TRANSCRIPT

When it comes to writing picture books, some people will always have more talent than us. And there's just nothing we can do about that. While we can’t out-talent everyone, we sure the heck can out-work them. And the way to do this is by following a concept I introduced in the previous video, The Rule of 3

Step one of the Rule of 3 is to always be working on one manuscript.

And I’m not saying you need to work 24/7/365… just 365. And seriously, I mean, write every day. Weekends? Definitely. Vacations? Instead of watching a movie on the plane or reading a book (which are both examples of consuming other people’s content instead of working on your own), bring your laptop and take advantage of these rare hours with very few distractions. And while you're on vacation, I mean, ok, take a break. But bring a notebook or have your phone’s note app handy. New sights, sounds, tastes and experiences can trigger new ideas – or fresh takes on existing ones.

And the idea here isn’t to ignore every other aspect of your life and focus only on your writing. And in fact, following the Unstoppable Author Framework that I outlined in earlier videos ensures that you don’t. The point is to be consistent. Getting into the habit of writing every day will make it as regular as brushing your teeth or eating breakfast. Just 25 minutes a day of writing, and that is amount recommended in the Unstoppable Author Framework, adds up to 152 hours a year. So just imagine how much you can accomplish in 152 hours.

And as part of this “always be working on one manuscript” step, you’ll have a point in time where a critique partner or a paid editor perhaps is reviewing your manuscript. And this is great. But don’t wait idly by for their feedback. Begin working on your next manuscript while your current one is with them.

Step 2 of the Rule of 3 is to always have one manuscript on submission to agents. I mean, I honestly felt like I spent more time querying agents and publishers than actually writing my manuscripts. For each manuscript, I’d typically query about 60 agents and 40 publishers. And since the guidelines, submission guidelines, continually changed, that meant first checking 100 websites to see if they were open to submissions, or if anything in the guidelines had changed or if individual agents had changed their personal guidelines.

And that’s actually one reason why I always submitted to agents first before publishers, because once I had an agent, I would no longer have to spend so much time dealing with the querying process.

Finally, the third step of the Rule of 3 is to always have one manuscript on submission to publishers. The submission process is just so slow and so boring. And I know I’ve said it before, but maybe by repeating it maybe I can help desensitize you a bit from the tedium. Going into the submission process with your eyes wide open – just knowing it will be a drudgery – makes the process just a little bit easier.

After submitting to agents, open up your list of publishers and start submitting… of course do this after visiting each publisher’s site to see if they’re open to submissions and to confirm their submission guidelines.

As with agents, you’ll want to make sure you’re sending your manuscript only to the right publishers for your story. And just for example, some publishers only want:

- Stories that don’t rhyme

- Other want stories that take place in the real world

- Some publishers only want an educational angle

- Others want stories geared towards specific religions

- A lot of publishers only accept manuscripts from author-illustrators

- And then some might want stories on a specific theme, like agriculture, for example

- And, finally, publishers might be looking for manuscripts from a specific author group

As always with submissions, respect their guidelines. You may be tempted to think that your story is so good that the publisher will make an exception and accept your manuscript even though it goes against their guidelines. They won’t. What’s worse, you may potentially burn a bridge by making a publisher less receptive to your future submissions.

I know this was a ton of info for one video. If you have any questions about The Rule of 3, drop them in the comments or just send me an email and I'll be happy to clarify.

As always, thank you so much for watching. If you got any value out of this video, like it, subscribe to my channel and share the video with other aspiring picture book authors.