An Interview with Nancy I. Sanders, Author of America’s Black Founders
February 1, 2010 by Adrian
Filed under Uncategorized
Today we kick off Black History month with an interview with Nancy I. Sanders, author of the new book America’s Black Founders.
This is also Day 1 of Nancy’s virtual tour for this book.
When I wrote America’s Black Founders, it was an amazing journey of discovery. For instance, I learned that there are actual handwritten documents from leading African Americans still in existence from the 1700 and 1800s! These included a ballad penned during the Siege of Boston, letters written home from a soldier who had been at Valley Forge, and petitions containing important signatures. I also discovered that in private collections, various historic sites, state archives, and public repositories could be found original documents and images detailing key contributions African Americans made during the founding years of our nation. With each discovery I made, my excitement grew. I was determined to find images of as many of these items as I could in order to share these discoveries in my book with the new generation of America’s youth and future freedom builders.
In the world of publishing, sometimes a publisher locates images and sometimes an author does. According to my contract with Chicago Review Press, the author is responsible for finding and paying for any image used in a book in their “For Kids” series. I had never done this before, so it was a brand new adventure. Here are some of the steps I went through to gather images and make this book the best it could be.
Explore: I set up a separate e-mail account to handle the contacts I made to collect the images. This made my search so much easier to track. Then I explored various ways to acquire the digital images my publisher required. I looked for the “photograph credits” listed in the books I was using as research. I discovered there are professional repositories of images that charge over a thousand dollars for use of one of their images in my book. I contacted large historical societies and discovered that they charge over $100 for use of one of their digitized images in my book. Small historical societies and state archives had smaller fees such as $10 to $35 per image. Some offered the use of their images for free. Since I also wanted to include images of a variety of historic sites, I went on Flickr.com and found that many generous individuals were willing to offer free use of their photographs at these sites in my book in exchange for a line of credit next to the image. I also went through my own photographs that I had taken sightseeing at various historic sites to see if any were good enough quality to use in my book. I was happy to discover that many were.
Budget: Since I had to pay for every image out of my own pocket, I made a priority list of images I wanted to include in my book. The more important, obscure images were at the top of my list and were ones that I was willing to pay more for permission to use. Any key images that were free, especially original documents or paintings from the 1700s and 1800s, were automatically slotted for use in my book. These included images from the Library of Congress that stated “No known restrictions on publication.” The images of lesser importance were carefully evaluated regarding their cost as to whether or not I decided to include them.
Permissions: Organizations usually had their own permission form for me to fill out and sign, and then they countersigned. Some organizations and most individuals didn’t, so I used a permissions form provided by the publisher for them to sign. To obtain permissions from most organizations, I had to provide them with the following information about my book.
Print Run Information
Name of Book (working title): Black Founders for Kids
Publisher: Chicago Review Press
Initial print run: 5,000
Price: $16.95
Edition: Paper
Rights: World
Language: English
Expected publication date: Spring 2010
I collected images as I wrote the book. As I found and paid for the images I chose to include in the book, I kept a separate file for each one. Then I created an image log along with a disc of the images to submit to the publisher when I submitted the final manuscript. As the book entered the design phase, I worked with the publisher and the sample designs and page layouts their designer was creating until finally, the book was ready to send to the printer. When I received my author’s copies in the mail and experienced the thrill of holding the completed book in my hands, I knew all that hard work to search for images had paid off.
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Click here to find out how to follow Nancy throughout our virtual tour for this book!
Learn How to Write for the Holiday and Seasonal Markets
There are all sorts of markets out there for your holiday and seasonal articles, but how do you find them? And how do you know which market to send your holiday or seasonal articles and stories to?
Find out the answers to these questions – and much MORE – during this week’s teleclass from the Children’s Writers’ Coaching Club. Nancy I. Sanders will talk about Writing for the Holiday and Seasonal Markets tomorrow, Thursday, December 3, 2009, at noon CST.
To register for this special teleclass go to www.getrealresources.com. If you can’t attend the LIVE class, don’t worry. On Friday, you’ll receive a link to the recording of this special event.
