Help This Author, Ten Thousand Followers Campaign

I knew becoming a children's author would be difficult, but when I started this journey six years ago, I never realized just how difficult. I had what I like to call the Field of Dreams mentality. I thought, if I wrote it, they would come. After all, if what I wrote was good material wouldn't it be easy to get an agent, find a publisher, and gain a large following of book loving, book buying fans? Okay, you can stop laughing now. I learned how wrong that idea was the hard way.

 
When I first attempted to write a children's book and to get published, I knew virtually nothing. Having always been the studious type, I began to do research. Everything I read said you needed an agent, so I set about to get an agent. Little did I know at the time that not all agents or agencies are created equal, and I ended up with an unscrupulous agency that nickled and dimed me to death. They did send out my manuscript, however, after over forty rejections rolled in they told me they wouldn't send my manuscript out any more. Needless to say we parted ways.

I then tried sending my first story to small presses that accepted unsolicited manuscripts. That didn't work out so well either. Finally, I found a small press that was a hybrid publisher. They accepted new authors but with a fee. I know some of you are cringing at this point because everyone says publishers don't ever charge unless they are a vanity press or a scam. But after doing thorough research, weighing my options, and counting the cost, I decided to go that route.

Six years and five books later, I have been happy with my publisher. I have even moved from the hybrid contract to a traditional contract where I pay nothing. I have worked hard to build a network of fellow authors and illustrators that I can count on to support me as I support them. I have worked hard to get invited to invitation only book festivals. I have worked to get invited to schools, libraries, and other speaking events. And, I have worked at building my brand and building up my social media following.

 

And yet, through this all, my dream of gaining an agent and a picture book contract with a traditional publisher has remained strong. I have spent the last six years practicing my craft and sending my picture book manuscripts to agent after agent only to be rejected time after time. Ever the eternal optimist, I have continued to write and apply despite those rejections.

Recently I received an email from an agent that said, " I like your concept but I must pass at this time. A strong platform is vital as an agent. Please resubmit the proposal in six months once you have increased followers on Social Media." This is actually the second time an agent has told me this, so I have decided to take him up on that challenge and run a #HelpThisAuthor campaign.
 

Currently I have a little over 3000 twitter followers, and I would like to see if with your help I can reach 10,000 before the allotted six months is up. This is a daunting task, and I can only achieve this if you all are willing to help me. So if you aren't following me on twitter please do. If you have friends with children, friends who like children's books, friends with grandchildren, have friends that are fellow authors or illustrators, or just know nice people who you think might be willing to follow me please share this with them. My twitter handle is http://www.twitter.com/AileenWStewart. 

The "Write" Kind Of A Workshop

Recently I held a children's writing workshop sponsored by the PTO of a local school, and I must admit that I'm hooked. I really think I could host this workshop repeatedly and never tire of spending time with fabulous kids who are interested in reading and writing. Although a small group, the children that attended seemed eager to listen and learn.

We covered many things such as literary terms and their meanings, we did a fun worksheet where the kids had to find all the letters I used to create a cowgirl, I did a little illustrating, and I read a story out of my book which we used to discuss the who, what, when, where, why, and how questions every author answers when writing.


About half way through the program, I handed out composition notebooks, pens, and picture prompts. The picture prompts were the six pieces of clip art to the right that I created and  printed out in worksheet form. I then asked the children to incorporate the pictures into a story of their own. Since there were students ranging from first to eighth grade, I told them not to worry about spelling, but to do the best they could in sounding out words. Each and every child used their unique imaginations and in the end there were seven wonderful stories.


I gave each child the opportunity to read their story out loud, and for those few too shy to do so, I read them instead. I was particularly impressed with the story written by a fifth grader named Taylor. She was a quiet girl but quite attentive. She told a tale of mice having a birthday party which was disturbed when an owl swooped down and flew off with the birthday mouse. The other mice gave chase and finally found the owl's home. She described the rescue mission as follows: They climbed all night. It felt like it would take forever. The huge acorn tree was so tall it touched the moon. 
 
The way she described the tree touching the moon gave me cause for excitement, and I had her repeat those lines for the other students. I asked them what they would have thought if she had simply said, "the tree was tall." Of course they all replied that would be very boring. This opened up the opportunity to discuss using descriptive words to give readers a mental picture of what we are writing about.

In that moment of time, I was in my element and the immense love of words instilled in me by my late father was never more evident. This was definitely the "Write" kind of a workshop for me.

Signing off for now with wishes for a bright and beautiful day!

My Illustration Attempt

Taylor and Friends Hard At Work

Getting Started On A Story

Islands of Imagination

Books can be many things to many people. They can be a comfort like a hot bowl of soup on a cold day, they can be entertainment, they can be informative, and they can be islands of imagination taking us on journeys to places we would never go otherwise.

One of my greatest joys is the fact that almost daily my daughter and I share a book or two and take these journey's together. Just recently we shared some fun discoveries while reading the book The Island of Skog by Steven Kellog.

 The Island of Skog is a story of mice trying to find freedom and a place to live in peace. They find an  island home perfect in every way except for the sole skog inhabitant who tries to scare them off. The story is quite entertaining, the illustrations quite fine, and I was certainly surprised to find out who the skog really was. So if you and your child like a little bit of mystery you need to get this book and find out who the skog is for your selves.

As a side note, I was excited to see that this copy, borrowed from the school library, was autographed by Mr. Kellog. He even drew a little skog holding a heart next to his name.

Signing off for now with wishes for a bright and beautiful day!