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...
1 comment:
How did you pick your final choices?
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