The Story is the Easy Part

How One Little Story Became a Full-Time Project

When I started writing children’s books, I never really thought of myself as becoming a writer. Writing was simply something I had done throughout my career, usually for a very different purpose.

I wrote memos, prepared presentations, drafted contracts, worked through specifications, and edited documents that included ideas and input from a lot of different people. Much of my job involved taking all those pieces and turning them into something clear, organized, and coherent. I was an integrator.

It turns out that skill translates  well to writing a children’s book. The subject matter is certainly different, but the basic challenge is surprisingly familiar: start with an idea, organize it, simplify it, and turn it into something people can understand and enjoy.

What I didn’t expect was that writing the book might actually be the easy part.

Once I had a finished story manuscript, I had to figure out how to turn it into an actual picture book. That meant learning about adaptations, flat plans, illustration prompts, pagination, page layouts, safe areas, gutters, bleed, and all sorts of things I had never thought about when I picked up a children’s book.

One of the harder parts is actually taking words away.

You may have a perfectly good story, but it still has to fit into limited number of pages. A typical children’s book is 32 pages. The manuscript has to be reduced to an adaptation that can be divided into individual scenes. Each page needs enough words to move the story forward, but enough room for the illustration to help tell it.

Then you get to watch the book come together.

For me, that was one of the most enjoyable parts of the whole adventure. I like figuring out the process. I like solving the little problems. And I still get a kick out of seeing something that started as an idea turn into a finished book I can hold in my hands.

Then I discovered publishing.

Apparently, writing and producing the book weren't enough.

Now I needed to learn about Amazon KDP, keywords, categories, advertising, websites, social media, reviews, and the mysterious ways readers actually discover a book among the thousands of others available. I’m still learning that part.

And somewhere along the way, I realized there is a big difference between writing a book and selling one.

Would I like to sell a whole bunch of books?

Absolutely.

I’m not going to pretend otherwise. Seeing people buy and enjoy something you created feels pretty good.

But that wasn’t why I wrote the first book. And it isn’t why I kept writing the ones that followed.

I started because I wanted to see if I could do it. I enjoyed figuring out how all the pieces fit together. And maybe most importantly, I liked the idea that someday my grandchildren could pull one of those books off a shelf and know that Paw Paw made it.

If I sell a bunch along the way, that would be pretty nice too.