Agent or Not to Agent: Part3

What would I pay my agent?
Most literary agents receive a commission of about 15% on your actual earnings. Artist reps make a little more money – in the 20-35% range. Agents usually take their cut out of your check they receive from the publishers and they pass the rest on to you. The agent earns their cut for the life of the book. If at any time you should leave an agent, they will continue to receive royalty payments on your behalf for the books they handled, and pass the rest on to you.

Many times there are other minor fees due to the agent, however reputable agents have those spelled out in their contracts. Be sure you know what expenses will be passed through to you at the time of signing the agreement.

What doesn’t an agent do?
Agents are not crystal ball readers, they do not work directly for you, and they will not completely manage your career. They will present your work to publishers and represent you when a publisher makes an offer. You are not the only person they represent, so they will have a limited time to talk with you. You might only hear from them now and then.

They gain access to editors that you might have only dreamed about, but that means they have invested a great amount of time in maintaining good relationships this those editors. You must stay involved in the process, let them know if you have issues with the contract of publishers. It is their job to go to bat for you!

Agent or Not to Agent: Part 2

What does an agent do?
There three primary things that an agent will for you:

1) Agents submit material to publishers. Agents are allowed to submit to all publishers without being concerned over which ones don't accept unsolicited material. Also agents know the business and have dealt with the editors before. Research is not an issue.

2) Agents negotiate contracts. Most agents have contracts that are better than what unagented people receive from the publisher.

3) Agents collect money and distribute it. Agents review the royalty statements, which are complicated, point out any mistakes and get the publisher to pay, which is hard for an individual to do.

This information just lists the basics. An agent will help with any problem that arises, can give good advice and will manage your career. It's nice for an author or illustrator who deals with more than one publisher to get one 1099 at the end of the year from his or her agent stating all earnings, commissions, expenses, etc.

To Agent or Not to Agent: Part 1

Do I really need an agent?

Agents are not always needed to land a book deal. However, the “big 6” publishing houses (HarperCollins, Random House, Simon & Schuster, Scholastic, Penguin Putnam and Disney / Hyperion) say they will only consider manuscripts from published authors or agents. These houses are also difficult to break into even with an agent. It is recommended that beginning writers begin working with smaller imprints. Use this opportunity to gain personal contacts and keep up with them. Editors are always moving from house to house. They are always trying to move up as well. Establishing these relationships early will only help you move up with them.
First time authors submitting manuscripts, would use their time more wisely submitting directly to a publisher by means of a query letter. Editors are more likely to sign a new author before an agent is to sign up someone to represent.

For children's book illustrators the situation is a little different. More artists work with agents, known as artist’s representatives, and unpublished illustrators do become clients for agents. For artists, having a rep helps them get more jobs then they ever would have been able to find on their own.

Portfolio Content

Children’s publishing is a wonderful market for new artists. Children between the ages of 3-7 can’t read yet, or their skills are bare minimum. These rich stories can’t be illustrated with stock art or photographs because the story is particular to its own needs. The story requires its own creative and colorful visuals that tell the particular story along side the minimal words. This creates a dilemma for the art buyer. They can not see the actual art that will go into the book, therefore they have to take a “leap of faith” when assigning the project. How do art buyers chose and assign an artist to a project?

The answer lies in the portfolio by the artist. Several pages of an illustrated story must be shown in succession within the portfolio. This shows how an artist “visualizes” the series of events within the story. The artist shows character development by showing the same characters in different situations, scenes and emotions. The art directors can see consistency in character, color, compositional abilities and creativity.

Always present 1-2 stories in your portfolio. This will take up 4-6 of the required 10-15 pieces and really make your portfolio work for you. The stories can be made up or classical. It only takes a few images to show off what the buyer needs to see. The remaining 9-10 images can be of anything you desire.

Manuscript Tips

Before sending your manuscript off to your chosen publisher, it is good to send an email or letter with a query. Ask if they will read your manuscript. If the answer is “yes,” then mark the envelope with the manuscript with “Requested Material.” This marking on the outside of the envelope separates you from the rest of the unsolicited manuscripts sitting on their desk. In any circumstance, always give the editor the name of the person who referred you. That is one way to work the conversation from a warm lead.

Manuscript Formatting

In the upper right corner, place the copyright notice and year the manuscript was written, genre, and approximate word count all single spaced.

(then 3 lines)

First American Serial Rights, or Print Rights, Electronic Rights
(then 2 lines)

By (your name)

(2 lines)

Chapter 1

(2 lines)

Start your story double spaced

Note: If you have written a picture book, start your manuscript on the “Chapter 1” line.

Beneficial Sites for Illustrators

http://www.illustrationfriday.com
Illustration Friday is a site where artists illustrate / create a work around a particular topic. Then you can post your piece for others to see during that week. Every Friday is a new topic. This is great to get yourself out there and get some exposure.

http://www.childrensillustrators.com and http://www.picture-book.com
Children’s Illustrators.com and PictureBook.com are online portfolios of artist that are compiled into one easy-to-see web site. This site is accessed daily by art buyers from leading publishing houses, advertising agencies and design groups from around the world.

http://www.sendoutcards.com and http://www.premiumpostcards.com
Send Out Cards and Premium Postcards is a great way to keep in touch with publishers, agents, teachers, etc. You have the option to upload your own artwork and design the postcard online. You pay a small portion for the printing and then for postage. The company sends it out for you and everything has been taken care of within minutes at the tip of your fingers.

Query Lettters

A query letter asks for something. More importantly, asks whether they would like to read your manuscript.

Include a summary of your book and the first 3 chapters if this is a chapter book. They like to be able to get a feel of your writing style in order to make a decision. Make sure there is NO MISSPELLINGS & GOOD GRAMMAR. This is your shot. You’ve got to shine like no other. There is a lot of competition sitting on the desk with you!

In the body of the letter, introduce yourself. Platform a promotional plan to sell the potential book. Tell about what you have written in the past and what you have done to promote those writings (or illustrations). Are you a speaker? Do you twitter? Are you on Facebook? How many followers do you have? What is your “pool of influence?” They want to know how hard it will be to market your material and how much you are willing to help promote your book. (Pause – think about this for a minute! Let’s let this sink in!) Book publishers are a business and they are interested in making money from your material. I include this because I don’t think people think about this way!

Tell why the manuscript would be beneficial as a book, article, etc.

Tell what you have published in the past. This is just a quick brief resume.

I know I’ve said this before, if you are a member of SCBWI, list it.

Let the agent or editor know that you know them! This makes it a little more personal and warm. If you heard them speak at a conference, or was referred from a mutual acquaintance, let them know!

Cover Letter Elements

When writing your cover letter, be sure to list the word count for your manuscript. This is something that is important to editors as certain types of books and stories require different word counts.

List the ages that the manuscript was written for.

Talk briefly about why you wrote it. Did you have a similar experience? Do you really know the material you are writing about?

Be sure to include a short biography about yourself. If you get published, they could potentially use this to promote you.

Be polite -- this is important! You are sending them your manuscript to potentially publish.
AND – if you ever want to re-submit something in the future, that editor might remember if they did not have a favorable experience with you previously.

Remember to enclose a SASE and your manuscript.

Mailers & Postcards

I would recommend getting a copy of Children’s Writers & Illustrators Market (CWIM) and go through and choose a highly focused and selective list of about 40-50 publishers. Choose publishers that publish materials that look like your illustrations or read like your writing. Now, I realize that this is going to take some time to research. Go online and become familiar with the publishers books. Go to the bookstore and look at them in person.

After you have a solid list, design a postcard. If you are an illustrator, showcase some of your work. I would recommend one piece on the cover with your name, email and web address.

On the back, put your name again with a relevant title, like Children’s Book Illustrator, etc. List any books you have illustrated with publishers name and accolades the book has received. List your web address with something like, “to see more work…” go here. If you have an agent, list the agent and maybe their logo and contact info. If you are a member of SCBWI (Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators), list that. Often times, editors will give preferential treatment to members over some who is not a member. If you are a member, it just communicates that you are very serious about your work. If you happen to have another small piece of art related to the front piece, or a small portion of it, you might want to add that.

Be diligent in mailing out a postcard 3-4 times per year. Book publishers and editors enjoy getting mail with fun pictures to look at. I’ve heard that if they like your drawing and illustration style, they will pin up your postcard in their office!! That generally means you are staying on the top of their minds as they look for a project to assign you!

Reading Carnival Bridges Reading Gap

Irish Elementary School in Fort Collins, Colorado has a new reading program called “The Reading Carnival” to make reading fun and motivate children to keep up their reading skills during the summer. Redeemer Lutheran Church partnered with Irish to provide food to launch the carnival. The event was held Thursday, May 14, 2009.

Another elementary school in town conducted a book drive to collect lightly used books for all ages of children from kindergarten to 6th grade. Parents and children came to enjoy a free meal and hear the librarian speak about the reading programs at the public library. In the gym, a local drama team acted out stories that had been written by the school children. This was most amusing!

At the end of the evening, all the food had been eaten and all of the books had been taken home by the children. It was truly a successful evening in getting books for reading into children’s hands.

It is a humbling experience to see how grateful for the books these children really are. Most of them come from impoverished and sometimes illiterate families. It was a fantastic experience to get to serve these people in such an enriching way.

Design process for Illustrating Children’s Books: Part 2

Storyboards, those are important! I presume that most illustrators use these. However, I like them for a variety of reasons. A thumbnail size storyboard for a 32 page picture book fits all on one side of an 8.5”x11” sheet of paper. This gives an “eagle-eye view” of the entire book at a glance. The pages are laid out in “spreads,” which means the left and right page together as the book is laying open. I can see the action movement throughout the pages. If there is something not right and needs to be adjusted, I will know it here in this stage.


A comp sized storyboard is just as effective. Again, it allows you to see the movement and make any changes with ease. I like to post these around the room and feel like I am inside the story. Pixar works this way. Watch the trailers on the DVD’s of how they make the movies. They will talk about this whole creative process.

If you took the storyboard in the comp sizing and put it into book format, it would be a dummy. A DUMMY is an idea for a book that needs to be finished out into final illustrations. When submitting an author/illustrator book idea, you would submit a manuscript along with a dummy. Use pencils or ink to sketch all the pages to the 32 page book. Fully render the cover and 2-3 of the interior spreads. Don’t make it anything too finished. Leave the door open for the editors and art directors to make adjustments. Otherwise, they may reject it quicker, feeling like there is no room for changes or improvements. Make sure the art makes your eyes move across the page and begs your to turn the page. Don’t forget to plan for the text. Don’t send the only dummy. Make Xerox copies and reserve a few for yourself. You never know, you might not get it back or simple need another one.

After you have the final signatures from the editors or author (self-publishing) for the comps you provided, you start on the final illustrations. Take care to do your very best work because this is your image in the public eye. People will know the illustrator by the work in the books they have at home. You may even get to go out and help promote the book. With this comes autographing and meeting children and parents eye to eye.

Design process for Illustrating Children’s Books: Part 1

Everything has a developmental process and children’s books are no different! I want to talk about the design process that I go through as an illustrator to design my books.

If I happen to be the writer and illustrator for a book, I would write my manuscript first and arrive at a “final draft,” or I would receive a final draft from a writer. After reading it and digesting it for a bit, I would start by producing a thumbnail sketch.

Thumbnail sketches are a series of small drawings to visualize an idea quickly. They can range in size from ¾” to 2” or more. It should not be very fancy or detailed. This drawing should only take about 30 seconds or less to produce. This is where it would be beneficial to sketch several for each page. That way you have a few compositions to choose from. Once you have an idea of the page design, the next step is to produce a comp.

Comps are a bigger more detailed sketch (5”x7” to 8.5”x11”, or bigger) of the chosen thumbnail. Where thumbnails are usually drawn in graphite or ink, comps are usually sketched out and then finished in color if needed. This gives the best idea of the final page. If you happen to be illustrating for a publishing house, this is the stage that editors and art directors become interested in seeing sketches. Any problems can easily be caught here and changed without any issue. At any rate, it is much better than redoing a final drawing.

Marketing Yourself for Writer and Illustrators

I am going to talk about how I market myself as an illustrator, however writers can do the same. Just adapt the “recipe” to meet your needs.

I have a basic, black portfolio that showcases 10-15 of my best works. In the inside pocket, I keep tearsheets (8.5 X 11 sheets of printed examples of illustration), business cards and brochures. I might even put a few bookmarks in as “take aways” for the editors to remember me by.

My website acts as my online portfolio. It showcases more work that I would be able to in my portfolio. I like the website idea because it gives me a medium to tell a little bit about myself. This gives my viewers a chance to feel like they “already know me.” The site is designed to reflect my personal style and I have kept it clean, simple and easy to navigate.

Find something to Blog about. Give personal tips, review top websites on a particular topic, post samples of your art each week, Keep viewers coming back for more! Sometimes I participate in www.illustrationfriday.com. It is a site that gives you a particular topic from which to work from. Then you can post your piece for others to see during that week. Every Friday is a new topic. I used this to build my portfolio the first time around. I had a good time with it!

Design a brochure with samples of work from your portfolio. Not everyone will look at your website no matter how many times you tell them to. Much easier to hand them a flyer! Excellent leave behind for a portfolio.

Consider having some mailers designed. 3-4 mailings per year of new work to book publishers gives them a good idea of what you can do for them! They love getting samples of work. They will file your examples for future manuscripts that they think will fit.

Business cards and / or bookmarks are great leave-behinds and continue to work as TOMA (Top of Mind Awareness).

CHILDREN’S WRITERS & ILLUSTRATOR’S MARKET is a resource that lists all publishers of books, magazines, etc., editors, contact information and submission info. You can find this at Barnes & Noble, at the library in the resource section, etc. The publication comes out yearly and is a must in marketing to publishers.

SOCIETY OF CHILDREN’S BOOK WRITERS & ILLUSTRATORS (SCBWI)
http://www.scbwi.org
A membership based society that is nationwide. “The SCBWI acts as a network for the exchange of knowledge between writers, illustrators, editors, publishers, agents, librarians, educators, booksellers and others involved with literature for young people.” SCBWI puts on several big national conferences every year and also locally within your area. I would recommend looking into the society. Book publishers tend to give more consideration to members of the society for writing and illustrating before others who are not members.

Finding a Publisher

On the search for a publisher...

There are hundreds of publishers that produce children’s picture books. I recommend doing some research before sending your manuscript out. It will save you a lot of money and time in the long run. Plan a “field trip” to the closest book store and look at books in the same genre/style that you have written. Copy down the publisher and mailing information. Then go to the library and look through the current Children’s Writer’s & Illustrator’s Market (CWIM) for the addresses and names of the contact editors and art directors you would submit to. It would not be a bad idea to call the publisher to make sure that staffing has not changed since CWIM has came out. CWIM also lists the type of book that each publisher is looking for, so you can verify if your manuscript will fit in with the publisher’s needs.

Attach a brief cover letter to the manuscript and include a self-addressed stamped envelope with enough postage for the manuscripts return.

Once you have mailed your manuscript, start writing another. Please realize that getting a book accepted can take many years and many rejections. Do Not Quit, Do Not Lose Hope! I heard the Harry Potter series was declined by between six and eight publishers and got rejection after rejection. Well, you know the end of that story – the rest is history!

Submitting your Manuscript

Step 4: Submitting Your Manuscript

It’s now time to submit your manuscript!

If you are not an illustrator and do not plan on illustrating the book, I suggest that you do not try. Drawings that are not professional will give your manuscript an amateur appearance. This may detract from your writings and give the editor the wrong impression. Publishers have a “gallery” of professional illustrators that they like to work with. They will choose one of the artists and assign your manuscript upon acceptance.

Type your manuscript. Double space it with 1” margins on white paper. Center the title about a third of the way down the page. Put your name, address, email address and phone number in the upper left corner. Your name and title of the book should appear on subsequent pages, and all pages should be numbered in order. You may add a blank line where the page turns happen in the real book. Do not add art directions to your text. Your text should be strong enough to stand on its own. The words should evoke a pictoral story line in the editors mind without any prompting.

If you would like to illustrate the book:

Type your manuscript same as above. Include a dummy. Make a “paste up book” with the correct number of pages stapled (picture books are generally 32 pages with about 28 pages of art). Sketch out the pages. Paste up the text blocks on all the page spreads. Consider adding 3 or 4 of the final art pieces in the dummy. This will give the art director an idea of the finished style of art. NEVER send original art.

Step 3: Edit, Edit, Edit!

After you have a first draft of your manuscript, the first thing you need to do is cut part of what you have written. Most editors prefer that the word count does not go over 1000. You could plan to cut out about 10% of your writing right off the top. Any word that is not 100% necessary should go. Don’t waste your word count describing an object or a character, instead, leave a note to the illustrator if this is important. The illustrator will be able to convey the idea graphically if it is something like physical attributes. This falls under the “show, not tell” rule of storytelling, films, and book writing and illustrating.

A characters’ action should always advance the plot. Don’t waste your word count explaining that Bobby got up in the morning, brushed his teeth, and ate breakfast if he missed the school bus. Your readers will figure out that he got up and got ready if you start your story with him leaving the house on the way to school.

After you have trimmed the unnecessary material from your story. Take a look at your character. Is he or she developed? Will children care about him? A child should be able to describe several aspects about a characters personality. Take a look at the secondary characters. They should contribute to the story in some, less defined way.

Take a look at the dialogue. Each character should have their own unique voice; children should talk like children. Make sure that the dialogue is advancing the plot forward or give insight into someone’s personality. “Give me back my hat!” Jill stamped her foot and glared at Bobby.

It may take a few re-writes before the story is as tight as it can be. Authors find it helpful to put it away for several days between re-writes. This helps to give some fresh perspective on the piece and allows you to see the rough spots easier.

Writing Children's Picture Books

Part 2: First Draft Writing

“Picture book” refers to any children’s book that contains illustrations on every page and is not broken up by chapters. Generally, “picture books” will mean a story for children ages 3-7, who are beyond “board book” concepts (ie. Shapes, colors, numbers, animals, etc.)

The first step is to pick a topic for your book. The best books use everyday events and activities from a child’s life. These ideas can come from anywhere; an event from your own childhood, something that happened from your child at school, something that happened at home, etc.

Rather than bombarding children with lessons everyday of their lives, I would urge you to write to entertain. Any message from the story should be conveyed by the main characters’ actions.

Once you have your topic, you develop your main character. This character can be anything from real people to animals, monsters or aliens! No matter who your main character is, it is important that he or she embodies the child’s point of view. The story should be about a child’s concerns and how a child sees the world. If using an animal, it should be like a child in disguise, and live a very childlike existence. Have the animal dressed in clothes and using inanimate objects that people would use.

Start by writing 2-3 sentences summarizing your book. If this gives you trouble, your story is too complicated for a picture book. Texts in picture books run from 100-1500 words, with about 1000 words being the average. My suggestion would be to keep your story simple and to the point. AND – always end the story on a happy note.

Write your first draft. Tell the story from the main characters point of view. You can either use first person (I said) or third person (Jill said). Keep the number of secondary characters to a minimum because you don’t have enough space to develop these characters.

Tell your story in a series of actions with dialogue scattered throughout. Let the words convey concrete, visual images. Children between the ages of 3-7 only understand what they can see and feel. They don’t think abstractly. Emotions have to be described in sensory terms (chattering teeth to show being cold, etc).

Writing Children’s Picture Books

Part 1: The Overview

Of all the different mediums a writer could write for, children’s picture books are probably the most challenging. The text is usually short, therefore every word is very important and must “earn its own way to the table.” In a longer story, a flat paragraph can go undetected, however in a 32 page book, a few weak words can mean trouble for you plot.

Good picture books capture the essence of the story through the words. It’s up to the illustrator to tell the rest of the story. Picture books are meant to be read aloud to children, therefore the rhythm of the words are very important. The trick is to get the text to sounds like poetry. Choosing the words very carefully and rewriting as many times as it takes.

The average picture book is no longer than 1500 words. In this short space, a writer must develop a story with convincing characters. The writer must also set a mood and a scene from a child’s life. Every sentence contains a single, concrete idea and every two to three sentences should convey a different scene that can be illustrated and communicated visually.

After writing the first draft of the story, go back through the text again and delete every unnecessary word. Go through again and replace some of the ordinary words with a selection of deeper words.

After your story has been revised several times and the text is tightly written like a poem, then you are ready to send it to the editors.

Here We Go!

I am pleased to be starting this children’s picture book review blog. It has a scope of covering all different aspects of children’s picture books from self publishing, illustration, other illustrators and their work, book review for parents & teachers, tips & tricks, book production and publication.

You see, there is a wide variety of topics to talk about regarding children’s picture books. I hope to be able to cover it all here. If you are a parent or teacher of young children, you will be able to find reviews of new books set to be released. If you are a self publisher, I hope you will be able to find some helpful insights here.

I wanted to introduce myself briefly. My name is Shaundra Schultz and I am a children’s book illustrator. I primarily help self publishers get their book illustrated and then published. I have always loved children’s illustration and now I am pleased to be serving writers who want to see their dream become reality! I have 1 book published as an illustrator and I am eager to start on one of the two manuscripts I currently have on my desk.

Formerly, I had been in the graphic design field designing for small companies here in town. The work started to dry up and I made the decision to “go for the gusto” and do what I know I was called to do – Children’s Picture Book Illustration! So, here we are. Today, I visit elementary schools hoping to inspire kids all over to follow their dreams!