by Pat Brooks
Challenging, vexing, rewarding; publishing my first book could be called “Miss Pat’s Wild Ride.”
I have written magazine and newspaper articles and a gazillion news reports during the many years I was in broadcast journalism. The inspiration to write a book came from my four-year-old great-nephew, Colin, who proclaimed he “like knowing things,” such as “a snake can kill you!” Something familiar stirred in my soul: the urge to tell stories, to write.
Three years later, in 2017, I published using Amazon’s book arm, CreateSpace.
The process was not smooth, and I spent months searching for help. I reached out to friends and professional contacts, especially those who had published or were marketing pros. My sister, Wendy Keppley, also a published writer, became my sounding board. My dear friend, Donna Murray, a writer, author, and marketing director, was a great resource.
Discovering a variety of services would be needed, I tried to find one person who could do them all.
Is there such a thing as ‘deer-in-the-headlights syndrome’? If I darted off in the wrong direction would I get hopelessly lost? If I didn’t do something, would I get flattened, my dream crushed into oblivion?
WriteNow! coach Rochelle Melander’s critique of an early draft taught me a lot, including how much more I needed to learn. Who is the target audience? Age and vocabulary need to fit. Is the book nonfiction, fantasy, picture, chapter, or educational fiction?
She provided a wealth of helpful information, including websites about categories and length:
The omniscient invisible-narrator style was replaced, linking the voice to a character (Miss Marble), connecting her to other characters (Lindsey Jo and critters in the backyard). Their interaction provided opportunities for dialogue, and reasons for readers as well as characters to have a stake in what happens.
You could spend years studying categories of children’s books and customary formats for this genre, which many think is easy because it is for kids; it is exactly the opposite. It felt much like being back in college, studying successful children’s authors and their works, techniques for writing a query letter that might actually get read, what’s involved in getting an agent.
And did I really need an agent? Did I want to go to workshops on how to make an elevator pitch at a writer’s conference−use that awkward moment to spit out my well-rehearsed, very short speech that would sweep a literary goddess off her feet and put my book into the hands of a publisher?
It seemed that my four-year-old muse would be graduating from high school before all this could be accomplished.
Months passed as I wrote, emailed, surfed, and searched for someone to take the reins and direct me on what to do and where to go. The learning curve grew steeper−rate quotes for copy editing, content editing, illustrating and formatting consumed my waking hours. Online tutorials about how to format for printing convinced me that was completely out of my comfort zone.
Daunting? Yes. But I was enamored with what I was creating. The more I wrote, the more I researched the animals, birds, and reptiles whose characters were becoming my book. My husband, Darrel, listened to every revised draft−or perhaps pretended to!
There are reputable companies that offer publishing packages−some with tremendous fees. I fielded phone calls from those who found me through my search history, and by golly, they were so friendly I almost felt obligated to pay up and get published. Almost.
Joining Safety Harbor Writers and Poets group gave me a sense of legitimacy that I actually was a writer, that there is value and satisfaction in the process, published or not.
A writer’s conference at Safety Harbor Library provided a wealth of information about self-publishing and print-on-demand options, namely CreateSpace.
CreateSpace offered one free ISBN with the printing of the book, but I opted to purchase my own, feeling like a Real Author as I spent more money.
My book was to be my family legacy, based on my passion for nature and animals. My mission was not to make money. I didn’t expect to spend as much as I did, though not as much as buying a package of services.
The book was illustrated by Bill Connolly, internationally syndicated cartoonist, humorist, and musician. Despite a friendly discount because we had worked together in radio for many years, I was in a bit of sticker shock as I realized publishing was going to be more than an investment in time.
Joining Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators proved to be a key to moving forward. It was at an SCBWI writing workshop that I met my fairy godmother, Lisa J. Michaels. Safety Harbor Writers and Poets leader Laura Kepner was already on board as copy editor. Lisa handled content editing, and after exchanging countless emails and Dropbox edits, it was time to send the manuscript on to become a book.
Lisa formatted the text to CreateSpace specifications. Bleary-eyed from proofreading, we hit the send button.
On May 3, 2017, Miss Marble’s Backyard Critters became a real book. I cuddled my proof copy as I did a happy dance by the mailbox.
My first attempt to have a website built wound up being costly, largely because I didn’t know what to ask for or that I needed a creative approach as well as technical expertise.
Thanks to Lisa’s artistic skills, www.misspatsbigbookadventure.com is now a vibrant place to visit. She also designed marketing tools: bookmarks, posters, and a flyer. She has accompanied me to events, a guiding light every step of the way.
Putting together my own team was often frustrating. I panicked quietly and sometimes not-so-quietly during the three gestational years of my baby’s development. The support of good friends and family was invaluable.
Overall, I count it as one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. I not only have accomplished writing and publishing a book, I have new lifelong friends because of it. The journey that began as a conversation with my husband on the back porch overlooking our backyard became Miss Marble’s Backyard Critters.
The knowledge gathered was as great as the learning curve was high, and yes Colin, I like knowing things too!
The second book is underway and I’m enjoying the process even more, because I know where the path leads this time.