Author’s name: Kim Collazo
Illustrator’s name: Jillian DuBois
Other book titles: Emersyn Blake and the Spotted Salamander, Beasties of the Tree Hollows
What is your upcoming book title? Emersyn Blake and the Stalked Jellyfish
Date of release: November 8, 2023
Publisher: Road to Awesome, LLC
Agent: Unagented
Agency: N/A
Hometown: Sanford, NC
1. What are 5 things you want people to know about your book?
- Emersyn Blake is a girl who loves exploring and wondering about nature. She always carries her Wonderings Book, where she sketches and writes her wonderings. Each book shares a page of her wonderings at the back of the story.
- Each of the Emersyn Blake books is written in rhyming narrative.
- Each of the Emersyn Blake books educates the reader about a threatened or endangered species through the main character’s wonderings and ever-present Field Guide. This one takes place in an estuary where Emersyn Blake finds a Stalked Jellyfish.
- Each of the Emersyn Blake books introduces the reader to a STEM career related to the story. In this book, Emersyn Blake dreams of becoming an oceanographer or marine biologist, so both jobs are explained in a basic, engaging way that integrates with the story.
- The Emersyn Blake series is being written for children, of course, but also for elementary teachers to more easily integrate STEM into their literacy program.
2. What are 5 helpful hints or tips you wish you would’ve known before starting on this publishing journey?
- I wish I had known how long it takes to go from idea to published, only so I’d develop more patience. : )
- Marketing your book is an extremely difficult process, especially for those of us who are more introverted!
- Although most of my stories come to me through rhyme, it takes many edits and readers to ensure the story elements come through clearly with impeccable meter.
- I wish I had known more about traditional publishing at the beginning of this journey.
- Having been immersed in the world of education all my life, I didn’t know much about the “behind the scenes” of publishing a picture book. I have learned so much since my first book was published two years ago! It definitely has a learning curve.
3. What are 5 fun/quirky facts about yourself as an adult or child?
- I grew up in northern Vermont and broke my wrist helping my class build a huge Rubik’s Cube ice sculpture for our annual Winter Carnival contest. Apparently, catapulting off a board resting on a slab of ice doesn’t work in real life like it does in the cartoons!
- I, like my mom and siblings, can form a three-leafed clover with my tongue!
- My husband and I often spend our free time riding through the countryside on our Harley motorcycle. Many of my PB ideas come to me during those rides. It’s a challenge typing into your Notes app on the back of a motorcycle. 😀
- I don’t like chocolate.
- I got more excited about getting a trail camera to watch wildlife on our land than new clothes for Christmas.
4. What are the 5 hardest things about writing or being a writer?
- Staying true to the stories I want to tell based on my experiences with real kids in the classroom, as opposed to what the market says will sell well.
- Accepting critiques and editing suggestions that take your much-loved story in a different direction. (Not bad, just hard)
- Overcoming the guilt of not getting other things done because I’ve been in the flow state during writing. My dogs don’t help with that!
- Marketing my books so that more teachers and kids have them.
- Wanting to give away copies of my books so classrooms will have them. Not a solid financial decision. 🙂
5. What are 5 picture book recommendations?
- Whale Fall by Melissa Stewart
- They All Saw A Cat by Brendan Wenzel
- What Do You Do With An Idea by Kobi Yamada
- The Baddies by Julia Donaldson
- Rosie Revere, Engineer by Andrea Beaty
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