How to write or illustrate your book
Here at Make Art That Sells we have three courses jam-packed with information and tips on how to illustrate and pitch your book to get work in some of the hottest markets:
- My Kid Book Pitch – writing and/or illustrating your own children’s picture book
- Illustrating Children’s Books – how to get into the world of illustrating beautiful picture books
- My Arty Book Pitch – write and illustrate your own ‘arty’ non-fiction book
We give you the tools, insights and hints showing you how to write or illustrate your book, and then we share our insider knowledge within each course on the best way to pitch your work. This information is gold, and we’re sharing some of it here for free!
By student Jen Jamieson for My Kid Book Pitch
How to Find Publishers
Once you’ve written your brilliant children’s book story in My Kid Book Pitch using art agent Lilla’s playful but powerful Make a Story Recipe and checked it with her handy Pitch Evaluation checklist, you are ready to submit your book to publishers!
Grab your copy of the Pitch Evaluation checklist inside our freebie library. Get access to all our FREE resources here.
In Week 4 of My Kid Book Pitch, you’ll get a fabulous download called “How to find publishers: Submit your story”. Here is an extract from that download:
Now that you have your text, you are ready to submit to your work to publishers!
1. One of the best ways to find publishers is look at books in a shop, library, online, or in your stack of books, and make a note of the publishers of the books you love. (You might even find the names of editors and art directors listed on the title pages of books.) Google the publishing company to find their submissions policy, usually listed on their site. You can simply search for the name of the publishing company and add the word ‘submissions’ to the search. Follow their policies.
2. In many cases you need to be represented by an illustration agent or a literary agent. Google ‘literary agencies’. Note that many illustration agencies do not also act as literary agencies. Ask in the private My Kid Book Pitch Facebook group for recommendations.
3. A fabulous resource jam-packed with contact information and submissions policies of both publishers and literary agents is the Children’s Writer’s and Illustrator’s Market book.
Artwork by Make Art That Sells student Jacqui Langeland for Illustrating Children’s Books
Art agent (and author) Lilla answers some frequently asked questions about how to find publishers:
- You can follow up a month or two by email with a short note.
- Yes, you can submit to multiple people. This is called multiple or simultaneous submissions.
- Yes, you can write a new story and send that along at any point.
- Writers can simply send a word doc or PDF of the text in an email or by mail.
- Author/illustrators should send a word doc or PDF plus a spread or two by email or mail. Also, a dummy is nice to send. I have my artists put together the text on a word doc or PDF, a spread or two, and a full dummy. The dummy is in black and white with a few pages in color, usually in the beginning. Some also do a character page. You can learn more about illustrating for picture books and creating a pitch in my Illustrating Children’s Books course.
Remember why you want to do this, and go for it! Keep writing. Get that book deal!
How to query art directors and publishers
In Illustrating Children’s Books, you get WEEKLY art director’s cheat sheets from brilliant children’s book art director Zoë Tucker. In the cheat sheet titled Whose door to knock on, Zoë writes:
“I’ve done my job for a long time and one of my absolute pet hates is a misjudged submission. It’s a terrible waste of your time and money and of my time to send a sample out that isn’t suitable. I don’t mean one that isn’t good, I mean one that isn’t suitable for the kind of work I do.
Every day I get tons of junk email, and I’m sure you do too. What do you do with it? Bin it of course! Harsh but true. The last thing you want is your carefully crafted pitch ending up in the bin. So, let’s think about whose door you should knock on and how to do it.
Do your research
Please don’t blanket email every contact you have—check they actually do the kind of work you want to get. Take some time out and sit in your local bookshop, or library and just look at the books. Ask yourself:
1. What do I like and why?
2. Does my work realistically sit alongside this?
3. Who publishes this kind of book? Then take a note of the publisher.
Get digging
You’ve now got a list of possible publishers to approach. You’re going to need to research their whole list, and their submissions policy. Look online. Most publishing companies will have a current catalog to look through. They will also have a page about submission details, usually under the contact heading.
YOUR AIM: To target specific companies, whose books suit the style of your work.
Character emotions page by Make Art That Sells student Jo Podmore for Illustrating Children’s Books
Personality and individuality
Each publishing house has a look and style. Try and get a feel for it, and always ask yourself, “Can I see my work sitting alongside their current list?” This is a hard thing to judge and you need to be as objective as possible. I love the work of Sara Ogilvie for example, but I can’t draw like her. You are looking for a likeminded aesthetic.
Here’s an example. I work for a couple of different publishers here in the UK. They each have a personality. Look the books up online and see what you think.
1. The list I commission at Scholastic is young, for age 2–6 years old. It’s colorful, accessible and classy. It is very character led, and my publisher likes a good story, so we tend to do more ‘storybooks’ than concept driven projects. See www.scholastic.co.uk or www.zoetucker.co.uk
2. I also do some work for Wide Eye and Francis Lincoln. Their list is very different. They have a wholesome, human angle to their texts, they are inclusive and diverse. The artwork they commission is unusual and contemporary. They produce concept-driven books. They take a few more risks with their artist choice! See www.quarto.com.”
How to pitch a book, and how to get a book published
What to include in a pitch
Art agent Lilla writes: “You’ve now got all the pieces for your stellar pitch!
Editors and art directors NEED great stories and pitches! That’s their job. That’s what they love to do. They are constantly looking for the next wonderful story. It could be yours. All you need to do is finish up your goodness and send it out.
So you’ve researched your publishers and now it’s time to pitch,
Lilla breaks down in My Kid Book Pitch what to include in a pitch for both writers and illustrators, and for mailing and for emailing. Here’s what she says about what to include in a pitch that you’re sending by email:
Writers:
- In the body of your email, briefly introduce yourself and state why you’re sending to them. (Compliment them. For example, mention a book they published that you love, or something). Then, add your blurb paragraph and a tiny bio. Then write a nice close, and add your contact information.
- Include your text as an attachment, double spaced, with your name and contact information on top, saved as a PDF.
- Your dummy with text. You can send your 2-page storyboard dummy that you did this week as a 2-page PDF. If you have a lot of text, you may wish to send 16 spreads on 16 sheets, as a PDF. Number the pages. Basic sketches are fine to add but not necessary.
Illustrators:
- In the body of your email, state why you’re sending to them. (Compliment them. For example, mention a book they published that you love, etc). Add your blurb paragraph and a tiny bio. Then write a nice close, and add your contact information.
- The text on a page, double spaced, with your name and contact information on top, saved as a PDF.
- Your dummy with b/w illustrations and text, saved as PDF. Number the pages. Make sure your file size is not too large, under 5 -10 MB.
- 1-2 illustrated spreads from your book with text. Also you can include a page of your character in a variety of expressions and poses. Save all this in one PDF. Make sure your file size is not too large, under 5 -10 MB.
Raccoon emotions page by student Dani Knight
Need help with your character page and the illustrated spreads? Take my course Illustrating Children’s Books which I teach with top children’s book art director and published children’s picture book author, Zoë Tucker. See www.makeartthatsells.com for our full list of courses.
So, we’ve covered children’s books. How about pitching your non-fiction arty book?
Be sure to check out Lilla’s FREE five-part video series Writing, Illustrating and Pitching Non-fiction books, which you can find in the Make Art That Sells Freebie Library here.
Here’s what you get in this amazing FREE course:
- Part 1: What is an illustrated non-fiction (or arty) book?
- Part 2: How to have an amazing book career, even if you’re not a writer – with lots of examples of artists’ book careers
- Part 3: What are all the cool ways you can design your arty book? Lilla shows you ideas and examples
- Part 4: So, how do you get an arty book deal?!
- Part 5: How to manifest your book deal
Plus don’t miss Lilla’s full online course, My Arty Book Pitch, to learn how you can create your own winning pitch in just five weeks. Find out more and sign up here.
top tips for first time children’s book illustrators
Here are 3 tips from brilliant children’s book art director and picture book author, Zoë Tucker, on building your illustrator profile, taken from our game-changing Illustrating Children’s Books course.
Join Zoë in Illustrating Children’s Books
The best portfolio in the world won’t get any work unless people can find you. Here are Zoë’s top five tips for building a good profile as an illustrator:
TIP 1: Develop good work
First and foremost, create a rich and varied body of work that confidently shows you can work in color and black and white line.
Can you draw animals AND humans? GREAT, show me! If you can’t, practice and aim to add this to your portfolio as soon as possible.
Include character development, full images in color and some black and white vignettes.
TIP 2: Now SHOUT ABOUT IT, but in a cool way.
I get frustrated and bored if I’m hounded by the same artists and agents with the same work. Keep me interested by showing me new work at regular intervals. 2-3 month updates are fine, not every 2-3 weeks. Email/newsletter updates or postcards are good.
TIP 3: Love social media
I love Instagram. It’s immediate and fun. I will often dig around on there for new artists. I’m an expert stalker!
Don’t be afraid to share your sketches, work in progress and finished pieces (assuming your client is happy for you to share).
As Lilla says “If you don’t show me what you’ve got, I don’t know what you can do”.
It’s nice to see a bit of behind the scenes too; your studio, things you’re into and people you mix with – it’s OK to be human. I’m not interested in drunk Saturday night photos though!
Publishers who accept direct submissions
Here are some publishers who accept direct submissions for children’s books:
- Chronicle Books
- Quarto: Quarto has several different imprints which each has its own editorial focus, so be sure to check them out in order so you know which one will suit your book best.
- Flying Eye
- Rocket Bird accept open submissions on one day a year! Keep an eye on their social media for details
- Flash Light Press
Here are some publishers who accept direct submissions for illustrated non-fiction books:
- Chronicle Books
- Quarto: Quarto has several different imprints which each has its own editorial focus, so be sure to check them out in order so you know which one will suit your book best.
- David and Charles
How to find an agent for your book
Many publishers do not accept direct submissions for illustrated non-fiction books, which means you’ll need to submit your work to agents to get represented, and the agents will then submit your work to publishers on your behalf.
In My Arty Book Pitch, Lilla will give you tips and advice on how to find both art and literary agents who represent artists who do arty books, including actual agencies you can approach.
The front and back cover of Sandy’s Cousen’s book, which will be published by David & Charles. Sandy got her publishing deal after taking My Arty Book Pitch.
Here are her tips for finding art agents who represent artists who do arty books. Illustrate and pitch your book…
Finding art agents that rep arty books
1. Google illustration agents or illustration agencies.
2. Check out the agency’s site to see if they represent arty books. Do you see any on the site? Do they mention anything about it?
3. If you like them, and they do arty books (and not just illustrate the books, but represent author/illustrators) and your work seems like it would fit in nicely, add them to a new doc called illustration agents to pitch to in the PROPOSAL folder.
4. Copy and paste their submissions policy.
5. Make an excel sheet or word doc to keep track of who you’re going to send your proposal or query to.
6. Send your stuff to them!
Now imagine seeing your dreamy book on the shelf of your local bookstore.
Let’s get started! Take a look at all our courses here: we can’t wait to see you in class!
