Years earlier, I had joined the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. They are, without a doubt, one of the best
organizations in the world for aspiring children’s writers and illustrators.
The information and contacts their organization provides are priceless. They
have a wealth of information about publishers, what they accept, who to
contact, and how to submit stories and book dummies to them. I went to their
website and saw that they would be holding their annual L.A. summer conference
in a few months. I had roughly 24 hours before registration would close. This
was it. Everything had been leading up to me going to this conference. Los
Angeles is about a 3-hour drive, and I was able to find a modestly priced hotel
nearby. The Hyatt was full. Undoubtedly booked by hundreds of other hopeful
authors and illustrators and, hopefully, hundreds of publishers all dying to
see my book and sign me to a big fat contract.
In the weeks before the conference I put together a
full-sized book dummy. I also had some business cards and postcards made with
some of the final art from my book and interesting bits about me and why I’m so
dang wonderful. These would surely seal the deal!
If you’ve never been to one of the SCBWI conferences, either
the summer one in L. A. or the winter conference in New York, you owe it to
yourself to go. They are well worth the cost of attending both in content and in
the access you get to very important people in the industry. Plus, they’re just
a whole lot of fun. Interesting, funny, and creative people surround you. The
energy is inspiring.
The SCBWI Conference was an amazing three days of shameless
self-promotion and information gathering. I met dozens of fellow illustrators
and writers who I have kept in touch with and will be long-term friends and
collaborators.
While at the conference I was in constant self-promotion
mode, which is very difficult for me. Like most of us I’m a hermit by nature, preferring
to spend long hours in dimly lit studios writing, tinkering and doodling away.
Email, facebook and blogging are my communication tools of choice. I own an awesome
iphone but never use it except for ordering pizza or as a GPS on those rare
occasions I find myself more than 3 miles from home. My phonebook has two
entries, my wife and me. I’m not sure why I would call myself, unless I was
experiencing some existential crisis.
But there I was, outgoing, positive and infused with new-found
networking energy. By day three I had met a hundred people and was starting to
hone my pitch. But I still hadn’t landed any one-on-one time with that elusive
of all creatures, the Children’s Book
publisher.
The right place at the wrong time
Late in the evening on day three I decided to attend the
portfolio display. Since I registered late, I missed the opportunity to have my
portfolio included. Under a huge tent, a hundred amazing portfolios from talented
illustrators were laid out on long cloth-draped tables for art directors and
publishers to drool over. They would pick up business cards from their
favorites and contact them later begging them to illustrate their latest and
greatest children’s book.
Tired and hoarse I edged my way through the crowd to look
with envy at all the wonderful artwork spread out before me. About halfway
through the portfolios I stopped to take a closer look at one of the artist’s
books. I don’t recall whose book it was now, but the artwork was absolutely
wonderful. Beautiful colorful illustrations jumped off the page and sang with
life and emotion. I commented out loud, “Wow, this guys work is really
amazing.” A woman standing next to me looked over and replied, “Oh yes, we’re
currently working on a book with him.” To which I replied, “Oh, and who are
‘we’.”
The woman introduced herself as the Creative Director for HarperCollins
Children’s Books, at which point I became a monosyllabic, lobotomy patient. I
had just spent three days searching for a needle in a haystack and upon its
discovery, was unable to pick it up. I mumbled something semi-coherent like, “I
draw stuff ”, and, “have book dummy”, (managed two syllables on that one). And handed
her one of my postcards before embarrassing myself further. She said, “Very
nice, hope you enjoy the rest of the conference”, or something equally polite. At
that point my brain was experiencing a complete systems shut down. I grunted,
drooled and quietly slipped away through the crowd.
After three days of extolling the prolific virtues of my
creative genius to anyone who would stand still for 30 seconds and listen, I
was rendered mute when it actually mattered. I was tired. I called the other
person on my phone list and told her how I had just totally screwed up.
Dig, James, Dig
Not only did I completely blow it with the one person I was
hoping to meet at the conference, but, in an attempt to get away before exposing
myself as a total idiot, I didn’t get her business card or contact information,
enshrining me in the Idiot’s Hall of Fame. But I had a name, a company and a
title. And with that, even an idiot can elevate himself to, well, less of an
idiot.
I went home and started digging, trying to find, online,
what I could about the “Creative Director who got away”. I could find her name,
I could see her in various directories, and I found wonderful articles about
her but nothing with a phone number or email address. I had almost given up when
I discovered we shared something in common, a certain social media group.
Up until then I viewed social media with some level of
skepticism. For me, It fell somewhere between annoyance and disdain. But now, all
that connecting, “friending” and “liking”, was finally going to pay off.
I sent her a message, mentioning our brief meeting. I was hoping
she had met other artist that evening and might confuse me with someone who had
the ability to speak in complete sentences. And I asked if I could send her my
PDF book dummy. A huge perk of attending the SCBWI is that if you attend these
conferences you’re more likely to get a response from a publisher or an art
director. It’s a courtesy they often extend to would-be authors and
illustrators who’ve shown initiative to get involved and learn about the
business. It’s no guarantee, but it does increase the likelihood of them
actually looking at your book or manuscript. The creative director told me I could
go ahead and send my PDF dummy, and she’d take a look when she had some time.
Cool, she didn’t remember me!
You have Mail!
I sent my dummy to HarperCollins on a Monday afternoon. The
next morning I had a response in my inbox. I really wasn’t expecting to get a
reply for a few weeks, so I figured it was an auto response saying, “I have
received your submission and if you don’t hear back from me in 8 weeks or so,
have a nice life.” What I got was a personal reply saying how she really liked
my book and could she let me know in five days whether or not they were
interested. Uh, OK, yes - back to my single-syllable vocabulary.
Friday morning at roughly 8:30am, my normally quiet iphone
rings. HarperCollins loves the book, and they want me to write and illustrate a
series of three, to start. I promptly got an agent as I quickly realized I was
in over my head and needed an expert. So now, I have a lot of very talented and
amazing people working with me to help me build my dream. And for that, I am
truly grateful.
Yes, it does happen, even when you make mistakes along the
way. I know for my story, there are hundreds of other stories that don’t end
the same way. But there are many that do. I started the process with passion
and determination, and it has paid off. I feel very lucky, but I think we make
our own luck.
My advice to would-be authors and illustrators is: educate
yourself to the process; learn everything you can from all the great online
resources out there; join and participate in organizations like SCBWI; build a
social network; and always do your best work. Lastly, if you ever get a chance
to talk to someone influential to your career, try and use words with more than
one syllable.
Now go out there and make some luck!
My book Dig, Dogs, Dig: A Construction Tail is out for pre-orders right now at all major
online booksellers. Please visit my facebook page and “like” the book.
James
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