Ten Things to Consider Before Self-Publishing a Children's Book

The indie/self-publishing industry is booming, and I believe it's a viable alternative to traditional publishing for author entrepreneurs who believe they can connect with their readers online. In 2011, I became excited about this fresh frontier and I self-published a middle-grade novel titled THE PET WASHER.

Ten Things I've Learned Since Signing My Book Contract

1. Getting paid to write does not take the fun out of it. 
2. Just because they love it doesn't mean they won't ask me to rewrite some of it.
3. My publisher trusts my imagination.
4. My agent is my book's first and last supporter. 
5. As my writing improves, I become more aware of my flaws.
6. The contract is the beginning of the publishing journey, not the end.
7. People respect my work hours now that writing isn't a "hobby".
8. After basic structure, editing is foremost about clarifying.
9. Good writing comes second to good storytelling.
10. Outside affirmation is a component of success, but true success is not needing it.

Resonating with Readers

I'm a hybrid author, a writer who has self-published and traditionally published her work. As a hybrid author, I'm interested in the ongoing conversation about the different types of publishing.

Authorlife: A Tale of Two Queries

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How Long Does It Take To Write A Book?

Some novels are written in days or weeks, some take years. Why?

A Writer's Dream Comes True: My Path to HarperCollins

When your dreams come true, it's hard to believe you're awake. HarperCollins Childrens Books has acquired World English rights for the first four books in my Winged Herds fantasy series! Here's the blurb from Publisher's Weekly today:

The Quote That Set Me Free as a Writer

by Jennifer Lynn Alvarez

I've wanted to write well since I was a child. I used to think that meant composing perfect prose, but what is perfect prose anyway? Is it poetic, minimalist, descriptive, flowery, or rhythmic? Books do not hold any clues. Great novels utilize many different writing styles. Popular books can be well-written or poorly written and enjoy equal success. 

Then I read the following quote. It answered my question and freed me at the same time.

What to Expect When You're Expecting: Life After Signing With A Literary Agent

In September 2012, I signed with a stellar NY literary agent, Jacquelyn Flynn. Exciting? Absolutely!

I jumped for joy. I told my husband, "I did it."

Did what?

I got heard! I've been shouting from my speck of dust for someone to hear me--and far, far away in New York City, with all the noise and bustle, I was heard. That alone is amazing. We celebrated and my kids got a kick out of their mom jumping for joy!

Then I came down from my bubble and realized getting an agent is a giant step, but it is a first step. Now we need to sell the book.

Writers: Why Your Word Count Matters

Word count matters whether you self-publish or traditionally publish!

I grew up assuming publishers and readers wanted lengthy books. I thought more was better, but I couldn't have been more wrong!

Your word count matters for the following two reasons:

Authors, Don't Quit!

On most weekends, I promote my book, The Pet Washer, with Tweets and Facebook posts. I've already written about this and it seems redundant to write about it again. So any day you don't see a post from me, you can be sure that I tweeted or face booked or networked in some other way online. Unless it's something new, I won't bore you with the details.But rest assured, I never go a day without doing something!

Day 132--Writers: What Are You Waiting For?

I attended a Celebration of Life today. As you can imagine, promoting my book is the last thing on my mind. But my writing is on my mind.

The friend I celebrated today, Chris, is one of the reasons why I published The Pet Washer. The other two reasons are named Janna and Kate. They are three middle-aged, healthy, and active women with different types of stage four cancer. Two have now passed away.

When Janna died, she was laid to rest in my town. When I pass the cemetery, I'm tormented by the thought of her lying there. She never stopped moving, never stopped talking when she was alive. She was always encouraging and friendly. She lived her life out loud and I'm grateful for that memory.

But her life on earth is over. Forever. It made me think, "What am I waiting for?" 

While I believe that how we treat each other is the only thing that truly matters in eternity--I also believe there is value in doing things, creating things, and building things here on earth. Even if they will turn to dust someday, expressing ourselves in architecture, novels, films, party planning, perfectly drafted legal contracts, or whatever is valuable. I believe we are called to do these things! We have hands and feet for a reason. 

I have to write. Most of you know exactly what I mean. I think I could even handle prison if I had a word processor. In fact, the thought of living in a cell with nothing but a toilet, a computer, and time kind of excites me! (If you're smiling, you get it!)

So I finished The Pet Washer and published it. Then I wrote Dead Girls Don't Cry and I'm trying to sell that. Book two of The Pet Washer series is over half way finished. I've also decided to try and sell my "The Jennifer (Recession) Diaries" blog. Meanwhile, a new middle-grade book, The Winged Herds of Ahnak, has plopped into my head fully-formed like Venus. The third book of The Pet Washer series, The Majestic Voyage, is also fully-plotted and waiting to be written, and when I'm done with all that, I have a completed middle-grade manuscript I wrote when I was nineteen ready for editing.

What was I waiting for? I was waiting for my dream of being a writer to magically come true, I guess, but my friends have shown me that I don't have endless time. One becomes a writer when they start writing and keep writing. I now write every single day--and not just on this blog. I don't need to be recognized or chosen--I'm proceeding as though I already have been. Becoming a writer is no longer a dream or a wish, it's a reality.

Thank you my dear friends. I miss you. 

To Do: Give birth to your work now or it will die when you do.

I entered this post in a contest at http://youareawriter.com/contest/  Check out this site! It belongs to Jeff Goins who I wrote about yesterday.

Encouragement for Mothers

Authors are first and foremost, people. Many of us are also mothers. I have three children aged 8, 11 and 14.

I stopped writing after my first child was born. I was so wrapped up in his charm that I didn't think too hard about the disappearance of my creativity. I went on to have baby number two, an unexpected gift of a daughter and then I adopted baby number three, a beautiful abandoned boy. As they grew older and the years marched on--I wondered if I would ever write again.

Today I want to encourage mothers. When my youngest entered kindergarten, I did write again! I wrote The Pet Washer, Dead Girls Don't Cry, If I Were A Sparrow, three blogs, and I'm half-way through writing the second book in the The Pet Washer series, The Wishing Star.

You see, I was wrong about my creativity, it didn't disappear. I had been using it all along to decorate bedrooms, make-up bed time stories, organize theme parties, create photo albums, match clothing, cook interesting meals, and to think up answers for the millions of questions "why."

Now my kids are older and they plan out their own parties, pick-out their clothes, decorate their rooms, make their own food (sometimes), search the Internet for answers, and read their own books. I've been relegated from center of the universe to chauffeur!

The benefit is that my creativity, starved for something to do, is focused almost solely on my writing. It took a few thousand words to kick the flow of stories into high gear, but now I'm at their mercy to the point where I have a hard time concentrating on anything else.

My husband says I'm obsessed. Maybe.

The good news, Mothers, is that creativity is endless. I used to think I could reach the end of it, and now I struggle to keep up with it. I don't know that I'll live long enough to put each idea into print.

If you are a mother struggling to begin writing again or wondering if you've lost it--take heart and put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) and begin! It takes a while to prime the pump, but once the ideas begin to flow you won't be able to stop them!

To Do: Put "Chapter One" at the top of a paper and start writing today!

To Self-Publish or Not To Self-Publish?

My new young adult manuscript is going to the copyeditor April 16, 2012! My intent has been to self-publish this book. Unlike The Pet Washer, this book has a wide audience. It's for ages fourteen and up, a readership more likely to shop online and own a kindle. Most Pet Washer readers are 8-10 years old.

However, I've been struggling with the sales of my first self-published book in spite of positive reviews. This has led me to the decision to re-work the cover and re-format the paperback text for The Pet Washer.

It's also led me to think twice about self-publishing my second book. I'm so excited to get this book in print that it's hard for me to delay as I consider my options. The publishing world is changing so fast, I'm not sure that traditional publishing is the best option either.

I know a lot of you have gone the traditional route with varied degrees of success, or lack thereof. For some of you, it's still the dream. For others, it's the nightmare. And still for others, it's inconsequential. Many authors are content with self-publishing and they are profitable to boot. Our decisions are as unique as we are.

I'm going to crystallize my two month long battle with myself into a pro and con list.

The Pros of Traditional Publishing

• Access to elite book reviewers
• Potential marketing dollars
• Prestige
• Money up front
• Editing, art, book trailers are handled by the publisher
• Agent advocating for writer (one hopes!)
• Potential placement in bookstores
• Greater potential for movie deal

Truth is, most traditional books fail. That's why I used the word "potential" in some cases. Truth is, if my book doesn't sell the first few months, it can quickly slip out of print. 

The Cons of Traditional Publishing

• Loss of creative control
• Loss of publishing rights
• 1-2 year turnaround time before book is in print
• Bookstores going out of business reduces the bookstore benefit
• The risk of going out of print (Self-pub books never go out of print)
• The difficulty of getting a book deal in the first place
• Advances keep getting smaller 

No matter which way I look at it, self-publishing is a catch 22 for me. I think my new novel has more sales potential than The Pet Washer due to it's target audience. I want to give my book the best start in life I can.

I'm reading articles about indie authors signing book deals at the same time I'm reading articles about established traditional authors turning down book deals in favor of self-publishing. What is going on? Who is going to win this game? What should I do?

I'm going to share my journey with my new YA (see tab above "Manuscript For Sale" for details about this project.) like I am sharing my journey with The Pet Washer. I will share my query letter, my rejections, my successes and my decisions as I try to navigate the new waters we find ourselves in. I'm well-aware I may get zero interest from agents, but this isn't a good enough reason not to try. I want to analyze and exhaust all my options before I self-publish this one.

What do you think? What are your experiences with traditional publishing or self-publishing? What would you do?

To Do: Research the changing tides and steer your career accordingly! I don't know what this means for me yet. 

Jennifer Lynn Alvarez
Author of The Pet Washer
 a novel for children aged 8 and up!

JacketFlap: A Site For Childrens Book Authors

Today I registered myself at JacketFlap. There is no fee to join this site. This is JacketFlap's description taken from it's own site:

JacketFlap has become the world's largest and most comprehensive resource for information on the children's book industry. Writers, illustrators, librarians, agents, editors, publicists, and publishers visit JacketFlap every day. 

This is a networking site for writers, illustrators, librarians, agents and publishers in the childrens book industry. The reason to join is to meet others in the industry, see reviews, get noticed by publishers, ask questions and search the database of over 900,000 childrens books. They also have a blog reader you can use to organize yourself. Over 4000 people LIKE JacketFlap on Facebook. 

For authors seeking a publisher, there are over 32,000 publishers listed at JacketFlap. Their submission guidelines are updated often and are easily accessible. The database is searchable, so authors can view only those publishers who are seeking new authors--a huge time saver! Each publisher also lists the types of book they publish and their sales information. After having spent years flipping through writers' market books, a searchable database is an answer to prayer.

Like Goodreads, I was able to syndicate my blog when I created my profile. I also added the ISBN for The Pet Washer and a link to my Pet Washer Series website. I like this because I am creating my own "web" on the Web. I believe that the more cross links I have, the more the search engines will notice me and my book. I am Charlotte, spinning away, hoping someday people gather and say, "That's some pig." 

I highly recommend joining this site if you have written a childrens book!

Jennifer Alvarez

Author of The Pet Washer

a novel for girls aged 9-12