First Word

September 15 launches National Hispanic Heritage Month, and new book celebrates the culture and its rich history. MONTGOMERY, Alabama – A celebration of the Latino and Hispanic cultures   and contributions to the USA and the world began September 15 through October 15 to highlight diversity, culture, and traditions. The new book Queen of the Flowers – Memories of a Puerto Rican Girl released just in time to recognize the island’s culture and history through author Delia Cerpa’s deft storytelling about her childhood memories growing up in this tropical paradise. “National Hispanic Heritage Month gives all people of Latin and Hispanic cultures an opportunity to share their unique experiences to enrich society’s knowledge about who they are their traditions and contributions ,” said Cerpa. “My book offers readers an insight into my childhood years during the 1940s-1950s to talk about my experiences, family life, and culture from a bygone era.” Schools all over the USA...

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 w...