My Self Publishing Adventure -Part 2

Picking up from my first post I will continue with the creation of my book. The next step, once I had a clear idea of the story and the page layout was to begin refining the details.

I had to develop my characters  and be able to paint them consistently throughout the book.

 Millicent was a no brainer since I have painted over 100 cows, but Mouse was a new creation and so I had to play around with him a little bit and create him  in various moods and positions throughout the book.

And then there was the Farmers wife...

 I had to make a lot of decisions. One idea I had in an effort to shorten the length of the book was to have a  split illustration but I felt it was too distracting to one part of the story or the other.

  My work began with these line drawings and others that I would eventually turn into paintings. Stay tuned for those next time....

How (and why) I Self Published My Children's Book or My Labor of Love-Part 1

I self published my first children's book in softcover using Print on Demand and sold 300 copies mostly at art fairs and festivals. At that point, having evidence of a market for my book, I produced a new hardcover edition and have sold 400 more copies. These are not bad numbers in the tough world of self publishing. Many people have approached me as they page through my book "Millicent and the Faraway Moon" and wax fondly about the children's book that they always intended or hoped to write someday. They pepper me with questions and I answer as many as my time, (usually at an outdoor art show) will allow. People generally seem to have a curiousity about the steps it takes to create a book, so I thought I would share my process and adventure into the world of self publishing in a few posts. 

Step one: Draw on a good or meaningful story. In my case the story grew out of a negative incident with a teacher in 5th grade. She berated me in front of the class because I couldn't do a math problem and swatted me with a yard stick. What hurt worse than the stick were the words she said. "You're no good, you're family is no good and you'll never amount to anything." Ouch.

I have lived with those words and feelings my whole life. They became my "not good enough story " that I have continued to struggle with. I had heard of therapies where adults write a letter to the child inside of them and say what they might say to another child to help them heal. So I thought I would write a letter to myself. Then I started thinking about other people and figured that I wasn't the only kid in the world to have her self esteem crushed by a mean person. So the letter morphed into a story and then a book. 

Since I had been painting cows for several years, it stood to reason that my characters should be cows. There was also no question that I would illustrate my book. The story is autobiographical. It starts out "Millicent was a sad and lonely" cow. I didn't have the greatest childhood, I was sad and lonely much of the time. It then moves into Millicent trying to succeed at something and be just as good as the other cows. That was me. I was always looking around at other people, trying to find out how they did it, what (I thought) made them better, more special than me.

But somehow, somewhere deep in my soul, I knew that I was just as special, talented, smart and capable of success as anyone out there and that one day, I would totally rise above the circumstances of my early life and touch the world in a grand way. So I decided to write the book and make tangible evidence of my future. I was writing a declaration! And so, while "Millicent starts out "sad and lonely" my book is a story of overcoming and triumph.

I can't say that I did a lot of research into publishing a book, I just thought: "I need to do this." And so I set about my project.

Once I wrote the story, I drew out what I imagined the book would look like in page layout in some sketched story boards....

I have been asked where the name "Millicent" came from. All I can do is point up. It was just given to me. The next step was to develop my characters which is where I will end for today and pick up in my next post.

 I invite you to stay with me through the journey of writing a kids book. It is no easy task and not for the faint of heart. If you are thinking about embarking on writing your own book, follow your heart and DO IT! But be ready to fully commit because it takes all the love, nurturing and hard work of raising a child. ( I know because I have one :0) Please feel free to comment or ask questions.....God Bless.. see you next post :0)

Millicent and the Faraway Moon available at:
(signed copies) millicentthebluecow.com
Barnes and Noble.com
Chester County Books and Music 
Kathy's Corner Shop
Newark Arts Alliance
Bedbugzz

Don't Let Anyone Hold you Back from Your Dreams!

Do you have a story brewing inside of you? Have you always dreamed of writing your story and seeing it in print? Is it there, alive, in your mind, with no place to go? If you are walking around , dreaming of the day that you will write it, or if you have it written and are dreaming of that day when a publisher is magically going to show up at your door and make you the next J.K. Rowling, we need to talk. Not to be negative, but someone online said something like, "It's so hard to get published. Like less than 5%. And it seems like you need to be published first to get published -- it's catch-22." It's not impossible, but very difficult, and requires persistence,perseverance and most of all-patience. That's something I ran out of a couple of years ago when I decided to take matters into my own hands and self publish, "Millicent and the Faraway Moon." Granted, I didn't shop my manuscript around too much, as I am a rather impatient person and when I have an idea for something, I want to see it happen.

So I began looking into self publishing. I looked through many self publishing company sites and at that time the one that appealed to me the most, was Lulu.com because I could create my book without a big giant upfront investment and since I had the needed skills to create my picture book, I took matters into my own hands.

I have to say that it as a labor of love, as it does take a good investment of time to go this route, but once it was done, I had the satisfaction of holding something that I created from start to finish and in my hands and had had compete control over it. What resulted, was a 40 page softcover picture book for kids, ages 4-9 and something that I was very proud of.

I took my book and sold it mostly at art shows where I was already selling my paintings, but I have also done book signings, school visits, and book fairs. By the time I had sold about 300 copies, I decided that the book had enough of a track record to invest in a hard cover printing which I did last year. My sales continue to flourish and I am proud to share the uplifting story of my blue cow Millicent as she tackles her self esteem issues.

I also look forward to sharing what I have learned on my self publishing journey in 2 workshops that I am offering at the Newark Arts Alliance in Newark De. on Oct. 3 from 6:30 - 8:30 and on Dec. 5 from 6:30-8:30. If interested, you should register for one or the other at the Newark Arts Alliance website . This is a link to the program pdf.

If you are someone like me who likes to take control over their own creative life and destiny- I hope to meet you at one of my workshops. If you live too far away or can't join me for any reason, please feel free to comment or contact me if I can help you with specific questions :0)

Double Art/Author Night

I had a wonderful time last week at Petey Possums Hangout in Oxford, Pa.. Its an adorable little children's bookstore on the corner of Rte. 472 and Old Baltimore Pike. I had a reading with the children, signed copies of "Millicent and the Faraway Moon" and answered questions about being an artist and author from 6-8 pm.

From 5-6 I enjoyed the company of my fellow artists and patrons at the Opening of the Oxford Artists Connection members show where I displayed 4 of my paintings. I wanted to show that i do other things beside the cow paintings so my people on the couch paintings took up their place on the wall right along side them. It was a very nice show with lots of variety from the other artists. It was also very well attended.