Things You Must Do When Starting Out in Picture Books (If you insist on learning the hard way)

This post has been written as part of a “Bad Picture Book” Blog Hop hosted by Dani Duck over at http://daniduckart.blogspot.ca/

Dani had a great idea for writers to share one of the first picture books they ever wrote. I have a really fantastically bad picture book I can’t wait to share with you. When thinking about how bad it is, I created this list:

Things you Must Do When Starting Out in Picture Books
(If You Insist On Learning the Hard Way)
or
(Before You Decide to Get Real and Actually Get Serious)

 

We all have these stories. It’s like a rite of passage. I guess you can say I’ve learned the hard way by making these mistakes. I wish someone had told me things I should and shouldn’t do when I was just starting out.

(Wait a second…People did tell me!!!) But darn it, I was just too stubborn to listen.  I didn’t need to listen. I was going to do it my way and be the ultimate success story!

Well, 10 or so years later. Here I am, still truckin.’  I have to admit though. Those first several years shouldn’t really count. I wasn’t serious about writing. I was ambitious and I was persistent. But not in the right areas. 

But once I decided to get serious, I started listening to the advice I had once pushed away. I started studying the craft seriously. I finally joined SCBWI. I started going to conferences. I started seeking out a writers group.  I started reading everything I could about writing. I started an MFA program.  I started reading and writing and revising seriously. And I started doing editor/agent/industry research. So my point is, I did all the wrong things at first. And then I got real.

So If you are just starting out, be humble. And listen to the advice of other writers.

But if you insist on being like me, learning the hard way since you aren’t ready to get serious yet, follow this step by step guide exactly!


Things you Must Do When Starting Out in Picture Books
(If You Insist On Learning the Hard Way)
or
(Before You Decide to Get Real and Actually Get Serious)

 
1.    Decide to write for children because it’s short, it’s sweet, and  it’s easy! After all, you are only writing for children, so it doesn’t have to be that good.

2.    Come up with that one idea that hits you and write it.  Don’t worry about writing anything else. Your idea is so brilliant it will jump right to the bestseller list. You will make so much money you won’t ever need to write anything else.

3.    And when people suggest writing something else, consider them jealous of your fantastic idea. And then get mad that they can’t see the brilliance behind it. (Just imagine all those plush stuffed toys and games that will all be marketable crap for your book. )

4.    Don’t bother to revise. Ever. People say it’s necessary, but your book was so brilliant the very first time you wrote it, there is absolutely no reason to revise. Yes!  It’s happened before. So it can happen to you too!

5.    Be really persistent and ambitious! Send your book out to every single publisher that is in the Publisher’s Marketplace Book.  (Which by the way is filled with articles you don’t need to bother reading because it’s just other people’s ideas about the craft of writing.)

6.    Query letter? Don’t bother spending time crafting a good one. Your book will stand on it’s own.

7.    Definitely illustrate your own picture book! Even if you aren’t that great. It’s just like writing for kids…anyone can do it!  Then, make a dummy of it with the original art and put it in a binder. That's right! A binder. That way, you can carry it around showing it to people in hopes of making connections. Maybe someone who reads it will help you get published.

8.    It’s really not necessary to read picture books. Someone once suggested I read at least 100 of them. (They’re short, but can you imagine how long it would take to do that? It’s better that you spend your time talking to people about your one unpublished picture book.)

9.    Definitely write it in rhyme! (Don’t know anything about rhyme or poetry? No worries. This book is for kids. As long as it has a bouncy silly beat, they’ll love it.)

10. Make sure there are a few grammar and mechanic errors in your manuscript. You want to be able to give you editor something to do, right?

11. Lastly, make sure it has a really good moral or lesson. (It's even better if it actually says it in the book that you are going to teach them a lesson, because little kids may not realize the point behind the book.) And after all, that’s why we adults write picture books for kids.  So we can teach those little rascals a lesson or two.

12. Bonus***Send your book to Oprah in hopes of getting on her show because she will love your picture book. And if Oprah loves it, hey she can pull some strings and get you published! See how ambitious you are? 

 

 

And unfortunately, all of that is true. Yep. I did all those things.

I wrote the picture book as a poem when I was 16. When I was 18, I decided it should be a picture book. When I was 20, I became an education major in college and decided I would illustrate my own picture book. From age 21 to 25, I submitted that book to every publisher I could find with an address.

 

I received hundreds of rejections.  I guess I was pretty stubborn. It wasn’t until I was 26 that I realized something had to change.   That’s when I got finally got real and got serious.


I can’t say, don’t be like me. Because if you are as stubborn as I was, you won’t listen anyway. And if you are willing to go through all that learning on your own for all those years and still want to write picture books, then hey, good for you!  I think you have a shot.


And now for this fantastically bad very first picture book written AND ILLUSTRATED! by yours truly.

 

One last little bonus. 

Here's actually one of my  very first picture books that is a concept book about animals. I would say it breaks less picture book rules than the one you just read.  A Book about Animals was written and illustrated when I was 4. 

Notice the erased alligator or crocodile. That's the one I drew. My mom helped me "redraw" the second one. 

Be sure to check out Sylvia Liu who is next up on the blog hop to share her bad picture book tomorrow. Sylvia Liu www.sylvialiuland.com

 

Mandy Yates is currently an elementary reading specialist and children's book writer. She has an MFA in creative writing from Spalding University and has been published multiple times in Highlights Magazine. 

She also assists Mira in teaching The Craft and Business of Writing Children's Books. http://www.childrensbookacademy.com/writing-childrens-picture-books.html, as well as The Chapter Book Alchemist  http://www.childrensbookacademy.com/the-chapter-book-alchemist.html .

Find some of her teacher resources over at http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Mandy-Yates.