entered into the grand prize drawing: feedback on your best 5 ideas by a literary agent. There are three grand prizes! Thanks to Ammi-Joan Paquette of Erin Murphy Literary Agency plus Jen Rofe and Kelly Sonnack of Andrea Brown Literary Agency, Inc. for volunteering their time and talent to PiBoIdMo.
Other prizes include picture books, manuscript critiques, jewelry, journals, greeting cards and MUCH MORE! (Prize announcement post coming tonight!) All winners will be randomly selected by Random.org and announced on December 8th. And from now until the 7th, more guest bloggers will inspire you to develop your manuscripts.
But lucky you, you get your first prize now! This winner badge for your website, blog or social media site, designed by Bonnie Adamson. (If you display the badge, please link back to the PiBoIdMo page. You can make the badge larger or smaller…size it to fit anywhere.)
So what are you waiting for? Start signing…
…and start writing!
Thousands of children are depending on you!
by Pat Miller
It was the third week of January and I had asked my kindergarten students what special day was coming up on February 2. They guessed Valentine’s Day, Halloween, and Mother’s Day. So I gave them a hint. “It’s the day when a small, furry animal pops up out of its hole to tell the weather.”
The five year-olds were stumped. Suddenly, one boy pumped his arm and said, “I know! I know!” When I asked him which animal popped up, he replied with enthusiasm. “It’s the armadillo!”
Not surprising for a child from Texas where there are no groundhogs. I jotted the conversation in my idea book, but left it there for two years until I needed to write a book for credibility in my local SCBWI. After 33 rejections and two more years, Substitute Groundhog popped up out of its hiding place in my writer’s journal and went on to become a Junior Library Guild selection. It was reissued as an audio book, and was translated into French. Not bad for a “wrong” answer!
So, you’ve made it through November and jotted down a lot of ideas and sparks of stories. Perhaps you’ve even earned your PiBoIdMo 2011 badge of completion. So why this post on December 1? (There will be another tomorrow.)
First, let me ask if you know the story of Petunia. She was a goose who thought that carrying around a thick book under her wing was enough to make her smart. It wasn’t till she deciphered the word “dynamite” as “candy”, that the disastrous results blew open the book. Only then did Petunia realize that she had to begin the hard work of reading the book to become smarter.
For us it’s now time to begin the hard work of writing or illustrating the book. It’s not enough to be smug about the ideas we have tucked under the wing of our writing journals. Today is the perfect day to take the next step.
Turn back to your idea(s) from Day 1 and add something to it. Extrapolate a plot point. Describe the main character. Write down what could go wrong for the character. No need to fully flesh out the story—unless it insists you do so. Repeat the process on December 2nd with your second idea. In spite of the holiday busyness, keep going to your desk each day, fanning each spark a little more until one catches fire.
This is the process that will take your November ideas and carry them through to possibility. Mining your ideas each day will eventually lead you to gold. You never know what will pop up out of the ground until you dig for it. Good luck with your own armadillos!
Pat Miller is the author of Squirrel’s New Year’s Resolution, Substitute Groundhog, We’re Going on a Book Hunt, Library Monkeys, and A Pet For Every Person. She and her husband live near Houston where the heat has finally broken but the drought persists. Her three adult children are still readers and are busy raising toddlers who also love books. Visit her Pat at www.patmillerbooks.com.
by It’s the end of the month. Hooray! And congratulations!
If you’re brilliant, you have thirty picture book ideas, all of which can be transformed into stunning manuscripts. If this is you, stop reading here; take the rest of the day off.
If you’re like me, however, you have thirty sparks. Thirty scraggly shoots. Thirty teensy brown-paper-wrapped parcels of hope.
Now it’s time to test them for viability.
Here’s the image that always comes to my mind during this part of the process: I’m in a dentist’s chair. The dentist pokes and scrapes at a suspicious tooth, gently at first, then harder, then really hard. I silently pray, “Please don’t find anything wrong. Please. Ohpleaseohpleaseohplease.”
My ideas are my babies. I love them. But my ultimate goal is to get manuscripts out into the world. If an idea isn’t strong enough, better to let it go than to spend the next month banging my head against my desk.
So here are some suggestions as you begin your deliberations:
1) Check for competition.
If my idea hinges on a distinctive title, I Google and hope the title doesn’t turn up elsewhere. If it centers on an unusual animal or situation, I go to Amazon.com or Books in Print and search for similar books. If it’s a hook-y concept, and I can’t remember if I’ve seen it before, I ask around (a good children’s librarian can be your best friend for this type of thing).
2) Make sure the plot—or the concept, for concept books—is strong.
Sometimes I turn an idea over and over in my mind and come to the sad realization that it’s just not different or special enough. Out it goes. But if you have a great character drowning in a mediocre idea, toss him a life preserver; maybe you can find him another home.
3) Think about marketability.
We all know the picture book market is tough. If I have a choice between developing a high-concept story or a clever but obscure idea that will require a book with expensive flaps, pull tabs, and a triangular fuchsia mirror, I’m going to go with the former.
4) Don’t think about marketability.
Ha—fooled you! It’s good to be aware of trends.And if an editor says she’s looking for a book about platypuses, and you happen to have one (or think you can write one), you’d be silly not to give it a shot.
But.
If you have a potentially hard-to-market idea that you really, truly love, an idea that floods you with energy and fills you with joy, here’s my advice, courtesy of Admiral Farragut: Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead.
We simply cannot allow our creativity to be controlled by conventional wisdom. I know everyone’s saying picture books need to be—what is it now, less than seven words long? Maybe it’s six this week.
You know what? I’d bet good money that in the next year or two, some brilliant, 2,000-word picture book will take the publishing world by storm. It will be a bestseller. It will be adored by both critics and kids. And it will exist because some writer had the courage of her convictions, and because some editor was gutsy enough to take a chance on it.
I adore Press Here by Hervé Tullet. Is it character driven? No. Did Tullet write it because he read a market update saying, “Editors are seeking unconventional, graphic-driven books that readers can poke with their fingers”? Unlikely.
I’ll bet he wrote it for one reason:
The idea delighted him.
And now it delights us.
We want to write great books. And greatness does not come from following trends. It comes from breaking boundaries. So let’s get out there and break some, shall we?
Deborah’s picture books include The Quiet Book, The Loud Book, A Balloon for Isabel, Granny Gomez & Jigsaw, and the forthcoming Part-Time Princess and The Christmas Quiet Book. Deborah is the author of the easy reader Pirate Mom, and she co-writes the Sugar Plum Ballerina chapter book series with Whoopi Goldberg. She has also written more than 25 nonfiction books for kids. Please visit her online at www.DeborahUnderwoodBooks.com.
by I’m in the throes of marketing madness. It’s a whirlwind. The view from the eye of the cyclone is breathtaking! Ideas are swirling all around. Each wind gust propels me forward. However, promoting 10 TURKEYS IN THE ROAD is not something I have done alone. I’m certainly glad that I started the process a year ago, because marketing takes on a life all its own, and it’s imperative to have innovative and trustworthy people in your corner.
What did I write? Who was I? What did I stand for? What did I have to offer? These questions were always in the forefront of my mind. I wanted people to know exactly what they’d be getting from my book, a critique, or an author visit from me.
Each step has been its own adventure. All writers must walk their own steps, sing their own song, and dance their own dance. What I’ve learned over the past several months, as I’ve prepared for the release of my book, is that you can NEVER start marketing early enough. EVERYTHING takes a tremendous amount of time, along with a conscious effort and many different resources. I’ve met and worked with some of the best people in this industry over the last year—top-notch, top-of-the-line creators!
After assessing my web presence, I realized that the first thing that needed a complete overhaul was my website. My website is my business card. I surmised that it is my introduction to the literary world. Through it, librarians, teachers, editors, and parents would catch a glimpse of my life and my writing style.
I held to the old adage, “You never get a second chance to make a first impression,” and I kept that close to my heart. I needed and wanted to put my best professional foot forward, and so for me, this meant a completely fresh design.
I wanted a site that was colorful and fun in the same taste as the art of 10 TURKEYS, illustrated by the talented David Slonim. I turned to Donna Farrell who executed exactly what I needed and wanted. She did a superb job. We had the same vision, and she didn’t disappoint. She goes over and above for her clients, and each website she designs is unique in its own right.
Marketing takes money, and you’ll want to make sure that you plan accordingly. I was fortunate to find talented people along the way that added a sprinkle of magic to everything that was created for my site. My teachers’ guides were written by my daughter-in-law, Whitney Reeves, a stupendous and creative educator and inventor. Whitney is not only a fabulous writer but also co-creator and founder of Bitzy Baby, a revolutionary company that provides safe sleeping and innovative crib bumpers for infants.
My friend, critique partner, and the very talented author/illustrator Carrie Clickard (Victrica Malica, Flashlight Press, 2012), created my puzzles, puppets, book trailer, and also my sorting game, along with some snappy songs. Carrie has a plethora of advertising knowledge, and she helped me compose fun activities for children of all ages.
I hired Renee Gray-Wilburn of A Way With Words to proof and copy edit content. Renee questions every comma and picks up on every grammatical error! I was determined to give 110% to my site, just as I do to my writing because it is all interconnected. If you want your site to be the best it can be, you must seek out those who can add their own brand of magic to your work.
I made contacts with The National Circus Federation and The National Wild Turkey Federation, and I contacted reviewers. I also hired master marketer Kirsten Cappy of Curious City to help implement a strategy.
When I was not writing, I was planning and researching where I could market next, and every day I stepped on new stones. I kept climbing and continued plodding along the windy path.
My business cards were ordered through Vista Print with the cover of my book on the front of the card, along with a QR code, which links directly to my site. On each puzzle and activity page, not only was my QR code for Amazon added, but also my QR code for my website. When children bring home activity pages, I wanted their parents to have a way to wave their smart phone and order TURKEYS if they were so inclined.
In marketing, people want to purchase something WHEN they want it. It is my job to make it easy for them to say “YES” without facing lots of unneeded clicks and unnecessary steps.
We’re all busy, and there are numerous wonderful books out there from which to choose. As a professional writer, I want to satisfy my audience, and so I think about ways to make EVERYTHING easiest for them.
Every day is a day for marketing madness. I’ve had fun, learned a lot, met great people, and have loved every second of bringing 10 TURKEYS IN THE ROAD to you! I appreciate all of you who have helped me in this endeavor. Just as it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a village to raise a reader. I am sincerely and eternally grateful to each one of you that I now call friend!
Brenda is giving away a signed copy of 10 TURKEYS IN THE ROAD! Leave a comment to enter and a winner will be selected in one week!
As a child, Brenda Reeves Sturgis fell asleep with picture books in her hands and a thumb in her mouth. Now she’s a picture book author who recently won a Mom’s Choice Award. She lives on a lake in Maine with her husband Gary. When Brenda’s not busy enjoying life, she’s researching and writing, writing and reading, and she’s very busy grandparenting. Learn more about her books, school visits and critique services at http://www.brendareevessturgis.com.
by Aaron Zenz
Kids are an amazing source of inspiration. They haven’t yet learned the conventions and “rules” that so often inhibit our own grown-up imaginations. My kiddos constantly astound me with the creativity that pours forth from their pencils.
My kids have a couple of blogs where I showcase their art and ideas. Two years ago I set up a challenge for professional illustrators to use a drawing from the kids’ blog to fuel a piece of “Fan Art.”
For example, this is a drawing my daughter Lily made:
And here’s my interpretation:
Here’s a drawing from my son Isaac:
And here’s my take:
I expected that perhaps a handful of people would join me in participating. Instead, over 70 pieces of amazing art poured in from people all over the world. You can see the full results of the celebration HERE.
It was so much fun, we just had to do all over again two years later. One of the illustrators who contributed both years is J.C. Phillipps of “Wink the Ninja” fame. This year she chose to recreate an image by my daughter Gracie:
And here’s J.C. Phillipps’ version:
But then, something else happened… Here’s what Mrs. Phillipps had to say:
“I decided to give the rabbit a girl. As I was making the girl, she started to speak to me. Turns out, her name is Esmerelda and she loves it when things go wrong. As I was putting this collage together, all these little story ideas started weaving their way into my mind and I now think I have a new idea to write up. Time can only tell where it all leads—but I think little Esmerelda and I are going to have a lot of fun together.”
Awesome! And that gets me to thinking of a particular picture book idea that I’ve had rattling around in my brain for years, sparked by one of the kid’s pictures. I’ve yet to work it up. Perhaps PiBoIdMo 2011 is just the time to do it!
So here’s your challenge for the day. Write up a story idea based on the random wonderfulness of a kid drawing. If you don’t have a kid close at hand, here are a few drawings for inspiration:
by Lily:
by Gracie:
by Isaac:
Happy writing to you all!
Aaron Zenz is giving away a copy of his latest book “Chuckling Ducklings” PLUS an original sketch of a baby critter of YOUR choosing! (see examples) Just leave a comment here to be entered! A winner will be randomly selected in one week.
Aaron Zenz has illustrated 14 books for children. He is also the author of “The Hiccupotamus” and “Chuckling Ducklings.” His kids review their favorite books at their blog Bookie Woogie and share artwork at their other blog Chicken Nugget Lemon Tooty.
Writing for Kids (While Raising Them) 