How long did it take you to find a publisher

As the author of a children’s chapter book series, The Adventures of Drew and Ellie (www.drewandellie.com), I am often asked—how long did it take you to find a publisher?

“Well,” I begin. “I only needed to look as far as the bathroom mirror.”

I’ve always been an avid reader and love getting drawn into one of those “I-can’t-put-it-down” novels of mystery and intrigue. But having grown up in a large family and then becoming an uncle more than twenty times over, I’ve spent a fair amount of time reading children’s books too. Invariably I would often think, after setting one down, that I could have written it. That idea went on my mental list of things to do…someday.

My “someday” came in the early part of August, 2003. As I was reminiscing about two young children I had met months earlier, the idea and story for The Magical Dress just popped into my head. A few weeks later, I presented a rough draft of the story to some young children for their feedback. Encouraged with their positive comments, I decided to pursue publishing it. Never having done this before, I approached it the way my education in engineering taught me and that was to—research it.

My initial findings were rather bleak, realizing that without an agent I wouldn’t get a publisher to look at me, and never having been published, I wouldn’t likely get an agent either. And, if I did manage to get my book published this way, the process could take years, which was way too long for someone not blessed with that kind of patience.

Sometimes ignorance is bliss and not knowing what I didn’t know, I plunged forward deciding to use a publishing service and gamble with an emerging new technology called POD or Printing-On-Demand. Heeding the advice I gathered from the Internet, I was careful about how much control I gave the publishing service I eventually chose. With the comments from the children, I made some minor changes to the rough draft and then sent it to a professional editor. I found my own illustrator and did most of the layout and design of the book myself. By the time I got to my second book, I was sending the publishing service a press-ready PDF file. They merely needed to add their logo, an ISBN, and then send it off to their book printer.

I should point out that my intention or motive for writing wasn’t just to be published but to convey stories that would teach children positive life lessons;  stories that would inspire them to think and help them develop their creative problem-solving skills. It was also my hope that my books could be used for character development by teachers and parents.

It seemed that each step along this road prepared me for the next one from the friendly account rep at the publishing service, who answered my 101 questions; to the woman I met in Toastmasters, who was running her own publishing company. It was over lunch with her one day in the summer of 2005, that the most obvious question arose—since I was already doing most of it, why not do all of it and form my own publishing company? Hmm….

It was also at this time that I found a unique web site called www.selfpublishing.com. Here was a guy that was telling me to bypass the publishing services and do it myself. I read many of the articles from Ron’s newsletters all extolling the virtues of forming your own publishing company. The real gems, though, were his books; Publishing Basics and Publishing Basics for Children’s Books. I downloaded both eBooks and after reading them immediately ordered hard copies. And when those arrived, I read them both again. Never before had I found such an abundance of valuable information in one place. With the confidence of all this knowledge and the encouragement from my friend, I took a leap of entrepreneurial faith and TMD Enterprises was born (www.tmd-enterprises.com).

Along the way I was further encouraged by the book Inside the Bestsellers written by Jerrold Jenkins. In it, he profiles several famous authors that started by self publishing and a couple of them even went on to form their own publishing companies.

Having my own publishing company suddenly gave me a lot more freedom and flexibility when it came to marketing and promoting. I didn’t need to seek any permission to print or distribute material and because I had done most of the work on the first two books, including the covers, I was able to lay claim to it (with the publishing service) and take it all with me. I even formed a relationship with the same printer that the publishing service used. Without a middle man I was getting more of the pie too. Not only could I bring the price point of my books down, but there was still enough money leftover to use for a charitable cause. I enjoy promoting literacy and stories with positive messages to children here in the US, but I also wanted to do something for less fortunate children in other areas of the world so I formed a humanitarian project called The Million Books Challenge™ (www.themillionbookschallenge.com). With every book sold from my series, I donate 25% to an organization that is building a school and community center for HIV/AIDS orphans in Kenya. With just a few thousand books sold so far, I’ve been able to raise several thousand dollars toward this endeavor.

As I’ve progressed in knowledge and experience I’m now publishing books by other children’s authors. I’m even contemplating creating an imprint for adult books too.

So what would I tell a new author? Well, if your desire is just to get published then pursue it with vigor. But, if you have a message or story that you want to tell and it’s more important to get it to your readers, then consider the alternative of doing it yourself. No matter which road you choose, write with passion and believe in it! Also, it helps to surround yourself with people that believe in you, for those days when self-doubt pokes at you.

Two tales worth mentioning before I close are about authors who were inspired to write merely for the reason of leaving something meaningful for their children—with no intention to publish it. They would even tell you that their success was purely accidental. In 1992, Richard Paul Evans wrote The Christmas Box for his daughters and it became the first self published book ever to make it to The New York Times Best Seller List. He eventually sold the rights for $4.2 million dollars. And in July of 2007, William Paul Young’s book The Shack was self published. What started out as a story for his six children, has now sold more than 8 million copies.

And, as the poem by Robert Frost says…
“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— 
I took the one less traveled by,And that has made all the difference.”

Charles Noland

Charles Noland is the author of a successful chapter book series entitled The Adventures of Drew and Ellie. These books inspire children to use their problem-solving skills and are also ideal for teaching character development. Charles Noland is also the pen name for Daniel Beerse, who is the architect behind The Million Books Challenge™, a humanitarian project which is building a community center and school for HIV/AIDS orphans in Kenya. He runs a small independent publishing company, TMD Enterprises, which specializes in children’s books with a positive message. Beerse is a business professional with experience in publishing, sales, and management. He is also an award-winning speaker, engaging storyteller, and an avid reader.

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