HAPPY ICE CREAM STICKS BOOK COVER

Here is the cover of the book I've been working on with my son and his Chinese girlfriend? The Bookworm Bookmark project that was previously posted is included in this book, along with 9 other crafts (for a total of 10).

From Idea to Print: One Series' Tale, Part Three (It's a long story)

Part Three of the Three-Part Series: I told you it was a long story...

Anyway, before I was finished with the first four books in the series, a couple of things happened. Mark Friedman left Grolier, Inc., so I no longer had any contact with him. And, since things were progressing so well with the first four books, I was offered a contract for another for books. Woot! That was in April 2000. The contact was for EGG CARTON MANIA, PAPER CUP MANIA, PIPE CLEANER MANIA, and PIE PAN MANIA.

I can't find the records, so I don't know the actual dates, but a couple of other things happened before all of the books were done. As mentioned before, my original idea was for a series of craft books for 6-to-12-year-olds using ordinary, household items for each craft. Sometime after the series was approved, Grolier Publishing was taken over by Scholastic, Inc. Sometimes when things like this happen, contracts that have been signed by the previous publisher become null and void. The publisher still has to pay the writer the agreed-upon advance royalties, but the books will not be published. That's a real bummer and I was afraid that would happen to me. It didn't, but Scholastic wanted to make some changes. They decided the series should be for 2nd-4th graders, and the books should be suitable for classroom use. And, they wanted to emphasize recycling in the series.

So, even though I was relieved my series hadn't been cancelled, I had additional work to do. First, I had to change the age level for the projects in the books, so some of the ideas I had come up with wouldn't work for the newly-chosen age group. I had already finished one book in the series, and was starting on the second one when the changes were made. I had to throw out some of the activities I had already written up for the first two books, and adjusting my ideas for the rest of the series meant a fair amount of re-writing was involved to bring all the activities into line with the new guidelines.

And, my original idea was to use more than one type of material to make the same type of craft project. For instance, I had ideas for making different types of flowers using different materials like egg cartons, paper plates, and paper cups. But the publisher didn't want the same type of project repeated in any of the books, even if the materials used were different. That meant I could include ONE flower project, but I had to choose whether to have it for the egg carton, paper plate or paper cup book. I couldn't use the idea in all three books. What this really meant was by the time I got down to the last two books in the series, I was having a hard time coming up with ideas for making things that I hadn't already used.

Oh, and the publisher also decided that instead of having four books come out at one time and then four more books a year or so later, they would launch the series with all eight books. Because of all the changes that were made along the way, the books weren’t actually published for nearly four years after I signed the original contract! Four years!

There were times when I questioned whether or not the books would ever make it into print, but they did. They came out first in hard cover editions, in 2002, and then in paperback, in 2006.

It was a long journey (and a long story!) from idea to the finished product. I learned a lot. Now, I’m ready to do it again!!

From Idea to Print: One Series' Tale, Part Two (It's a long story)

Part Two of a Three-Part Series (I will post the last "episode" tomorrow):

My initial contact with Mark, the editor, was through snail mail. We both had email addresses so we corresponded mostly by email after the initial contact was made. Through a series of back-and-forth missives, the book proposal was sent to the publisher's editorial department for approval. In September 1998, five months after the first letter from Mark, I got an email saying my series concept had been approved by the editorial department. He said the next step was for him to submit a formal budget proposal and wait for its authorization before he could officially offer me a contract. The approval was given October 30, 1998, and I was offered a contract!!!

I received the actual contract a few days later, but some changes needed to be made to it before it was ready for both parties (myself and the publisher) to sign. This is not usual. Just a note: A writer should ALWAYS read the contact, ANY contract, carefully before signing. Often, things are entered incorrectly, or not entered at all. And, some things in a publishing contract are negotiable.

I didn’t have much experience in this area, so I asked a couple of my friends, who were seasoned, published writers, to review it. They pointed out a couple of things that needed to be changed. Through a series of emails, the changes were proposed, approved and then implemented into the contract.

When the contract was finally signed, I had work to do. I had four books to write. Each one was to have 10-12 craft ideas. I was entitled to a royalty of $1000 per book. The first $300, for each book, was paid to me when the contract was signed and returned. The next $300, for each book, was to be paid to me when the rough draft of each book was finished. And the final $400, for each book, was to be paid to me when the final copy of each book's manuscript was approved.

The publisher assigned me an editor to work with, Wendy Mead. I submitted my ideas and written instructions to her. If she didn't approve them, she would send them back to me for more editing and revisions. If I was stuck on a particular craft project, she would help me come up with ideas for it. She was very helpful. Together, we worked through the first four books in the series.

 to be continued...

From Idea to Print: One Series' Tale, Part One (It's a long story)

I am the proud author of a series of children's craft books, published by Children's Press in 2002, known as the "Mania Craft" books. They were given this designation as each title in the series has the word "mania" in it, as in MILK CARTON MANIA, CRAFT STICK MANIA, EGG CARTON MANIA, PIPE CLEANER MANIA, PIE PAN MANIA, PAPER CUP MANIA, PAPER PLATE MANIA, and CARDBOARD TUBE MANIA.

Here's the story of their creation:

Once upon a time I dreamed about writing a series of children's craft books. Okay, it wasn't a fairy tale, although at times it seemed like one. I thought about writing a series of craft books for kids. My mom had always encouraged me to express my creativity by doing crafts such as knitting, sewing and crocheting. But, she also was an early supporter of recycling (this was in the 1960s) and making things with ordinary household objects, like the paper tubes that are used for paper towel and toilet paper, empty paper milk cartons, used aluminum pie pans, etc. So, I thought it would be a great idea to have a series of craft books that used ordinary, household objects so parents wouldn't have to go out and buy expensive things for their kids to do the crafts with.

My original idea was for a series of four to six craft books. They were aimed at ages 6-12, with the idea that the crafts would be interesting for the entire age group. The oldest children could do the crafts all by themselves, while the younger ones would need help from parents and/or siblings.

I did some research on publishers who might be interested in such a series. I had six publishers on my list. When I "queried" them, in January 1998, I sent a letter saying I had an idea for a series of children's craft books that would use everyday, ordinary household items and be targeted to 6-to-12-year-olds. I included a couple of titles for the series, as well as some craft ideas for one of the books, MILK CARTON MANIA.

A few weeks after I sent out my query letters, two publishers rejected my idea outright. One sent me a letter saying they did not accept unsolicited manuscripts or queries. One I never heard back from. And I withdrew my proposal from one because I had received a letter from Mark Friedman of Grolier, Inc. saying they were interested in my idea.

He wrote: "I do like your idea, and I am interested in pursuing the initial stages of development with you. I presented the basic idea today at an editorial meeting, and my staff greeted it enthusiastically. It is now obviously just a concept, and the next step would be for you to submit a more fleshed-out list of titles. For us to launch a series like this, we would need about five or six individual titles as a minimum (I do not see the series containing more than ten or 12 books)." 

He then asked me to send him:

* a list of possible titles in the series;

* a sample table of contents, showing all the craft projects that would be included in one of the titles;

* and two or three sample chapters showing the complete texts of a few projects themselves.

Needless to say, I was thrilled with the letter. A real, live editor from a major publishing company sent me a personal letter saying he not only liked my book proposal, he wanted to pursue the concept and see if it could work as a real series. Also, I was thrilled that I had a least a better-than-average chance of actually getting my ideas into print.

But, I knew from reading articles about other writers' experiences that just because a publisher likes your idea doesn't mean it will go anywhere. I also knew that even if I sent all the requested materials, Mr. Friedman could still reject the project if he didn't like what I sent him. And, I knew that even if he liked what I sent, that was just the first step in the process. I was very excited to receive such a letter, and thrilled to be given such a wonderful opportunity, but I was nervous about my ability to actually produce the series and scared that nothing would come of it after all my work.

But, I was optimistic. So I got right to work on the requested materials. No deadline was given, but I knew the sooner I sent it to him, the better.

The first book I had an idea for was MILK CARTON MANIA. So, I sent the publisher a list of 12 possible book titles for the series (so they'd have plenty to choose from), a sample table of contents with the names of 30 possible craft projects to make with milk cartons - bird feeder, cat, Halloween pumpkin, etc. - as well as the directions for five projects, complete with line drawings and step-by-step directions. I even included an introduction for the book.

to be continued...