First, what must be said is this: to God be all the glory. This book is based on two things: one, the beautiful truths written in His Book; the only written Word that truly matters and will stand forever and ever. And two, His awe-inspiring Creation, a "most elegant book" set before our eyes (Belgic Confession, Article 2) to show us His astounding power and divinity. These are the two means by which we know Him; I deeply pray that my children (as well as many others) come to know and love Him by these, and that is the heart of the motivation for this book.
Secondly, I need to thank my husband for encouraging me to invest my time and our finances into this project. When I was reluctant and doubtful, he pushed me forward, and this book would not exist without him. I am so thankful that he saw my vision for God Made Blue and my end-goal as something worth supporting, right from the start.
Thirdly, I would like to thank my family and friends that have also encouraged me and supported me through the course of this project. And many thanks to those who have already committed to purchasing my book; I am absolutely thrilled every time someone reaches out to me, and I'm so grateful to each and every one of you. I pray God uses this little book in big ways.
And finally, the last few reasons for this post are to introduce my first published children's book: God Made Blue. Now I can begin to answer the question I've been asked many times already: how did this happen?
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A dream always has a starting point. A moment or a day or a time period in your life that you are able to look back on and see where that dream began. For me, this dream of mine began in my ten-year-old heart, when in the fourth grade I was assigned to write and illustrate my own five-chapter storybook. I diligently put together pieces of construction paper, notebook paper, hand-written words and hand-drawn scenes. Elmer’s glue held the pages together; colored pencils created pictures from my mind’s eye. The pages were three-hole punched and bound together with brass pins. I scrawled “Written & Illustrated by: Kelsey Kooima” across the front cover with absolute glee. Long after my little construction paper book was laminated, bound, and graded, the dream lived on: I hoped to one day become a published author.
Today I watch that dream coming full-circle. I am overcome with excitement and thankfulness that God is giving me to see this goal reached and this dream become a reality. My first book, a children’s picture book titled God Made Blue, is now in print and available on Amazon. Now instead of 'Kelsey Kooima', 'Kelsey Heystek' appears on the front cover, but the absolute child-like glee remains.
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Back in October of 2020, my husband and I were looking through some of the children’s books we’d received as gifts for our son, and we were wondering what we should begin reading to him for devotions. He was very interested in the concept of God making things: the light, the dark, the colors, the animals, etc.... We were discussing it on a Sunday night, and as we looked through the books, we picked out ideas and aspects that we liked, but also noticed some things that we thought could be done better. For example we would rather not read books to Camden with drawings of Jesus in them, if possible. Many of these little books had such pictures. I looked at Darren and said, “What if I just write my own?” And the ideas started flooding my brain.
The very next day I began writing about the different colors that God made and the places we see them out in His world: bluebirds, sunsets, strawberries, caterpillars, dandelions... the list went on and on. I titled each section with the color it focused on: God Made Red, God Made Orange, and so on. At the same time I was researching the publication process. I had never researched it in detail before. I soon found that many publishing companies did not accept unsolicited manuscripts (they would only consider my work for publication if I hired a literary agent to present it to them). But I also found out that certain publishing companies would review unsolicited manuscripts, because they employed their own literary agents. I stumbled upon Fulton Books and their website, which offered a free printable PDF called “The Author’s Guide to Publication”. It laid out the publication process step-by-step, and I wanted to reference that information going forward as I searched for somewhere to submit my manuscripts.
Because I signed up to receive this document by email, a literary agent from Fulton reached out to me and asked if I had any manuscripts ready for consideration. We had a conversation on the phone about it, and what would happen if I was approved. She provided me information about the contract I would sign. Essentially I had written five short books on these colors: red, orange, yellow, green, and blue; she recommended that I have all 5 combined and published as one book containing 5 short books. This series was only two or three days old, but I figured it was as good a place to start as any. I submitted my manuscripts along with a proposal for publication letter. For some reason, blue stood out in my mind the most in terms of envisioning a title on a cover; that combined with it being the last color in the group was why I decided to name the whole series 'God Made Blue' when I submitted it.
Two days later on a Friday, the agent called me back to let me know that the board had approved my manuscripts for publication. I asked for the weekend to comb through my contract with my husband. We went through it line by line and wrote down questions we had. By the beginning of the following week, I had signed my contract and was introduced to my publication assistant. I was given an author‘s portal on which documents would be uploaded for me to see the book’s progress in real time. Editing of God Made Blue began soon after that. I wrote my back cover summary and my 'About the Author' section so that it could be edited along with the manuscript. This all began in November of 2020.
During the editing phase, I was given a questionnaire to fill out that included things like my target audience, what I envisioned for my cover, choosing an illustration style from their examples, describing possible characters for my book (like the bluebird that I requested would appear on each page of my book as a 'guide' through the scenes), and other details.
The next phase was Illustration, and in order to begin that, I needed to write scene descriptions. The illustrations were very important to me and I had to carefully describe each scene in a few sentences for the illustrators to work from. My contract included twelve scenes, and so I wrote twelve scene descriptions that would fit my writing into 12 spreads, or double layouts. This was much more difficult for me to do than simply writing the book, and I was nervous that I wouldn't be able to describe the scenes in my head accurately for an illustrator... but when those preliminary sketches were uploaded for my approval, I couldn't believe how well they had portrayed the scenes in my head simply from a few sentences' description! After approving the preliminary sketches, I waited a few months while they were put to color and finalized.
Scene Description: Scene 7 - Spread <<Lines 98-111 from God Made Yellow>>
A spread shows a bright yellow sun shining down on a brightly colored field full of dandelions, sunflowers, and daffodils over the two pages, and a farmer's market-like stand on the left page that holds baskets and sections of bananas, ears of corn, pineapples, and lemons.
Opening my update emails for illustrations was definitely the most nerve-wracking moment of this whole process. My heart would race and my hands would shake as I opened the files through the portal... what if I didn't like the illustrations? But the smile on my face would just grow and grow as I scrolled through each scene, amazed at how well they were done and so excited because I loved them so much! They were even better than I had pictured them in my head. After illustrations were complete, the Cover Design phase began, as well as Page Design. Page Design included placing my writing on the right pages and into the right scenes.
Finalized version of the preliminary sketch above, with page design completed as well.
The description I gave for my cover was simple: I liked the look of watercolor in the background with a bluebird sitting on a branch. It would be the same bluebird that flew through the pages. I also wanted it done in the most vibrant blue possible.
The last round of approvals I had to complete involved reading the book line by line to catch any punctuation errors, change last minute words, and make sure that the right 'verse' was on the right page. Below is an example of the galley sheet my publication assistant sent for me to make changes. Once those changes were made, I gave my final approval of page design; 10 copies of my book were printed (5 paperback and 5 hardcover) and shipped to me. I received these at the end of July, and had to approve the physical copies in order for the Amazon link to go live. Fulton set the prices for my paperback and hardcovers based on materials they selected and the size of the book, also selected by them. The print versions are now available for order by individuals through Amazon, with an e-book to be uploaded soon. Bookstores and libraries will be able to find them and order them wholesale through the Ingram Catalog.
Fulton Books has been so great to work with throughout these last several months. Their team of literary agents, publication assistants, editors, illustrators, and page designers have all very kindly and clearly described each step in detail to me, and nothing was done without first obtaining my approval. Throughout every step of this process, I felt the same glee come over me that filled my heart in the fourth grade; now instead of laminated construction paper, someone has designed a shiny hardcover for me. Instead of colored pencil drawings, an illustrator brought my words and the scenes in my head to life, for me to see right there on paper. Writing my own “About the Author”, pondering over the back cover summary, being assigned my very own ISBN number... that’s the dream. It’s the dream I’ve dreamed since I was ten, and I'm so thankful to God for bringing me here.
Going forward, I simply pray that God allows this book to reach many precious little sets of hands. Even if I only sell ten copies, I'll be thrilled and this will all have been worth it. Any revenue that comes from God Made Blue will be used to offset my publication costs, and Lord willing, put toward my next project. My distant goal for this book and any others I may write is to help pay for my children's Christian school tuition.
But above all, the purpose of this book is to glorify God's name. As I was writing it, I kept pausing in amazement at the rainbow of colors He decided to write into this most elegant book of Creation. I was looking at pictures of frogs in the most vivid colors I've ever seen, and flowers that were unbelievably vibrant. I kept thinking, 'He could have made the entire world brown if He wanted, or even made it completely void of color. And instead He made thousands of flowers in thousands of hues... a single sunset painted with countless shades that blend together so gloriously it can take our breath away... it's just amazing'. His creation shows His majesty, His glory, His power, His beauty, His immensity, His Divinity, His astounding attention to even the tiniest detail. He sets it right before our eyes, knowing we are very visual creatures, knowing that it can leave no trace of doubt in our minds that He is the Creator, the God of all things. I realized that this lesson is just as important for me to learn as it is for my children. Even more so too, because the things I stop and marvel at will be the things they learn to stop and marvel at. It is so important to stop and consider that God made all these things. And He made them and always upholds them so that you and I (by the grace He puts in our hearts) could come to know Him and love Him and praise Him. What a Majestic God we serve! To Him be all the glory forever and ever.
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The Belgic Confession, Article 2: By what means God is made known unto us.
"We know him by two means: first, by the creation, preservation and government of the universe; which is before our eyes as a most elegant book, wherein all creatures, great and small, are as so many characters leading us to contemplate the invisible things of God, namely, his power and divinity, as the apostle Paul saith, Romans 1:20. All which things are sufficient to convince men, and leave them without excuse. Secondly, he makes himself more clearly and fully known to us by his holy and divine Word, that is to say, as far as is necessary for us to know in this life, to his glory and our salvation."
Psalm 148
1 Praise ye the Lord. Praise ye the Lord from the heavens: praise him in the heights.
2 Praise ye him, all his angels: praise ye him, all his hosts.
3 Praise ye him, sun and moon: praise him, all ye stars of light.
4 Praise him, ye heavens of heavens, and ye waters that be above the heavens.
5 Let them praise the name of the Lord: for he commanded, and they were created.
6 He hath also stablished them for ever and ever: he hath made a decree which shall not pass.
7 Praise the Lord from the earth, ye dragons, and all deeps:
8 Fire, and hail; snow, and vapours; stormy wind fulfilling his word:
9 Mountains, and all hills; fruitful trees, and all cedars:
10 Beasts, and all cattle; creeping things, and flying fowl:
11 Kings of the earth, and all people; princes, and all judges of the earth:
12 Both young men, and maidens; old men, and children:
13 Let them praise the name of the Lord: for his name alone is excellent; his glory is above the earth and heaven.
14 He also exalteth the horn of his people, the praise of all his saints; even of the children of Israel, a people near unto him. Praise ye the Lord.
I love this post - the photos of the publishing process and especially the preliminary illustration sketch is so cool! I love that you got a product you love after pouring your heart and soul into it!