Marcia

October 28, 2004

Post #1766 – 20041028

I have heard you with Scott Simon on NPR…. and have laaaughed and enjoyed your voice, writings, readings et al. Most of all I enjoy the genuine excitement you exhibit during and after the shared readings.

I have a children’s book that I wrote for my grandson, Zach and I need direction from someone of your stature. I know, I know you have gotten many of these requests before and how could I be the ONE you whom are willing to direct. PLEEZ,PLEEZ, PLEEZ HELP ME. I don’t know how and where to start to get this piece illustrated and published. Thank you…..

Looking so forward to hearing from you.

Daniel replies:

What you're asking amounts to, ""Tell me everything you know about a profession you have followed for 35 years."" It can't be done. You can acquire a book called ""Writer's Market,"" and study it. You can take courses about writing for children in colleges. There is an organization called The Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. Its main activity is to figure out how to get published. You can join, go to local, regional, state and national meetings--probably international ones for all I know. You can also read dozens and dozens of books mainly about how to get published. You can write to published authors, such as myself, all of whom have a specific and idiosyncratic approach to dealing with publishers--and not likely to be of a great deal of help to you. My suggestion would be to contact a ""print on demand"" publisher, such as Xlibris, and pay them a comparatively nominal sum to help you prepare and then publish your book. Seems a lot of trouble for a book you wrote for your grandson. Maybe Kinko's can help you create one nice copy for him to keep.