The previous post was about the relative ease of finding a publisher for my first book. This post is about finding a publisher for my fourth book. (Not so easy!)
Finding a home for Littledog. How the manuscript became a book…
In 2006 I began tinkering with a draft about a girl who wanted a pet. I was aware that the theme was unoriginal but saw in it a timeless appeal. The little girl would ask her mother for a pet and the mother’s repeated response created a refrain for the story.
“I don’t think so,” said Mum. “We’re too busy.”
The story was boring and wooden. It lacked energy and depth. I abandoned it.
Months later, while holidaying at the beach with my family, a small black and brown dog began visiting us. He pushed into the yard from under the gate and my children played with him. He came and went as he pleased for a few days. We named him Littledog. One morning Littledog went running with me and it was during that run that the story for the book Littledog began to brew in my head.
By April 2007 the Littledog manuscript was complete; it was 576 words long. I sent it to a major Australian publisher and three months later received a standard form rejection letter.
In July 2007 I resent the story to another publisher. I am embarrassed by the opening paragraph. The first two lines were horrible.
In our family there are four people, and one dog.
There’s me, my mum, my dad, my little brother Sam, and our dog, Littledog.
Littledog found us one afternoon during our holiday.
He was waiting at the shack when we go back from the beach.
In September 2007 I received this feedback from the publisher:
In other words, we don’t want your story; there, squatting among some kind words, was rejection number two.
I decided to try working in more repetition. Perhaps an engaging refrain would bring something unique to the text and set it apart from other lost dog stories.
I toyed with these:
We don’t need a dog
We can’t keep the dog
The dog’s not ours
They were all too negative. I tried
Littledog wagged his bottom and Sam hugged him.
Finally I settled on:
Littledog just wagged his tail. His whole bottom wagged too.
This refrain remains in the published story as shown here below.
I rewrote parts of the manuscript and tightened the story so that even with the inclusion of the new refrain the manuscript was 570 words, not 576. I resent the story to another publisher
In November 2007 I received a standard form rejection letter.
I phoned a fellow children’s author friend to moan, sulk and vent. Why wouldn’t anyone publish a book about a dog? Children love dogs. We think we’ve heard it before but our children haven’t and if they have they’d like to hear it again. My friend and I whined about what we perceived to be the trend in Australian children’s publishing towards edgy ‘issues’ books that were popular with judges on award panels. “Esoteric drivel!” my friend proclaimed, which was sweet of her because it made me giggle.
I had to blame someone so I chose to blame publishers.
By the end of the phone call I’d resolved to keep trying, firm in the belief that stories children can relate about timeless themes such as summer holidays, the beach, family and pets, are ever important and fun.
Later I also calmed down enough to stop blaming the publishing industry and appreciate that maybe the story had been turned down for other reasons. Perhaps it wasn’t yet good enough?
So I redrafted, redrafted and redrafted again. I made many little changes to sharpen the writing. I read it aloud over and over.
When I was finished the first lines read:
Littledog found us one holiday evening.
He was waiting at the shack when we got back from the beach.
These sentences remain in the published book as shown here below.
Littledog was now 545 words long. I submitted the manuscript to another publisher and received a standard form rejection letter.
In February 2008 I redrafted once more and trimmed the text until the story was 519 words long. I sent it out for the fifth time.
After a few months there was an email from an editor. She thought the story was ‘delightful’ and she planned to take it to their acquisition meeting in August.
In August 2008 I received a letter of offer from the publishers, Scholastic Australia.
In December 2008 I signed the contract. Yeeha!
During 2009 Littledog was beautifully illustrated by Tamsin Ainsley, then beautifully designed and then printed.
In Feb 2010 Littledog was released nationally! Hooray!
So, was it worth it?
Definitely!
Picture Books and Publication – Part 2 © Katrina Germein 2010
Have you had similar experiences?
____________________________________________________________________________
Littledog Teaching Notes
Read a review of Littledog – Readings
Read a review of Littledog – Story Time Books
Read a review of Littledog – Books From The Basement
Tags: Australia, Getting Published, Littledog, Picture books, Publishers, Rejection, Submissions, writing
What a great and inspiring story. I love that you stuck to your guns about the fact that just because a story topic is not original, the telling can be. Thanks for sharing.
My pleasure Julie!
You inspire me – thank you for sharing this
Oh thank you! What a special compliment.
Katrina,
When the time is right I would love to show this post to some of my students during Library classes so they can see how hard you worked to keep polishing your story and that you didn’t give up!! Is that okay with you?
Of course! I hope it’s helpful.
Thanks….It will be both helpful and inspiring! (And it will give me another opportunity to read Littledog aloud again!!)
Kim
Hi Katrina,
Can I ask if that’s the final illustration with the text about LittleDog waiting at the shack when you got back from the beach? I ask (and I haven’t read the book sorry! Not sure if it’s here in Singapore) because the illustration shows a caravan and a tent yet it looks like they’re being referred to as a shack. Perhaps there’s a shack on another page that’s not shown here? Having just done a course on book design I’m curious what publishers are doing! Thanks muchly, Sue
Hi Sue, At this stage Littledog has only been released in Australia and New Zealand. However the linked online store does deliver internationally.
Thanks for your question. You make a really good point that I hadn’t thought of. The illustrations in the post are the final illustrations from the book but I have only included half of each double page spread. The caravan and tent that you can see are on the left hand side of the spread while the shack is clearly shown on the right hand side. I will endeavour to upload the missing half onto the blog today.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for sharing so honestly. You have encouraged me to resubmit a manuscript I believe in too.
Oh that’s excellent Cath. Best of luck with it.
Awesome post on the realities of getting a picture book published in a highly competitive environment. Your determination and stick-to-it-ness is so inspiring! Thanks so much for sharing
Thanks Karen. I know you know what it’s like.
Katrina,
Great post. I’ve been in a similar position. I think we all have, put the pay off is worth it.
Yes, the pay off is definitely worth it.
Hi Katrina,
your words are so inspiring. You have given me encouragement to keep pursing my work.
Thanks for stopping by Jenny. So glad you liked the post. Every best wish with your writing.
Thanks for the other page of the spread – makes sense now. Love the illustrations and thanks for your words of experience to encourage us all.
Hi Katrina,
your determination is definately something to be remembered on days one feels like giving up! I will pass this post onto a friend of mine who will be uplifted by your experiences. Thanks for a very useful post.
Thank you Ramona. Glad you liked it.
Thank you so much, Katrina for sharing your amazing journey to publication. To read about the process from a published authors point of view, not only gives inspiration but faith to keep believing and growing as an author.
Congratulations LittleDog is a delightful book and it’s so good to see he finally found a home
[...] Picture Books and Publication – Part 2 My fourth book. The bumpy road to publication. [...]
[...] Picture Books and Publication – Part 2 My fourth book. The bumpy road to publication. [...]
I loved to read your experience. I really like the illustrations and the cover.
I’m an italian illustrator so i’m doing the same process doing illustrations, so my interpretation on a folktale.
Your experience encouraged me!
thank you Katrina
My pleasure Daniele. I’m very glad to hear that you’re feeling encouraged.
[...] can read about Littledog’s road to publication here and find teaching notes [...]