Welcome to Naked Crayon!
So, you have created a children’s picture book and want to bring it to market. You may be at the right place. If you are anything like us, you have researched different ways to submit your work. Everything from major publishers, self publishing, indie publishing, YouTube videos, podcasts, books on how to do it, books on books on how to do it, advice from family and friends, advice from perfect strangers and last but not least, asking your dog.
Your head is spinning, your heart is pounding, self doubt is dragging you down, trepidation is high, your spouse is telling you to just “calm down.” You are almost ready to self destruct, instead, you throw your arms into the air and exclaim, “I give up!”
Welcome to the world of getting a children’s picture book “out there.” Don’t give up. Calm down, we are here to help. We are, “out there” with you. Frustrated with conventional publishing or what we believe to be as “conventional publishing.” Naked crayon is breaking the rules.
Tired of labels, we have striped off our labels to be free and color outside of the lines that tend to or try to keep us “structured.” You have artistic ability. Your friends, family and your dog have told you so.
Now what?
Breathe.
There are four questions you need to ask yourself before moving forward with publishing a children’s picture book.
First– Why do I want to have a book published?
Second– Who is my target audience?
Third– How much am I willing to spend?
Fourth– am I willing to lose it all?
Harsh, I know. we’ve been there.
We are with a no holds barred approach to bringing yours to market. We encourage all ages and backgrounds to color outside the lines, dig deep and strip down the layers that inspire you to create and…… create.
About Scott Riekstins
Just over a decade ago I decided I wanted to be a writer. I’m sure you’ve heard the expression… “A writer writes”.
So I did. I worked on a couple of screenplays that turned out to be total crap. I wrote some short stories that were OK and then I switched gears to end rhyming poetry. All of my early pen to paper writing efforts were introduced to a fire pit…twice in seven years. You could call it a cleansing , self doubt, or reading between the lines, it was just something I did without regret.
I reluctantly shared some of my work with friends. I received a tongue lashing for burning the earlier stuff. They made me promise to never again throw my writings into the fire. I gave up on pen to paper and started writing more end rhyming poetry on my iPhone.
I found it therapeutic and a challenging source of entertainment. There is something unique about packing so much of a story into so few lines. People also liked the work. In the last five years I’ve written over 400 poems. I thought most of them were crap so…..of course I deleted them.
Throughout the pages of this book are a scattered collection of my favorites. Several of these rhymes are in process of being converted into children’s picture books.
It is quite a task developing characters from words on a page, to stories brought to life through illustrations.
I am truly lucky to have the opportunity of working with such talented artists as well as exploring my own ways of self expression.
Inspired by life experience and an over active imagination, I am nervously delighted to share with you some of my deepest thoughts, dreams, highs, lows and most everything in between. It is my hope that you can relate to some of the feelings, observations, jokes and insight that I have expressed in this book of rhymes.