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MEET NANCY I. SANDERS
by Bonnie O'Brian

Which of your books recently came out in bookstores?

Nancy I. Sanders

In June 2007, the second edition of A KID’S GUIDE TO AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY came out. At the time, my family and I were traveling on vacation back east. We were in the Independence Hall museum bookstore in Philadelphia when suddenly we saw a stack of my new books for sale! It was a thrilling moment. I didn’t even realize they were out yet. We told the bookstore manager, and he had me sign them all. In September 2007, my new picture book was released, D IS FOR DRINKING GOURD: An African American Alphabet. What an exciting month that was! It won the 2007 NAPPA Honors book award and landed some big sales. Everyone’s reaction is so positive—this book is truly an inspiration to everyone who sees it.

How did you begin to specialize in writing about African American history?

My first book about African American history was actually more of an assignment to meet an editor’s need. Chicago Review Press had a collection of historical-based activity books but nothing yet on African American history. As I spent the year doing research for the book, I discovered amazing facts about the history of America that have been almost lost or forgotten. I realized I owed it to children everywhere to delve deeper into the truth about our past and share the knowledge with them.

When you first started to write, was your first book accepted immediately? Or did you experience a number of rejections?

The funny thing is that out of all the book manuscripts I’ve ever written on my own—probably over a hundred by now—I don’t think I’ve ever gotten a single acceptance. They’ve all been rejected over and over and over again for 20 years. Yet I’ve had over 70 books published with houses such as Scholastic and Reader’s Digest Children’s Books. My success has come from pitching an idea to an editor and landing a contract BEFORE I write the book. Then I tailor the manuscript specifically to fit that editor’s need.

What did you like to do when you were a child?

I grew up the youngest of seven children on a dairy farm in Pennsylvania. One of my favorite things to do was play hide and seek in the barn. The upper floor of our big, red barn was a hay loft where we stored stacks of hay bales piled up high to the rafters. It was perfect for making tunnels or forts to hide in. We spent many hours in the dusty, musty barn, playing the summer away.

What books influenced you most when you were growing up?

I loved to read. Winnie the Pooh was one of my favorites. I remember running around as a child, chasing fireflies or riding my bike, reciting phrases from the Winnie the Pooh books over and over again out loud because I liked the way the words rolled off my tongue. To this day, I still enjoy good children’s books. Recently I reread CHARLOTTE’S WEB and LITTLE HOUSE IN THE BIG WOODS. In fact, I rarely read fiction for adults. I still find myself drawn to the delightful phrases and word plays found mostly in books for kids.

What are you working on now? When do you expect to start submitting it to publishers?

It’s been a busy fall for me! I just landed a book contract to write a nonfiction book about the era of the American Revolution. I haven’t written the book yet, but I got the idea for it over two years ago. It went through quite a lengthy process to develop a working outline and submit the proposal to a specific publisher I wanted to target, but after a couple of revisions to the proposal to better fit the publisher’s market, they finally sent me a contract! My deadline is a year from now, but they’ll take it as soon as I finish it. This is my typical way of writing. I land a book contract BEFORE I write the book. I’ve done this ever since I was a beginning writer when I wrote mostly on work-for-hire assignments. There’s a different kind of energy and enthusiasm that goes into a manuscript when you know you’ve already got an editor and a publisher interested and committed to your book. It’s a little bit scary, but I’ve grown to love the challenge and hope it affords.

Do you write fiction or nonfiction? Which do you prefer? Do you find one easier than the other?

 Recently I wrote my first middle grade novel. It was historical fiction so required a lot of research. Both nonfiction and fiction are very challenging to me as a writer. But so is writing for the educational market or writing children’s books in rhyme. Writing does not come easily to me. I struggle each step of the way. But I write because something inside me just has to communicate with others. So whether I’m writing fiction or nonfiction, poetry or classroom plays, I just keep working at arranging and rearranging words on paper until I finally say what I wanted to say. None of it’s easy, but there’s a definite joy in the journey. I challenge myself to try to do my best at whatever manuscript I’m working on whether it’s a short magazine story or a long nonfiction book. I do my best, and if it’s not “good enough,” my critique groups help polish the weak spots and my editors help guide the rewrites. Writing is a team effort even though it’s a solo job at first, and I appreciate all the many wonderful people who help bring my manuscripts to life.

Do you work on more than one book at a time?

Yes, I’m always working on different phases of different books at the same time. For instance, while I’m actually writing one book, I’m usually preparing a proposal to try to land a new book contract when this one is done. I also like to spend a little time each week working on a book manuscript “just for fun.” This includes novels, picture books, inspirational or how-to books. Plus, I enjoy writing magazine articles here and there for a variety of pace and short term projects.