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| Q: |
Do you find the illustrators for your picture books? |
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| A: |
No, usually publishers want to choose the illustrator themselves. In fact, I didn’t even get a chance to talk to the illustrator of my first book, Joni Oeltjenbruns, until after the book was published. Our editor did pass along some of my ideas, but mostly Joni just used her own imagination to create the pictures for the story. And that turned out to be a really smart system—she came up with some wonderful details I wouldn’t have thought of for myself. |
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| Q: |
Do writers make a lot of money? |
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| A: |
Most writers don’t make very much money on their books. Many of them have to have another job and fit in their writing where they can. |
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| Q: |
What’s the first step to getting published? |
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Do your research! Go to the bookstore or library and read all the children’s books you can. Pay attention to the publishers’ names. Once you’ve started to get a feeling for the publishers you think are right for your manuscript, read their submission guidelines on their web sites. |
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| Q: |
What are some of your favorite books? |
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I love all sorts of books. Some of my favorites when I was little were the Dr. Suess books and a box of old books that had belonged to my mother when she was a girl. I especially loved the book series in those boxes: the Uncle Wiggily stories, a series about a rich little lame girl named Maida, a series by Janet Lambert about girls who lived on army bases, a series about a student nurse named Sue Barton, a mystery series featuring girl detective Judy Bolton, and the books of Louisa May Alcott. At school I also discovered historical fiction such as the Laura Ingalls Wilder books, The Witch of Blackbird Pond, and Constance. When I got a little older, a couple of my favorites were The Outsiders and To Kill a Mockingbird. One of my favorite picture books is The Relatives Came by Cynthia Rylant, illustrated by Stephen Gammell. |
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| Q: |
Do you have any tips for new writers? |
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| A: |
Click here for a set of tips and tricks! |
