Welcome to Tuesday Debut, everyone!

Guess what?

We have a book birthday today!

And you know what that means. . . !

Really, it has been FAR too long since we had chocolate cake, so thank goodness we have a great reason to rectify that! Please help yourselves to seconds! 😊

To add to the celebration, I’m happy to announce that the winner of last week’s giveaway from Lindsey Hobson, winner’s choice of a signed copy of DARK SKIES or a nonrhyming picture book manuscript critique, is. . .

lisakdaviswriting!!!

Congratulations, Lisa! Please email me at your earliest convenience so I can get your prize to you!

AND, we also have a giveaway this week! Today’s debut-ess, Emily Rosen, author of the birthday book that has given us all a reason to indulge in chocolate cake, is offering winner’s choice of a Zoom visit with a classroom or library group of the winner’s choice, or a 30-minute Zoom Ask Me Anything! All you need to do to get yourself in the running to be the randomly selected winner is leave a comment on today’s post by Monday October 27th at 3 PM Eastern! (And if you’re feeling extra nice after the chocolate cake, I’m sure Emily would be grateful if you’d also like to share this post or her book cover around on social media! But that is not required to be entered in the giveaway.)

So! Does everyone have a slice of cake? And a beverage to go with it? And a comfy seat somewhere?

Lovely! Let’s all welcome Emily and have a look at her wonderful debut picture book, WAITING FOR MAX: A NICU STORY!!!

• Title: Waiting for Max: A NICU Story
• Author: Emily Rosen
• Illustrator: Esther Diana
• Publishing House: The Collective Book Studio, distributed by Simon & Schuster
• Date of Publication: 10/21/25
• Fiction or Nonfiction: Fiction
• age range of your book: 4-8

SUSANNA: Welcome, Emily! Thank you so much for joining us today. We are all looking forward to hearing about your journey to publication with WAITING FOR MAX: A NICU STORY. Where did the idea for this book come from?

EMILY: In 2019, my son Max was born six weeks early and spent 16 days in the NICU. It’s incredibly difficult to go home without your baby-it’s nothing like I had planned. So, one thing that I could do that felt somewhat like a “normal” new parent thing was read to him. We brought a different book every day. But in this time, it was hard to find stories that reflected our experience. So I decided to write one!

SUSANNA: How long did it take you to write this book?

EMILY: After taking Making Picture Book Magic in 2021, I wrote the first version of the manuscript. I then used a helpful site, Reedsy, to hire a freelance editor for a few hundred dollars to make the manuscript the best it could be. In 2022, I started submitting it to potential agents and publishers but didn’t get any interest. I did get some recurring feedback though from various contacts, and decided to give the manuscript another go. I then went to Reedsy again and got another editor to help with the manuscript before submitting in the first half of 2024. In June 2024, I got an email from the Collective Book Studio that they were interested, and here we are in October 2025 and the book is out!

SUSANNA: Did you go through many revisions?

EMILY: Yes, as I mentioned I had two versions of the manuscript, and within that, lots of revisions between my own updates and those I got from the very helpful Reedsy editors I hired.

SUSANNA: When did you know your manuscript was ready for submission?

EMILY: You can tool with every little word forever. But at some point, I felt it was the story I wanted to tell, and was really proud of where it ended up. I knew it would fill a hole in the market. I just had to hope that someone out there agreed with me! 1 in 10 babies go to the NICU, which is over 350,000 a year. Yet, there aren’t many books on the topic, especially ones like mine.

SUSANNA: When and how did you submit?

EMILY: I did it a lot of ways. I wrote query letters and sent it to agents as well as publishers that accepted unsolicited manuscripts. I went to the SCBWI Writer’s conference in LA, and tried to make contacts there and submit to some of the people I met as well.

SUSANNA: How long after you found out about your book going to acquisitions (if you did) or after you submitted were you told it was a “yes”?

EMILY: 1-2 months.

SUSANNA: When did you get “the call”, which these days is more likely to be “the email”? (Best moment ever! 😊) and how did you celebrate (if you care to share 😊)

EMILY: I got the very exciting email in June of 2024. I was about to head out on vacation out of the country, so I set up a call with the Collective Book Studio when I came back. I was excited to hear they worked with an editor who was also a NICU mom, and she agreed to do a call with me before I moved forward. I don’t think this is typical, but given the personal nature of the subject matter, she was open to it, and it really helped me take the next step!

SUSANNA: How long was it between getting your offer and getting your contract to sign?

EMILY: About a month

SUSANNA: Can you tell us a little about the editorial process?

EMILY: The editorial process was great. There were no big changes to the story. Just making sure everything was written in the best, most concise and kid-friendly way possible. We also needed to make sure throughout the process that everything was medically accurate, both in the writing and illustrations. As I mentioned, my editor is a NICU mom as well, so we had a lot of meaningful conversations about our experiences and those conversations definitely inspired some edits to the book as well as the illustrations. She was an amazing guide and partner in the process and I’m very grateful for her.

SUSANNA: What was your experience of the illustration process like?

EMILY: The Collective Book Studio gives a lot of creative control to the author, so I was very involved in the illustration process. My editor and I went through the manuscript and offered some ideas of what could be illustrated in each part of the book, and even included photos from both of our NICU journeys for reference. There were a few things I wanted included based on my own experience. For example, when big sister Louise is looking at photos of her brother in the NICU, it was important to me that some of them were printed out photos, rather than just on a phone like people mostly look at photos today. This is because when my son Max was in the NICU, one thing that really helped me was printing out photos of him to have around the house until he was actually there.

art by Esther Diana, text and Illustration copyright Emily Rosen 2025, The Collective Book Studio

I also wanted to ensure the illustrations were medically accurate, but not too clinical. They still needed to feel warm and kid-friendly, even with the monitors, cords, etc. And Esther Diana did an amazing job of this. I also had the medical director of the NICU where Max was look at all the illustrations, and he helped us ensure every cord was in the right place and more.

I got to see everything from thumbnails to character sketches to the final art and I truly loved witnessing the illustration process (especially since I am horrible at drawing!) I couldn’t have asked for a better illustrator. Esther Diana brought the book to life so beautifully.

SUSANNA: It is interesting to see when and how people use art notes. Did you include any with your manuscript or not? If you did, can you share the note and the resulting illustration?

EMILY: I included some art notes, but not a lot. One example is when it wasn’t obvious what I wanted big sister Louise to draw in a picture for her brother after she learned about the feeding tube in his nose. So I wrote in a note what it would be

MANUSCRIPT:

FINAL ART IN BOOK:

art by Esther Diana, text and illustration copyright Emily Rosen 2025, The Collective Book Studio

SUSANNA: Did you get to see advance reviews from Kirkus, SLJ, etc? What was that like?

EMILY: Yes! I had reviews from Kirkus and Publisher’s Weekly before the book came out. It was so rewarding to see that these publications first of all, wanted to write about my book and secondly, that they had really positive things to say. It was incredibly validating and I felt very proud.

SUSANNA: How long did it take from offer to having the first copy in your hand?

EMILY: 15 months

SUSANNA: What kind of marketing and promotion has your publisher done for this book?

EMILY: I’ve gone to events with them including the American Library Association Annual conference where I signed books and spoke on a panel, and CALIBA Fest (California Independent Booksellers Alliance), and they’ve promoted at other events I didn’t go to. They helped me secure a launch party/story time at a great bookstore in LA, have sent my book to book influencers, trade reviews, and helped with Amazon marketing, a Goodreads giveaway, created a book trailer, activity guides and more.

SUSANNA: Describe any marketing/promotion you did for this book.

EMILY: A LOT! What I’ve learned the most in this process is how much an author has to hustle to get the word out there. And with my career as a copywriter and creative director in advertising, I basically became my own client. I’ve done all of the following and more:

• Created an Instagram and TikTok as an author and posted lots of content from reels about getting my printed proof, to reviews to sharing my full NICU story. Through these channels, I’ve connected with a lot of people in both the NICU space and children’s book space.
• I’ve researched and reached out to influencers that are also NICU parents, many of whom wanted me to send the book and have or will share to their hundreds of thousands to even millions of followers.
• I’ve gone around my city to bookstores to secure book events, and visited or spoken to hospital gift shops as well about carrying my book.
• I’ve donated books to hospitals and NICU charities to help support families going through it (I will also be donating some proceeds to NICU charities and hospital NICUs).
• I’ve really tapped into my network, and that in turn has helped me find so many great connections, from doctors interested in the book to influencers who want to share it, to press.
• I’ve reached out to dozens of podcasts to be a guest, as well as posted on FB groups about podcasts, and have done or will be doing several interviews this way. I’m also doing some Instagram Lives.
• I’ve done giveaways on my own and with partners in the space.
• And more!

SUSANNA: How long was it between the time you started writing seriously and the time you sold your first picture book?

EMILY: 3 years

SUSANNA: What is the most important/helpful thing you learned on your way to publication? (Or what is your most helpful piece of advice for up and coming writers?)

EMILY: Stick with it. This is a hard thing to break into. Keep going and revising and submitting. And once you get that deal, don’t stop as the work has only just begun. You’ve got to hustle and not be afraid to ask for things to get the word out there. It can feel uncomfortable, but people are going to be excited for you and want to help!

SUSANNA: Anything else you’d like to share about your book’s journey from inspiration to publication?

EMILY: It’s been healing as a NICU parent to bring this book into the world. To go on the journey of writing to publishing, and to see it out there now. I know it will help so many families like mine (and have been told this by many NICU parents and professionals already). It’s also been a dream of mine for a long time to be a children’s book author, and I’m so proud to say it’s a reality now.

SUSANNA: Thank you so much for taking the time to participate in this series and paying it forward to other writers! We so appreciate the opportunity to learn from your experience and wish you all the best with this and future titles!

Readers, if you have questions for Emily, please post them in the comments below and if she has time I’m sure she’ll respond!

And remember, your comment on today’s post by 3 PM Eastern on Monday October 27th, puts you in the running to be the randomly selected winner of Emily’s giveaway: winner’s choice of a Zoom visit with a classroom or library group of the winner’s choice, or a 30-minute Zoom Ask Me Anything!

Author Emily Rosen (whose favorite snack is grapes, cheese and dark chocolate!)

• Instagram: @emilyrosencreative
• Website: emilyrosencreative.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/emilyozan
• Publisher Instagram: @thecollectivebookstudio
• Illustrator Instagram: @esther_diana
• Editor Instagram: @rpiatte_editor

You may purchase Emily’s book at:
(all links below are book-specific)

Indiebound/Bookshop.org
Amazon
Barnes&Noble

We can help our debut authors successfully launch their careers by:

– purchasing their books

– recommending their books to friends and family

– recommending their books to our children’s teachers and librarians

– recommending their books to our local libraries and bookstores

– suggesting them as visiting authors at our children’s schools and our local libraries

– sharing their books on social media

– reviewing their books on Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes&Noble, and other sites where people go to learn about books.

Thank you all for stopping by to read today!  Have a lovely, inspiration-filled Tuesday!  Maybe today is the day you’ll write your debut picture book 😊

Missed any previous Tuesday Debuts?  Check them out HERE!