The 12 Days of Christmas in Kentucky with Evelyn Christensen--by Tina Cho

I'm so happy to have my good friend, Evelyn Christensen and her debut picture book, The Twelve Days of Christmas in Kentucky, on the blog! Welcome back, Ev! (To see a previous interview with Ev, check here.)

Evelyn Christensen

Could you tell the Grog readers how you landed the contract to write this book?

This is definitely one of those ‘don’t give up hope’ stories. I used to belong to a wonderful, online picture book critique group with Tina. Our group moderator at the time was Nancy Sanders. Nancy, a very successful children’s author herself, is incredibly generous in trying to help other authors be successful. About seven years ago, she shared with our group that Sterling was doing a Christmas state PB series. She thought it would be fun if all of us queried Sterling about authoring one of the books, so I queried about Kentucky. I got no response. For more than five years. Crickets. I had long since written that venture off as one of the many things we writers do in this authoring business that don’t bear fruit. Then, just before Christmas in 2014, I got an email—“I know this will be a bolt out of the blue, but do you remember writing a letter to me....” It was the editor saying they were ready to do Kentucky and asking if I wanted to ‘audition’ to be the author by writing a sample page for the book. Of course, I wanted to! I wrote my sample, and several months later was delighted to hear I had been chosen from among all those auditioning.

Did you have to do much research?

Yes. I did online research, book research, telephone and email research, and actually visiting locations. I wanted to be able to do more visits and go to all the places I wrote about, but the tight timeline the publisher gave me simply did not allow that.

Christmas in Kentucky

How did you decide what special Kentucky places and people to include?

That was hard, because our state has so many wonderful places and people. The publisher had some constraints for the series that guided some of my decisions. For example, all the places the children in the book visited had to be places that could actually be visited during the Christmas season. That cut out a lot of our fun state parks, which are closed in the winter or have very limited activities. The children’s itinerary also had to be ‘doable’ in the time frame described, because, as my editor said, some people use these books as travel guides. So I had to calculate mileage between sites and travel time. I also needed to pick activities that were in as broad a range of places in our state as possible, so the whole state would feel represented.

I was really glad for the bulletin board at the end of the book, where I could include lots of the special places and people in Kentucky that I didn’t have space for in the twelve days.

How long did it take to write the book?

As I said, the publisher had a pretty tight schedule for the book. I had one month to decide on the itinerary and all the gifts Marybeth was giving to her visiting cousin Martin. This had to be approved by the editor. Then I had one month to write the letters, decide on the bulletin board items, write the back matter, and write detailed illustration notes with online links to the places being visited. 

Handmade stockings

Did you have to do many revisions?

Not many revisions to the text. Mostly just line edit sorts of things. One funny example of that—I had referred to a basketball ‘goal.’ The editor changed it to ‘hoop.’ That just didn’t sound right to me, so I asked on the SCBWI Blueboard. Turns out most people do call it a ‘hoop.’ But we don’t in Kentucky. I told my editor, if we want universality we’ll go with ‘hoop,’ but if we want to be true to Kentucky, we’ll leave it ‘goal.’ She loved the variation and ended up including both in the text.

I did do several revisions on the itinerary and gift list. I didn’t want the kids to spend so much time traveling to western Kentucky, and had planned for a friend to visit from there and share with them about quilts and the museum. But my editor felt it was important for them to go there, so that necessitated rearranging a lot of the plans.

What has been a special moment for you in the writing of this book?

A very surprising moment had to do with the Newport Aquarium. I had decided from the beginning that I didn’t want to focus on things that were just commercially fun or special. I wanted everything to have a tie in with Kentucky. At first, that ruled out the aquarium, but then I thought, “Oh, I can have the kids see the Kentucky state fish there.” Since my editors had said everything had to be factual, I emailed the aquarium to make sure they had the state fish. They didn’t. BUT—they said they would stock it just so my book could include it! I thought that was really cool.

Christmas in Kentucky: The real meaning

What's your plan for marketing? Does the publisher help?

This has been a totally different experience for me from writing educational puzzle books, which required no marketing. Since the book came out in October and is a seasonal book, the marketing has been jam-packed into just a few weeks. I’ve had 5 book signings, with 3 more scheduled; 3 blog interviews; a Goodreads giveaway; articles/book reviews in print and online state newspapers/magazines, and, of course, I’ve been using Facebook and Twitter.

Publisher help? My Sterling publicist set up the Goodreads give-away and the four out-of-town book signings. The Marketing Team did a great job of creating an Activity Kit to go with the book that included five puzzles I sent them. (http://evelynchristensen.com/12daysXmasKYactivities.html) They also designed very attractive cards with ordering information on the back that I can give out to managers of gift shops and bookstores when I visit them.

Christmas in Kentucky

What’s it like to have your first picture book published?

It’s been a wonderful experience! People have been amazingly enthusiastic about the book and so encouraging and supportive. I think a large part of it is that it’s not about me. It’s that the book is about their beloved state. And they want to share what’s special about Kentucky with the children in their lives. I handed a signed copy to one friend who’d gotten it for her out-of-state grandchildren, and when she read the inscription, she whispered, “Perfect!” and hugged it to her with tears in her eyes. I’d written, “Hoping this helps you to cherish your Kentucky roots.”

What are you working on now?

Mainly, marketing this book. I did just sign a contract with an ESL publisher for a chapter book. They’ve asked for other books from me, so I’m cogitating on that. I’m also trying to digitally format more of my out-of-print puzzle books so I can make them available in my Teachers Pay Teachers store. (https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Evelyn-Christensen-Puzzles-math-and-more) 

"On the 5th day of Christmas, my cousin gave to me....5 golden bars..."

For fun:

Favorite color: yellow

Food: Turtles (chocolate, caramel, pecans)

Children’s author: Dr. Seuss

Children’s book: The Cat in the Hat

If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go and why?

New Zealand, because lots of my family have visited there and it sounds beautiful!

Bio:

A former teacher with a doctorate in education, Ev loves to make learning fun for kids. She has designed several math games and authored more than 40 educational puzzle books. She’s also editor of the ezine Writing for Children’s Magazines. Ev lives with her husband Ralph (who’s always been super supportive of her writing career) in Lexington, KY and delights in playing with her five pre-school grandchildren. 

website: http://evelynchristensen.com/

Writing for Children's Magazines, Part 2: Some Submission Nuts & Bolts -- by Christy Mihaly

Are you considering writing for children’s magazines? Here are some submission basics.  (For the first part of this post, go to Part 1.)

Your Market

Kids’ magazines need lots of lively writing. If you write quality material that appeals to children, you can find a magazine to publish it -- the trick is finding the right one for you.

My market research started with Magazine Markets for Children’s Writers, from the Institute of Children’s Literature: http://www.writersbookstore.com/Books_on_Writing_for_Children.htm. 

    Another great resource is author-editor Evelyn Christensen’s e-zine, Writing for Children’s Magazines. For her alphabetical listings of magazines with links to their websites, go to: http://evelynchristensen.com/mags.html. Thank you Evelyn! 

     To keep abreast of changes in the market, the monthly subscription newsletter Children’s Writer is also helpful.  Its Marketplace section includes updates on magazines’ needs. (www.childrenswriter.com).

Get a sense of a magazine’s individual style by reading it. Browse online samples. Look in your library for back issues, or buy some samples. Don’t skip this step – you must understand your target magazine’s tone and character.  (Editors recommend reading at least 12 issues before submitting to a magazine.)

Review the magazine’s website -- carefully -- for the target age of readers, submission guidelines, and other requirements. Some magazines accept submissions only by e-mail; others only by U.S. mail. For articles, a magazine may want a bibliography, copies of sources, photo releases, etc.  Check and re-check.

Where to Submit?               

Do you want to submit on spec, send a query, or write to a theme?  There are magazines out there for all these preferences.

The largest, Highlights for Children, circulation about two million, doesn’t use themes. Other general interest children’s magazines are the Fun for Kidz publications (Hopscotch for Girls, Boys’ Quest, and Fun for Kidz), which are themed, and the U.S. Kids magazines (Jack & Jill, Humpty Dumpty, Turtle), which aren’t.

The magazines in the Carus/Cobblestone group (the “bug” magazines – Spider, Cricket, Ladybug, etc. – along with AppleSeeds, Calliope, Odyssey and several others), are highly respected and often used in classrooms. Some of these are themed, others not. 

Specialized magazines include National Geographic Kids, Boys’ Life (a Boy Scouts publication),Sports Illustrated for Kids, Pockets (devotional magazine used in Sunday Schools), and Skipping Stones (multi-cultural).

     There are hundreds more. Explore e-magazines and regional magazines.  And if you have a particular interest or expertise, from horses to skateboarding to archeology, look for a kids' magazine in that field. 

What about themes?

Some magazine themes are substantive and specific (I had an article in a 2012 AppleSeeds issue about “Who Did What in the Age of Exploration”); others, not so much (a current Hopscotch theme is “Unique and Unusual”). 

I prefer themes, because they tell me what the magazine wants.  An announced theme often gets my mental wheels turning.  And I really like that if a magazine accepts a piece for a themed issue, I know it will be published on the date that specific issue comes out, rather than sitting in a file drawer for months or years.

You'll find theme lists on individual magazines' websites.  In addition, children's author and educational writer Liana Mahoney has compiled and posted a list of magazine and anthology themes, which she regularly updates.  Thanks, Liana!  See her website at:  http://www.lianamahoney.com/8.html. 

One more thing about themes: more than once, I’ve been surprised to learn that an article I submitted for an announced theme was accepted . . . but that it would appear in a different issue, with a newly announced theme that fit my piece to a “T.” So – anything can happen!

Manuscript or Query?

     With fiction, you have to submit the complete manuscript.  For nonfiction, requirements vary.  Some magazines (e.g., Pockets, Hopscotch, Spider) generally require manuscripts.  Some accept either manuscripts or queries (e.g., Boys’ Life).  Others (like many in the Carus/Cobblestone group) accept only queries. 

I love queries!  Although a query requires substantial research and thought, and you have to follow the magazine's guidelines, it’s never as much work as writing a complete article.  Then if the magazine accepts your proposal, you’ll have a clear assignment (including focus of your article, tentative title, and word limit). When you write the article, you’ll know it’s just what the editor is looking for. 

I hope this helps you find the right magazine home for your writing. Of course . . . if you already have a polished manuscript, and your research indicates it’s a good fit for a particular magazine – then send it out! Good luck with it, and let me know how it goes!