Series Update

The JGDS series is still on hiatus until I can figure out what to do with it.


I've been trying to decide whether to keep the same format or revamp the whole thing.  I'm on a teachers' sell site where teachers post lesson plans, worksheets, et cetera, and sell them to other teachers.  I recently hooked up with a member who is a "curriculum coordinator"; I asked Mr. Hughes to make an introduction as she is a friend of his.  We started chatting via email.  I sent her copies of the books I had on hand and the study guides of the six books I have previously published.


She just finished an event in or near Provo, Utah, and read the first book and sent me some great information.  She feels my books would make a great Scholastic addition but they are no longer taking submissions from anyone other than an agent.




What this means is that I need to find an agent who can shop the books around and hopefully have Scholastic pick them up.  The process is long and drawn out to go through an agent and as I've never had an agent before, I'm about to find out that the process is more of a challenge than anything else.  The waiting to see the whole series in print is fine with me but I don't know if I want to keep the same format as I've already started or if I want to start fresh and do one novel or regional state chapter books or go a whole other direction.  I think the biggest problem I'll have in finding an agent is that right now I only have six states completed with the next four started and in various stages of being completed.  This is only 1/5 of the total books to be published (if I stay in this format) and I don't know that anyone will pick up the series not being completed.  If I revamp and do something totally different, that means I have to take time to write whatever I plan on doing and then shop it around to an agent, probably another year or so.




I looked at the Agent Query website last night to start getting an idea of some of the agents I might query and didn't get very far.  I'm only looking at agents who deal with children's books.  The three that I'm leaning toward right now are Faith Hamlin from Greenburger Agency, Ellen Levine from the Trident Media Group, and The Betsy Amster agency.  I think Faith Hamlin would be a great agent, since she represents the illustrator for Ms. Lynne Cheney, author of Our 50 States A Family Adventure Across America.  The other two because they have worked with some of the other publisher's who deal with children's books (McGraw-Hill, Simon & Schuster).  The ultimate would be to have Scholastic pick up the series and publish them but I'll be happy wherever they land. 




So, I'm in a dilemma right now of what direction to go.  Please comment on any ideas you may have on a direction to go in.  Any help is appreciated. - Ma America & the JGDS (Mrs. E :))