publishing 101: a survival guide for children’s book illustrators

Most of you know that I started out in children’s book publishing — my first jobs in the industry were as a picture book illustrator and a book designer for Dial Books for Young Readers. Though my career has diversified considerably since then, when it comes to publishing I’m most often asked about illustrating and writing children’s books. (Publishing tarot decks are a close second.)

It’s easy to give people the basics. But what about those who have sold their first book or two? Where do they go from there? Or, in these competitive times, should they just be thankful to be published?

My two cents: be grateful for all you’ve accomplished — and aim to grow. With this in mind, here is a short guide for actually thriving (not just surviving) as a children’s book illustrator.

Promote yourself. If you were an agent for another artist, how hard would you market their work to other publishing houses? Most likely harder than you are promoting your own art right now. Most people (myself included) have a real block when it comes to getting out there with their work. After all, we’d all rather be in the studio working than deal with the business end of things. A good exercise in getting past this is to pretend you’re marking someone else’s work, an incredibly successful and gifted artist. Now, what would you do?

Feel the difference? This is how hard you should be marketing yourself.

Are you sending out mailers regularly? By regularly, I mean three or four times a year, not every decade. Make sure your mailing list is up-to-date. I prefer the Literary Marketplace (LMP for short) because I find it more accurate. Read Publishers Weekly to see what editors are moving where, which houses are actively acquiring books. Get on the phone and call a publisher to find out what editor acquired a book you love. Confab with your colleagues with the biz — if you don’t know any, join SCBWI. However you do it, do it. How else will editors and art directors find you?

What about your website? Does it accurately reflect your current work? Is it professional looking? Can art directors and editors easily contact you via it? Give at least two ways to contact you, in case one way isn’t working. E-mail goes down, phone lines go kaplooey — but your business doesn’t have to.

And don’t forget school and library appearances and book signings. They’re all good ways to to gain publicity for your work, and are a good antidote to artist’s isolation. Some illustrators make a nice income from school appearances alone — but that’s a whole other subject.

Expand your markets. It’s tempting to work with only one publisher, especially if they were the one to discover your work. Loyalty is a wonderful quality, especially in monogamous relationships. In authors, it cuts both ways. The realities of publishing preclude a house from publishing more than one of your books a year at the very most. Average book advances being what they are, can you really afford to do that? Plus, what if there were delays while you’re working on a book? Would it be good to have another book to work on while you wait?

These are only some of the reasons I think illustrators should work with more than one publisher.

Diversify! As a children’s book illustrator, you have a unique position of being able to sell yourself as an illustrator of manuscripts and as an author. If you are marketing yourself only as one of these, you’re missing half your income.

To sit around and wait for an editor to find you a manuscript is unfair to your art. It also makes the editor responsible for your career — you probably know better than others what book you’d like to illustrate. Likewise, it’s foolish not to work on someone else’s manuscript because you didn’t write it. A book is a book and will only help your career grow.

Some illustrators feel unable to write for publication. One solution for these woes is common property material. Common property is when the copyright expires on published material, meaning it can be reused without paying the author. Dover Books bases their entire list on repackaging common property material. Grimms Fairy Tales, Blue Fairy Book, and much more are common property.

You can also think of ideas for books and propose them to a publisher. My first two books, Rapunzel and The Firebird were sold from proposals and sample illustrations; my editor then found someone to write the manuscript to accompany my art.

Crossmarket your art. I hope you’re not abandoning your book art in your flat files after it’s returned to you from the publisher. There are other markets awaiting it!

Greeting card companies often use children’s book art. Some pay a flat fee, while others pay a royalty based on sales. All will include sample cards to you as part of your agreement, which is a great way to get art mailers. If your artwork is suitable, there’s also posters, calendars and day books, even novelty mugs and plates. Whether you like her work or not, Mary Engelbreit has based an entire merchandising empire on these principles.

One caveat: Make sure to reserve merchandising rights when you negotiate your book contracts. Most publishers don’t mind, since they rarely exercise them. If there is an issue, sometimes this is because publishers fear competing products — you can clarify in your contract that these rights will only be exercised if they do not materially interfere with the publisher’s selling of your book.

There’s also the fine art world, if you feel you can part with your originals. Every Picture Tells a Story is only one gallery specializing in book illustration — there are others, as well as museums actively acquiring. If you do decide to sell your original art, make certain that you have a high quality scan or transparency of it. That way you can always reproduce it in the future.

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Have a question about publishing, writing or illustrating books you’d like answered on Publishing 101? Send it to Kris: e-comment at artandwords dot com.

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publishing 101: letter to a new children’s book writer (with apologies to Rilke)

First things first: You are brave. You want to share your book with the world by having it published. It’s not enough for you to write and let your words linger in private. You want to make a child happy, to transform their understanding of the world — to inspire them. That is something to be applauded and encouraged.

You ask for how information on how to sell your book to a publisher. Well, I have to be honest: It’s not easy. I know that everyone has a story about someone they know who met an editor at a party and they got their book published like that. Sorry, exception to the rule. Ditto for J.K. Rowling.

But just because it’s hard to sell a book with a publisher doesn’t mean it’s not possible.

The not-so-good news: The publishing industry has changed dramatically since I started working in it well over a decade ago. Children’s books have gotten more commercial and celebrity driven — all those Harry Potters have made publishers hungry for the big book that will make a lot of money. It used to be that children’s book publishers would be satisfied if a book broke even at 5,000 to 10,000 copies. Not any more. Publishers could also rely on selling a good portion of books to schools and libraries, but budget cuts have changed this. Selling to schools and libraries gave publishers the freedom to acquire books that spoke to a niche demographic, or were clearly educational. Again, not anymore.

Children’s book publishing these days is all about how well it sells in the chains, such as Barnes and Nobles or Borders. It gets more complicated since chains often order large quantities and then return said large quantities if they don’t sell within a 90 day window, which really wrecks a publisher’s bottom line. Publishing is one of the few industries where the product can be returned; usually they can’t be repurposed (ie: sold elsewhere) because they’re paper products and usually don’t hold up for repeated sellings. So that means books get remaindered or, worse, destroyed and the publisher is out of pocket. And yup, there’s Amazon, but that’s a whole other complicated issue.

Suffice to say that publishers have become more cautious. They try to publish books that they’re sure (as much as they can be!) will sell a lot of copies. These days, they’ll even consult with a Barnes and Noble rep before deciding to acquire a book from an author.

So why am I presenting you with all this doom-and-gloom? Is it to discourage you? It may seem that way, but that’s really not my style. I simply want you to understand what you’re up against, so you’ll understand the following:

Your book has to be the best it can possibly be before you send it to an publisher or a literary agent.

Make this your mantra. Publishers don’t care if your family or your child’s class likes your book. They don’t care that you’ve always wanted to write a children’s book. They care that they can sell your book, that there’s a market for it, that it’s good.

What do I mean by good? Look at children’s books that move you. Try to analyze what makes them work, what elevates them into essential contributions to children’s literature. Writing a good picture book or children’s novel is an art onto itself. Spend some time at your local children’s bookstore or library to familiarize yourself with the classics. Talk to the people who work there, who are passionate about children’s books. Some people think that because a children’s book is shorter it’s easier to write than a book for adults — not true.

Workshop with other children’s book writers. Join the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (or SCBWI for short). They have programs, workshops and resources for those just getting into the biz to those who are already published authors. Just about everyone I know in the industry belonged to SCBWI at one time or another.

Educate yourself about the industry. One good website about children’s publishing is Harold Underdown’s site at http://www.underdown.org. He’s also written The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Publishing Children’s Books, an essential guide to children’s books which has been recently updated. (Don’t be discouraged by the title - you’re not an idiot!)

It’s great that you’re aware of similar books to your’s. This gives you the knowledge you need to shape your book differently — different focus, different structure, different pov. There are lots of books on your subject matter, so clearly there’s a market for them.

You mentioned hiring an illustrator for your picture book. Just so you know, you don’t need any illustrations to sell a picture book to a publisher. That’s the publisher’s job. But if you like, you can set up your manuscript as a 32 page book dummy on white paper; just indicate with words where you want the art to go. If you want to illustrate the book yourself, then just include one or two sample pieces of art.

In regards to setting up a book dummy, most picture books are 32 pages in length — sometimes 24 or 48, but that’s unusual. One classic book which describes how picture books are created is Uri Schulevitz’s Writing with Pictures: How to Write and Illustrate Children’s Books. It’s really written for illustrators, but writers of picture books can take away a lot here too.

Once you know that your book is (a) as good as it can be and (b) has a market, then you’re ready to send it out to a publisher! And that’s a whole other ball of wax.

There’s information on how to sell a book to a publisher here and here and here.

I hope you find this helpful! Good luck to you.

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Have a question about publishing, writing or illustrating books you’d like answered on Publishing 101? Send it to Kris: e-comment at artandwords dot com.

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publishing 101: how to find a publisher

We’re getting ready to take off for places north. But before I leave, I received a comment and a question on one of my older publishing 101 posts. I think it has pertinent information which might be helpful. So I’m including it here.

The question:

Do you know of a comprehensive list (even if I have to buy it) that lists the publishers that will accept children’s nonfiction book proposals? I have Children’s Market and Writer’s Market, but I thought there might be another source.

My answer:

Yup, there’s Children’s Market, Writers Market and the LMP (Literary Marketplace). However, I find them useful only as a backup to my own market research. Generally speaking, by the time these books are in print, they are already dated — the market moves quickly. I also find that they’re often inaccurate. For example, when I worked as a children’s book designer, we’d often get proposals which were obviously addressed from the Children’s Market. How did I know? The editor-in-chief’s name was spelled incorrectly in it. It was a tip off to us that this was someone who relied on a book rather than industry knowledge.

There’s no substitute for going to a bookstore and seeing who’s publishing what. Once you find a publisher you think would be receptive to your proposal, then go check out Children’s Market. Better yet, skip the books and go directly to the publisher’s website for submission information and doublecheck it against the Literary Marketplace.

Another good resource: Harold Underdown’s site at the Purple Crayon. He keeps a page which lists what editors are moving where and why.

Good luck!

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Have a question about publishing, writing or illustrating books you’d like answered on Publishing 101? Send it to Kris: e-comment at artandwords dot com.

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publishing 101: small publisher, large publisher

It’s been hot here, NYC hot. Though I imagine NYC hot is related to Florida hot and other types of regional hot, I think NYC hot has a particular uncomfortable steaminess of its own. And it’s not as exciting as it sounds — more related to dew points, too much cement, and not enough trees. It’s even affected Thea. Yesterday, when we were walking, she begged me to take her into a supermarket. She already knows that superior cooling can be found amid the dairy aisle.

Heat or no, I’m trying to keep as focused as possible on the NB*. I am making some progress and have a first draft of the book design (though it is watered with humidity). Thankfully, when I woke this morning, an evening thundershower had worked some magic. And now life is much more comfortable. I can work again without the idée fixe of “I’d like some iced coffee to cool off” running through my brain every five minutes.

And on that note, back to some publishing chat. In a recent post about literary agents, I mentioned that you might not need one in the following circumstances:

1. You’re a children’s book illustrator.

2. You have a book that speaks to a specialized audience: academic, technical presses, literary fiction, and so on.

3. You want to be published by a smaller publishing house.

So, if you’re an emerging author seeking to sell a book, why deal with the vagaries of literary agents and large houses if you can diy it? Which brings me to today’s topic: the advantages and disadvantages of large and small publishing houses.

I’m fortunate to have been published by both large and small houses. Much as I hate to admit the passing of the years, I’ve been a published author for almost two decades. When I first started out way back when, I had the romantic notion of “I only want to work with one publisher. I will be loyal to them. They will be loyal to me. We will publish together forever and win Caldecotts.” (Ah, youth!)

And I was fortunate. My first publisher was my dream publisher, one I’d long wished to work with. But time and three books passed. Reality hit: What if I wanted to do a different type of book than what my publisher could produce? Did I only want to illustrate children’s picture books, as wonderful as they may be?

Whatever I write here is based on my personal experiences. Since much depends on the author, the house, and the book, your mileage may vary. Or, in other words, though I am attempting to generalize, it’s not possible to generalize.

With these caveats, here goes:

SMALL PUBLISHER

Advantages:

~ Often times open to new authors, so easier to break into.

~ Personalized attention. Since they’re only produced a small number of books, they handpick each one carefully. They tend to be more involved with directly promoting each title.

~ Generally speaking, you know who you’re dealing with. With only a handful of editorial forces, you won’t be dealing with a revolving door of personnel — usually the acquiring editor is also the line editor and so on. You won’t be negotiating your way around publishing committees, book cover meetings and so on.

~ Things seem to move faster. Smaller list = easier to schedule books. Less editorial staff = less time “herding cats”, as my mother-in-law would say.

Disadvantages:

~ Lack of financial force. This pertains to your advance (which may be nil) to their ability to properly promote and distribute the book.

~ Lack of distribution. Their sales force may be limited and can only do so much for your book. Or they may be relying on a third party distributor to get your book to market. Unfortunately, these companies have been going belly up of late. (See McSweeney’s for a cautionary tale of how this affects small publishers.)

~ Though you may get personalized attention when promoting your book, they may not be able to pay for a book tour or to advertise your book. Which will affect how widely your book saturates the market.

~ Sometimes there’s just a lack of professionalism — not all small houses, just some. They’re a bit off the publishing mainstream, unaware of what’s going on in the bigger burgs. So things may be done in a “this is how we do it” way that bears little resemblance to industry standards. I’ve seen this especially in contracts from small publishers, which can have some very strange clauses that are not in an author’s interest to endorse.

~ I hate to say this, but I’ve had problems getting paid by small publishers — not all, but some. Royalties are delayed or paid in a casual fashion. And since you’re dealing one-on-one with them, it’s hard to not allow personal feelings get in the way. I mean, people who work in publishing tend to be nice people who are passionate about publishing. They’re not bad, just overextended. But if you want to make a living as an author . . . need I write more?

After writing all this, it must make the pluses and minuses of large publishers implicitly apparent. But just in case, here are some additional points:

LARGE PUBLISHER

Advantages:

~ You are dealing with a well-oiled machine. They know how to publish books and they do it well.

~ You’ll get paid. You’ll get an advance. You’ll be able to support yourself.

~ Superior distribution. A dedicated sales force means that they’ll also know how to place your book in special sales (catalogs, stores outside of bookstores). They’ll also have tight relationships with chain store buyers, like Barnes and Nobles.

~ They have the money to advertise and promote your book.

Disadvantages:

~ May only acquire books from authors who have been previously published or have literary representation. So harder to place a book with them.

~ They can be a little impersonal at times, but it’s business. (Actually this is a plus in some ways, unless you’re an author that likes a lot of handholding. Less time-consuming to deal with.)

~ With so many books being published, it’s easier for your book to be lost within the crowd unless your editor champions you specifically.

~ Big publishing generally works years ahead of time when acquiring books. This can leave your book a little vulnerable to change. Editors leave and you could be “orphaned”, a term used to describe when an author has lost her acquiring editor; though you’ll be assigned a new editor, it’s usually not the same. Or imprints get snapped up by even bigger publishers, like fish in a pond. When this occurs, books are often cancelled (though you’ll get to keep the advance, it’s still upsetting) or lost in a later list with a perfunctory publication (which means your book will quickly go out of print).

So that’s that. Notice that there’s another possibility I haven’t discussed here: what if you’re an author who doesn’t want a publisher at all? These days, it’s not so hard to self-publish a book using a POD (print-on-demand) service — or is it?

Well, that’s a subject for another post. Stay tuned!

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*New Book recently acquired by Broadway Doubleday. Due to be published in October ‘08. Which is relatively soonish.

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Have a question about publishing, writing or illustrating books you’d like answered on Publishing 101? Send it to Kris: e-comment at artandwords dot com.

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publishing 101: the secret — to getting published, that is

We’re off for the holidays until January 2. During this period, every day I’ll be presenting one of my popular Publishing 101 posts. I hope it will inspire all you writers and illustrators for 2009!

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Someone recently contacted me with a question about getting started in book publishing — meaning, a general overview for those who want get published, but maybe aren’t to the point where they need the nitty gritty deets of contract negotiation, editorial process and so on. In other words, general advice on how to publish a book or a tarot deck.

There’s many things I can suggest, but not enough room or time to do them justice on this forum. What follows is some advice adapted from my faq page on this site.

Before I launch into this, please remember that many, many talented people want to be published — unfortunately, more than all the publishing houses combined in the world can hope to ever publish.

With that preface, here’s the secret to getting published:

Persistence is more important than talent.

Simple, huh? And no law of attraction involved (though magical thinking can get you through many a crisis of confidence).

Rejection is part of the game. When it occurs, you get up, brush yourself off, and keep going. Don’t let your hurt feelings get in the way.

And, most importantly, learn from rejection. Take your rejection letters as a gift. Embrace them. Look upon them as an offering from the School of Hard Knocks. Hard as rejections may be to accept, they are giving you valuable information — though it may not be the information you’d like to hear. After all, it’s far nicer to get kisses and kudos than a zeroxed form letter beginning “Your manuscript does not meet our editorial needs. . .”

In my experience, book rejections tend to fall into two categories:

1. Inappropriate or inadequate/oversaturated market. Have you sent your project to an appropriate publisher? Don’t waste your time — or an editor’s time — by sending a children’s book to an adult house, or a tarot deck to a paperback house.

Is there an audience for your project? In other words, is there a market that will purchase it? Is it novel or last year’s news? (Crass, I know. But publishers are in the business of selling books, so they can stay in business.)

2. Quality. It’s a harsh question to consider, but your project is as good as it can be? It’s difficult to be honest with ourselves when we’ve worked so hard for so long on something. We’re simply too close, too in love. But if you’re getting rejections on a project, then maybe it’s worth considering if there’s room for improvement. Or that your project isn’t as compelling as you think.

Take the time to workshop your book. Don’t just show it to your best friend who will be supportive no matter what. That’s a wonderful blessing, but that type of feedback is for when you’re starting a project — not when you’re getting ready to present it to editorial forces. Carefully choose to show your manuscript to those who have been there, know the biz, can give you genuinely helpful information.

Be merciless yet nurturing of your project — a tricky balance, but necessary. I think of it as balancing the Dionysian with the Apollinian.

Obviously, there are times when the reasons for rejections don’t fall neatly into these two categories. We’ve all heard of stories where books were passed on by 23 publishers and then went onto superstar bestsellerhood. Some times it’s simply a matter of timing — a book may be brilliantly written, but it may be ahead (or behind) the time.

And here’s one last simple but important tip: When it comes to selling a book, it’s better to send one pristine submission to a one appropriate publisher than a dozen bad ones happenstance. Take the time to research your market. Find out which editors are buying and why. As mentioned in a previous post, recent book deals are often mentioned in Publisher’s Marketplace and Publisher’s Weekly. They offer a wealth of valuable inside information.

Other resources I like: Harold Underdown’s Purple Crayon website (Harold is the author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Publishing Children’s Books), Publisher’s Weekly, Jeff Herman’s Writer’s Guide to Book Editors and Literary Agents. There’s also The Literary Marketplace (known in the industry as the LMP, available at most local libraries). I’d avoid the Writer’s Market. True story: When I read slush at a major publisher, I could easily tell submissions which were sent to us using Writer’s Market information. It was easy: They all misspelled our editorial director’s name, since that’s how it was spelled in the WM. So, if you do use the WM, doublecheck it against the LMP.

After writing all this, you can see why the secret to getting published is persistence. Writing (or illustrating) your book is only the first step!

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Have a question about publishing, writing or illustrating books you’d like answered on Publishing 101? Send it to Kris: e-comment at artandwords dot com.

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