Blog tour for SCRIBBLE & AUTHOR! by Miri Leshem-Pelly

I am so, so thrilled to be hosting today’s stop on the month-long blog tour for my real-life friend and faithful critique group companion Miri Leshem-Pelly… and her new book, Scribble & Author (Kane-Miller Picture Books, 2017)!  Check out yesterday’s stop at PUYB Virtual Book Club – as well as tomorrow’s stop, when it’s posted, at Interview at Literarily Speaking.  So much fun!!!

As children’s writers all know, though, the book isn’t really about us, the writers.  It’s about our CHARACTERS.  And that’s why, for today’s blog tour stop, I decided to host an interview not with Miri herself (check out this interview for that, or Miri’s website, if you’re interested!) – but with her character, Scribble!

Why did I want to talk to Scribble?  Well, take a look and see for yourself:

Isn’t she adorable???  Just so sweet and full of spunk.  Miri is an author/illustrator – so she gets to create her own characters.  I’m so jealous.  But it’s not enough to CREATE a character – as writers we know that we have to put our character in fascinating situations. 

Here's what the book is about, in a sweet little nutshell (from the publisher):

In Scribble & Author, Scribble's journey starts on a peaceful shore called THE BEGINNING, continues to the rough, adventurous MIDDLE, and leads finally to the gate of THE ENDING, but it's not at all what Scribble expected...
Scribble is a scribble and Author is an author, but who really gets to tell the tale?
An innovative picture book about finding your own voice, making your own decisions, and writing your own story.

Most importantly, as Scribble learns in the book, whether we’re illustrating our story or not, we also have to CHALLENGE our characters – even though we love them, we have to put them in plenty of danger and then let them find their own way out.

All of which is to say, it’s not easy being a character in a children’s picture book – especially given that element of danger.  So naturally, Scribble had lots and lots to say about her own adventures and being a character in this amazing book. 

Let’s listen in:

WKB: Hey, Scribble. It’s great to meet you! How does it feel now that you’re getting all this attention?

Thank you! Finally somebody’s paying attention to me – the main character! You know, the name of the book is Scribble & Author, not Author & Scribble, but for some reason, all other bloggers chose to interview the author instead of me!

WKB: Can you tell me how you first met Author?

When I first opened my eyes I saw Author, right there in front of me. I was very excited to discover that I was inside a book. But let me tell you something - I’m the only one who gets to see Author. Readers don’t see Author. They can read what Author says but they don’t really know who Author is: a man or a woman? Maybe a boy or a girl? I’m the only one who knows. And I’m not telling! It’s my secret.

WKB: Tell us the truth. Does it tickle when you’re being drawn?

You bet it is. I love being

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From Manuscript to Self-Published Book in 10 Simple Steps

What’s next? 

That’s the question I hear most often from writers out there.  Maybe even from you.  It’s what everybody wants to know, so if you’re stuck on that question, you’re not alone.

You already have a great story, one you really believe in, and you’re READY – you just want to get your story out there into the world.

Here’s the great news:  you CAN!

You can self-publish your book, in ten not-so-tough steps I’ll lay out for you here.  You’ll have to put in some time, some energy, and there is absolutely a learning curve.  But I believe this process is so simple that just about anybody can master it with a little experience.

I’m going to illustrate these steps with a book that I actually did self-publish.  It’s called Shabbat Monsters.  It’s a good example because it’s a pretty classic 32-page rhyming picture book. 

Let’s get started… at the very beginning, with

Step 1.  Your MANUSCRIPT.

Looks pretty plain, doesn’t it?  I hope you’ve had it professionally edited.  If not, go do it – NOW.

Okay, you’re back.  Your story’s ready.  Let’s move on to…

Step 2. Your dummy

No, I’m not CALLING you a dummy!  It’s time to make a dummy.  32 pages, 2-page spreads.  Time to start planning what we (the reader) are going to see on every single page.

So that’s the first stage of planning what the pages are going to look like.  Once I know what illustrations I’m going to need, it’s time for…

Step 3.  Artwork

If you’re not an artist (you’ll know if you are), I strongly recommend you get a professional to do this step, even if you have to pay them.  I loved the artist I worked with for this book.  A little slow, but she was very responsive.  First, she sent me sketches…

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5 (plus 1) free contests exposed: for FEARLESS children's illustrators only

Do you want people to notice your book?

Not just because you'll sell more - though that would be nice - but also because you've put a ton of work into it.  You want to get it into kids' hands so they can enjoy it. 

And more than work, you've put a ton of love into it.
Maybe your illustrator has, too?

Doesn't his or her work deserve recognition, too? (Or your own if you're the illustrator.)

Are you fearless enough to toot your own book’s horn?  I hope so.

But most book awards are for the text of the book only.  What about those visuals??? 
In a children's picture book, they're supposed to carry half the weight of telling the story, yet they get so much less than half the recognition.

Most children's book contests miss this important point.  Here are four contests you'll love because they reward great art and illustration... along with one I hope you have.  (Plus, keep scrolling for a bonus contest.)

1.  INKed 2016 CALENDAR COMPETITION

https://www.facebook.com/pages/INKed/1583992151875285

This one's not specifically for kids’ illustrators, but it is open to anyone with a great sense of what you can do with ink on a page.  There's no cash prize, but this is a legit opportunity to get featured in a terrific calendar full of illustrations by talented artists all over the world.

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Should you self-publish your children’s book? These 5 questions will help you decide.

You have a wonderful story, and it’s written at last.  What should you do with it now?  You want to get it off your hard drive and out into the world… but how?

Maybe you're thinking you should self-publish... but then, you've heard that it's hard work.  Or maybe you're considering sending it out to a publishing company - but have heard there’s so much frustration if you go that route.

Should you self-publish?  Or traditionally publish?  This may be the hardest question we face as writers today.

Self-publishing has grown tremendously and is starting to find its sea legs in today's stormy publishing world.  31% of Amazon's Kindle sales come from indie books, self-published by their authors or tiny (sometimes single-author) publishing companies.  40% of ebook payouts are going to indie authors.  “Kindle millions” might be a myth, but maybe you should try to cash in on some of those megabucks? [stats from Publishers Weekly]

These five questions will help you make the choice, based on my experience navigating the joys and frustrations of self-publishing nearly 20 books for kids and adults, and helping others get their books out into the world. 

There’s no right or wrong answer to these questions.  But if you find yourself answering NO to most of them, a traditional publisher will probably offer a more comfortable route to a final book.

1.  Do you have a clear idea of where your book’s illustrations will come from?

It doesn’t matter whether you’re doing the illustrations yourself or hiring an illustrator.  The important thing is knowing that if you self-publish, you’ll have to either lay out the book yourself or pay someone with these skills to do it for you.

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How to have fun collaborating on a kids' book–with a kid

Hand in hand in hand in hand.  Collaborating on a meaningful book project together – why not?

The image is so beautiful.  Jodi Picoult writes with her daughter.  So maybe you’re wondering:  why can’t you write a children’s book with your son, niece, granddaughter, cousin, or any other kid you happen to have nearby?

(Jodi Picoult and her daughter, Samantha Van Leer, who have written two books together.)

The answer is a resounding yes.  YES!  Absolutely, you can.  You can write a book together, and have tons fun doing it.  Sure, you’ll both learn a lot, too, but shh… keep that part under wraps.  You don’t want it to seem too educational.

Kids adore making books.  More than just another boring creative writing project, they sense that by creating a book, they’re onto something important.  They’re bringing something wonderful into the world.  And you know what?  They’re right.

Follow these DO’s and DON’Ts to make sure you’re not disappointed, and that you both have fun from start to finish.

DO pick realistic goals ahead of time.

What’s your definition of success?  Be honest.  Pick a definition you can both agree on. 

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So you want to write a children’s book…? The ultimate Quick-Start tutorial.

When I started out writing children’s books, I was full of ideas, but I had no idea what to actually DO. 

Should I write the story?  Find an artist?  How was it all supposed to come together into an actual book?  Like I said, I had no idea.

You might be right where I was a few years ago, wondering how to get started.

I’ve put this quick-start guide together to help YOU skip over the mistakes I made.  I hope it’ll help give you a smoother launch into this incredible world of writing for children.

1. How can you write (or finish) your book?

You can’t do much until you have a finished book saved on your hard drive (or, if you’re the old-fashioned type, written down on paper).  Here are the basics, the least you need to know to sit down and get writing.

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Illustrating your kids’ book on a shoestring budget: YES, you can! (here’s how)

Your book is perfect… now, do you know where are the pictures are coming from?

The other day at my SCBWI meeting (have you joined yet?), I mentioned my easy technique for creating a Kindle book from Microsoft Word, and I said, “you just take the words and pictures and pull them together in Microsoft Word.”  To which someone asked, “yeah, but where do the pictures come from???”

Everybody’s ears perked up.  Where DO the pictures come from?

You see, most of us are writers, not illustrators.  Some of us couldn’t even draw stick figures, even if our lives depended on it.

If you write AND draw, you’re lucky.  For most of us, writing is easy… and drawing our own pictures is an impossible dream.

But don’t worry – that doesn’t mean you’re stuck!  Here are three affordable ways (from cheapest to most expensive) that I’ve managed to get great pictures for my own books at prices that didn’t bankrupt me (yet):

1) Super-cheap:  Stock illustrations & photos

I told you a couple of weeks ago about how I get stock photos and illustrations for only $1 apiece… and sometimes, even less.  I really recommend you check it out.

Not every book is the right fit for stock photos, but sometimes, they can add a lot of fun to a story.  I’ve written a series of Jewish holiday children’s books illustrated with stock photos of animals.

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How to illustrate a children’s book for $1 a picture or less.

The best price tag of all is free.  I’ve written before about finding and using free photos to create gorgeous children’s picture books.  (Don’t believe the haters; it really is possible.)

But what if you can’t find what you’re looking for at the free sites?

Stock photo sites can charge hundreds of dollars for a membership.  What a hassle, am I right?  That’s no problem if I’m The Huffington Post or some other big corporate website. 

But for little guys like us, it’s more than we’re likely to make back from all but the most successful kids’ books.  I really hope you will be that successful, but wouldn’t it be nice to keep that money in your pocket instead?

A stock image resource for the little guys

That’s why I want to tell you about a site I’ve been using for a while now that I absolutely love.  I think you’ll love it too.  Once you hear the name, you’ll understand what it’s about, start to finish. 

Ready…?  Okay.

It’s called Dollar Photo Club.

Why is it called that?  Um, because all the photos and images there are $1 each.  Totally simple, right?

It works with a monthly membership, so you get a certain number of “credits” each month; they roll over if I don’t use them.

Even though it’s called Dollar Photo Club, they have way more than just photos.

What can you find there?

There are lots of hand-drawn illustrations, ranging from cartoons to sketches and more.  You can even click on the name of an artist to find more in the same style. 

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Stuck for starters? Viral story starters from 3 kids’ best-sellers.

How should you start your story?  Every children’s book editor and agent will tell you:  the action needs to begin on Page One.

But hey, isn’t that a little unfair?  What if you have a great idea, but you need to take a few pages to get to it?  Shouldn’t the reader be patient and bear with you? 

The cold hard truth is that today’s readers won’t, and neither will today’s book-buying parents and grandparents.  Your story has to hook us on Page One if you want anyone to invest their time and read any further.

What does that mean for today’s writer (that means you)?  It means starting your story in the middle of the action.  (In Latin, if you want to get fancy, that’s called in media res.)

Let’s see how some of today’s hottest-selling kids’ books do it.  Take a peek at what’s flying off the virtual shelves at Amazon:

Viral Bestseller #1:  The Day the Crayons Quit

Take a look at the current bestseller The Day the Crayons Quit, by Drew Daywalt, illustrated by Oliver Jeffers.  How does it start?

“One day in class, Duncan went to take out his crayons and found a stack of letters with his name on them.”

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Is your manuscript headed for the shredder? 15 formatting DO’s and DON’Ts to make editors fall in love.

Will your story survive the slushpile… only to end up in an editor’s recycle bin, trash can, or shredder?

A story manuscript that doesn’t look like a manuscript will get you exactly the WRONG kind of attention.  The kind that winds your story up in that virtual paper shredder before the editor gets to word one.

True, you’re submitting a children’s book.  But the core of all these DON’Ts is one simple fact:  your story can’t LOOK like a children’s book when you submit it.

What not to do.

Be very, very careful.  Violating any one of these will get your story tossed (or shredded) in disgust:

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Best of the Indie Children’s Book Covers – new contest for 2015!

2015 CONTEST NOW OPEN!

(FOR BOOKS PUBLISHED BETWEEN DECEMBER 1, 2014 AND NOVEMBER 30, 2015)

When it comes to marketing your self-published book, your cover is everything.  It’s a flyer, a billboard, a trailer, all rolled into one… and it has to be just as compelling in its teeny tiny thumbnail version.

I was so excited about my Top 19 indie kids’ book covers that I decided to do it even bigger and better for 2015.  Watch this space for details in the months to come.  Literally, this space.  Bookmark it and come back, as I will be updating this post once I know more.

To make this more about “great design” and less about “my opinion,” I’m bringing 3 other people on board to help judge the entries.  I’ll also figure out a couple of great prizes (beyond exposure), for books we all absolutely love – probably the Top 5 entries. 

(I will present the Top 20 entries on my site, with judges’ comments and links.)

Who’s Judging?

• Christine Tripp (SCBWI, children’s illustrator)
• Dayne Sislen (SCBWI, children’s illustrator)
• 3rd judge TBD!!!

What are the prizes???

This is my first year doing this – hopefully, the first of many! – so I’m still rustling up some great prize ideas.  I hope they’ll include a blog tour (on relevant blogs) and book-related services.  Be sure to check back soon for more details!

Contest entry rules: 

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Best & worst of the Indie Children’s Covers 2014: 19 hits, 10 misses.

UPDATE:  Want to enter the 2015 contest?  Open NOW to any children’s books self-published between Dec 1, 2014 and Nov 30, 2015.

Covers are hard.  If you’re like most people, I hope you don’t even try to do them yourself.  But even if you hire a pro, it’s easy to wander off the path of good judgment into the jungle of horrific, embarrassing covers.

That’s why we need objective feedback. 

Which is where Joel Friedlander, the Book Designer, comes in.  Every month, he hosts a cover contest.  It’s free to enter, and if you have a cover you love, you really should.  It won’t boost book sales directly, but it’s worth it, I promise.

Remember:  every single buyer is judging your book by its cover.  You can’t escape from that simple fact.

Every month, Joel shows off every cover he gets.  Sometimes he adds praise – but sometimes, his comments can sting.  One author proudly submitted his cover with the words “Fully designed by the author himself.”  To which Joel replied, “That’s apparent.”  About another cover, he wrote, “Impossible to tell what was intended here, but clearly this is a disaster.”  (My personal favourite:  “Pretty much announces: “I’m self-published!” And not in a good way.”)

I have to laugh – even when his criticisms are aimed at me, which they have been a couple of times.  Don’t submit anything unless you’re prepared for him to tear it apart.

Most of the covers he gets are for adult books.  Why not more kidlit?  Maybe because most of us aren’t putting enough money/effort into our covers, and aren’t proud enough of the results. 

That’s REALLY got to change.  I hope this list inspires you to create excellent covers that will hog all the top spots for 2015.

Here (in no particular order) is my personal Top Nineteen of all the kids’ covers that he’s featured in 2014.  NOTE:  I haven’t read the books.  I’m literally just judging them by their covers.

Down below, you’ll find 10 “misses” and “near-misses” that failed on one count or another to make it to that empty #20 spot in my “top” list.  Plus two grownup books with really, REALLY bad covers that make me wonder why anyone would submit them to a contest.  And one I loved that inspired me to buy the book.

#1

The Boy Who Loved Fire by Julie Musil.  There were many great YA covers this year; I think authors in this category are a lot more serious about their covers than if they’re just writing “kiddie books.”  (Again, that’s really got to change.)  Joel didn’t say anything when it was listed in January, but in March when he listed it again, he said, “Although a bit overwrought, it is nicely creepy.”

#2

The Little Girl and the Hill by Brett Henley.  In January, Joel didn’t like the smallness of the text and I agree – you can’t read the author’s name, even with this fairly large thumbnail.  He said the art was lovely but that the cover overall is “a dark and easily skipped muddle.”  Still, something about this concept really appeals to me.  Like finding a good black t-shirt for a baby, it’s rare to see an all-black cover on a kids’ book.  (Caveat:  the interior looks similarly all-black, and I’m not 100% sure how good that would look on an ereader.)  I do wish they’d re-do the fonts, however.

#3

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$5 to illustrate your book? Yes, please! (a fiverr artist speaks up)

My post How to get your children’s book illustrated for $5 on fiverr inspired a veritable poo poo storm of hostility, not just from non-fiverr illustrators, but from many others in the children’s book world. 

That made me sad enough that I wrote a follow up post , Why hiring a fiverr artist for your kids’ book WON’T destroy the universe which inspired a poo poo storm of its own.

So when fiverr artist Eka Saputra, from Indonesia, stopped by to share his views in the Comments section, I felt he deserved a post of his own to hopefully bring some sanity to this stinky storm.

Here’s what Eka has to say:

After reading this post and the previous one, as one of freelance illustrator in fiverr, I can't stand not to post a comment to show you my perspective.

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GUEST POST: Writing Children's Books: Using Proper Fonts

(Guest post by Irene Watson.)

Writing a children's book is hard, but so is illustrating and designing it. Yet everyone seems to think he or she can create a children's book. Plenty has been written about why children's book authors need feedback from children on the story before they publish a children's book. But just as important is getting feedback on illustrations and from the adults who might actually be the ones who read the book to children. No matter how good the story might be, more than with any other type of book, how a children's book looks is going to determine whether kids or adults want to read or buy it.

In other words, hire a professional illustrator and a professional layout and design person. In this age of computers and all kinds of graphic design programs, everyone thinks she can design her own children's book. The result is usually a disaster made by someone who doesn't understand that less is more. Many things need to be avoided when designing a children's book. Based on years of experience reviewing children's books and seeing what my children and grandchildren have and haven't liked, here are a few tips on what not to do:

Unprofessional Artwork

With a children's book, a picture is worth a thousand words, and trust me, little kids know the difference between good and bad art. You may not be able to tell what they are depicting in their own drawings, but they know when something "sucks."

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KDP Kids: a first look at Amazon’s new Kindle Kids’ Book Creator software.

Spoiler alert:  I like it.  VERY much.

So much, on a first trial pass, that I’m planning to redo all my Kindle books to make them even more true to the print originals.

Okay, let me back up for a second.  Amazon has just released a new program designed to make creating beautiful kids’ books a total no-brainer.  This is huge news, because self-publishing illustrated kids’ books for Kindle has always been somewhat of a pain in the you-know-where.

Huge.  Like, “drop everything” kind of huge.

So I dropped everything to test it out.

I have a bunch of other things to do this morning, but I wanted to check out the program right away.  You can download the Kindle Kids' Book Creator tool free here. (I love that they remembered the apostrophe!)

I  decided to give it a “quick whirl,” a process that occasionally ends in an hours-long disaster.  Not this time.

Install was quick, easy:  hassle-free, and the program launched right away after install.  It has a fun, friendly look.

Again, I was in a rush, so I thought, let’s just haul in an existing PDF and see how it does.

I’m in the middle of preparing a book called Panda Purim, a Jewish holiday themed follow-up to Penguin Rosh Hashanah (which made it to #9 last night in the Jewish children’s books category!).

So I just whomped in the PDF file, images, text and all.

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Elijah and the Priests of Baal, covers, interior, and the secret back story.

Know what’s awesome?

Getting proof copies in the mail.

There may be more wonderful feelings, but not that are reasonably cheap and legal in all 50-some-odd states.

This book is called Elijah and the Priests of Baal. It’s an approachable Biblical narrative for slightly older kids. Illustrated by a super-talented artist who was a pleasure to work with. More words & substance than your typical picture book... more pictures than your typical big-kids' book. It's sort of a hybrid for big kids who like pictures.

Here I am getting my hands on it, literally, for the very first time.

I’ll be honest:  I was always bored to tears, or thought I was, by stories of the ancient prophets (in Hebrew, nevi’im).  I never thought I would write a Biblically-based story.  I’m just not that kind of person – I thought.

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Three FREE graphics programs writers need in their arsenal.

Need a quick tweak for an illustration or cover? 

It doesn’t have to be a pain.  I promise, I’ll make this as easy and low-tech as possible.

Ideally, a professional would handle anything image-related, from changes to illustrations to adding text to your covers.  But for small fixes, you’re not stuck with Windows Paint. 

And even if you’re not planning on doing a lot of image manipulation, there are good reasons why you need a reliable paint program to turn to from time to time.

Obviously, you don’t want to spend a ton of money, which is why I’ve gathered this collection of three good, stable choices that you can download and start using absolutely free.

(I don’t get any kind of kickback for suggesting these – they’re just good programs that I have used myself.)

Autodesk Pixlr (Desktop version)

This program is free, fast to load and pretty nifty.  It’s also very bare-bones.  There is an “upgraded” professional membership for $15 a year that gives you access to more features.  I don’t know that it’s worth it, but the free one is a handy tool to have.

What can it do?

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Two, (no, three!) heartwarming indie books.

A lot of people send me books.

A lot.

But I don’t write a lot of reviews.  It turns out, I’m much too picky.

I know all too well that reviews are the lifeblood of any independent writer.  In theory, I’m happy to help.  But I won’t review just anything.  Like my mother always said, “if you don’t have anything good to say, don’t say anything at all.”

Two books arrived recently that were actually just right for us to read and review (check out my review guidelines before sending anything). 

Another is a series that has been waiting far too long, so I’ll throw it in here for good measure.

Here are the books:

• A Different Little Doggy, by Heather Whittaker (illustrated by Scott Alberts)
• Great Grandma’s Gifts, by Marianne Jones (illustrated by Karen Reinikke)
• The Dr. Dee Dee Dynamo Series, by Oneeka Williams

I read the first two tonight, out loud, with my kids.  All of these books have a lot going for them.  It makes me excited to be an independent author, honestly it does.  It’s like the book says:  it was the best of times, it was the worst of times. 

These books are some of the best of what’s out there.

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8 mistakes to avoid while writing for children.

(guest post by Megha Mukherjee)

On my niece's seventh birthday, I wondered what would be an ideal gift for her. I decided to gift her something which would be beneficial for her in future. Seeing her inclination towards story books and comics, I thought it would be much ideal to gift a story book. And what could be a better gift than a book written by me?

With full throttle, I started jotting down a set of stories for her, all well thought on the present situations and issues, stories of high values and morals. Finally, I got the book bind from a local bookbinding shop and gifted it to her.

Three years have passed since then, needless to mention that my book is a history now.All because the next time I visited my sister, I saw my book carelessly turned over the floor by the side of the kennel. Apparently, my niece was using it as a sleeping tent for her doll. My sister told me she had discarded the book, announcing it was boring. That really broke my heart and I wondered what went wrong.

Anyways, that experience was a lesson. I still want to gift a personalized storybook to my daughter and I know exactly how to go about it. Here are eight reasons to why some children's books are so popular while others never get off the rack.

 

1. A book without pictures

The first step to draw a child's attention to a book is to make it look good. Pictures attract all of us; many of us still drift the pages of a magazine without actually paying much attention to the text.

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Why hiring a fiverr artist for your kids’ book WON’T destroy the universe.

Since I posted about how to get your children’s book illustrated for $5 at fiverr, many, many people have raised some pretty strong objections.

If you listen to these people, you might justifiably believe the world as we know it would come to an end if we buy illustrations through fiverr and similar sites.

But I’m here to assure you that it won’t.

Here are a few of their objections (some of which I share – read on):

“As a reader, I object”

I agree.

I read books, too. I hate poorly-illustrated books, and refuse to share them with my children. Bad illustrations are offensive.

And so many self-published books look terrible.

But if you read through my original post on hiring an illustrator through fiverr, you’ll see that I’ve given you a built-in way to avoid finding a terrible illustrator – although, of course, there’s always the chance that a good illustrator will draw bad pictures for you.

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