just drink it...

I thought I would post a little follow-up to Meghan's half full or half empty? post. I have not read the The Secret (which sounds like an annoying book) nor do I dispute that the reality that life for a children's book author/illustrator is far from glamorous. And, it IS extremely irritating that is seems like a lot of marketing it pretending you are more successful than you actually are (as I said in an earlier post (a LONG time ago).

But, even though Meghan's post was pretty true, I wanted to give our profession a bit more positive light. I had lots of people and professors tell me that "you'll never be able to live off of children's books," demoting what we do instantly to a hobby or a lesser profession. And it's not. You can make a living--it's not easy and maybe you won't make the money the way you thought (school visits support many an author) and it's definitely not for everyone, but it is possible and it can be pretty gratifying too.

Almost all of us have watched new authors and illustrators shoot to instant super stardom or get 6-digit advances with first contracts with a feeling of inadequacy. But they are more the exception than the rule. Making a living as a children's book creator is not a fast process. In 2009, I celebrated the 10 year anniversary of my first book published. It was a book I wrote and illustrated for $5,000--a measly sum when compared to my peers who were getting $10,000. just for illustrating. But it's been a book I've read and signed and sold year after year, using its royalties to pay for insurance and doctor bills and, most importantly, to build the foundation of my career.

And that is truly what making a living in children's books is about. It is about slowly building and scraping what you are able to get-- no matter what it is-- to make a career that will bring you upwards. You have to keep working at it, continuously with love and passion; and every day, every year and every reader--you get a little higher and higher until you can finally appreciate the view. And after over ten years of this, maybe, you can even get yourself a Newbery Honor. It's possible!

So, I guess what I wanted to say is that it doesn't matter much if the glass is half full or half empty. It matters more that you are thirsty enough to drink it.

New Greta sketch

Still working away on my new project, now titled A Photo for Greta. You can see some of the other sketches here, here, and here.

2010 Acquisitions so far...

This year I thought I'd start posting the acquisitions I've made once they've been announced in Publisher's Marketplace. Last week I had two big acquisitions announced. The first is something that I've been working with the author on since early Fall:

THE ASTONISHING ADVENTURES OF FANBOY AND GOTH GIRL and BOY TOY author Barry Lyga's I HUNT KILLERS, a dark thriller described as DEXTER meets THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS for teens, about a teen boy who uses his killer instinct, inherited from his serial killer father, to help solve a series of gruesome murders, to Alvina Ling at Little, Brown Books for Young Readers in a two-book deal, for Spring 2012 publication, by Kathleen Anderson at Anderson Literary Management. (World)

See Barry's announcement here.

I'm a huge fan of the TV Show Dexter (not the children's show Dexter's Laboratory, but the show on Showtime about a serial killer. Yes, a serial killer. For years now I've been telling agents that I'd be interested in publishing a "Dexter for teens" and have been met with doubt (really? Could you publish that? How would that work?) or intrigue (Hmmm. That would be interesting.), but either way, it never led to any submissions. I was having drinks with Barry last year--we had been interested in working with one another for a while, and I mentioned the idea to him. He shrugged it off and didn't seem interested. But later inspiration hit, he sent in a proposal, and I loved it. I'm particularly happy with this acquisition, because I'm fascinated by serial killers (who isn't?), am finally getting my "Dexter for teens", Barry Lyga is the absolute perfect author to write this (he deals with tough issues in such a sensitive, thoughtful way), and I finally get to work with Barry! Win-win-win-win.

My second acquisitions also happens to be, like Barry, a GEEKTASTIC: Stories from the Nerd Herd contributor:

Libba Bray, hot off her Printz win for Going Bovine, has landed a major book deal at Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. Bray's agent-husband, Barry Goldblatt, sold North American rights, in an auction featuring six houses, to a new YA series called The Diviners to LBBYR senior v-p and publisher Megan Tingley, deputy publisher Andrew Smith, and senior editor Alvina Ling. Ling is set to edit the planned four-book series, which will bow in hardcover in fall 2012...

In The Diviners, a supernatural fantasy series set in Manhattan during the 1920s, Bray follows a teen heroine she says is reminiscent of two of the era's most famous literary women—Zelda Fitzgerald and Dorothy Parker. Bray, who admitted to having always been fascinated by the Jazz Age, said she's looking forward "to offering readers a wild new ride full of dames and dapper dons, jazz babies and Prohibition-defying parties, conspiracy and prophecy—and all manner of things that go bump in the neon-drenched night.”

Read more of the announcement here.

As the announcement says, this acquisition was won in a big auction, which is always nerve wracking. The morning we were supposed to find out the results of the auction, I found myself constantly checking the phone. "I feel like I'm a girl waiting for a boy to call," I told my coworkers. And indeed, I was. When the good news finally came, I was on the street with coworkers heading to an all-company, off-site meeting. As soon as I got on my cellphone, all of my coworkers stopped to see/hear my reaction--they were invested in the outcome too. As soon as the agent said, "Congratulations..." I jumped up and down and screamed, and my coworkers screamed and applauded, too. Very fun.

I'm so excited and honored to be working with both Barry Lyga and Libba Bray, two authors I've admired for a long time. So stay tuned for more news--the former should be out in Spring 2012, the latter in Fall 2012. And it's fun to think of the similarities:
1) Both projects feature a serial killer.
2) Libba and Barry inversely share the same initials: L and B. Just like "Little, Brown"!
3) They both live in Brooklyn.
4) And, as I mentioned, they both wrote short stories for GEEKTASTIC.

So, just for fun, because we're all geeks here, I thought I'd give away two copies of GEEKTASTIC to the first two commentors who answer the following question correctly:

What were the names of my D&D characters as a child?

(and yes, the answer can be found somewhere on this blog...)

POETRY FRIDAY: Back Then by Trish Crapo

I love this poem about childhood and innocence.

Back Then
by Trish Crapo

Out in the yard, my sister and I
tore thread from century plants
to braid into bracelets, ate
chalky green bananas,
threw coconuts onto the sidewalk
to crack their hard, hairy skulls.

The world had begun to happen,
but not time. We would live
forever, sunburnt and pricker-stuck,
our promises written in blood.

You can read the rest of the poem here.

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At Wild Rose Reader, I have an original fairy tale poem about Red Riding hood written in the form of a rhyming Q&A.

Mary Ann has the Poetry Friday Roundup at Great Kids Books.

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half full of half empty?

I'm sure you can guess what kind of person I am. I was flipping through the book THE SECRET at work the other day. Anyone heard of it? It was Oprah's big book of the year. That book pisses me off. I won't go into a big tirade but yes, the positive thinking part is good but it doesn't say that you need to do anything else like work hard to make things happen! It also blames sick people for their negative thinking. I guess it's my fault that I'm sic then isn't it? Anyway, what was my point? Ah, yes. Glass half full or half empty. I don't want you all to think that I'm a negative whiney you-know-what all the time because I'm not. I just want people to know what it's really like for authors like me. There are so many out there who are putting on a facade. I could do that too, you know! Here we go.

You meet me for the first time. Let's say you bump into me at BN.

You say: "Oh wow, you're a children's book author?"

"Yes, I am! I've published 9 books and my 10th is coming out this spring! If you buy a copy I'll sign it for you! I'll even personalize it!" (This is what authors usually do).

Then some of them even go further:

"Are your books good for boys or girls?"

"Both! boys and girls love my books. I have won the IRA Children's Choice Award several times. My books have won dozens of other awards including best nonfiction book of the year, ALA best book of the year, and so on. Here, let me sign some books for you!"

So I could do that. I could tell you that everything is great, great, great. I am an award winner. I have spoken to hundreds of school children across the country. Heck, kids have even asked for me to sign their foreheads! I have seen these authors first-hand when they come into the kids' dept. in the bookstore. They act like they're oh-so-special. "Where are my books" they demand. "Why aren't they on display!" It's funny how authors don't even know how the system works! You'd think that they're earning a million dollars and their limo is waiting for them outside. BUT I've spoken to them. It's usually their first book.. they're nervous... they got a low advance... they've got kids to support... and so on. But the face that they display to everyone is not that face.

So if I'm the only one to show you all what it's really like then so be it! I'll take on that challenge.

meghan

Now it's official

Spirit of the Tiger!

PaperTigers has announced an exciting and important new project, Spirit of PaperTigers! This project aims to put a selected set of multicultural books into the hands of children in areas of need in different parts of the world.

This is a wonderful initiative! 100 specially chosen book sets are donated to schools and libraries in need. I am incredible proud that Where the Mountain Meets the Moon has been chosen as part of 2010 book set. PaperTigers is such an amazing organization, with the goal of raising awareness "of our common humanity and to contribute to fuller human community" everyday. Wow. I am honored and humbled that my work is a part of that!

thank goodness for royalty checks!

Hello folks. So, I finally got my W2s back. For 2009 (I don't know if any of you had noticed) I had NO books out. I remember freaking out when I knew this would happen--there were a few reasons--I was sick, I had an editor out with a baby, and so on. I also remember being assured that it wouldn't matter because I'd sell other stuff during that year that would make up for it (didn't happen). So what did this leave me with? One part of a book advance for my book coming out in 2010. ONE PART. THAT'S IT. And trust me, it's not that much money at all. We're talking just a bit over 10,000. Can I possibly live off of that for a year??? Heck no!

So for one thing, I'm sick of people asking me why I need a part time job. This is why. I need a back up when stuff like this happens. And, of course, I need the health insurance. People with autoimmune diseases can't get health insurance these days too easily without working for a large employer. I was having some hope in Obama but I'm thinking that it might not happen... but I'm getting really off track here. Anyway, my point is that ALIENS has sold quite well and some of my other books are starting to as well. You don't know how nice it is to get a surprise check in the mail when you're about to get another one of those zero APR credit cards to pay the rent with. My royalty checks weren't for that much money either but they were for just enough to get me through the rough parts. Hallelujah. (yes, I had to google this word because I'm a terrible speller. Two thumbs up for using google as a spell-check device!)

Still, I don't know how I manage. I really don't. I'm so SICK of being poor. You'd think by now that I wouldn't have to go through this.

Meghan

p.s - my part time job earns me under 10,000 a year. Go me!

Writing for other people, writing for me

Yesterday morning someone I'm writing a book with called at 7.15 to see what I'd done since we last talked. The answer was: nothing--there are reasons (I thought he was going to call me, for one) but I felt incredibly guilty. I ran downstairs (yes! I now have a DOWNSTAIRS), made tea, ran back up to my desk and started working.

I worked until it was all done, concentrating completely, not goofing off, and then emailed it off to him, 6 1/2 hours after he'd called me.

I NEVER do my own work this way. I dawdle and delay -- in a way, that makes sense; my agent has 4 unsold mss. of mine, feeling no one is ever going to read anything I write isn't completely irrational....but what if I approached my own work the way I approach freelance jobs? I'd finish my novel so fast!

So I:

1) sent myself a voicemail, asking me what I'd done since yesterday

2) turned this on when I started writing: silly-looking and sounding, but the state of mind I do want to be in --

3) and, if I start to dawdle, will listen to this

IT WORKS! It's probably like a diet, I'm determined to do it so all I need are the external reminders. What I'm determined to do is finish my novel, working, as Scotty says, "as fast as I can." (But do listen to that oily voice that prompts his comment.)

btw I am NOT a Star Trek fan: one of the kids I babysat for had the toy, and I thought it would make a great motivator: funny but serious. It does make me laugh, but it also makes me remember what I'm supposed to be, and want to be, doing.