Optometrists

Once upon a time, Pat Thomson and I belonged to the same writer's workshop. Pat's husband was well-known Hamilton optometrist Robert Thomson and Pat belonged to the Women's Auxiliary. She was invited to write a booklet for children to raise money for the auxiliary and I was asked to collaborate.

We decided on a story, activity, coloring book. I wrote the rhymed story, and we worked together on the puzzles and other activities at the bottom of each page. Pat Thomson went to a printer and negotiated a contract for ten thousand books despite my warning that writers didn't do that sort of thing-publish their own books, that is. But Pat was a business person first and foremost who didn't know the meaning of the word 'can't.' The first ten thousand books were sold by the auxiliary out of Pat's apartment with willing volunteers packaging and mailing out copies at fifty cents a booklet to interested optometrists. Once the copies were sold, the auxiliary assigned the rights to the book over to the authors.

Once again, Pat was instrumental in finding a publisher in D.C. Heath. Imperial Optical became the distributors. The year was 1978. Over the years, Pat and I earned a six-cent a copy royalty between us, and amazingly sold 230,000 books across Canada. Then, in the early 1990's, Imperial Optical closed its doors.

We found ourselves left with a good product but no publisher or distributor. Now what should we do? Give up? As a published children's writer, I believed that no one should stoop to publishing their own books. But Pat convinced me that it was the right thing to do. We found a new printer who agreed to mail the copies to optometrists. No more hallway, kitchen, living room operation for us. We hired an artist to do the illustrations and produced a camera-ready product. Our first order in 1994 was fifteen thousand copies which sold out in three years. The price had to go up to $1.00 a booklet because of the inflationary rise in paper and print costs.

We went for a second printing of 15,000 copies, which lasted another three years, bringing the total number of copies sold to 280,000 copies! A best seller for any Canadian book and a record we could be proud of!

In the year 2000, Pat decided to give up the marketing of Susan and Sam due to ill health. I bought Pat's rights to the book a year ago. Then I ordered a new batch of 10,000 booklets. They are selling at a slower pace, but they are still popular with many optometrists.

My customers are all repeats-optometrists who have ordered Susan and Sam over and over again throughout the years. They have all told me how much children enjoy receiving a copy of Susan and Sam when they go in for a once or twice yearly check-up. When optometrists go into schoolrooms to speak to students about eye care, complimentary booklets assure a successful visit.

It is a rewarding feeling to know that so many kids have read and enjoyed something created by us.

So for all those Canadian optometrists who have supported us over the years, we would like to say, "Thank you." You have helped to make Susan and Sam Visit the Optometrist a success, and in so doing, you have also helped many children understand more about eye care and made them feel more at ease when they visit their optometrists.