My adorable little debut board book, “Everyone’s Sleepy but the Baby,” is officially published as of today, April 13th, 2021.
Here is some amazing news: thanks to the generosity of my friends, family, and readers, I have had ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY FOUR preorders, which means I am donating ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY FOUR books to babies in need via ShareBaby. *Update–the total number was actually 184 when I checked with the local bookstores!
Want better news? Well, the books come in boxes of 40. So I’m just going to round up and donate TWO HUNDRED books to ShareBaby! I’ll be back to update this post when I have pictures of the gigantic stack of books going to their warehouse. *Update: below is the stack of books plus some diapers we took over in my mom’s car, plus me with Amina Weiskerger, ShareBaby’s executive director, outside their warehouse!
Thank you so much to everyone who preordered, requested the book at their library, and helped spread the word. I am so happy to be helping two hundred families in Baltimore start their libraries.
Here is a darling book trailer to give you a sneak peek of the book!
You can buy the book wherever books are sold (at least online!), but here are some links to make it easy for you! I’ll be doing the rounds to sign stock at local stores in the coming weeks. Follow me on Twitter or Instagram to see where I’ve signed books! “Everyone’s Sleepy but the Baby” makes a wonderful baby shower gift book if you have friends who are expecting or have recently become parents.
The Children’s Bookstore, 4717 Harford Road in Lauraville (Baltimore, MD): order via this direct link for pickup or delivery.
The Ivy Bookshop, 5928 Falls Road, Baltimore, MD: order at this direct link for pickup or delivery.
National Bookstores
Amazon (affiliate link)
Barnes and Noble: Barnes and Noble allows reviews to be posted before launch, so you can see what a few early readers think of the book here!
Familius: My publisher is offering a buy-one get-one 50% off deal as I type this only for books bought on their site (code: BOGOFAM)
Local Bookstores
Charm City Books, 782 Washington Blvd in Pigtown: preorder at this direct link for pickup or delivery (local delivery is free!)
Greedy Reads, 320 West 29th Street in Remington: preorder at this direct link for pickup or delivery
Greedy Reads, 1744 Aliceanna Street in Fells Point: preorder at this direct link for pickup or delivery
You should also be able to find the book online via the website of local bookstores across the country, or call/email your favorite store to order.
On to my feelings.
Wow. I can’t begin to explain how this feels to me, but I’m a writer, so I’m going to try. I have been writing stories for as long as I can remember. I won a prize for a poem in elementary school! But then when I applied to a special program for the Literary Arts at a public magnet school, I was rejected.
I begged them to let me apply again.
I got in.
Then when I applied to MFA programs for poetry right after college…I was rejected.
I applied for fiction MFA programs a few years later.
I got in.
I wrote four novels and got lots of interest but ultimately lots of rejections from agents and publishers.
Then, boom, the FIRST picture book I start sending out got an offer of publication.
Now, “Everyone’s Sleepy but the Baby” is published by Familius. I find it funny that my first book is, ultimately, a poem. I want to tell all those MFA programs that rejected me, hey, see! My poetry MADE IT! And maybe one day I’ll get to do that with a novel too. Certainly, I have learned many times not to let rejection stop me.
So what comes with the publication of this book today is not only joy and excitement (and anxiety, so much anxiety), but also a sense of relief, a sense of vindication, of, hey, all that rejection was worth it. I’m also so excited for the books I have coming out in the future! “Trick or Treat, Bugs to Eat” comes out from Sourcebooks this August! Rejection can really feel like a dark tunnel and while I still face rejection all the time–for book ideas, for publicity opportunities–the light at the end of that tunnel is so much brighter now.
Acknowledgements
It feels right to share some acknowledgments today. Picture books don’t get long acknowledgments sections like novels do. There’s no space! That’s so sad, because just like with a novel, there are so many people who go into helping a picture book writer become a published writer, and so many people who take a manuscript into a book form. So, here I go!
Thank you so much to illustrator Adèle Dafflon and publisher Familius! You’ve made my dreams come true in making this book so beautiful! Adèle, from the first time I saw your art I thought you were just perfect for a baby book! Your artwork is so bright and engaging. And oh my goodness, it is so incredible that you used pictures of my late dog Ollie to inspire the dog in this book. It is incredibly special that he will live on in this way.
At Familius, thanks to Christopher Robbins for taking a bet on this book, editor Brooke Jorden for shepherding the book through the pre-printing process, editor Laurie Duersch for the keen notes (and for encouraging me to make the book more fully rhyming), publicist Kate Farrell for your boundless enthusiasm and support, sales and marketing director Ashley Mireles for being wonderful with all of my logistical questions, and designer Carlos Guerrero for making such a wonderful book and helping me get the files I needed to make swag and a video!
I also have to mention that I never would have found out about Familius if it hadn’t been for Kathy MacMillan, a wonderful author herself. Kathy and the rest of the SCBWI MD/DE/WV team are forces of nature and do so much for the kid lit community!
Thanks so much to authors June Smalls and Amanda Rawson Hill for blurbing this book! I was terrified to ask and you are the sweetest.
Thanks to my agent Carrie Pestritto, who signed me just after I sold this book, but has been a wonderful support throughout the process and who is shepherding my future books into the world!
Thanks to my long time critique partners, Tamara Girardi, Tara Creel, Jenny Ferguson, Cheryl Dishon, Valerie Heller, and all the friends I’ve made from the Pitch Wars and SCBWI communities! Your support, cheerleading, and keen eyes are lifesavers.
Thanks to Kapowza for swag design and making this incredible video trailer, and to Ray Hurd for your incredible narration!
Thanks so much to my family. My husband never bats an eye at my ridiculous ideas. His ideas are even more ridiculous and a lot of the time they work. My daughter inspired this book, and now that she sleeps a little more, she is turning into a great little beta reader. My parents, in-laws, brother, and sister-in-law are such a wonderful community to have supporting me. Dad, I promise I’ll write that book about alien pimples at some point. My friends and teachers from Carver, Duke, and the University of Baltimore MFA have also given me so much support and knowledge!
Thanks to the amazing book reviewers, bloggers, and influencers who have posted about this book! Thanks to my debut group, 21 for the Books, for all of your cheerleading and support and making me feel not alone through this process!
Oh dear, I am SURE I am forgetting someone! Writing acknowledgments is so nerve-racking. I reserve the right to edit this post and add them (a benefit authors just don’t get with printed acknowledgments).
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