Friday, February 8, 2013

First Book? We'll see!

Small celebratory moment here in my little room in Zambia! I just submitted my first book manuscript to a publisher! Boom! I know rejections (and lots of them) are standard, but I'm pleased I've sent it. I started this book in 2007, sitting in an MA course on Biogeography in Africa...or was it biodiversity? Something like that. I don't really remember too much from that class because I was, you know, writing a story. I also remember the teacher was Simon Loader, and he really likes frogs.

This book has nothing to do with frogs, or Africa. It's a picture book manuscript that will take a good illustrator (and, let's be honest--probably a good editor, too) to make it cool. It's about being in a new country, and encountering the unfamiliar with expectancy and persistence. It's for 3-7 year olds. Don't worry, I don't use any of those big words in the story.

6 comments:

  1. Next up:
    "Simon Loader and the Frogs of Africa", By Dr. S.A.Bishop

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  2. Congratulations! Did you submit it straight to the publisher, or via an agent? And how did you pick the publisher?

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  3. Thanks, Stephan! I submitted it to Bergli Books, partly because they are so accessible and you can just email a manuscript straight to them without an agent. I also submitted it to them because I like the books they publish and I think they do a good job with their graphic design and illustrators. And finally, after being unhappy with a particular part of the story for years, I realized this week that if I changed the setting to Basel, I knew how to fix the problem and the book made a lot more sense. So if they don't like it, I'm not sure where I'll send it next. Maybe I'll have to rewrite it again.

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  4. Good idea, especially with the story set in Basel! I wouldn't have thought of Bergli Books - I thought they'd gone out of business, but I guess that was just the storefront.
    Do you know how they do in terms of distribution, i.e. if their books reach the US or UK markets? Though of course a foot in the door is a foot in the door... Have you thought of joining the SCBWI?

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  5. Not sure about their distribution. I think it's probably limited, but I was kinda thinking a published book, regardless of where, is an advantage later when trying to get an agent or trying to get in with any other publisher who has more hoops. I have recently thought about SCBWI, but wasn't very taken with what I found about the Swiss chapter.

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  6. I've just recently joined, despite not having submitted anything yet. It seemed a little slow when I looked at it last year, but the president's changed and the current one is organizing more stuff than I can attend.

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