How I Accidentally Published an Activity Book For Kids
(Or, How I Learned I Am More Capable of This Writing Thing Than I Gave Myself Credit For)
Hi friends,
I’m so excited to bring you a piece by
from to talk to you about making a children’s book. I know a lot of you have asked about children’s books before, and I think this is a brilliant rundown of the pitfalls of managing the production of one, and really how to edit/manage any writing project. If you like this one, make sure to subscribe to Sarah’s Substack.
It was almost a year into volunteering for the nonprofit coalition Make Us Visible Florida, whose ethos is to promote and encourage the teaching of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) history in schools across the U.S, when the state director and co-founder asked me to help them publish an activity book for K to 5 students. I was one of the handful of volunteers who helped to pass a piece of legislation requiring K12 schools teach AAPI history in the state of Florida, and I had proven myself someone who was a go-getter and got things done. Which was one of the reasons the director told me she asked me to be part of the project.
I decided to help with the book because I am passionate about education and wanted to continue the important work the coalition was already doing. However, I took on the role of managing editor because of an initial miscommunication. All I had to do (or so I thought) was help write a few paragraphs about Floridan historical figures and help the director check off tasks as they were completed. As weeks went on, I soon realized that if I wasn’t the one pushing the project along, the book would not be published.
I am a professional writer, but I have never been a managing editor for a children’s workbook. So knowing that I had to step into an editorial role was quite intimidating. There was a lot of self-doubt, hours of editing/writing, as well as coordinating with writers, illustrators, and the book design team.
I am happy to report that the book is out in the world and dare I say, I did a pretty good job of it. Along the way, I learned some pretty important lessons about taking on a massive undertaking, including the fact that maybe we all have existing skills that can translate into the mystical world that is publishing a book. Having some time to reflect now that the project is over, I can share a few lessons hopefully you can use in your publishing journey.
Lesson #1: Get Really Clear About What You’re Doing
You’re probably like “Well, duh, Sarah!” If you’re not organized, how on earth can you complete such a massive undertaking?
Let me tell you, not everyone understands what it takes to create anything, let alone put it out into the world. I worked with volunteers who graciously took the time out of their lives to complete tasks like research, writing for children (which trust me, is an underrated skill), designing worksheets, fact checking, and copy edit. I’d say 99% of them have never done any of this sort of work before, let alone seeing how all the moving parts work together.
As the person tasked with moving tasks forward, I really had to sit down and create a to-do list among many to-do lists. It also required me to think about what I may need to teach or show these volunteers in order for them to complete their work to the best of their ability.
Here’s some of what I did:
I met with the director and co-founder of the organization and asked multiple times about what the finished book project would look like because their vision kept changing.
I took it upon myself to write examples of biographies that were age-appropriate in both language and content to show an example to some of the writers.
Asked volunteers what their skills were and preferences for work related to the book, assessed what needed to be done and what I should take on myself.
I taught a volunteer how to fact-check and what are considered legitimate resources.
I showed some volunteers how to use online tools to create word search puzzles or ways to create layouts for worksheets.
I set deadlines for volunteers for when work needed to be completed, a deadline for myself if volunteers didn’t turn work in on time, and the absolute last minute something could be submitted before I really had to send stuff off to book layout folks and printers.
Even small steps that don’t seem like a big deal can be broken down into even smaller steps. If you can’t communicate clearly what needs to happen (including even to yourself), the whole process may take longer or even be more overwhelming than it probably is.
How you can clear on what you’re really doing:
List every single task: Yes, sounds simple, but you’d be surprised at how many of the writers, copy editors and illustrations failed to consider the small tasks that needed to be done. If you’re in charge of publishing a book, you need to be sure you know exactly what is going on, or else the project will stall. No task is too small — I even put down “approve fact checking sources” and “set email reminders for due dates” as things I or others needed to do. After writing down every single thing you need to do, see if you can break down the task even more so you are aware of exactly what you need to get to the finish line.
Group Tasks according to the appropriate publishing stage: Understanding when and why you’re doing a task was helpful when I had to explain to others what was happening. Plus, you don’t want to put the cart before the horse per se and work on tasks that require previous ones to be done. Depending on what type of book you’re creating, consider grouping tasks like research, finalizing content, drafting, editing, design, publishing, and marketing.
Work backward: Working backward ensures you know when things need to be submitted, and will be easier to work out approximate deadlines for each milestone you need to reach to get your book out into the world. The first date you need to think about is the launch date, especially if you’re self-publishing. Then, going backward from there, consider how long it’ll take to get the books printed (unless you’re doing a print-on-demand service) and that’ll be the absolute day you can send your formatted book off to the printers.
Create an ideal and an absolute deadline for each task: Maybe I’m paranoid, but I tend to expect people don’t adhere to deadlines I set. I also know I am working with volunteers and life happens. If you’re going to choose between your child getting sick and finishing a worksheet, I know what I’d choose. Creating two sets of deadlines creates a win-win situation because a) you can be ahead of schedule for when something does come up and b) you’re still on task even when all of your tasks are done by the absolute deadline.
Write down any possible tasks that could go wrong: It may sound pessimistic, but anticipating what could go wrong with different tasks helps you to not be as stressed when things go awry. It also helps to get even clearer on what you need to do. For example, I knew that working with some of the illustrators and artists, I had to anticipate much later submission dates because they’ve got a lot on their plate (I mean one of the contributors is the President of DC Comics!). I knew that it may take some back and forth with the book designers to understand how to envision the layout we wanted for different worksheets. Writing these potential roadblocks helped me to map out any other tasks I may need to keep on track.
It’s probably sexier to start off with things like the book cover, title and even working on a first draft. But the seemingly mundane task of looking through what you need to do will set yourself up for success. It certainly was helpful for me, especially when I was trying to juggle my day job, parenting, and squeezing in 8 hours of sleep a night.
Lesson #2: Set Hard Boundaries
As a managing editor, I was the one who was responsible for moving things forward. Meaning, I had to be the one to not only set deadlines but other boundaries as well. I had to have multiple talks with the director of MUVFL about what my capacity was at any given time. I needed to reach out to volunteers multiple times and take their names off if they didn’t deliver as promised. I even had to put my foot down with the decisions others wanted to make that went against my values.
Another incident that sticks out was when I was writing the biography of the Yamato Colony in the current Palm Beach area. Part of their history is dark as one of the main reasons the colony disbanded was because the FL government took their land, and many of the Japanese families ended up being sent to internment camps.
While some who were part of the book were (understandably) nervous about this content being in a book for younger kids, I knew I had to do the history justice. During the editing stage, some suggested skipping over that part and only talking about where the land the colony previously occupied stands. I couldn’t in good conscience skip over the internment, so constantly reiterated why it was important to leave it in.
It took a lot of hard conversations about how to write about what happened and to phrase in a way that felt appropriate for younger children, but I’m glad I stuck to my value to tell the truth.
You’re going to have hard conversations, either with yourself or others. Expect them. Make a plan for how you’ll approach them.
How you can set boundaries:
Accept you’re the taskmaster: If you’re the one moving this project forward, you need to make it clear there are deadlines. Be clear about when things need to be completed and ensure that you tell people how to contact you if/when there are issues, or if they have any questions. Having clear guidelines means people know what to expect of you and the project, and clears up a lot of miscommunication.
Plan ahead of time what you’ll say and do: You’re going to run into hiccups (like the ones on the list you created in lesson #1) and if you’re nervous about having hard conversations, it helps to be prepared. I wrote phrases down of what I would say if I were to tell someone I had to let them know they were no longer part of the book project for example. I even had scripts on how to ask people when they were going to finish their worksheets. The more you think ahead of time about what you may have to say and do, the less cumbersome it could feel.
Remember, it’s about the work, not the people: Putting boundaries and having conversations feels icky, maybe because we generally feel we may hurt someone else’s feelings. At the end of the day, you’re having conversations about the work, and it’s not a reflection of who the person you’re working with is. If you have to ask about deadlines, or give content edit suggestions, it’s in service to the book.
Lesson #3: Don’t Take Things Personally
You’ll have parts of the book you’ve created you absolutely love and believe are necessary in the book, like I didn’t. More often than not, there were things not within my control I had to change.
Two major ones stand out in my mind:
It took forever to research and write a well-rounded biography. I was asked to cut the writing to about half of what it was because the border illustration wouldn’t fit otherwise. I was resentful for weeks.
One of the volunteers created two beautiful worksheets but we had to scrap it because it would have been too difficult to recreate some of the illustrations in the final copy. I had suggested that it be included as part of our resources page, but it never happened.
I was not happy about these challenges (and more), but in the end, I had to let go of what my ego wanted and make changes that, in the end, made the book better. Remember that term “kill your darlings?” Yup, it’ll happen to you. 99.9% of the time changes that need to be made aren’t a reflection of who you are as a writer, it’s to help serve the work.
Lesson #4: Trust Yourself
For some strange reason, even though I’ve created materials for kids (I was an elementary school teacher for a decade) and managed projects for my freelance writing clients, I didn’t think I had it in me to do it. For many weeks I learned I knew way more than I realized, and that my existing skills indeed did apply to creating a book:
I was really good at color coding and writing down the logical steps to get a project to completion.
I was great at explaining what tasks I needed to do.
I knew when and how to follow up with the right people to get the book to the printers.
I was able to discern which volunteers had the skills needed for certain tasks.
I knew to stay ahead of deadlines and communicate with the right people ahead of time in anticipation of upcoming tasks.
There are going to be a lot of moving parts and aspects of the publishing and writing process you didn’t know existed. You may even doubt yourself even if you know how to write a paragraph or design a layout in Adobe Illustrator for a crossword puzzle. Heck, you may even doubt you spelled your name correctly when writing your author bio.
Despite all of that, trust that you’ve got the skills to handle it.
But Sarah, you say, I don’t have any skills that translate well to writing and publishing. I beg to differ. Sometimes, all it takes is to write down what we know how to do well, and you’ll be able to see more clearly you know more than you think. Seeing what you do know can help you start to trust yourself more.
Go grab yourself a notebook and do the following:
Write down what comes easily to you: No holds barred. Are you good at memorizing lyrics from top 40 hits? You can translate that skill into recalling must-do tasks in the publishing process. Know how to make people laugh like no other? Take your skills in observing the world around you and translating that into making an audience laugh into writing your first draft.
Jot down what you do at your day job: What does your job require of you? Surely, there are skills there you can translate into book writing and publishing.
Create a list or your ‘hype squad’: It’s normal to have self-doubt, even if you feel like you know what you’re doing most of the time. Coming up with a list of people you can talk to to offer a different perspective or to cheer you on will help you to keep going. Aside from friends, think about others in your wider circle — are there fellow Substack writers, online friends, or even a mentor that is willing to hear you out?
Trust that you’ve got this. Trust you’ll figure it out. Trust that even if you make mistakes, it’s all part of the process and you are more capable than you realize.
Lesson #5: Just Do It
I wanted so badly to back out of the book project at times, mostly because of self-doubt as I’ve never taken on such a task before. There’s always a first time for everything, and this was definitely my first time managing a book project. In the end I, well, just did it.
Once I came up with what I had to do, I started looking at the people I would enlist to help me. Since this book had illustrations, I leaned heavily on my network to see who I might be able to speak to. Luckily, the state director of Make Us Visible was willing to ask her artist friends to get on board with the project. All I had to do was to look at the artists’ drawing style and match it with the AAPI pioneers they were to illustrate.
When I was looking for writers, I made sure I wrote up a blurb on the coalition’s ethos, the goal of the book, and why now was the right time to publish it. Once volunteers came forward to say they wanted to be a part of the project, I asked what their skills were so I could assign tasks accordingly. In a fit of desperation, I asked my husband (who happens to be a veteran teacher and written curriculum in the past) to take on some writing tasks and ask his colleagues to review educational standards for the book content.
Like me, you will need to take some time to sit down and see who is going to be on your book team. Do you need both a content and a line editor? Where will you look for illustrators? Is it necessary to hire a fact-checker?
You may not have the network I do, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t places you can look for help. Consider finding them here on Substack (the comments section is a goldmine), online writing forums, friends who have gone on a similar path or your aunt. Ask for help: you’d be surprised at what you’d find.
Once I had the people, tasks, and content I wanted in place, it was time to map out exactly when things needed to be completed next:
Look up books in kid-friendly language to show to the writers and those who were creating worksheets.
Wrote examples of what I was looking for so writers know what to expect.
Assigned a fact checker and editor for each piece of written content.
Communicated with the writing and editing team on how they were to communicate with each other on edits and me when tasks were complete.
While the writers and illustrators were busy doing what they needed to do, I looked ahead to put time in my schedule to fact-check, edit, and meet with the book design team to see what they needed from me. The more conversations you can have about what team members need from you to make their jobs easier, the better. Plus, everyone is then on the same page about what to expect. For example, I color-coded areas in certain documents the design team can ignore, and rudimentary sketches of how I wanted certain worksheets to be laid out. In turn, they kept me updated on design drafts and which order worksheets and illustrations were to appear in the book.
Setting expectations is also part of having boundaries. There are less opportunities for miscommunication and conflict if everyone knows what is expected of them.
Publishing a book feels intimidating — that’s because it is! But as you keep doing it and plugging away, you’ll start to see that you’re closer to the finish line than you think. By looking at your task list, upcoming deadlines and continually communicating with your book team, I’m sure the excitement will keep building. Enlist your hype squad if you feel self-doubt creep in.
At the end of the day, your project will get done because of you and the wonderful community you’ve cultivated rallying around you. It does take quite a few logistics and upfront planning, but the end result will be worth it, especially when you hold the book for the first time.
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Hi Russell ! New subscriber here (I think I found you on notes) and I love your layout to your email already! Looking forward to more. Cheers.
Sarah!! So great to see you popping up on my Substack feed! I meant to comment to this a while back. Loved the premise of this post. Thank you for sharing!