Writers & Illustrators seeking advice
This month I've been away a lot, doing school visits and book festival events, and I haven't been able to keep on top of answering my emails, they've been piling up in my Inbox. I've also had loads of direct messages on all the different social media plaforms I use, many from people who would like to learn more about illustration or about getting published, and I can't deal with them all. Apologies!
One thing I definitely can't do is preview people's unpublished work, partly because it leaves me open to claims of plagarism if I'm doing something similar. And I've found over time that if I don't respond at all, it's not a big problem, but if I do respond, and in any less than an enthusiastic (let-me-take-you-to-my-editor/agent/publisher/co-author) way, people can get very nasty with me. It's rather scary!
BUT I can offer some tips! I know this isn't what everyone wants, but hopefully you might be able to find some of the things here that you are hoping to find out about. Feel free to leave more questions in the comments and I'll do my best to answer them in the not-too-distant future.
1. FAQ page! The first place to start is the Frequently Asked Questions page on my website. Scroll down to find answers to the more business-related questions and answers.
2. Here's a blog post with some tips from my online courses with Curtis Brown Creative. You'd need to pay to enrol on the course, but these tips are free.
3. Writers aproaching illustrators: I've had lots of colleagues refer people to these tips for finding an illustrator. (Do you need to find your own illustrator? How can you go about it in the most professional way?)
4. Should you go to art college? I can't give you a definitive answer, but here are some thoughts about it.
5. Tips for finding your illustration 'style'
6. Top Tip for putting together a picture book
7. Want to make comics but don't know where to start?
8. Want to find out more about how properly crediting illustrators (and translators) is a win-win situation for everyone? (Website designed and built by the fabulous Soni Speight.)
9. 25 Tips for Hosting an Author Visit (but useful for authors, too, who don't know what to expect!)
10. Want to find an agent? I haven't written a blog post about this, but my top tip is to look at writers' and illustrators' profiles on social media and on their websites, and see who represents them. Follow the agents on social media and try to get a sense of what interests them by examining whom they represent. Sometimes they'll even specifically say what they're looking for. You don't need an agent, but it's an enormous help to have one, especially with negotiating contracts. The best time to get one is usually right after you've been offered a book deal by a publisher, because it shows that you can already find work, that your work is marketable. If you've already collected names and contact details of promising-looking agents, you can contact them immediately and explain that you need help with a pending deal. I honestly don't know how many to contact at once; some agents won't be pleased at all if you've contacted ten other agents all at the same time, but then again, if you only contact one and they don't answer within a week or a month, and your contract is hanging, that's a problem, too. Your first book contract will probably have terrible terms that need negotiating to make them reasonable, and unless you've really learned about contracts, you'll need help - a lawyer or possibly the Society of Authors if you can't get an agent. Be sure you understand absolutely everything in your contract.
Be sure to do your research, not all agents are equal: some will be the best help you've ever had with your career, and others will be such a burden that they can actually lose you work because publishers don't like working with them. And be careful they're not a packaging company or vanity press sort of thing: you will never have to pay to get taken on by an agent, they take a negotiated percentage of your earnings. A literary agent usually takes a lower percentage (10%-25%, depending on if it's UK, foreign rights, film, etc) than an illustration agent (as much as 35%), so if you're thinking of writing and illustrating books, I'd look for a literary agent. But if you're looking for help with getting advertising illustration work, greeting cards, etc, you'd do best to look for an agent who specialises in those areas; a literary agent may not know much. I've known author-artists who have had more than one agent, covering different areas (books vs greeting cards, for example) or territories (say UK, USA).
11. Want to find a publisher? I'd give similar advice to the last one: look at what publishers are putting out and try to find something that's at least a little bit similar to what you're trying to do. If you look on my FAQ page, I recommend the latest edition of the Writers' & Artists' Yearbook to find names for addressing your proposals.
And same as the last answer, be sure they're the real deal, do your homework: you shouldn't have to pay to get published, they should pay you.
12. But why won't you personally help me... don't you spend lots of time encouraging children to write and draw their own books? Yes, but that's different, it's in the context of an event where the organisers are looking out for me and I know what's expected of me. When it's a stranger, or someone I only know a little bit, there are no boundaries or rules, and you'd be surprised by all the awkward, frightening, and even heartbreaking things that can come out of these encounters. So please don't be offended if I don't write back personally! It's self-preservation: I need to protect myself a bit so I can do my own work and not feel scared and guilty because I can't help everyone all the time. But I hope these links help, and do feel free to ask more questions in the comments.
One thing I definitely can't do is preview people's unpublished work, partly because it leaves me open to claims of plagarism if I'm doing something similar. And I've found over time that if I don't respond at all, it's not a big problem, but if I do respond, and in any less than an enthusiastic (let-me-take-you-to-my-editor/agent/publisher/co-author) way, people can get very nasty with me. It's rather scary!
BUT I can offer some tips! I know this isn't what everyone wants, but hopefully you might be able to find some of the things here that you are hoping to find out about. Feel free to leave more questions in the comments and I'll do my best to answer them in the not-too-distant future.
1. FAQ page! The first place to start is the Frequently Asked Questions page on my website. Scroll down to find answers to the more business-related questions and answers.
2. Here's a blog post with some tips from my online courses with Curtis Brown Creative. You'd need to pay to enrol on the course, but these tips are free.
3. Writers aproaching illustrators: I've had lots of colleagues refer people to these tips for finding an illustrator. (Do you need to find your own illustrator? How can you go about it in the most professional way?)
4. Should you go to art college? I can't give you a definitive answer, but here are some thoughts about it.
5. Tips for finding your illustration 'style'
6. Top Tip for putting together a picture book
7. Want to make comics but don't know where to start?
8. Want to find out more about how properly crediting illustrators (and translators) is a win-win situation for everyone? (Website designed and built by the fabulous Soni Speight.)
9. 25 Tips for Hosting an Author Visit (but useful for authors, too, who don't know what to expect!)
10. Want to find an agent? I haven't written a blog post about this, but my top tip is to look at writers' and illustrators' profiles on social media and on their websites, and see who represents them. Follow the agents on social media and try to get a sense of what interests them by examining whom they represent. Sometimes they'll even specifically say what they're looking for. You don't need an agent, but it's an enormous help to have one, especially with negotiating contracts. The best time to get one is usually right after you've been offered a book deal by a publisher, because it shows that you can already find work, that your work is marketable. If you've already collected names and contact details of promising-looking agents, you can contact them immediately and explain that you need help with a pending deal. I honestly don't know how many to contact at once; some agents won't be pleased at all if you've contacted ten other agents all at the same time, but then again, if you only contact one and they don't answer within a week or a month, and your contract is hanging, that's a problem, too. Your first book contract will probably have terrible terms that need negotiating to make them reasonable, and unless you've really learned about contracts, you'll need help - a lawyer or possibly the Society of Authors if you can't get an agent. Be sure you understand absolutely everything in your contract.
Be sure to do your research, not all agents are equal: some will be the best help you've ever had with your career, and others will be such a burden that they can actually lose you work because publishers don't like working with them. And be careful they're not a packaging company or vanity press sort of thing: you will never have to pay to get taken on by an agent, they take a negotiated percentage of your earnings. A literary agent usually takes a lower percentage (10%-25%, depending on if it's UK, foreign rights, film, etc) than an illustration agent (as much as 35%), so if you're thinking of writing and illustrating books, I'd look for a literary agent. But if you're looking for help with getting advertising illustration work, greeting cards, etc, you'd do best to look for an agent who specialises in those areas; a literary agent may not know much. I've known author-artists who have had more than one agent, covering different areas (books vs greeting cards, for example) or territories (say UK, USA).
11. Want to find a publisher? I'd give similar advice to the last one: look at what publishers are putting out and try to find something that's at least a little bit similar to what you're trying to do. If you look on my FAQ page, I recommend the latest edition of the Writers' & Artists' Yearbook to find names for addressing your proposals.
And same as the last answer, be sure they're the real deal, do your homework: you shouldn't have to pay to get published, they should pay you.
12. But why won't you personally help me... don't you spend lots of time encouraging children to write and draw their own books? Yes, but that's different, it's in the context of an event where the organisers are looking out for me and I know what's expected of me. When it's a stranger, or someone I only know a little bit, there are no boundaries or rules, and you'd be surprised by all the awkward, frightening, and even heartbreaking things that can come out of these encounters. So please don't be offended if I don't write back personally! It's self-preservation: I need to protect myself a bit so I can do my own work and not feel scared and guilty because I can't help everyone all the time. But I hope these links help, and do feel free to ask more questions in the comments.