Romancing the Genres: From the Farm to the Table

Kathy Coatney

When I started writing, my focus was on contemporary romance, so when the opportunity to write a series of nonfiction children’s books arose, I resisted. I was working full time as a photojournalist and barely had time for my fiction, but then I received a call from a local veterinarian. He told me about a potential article—a local dairy producer had a cow that had just given birth to quadruplets. This only happens once in every 700,000 births, but what was even more incredible was that she gave birth unassisted, all four heifers were alive and healthy, and weighing in at approximately 60-65 pounds each. That only happens once in every 179.2 million births.

As I was writing the article, a fellow writer planted the idea that I should write a children’s book about the quadruplets, and the From the Farm to the Table series was born. The series targeted first to third grade graders, and I felt that illustrations (photos in my case) were crucial for this age group. The old adage, a picture tells a thousand words is very true, especially when you’re talking about an unfamiliar subject.

I’ve learned several things in my eight year journey of writing and publishing children’s books. First and foremost, formatting is a nightmare mainly because of the pictures. I tried to do it myself and finally gave up and hired a formatter, but at that time formatters had little or no experience with this type of book. I was fortunate my formatter was willing to work with me and learn as we went.

The second thing I discovered is, children’s books sell almost exclusively in print. Romance sales do well as eBooks, but children’s books do not. While plenty of preschoolers and school-age children use electronic devices, my grandchildren included, they use them for games and movies, not books.

With the almost universal usage of electronic devices in our world today, I believe this makes children’s books even more important. Sitting with an adult, learning about animals and farming, or bugs and insects, or getting lost in fiction is a precious gift. I vividly remember every day after lunch my sixth grade teacher read to us. It was a soothing, comforting time that was a nice transition from running and playing.

But as much as children benefit from being read to, I think it’s a life-long gift for parents. I still remember my son’s warm little body snuggled next to me as I reread the same book for the hundredth time. I knew the words by heart, but it didn’t matter. It was the time spent with my child that remains a cherished memory. The book is in my bookcase, the cover held together with masking tape—the sign of a well-loved book.

Before I sign off, just a little bit about my books. From the Farm to the Table has six books in the series. The first book was From the Farm to the Table Dairy, then bees, table olives, potatoes, almonds, and beef cows.

I also write deeply emotional, small town, romances. I have a three book series,Falling For You…Again, Falling in Love With You, Falling in Love for the First Time.