First Word

Dear Jeaninne: Congratulations! The epic results are in for The 2012 USA Best Book Awards! Your book has been honored as a "Finalist" in the "Children's Picture Book: Softcover Fiction" category: Manuel's Murals by Jeaninne Escallier Kato, illustrated by Rachel Smith 3L Publishing, LLC 978-0615575438 Your title will be listed live on USABookNews.com for an additional ten (10) months. A complete list of winners and finalists in each category can be found at: http://www.usabooknews.com/ 201 3usabestbookawards/ 2012usabest bookawards.html

Jeaninne and Michelle Last night we launched Manuel's Murals at Cha-Cha's in Rocklin. I want to congratulate Jeaninne Kato's whose party went off beautifully. She looked amazing, and she had a full house! The book is available on Amazon, 3L's website (www.3LPublishing.com) or at manuelsmurals.tumblr.com. Let me say one thing: when you work with a publisher (any publisher), can you genuinely say that you feel like the CEO is your friend, supporter and cheerleader? When you work with us, you will very likely say that your publisher is all of those things and more! We are a small, intimate team of professionals who are passionate about our work. We only work with authors who we like and respect their work. In working with us, we forge powerful bonds ... so that hug is a true, loving hug between two girlfriends! I would imagine most big corporate publishing machines don't offer that kind of profound friendship and support! You become another author in a sea of autho...

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...