Back in 1995 I wrote my first book The Wind At Work, a history of wind energy, and sent it to Chicago Review Press. They liked it, but replied that all their children’s books include activities. Would I be willing to write some? Would I!
Creating activities was fun, relating windmills to science, creative writing, drawing and painting, sewing, cooking, singing, environmental research, and community action. Who knew?
All this took place back in the Dark Ages, aka 1990s, aka pre–internet.
RESEARCHING WAY BACK THEN
To research the book I read books and more books, using public and university libraries, interlibrary loans, and used bookstores. I traveled to the Netherlands, the American Midwest, and a wind turbine factory in Tehachapi, California. To find photographs, paintings, etchings, and the like I searched through books. I visited and/or wrote to historical societies, the Library of Congress, tourist sites, and libraries. I received originals and photocopies and then sent purchase and permission letters, all by snail mail. And finally I sent off packages of photographs, slides, drawings, etc. to the publisher, all printed on paper!
I spent a small fortune on long distance telephone calls interviewing windmill people and trying to locate the addresses and phone numbers of restored windmills in small towns all around the US and Canada – this in pre-free-long-distance-phone-plan days.<
As I wrote in a post last March, I have three books coming out this year and another one in early 2013, due to the vagaries of publishing rather than my own writing schedule. An embarrassment of riches, I’m not complaining. Nor (at this moment, at least) am I whining about how this traffic jam caused an unanticipated drought of publications for the last four years. Right now I’m thinking about how these past few years have given me time to take some steps toward the Brave Not-So-New World of author self-promotion.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t live in a glass bubble. I’ve had a website for a million years; after all, it’s the modern equivalent of a business card. I’ve always been willing and able to help promote my books. As a former magazine writer, I had contacts and used them. Four years ago, I was already blogging here at I.N.K. and knew all about Facebook, even though I had no interest in signing up.
So what's different now? Many things, for me and for most authors. There are a lot fewer magazines and newspapers, for example. Furthermore their decreasing advertising revenue have shrunk “less necessary” features about authors or their books.
Four years ago my publishers did some promotion for my books coming out, and they are this year as well. Yet more than ever, it’s so clear that even more of the responsibility for promotion has shifted to the author. New and midlist authors certainly. Yet I also have a friend, very well known, who has been firmly told she should post on her blog at least three times a week.
Most of the publishers I work with have sites or pr brochures that encourage us to promote. The Random House Author Portal, for example, lets you track your book sales and subrights online. But before you get to those weekly updates, you are invited to click on the “Connect with Readers” link or the “Monthly Marketing Tip.” Facebook, websites, blogs, twitter, of course. Then there’s the world of Pinterest that our own Melissa Stewart uses so cleverly, Infographics, virtual reader communities (Goodreads, LibraryThing, and JacketFlap being just the beginning), and Linked-In as a social medium—not job hunting—which I still haven’t figured out. It’s mindbloggling, but one ignores it at her peril.
The bad news, I now figure, is these tools have been put in our hands. And the good news is—these tools have been put in our hands. We have the potential of creating word of mouth ourselves in a way authors couldn’t have dreamt of even a decade before.
Do we want to? I have to say that the experience of building the guts of my new Wordpress website, (individual pages, sidebars, etc.) while hiring a professional designer for the customized frame has made me much more confident. And much less likely to glaze over or shrink away when considering my Brave New World.
These are the first new things I’m trying. To paraphrase the late Neil Armstrong: A small step for mankind, a giant step for me. If you find anything new and useful for you, grab it.
Facebook. I know that sounds ridiculous, but I don’t even like answering my email.
An Facebook Author Page This I like better, but try not to post 3 times a week because it feels a little spammy to me. Am I being too retro? I frankly don’t know.
A trailer for my new book, It’s a Dog’s Life. And trying to find more ways to use it than just my own and my publisher’s website.
Again, for It’s a Dog’s Life, a monthly contest on my site showing a photo of a dog in action, which asks, “What is this dog doing?” Kids and adults can email in their responses. At contest’s end, the person who best explains the behavior and the one who makes me laugh hardest each receive a free book. To me, this is a win-win situation. I get website traffic and people get free books. It’s actually win-win-win-win. Teachers can use it for a fun literary activity and dog, mom, or book bloggers can run it as an easy post that will interest their readers.
Am I reinventing the wheel? Sure, but how else am I going to understand it?
In 2008, when I began submitting to publishers my children’s book on the Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity, I got a number of rejections that basically said: We love the idea, love the writing, love the story, but we don’t think there will be interest in the market as the mission will be long over by the time the book comes out. Now, rejections are never fun to get, but these made me want to scream: This story is never over! This is the on-going story of our exploration of our solar system.
One of my beefs with the way science is often taught in school and presented in textbooks and even in many trade nonfiction children’s books is that science is portrayed as a category of facts that kids need to learn rather than an ongoing, ever-changing set of questions people have about the world around them.
That’s why I was SO pleased when my book The Mighty Mars Rovers: The incredible adventures of Spirit and Opportunitywas published as part of Houghton Mifflin’s Scientists in the Field series this June, just two months before the next Mars rover Curiosity was scheduled to land on the red planet.
There are so many connections between Spirit and Opportunity's and Curiosity’s missions that it’s nearly impossible to miss that Mars exploration is an on-going question, on-going story. Many of the same people have been involved in both missions, from the main subject of my book, Steve Squyres, the principal science investigator for Spirit and Opportunity who is also involved in the science of the new mission, to Pete Theisinger and Rob Manning, lead engineers on both missions, to Jennifer Trosper, a mission manager for both missions, and Joy Crisp, a project scientist for both missions. Watching mission control during the nail-biting landing of Curiosity was like re-living the landings of Spirit and Opportunity – the familiar faces, the tension, the worries, the hopes, the awe. (If you missed the landing, you’ve got to see this
cool 3-minute video that melds footage from mission control and launch parties across the country with simulations of the landing process.)
There’s something else in the news these days that drives home the point that space exploration and science is an on-going quest. Astronaut Neil Armstrong died on August 25, 2012. The connection? Chapter one of The Mighty Mars Rovers opens on July 20, 1969, as a thirteen-year-old boy named Steve Squyres watched in wonder as the Apollo mission put people on the moon. In 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin did something (walking on the moon) that ultimately inspired a young boy to dream of sending rolling geologists to Mars. Steve Squyres and hundreds of thousands of other scientists and engineers safely landed Spirit and Opportunity on the red planet for a mission so successful that it essentially answered the question: Was there enough water on Mars to support life? (Yes!) With that question solidly answered, and with everything else we learned from Spirit and Opportunity’s mission, today, the next Mars rover Curiosity can focus on searching for other building blocks of life. THIS is science.
The Mighty Mars Rovers and many books written by my INK colleagues and others can be used to show kids that science is an on-going quest, an on-going story. With the help of the internet, readers can be guided to see the connections between a book they read on a science topic (
The Mighty Mars Rovers) and what is happening in that field today. (Check NASA's website for the latest on
Curiosity’s explorations of Mars, including other great videos.) Readers of
The Mighty Mars Rovers who follow Curiosity’s current mission can’t help but notice many parallels and connections. Teacher can also encourage readers to make these connections by asking:
- How are the missions the same?
- How are they different?
- How has rover design, launch, and landing changed?
- What are the biggest challenges of the missions?
- How were they overcome?
- What questions are the missions designed to answer?
- What tools do the rovers and scientists have to answers those questions?
- And maybe most importantly: What questions might come next?
Discussion questions like these help students experience the connection between science books and what is happening in the field right now – and inspire readers to imagine science they may want to do – questions they might want to try to answer—when they grow up.
Oh, and one more thing. All those editors who rejected my book because of timing were wrong. Not just in a philosophical sense but in a literal sense. The mission I wrote about in
The Mighty Mars Rovers is not over. Defying all expectations, Opportunity, expected to last a bit over three months in the harsh, frigid Martian environment, is
STILL roving the red planet, sending back photos and information about our neighboring planet more than
eight years later. That little rover is like the Indiana Jones of space exploration. You, your students, and your kids can catch up on
Opportunity’s most recent discoveries and see new photos sent back from Mars anytime you want.
The story continues…
Elizabeth Rusch
* A complete teachers’ guide to
The Mighty Mars Rovers, including discussion questions and hands-on activities, can be downloaded for free
here.
One of the perks of writing for INK is that you get to interview authors about their cool new books. Michelle Markel is on a roll these days with her picture book biographies. Her latest, The Fantastic Jungles of Henri Rousseau (Eerdman) has got three stars and counting: Publisher’s Weekly, School Library Journal, and Booklist. Here’s what they say:
“The career of artist Henri Rousseau gets a wonderfully child-friendly treatment in a book that captures both his personality and the essence of his pictures. … Markel’s text has a sweetness and simplicity that allows children to understand the story’s underpinnings, giving them someone to root for.” BOOKLIST
“Markel’s account of Rousseau’s humility and amateur passion for art strikes just the right tone—it’s jaunty, confiding, and affectionate.” PW
“Markel’s well-chosen episodes begin with the purchase of his first paints and brushes–at age 40. Compact sentences convey this self-taught artist’s rocky journey, leaving room for [illustrator Amanda] Hall’s interpretation.” SLJ
Why did you choose Henri Rousseau as your subject? What’s your connection to his art and/or his story?
I chose Rousseau because of his child friendly jungle paintings and his perseverance in the face of daunting obstacles- especially the mockery of the art critics. They wrote things like “It looks like he closed his eyes and painted with his feet.” I found it incredibly moving that Rousseau could pick up his paintbrush after reading something like that. Many children get teased about their drawings, so I thought they’d relate, and be touched by Rousseau’s ultimate triumph. Of course his story resonates with grownups too, as some reviewers of the book have pointed out. Who hasn’t felt the sting of rejection? Don’t we all want to be validated?
I also connected to Rousseau because both of us began to pursue our creative impulses later in life. And I have a love of French art and literature. I majored in French in both undergrad and graduate school.
Tell me about your research.
I viewed his paintings (most recently, “Exotic Landscape”) and read a lot of material in the original French- his letters to Apollinaire, accounts by contemporaries, those nasty reviews. The Getty Research library was a great resource. My past trips to Paris (where I lived for a few months during my Junior Year abroad) helped me visualize the setting.
Why do your choose the picture book genre for your biographies?
I remember it clearly- the day it all began. I took my young daughters to our local library and found Diego by Jonah Winter, mistakenly shelved with fiction. It read like a magical tale about a little boy with artistic tendencies. I didn’t realize the story was about Diego Rivera until I got to the part about the striking workers. I thought that was brilliant- to bring literary techniques and a sense of wonder to picture book biography. I’ve wanted to do the same, ever since.
What do you think of the illustrations for your book? Did you see sketches? Did you have any input?
I did see pencil sketches, but my input was unnecessary. Amanda did her own extensive research (which enabled her to draw portraits of Rousseau through the years, as well as likenesses of Picasso and other avant garde acquaintances). She also asked me questions through our editor. When I saw the final pictures, I was thrilled. Her paintings are emotional and luminous. It’s like the text and art are soul mates.
You’ve published with big east coast publishing houses and small regional presses. How would you compare the experiences?
I can’t emphasize what a pleasure it’s been to work with a small press this time. Eerdmans has a reputation for fine picture book biographies; they knew exactly what to do with this book. It started with choosing the right artist, and continued with the marketing support- making beautiful postcards, a trailer, and being responsive to every email I send them. I haven’t had this experience with other publishing houses.
Henri Rousseau is about 900 words. We hear these days that fewer words are better for picture books. What do you think about this? Do you aim for a particular word count?
I think children should be exposed to all kinds of writing, from short and punchy to long and leisurely. Some authors, like the genius William Steig, excel at crafting elegant leisurely passages. Children need to hear the verbal richness of books like Amos and Boris, and Sylvester and the Magic Pebble. Less is not always more.
That said, I try to tell my stories in the fewest words possible, which for me is usually around 900. Once the research is done, there’s always a tension between the desire to include amusing or poignant details, and the demands of uncluttered storytelling. It’s very difficult, but rewarding work.
You’ve also written biographies of artist Marc Chagall and labor organizer Clara Lemlich. How do you choose your subjects?
Certain figures and historical periods capture my imagination. I also look for narratives that would resonate with children. Clara Lemlich was young, small in stature, and was treated unjustly. I think kids can picture themselves in that situation. They have a keen sense of fairness.
There comes a point, while researching a potential subject, when the story just reaches in and grabs my heart. I’m overwhelmed with affection and admiration for this person. I want to express that as lyrically or joyfully as possible, as a tribute to them, and a means of inspiring young people. That’s the ideal.
Will we see more picture book biographies from you?
I have two more picture book bios in the works, with Chronicle Books. It’s a great time to be writing nonfiction!
Happy Fall, y’all!
Okay, so it’s a couple of days early but here’s a question for you:
What do maple leaves, apples, pumpkins, and owls have in common?
Hint: The answer has nothing to do with autumn.
Hint: Think math.
Maybe this coloring page will help:
No? (Please feel free to right click and download the coloring page for personal or classroom use.)
Maybe this will help:
Okay, so what we’re talking about is...
It’s actually a Spring 2012 book, but the plan is to make more coloring pages throughout the year and besides I’m really excited about this book. I’ve been thinking about how to do this topic for literally years so it’s very satisfying to have sent the final files up to the publisher.
Loreen
Twitter: @LoreenLeedy
In 1995 I wrote my first book The Wind At Work, a history of windmills, and sent it to Chicago Review Press. They liked it, but replied that all their children’s books include activities. Would I be willing to write some? Would I!
Creating activities was fun, relating windmills to science, creative writing, drawing and painting, sewing, cooking, singing, environmental research, and community action. Who knew?
Researching way back then
All this took place back in the Dark Ages, AKA pre–internet.
To research the book I read books and more books, using local and university libraries, interlibrary loans, and used bookstores. I traveled to the Netherlands, the American Midwest, and a wind turbine factory. To find photographs, paintings, etchings, and the like I searched through books. I visited and/or wrote to historical societies, the Library of Congress, tourist sites, and libraries. I received originals and photocopies and then sent purchase and permission letters, all by snail mail. And finally I sent off packages of photographs, slides, drawings, etc. to the publisher, all printed on paper!
In those
In the 1960s, I was a Girl Scout for about a minute. I had been a proud and true Brownie, but my elevation to the next level, which back then was just called “Girl Scout,” came at the same time I started Hebrew school, and the troop meetings interfered with my classes. I wasn’t a big fan of green, anyway, so I wasn’t that heartbroken about giving up the uniform. I stowed away my logo pins and moved on.
Yet here I am, writing about the Girl Scouts, for a number of reasons. First, it’s Women’s History Month, and what better way to kick off the month than by focusing on a group that has empowered generations of girls? Second, March 12 marks the 100th anniversary of the first Girl Scout troop meeting in the U.S., organized by Juliette Gordon Low in Savannah, Georgia. And third, I’ve had a few interactions with the Girl Scouts in recent months that have reminded me how impressive this organization and its members can be.
I proposed writing a biography about Juliette Gordon Low a while back. The project never went anywhere, but I’m happy to report that a number of books on Juliette and her scouts have been published in recent months, in anticipation of this anniversary year. I managed to find First Girl Scout: The Life of Juliette Gordon Low by Ginger Wadsworth (Clarion, 2012) at my local library, and I can’t imagine anyone, myself included, doing a more thorough job of researching this singular woman’s life. Wadsworth tracked Low’s story from Savannah, to New York, to London, and beyond. Her writing is lively and clear, the book is generously illustrated with historic images and reproduced documents, and the back matter is beyond complete. It’s a YA book that's worth reading, whether you’re a Girl Scout or not.
In recent months, the Girl Scouts also have made a literary impact in another way. Last November, in conjunction with the Children's Book Council, they launched The Studio, a Web site that gives authors who write for young people the chance to communicate with Girl Scouts about their work. The lineup has been impressive, with Ann Martin, Jerry Pinkney, Laura Numeroff, and Joseph Bruchac, among others, answering questions about their writing process and sharing behind-the-scenes documents and discussions. I got to have my say the week of January 16.
By:
Susan E. Goodman,
on 3/12/2012
Blog:
I.N.K.: Interesting Non fiction for Kids
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Have you ever waited at a bus stop? Waited and waited at a bus stop? You watch cabs rolling by, watch buses going the other way, watch your watch with increasing irritation. Finally your bus does come--with two or three other buses right behind it. A herd, a pod, a troup of buses. Very annoying, isn’t it?
A similar thing has happened to me in the publishing world, but I’m not sure whether it’s annoying or not. In 2004, I had five books come out in one year. And, up until a few months ago, I thought I would have four coming out in 2012.
How does this happen? I’ve never written four or five books in one year, so how do they get bunched up on the other end like buses? Good question. Some books go into production relatively quickly, while others take a long time to write. For example, I wrote a book called Skyscraper that chronicled the making of the Random House Building and I couldn’t write any faster than the construction. It had a four-year gestation period and came out in 2004 along with Choppers! that took about two years from research to release. Other reasons? Editors have babies. It can take a while to find the right illustrator or to wait for an illustrator to finish two other projects before starting yours or the illustrator goes on strike. The economy tanks and publishing houses thin their seasons and spread out the books so your pub date jumps a year or so into the future.
Let me be clear, I’m not complaining, really. I know having a bevy of books is an embarrassment of riches. It’s certainly better than no books at all, or a surfeit of buses traveling in a pack. But what are the pros and cons for the author—and the books?
In the old days, the perception was: bringing out more than one book a season or a year meant the author was competing against herself. Mark that down as a notch in the “con” section. Of course in the old days, most authors published with only one house so the publisher would be competing against itself too; they controlled supply and demand.
Today many children’s book authors work with several houses. We cannot act as traffic cops giving Simon & Schuster the green light for one season and putting Penguin on hold. Now publishers are competing against each other. Has that changed the model? Does it help or hurt the author? And given the increased avenues of media, does having multiple books out at the same time increase buzz? Advertising wisdom says the more consumers hear something, the more likely they will remember it, perhaps become interested and start word-of-mouth.
In 2004, I decided that if there was any time to hire a publicist, having five books come out was it. Susan Raab and I concentrated on three of them. Susan was great and responsible for a good deal of the media coverage they received. S
By:
Susanna Reich,
on 5/10/2012
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"True stuff doesn't have to be all solemn and serious and sedate," wrote Roz in her postlast week about humor in nonfiction picture books. If ever there was a biographical subject who was NOT solemn and sedate, it was Julia Child, who would have turned 100 this year. Serious is another matter, however.
 |
| Fun in the kitchen |
On TV, Julia had a natural, relaxed attitude that belied her seriousness about French cooking. Of crucial importance were fresh, high-quality ingredients, prepared with classic techniques that had been developed over centuries. Fortunately, Julia's serious approach was always tempered by an earthy sense of humor. At heart an educator, she knew that learning goes down easiest when you're having fun. Above all, she would say, are the pleasures of sharing a delicious meal with family and friends. For Julia, relationships came first.
In my new picture book,
Minette's Feast: The Delicious Story of Julia Child and Her Cat (
Abrams)
, all these facets of America's most beloved chef and cookbook author are on the table. The challenge for me as an author was to find the right balance of seriousness and playfulness, and to do it in a way that kids would enjoy.
 |
Flowers for Julia Child's
80th birthday party,
complete with kitchen whisk. |
A Julia fan since childhood, I'd wanted to write a book about her ever since we met when I designed the flowers for her 80th birthday party, at the Rainbow Room in New York. But I struggled to find a way to make the subject child-friendly. Would six-year-olds really be interested in fancy French food?
Then I learned that Julia got her first cat, Minette, when she and her husband Paul lived in Paris in the late 1940's. This fortunate French feline ate meals lovingly prepared by the future Queen of Cuisine. In return, Minette brought Julia little tokens of affection—in the form of fres
No, not to INK. I mean, to the piles of books on and around and under my desk.
This happens with every book I work on, and I’m sure others can relate. As I research and write and revise, I gather growing piles of books – real, dusty, old-fashioned books. I keep thinking I’m done researching, but then I come across another obscure source I’ve just got to have. So the piles keep growing.
But eventually, when all the revising is done, and my editor assures me I can no longer alter so much as a comma, there comes this slightly sad moment when I realize I don’t need to keep the books at my desk anymore. That’s what happened this weekend with my upcoming book, BOMB. The advanced reader copies have gone out, and at this point I don’t even want to look at them, ‘cause I’ll just find things I want to change, and it’s too late.
So why are all of these books I used as sources still lying around my desk? Because we have no bookshelf space left in our house? Yes, that’s part of it. But I think the real reason is that putting the books away feels kind of like turning my back on friends. Every book in the stack is packed with amazing characters, scenes, and details, and I only mined a tiny fraction of the riches. After I put the books away, I’ll move on, and maybe I’ll dip back into them at some future date. Or maybe not. What a terrible friend I am.
In the spirit of thinking aloud, as David Schwarz did so compellingly last week, wouldn’t it be cool if there was an INK library? That is, one central location where we could keep the books we’ve collected over the years, and make them available to curious kids and teens and teachers. I can imagine it would be an incredible storehouse of fascinating and lesser-known true stories and primary sources. And in each book there’d be an inscription by the author who donated it, saying which book he/she used it for. And it would have an online catalog, and even digital versions of some non-copyrighted sources…
Anyway, just something I got to thinking about while I was supposed to be cleaning up my desk. Now, back to work on the next book – and the new stack of sources.
Dear Susan,
We live in parallel universes. I'm in the midst of Election Year rewrites and proofs for OUR COUNTRY'S PRESIDENTS. (The 4th edition will be out in January from National Geographic.)
As you note, the revision process comes with unique challenges when you must update facts with no more words than you used in a previous edition. I feel more like a puzzle-master than a wordsmith sometimes. We do add more pages and new material each edition, but that's because history keeps adding new people and events to the story.
Plus our national history is alive and changing. For example, Jimmy Carter eclipsed Herbert Hoover's retirement record this year. In the 2009 edition, Gerald Ford surpassed Ronald Reagan's lifespan by 46 days. Four years earlier, Reagan had beaten the long-standing record of John Adams. Three editions and three different answers to the question, "Which President lived longest?"
That's reason enough, IMO, for libraries to have ample budgets for collection updating and for authors and publishers to keep the revisions coming!
Ann, the puzzle master analogy is perfect given your book is coming out with National Geographic. I used to work for them in a different division and often I was given the number of characters I could use on a page to say what I needed to say. Shades of twitter to come!
Good luck on your new (or 4th version) of your book.
Susan, it's so interesting to hear about the process of creating this new edition. And I love the word "confabbed." No wonder you're a wordsmith!
Good luck with the new edition.
Thanks Melissa, it was an interesting exercise.