Small Crisis - by Jason Kirschner

I am facing a little bit of a dilemma right now. A small crisis of faith. I'm a guy with a family and a day job who wants to write and draw for kids. I'm passionate about it. I do it in my spare time, weekends, late nights, Arbor Day. I've got one book out and it’s doing ok.  People are buying it and based on reviews, liking it! But … it hasn’t made national news or a best-seller list but if you’re reading this blog, odds are that you've heard of it.  And I’m proud of it.  I believe in it.  I think the work is strong.

Currently,  I’m working on some follow-up projects.  I have ideas.  Lots of ideas actually, but there was one I was drawn to the most and I decided to concentrate on that. It’s the kind of story I like — silly and nerdy and a bit wordy.  I’ve finished a manuscript that made me laugh. I’m in the process of drawing the dummy now and I like how it’s progressing.

And still, my mind wanders back to the first book often.  The one that’s on shelves but not “breaking the internet” in any way, shape, or form.  This new book is written very much in the same vein as the first.  Not the same story or characters, but I think stylistically they’re cut from the same cloth.  I wonder if I’m making a mistake.  Should I infer some lesson from the “not huge success” of the first book?  Should I change my style? Should I be trying something completely different?

A sketch from the new project--and also sorta how I'm feeling (minus the tutu.)

I’m not sure of the answer here.  When I first started trying to write and illustrate books, I tried very hard to make the kind of books that I saw on the shelves. I was probably imitating more than creating.  I was so frustrated that I was making the kind of thing that I saw in the stores and yet I couldn’t sell a thing.  So I took a small leap and created something I really loved.  I honestly thought it was going to be an exercise or a practice project of some sort.  I didn’t think anyone would ever bite.  But they did!  I thought I’d found the secret.  Make what you love!

But based on early sales, not as many people love it as I’d hoped.  I’d hoped there would be one in every household across America. It didn't happen. There could be loads of reasons why.  I'm a first time author.  Perhaps I didn't market it perfectly?  I've learned a lot on that front for next time. (Also see Mike’s brilliant entry from last week for help there.)  But part of me thinks that if the work is out there and it’s appealing, then people will find it.  It might be naive but it’s the way I feel.

So…some questions.

Also from the new thing.

First off — what’s my goal?  If it’s to match J.K. Rowling’s sales, I’ve failed miserably.  If it’s to get my books in the hands of kids that might love it, I think I’ve done that. In fact, I know I have. I've seen great reviews and received kid drawings that tell me it's true.  Ding!

What to do with the new project?  Should I scrap it? Do I rewrite it and make it more stylistically different from the first?  I think I am going to rewrite a bit.  Just a bit.  I won’t make it something I don’t love or just imitate what I see on shelves but if you just ignore what you’re seeing in the world around you than you're burying you head in the sand. Ding?

So. What have we accomplished here?   Believe in your work.  Write what you love. Know the market.  Know how to market. I know all of this isn’t new ground for writing/illustrating blogs but it was my week to blog and this was much cheaper than therapy. Much appreciated and Happy (belated) Arbor Day!

Jason Kirschner is the author and illustrator of Mr. Particular: The World's Choosiest Champion from Sterling which you can now find on shelves in bookstores everywhere. Get your own copy and see more of Jason's work at jasonkirschner.com.

A Dramatization Based On Actual Events - by Patricia Keeler

My first trip to New York City to sell my three picture book dummies! How hard could it be?

My website is: www.patriciakeeler-author-illustrator.com

Facebook friend me at: PatriciaKeelerBooks        Follow me on Twitter: @patriciakeeler

represented by Liza Royce Agency www.lizaroyce.com

The Journey - by Jason Kirschner

If you know me, have heard of me, follow me on social media or just exist in a realm that picks up on my psychic vibrations, you may have heard that I wrote and illustrated a book that officially launches next week but is (surprise! surprise!) on shelves everywhere as we speak.  I have not been at all shy about this.  In fact, if I could sing, I’d have fellow D2PB’er Mike Ciccotello play jazz piano while I crooned about it.  It is, with very few exceptions, one of the things I am proudest of.
 

Photo Credit: Barbara DiLorenzo

I went into a bookstore with my wife this past Friday and saw the book on a shelf “in the wild” for the first time.  As I posed for a few selfies with my book, I reflected back on my journey so far with Mr. Particular.  And make no mistake —it is a journey.  I hope Mr. Particular and I have further to go together, but we’ve also come along way.

It’s my thinking that this journey, this campaign to get published for the first time,  is a series of successes.  There are the bigger achievements — winning awards, signing with an agent, selling your first book, your first good review.  Those are the ones you celebrate, the ones you savor and clink glasses over. 

Most successes, however, are small — teeny.  I’m not even sure you notice all of them as you go along.  A few might only be recognizable in hindsight.  You have to think hard to remember a positive portfolio review, or when yet another zany book idea woke you at 3 a.m.  It’s easy to forget the morning you nail down a plot point that’s been escaping you or the evening a slight change in your color palette makes everything mesh the way it should.  Goodness knows that the small text revision you made yesterday changed it all, but no one hung streamers when it happened. Rest assured, it’s still an achievement.

Post sale, there are more small tiny wins.  You might get the perfect person to write your back cover blurb or a mention on the right blog. It’s a win when you see proofs that prove you’ve finally got the colors right. And although you may not mark the day in your calendar, I promise your heart will swell, just a little, when you see your name on the spine of that book for the first time.  There are F&Gs to pass around and marketing campaigns to launch and promotions to be completed. And then you walk into a bookstore and there it is…on a shelf. And a kid picks it up and starts to read it and you feel like the journey led somewhere worthwhile.

(Then of course you have to ask the kid to put the book back on the shelf so you can take a picture with it. “It’ll just take a second kid.”)

I’m sure everybody’s first book experience is different, but no matter what path they took, I promise it was made up of  little victories.  All those little wins count too. They're all part of it.  And what that means is, even if you're not published (yet), you’re already on your way.  Try to remember that the little wins aren’t really so little.  Its a journey.

This is the print. Fun right?

Jason Kirschner is the author and illustrator of Mr. Particular: The World's Choosiest Champion from Sterling which you can now find on shelves in bookstores everywhere. Get your own copy by clicking here and see more of Jason's work at jasonkirschner.com.

ONE MORE THING-- Send me your selfie of Mr. Particular or post it on Facebook or Twitter and tag me and I'll enter you in a contest to win a signed 8"x10" print of our titular hero!  I'll pick 5 winners on May 27t

Facebook:  Jason Kirschner 
Twitter: @jason_kirschner

 Instagram: @jkirsch118