Off to a Good Start—Getting Published

I had written four children’s Bible stories: Food for a Fish, The Biggest and Toughest, Good News of Great Joy, and Daniel for Lunch, which I thought were pretty good. But then they were rejected by the publishing company where I worked full-time. Ouch! Now what? 

 

Fortunately, I had something that most first-time authors didn’t have—inside connections. I had been illustrating Bible stories for years and had worked closely with several different publishers. So when I pitched my stories, I was able to bypass the “slush pile” and get my manuscripts placed directly on a publisher’s desk. This was an enormous advantage. Agents and publishers receive thousands of unsolicited manuscripts a year, and many are not even read before being dumped, let alone ever reaching a bookshelf. I had a good feeling about getting my manuscripts published. Luckily, my feelings were correct.

 

If you’re interested in getting your children’s story published, I recommend doing a lot of research, such as reading Harold Underdown’s website underdown.org and joining SCBWI.

 

The publisher that accepted my stories was a big one. I felt very blessed. Signing with a big publisher on your first attempt is rare. I thought I must be pretty good! I was getting a big head. But it wouldn’t be too long before it began to deflate. They wanted to target ages 4-8. To reach kids that were too old for a toddler’s Bible and too young for a teenager’s Bible. I sent them illustration samples. The first ones, they said, were too Disney-esque. They wanted something more “edgy.” So that’s where my illustrating style for the series originated.  They began by publishing the four stories separately, but soon they came to me with the idea of putting out a collection of twenty stories! 350 full-color pages! I was given 18 months to write, edit, and illustrate all the stories! Yikes!

The single stories were released in 2012. The 20-story Treasury was released in 2014. They got mostly very good reviews. Fortunately, in those days, they still offered advances, because none of them were ever on a best-seller’s list, and royalties were nonexistent. I had my own ideas, though I was never sure why they didn’t sell better. Eventually, they were taken out of print, and I got my publishing rights back. Now what?