Dan Gutman: Ignore All Advice, Including Mine
New York Times bestselling and award-winning author Dan Gutman has written more than 190 books for readers from kindergarten through middle grade. Dan’s My Weird School series includes 100+ titles, and has sold more than 35 million copies globally over the past 20 years. Dan also is the author of the bestselling Genius Files series, the Baseball Card Adventure series, and many more.
Dan’s books have been named Junior Library Guild Selections and Bank Street College’s Best Children’s Books of the Year, and have been awarded numerous state book awards, including: The California Young Reader Medal, the Massachusetts Children’s Book Award, and the Iowa Children’s Choice Award, among others. When he’s not writing books, Dan loves to ride his bike, play pickleball, throw Frisbees, and explore New York City where he lives with his family. To find out more, follow Dan on Facebook, X, and Instagram.
Dan Gutman
Photo courtesy of author
In this interview, Dan discusses the two decades of writing over 100 books in his My Weird School series, why he relates to reluctant readers, and more.
Name: Dan Gutman
Book title: My Weird School 20th Anniversary
Publisher: HarperCollins
Anniversary Date: 2024
Genre/category: Fiction Chapter Books
Previous titles by Dan Gutman: The (Mostly) True Story of Cleopatra’s Needle; Baseball Card Adventure Series; Flashback Four Series; The Genius Files Series; Houdini and Me; The Homework Machine; The Million Dollar Shot; and 100+ more
Elevator pitch for the series: With more than 100 titles and 35 million copies sold, Dan Gutman’s My Weird School series follows the day-to-day life of wisecracking A.J., his loyal pals Ryan and Michael, and his archenemy, smarty-pants Andrea, as they face a set of wacky teachers at Ella Mentry School—the weirdest school ever.
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What prompted you to write this series?
Before My Weird School, I was writing for older kids, 11- and 12-year-olds. But I was doing a lot of school visits, and I didn’t have anything to talk about with the younger grades. My daughter Emma was in second grade at the time. She was reading a Junie B. Jones book, and I thought it would be cool if there was something like that told by a boy. So, I took a few Junie B. Jones books and counted the number of pages, words, pictures, chapters, etc. Then I wrote my version from a boy’s point of view. My Weird School was born and the series is dedicated to Emma. She was nine when the first book (Miss Daisy Is Crazy!) came out. Now she’s 28.
How long did it take to go from idea to publication? And did the idea change during the process?
About a year, if I recall. Most books seem to take a year, and most of that time is on the publishing end. It only takes me about a month or so to do the writing part of a My Weird School book. My books for older kids take longer because they involve more research.
And I don’t think the idea changed much during the process. I’m a planner. I carefully plan out each story (using file cards) before I write the first word. Sometimes minor changes happen along the way, but for the most part I’ve got the thing all planned out from start to finish.
Have there been any surprises or learning moments in the publishing process for this series?
The biggest surprise for me was that it became so successful. I didn’t know My Weird School would even be a series when I started that first book. I knew it could be a series. But I had been rejected so many times before that, it would have been presumptuous of me to think any publisher would commit to more than one book.
But HarperCollins really liked Miss Daisy Is Crazy!, so they asked for four more books like it. Most series never get past those first four books. But the series found its audience, and HarperCollins asked for four more, and then four more. Somehow, 20 years shot by and now I’m working on book 104. My Weird School is by far the most successful thing I’ve ever written in my career. I consider myself very lucky. There are hardly any series that have lasted 100 books.
Have there been any surprises in the writing process for this series?
I don’t know about surprises, but the kid lit world has changed quite a bit since My Weird School began. There are a number of words and phrases that I used in 2004 that I would not use today. For instance, the first few books have the words “stupid” and “hate” in them. I cringe at that now. My author friends have even told me that they’re no longer allowed to use the word “crazy.” But I think I got grandfathered in on that one because the whole premise of the series is that grownups are crazy, and the first book was titled Miss Daisy Is Crazy!.
What do you hope readers will get out of My Weird School?
Some laughs and the love of reading. That’s it. These books are not going to teach anybody life lessons. They’re mindless, silly entertainment. But that’s a good thing! When I was a kid, I didn’t like to read. I thought it was boring and hard to do. There are a lot of kids out there today who are just like I was. That’s why I relate to reluctant readers. I know what bores them, and what makes them laugh.
Just about every day I get another email from a parent, teacher, or librarian telling me their son, their daughter, or their student hated to read. And then they picked up a My Weird School book and it turned them into a reading fanatic. It makes me feel so good to write some silly words on a page that can have such a positive impact on a kid’s life.
If you could share one piece of advice with other writers, what would it be?
Just one? That’s hard! If you’re limiting me to one, I’d suggest they read my book “My Weird Writing Tips.” But if I could sit down and have a cup of coffee with someone who’s just starting out, I would tell them…
Ignore all advice, including mine! What worked for me might not work for you. And what failed for me may be the secret to your success.You’re probably going to get rejected. I’ve been rejected HUNDREDS of times. Don’t take rejection personally. The editors aren’t rejecting YOU, they’re just rejecting some words on a page.Test your stuff on kids before you submit it to a publisher. Read it to a class at a local school. See if the kids laugh in the right places. See if they doze off.Break the rules. Be different!The best way to become a better writer is to WRITE, not to read articles about writing or get advice from other writers. Just WRITE. Read a bunch of books about your subject. Then go home and write something BETTER. Write the best book you possibly can. That should be the highest priority. If your books are lousy, you’re probably not going to build an audience no matter what else you do. But if your books are good, there are lots of things you can do to create the largest possible audience for your work. Writing a great book is only a part of what you need to be successful. You should also…Create a fantastic presentation and deliver it at every school and library that will have you. Do it for free in the beginning. If you’re good, eventually, you’ll be able to do it for money.Visit every bookstore you can. Introduce yourself to the owner and manager. Sign your books if they have them. Send them information when your new books come out. And when you go on vacation, pop into every bookstore in the area and let them know about you.Make a kick-ass web site and be active on social media. Post about your personal appearances in advance. Be creative. Hold contests and give stuff away.Give away your free author copies. Donate them to hospitals. Leave them in doctor’s waiting rooms. Stick them in hotel room drawers.Print up business cards, bookmarks, flyers, and posters with your book cover and web address on them. Don’t wait for your publisher to do it. Give that stuff away. Librarians love posters, and if they stick yours on their wall, hundreds of people—maybe thousands—will see it.The more you do all this stuff to promote yourself, the more your publisher is going to do for you. Back when I lived in New Jersey, my wife and daughter were going into New York City to see some play I wasn’t interested in. So, I tagged along and decided to see how many bookstores I could visit in a single day. I made a map of Manhattan and plotted out my route carefully to be most efficient. At the end of the day, I had visited fifteen stores and signed over 700 copies of my books. Now I do that every year a few weeks before Christmas.When I mentioned to my editor that I did a “Manhattan Marathon,” he was so impressed that the publisher decided to send me on my first book tour. If you show them that you’re working hard to sell your books, they’ll give you more support.
The secret is that there is no secret. I’m sorry, but it’s true. The secret is to work really hard for 10 or 20 years, making mistakes, doing stupid things, going off in all the wrong directions, getting rejected a thousand times, and never giving up. The secret is finally, after all that, discovering the thing that you were meant to do. Maybe it’s not to write children’s books at all. Maybe your calling is to make keys in a hardware store. That’s the thing that you’re good at, the thing that makes you feel confident and fulfilled. The thing that’s fun for you. The thing you can make a living doing. When you do what you love, you’ll love what you do.
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