Excited? You bet!

My very first children’s book is being published this month. I was found by an Americsn author after three years of disappointments and I loved the story and the challenge.

From day one author and writer worked closely, do self-publishing, so not traditional publishing, where often Illustrators are allocated and have little if any communication with the author. It can leave a bitter taste for the author. Their ‘baby’ is shared and not equally. The artist can drop out, the publishing house can insist on many changes. But you need the publishing house to promote you.

Well that’s a lot of hand-over. Your not in control, and you can’t choose your market. 

Self-publishing is getting better and you have control. OK you need a budget to market, your need to wear ten hats, but you can end up with a good relationship between author and illustrator and you can control the outcome. But, you do need to research the traditional market and avoid your book looking self-published. That means getting an editor, choosing an illustrator should understands graphic art, formatting text to art and has the ability to create strong characters and continuity between the pages.  If you use AI, as I do sometimes,  that will be an issue. You need to know AI and make it work hard, or you will loose a lot of market from the layers of AI.

I illustrated for free. I have other income streams. I wanted the opportunity to get into print and my author had a tiny budget. We will sgare all costs to print and sell and the income too.

I have a company. Premo From London Ltd, in UK. I published through this. Its still better to have a publishing house behind you. In that capacity I edited, formatted, set out the layouts, the legal, the contracts, the accounts at Amazon and Ingram Spark and dud the accounts and stock. Fir me it was an extension of my accountancy life, so it was straight forward. That’s a lucky part.

So me and autgir communicated on everything and even through a nightmare six months of illness that took my ability to create away, we’ve made it. The book is finished, I love it and am very proud of my work. My author is clapping her hands too. She can now work on the two follow-ups.

Highlights for? Creating the main znd sub characters. I read Richard Scarry as a child and I loved to spot Lowley Worm. So I have my spider friend. Since moving to rural France I have fallen in love with these many legged, many eyed creatures. They feature in all my books and one appears on most pages of Hello Hen. Sub-characters are useful. They take the pressure off the hero or villain. They might even roll into their own story.  They give an artists a bit of respite and can be used to break tension as they can do what they like on the page.

The paperback is on Amazon. It cannot create children’s books.  Ingram Spark can. I need to explore this site and that will zllow the book to sell to bookshops, libraries and be on Barnes & Noble and Target in USA. Ingram gives a wider market, so its worth utilising.

So please buy Hello Hen. Leave a review. You can also find out more at: http://www.premofromlondon.com

My next book, The Green Glasses is both written and illustrated by me. I will publish it, market it and enjoy this new journey. Maybe I will look for a traditional publisher to assist with marketing, or, maybe I won’t.

I love collaboration and I’ve enjoyed working closely with the author. That seems the right way and sure makes the journey more fun. ♡