Today is Surfin’ Sharks book birthday!
The third book in my first series. It began with an idea from my then 4 year old daughter. She asked me to draw a shark princess for her birthday party. A quick google search confirmed that it wasn’t already a book and I began to work on a story.
I didn’t know that I would be working on it during a global pandemic.
I wanted to pivot from graphic novels and write a chapter book. My first draft of the chapter book was about Kitana, the titular Shark Princess, who isn’t invited to a birthday party.
My pitch included character designs for spot illustrations to accompany the chapters.
It was this drawing that prompted my then editor to ask me for a graphic novel. Although I wanted to write a chapter book, I was open to suggestions. I quite enjoyed drawing my finny friends. I revised and re-pitched with a script and some sample pages.
The game of rockstack didn’t make it into the final book. The kelp is lava, swim and slide did, though. Change is part of the process of writing, pitching and selling books. Selling a series is not for the faint of heart. When I talk to new writers they want every idea to be a series. I’m impressed but honestly, I was afraid of selling my first series!
A series needs momentum. The pace is often relentless. In order to properly build a readership that doesn’t age out of your books, usually publishers want to release a title per year. If it’s a 3 book series you need to write and draw that series, and usually nothing else, for a long stretch.
After I sold Shark Princess in 2020, before I got paid, I began work. The books were slated to release in 2022, 2023, and 2024 (today). I finished the artwork for Surfin’ Sharks in March of 2023. Three years of drawing sharks, writing and understanding Kitana and Mack and educating myself on a bevy of ocean facts.
As I worked, I felt myself growing. I drew things I never thought I could. Like a sneezing shark:
I wrote jokes. More than ever before. I called myself funny which is new. It was an adventure. I learned from Kitana and Mack to explore, accept and relax. Shark Princess swam its way onto many state recommended reading lists, received positive reviews in publishing journals and today, the last book in the series is out.
On Saturday I will have my final launch for Shark Princess at Books Inc in Alameda. I will be in a celebratory mood but there’s a little sadness there, too. Next week I fly out on a tour (school visits only) to Washington DC, Philly and Chicago. I will share Shark Princess with many kids and it will help buoy me. I am so grateful for them. And for my publisher, Penguin and my readers for swimming with me these years.
Because making a series is hard but it’s also fintastic.