Children's Books

When I was in the sixth grade I was introduced to the world of children’s books. That is to say, I met someone who wrote and illustrated books, Jasper Tomkins.

The day I met Jasper Tomkins was the day I knew that I wanted to write and illustrate children’s books for a living. Now to an eleven year old I assumed I’d be able to be published while in middle or high school and be well on my way to a satisfying career choice. As you can guess, that never happened. I couldn’t even tell you the last time I wrote a children’s book or drew a picture of any of the many characters I’ve created over the years. I blame a couple things for this. First, I used to be pretty bad at taking criticism, which now that I’m older am way more appreciative of it. Second, I’m too much of a control freak.

While in high school I did a lot of research into the world of publishing children’s books and by that time young adult novels too. I even submitted a few of my books for review, which of course came back with rejection letters. I still have two of those letters because they are fine examples of constructive criticism, explaining their reasons why they felt it was not publishable and what I could do to bring them up to par with industry standards. And so I began working on both the young adult novel and the illustrated children’s book I’d sent in, finished my edits, rewrites and finalizations and tucked them away in a corner. By this time I’d read too many horror stories of authors losing the rights to their own characters to the publishing company. It was time to find an alternate route… self publishing.

I’ve been toying with the idea of starting my own publishing company since 1999. Funnily, I was unemployed then too. Okay, so not necessarily “funny-ha-ha” but interestingly connective nonetheless. However, one of my main problems is that I’m most creative when I don’t have time to be creative, like really busy with work or school or home improvement projects or sleeping, and least creative when I’ve got nothing to do. Whoever says God doesn’t have a sense of humor surely must not see the irony in the everyday. Anyway, so while self publishing is certainly more costly to the author, if you own the ISBN (International Standard Book Number) you are the publisher and therefore own the rights to your own work. Anybody who tells you different is lying. Now if only I had a way to pay for this option?

Alas, even when I was saving up to start my own publishing company while working at Crapmart, I knew that it would be a hard-fought battle. How could I justify spending money on a venture I couldn’t be certain would be at all profitable or, at the very least, be able to break even on? I guess this all breaks down to risk, and I’m not much of a risk taker. Again, it comes down to being a control freak. I like to know what the outcome is going to be when I step into a situation, I don’t like surprises and when it comes to money I’m quite frugal. Growing up poor will do that to you, but it also prepares you for how to make the most of the money you have when you’re older and find yourself in a craptastic situation.

And so with all this in mind, and my realization that perhaps I’m not the most savvy of business people, I’ve decided to turn a few of my children’s books into real books. Now, years ago I had a couple of them printed into photos and tucked the pictures into a small 4 x 6 inch 24 page photo album, which was great for what it was. But with today’s technology creating photo books with the look and feel of real books is much more cost effective than even a few years ago. I’m thinking instead of trying to find books for the kids for Christmas presents, I’m going to instead give them books I made and have them printed at Costco into soft cover photo books. Albeit, while I was in high school when I wrote and illustrated them, I feel it is some of my best work.

I don’t want to think that I peaked at seventeen, and someday soon perhaps my dream of becoming a published author will come true, so I’ll be patient. I mean, I have written a few historical biographical articles that were published, so technically I am a published author, but my passion is writing for kids and teens. Maybe I’ll find a way. Maybe I’ll save some money and buy an ISBN or ten. Or maybe I should just grow a pair, take the risk and follow through with something for once in my life.