Why Manuel's Murals was Selected as 3L Publishing's First Children's Book

We are presented with dozens of concepts and ideas for children's book. In fact, I have been pitched more children's books ideas than adult fiction. I resisted doing a children's book for a number of reasons.

1. Cost of color print runs is expensive and makes it difficult to make a project profitable.
2. Most authors wanted to force a particular illustrator on the project. Most of those illustrations were subpar. (Hint: You think it's cute to use your kindergarteners to illustrate a book, and maybe it's a sweet idea, but it is still a bunch of five-year-olds' drawings you're suggesting for a professional book you hope will become a classic.)
3. Costs to hire a professional illustrator are very expensive. Again, the added cost makes it difficult to turn a profit on not only a labor-intensive and expensive project, but also a full-color book (as noted above).

Those three issues alone kept 3L Publishing from jumping into this market. I didn't not want our first illustrated children's book to be anything less than spectacular. I can now proudly share that we hit our mark. Jeaninne Kato's brand new Manuel's Murals should be off press in about two weeks. The book is absolutely visually stunning (see that cover alone). The success in working with Jeaninne is that while she initially had some different ideas about the illustrations, she did listen to me when I told her that to do it right she would have to have the ideal illustrator. She is a smart woman, and she understood the value of the investment and the importance of hiring a professional. As a result, her book is just what we hoped it would be -- an incredible story that contains beautifully illustrated, vibrant images children will love. The perfect children's book balances the story with the visuals. The story has to draw in readers, and the pictures have to keep young children's attention.

You can pre-order the book on the 3L website. For more information about the book, visit Jeaninne's website on Tumblr at: http://manuelsmurals.tumblr.com.