PUBLISHING SMALL FOR A BIG WIN

By Kelly Milner Halls

Throughout my 30-year career, I’ve written nonfiction for major houses like Harpercollins, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, National Geographic, Random House and Lerner. It’s been fun to imagine myself a part of the big dog team. But publishing more recently with Sasquatch/Little Bigfoot--a smaller house in Seattle—has given me a big new win.

My first book with Little Bigfoot was CRYPTID CREATURES: A FIELD GUIDE (2019). My book about mysterious creatures, TALES OF THE CRYPTIDS (Lerner, 2006) has been a favorite among elementary school readers for almost 20 years. But as those readers aged out, they asked for a meatier bone—a bone I hoped to deliver. Lerner wasn’t willing, but Little Bigfoot was.

Instead of mimicking the 72-page TALES OF THE CRYPTIDS picture book, they allowed me to write the expanded 224 page paperback my older readers wanted. They even let Rick Spears, the illustrator who made TOTC a masterpiece, create original art for the project—a lot of it.

We offered well documented eyewitness reports on 50 different unconfirmed animals with three illustrations for each one—an adult, a baby and a skeletal feature. I loved the book throughout the process, but I expected it to take years to be discovered. Silly me.  

Almost immediately, the book—distributed by Random House/Penguin—sold like gangbusters. After 18 years, TOTC has 145 Amazon reader reviews. Five years into CRYPTID CREATURES, there are more than 700, most of them five stars.

Little Bigfoot promoted the book with gusto, in part because they had fewer titles to present than the major houses might have. My editor was exceptionally gifted and the publicist lined up the best television coverage I’ve ever enjoyed.

I attribute the success to Little Bigfoot’s willingness to take a chance on a book I was convince would find an audience, when the big houses refused. The partnership was so successful, I have another Little Bigfoot book on Washington State’s only dinosaur fossil discovery coming this fall. SEA MONSTERS: A FIELD GUIDE and BABY CRYPTIDS (a board book) will be available from Little Bigfoot in the fall of 2025—all illustrated by Rick Spears.

Publishing with any house is a win, and I’d still work for the big dogs if the opportunity arose. But I’ll never overlook the little guys again. Little Bigfoot may be small by New York standards, but the results have been super-sized for me!  

About the Author:

For the past 30 years, Kelly Milner Halls has crafted high-interest nonfiction books and articles for young readers. Known for well-researched topics, Halls delights in drawing even reluctant readers into the realm of discovery through the exploration of dinosaurs, Sasquatch, mummies, UFOs and dozens of other themes. She makes her home in Spokane, Washington with two daughter and a cat named Sue. She speaks at schools and conferences all over the world.