Hi Will! I sent you a Facebook message, but thought I'd ask here too. I just watched your video "7 Reasons I Cannot Illustrate Your Children's Book." I wrote a middle grade book and am formatting it similar to the Geronimo Stilton series but without as many illustrations. It is my protagonist's journal and looks more like digital scrapbook pages with colorful backgrounds and photographs I have taken. I have formatted the first twelve pages this way, but think it would be better to have my friend, who is a graphic designer, do the rest. Do you think an agent/publisher would feel the same way about a graphic designer as they do about an illustrator--as in, if they like the format they would want to hire their own designer? Thanks for your help, Emily
Hi Emily, Yes, from my experience when a publisher buys a book they want total control of the packaging - they have a whole floor dedicated to sales which includes the cover design. The industry bows to the sales dept...they aren't going to let someone else design what they feel is part of the marketing strategy. This isn't to say that if you self publish and then it gets picked up by a publisher that they will mind that you did it if indeed that's how they found it - but they'll want to change it 99.9% sure on that one.
Hi Will! I sent you a Facebook message, but thought I'd ask here too. I just watched your video "7 Reasons I Cannot Illustrate Your Children's Book." I wrote a middle grade book and am formatting it similar to the Geronimo Stilton series but without as many illustrations. It is my protagonist's journal and looks more like digital scrapbook pages with colorful backgrounds and photographs I have taken. I have formatted the first twelve pages this way, but think it would be better to have my friend, who is a graphic designer, do the rest. Do you think an agent/publisher would feel the same way about a graphic designer as they do about an illustrator--as in, if they like the format they would want to hire their own designer? Thanks for your help, Emily
ReplyDeleteHi Emily, Yes, from my experience when a publisher buys a book they want total control of the packaging - they have a whole floor dedicated to sales which includes the cover design. The industry bows to the sales dept...they aren't going to let someone else design what they feel is part of the marketing strategy. This isn't to say that if you self publish and then it gets picked up by a publisher that they will mind that you did it if indeed that's how they found it - but they'll want to change it 99.9% sure on that one.
DeleteHi Will. Thank you so much for your response. Your answer will save me a lot of time (and money.) Have a great night!
ReplyDelete