Guess what?

It’s time for another episode of the picture book writers and illustrators show everyone’s talking about!

Let’s hear it for Tuuuuuuuesday Debuuuuuut!!!

First, let’s shake up traditional game show presentation and start with the prize giveaway!

Last week’s debut-ess, Jasmine Sears, is giving away a signed copy of The Little Red Hen Learns To Ask For Help! Thank you, Jasmine! And the winner is. . .

Kim A. Larson!!!

Congratulations, Kim! I love the cover of the book (which is all I have seen, to date 😊) and lucky you will soon be able to find out exactly how good the whole thing is! Please email me at your earliest convenience so I can connect you with your prize!

AND we have a new giveaway! Today’s debut-ess is offering TWO giveaways! To one lucky winner, a copy of her book, ENOUGH TO SHARE! (Please note the book won’t be released until late May so there will be a bit of a wait for it.) And to another lucky winner, a 20 minute AMA! All you need to do to put yourself in the running to be the randomly selected winner of one of these two prizes is leave a comment on today’s post by Monday April 13th at 3PM Eastern!

So many wonderful prizes! It’s like a party all the time around here! 😊

And now it is my pleasure to introduce you to today’s debut-ess, the lovely and talented Mary Helen Berg, author of ENOUGH TO SHARE! Please join me in welcoming her to the spotlight!

Title:  ENOUGH TO SHARE
Author:  Mary Helen Berg
Illustrator:  Sue Todd
Publishing House: Tielmour Press
Date of Publication:  May 2026
Fiction or Nonfiction:
age range of your book:  5 to 8
ISBN#: 978-1998426188

SUSANNA: Welcome, Mary Helen! We are so excited to have you here today, and can’t wait to hear all about ENOUGH TO SHARE! Where did the idea for this book come from?

MARY HELEN: Thanks for having me on Tuesday Debut, Susanna! The idea for this book began with a National Geographic magazine article I read about sea wolves. Ideas for picture books come from everywhere! I’d never heard of this fascinating animal or the place they lived in, the Great Bear Rainforest. I began researching, reading books, watching video clips to get a sense of the place. When I learned about the fragility of the rainforest, and about another animal that lived there, the spirit bear,I knew I had a book about these two characters. It began as a purely fictional book, that took readers through the seasons, and the animals were anthropomorphized and could talk. It’s now nonfiction with sidebars and back matter! It took a while for it to come together in its current form because I needed to find the right way to tell the story. I asked myself “what is this really about?” I made a list of all the things the book was about. But when I boiled it down, I realized it was about sharing resources and I thought that sharing was something all kids could relate to. Once I had that theme, it really came together.  

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

MARY HELEN: I think I wrote the first fiction draft of this book in August, 2021. I sent it to my critique group and revised and then submitted it to a group of editors through a conference opportunity–with no luck. I sought more critiques, and I won or paid for probably a half dozen more critiques and refined the story, but still had no luck when I submitted. Then in the spring of 2022 I applied for a mentorship with WriteMentor and was awarded a spot in the program. I spent three to four months revising three stories with my mentor, Skylaar Aaman. She is the one who saw nonfiction potential in the book and suggested I try to rewrite ENOUGH TO SHARE as nonfiction. I’d never done a complete overhaul like that, but I was willing to try. At the end of the program, I had a version of the story that is very close to the one that was published. 

Mary Helen’s inspirational writing space

SUSANNA: Did you go through many revisions?

MARY HELEN: Oh my gosh! I wish I had a better tracking method for the number of drafts I write. When I look at my drive, it looks like at least 50! I definitely learned with this book that it’s important to be willing to revise from scratch, with a clean blank page and not even look at your other draft when you rewrite.You can always add favorite things from your old draft if you want to!

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

MARY HELEN: Of course, I thought my first version of this book was ready for submission. Then, after I completed the revision in the WriteMentor program, I felt pretty confident about the new genre and structure. My mentor felt it was ready, so that gave me confidence to submit it.Before I got a “yes,” I submitted 28 drafts of the fiction version of this book and probably 44 submissions of the nonfiction version, mostly to agents but a handful of publishers as well.

Mary Helen’s writing buddy, Mac! 😊

SUSANNA: When and how did you submit?

MARY HELEN:  I did not have an agent when I submitted this book to publishers, and I still don’t have one! First, I submitted the fiction version to a few publishers through a conference, and later I submitted the nonfiction version to maybe 14 publishers that had open submission policies. I also entered pitch contests, including PBParty, where I earned an honorable mention with this book, which really helped me feel like it was a solid manuscript. I submitted to Tielmour Press during an open submissions window in 2024.

SUSANNA: When did you get “the call”, which these days is more likely to be “the email”? (best moment ever! 😊) how long was it between getting your offer and getting your contract to sign?

MARY HELEN:  The acquisition process with Tielmour Press was extremely fast by children’s book industry standards! I submitted the story in June and less than a month later I received an email with an offer of publication. We had a zoom to meet and discuss details, and about two months after I submitted, I had the contract. Very unusual!

SUSANNA: Was the contract what you expected in terms of advance, royalty percentage, publication timeline, author copies etc.?

MARY HELEN: Tielmour Press is very new and very small (but mighty in spirit!), so my advance is quite low, but not unexpected. Before signing the contract, I sought advice from The Author’s Guild and also hired someone who is a former agent, and does freelance contract work, to review my contract. With their guidance, I negotiated increases in the advance, subrights, and the number of author copies I would receive. They are providing 25 author copies, which I can’t wait to get! I received one-third of my advance upon signing the contract, another one-third upon delivery and acceptance of the complete manuscript, and will receive the final one-third upon publication.

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

MARY HELEN: Amazingly, there were almost no edits to this manuscript! There might have been a word added or changed here or there, but it was published pretty much as submitted.

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

MARY HELEN: When we started looking for illustrators, Tielmour Press asked me to submit samples of illustrators whose style I liked or thought might work. But ultimately they chose Sue Todd without my input– and they made a perfect choice! I feel her style fits the story perfectly and the bold color palette will be really attractive to kids. I saw a black and white sketches and the full layout of the book before Sue went to a final version. The only contribution I really made was to help ensure the accuracy of the animals and the environment, since this is ultimately a nonfiction book. Then I saw a full color digital proof and was able to comb through it for any corrections.

text copyright Mary Helen Berg 2026, illustration copyright Sue Todd 2026, Tielmour Press

In terms of art notes, the book had four art notes. One to introduce the spirit bear as a white cub that can be born to a black bear, one to indicate something needed to happen in the background art, one indicating a scenario that isn’t overtly spelled out in the text, and one offering some ideas for the illustrator to work from. So none of them told the artist what to do, they just offered guidance where absolutely needed.

[I can’t share an art note with a corresponding image because I haven’t been given permission to share any of those images at this point!]

SUSANNA: I love the art in this book – it’s unique and beautiful and seems like an excellent match for your story. Did you get to see advance reviews from Kirkus, SLJ, etc? What was that like?

MARY HELEN: Tielmour didn’t submit to some of those big reviewers because they often require the manuscript up to 6 months ahead of publication, and our book wasn’t available in that timeframe. But the reviews from advance readers and smaller reviewers have been so thrilling. It is surreal when people are finally reading your book! 

SUSANNA: At the very least, I’m sure you’ll be racking up great reviews on Goodreads and such as soon as people are able to read your book! How long did it take from offer to having the first copy in your hand?

MARY HELEN: At the time of this writing, I am still waiting to have the book in my hands. Originally, the book was supposed to be released in October 2025, then it was pushed to November 2025, and then I requested that we wait until spring of 2026, because I thought Earth Day would be a great hook for this book. In the meantime, a postal strike and the tariffs complicated things for Canadian publishers, especially those with US authors. Then we had a printing delay, and now it looks like the book will be delivered at the end of May! Just goes to show that you never know what’s going to happen in this industry! But it will be a little less than two years from the offer to having the book in hand. That’s pretty fast in the children’s publishing world, from what I understand. In terms of the print run, we are starting with a thousand copies, which is quite small but again, Tielmour is a tiny (but mighty) operation.

SUSANNA: I’m not familiar with Tielmour, but I really like the look of your book. It speaks highly of their operation! What kind of marketing and promotion has your publisher done for this book?

MARY HELEN: Tielmour Press announced the book in Publishers Weekly, has submitted the book for some reviews, made a book trailer, created a sales sheet, and they do a lot of great social media. They work with a sales team in Canada to represent their books to bookstores.

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

MARY HELEN: Honestly, I’ve been doing everything I can think of to promote this book and I have no idea what will  pay off! Another author recommended that I create a press release, which I never would have thought to do, so I did that. Because it’s a book with environmental themes, I’m trying to target environmental organizations and eco-educators. I’ve succeeded in having it included in newsletters of a couple of  those organizations, which I hope is an efficient way of reaching a big group at once. I emailed every independent bookstore in British Columbia, which is where the book takes place. I’m going to create postcards to promote to indie bookstores, particularly the Pacific Northwest. I also belong to several promotional groups and we work together to boost each other’s books on social media. In terms of events, I plan to have a launch party, and I’m making plans to participate in book festivals and conferences, and of course I’m doing interviews with fabulous blogs like yours!

SUSANNA: Sounds like you’re doing a lot! How long was it between the time you started writing seriously and the time you sold your first picture book?

MARY HELEN:  I toyed with writing picture books about 15 years ago and wrote one that actually had attention from an agent (I think the business was different then!).  But I didn’t have enough polished manuscripts for a portfolio, and I didn’t really have time to develop one–too much else going on in life at that time! I got serious about 5 years ago, sort of a now or never moment. I joined the 12 by 12 Picture Book Challenge, SCBWI, and a critique group, took a lot of classes and tried to learn everything I could about the industry. I started really participating more in the kidlit community. 

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?)

MARY HELEN: I’ve learned that you need more patience than you can even imagine in this industry. I’ve learned that I almost always submit stories before they’re ready! I’ve learned that just because you’re a good writer, it doesn’t mean you know how to write good picture books. I’ve learned that simplicity is golden. But probably the most important thing I’ve learned is how kind the kidlit community is and how important it is to have critique partners and people to go through this journey with. It’s really important in terms of keeping your spirits up when things are down, having someone to celebrate with when things are up, and having people to bounce ideas off of. I think I might have quit by now if it weren’t for the folks I’ve met. My critique partners and others have been incredibly generous with time and advice, so I would advise everyone to connect with other writers and find groups of people you trust.

SUSANNA: I completely agree about the kidlit community – we are lucky to be part of such a wonderful and supportive group of lovely people! Thank you so much for taking the time to visit with us today, Mary Helen! We so appreciate the opportunity to learn from your wisdom and experience, and wish you all the very best of luck with this wonderful-looking book! Thank you so much for taking the time to participate in this series and paying it forward to other writers!

Readers, if you have questions for Mary Helen, 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 Monday April 13th at 3PM Eastern will put you in the running to be the randomly selected winner of either a copy of ENOUGH TO SHARE (which will be released in late May, so you’ll get it in a few weeks) or a 20 minute AMA!

Author Mary Helen Berg

Website: https://maryhelenberg.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/maryhelenberg/ @maryhelenberg
Face Book: https://www.facebook.com/mary.h.berg.39 @maryhelenberg
Bluesky: @maryhelenberg.bsky.social

Illustrator Sue Todd
https://www.instagram.com/suetoddillustration/. @suetoddillustration
https://www.facebook.com/search/top?q=sue%20todd @sue.todd.3975

Tielmour Press
https://www.instagram.com/tielmourpress/. @tielmourpress
https://www.facebook.com/TielmourPress. @tielmourpress

You may purchase Mary Helen’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!