Our first post features an interview with Children’s book Illustrator,Elizabeth Sayles.

The first featured interview is given by Patti Simone of Flip Report.  Elizabeth gives tips for illustrators on how to work with publishers and how she managed to break in and maintain a career in the Children’s Market. She also talks about how integral social media is to promoting her children’s books.

Listen, Learn and Apply!

Be sure to check out Elizabeth’s website at this link.
Elizabeth Sayles on LinkedIn
Elizabeth Sayles on Twitter

Sites mentioned by Elizabeth;
Children’s Book Council-CBC

SCBWI-Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators

To all the Writer/Illustrators that follow us, you are well aware that Publishers are not always accepting manuscripts or submissions at varied times in their publishing schedules.

We are happy to inform you that Arthur A. Levine Books has cracked open their doors to receiving queries online. Click here for submission guidelines.

Many thanks to Linda Bernfeld for informing us via Facebook.

For those of you curious as to what a “query” is versus a submission.  A query is a letter to an editor (or agent) that basically tries to gain their interest based on a short summary of what you have written or intend to write. It’s not an actual submission where you would send a larger portion of your actual manuscript. (We’ll cover this in a future”Terms and Terminology” Post!)

GOOD LUCK!!!!

One of our ongoing initiatives will be to provide meaning for terms and phrases that are local to the Children’s Market. So from this point forward we will go into some of those terms and what they mean. If you have specific requests feel free to e-mail them to us!

One of the first set of terms that confused me was the varied Book Market classifications. Many publishers listed the markets of books they published and I wasn’t sure what the words meant exactly. Trade and Mass Market most notably. So they will be first.

Above is cover to Hardback Trade Edition of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling.

Trade Books- Books released to the Traditional (trade) Markets are generally directed almost exclusively to Bookstores and Online markets for sale. In most instances this is a books initial public release and would be a precursor to being released to the larger Mass Market depending on sales numbers of the book within the Trade Market.

Trade Books are often printed in smaller runs, on higher quality paper and binding in a larger format. While it is frequent that you will have a hard cover with a slip cover for a Trade Book, this is not always the case. First run Prints of Trade books can also be softcover but the quality of these books is still generally at a higher grade than what is used in Mass Market Books.

Because of the better quality the book is also generally more expensive, which also contribute to its smaller customer base. They are usually sold on shelves with either their covers out or their spines showing.

Trade Books are also the version of a book that you will most often find being used by Libraries for their patrons. This is due in large part to the sturdier format that makes the books more able to stand up to many uses and reads by multiple Library patrons.

Above is cover to Softback Mass Edition of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling.

Mass Market Books- As the name implies these books are directed at a larger (Mass) audience and consumer base. This is accomplished by making it available in more outlets to consumers, as well as making the books smaller and cheaper for purchase and personal convenience.

While trade books are available in bookstores and online. Mass Market books are more commonly found at the checkout counter of your grocery store, drug stores, gift shops, airports and newspaper stands. They are priced cheaper to attract more impulse buys and purchases. Think small child begging at Mommy or Daddy’s feet for that Zora the Explorer Activity Book!

Mass Market books are generally paperback books printed on less quality paper and sized to be easy to carry in your pocket or purse. The production of Mass Market books also generally follows the release of the Trade version of the same book title. The Trade versions are usually of a higher quality paper, larger, more expensive, and hardback in nature.

Mass Market Children’s Books are very often tied into more popular books, licenses or characters. If you think about it in most of the outlets listed above for Mass-Market you are much more likely to find products from Licenses like Disney, Warner Bros., or Nickelodeon. However, it is just as likely that you’ll find classic best sellers like The Hungry Caterpillar, Where The Wild Things Are, and Goodnight Moon. Books that are so popular that they demand to be available to more customers.

Anna Goodson Management is a prolific representative of famed Illustrators around the world!

She is offering a free 15 minute Skype portfolio review to a lucky Illustrator every Friday! Follow this link to the blog post that lists the details and requirements.  For more info follow her on twitter @annagoodsonmgmt & #FeedbackFriday.  Good Luck!!!

Find a great article here in which Anna talks about the ins and outs of having a rep and working within the Illustration Industry.

Maurice Sendak, the author and illustrator best known for his classic children’s books including Where the Wild Things Are, has died at the age of 83.

Lynn Caponera, longtime friend and caretaker, said she was with Sendak when he died at a hospital in Danbury, Connecticut, on Tuesday.

She said he suffered a stroke on Friday and never regained consciousness.

 
When I ask my friends and peers who also Illustrate for children to name some of their strongest influences, inevitably they list “Where The Wild Things Are” by Maurice Sendak. Easily one of the most influential and popular Childrens Book Illustrators/Authors of the Genre.
 
His work pushed the boundaries of what was deemed appropriate in tone and story for children. A standard many would say that we have backed away from in our current culture.
 
Though we have lost the man we can feel lucky that there are a multitude of interviews, documentaries and articles that chronicle his wisdom and unique perspectives on children and story creation.
 
In tribute to him I implore you to visit your library, bookstore or bookshelves and visit the worlds he created and the universes he opened up for many a child and future illustrators and writers.
 
He will be missed.

Visit his wiki page to learn more about him and his works.

Artists from Pixar are coming to MIAMI this summer for a Masterclass in Animation and storytelling!

VanArts is proud to present an Animation & Story Development Masterclass, with instructors Matthew Luhn (Head of Story) and Andrew Gordon (Animator) — both from Pixar Animation Studios. This exceptional 2-day event takes place in Miami on July 13/14, offering participants a rare and exciting opportunity to learn from the industry’s top talent.

Geared toward animators and storytellers — experienced professionals, students, and enthusiasts alike. This masterclass provides you with the tools needed to help create your own stories and feature-quality animation, plus offers a great opportunity to meet and network with others in the industry.

Follow this link for location, cost and registration information.

Follow this link for an interview with Matthew about the Masterclass and what can be expected!

More about the instructors after the jump!

About the Instructors:

Matthew Luhn (Head of Story)

Matthew Luhn began his career at Pixar Animation Studios in 1992 as an Animator on the very first CG movie, “Toy Story”. Since that time, Matthew has worked as a Story Artist on “Toy Story 2″ “Monsters Inc.”, “Finding Nemo”, “Cars”, “Ratatouille”, “UP”, and “Toy Story 3″.

Prior to Pixar, Matthew attended the California Institute of the Arts, and would later be hired as an Animator on “The Simpsons”. Matthew grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, where his family has owned and operated “Jeffrey’s Toy’s” toy stores for over three generations.

Along with working at Pixar, Matthew teaches children and adults all over the world how to draw and create cartoon stories, characters, perspective, and animation.

Visit Matthew Luhn’s website:
http://matthewluhn.com

Andrew Gordon (Animator)

Andrew Gordon has been animating characters professionally for over 14 years. He joined Pixar Animation Studios in 1997 where he has been an animator on A Bug’s Life, Toy Story 2, Monsters, Inc, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles and most recently, Ratatouille. The characters he has worked on include Mike Wazowski from Monsters, Gill, from finding Nemo and Edna Mode, the costume designer in “The Incredibles.” He recently finished production animation on Ratatouille. His work also included directing several promotional spots for Broadcast, Web and Blueray content. Recently, he has supervised animation for Pixars’ new short film to be released with “WALL•E”. He is currently working on Toy Story 3.

Mr. Gordon studied animation in Vancouver and NY, and prior to his work at Pixar, he worked in the Looney Tunes division of Warner Brothers. He was awarded “Outstanding Character Animation in an Animated Motion Picture” by the Visual Effects Society for his work in Finding Nemo.

He has been teaching animation in California since 2000. He has lectured on animation around the world, including Masterclasses in China, Spain, Singapore, Australia and Italy. He is a contributing teacher to Animation Mentor and the CSU Summer Arts program. He is one of the founders of Spline Doctors, a blog/podcast dedicated to animation education. He is currently teaching and developing the new animation department at California College of Art in Oakland.

Many of us digital illustrators swear by programs like Photoshop for our illustration and design needs. The newest version, Adobe Photoshop CS6 will be released in early 2012. But in the meantime you can sign up to be a Beta Tester of the new software for free. Follow the links below to learn more and to sign up and test out the new program.

Download and Sign up Now

Another new feature to be released at the same time is the Adobe Creative Cloud? What is that? Basically it allows users to subscribe to the Adobe Creative Suite Programs for a per months subscription price rather than pay the large one time fee for purchase.

From Adobe’s Webpage,

“The Adobe Creative Cloud consists of:

Desktop Applications — Every tool that is currently in Adobe Creative Suite Master Collection, such as Photoshop®, InDesign®, Illustrator®, Dreamweaver®, Premiere® Pro, After Effects®, as well as innovative new tools that are currently in beta, such as Adobe Edge and Muse.
Touch Apps – Starting with the six Adobe Touch Apps announced at MAX , 2011 – Adobe Collage, Adobe Kuler, Photoshop Touch, Adobe Debut, Adobe Proto and Adobe Ideas.
Services – A version of Adobe’s Digital Publishing Suite for delivering interactive publications on tablets, a tier of Adobe Business Catalyst for building and managing websites, and access to cloud-based fonts for website design from our acquisition of Typekit.
Community –Collaboration features that allow members to share their creative work with other Creative Cloud members and forums to discuss and inspire new ideas.

We are excited to announce that membership to the Adobe Creative Cloud will be available in the first half of 2012 at a price of $49.99 per month for individuals and $69.99 per month per seat for workgroups, both for an annual plan.

Our move to this membership model allows us to keep our customers up to date with the latest Adobe innovations in our tools and related services. Creative Cloud will provide maximum flexibility, offer lower cost of entry, and add cutting-edge innovation on an on-going basis to keep our customers ahead of the changing technology and device landscape.

For customers who prefer to remain on the current licensing model, we will continue to offer our individual point products and Adobe Creative Suite editions as perpetual licenses. With regards to upgrades, we are changing our policy for perpetual license customers. In order to qualify for upgrade pricing when CS6 releases, customers will need to be on the latest version of our software (either CS5 or CS5.5 editions). If our customers are not yet on those versions, we’re offering a 20% discount through December 31, 2011 which will qualify them for upgrade pricing when we release CS6.”

More info on Creative Cloud here!

So drop on by and find out more! This is definitely worth investigation!

A Dec, 8, 2011 article from Publisher’s Weekly chronicles job cuts and many changes at McGraw-Hill in the wake of changes in our economy and advances in information sharing,

“As it moves forward in spinning off McGraw-Hill Education into a separate company, the McGraw-Hill Cos. announced late Wednesday plans to cut 10% of MHE’s workforce—about 550 positions—and reduce its executive ranks by 20%. The downsizing is expected to be largely completed by the end of the year. MHC said the job cuts are part of its strategy to make MHE “a flatter and more agile organization.” As part of the restructuring, MHE will move towards a “digital first” publishing model and move more of its business towards a subscription-based model.”

See the rest of the article at the link below:

STAY INFORMED!