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Publishing children's books:
how can I succeed?
A successful writer is often
a humble person, who knows his readers, makes them curious and informs them
gently without forcing his opinion on them. It's a person who is burning to
write. He doesn't write to a Publisher things like :"Please read my story,
my children loved it". He writes" I love to write. I am burning to write!"
A story must sell to be accepted by a Publishing house as setting up and printing
a book is very expensive. If an illustrator has a definite style he should
work for one Publisher at the time or otherwise he might be competing with
himself and stop his own sales.
The most requested books are
the ones for toddlers but because there are so many around it is important
to be new and different to catch the attention of the Publisher. Creative
directors are now looking for wonderful, dazzling and exciting styles; also,
keep in mind that the more complex the story, the more complex the illustration.
A Publisher is always interested in selling the foreign rights of a book.
There is a shortage of good writers and far too many illustrators around,
so a good illustrator who comes up with a good story, although a rarity, is
an excellent thing for the Publisher.
The best thing is to start up
as an illustrator for hire and then come up with your own stories. From the
day your artwork is appreciated to the day it is published a year will probably
have gone by. Often, a Publisher who just loves your work when he first views
it, after months of sketches and countless board meetings will come to you
and inform you that your style won't sell and they are dropping the whole
thing. Don't worry and make sure that from the beginning you have put everything
in writing and they pay for your work! When you send material to a Publisher
for a story, don't send it to other Publishers as well. They hate to know
that you regard them the same as the competition!
The best thing to do is to give
your roughs to one company and tell them that if you don't hear from them
for a month then you will have to start thinking about another company. Keep
in mind that the age rage 8-11 book usually has colour covers and b/w pages
inside. The cover is often done by a different illustrator. No detailed and
delicate artwork will print well on the cheap paper used on those books. So
present adequate sketches. Am I good enough? An illustrator must be able to
do several things. First of all, he/she must be able to draw children well.
Sooner or later in a children's book, a child will have to appear, and it
has to look like a child. If you can't draw children, go see them in their
play-groups. Ask permission first, don't just lurk there and be mistaken for
somebody dangerous.
Draw still life and don't give
up on the first week, keep doing it for years! You must also be able to draw
your characters from different angles, in various expressions and ages, keeping
the proportions right. A character has to look the same throughout the story.
Another point to keep in mind is that your personages have to look cute and
have the "aaaah" factor. Cute doesn't mean that it has to look Disney, it
has to be your own cute personage. Don't put in your portfolio a child that
in the first page looks like a toddler, in the second page looks like a 3
y.o., and in the cover looks like a new born baby! The third point is that
you need to be able to draw different ethnic groups without stereotyping them.
How good are you with drawing
different, cute, little English, Arabic, Italian, African, Russian or Albanian
children? The fourth point is to leave nostalgia and retro out of your portfolio.
Don't dress children like you did thirty years ago, the readers won't relate
to them. Don't talk down to children, don't stereotype mums and dads and never
do an illustration for a writer. It is only the Publisher who decides who
will illustrate a book. And what he likes is the rough version of the story
and some sample illustrations, so that they can make the changes.
A good book
The best ideas are always the
simple ideas, but with that personal twist. Avoid rhymes as this means hell
when it comes to translate the book in other languages. If you are creating
personages like the Teletubbies, create a rough dummy book with all the character
styles and possible stories. Think of how the type, the space and the colour
are going to be used. If your book makes your childnre fall asleep,it is not
a very good book! (Although it might be useful for a tired Mum!) A good book
keeps you curious and awake with its nice rhythm.
Have you read Harry Potter's
first three books? Ask yourself why you can't put them down! And why the fourth
one is so boring from the middle onward? Because it waffles and waffles with
long boring conversations just to fill up a space.
Drawings and styles
If you can draw human bodies
well- then you have a market in the horror/mystery books. Most Publishers
won't look at you if you are not published, so before approaching them try
to work for some magazines that do inserts etc. Picture books pay better than
educational books and they take lots of concentration to be prepared.
Approach only the Publishers
that fit with your style. Look in the libraries at "Books for keeps" which
is a catalogue of children's books. Don't approach Disney with a portfolio
full of bloody scenes and murders... How much does a book cost to the Publisher?
How this influences a rejection Every year a big size British Publisher could
be publishing around 180 new books, half of which are in b/w. There are sound
economical reasons for this; each year in UK we publish 8000 new children's'
books, more than anywhere else in the world.
There are lots of paperback
books which sell for a retail price of £3,99, and there is a lot of competition
to deal with. Half of the price of the book goes to the Publisher. Setting
up a book is very expensive, so many Publishers do their money by selling
the foreign rights abroad. In this way, they do a large print run that covers
many countries and they offer the whole package to the companies. The colour
part gets printed all in one go (apart of language that print from left to
right), and then the text comes in one passage.
Printers love working with high
print runs! It is difficult for a book to sell abroad -unless it relates to
lots of different cultures. So publishers get to know their foreign clients
very well and think of them when they are attending children's books' Fairs,
(Bologna, Frankfurt) selecting what they like from the hundreds of books they
have. A Publisher will usually around 20 appointments of half an hour each
for each day of a Fair. They give to the clients the dummy version of their
books; these clients are coming from abroad because they are searching for
a different, fresher look.
There are far too many children's
publishers and none of them are doing lots of money compared to other sectors;
to the illustrators it is recommended to avoid drawing things that only apply
to their country (red post box, milk man, turban) and use instead universal
symbols (rabbits, frogs, teddies, sun, moon). It is a good idea to browse
the book fairs for inspiration, but trying to see a Publisher could be very
difficult. Leave them your card and try to get a contact name for an appointment.
You don't want to show your thick and beautiful portfolio to somebody is dying
to talk to his next client, do you?
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