Monday, April 3, 2000
A Chat
with
Children's Book Author & Illustrator
Joan Holub
http://www.joanholub.com/

Peachy - Hello, Joan! What is the title of your latest book?
Joan Holub - It's long! HOW TO FIND LOST TREASURE IN ALL FIFTY STATES AND CANADA TOO. (ALADDIN)
Joan Holub - also BACKWARDS DAY (SCHOLASTIC)
Joan Holub - The treasure one comes out in May, next month! It too so long to write I never thought it would finally be a book!
Kathleen - Backwards Day http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0439129648/teachersnet
Joan Holub - I visited a first grade class in San Francisco that gave me the idea for Backwards Day.

Peachy - What age group is the HOW TO...book targeted for?
Kathleen - I love the idea of the Treasure book, tell us more about it
Joan Holub - It's nonfiction, for ages 8-12. Tells one true lost treasure tale for each state. With some geography sneaked in.
Joan Holub - I think it's around 170 pages.
Joan Holub - My husband gave me the idea for the book. He reads treasure mags. and we went gold panning at Sutters Mill, etc.
Kathleen - How to Find Lost Teasure sounds like a terrific addition to the classroom and home library, I can't wait for my copy to arrive!
Joan Holub - I'm always trying to win the lottery and I'd love to find some lost treasure. So I thought kids would find the topic interesting.

Kathleen - Which of your books and characters do you get the most mail about? Do kids have a favorite character they write about to you?
Joan Holub - I hear a lot about I Have A Weird Brother Who Digested A Fly. I get email from kids telling me the weird stuff they or their friends/siblings have gobbled up.
Joan Holub - There are some weird eaters out there in elem school.
Kathleen - I Have a Weird Brother Who Digested a Fly http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0807535060/teachersnet

Peachy - Do you write books for the younger crowd, Joan. Say 6-8?
Joan Holub - Yes, Peachy. *Abby Cadabra, Super Speller
Joan Holub - Pen Pals, Pajama Party, The Spooky Sleepover. Ivy Green, Cootie Queen.
Joan Holub - Abby Cadabra, Super Speller comes out next fall. It is about casting spells to spell words at a spelling bee. It gives little spelling rules inside the fiction story.
Peachy - We'll have to try Abby Cadabra. That sounds great. We do have several of the others.
Irene - Love that title-Abby Cadabra
Joan Holub - Irene--the publisher almost made me call it just SUPER SPELLERS. I really wanted the whole title and they went my way when someone in the marketing mtg. laughed at the title. They figured kids would laugh too.

Kathleen - Are you doing more writing now than illustrating?
Joan Holub - Yes, Kathleen. I began as an illustrator, but now I've written almost 2x as many books as I've illus. Written 26 and illus 16.
Joan Holub - I guess that's not 2x. But I'm getting there.

Kathleen - Do you ever appear at conferences for educators?
Joan Holub - I have been so busy that I don't often, kathleen. But I'm hoping to here in WA state soon.

Irene - Have you ever been a teacher ?
Joan Holub - No, Irene. Don't have kids either. I visit school and friends and try to overhear kids talking.
Irene - Well it works, you seem to have a good gauge on what the children find amusing or of interest to them
Joan Holub - A lot of my books sneak in some educational aspect. Like book reports in Ivy Green Cootie Queen, Spelling rules in Abby Cadabra SuperSpeller; Digestion info in I Have A Weird Brother Who Digested A Fly ; Pet care tips in Space Dogs on Planet K-9
Joan Holub - I like to write about things that are funny, interesting or important to me somehow.
Joan Holub - Thanks Irene

Kathleen - Are there trends and cycles in the kinds of books published for children? Where are children's books headed now?
Joan Holub - Kathleen, I think there's a trend toward nonfiction and novelty books. I do some of each but I like fiction too. I write many kinds of books which people sometimes find weird. But if an idea occurs, I want to write about it.
Joan Holub - Writing a variety of books (fiction, nf, novelty) and illustrating too is a relief and keeps my job fun.

Alison - Joan, I came in late...what age level are most of your books geared towards?
Joan Holub - I write for ages 1-12. 1-6 example is BOO WHO? 6-8 are Pajama Party ; Pen Pals. And 8-12 is How to Find Lost Treasure in All Fifty States and Canada, Too. I've written and/or illus 40 books.

Irene - I realize it is impossible to answer children's letters, but where could the children write to you? at your website?
Joan Holub - Kids can email me at joanholub@aol.com
Joan Holub - Website is http://www.joanholub.com
Alison - Joan I just visited you website!! I printed out the pen pal stationary. It is perfect!

lorip123 - Do you have any more plans for math related books?
Joan Holub - Lorip, the math mkt. seems a bit saturated now. Do you agree?
lorip123 - Not really joan, especially for the younger elementary. Books about fractions or measuring would be good!
teach3tx - I love books that are math related because it is so easy to get them involved with a related project

Patti - Have you thought about writing about kids that are adopted? There is a need for this and there are few books that are just stories with an adopted child in them.
Joan Holub - Patti, I'm working on just such a book now. Haven't sent it to a publisher yet.
Patti - Thats good to hear because there is a big void of books with a character being adopted..
Joan Holub - Patti, for my selfish reasons I'm glad to hear that. I thought there seemed to be a lot.
Patti - They are all telling about how the child was important to come into the family but life goes on from there..
Joan Holub - So Patti you suggest that the main char be the adopted child?
Patti - Yes.. and maybe even an internationally adopted child..
Joan Holub - Patti, so you want to know how the adopted child feels and acts and views the world, rather than how the family views the adopted child?
Patti - I know there is a big market for this type of book.. because we have all been looking for one and the closest is the one by Jamie Lee Curtis and even that is just a how you came into our life book..
Kathleen - Better for kids to have the story from the viewpoint of the adopted child
Patti - Yes how they relate to the world around them, how others view them and accept them.. how they are not "all that different"
Joan Holub - Patti, when I try to sell my book, I'll mention this chat as evidence that my book is needed!
Kathleen - Joan, tell your publisher you have Teachers.Net to help with marketing. :-)
Patti - Trust me it will sell.. and in big numbers...
Patti - There is nothing on the 23,000 plus internationall adopted children who enter the U.S. each year..
Joan Holub - Patti, you mean another book for kids from overseas adoptions?
Joan Holub - I mean about kids that were adopted overseas?
Patti - Yes.. there are none and many of these children are not infants..

jenlions - Joan, do you have any special items or objects that you hide in your illustrations ?
Joan Holub - Jen, I try to stick in funny things that are not in the text. Like a bee buzzing around a guy's head in an audience in a book I just illustrated for Dial (BREAKOUT AT THE BUG LAB, pub date 2001)

lorip123 - Joan, how far ahead are you currently working? If you've already done a 2001 publishing date???
Joan Holub - Some publishers lists are full as much as 3-4 years ahead. But I often work on a book that will be out a year after I finish the art, espcially true with paperbacks.

Bob R/CA - Joan, are you doing a book promotion tour or speaking anywhere this summer?
Kathleen - Joan, any tour, booksignings?
Joan Holub - Kathleen, authors have a real challenge getting all the speaking done as well as the real work of writing/illustrating. More than ever before pubs. expect us to do lots of marketing for our books. I have friends who have as many as 100 speeches a year! They earn quite a bit from this, but I'd rather write and illus.
*bette/tx - joan are you planning on doing a book tour???
Joan Holub - No book tour plans. To busy.

Alison - When writing do you think about a particular reading comprehension skill for children. We do a 20 min. read aloud for reading each day that focuses on one particular skill for each week.....boy am I stuck some weeks.
Joan Holub - Great to hear, Alison. If you send an SASE (55cents) to me at Joan Holub, POB 46002, Seattle, WA 98146, I'll send you some postcards, brochure, goodies.
Alison - WOW!!! Thanks Joan
Joan Holub - Alison, can you name a couple of skills you're stuck on?
Alison - author's purpose can be tough.....often finding books with great foreshadowing (obvious for the low level learners)
Joan Holub - I list the address and offer of free stuff on my website if anyone else ever wants to take me up on it.
Alison - Joan will a business envelope be ok
Joan Holub - Yes Alison.

Kathleen - Joan, would it help you to get together online with some us more frequently for idea gathering sessions? It's wonderful to be able to tell an author directly what it is we need and desire in books for our students.
Joan Holub - I feel like I'm learning a lot from you all tonight. Love these book topic suggestions.
Joan Holub - Yes, Kathleen. I'll be the envy of my author friends.
Joan Holub - Many authors including me, are in a critique group. I meet every 2-3 weeks with 2 other authors. We read something we've written and the other 2 offer criticism and suggestions. It works very well.
Joan Holub - So if your students object to having their writing edited or criticized, tell them it happens to authors too. Their moms, friends, and finally editors make suggestions and criticize.

Mary/PA - I work with children who are just beginning to read. There are very few trade books written at this lowest level (emergent). We have to rely on a few publishers (Rigby, The Wright Group, etc.). Parents ask for recommendations of books that they can buy for their child, but they just don't exist.
*bette/tx - mary same here..i teach kindergarten and most of the books are for older readers..
Joan Holub - Mary, Pajama Party and BAckwards Day are fairly 'easy' but entertaining books. For 5-7 I think.
Kathleen - non-fiction, simple rhyming and repetitive text would be helpful
Mary/PA - Parents need books that they can buy at a books stores or check out at the library. They can't order from the publishers that sell to schools, at least not easily.
*bette/tx - joan i must look those books up then...for that is my age group
Peachy - I'll have to try Backwards Day. I teach K also.

Kathleen - Joan, what do you do to cure or avoid writer's block?
Joan Holub - Kathleen, I never ever have writers block. I have so many ideas, my head is bulging. Ideas are the easy part of writing. It's turning an idea into a sensible story that's tough sometimes.

Joan Holub - Bette, I'm origanlly from TX. Are you there.
*bette/tx - joan yes i lived here most of my life where are you from?
Joan Holub - Bette--Houston. Lived there and Austin for over 20 years!
*bette/tx - joan..i am in college station..i lived in Houston for 10yrs...

Alison - We just had a visiting author at our school last week and I was amazed at the "little" amount of money an author makes from Royalties? Always thought it was much higher! Just like teachers, are authors underpaid?
*bette/tx - Alison so true..i work with a lady that's daughter is a writer and she said the same thing
Joan Holub - A few authors earn the big bucks. I'm prolific, so I do ok. But royalties on a paperback easy reader are often 3% give or take. That's on a $3-4 book!
Joan Holub - So I could sell 100 books at a signing and only earn $12.

Kathleen - Joan, do you sell your books through your web site?
Joan Holub - No, Kathleen. Publishers don't often allow authors to sell the books because it cuts into their profit.
Kathleen - I had no idea that you can't sell your own books!
Joan Holub - You have to write kids books because you love it rather than for the pay. I do love it. I meet so many people who want to do it that I feel incredibly lucky to be published.

Kathleen - Joan, do you have any concerns about censorship in school libraries, in books being selected for study in schools?
Kathleen - or books being removed from libraries?
Joan Holub - Kathleen, I never have worried about it but a librarian told my mom she wasn't sure where to place my book I Have A Weird Brother Who Digested A Fly because of the drawing of the body in the back. Come on!

Kathleen - Joan, have you had any books rejected recently or is everything you offer to publishers grabbed up because you are so well-known and successful?
Joan Holub - I used to sell none of what I wrote. Then I sold about 1/10. Now I sell about 1/3. So I have a big pile of unsold stories (some of them deserve to be unsold :0))

Kathleen - Joan, have you written, or do you plan to write anything related to divorce in the family? Other family problems?
*bette/tx - kathleen those are great topics and hard to find stories about ...
Joan Holub - I just sold a blended family book to Albert Whitman. It will be out in fall 2001. Can't tell the title yet.
Patti - I agree Kathleen there is a great need for this..
*bette/tx - joan that is great..as i have a blended family and there are lots of them out there

Alison - Joan, could you tell me what your book How to Find A Lost Treasure: In All 50 states ties into geography? What kinds of skills are being taught?
Joan Holub - Alison, for each treasure, there's a map, so it teaches mapreading skills. Plus the stories are about clues to WHERE each treasure might be. So it gets kids thinking logically about locations and terrain.
Alison - Oohh I'll have to get that one. I usually start the year with a lot of map skills and teaching problem solving..Thanks!

Kathleen - Joan, is there a topic you would not want to address in a book?
Joan Holub - I often think of topics that need to be addressed and try and think of a way to use humor to address them in a book. I Have A Weird Brother Who Digested A Fly came from trying to think of a book about digestion for Albert Whitman. Some publishers now ask me if I have any ideas for a particular topic. It's nice when they do that.

Kathleen - Will the How to Find a Lost Treasure book be available in the school book clubs this school year? I couldn't find it yet at Amazon.Com for pre-ordering. I think that book will be an instant best seller.
Joan Holub - How to Find Lost Treasure in All Fifty States and Canada, Too is on Amazon for preordering. I checked.
Kathleen - oh, let me go there and grab the link, I didn't find it when I looked
Kathleen - How to Find Lost Treasure in In All Fifty States and Canada, Too http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0689826435/teachersnet
Joan Holub - Kathleen, publishers don't tell us if our books will be in clubs. Weird, huh? I just find out when I get my royalty statement.
Kathleen - Joan, it's SOOO helpful that your books are affordable.
Kathleen - We should start calling the books clubs and ask for the lost treasure book! let them know it's in demand
Joan Holub - Yes, I agree.
Patti - Thats true Kathleen if you ask for them then they will start having them available.
Joan Holub - Aladdin is expecting it to sell well, they said. They said their preorders have been very good.
Kathleen - We want the clubs to know that we want lots of Joan Holub books!
Joan Holub - You'd be amazed at how the publishers listen to even one teacher or librarian.
*bette/tx - kathleen t that is a good idea..i know scholastic has a website we could e-mail
Joan Holub - They want to sell the books you want to buy!
Kathleen - Bette, good idea! spread the word. Let's make the Lost treasure book an instant hit.

Patti - Ahh you wrote the 100th day of school book.. we have that one and the first graders loved it.
Joan Holub - Patti I illus the 100th Day of School (A Medearis wrote it).
Joan Holub - I have a 100th day website--http://users.aol.com/a100thday/index.html
Patti - The 100 day activities are really great for teaching place value :-)
Patti - I like the idea that the books have an educational theme..
Joan Holub - It's a fine line--I don't want to get too overtly educational or kids turn away. I try to make my books funny with the educational part barely perceptible.

Kathleen - Are there any quick questions, the hour is up...
Patti - Just a thanks to Joan for her time and keep up the good work.. I will be looking now for your books.
Bob R/CA - Joan, our users love your books, make sure you send us announcements and press relases whenever you have anything you'd like to promote :o)

Kathleen - Joan, any last words of wisdom, advice, appeals for help?
Joan Holub - Just thanks to you all for the suggestions and support! See you again soon, I hope.
Joan Holub - Thanks Kathleen. You've been wonderful as always.
Kathleen - "Thanks!" Joan Holub and all participants for an interesting and enjoyable chat! We look forward to many more with our friend Joan! Good night all!
Bob R/CA - Thanks Joan! :o)
Joan Holub - Night, everyone!
Joan Holub - You're welcome, Bob