Dear Emma,
I’m an early riser and the first thing I do each morning is check the e-mails, so I was delighted to see yours there.
Your book is very impressive and if I was writing children’s stories I would find it invaluable. (I know how difficult that market is to get into, having once tried with a prominent UK publisher. I sent in two submissions and received a polite rejection. The editor said she found the stories quite charming, but added; “They don’t stand out enough in what is an extremely competitive market, for me to take them on.”)
Yet after that, trawling through children’s books in the library, I was amazed by the number of what I considered to be badly written and presented books, on offer.
How, I wondered, did they make it?
I wish your book had been available to me at the time!
I found it informative and well written. All sections, from the the birth of an idea to getting ‘your baby’ into print, were covered expertly and clearly. I liked the presentation of each page, the ‘asides’, I thought were a nice touch, and the tips on illustrating were particularly useful. The section on, to self-publish or find a publisher, would maybe frighten some people. Self-publishing is sometimes confused with vanity publishing, which I wouldn’t touch with a ten foot barge pole, and as you rightly said....”DON’T!” But these vanity publishers can be very persuasive and to someone struggling to get into print, seen as a lifeline.
Yes, your book definitely needs to be out there.
I think writer’s struggling with many issues, ‘show vs tell’, punctuation, presentation etc., would all benefit greatly from reading it. How many would be authors are put off from ever submitting their work because they consider it not good enough? But imagine, with the help of books such as yours on offer, the number who may eventually pluck up courage to do just that.
I wish you the very best of luck with it.
Regards
Pauline Saull
I 'met' Pauline through an online writers site, promoting Australian writers. She has written two adult novels, Secrets in Paradise and A Tropical Affair. Yes, her chosen genre may seem a long way from children's picture books, but she is spot on with the elements of the craft being applicable across the board! Thank you Pauline so much for reading Child Writes... X Emma