Picture Book Brewing

 

Story building

It started with a theme, and it meandered through several storylines, characters jumping in and making it their own, but what was needed was something different, a different viewpoint. And so now I have the words, characters talking to each other, a beginning, a middle and an end.

So what now…? Colour! Literally – paint, brushes, water, and lots of paper, because the first picture, much like the first paragraph written, is not likely to make it as far as the finished book… let the magic commence!  

My work in progress is based around sleep and bedtime stories

My work in progress is based around sleep and bedtime stories, and all this talk about sleep and being tired is definitely making me sleepy, which is the desired effect after all. A bedtime story needs to tell a story but also lead towards a drowsy state of mind. So not only am I yawning doing my rewrites, but now I’m blogging about all things sleepy and drowsy related, the yawns are definitely brewing…

I’ll keep it brief here, because in reality I seem to be writing into an abyss, so if you’re reading this, welcome! Please have a wander around my website, bring your friends and pop along to my website bookshop where my books are gathered in the hope of finding new homes.

Self Publishing is all about being stubborn!

 Self Publishing is all about being stubborn… why?

·        As a self publisher you’ve likely already come up against some sort of barrier in traditional publishing: not securing an agent, not finding a publisher to publish your work, or simply decided not to send any more work out to squelch about in a slush pile.

·        Finding out that writing the story is not the end of the process, there are more skills to learn: editing, formatting, illustrating and making all of this stick into a memory stick to send to a printer.

·        Then there’s the promotions and marketing, and generally getting the word out there, about the amazing new book that you now have to sell.

·        There are websites, and blogs and a whole host of ways to get a book noticed online.

·        And pretty soon you realise that writing the book is just the beginning, and learning curves keep hitting you, sharper and steeper than you thought possible. The sense of achievement at rising to each new challenge is amazing, but also exhausting.

So what keeps a self publisher going? Sheer stubbornness and an unshakable belief in the book or books, that have to find their way out of the boxes and into the hands of readers…

So that’s where I’m at, feeling exhausted but stubbornly carrying on…

Author, pouring words into the abyss

 

Lost in a Book

Little Bookshop with big ideas

Rummage4words.co.uk

 

Dear Abyss,

                   I’m pouring more words today, into who knows where for who knows who to read, because… who knows why at this point. I have a bag of words to use up, and I need some of them for the rewrites of my work in progress, because there’s a picture book brewing and it needs a few more words adding, taking away and generally shuffling until they are just right, and just where they were meant to be.

                             Bye for now

AMS

 

Rewrites

 Rewrites:

How many rewrites does it take to make a book? I’ll let you know when it’s finished… maybe.

Because I’d have to count the number of times I save new changes, not just the number of new starts and new versions of the story; a little tweak here, a name change there… Probably the hardest part is knowing when to stop, because it can feel as if a story is never perfect, and something could always be added or taken away, or told from a different viewpoint… unless of course there is that eureka moment when everything slots into place, the characters saying just the right thing, at just the right moment, with illustrations working in perfect harmony. Sometimes words have to compromise, keeping quiet while pictures have their say, because in a picture book some of the story is told by the pictures.

Anyway, I’m currently working on a rewrite of my work in progress, making sure I’m showing not telling, without getting too many words to squeeze into a picture book. And because it’s a picture book, I’m also working on the illustrations, filling up sketchbooks and playing with paint. The characters are causing me more than a few problems because some of them are more of a concept than an actual being… and no, I’m not going to explain that at this point, you’ll just have to wait and see.

Of course as well as working on rewrites, I’m also creating content for my website, which often feels like writing into the abyss! There must be so many words bobbing about the internet at this point, that it’s a wonder they don’t all stick together and start making up their own stories, like a giant imagination.

So I’m going to head off now to have a chat with the characters of the book, see if we can come to some sort of an agreement about building this book, so that we can finally get it over the finish line.

 

Spinning plates, but wondering if...

 

Still here, still spinning plates, but wondering, if I just stopped and concentrated on one thing for a while… would it be so bad to let some of the plates crash to the floor, sweep them away into a corner and get lost in a book? The dilemma is, if I don’t run around chasing book sales, books won’t sell. But if I don’t finish the next book I won’t have anything new to sell, and the characters will carry on bugging me until I let them have their say.

So if you’ve stumbled across my bookshop, welcome, please come in and have a rummage around, if you need anything I’ll be right here behind the desk persuading characters to work nicely with words and illustrations to build the perfect picture book.

More words are always needed to tell of the words already written…

 More words are always needed to tell of the words already written…

In the case of a picture book, words are used carefully and sparingly to keep the story within the attention span of a very young reader or listener. But the words used to tell, of the words already written can vary widely. The blurb on the back of the book may be very brief, to convey a simple story or theme, or it might exceed the word count of the book itself. This is because the pictures in a picture book work hand in hand with the words to tell the story. When the words meet the illustrations in the making of a picture book, there’s always a bit of argy bargy as words need to be edited to accommodate the pictures, to build a balanced book. And of course there’s always the opportunity to add your own words when reading a picture book to a young child, to talk about the story, the pictures or relate it to something in your own personal experience.

Even more words are needed to bring a book to the attention of potential readers, especially in an overcrowded market place online, where books are everywhere, and many get sold through a few of the bigger marketplaces. Every book with an ISBN will be listed in all of these book outlets, but it’s not a level playing field, and self publish books will frequently be listed as unavailable or with a long lead time, at a time when shoppers expect products instantly.

So what is the answer? Well, more words are needed to get the message out there of the books that need to be read, because books need to be out of their boxes and into the hands of readers, and that is my mission. But is it enough just to throw words into the abyss in the hope that some will stick? That is a question that I am still wrestling with, and the fact that you are reading this now rather suggests that I’m throwing enough words out there to find a few readers, and I now have my own little bookshop, where you can rest assured that your order will be quickly gathered together, signed and dispatched, not from a faceless warehouse, but direct from the author, illustrator who created the book from the first idea that floated through the imagination. The only thing I outsource is the printing and binding of the books, which is done locally, I drop off a memory stick with my book on, and they make the next stage of magic happen. It’s always an exciting trip collecting the books, to hold the precious story in a physical form, in a book!        

Holding the book for the first time is a moment to celebrate, to pause and appreciate the achievement. Then it’s on with the marketing hat, which can be a bit tight and uncomfortable, but must be pulled into the shape and made to fit.

Happy Book Birthday to The Monster Under The Bed

 Happy Book Birthday to The Monster Under The Bed!

Initially published through Trafford Publishing in 2005, The Monster Under The Bed came in-house under my own imprint Lost in a Book, in 2010 in its second edition. It’s still a talking point at book signings, some people comment that they don’t want to scare children, while others reminisce about the monster under their own childhood bed, which can take many forms. But the monster under this particular bed is a fun twist that isn’t revealed till the last page, and far from scaring children, I’ve had positive feedback about it helping children not to be scared of the dark.

I’ve been on quite a journey with this book: my first published book, first book signings, and first book in a mainstream bookshop! That was an exciting moment, to see my book displayed in Borders in York. Seeing it on online websites was quite a buzz too, if a short lived one, as self publish books get listed as not available, or with such a long order time that customers are put off from buying them. It also brought about me cutting the ribbon at a school library opening, and reading not only The Monster Under The Bed, but also an early draft of Doodle Mayhem, and the reaction I got from that reading told me that I had something special, but that’s another story… in fact it’s three stories, the characters were too much fun for just one book, and became a series.

And so 20 years on, I now have 10 books to my name as well as articles and stories published in magazines. Most of my sales still come from book signings out in the real world, but my ongoing mission is to bring the personal experience of the book signing to my website bookshop. So here I sit behind my virtual counter, dividing my time between writing content for my website, blogging about books and self publishing, and working away on the work in progress. There’s a picture book brewing, the words are in place, but they may have to shuffle a bit as the illustrations take shape. There’s always a bit of argy bargy when words and pictures come together in a picture book; the words having to make way for the pictures to work their particular magic.

 

 

 The Monster Under The Bed

A bedtime story that the little monsters in your life will love.

The Blurb:

“Mum……Mum…..There’s a monster under my bed.”

Billy sits up in the dark, he can hear something moving around in his bedroom. When his mum puts the light on there’s no monster to be seen. But when Mum goes back downstairs the noises start again.

“Get back into bed Billy,” calls Mum.

Something is making a noise, and if it isn't Billy – who can it be? Find out in this full colour picture book that’ll keep you guessing till the last page.

Buy a signed copy from my website: rummage4words.co.uk

16 page full colour picture book

ISBN 978-0-9560232-2-3