ebook Success From Across The Pond

I've been emailing a new friend from the UK - Justin Cook, who has been poking around the internet (like all of us) looking for information on ebooks. I guess he found what he was looking for because he's now published his first ebook and good things are starting to happen for him.

I'll let him tell about it in his own words:

"The book has been a real success since it's release last week with a good opening sell, and daily I am making sales, so that to me is a good start and can only get better. I'd never considered making my own ebook until reading your blog and watching your helpful and inspiring videos. Glad I did as I now have extra income, a larger customer base and lots of inspiration to write many more books on teaching cartooning. I also want to write and illustrate some children's books too, so hoping to start that too very soon.

I teach 2D animation and cartooning via downloadable video courses on my sitewww.seencreative.co.uk and my main program of choice for this is Toon Boom's Animate. Toon Boom have been very supportive of my work and when they saw a copy of the 'How to draw faces' ebook they decided they'd love to include it in with a product launch in the next month for one of their software packages called 'Flip Boom'.




WOW! I never thought about my ebooks possibly sparking other projects or opportunities but I guess it's like that Kevin Costner line: "If you build it they will come." This is so true! I think the tendency for most of us is to wait for the phone to ring. As artists we pour our hearts and souls into the creation of beautiful works...and we want people to find what we do and LIKE IT. The reality is that we need to make it happen. We have to go beyond the creation and find ways to get our message and art out where people can see it.

Justin is a great example of this - he took action - made his book - and created an opportunity beyond the sales of his ebook alone.

99¢ ebooks Good or Bad For Us???

Ok, where to start? First some facts: Monkey & Croc was indie published on B&N 6 months ago. It's now selling between 100 and 150 copies/day and it's offered for only 99¢. It's now sold over 10k copies and oh yea - This is AMAZING TO ME!!!

But I think this brings up a question that I haven't tackled yet: Is selling 99¢ ebooks hurting the ebook and traditional book markets? If the average picturebook sells from $12 - $15 and the average children's ebook is somewhere between $3-$7 how can 99¢ ebooks be good for anyone?

I think the best answer is that I don't really know. I'm sure I have some haters out there who are disgusted that I was able to bypass the "right way" to take a book to market via a traditional publisher....and I'm sure those same people are probably thinking that the 99¢ price tag is going to further erode our industry. In many ways I have to agree with them. First I would never claim that Monkey & Croc is better for having skipped the editorial process. In fact I'm sure it could have been refined more and given a more interesting sub plot or something to make it more memorable to children - I'm a novice writer at best. And Mathematically selling books for a fraction of the price would have to influence over all book prices to drop over time.

So why do it? Why hurt the very industry I've been a part of for 15 years? I guess my best answer is that I believe that prices are going to fall anyway. That if I don't offer my books for a low price others will cut me out of potential sales. That selling a higher volume will allow me to take advantage of B&N's search algorithms. That if I sell high volume I might be able to see more opportunities in the future due to my books popularity. In the end I believe that like songs and movies - ebooks will eventually end up at the 99¢ price point. An argument can be made that it costs Hollywood millions of dollars and man hours to produce a 2 hour movie that can entertain you for only 99¢ so why do we think that an ebook should be worth more?...and how long can a children's ebook entertain your kids and how much did it cost to produce?

I learned a valuable lesson early in my career as an illustrator. Without getting into too many details illustrators began participating in re-selling their work in stock illustration houses (think stock photography) in the early 90's. About 3 years in illustrators realized that the stock houses were undercutting their prices - so they were effectively cutting themselves out of commission work with their own paintings in the stock houses. A grass roots effort was made to pull their work out of those stock houses in an attempt to keep prices higher for commission work. I was one of the ones who pulled my work and refused to do future business with the stock houses. The ideal was sound and the leaders of the movement were well intentioned and extremely hard working but in the end we lost to the overwhelming support the stock houses received from the masses of illustrators willing to accept their terms.

I had a close friend who was receiving well over $100,000/year just from his stock house checks. His argument at the time was: "While I realize that in the end my participation is causing an erosion in overall illustration prices it doesn't make a lot of sense for me to turn off this amazing stream of income." I enjoyed my moral high ground as I said goodbye to my $25k/year stock house money and both of us remained and still are great friends today.

It took me years but in the end I realized that I probably walked away from hundreds of thousands of dollars over the next 10 years while the stock companies grew and the commissioned editorial and advertising markets virtually disappeared.

I think one of the most interesting phenomenons we see all the time in our country is Walmart. Say the word Walmart at a party and see how many frowns you produce but the truth is they are the biggest brick and mortar retailer period. And some of those same scowling Walmart haters usually find themselves sneaking in for this or that - excuse ready if they run into someone they know.

Price matters - to almost everyone - and in this economy ebooks are becoming more and more attractive to people as they worry about their jobs and inflation. You can hope that people will do what you want them to do but in the end they'll do what's good for them.

I would love to hear you guys weigh in - If you totally disagree with me please comment - I certainly don't have all the answers.

Sneak Preview - Senorita Gordita

I've been working hard on Helen Ketteman's picture book - Senorita Gordita - a fractured fairly tale of the little ginger bread man story. Set in the south west Helen and I got to revisit the sights, sounds, smells, and flavors that we explored in Armadilly Chili also written by Helen. Instead of a smart alec fast ginger bread man we're dealing with a sassy tell it like it is over confident zippy corn cake - "gordita". Helen has a way with words (duh she's an author) and writes one of the funniest re-tellings of this classic tale. I knew I was going to have a blast illustrating her story when I read it for the first time. I was laughing so hard that my wife had to know what was so funny all the way from the living room.

Senorita Gordita will be out from Albert Whitman towards the end of this year and of course I'll let you know when I get my first copies.

Physical Books VS Indie ebooks

I just got back from the Utah Festival of Books in Provo where I spoke on a panel and the discussion of ebooks came up which inspired this weeks blog post.

Since I’m a lover of both physical and ebooks - I don’t have a favorite but I think it’s always good to analyze them both for their advantages and disadvantages. I decided to list both pros and cons from the consumer point of view as well as the author/illustrator point of view if working with a traditional publisher vs indie publishing ebooks. If I miss some points please help me by adding your insights as I know I’ll have a different list than some of you. So here we go...

Physical Books Pros:
Having a tangible artifact
Larger format for illustrations
Better legibility in strong light
Gift-ability
Developing a physical library
Guaranteed advance against royalties
Eligible for Caldecott and other medals
Inclusion in school & public libraries
Can be signed
More prestigious
Edited by professionals
Marketed by professionals

Cons:
Expensive to purchase
Expensive to publish
Can get damaged/ lost
Hard to see in dim light
Heavy - unwieldy
Less Eco friendly
Limited to multiples of 4 page counts
Travel to purchase/ wait for delivery
Can go out of print

ebook pros:
Inexpensive to purchase
Inexpensive to publish
Disaster Proof/ download from your account
Reading in the dark
Light weight - easy to carry thousands of titles
Eco friendly
Search-able
Adjustable font size
Interactivity
Unlimited page counts
Publishing freedom/autonomy
Update-able
Instant delivery
Quicker to market/ royalties
Never goes out of print

ebook cons:
No physical artifact
Comparatively small viewing area
Hard to view in strong light
Not as gift-able
Less ownership pride
No guarantee of earnings
Not eligible for most book awards
Can’t be checked out at the library
Can’t be signed
Less prestigious
Self edited
Self programed
Self marketed

How Do I know if I'm getting ripped off?

Monster ebook Junkies! - Von and Kari Brimhall

Von and Kari Brimhall have gone completely nuts on ebooks! They are two of my very best friends from college and have always been into art and design. We had a conversation a few months ago about producing ebooks and they opened the flood gates on their creativity. Together they've created 27 - YES! - 27 ebooks in about 4 months but I'll let them tell you more about that below. Von is a computer geek and has a great full time gig working for the chain saw company Stihl and Kari is a home schooler, storyteller, and artist and they have a gaggle of successful kids.

Before you read their letter you have to check out the amazing tutorial Von has made for anyone to download and make their own ebooks - he's made it available for free right here - click to download. If programing your own ebooks sounds scary you have to check out Von's step by step tutorial - he makes it really easy for you.

Von and Kari are proving that if you have ideas, motivation, and hard work you can realize your dreams in this new medium. Have a look at their titles and read a little about their new journey.

We've been friends will Will Terry for years and avid fans of his art! When he posted his two awesome video series How to Illustrate Children’s Books and Digital Painting in Photoshop, we signed right up! Both my husband and I like to draw and paint, and I love to write. Just watching the videos opened our eyes to all kinds of possibilities.

We instantly pulled out a story that I had told for years to our children when they were young... and Von started drawing and painting--digitally! We couldn't believe how fun and easy it was. Thus, our first eBook was born! Freddie Frog is Hungry was so exciting to share with friends that we decided to take the plunge and upload it to Barnes and Noble.com.

This is not my first book, I have self published and still have copies of a fabulous book in the garage...just waiting for a market. Having Barnes and Noble sell our books is great. They take care of the money end of things and I take care of the marketing. Writing eBooks is very nice--the expense of self-publishing and printing, then marketing and working out prices, taxes, mailing to customers, and buying all the supplies that go with it, etc. is a thing of the past. With eBooks, you don't have boxes in the garage of unsold books.

All of our Nook Books are available for sale on Barnes and Noble.com. We currenly have 27 eBooks for sale and more on the way! Our target demographic is 0-6 years old so these are all books that parents would be reading to and with their children. Besides being clever, our eBooks have an educational slant to them. They include learning basic colors, numbers, animals, seasons, the alphabet, etc.

We're not selling large volumes like Will yet, but we're working on it. If you would like to see what our eBooks are like you can download a free a PDF version of our eBook 'Who Says Moo?' right here. If you are interested in how we make our eBooks, you http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifcan download a detailed PDF tutorial that my husband wrote at http://vonlogan.com/sunshine/indesign.html . It describes how to create illustrated children's eBooks using Adobe InDesign.

Hope you enjoy it and go on to create your own fabulous eBooks.

-Kari Brimhall

I'm Done Learning!

I'm so glad I don't have to learn anymore! After all I've been a professional illustrator for 19 years now, and I think I'm entitled to a break from improvement!

Of course I'm kidding. One of my core beliefs is that we can never stop learning and so last fall I started taking figure drawing classes for the first time since my college days 20 years ago. Between my illustration classes I've been sneaking into Don Seegmiller and Perry Stuart's figure drawing classes at UVU here in Utah. Both are very talented artists and teachers and I have to admit I was a bit nervous because I'm supposed to be a colleague right? Now what I should be doing is posting my first drawing in that class last fall but I stuffed it into the garbage while nobody was looking. It was awful. I had that warm flushed feeling of shame and embarrassment. How could I be a college art teacher and produce something so poor.

It was after that first drawing that I resolved to make it to their classes as often as I could to finally learn to draw the figure. I must say that not only has it been extremely rewarding to produce drawings that I'm proud of but it's also helped my everyday sketching. So I encourage all of you to break out of your comfort zone and learn something new.

Sales Data on Pubit

If you've been following my blog you know I've been spending a lot of time writing and illustrating and then publishing my own ebooks. My first experience with itunes was a bit disappointing as sales for Monkey and Croc have dropped, Amazon is in limbo since they haven't released a color kindle yet, finally have my books on Google, but Barnes & Noble has been a pleasant surprise. I'm posting my sales reports for the last two days from Barnes and Noble's Pubit site so you can decide if it's something you wish to pursue. I may look at this data and see one thing while you might see something totally different.

I don't think it's a coincidence that Monkey and Croc is doing the best since it was uploaded first. However I did spend twice as much time on it as I did the other two. Also, I think it's important to note that Monkey and Croc has more of a "story" feel while the other two perhaps don't. It's really hard to know whether investing time in an ebook will pay off or not but I'm posting my results so you might have a better idea if it's for you.

Again, these are my sales figures for the last two days which have been trending up for the past two months. I can tell you that usually each day is very similar to the day before so when you're trending up or down it usually goes gradually. However sometimes B&N will make a major change to their site and you will see a greater change. One of the reasons Monkey and Croc is doing well now is that B&N added a category that you can only see on the Nook called something like: "hot deals" of which they added Monkey and Croc.

Of course I hope that these figures continue for years to come (I never imagined getting over $100/day) but of course most good things come to an end and I've never been the lucky type. Anyway as always good luck in your ebook projects! I know many of you are working on ebooks right now and I hope to see your books out there as I cruise around the internet.

Acrylic Painting Video Series

So school got out last week and I used my extra time to produce another video series - Acrylic Painting. I've wanted to do this now for several months. I'm still amazed at how amazing the internet is - I almost think that it's a blessing to have grown up without it. I don't think my kids appreciate it as much as I do.
Anyway, the internet has made it possible for me to share what I've learned as an illustrator and instead of the frustrations of trying to explain how to dry brush I can now show it. In the videos I take the painting you see above from start to finish in real time. I didn't speed this one up so anyone viewing it can see exactly how you can dry brush with acrylic paint. I start it with a sketch, transfer to paper, add acrylic texture, under-painting (or Grisaille), and finally the finished painting using wet paint, glazes, and dry brushing. I talk about everything from materials to design.

I often hear my students complain about how much they HATE acrylics - I tell them, "It's because you want them to do something that they aren't good for." In these videos I'll show you why acrylics have been the workhorse medium for illustrators world wide.

I also included two bonus videos - two different approaches to using acrylics: Painterly and cross hatching. I really hope these videos are helpful to anyone trying to learn how to paint with acrylics! Click here for more information.

News On B&N ebook Publishing

Some quick updates on my experience on Barnes and Noble.com. Unfortunately due to my workload right now I have to make this a quick update and so I didn't compile the great information you guys have been sending in to me on publishing sites and software. If you're new to reading and watching my videos on ebooks please check out the great comments below and below other posts - that contain some of this hard to find information.

New Portfolio Piece - YA Cover

Here's another piece for my portfolio - I love creating a piece out of nothing. I started with photo reference of lizards and went from there.

Part 2 - ebooks Formatting etc.

This is a continuation of our discussion here on ebooks. Since this is such a new industry the only way we can get good information is to share what we learn with eachother. I'm putting together what I've learned in video form and answering questions as best I can with what I've learned. If you have any information that would benefit authors and illustrators I'd love to hear from you.


In this video you'll see what my back office looks like on the "Pubit" Barnes and Noble site.

Part1 - ebooks - Are they worth making?

Last week I got an email from Illustrator Laura Zarrin asking if I thought publishing my own children's ebooks is financially worth the time. I've published 3 of my own ebooks in the last 4 months and have learned so much in doing so. There was too much information to type out in an email so I thought I would just make a video and answer her question here. I hope this helps anyone contemplating this decision. If anyone has an more questions just leave a comment and I'll try to answer it.

Portfolio Work

I gave my Illustration 1 class this assignment:

Setting: Castle
content: One human figure
Concept: "Something's coming"

I was sketching at the in-laws and started working on it - liked it - decided to render it for my portfolio. I don't get young adult cover work so I thought I'd try to expand my portfolio to possibly attract some.

I was inspired by one of my students concepts - I hope he takes this as a compliment.

My Painting Class - Art Puzzle

Just for fun I took a picture of my mentor- Perry Stuart an amazing illustrator and figure artist and teacher at UVU. I enlarged it, printed it, mounted it on foam board, textured it, and cut it into pieces. The video begins with the pieces being handed out so my students could begin painting on top of the cut up photo. The fun part was watching them piece it together at the end. They had no idea it was a portrait of Perry.

Perry just started a new blog on figure drawing - check it out here!

Pollywog To Frog

I just released another ebook on Barnes and noble.com! My other books have really been encouraging. There are two things I really like about ebooks: 1) I love to draw fun simple little characters and 2) I like to be able to pay my bills. Publishing my own ebooks in my "spare" time allows me to do both. I carry my sketch book everywhere and so if I'm not writing I'm sketching and vice versa. Pollywog was written in the few hours I have in-between the two college classes I teach and the digital paintings were done in-between assignments.

One of the best things we can do as artists and business people is develop passive streams of income. The ability to earn money while you're sleeping, playing, or working on other projects is a really cool thing. I'm already working on my next ebook.

If any of you feel comfortable illustrating but not writing and would want to work on producing an ebook I have a professional well known author who would love you to take one of his manuscripts and turn it into an ebook. My brother in law is also available to take the finished jpeg files and produce the epub files necessary to publish your work. Just email me off list if you're interested: will@willterry.com

Just For Fun!

Last night I decided to avoid working on the projects that pay real money and do something just for fun. I painted this in photoshop last night sitting in our new recliner watching "The Thing" (1982 John Carpenter version)with my boys. I rendered it on my little netbook just to see how far I could take an image on that little $248 computer. Technology is getting really affordable for everyone.

I combined the background photo (google images) with my rendering to save time. FYI I would never do this for a paying client - I don't like confrontations, threats, law suits, etc. :)

What Flavor Are You?

I've been a freelance illustrator for almost 20 years and for the first 17 it was business as usual. In the last three years I've seen more changes in our industry than ever before. In some ways I must confess that if given the choice to see big changes or keep business as usual I would have ignorantly chosen the latter. Change isn't fun. Change is usually painful. Change is scary because not knowing feels insecure and most of us crave security. But the reality is that change is on the menu to stay - so our choices are to dine or leave the restaurant and starve.

In the past you were odd if you called yourself a freelancer. To most of the "normal" 9-5 crowd a freelancer was synonymous with freeloader or at best someone living on the fringe. Over time freelancers became more mainstream. Most freelancers (myself included)own their job. In other words, they get an assignment from a company and then through their skills, crafts, or abilities satisfy that assignment. If they aren't working they usually aren't earning so while they have more freedom they still have to work to earn.

Now we're seeing a whole new job description - The artist as "The Product". Greg Spalenka a world renowned illustrator calls it "Artist as Brand". In the past and present artist relied on companies to function as the liaison between them and the consumer. For gallery artists it was the gallery. For book illustrators - the publisher. For video game artists - the studio. These entities provide big money to produce and market products using art - the kind of money few artists could generate or commit themselves. The artist's risk is time - the companies risk is money. A symbiotic relationship that was virtually the only way - until now.

Don't get me wrong - I'm not saying that the days of these entities are over by any means but their roles are changing very quickly. The internet has in many ways leveled the playing field. Artist now have a direct line to the consumers of the products they create. Never before in the history of the world have artists had the opportunity to reach their audiences so efficiently. If you're a fine artist you can develop a following through social networking, blogging, emailing, etc. The same is true for children's book illustrators, art book artists, graphic novel and comic artists, art educators and so on. You say you want to produce your own video game? What's stopping you? Many iphone games are now being produced by solo tech savvy artists or artists teamed up with a tech person. A simple upload to itunes and if the game is good they could start raking it in.

The idea is that you can no longer use "nobody will hire me" as an excuse not to produce your own products. Many companies will go out of business in the near future. Many will adapt and thrive. For me I'm looking at each new request for my services in a different light. I'm trying to balance my freelance assignment time with time spent on producing my own projects.

I've realized that even though I've been illustrating children's books for over a decade and sold over 750,000 books (all combined) a very small percentage of my audience associates Will Terry with the books I've illustrated. This is a huge problem! We usually buy name brand products because people associate the brand with quality. I need to be constantly working on the Will Terry brand and for me one of the easiest ways to do that is to also start to write some of the books I illustrate. The reality is that it's an authors world and illustrators really take a back seat in many ways. As I see it an illustrator can complain or become an author.

Last year as I was getting my brain around the changes I was seeing in art related industries I became frightened and depressed. The insecurity was really getting to me. Now that I've started to take control of my own branding I'm finding the future exciting and I'm always thinking of new ways to take advantage of the technology that has fallen in our laps.

New Book with Helen Ketteman

So these are some character sketches from the new book I'm working on with Helen Ketteman - author of Armadilly Chili and The Three Little Gators among many others. This book is due out next year from Albert Whitman. Senorita Gordita is a re-telling of the little ginger bread man story in a south west flavor. It's full of fun characters and desert imagery and plenty of fun chase scenes. In short - I'm having way too much fun to be getting paid - don't tell A.W.

Michelle Bayuk answers your questions.

I'll start by asking the first question: Michelle, what kind of mistakes do you see beginning illustrators or for that matter professional illustrators make as far as the business side of their careers?...and don't use my name :)

Michelle: I think that authors and illustrators forget that it is a business and they are the lead spokesperson. And yes, you are creating art, but in the end, you need people to buy it. Do tell people about the book, even if it seems awkward. Have your publishers information handy. Have your author visit information handy. Always have a business card with you. Of course, you shouldn’t become that person who can only talk about their book, but there is a happy medium. Most people you meet would love to know. Oh, and don’t get too caught up in reviews and Amazon comments.

Mighty Kwan said...

Michelle, with so many social arenas open for self promotion, what are the best ways for an artist to promote and sell their own brand and identity? Are things like Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and DeviantArt preaching to the choir? Or are there other means of promotion that artists don't use as effectively as they could or should?

-Wilson

First of all, you do have to spend time preaching to the choir – especially when it’s a big choir. If you’re a new author or illustrator, the best place to build a fan base is with people who are already fans of your genre. If you’re established, your fan base needs to know when you have a new book. So, yes, you need to spend time on social media…BUT! You don’t have to do all of them and you shouldn’t be spending hours a day. After all, you do need to work on your next book. My suggestion is to start with one and see how it goes. All the various media have their own personalities and so do you. Find the one (or ones) that fit.

Basically, authors and illustrators need to be out there. You are the best spokesperson for you work…period. No matter how good a publicist is, they will never know your work better than you do. This used to be done through media tours and answering fan mail. Now, you can stay home more…but you still need to accept speaking engagements and go to conferences and other book events. You need to be part of the community, whether it’s online or in person.

Jack Foster said...

Hey Will, thanks for having Michelle on... and thank you so much Michelle for taking the time to answer questions.

Michelle, from the illustration side of children’s books, what would be the single most marketable aspect of an illustrator’s portfolio. I know that character design, style, color and quality all work together, but is there ONE thing that floats to the top? Also, I do not have an agent..... should I be considering one?

I know it sounds simple, but the ability to tell a story with your pictures. The best picture books have stories in both the words and the pictures. The illustrations are not necessarily literal interpretations of the text. If you haven’t already, go to the library and/or bookstore (preferably several and often) and take down 20 picture books. Sort them into piles of “doesn’t work” “almost works” “works” and “really works.” You’ll find a very diverse group of styles in each pile. Your job is to emulate the magic that makes the “really works” really work.

As for what I need as a marketer – a great book with eye-catching illustrations. Vague enough for you?

And then, speed. Publishers like illustrators that meet deadlines.

And yes, agents make life easier. It’s not always necessary, but it allows you to spend more of your time on the books, less on the paperwork. If you don’t have an agent, definitely have any and all contracts looked at by a lawyer that specializes in entertainment/publishing. You need to understand what you’re agreeing to and what you’ll get in return.

Marion Eldridge said...

Thank you, Michelle and Will for doing this!

MIchelle, I wondered if you could tell us a couple of characteristics of your dream picturebook from a marketing perspective. Or, maybe what types of books are in demand from a marketing point of view. Or, which are the easist to market. For example, holiday books, humorous books, etc. Sorry if that is three questions in one. Whatever is easiest to answer would be a great help!

Well, my dream picture book has amazing illustration and text and kids demand that it be read again and again—not very specific, am I? I think those perfect picture books are few and far between because magic is hard to capture. Artists should concentrate on finding and following a vision. As for what’s easiest to market – a new picture book by a New York Times bestselling illustrator or author! Other than author or illustrator name recognition, books with good hooks can be easier – back to school, holiday, cancer, bullying, etc. But there’s a big caveat, it still needs to be a good book and just because the topic is hot today, doesn’t mean it will be hot when the book is ready.

Phyllis Harris said...

Thanks for this opportunity, Will! This is timely since I just sent off a post card yesterday to Albert Whitman...well, actually it was the second time since I didn't realize Albert Whitman had moved to a new location and it came back in the mail. Oops! But anyway, I am an illustrator and I usually send post cards quarterly to clients I have worked with or would like to work with. I have been told to send post cards to either editors or art directors so I sent mine to Abby Levine. Does the editorial staff or the art director choose the illustrator for a project or is it more of a collaboration?

It’s definitely more of a collaboration. Our art director did a blog post you can find here -- http://albertwhitman.wordpress.com/2010/08/19/illustration-station-qa-with-an-art-director/


Thanks for participating guys - this was fun - and thanks Michelle for being so gracious and willing! You can visit Albert Whitman's blog right here!

Michelle Bayuk answers your questions!

Today I have a treat for you - Michelle Bayuk (Director of Marketing for Albert Whitman & Company) has agreed to answer questions from any of you. She is NOT an editor but she can answer questions related to publishing and specifically marketing in this crazy world of children's books. Albert Whitman has been very good to me over the years and I am now working on my sixth book with them. They have quite a track record from their early beginnings in 1919 they've seen their fair share of successes including the very popular "Box Car Children" series (which my mom read to me as a child).

Before coming to A.W. she served as the Marketing Director for the Children's Book Council as well as marketing and publicity positions at several other children’s book publishers, including Millbrook Press and Scholastic.

She's very qualified and very gracious to agree to answer questions you may have. So you can leave a question in the comments and in a few days I'll post her responses in another post.

I'll start by asking the first question: Michelle, what kind of mistakes do you see beginning illustrators or for that matter professional illustrators make as far as the business side of their careers?...and don't use my name :)

You have to unplug!

NEW BOOK - "Tickle Bugs" !

Oops I did it again - I couldn't help it - I had to make another ebook! Monkey & Croc has been doing so well that I've been moonlighting as a second illustrator - the one that doesn't sleep. I'm thinking I need to see one of those mad scientists like Michael Keaton did in the movie "Multiplicity" - I could use a few extra me's around to get everything done.

Tickle bugs is an attempt to explore a much simpler ebook void of backgrounds and complete with very simple characters. The audience is extremely targeted to the teething ring and diaper crowd. If you're wearing pull ups and sucking on a pacifier you just might like Tickle Bugs.

It's so much fun to take an idea from concept to finished product and published!!! in less than a month!!! We'll see if Tickle bugs can climb up the search ranking as fast as Monkey & Croc - I have a feeling that it will get progressively harder to get the same attention but I have to keep trying. The idea of author/illustrator as brand is way too exciting.

Tickle Bugs doesn't wiggle but if the reader holding the toddler is on the ball the little tike will be giggling at the end. Tickle Bugs is available at Barnes and Noble - click here.

Book Signing in L.A. for the CTA

Well I just finished signing books again for the CTA (California Teachers Association)in L.A. I blogged about this last year (click here if you want to read more in greater detail). Basically I was chosen to be the CTA illustrator in conjunction with "Read Across America" and the CTA chose Armadilly Chili to be their "RAA" book for the state of California for 2010-2011. Its such a great gig because they print up posters, conference folders, pencils, stickers, and for Armadilly - mugs, T-shirts, a plush Tex, and even an apron. Also, this year Helen Ketteman the author of Armadilly Chili was there to sign books and she's a hoot. This woman has more energy than the sun!



We signed books Friday evening and then were up at the crack of dawn to sign books all day Saturday. About 1000 teacher reps fly in from all over the state for their council meeting and most of them buy the books to take back to their districts for the upcoming read across America day on March 2nd. I was so lucky to get this opportunity!



My good buddy Wayne came with me to share in the fun - we also stopped in Vegas to visit family.

Now back to work - another book that Helen wrote - "Senorita Gordita" a retelling of the little ginger bread man story due out in 2012 by Albert Whitman.

Digital VS Traditional

This was a little mouse doodle in my sketchbook that I painted in Photoshop and posted a few weeks ago. Yesterday I painted it in acrylic as a demo for my Media and Techniques class at UVU. I thought it would be kind of neat to do a side by side comparison. I paint so dry that I just lightly put some Liquitex heavy gel medium down right in my sketchbook and painted him there. I like having a few paintings in my sketchbook - I always have a few finished pieces with me wherever I go.

Digital Painting In Photoshop - video series by Will Terry

So anyway, I had such a great response to my "How to Illustrate Children's Books" video series that I decided to make another series that explains in detail how I paint in Photoshop. I've had many requests over the last few years to actually make a tutorial on painting in acrylic but I never got around to it. So about a year ago I was introduced to digital painting by Jed Henry - a young illustration graduate and promising new upstart (He's already sold two books to major New York Publishers. His generosity in helping me learn how to re-create my acrylic style digitally will never be forgotten! So I'm sorry to report that I probably won't be doing any tutorials in acrylic painting but you never know.

In these videos I go from sketch to finish describing processes like: making and importing a texture, under-painting, value, brushes, layering, design, and many other aspects of coming up with your own personal way of thinking and working. If you want to know how I paint from start to finish you might be interested in these videos.

Just to be clear - these videos are not a general "How To" in Photoshop but rather a "How Will Terry fumbles his way into a digital painting with a very limited knowledge of photoshop" In other words you could say these are photoshop videos for dummies like me. I try to use as few tools as possible because part of my philosophy is simplicity and reduction lead to purity and essence.

Above is the digital painting that I start and finish in the videos so if you hate that painting DON'T BUY THE VIDEOS! :) Click here to purchase the videos.

Drawing For Kids - video series for preK - 3rd

Ok, This is totally embarrassing but I'm putting it up here because it fits with the whole children's book theme of this blog. Be prepared - you're going to see some bad acting. Someone long ago should have told me to take acting courses because you almost need those skills to keep kids engaged...either that or just act stupid. My sister Ellen is a reading specialist in Maryland and she's always telling me how lame some peoples school visits are. In her words, "No, Will, you have no idea...the guy read in a monotone voice material that was way above grade level and had no pictures to show"..."Then he talked to 1st graders like they were adults...the kids were squirming almost as much as the teachers!"

So, enter my series, "Drawing For Kids". My idea was simple - use the fast evolving internet marketing idea of providing value and driving traffic to your website. Seems simple but in the back of my mind I'm thinking, "This is a lot of effort with no guaranteed return."

Earlier last year I had a conversation with myself and decided to agree on a mission statement for myself. What we came up with was less than earth shattering but satisfying for me and the voice inside: 1) Create the best art I can. 2) Be smart with my time. 3) Provide value to the world. 4) Help others to realize their dreams.
The rules are simple but not always that easy to follow. But making these videos clearly fit into number 4 so I decided to put them out there for free and hope that teachers could find them.

I'm not going to pretend that I'm not hopeful that by having my books and website in the background I sell more books and get more paying school visits - but the main purpose of these videos is to teach children. I've seen too many attempts to create value but then muck it up with a crass commercial interruption that leaves the viewer feeling like the whole thing was a waste of time. Anyway Making this took the better part of a weekend and now that they are finished I can sit back and smile every time a teacher sends me their students artwork - so far three different teachers have sent in their students work - that's a huge payoff!

You can view all 5 videos here: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=0455BA1360AC306D

Also I have a new teacher section on my website: http://www.willterry.com/kidscourse.html

The Great Digital Land Rush!

Disclaimer: I'm no expert here - but I have to share what I've learned both as encouragement and as a warning. The encouragement is to help you find the motivation to start publishing your stories and illustrations digitally. The warning is that if you don't do it soon you might have regrets in a year or two or sooner.

I've been doing a lot of reading of various blogs and web pages about self publishing digitally and most agree that we are seeing a change in publishing the likes of which we haven't seen in our life times. Until now the gate keepers have been large traditional publishers. They held the keys because they could afford to put up the tens of thousands of dollars to print large runs of picturebooks. Also, they had established complicated distribution channels that an individual author/illustrator would be hard pressed to compete with. Most of this hasn't changed. The day of the large publisher is definitely NOT over and I'm glad - I like the publishers I work with and most of them have been very good to me.

What has changed is how inexpensive it is to publish your work which means that one of the two cards publishers held has evaporated. Now the only real advantage a large publisher has is a distribution channel. I'm not underestimating how important this channel is either. Large traditional publishers have relationships with stores that you and I do not. They have publicists working for them to promote our books and editors to polish the final products. They have customers that they've established long before you or I ever worked with them. They know the business better than us. They submit our books to all the major book awards and from what I've been told that list is well over 200. Imagine trying to research, compile, address, and pay for 200 give away books and shipping just to put them in the hands of jurors who probably won't pick your book anyway. And I'm sure there are a lot more things that they do that I'm overlooking.

Having Said all that - I still see a huge opportunity that isn't going to last forever. Like the Oklahoma pan handle rush of 1889 there was opportunity for a limited time and then it was OVER. For the first time in our lives a new platform is emerging that is giving the early birds a distinct advantage. I'm sure that you've all thought about ebooks - I have been for the past year or more. However, I never realized how important it is to be first to market until I started reading and researching. It only takes an hour or so poking around on Amazon or Barnes and Noble to see self published books doing extremely well. One in particular featuring a dragon has been flirting with number one in ebooks on B&N for the last month.

If you've been reading my blog you know that I just published my first ebook - Monkey & Croc and that it's doing pretty well on B&N. The only reason it's doing as well as it is - is because of the lack of competition. Right now there are a little over 500 ebooks for children ages 3-5 on B&N. Crazy right? Think of how many thousands of books there are in hard copy in that group. Look, I don't even own an ereader but you can't ignore this new format - it's coming on strong. Amazon says that for any particular book that they sell in physical format - they sell 48 digital copies of the same book. That number is growing every month.

Aside for being early to market you can afford to sell an ebook for only a few dollars because the only cost you have is your time. Right now the big publishers are selling their ebooks in most cases for about the same price as their hardbacks. This is another reason to get your book to market quickly. While they sell their books high - we can sell ours low and create an advantage for the buyer. Think about it...if you bought a new ereader or ipad and you wanted to load it with content wouldn't you gamble on a few unproven $2 and $3 books since the alternatives are $12.99 books that you might already own?

My belief is that if you can create a following due to timing - your book could gain the kind of momentum that could build a franchise. If this happens there's also a good chance that a traditional publisher would want to buy your book and print hard copies. Another option is that you incorporate a print on demand publisher and offer hard copies on your own. Either way the future is bright for self published books. I think that there will always be a place for large publishers but now there is a much larger place for self publishers.

Some drawbacks: You won't have the benefit of an editor and this places a great responsibility back on your shoulders. My suggestion is to acquire the help of a professional writer and/or join a critique group that can help you polish your story. Another obstacle is finding software that will easily let you turn your jpeg images into an ebook. This was a very frustrating process for me and without the help of my brother in law I don't think I would have been able to release Monkey & Croc. There has been talk about Barnes and Noble, Amazon, and Itunes holding back publishing software and only releasing it to large publishers. Monkey & Croc suffered a bit with a few minor hiccups because we couldn't get that software. I think that this will soon change as open source programs become available. Where there is a need someone will fill it.

I published Monkey & Croc on Barnes and Noble's Pubit.com site. They take 35% of every sale but they give you an account for free and you can check your sales in your back office any time you like. It's neat to go in and check every day or so. My friend Julie Olsen and her husband Rhet are developing an app for Monkey & Croc for the itunes store.

Finally for those who don't think that parents won't turn their kids loose with an expensive ereader to beat up you're right. However think of the advantages - Carrying an unlimited amount of picturebooks on a plane, train, or automobile will keep kids passified much longer than the few books parents can carry in hard copy form. And how nice will it be for the parents who have long commutes with children in tow to and from day cares. How long do you think it will be before they develop the kid proof ereader? I suspect it's around the corner.

At the beginning of my illustration career I was asked to complete an illustration about email - I asked the art director, "What is email". It's happening now.

The Artist In Me

I don't know if you can see it but that little boy has an artist trying to find it's way out. My parents should have known when I took apart my brand new transistor radio. My sisters should have known when I removed their barbie doll heads - it wasn't that I took pleasure in the removal of the heads. It was seeing how many different reactions I could create in their emotions. By the time my motor skills really developed I painted my masterpiece - Three barbie dolls owned by three different sisters all coming off at the same time. Magnifique!

Without boring you with all the details I had a pretty typical American exposure to art in junior high and high school. I was always pretty good but there were always those who were much better.

Making it into college was a challenge - I really didn't fit in the one size is supposed to fit all public school system. I had quite a bit of trouble with reading comprehension, science and history always netted below average grades and forget about math...that left art and music...the only two bright spots on my report card.

On the other hand the little girl in the picture was destined for academic honors...if you look close you can see that she knows it too. :) (Love you Beth- look what she does!)

So on to college and more bad grades in english, history, science, and math - what's new right? Art on the other hand was still keeping me in the game with my grades. Kind of like adding base to acid. (I did remember that from science class)

Then...upon applying for the BFA at BYU I distinctly remember hearing the earth crack as I was barely allowed in on probation. PROBATION???!!! in art??? but I'm supposed to be good at art - at least that's what everyone had been telling me. How could this be? If not art then what?

I finally had to come to terms with the fact that my past effort had taken me as far as I could coast. It was time to admit that I wasn't the savant I thought I was. That I had to get to work - that I had to humble myself and start listening and learning from my teachers - mainly Richard Hull and Bob Barrett - also Rob Colvin. If not for them I wouldn't be able to enjoy a successful illustration career. (Ironically I was later hired to teach part time at BYU by Richard Hull)

One of the reasons I wanted to release my "How To Illustrate Children's Books" video series is to help others learn those very important principles that can be the difference between success and failure. I know how frustrating it is to wallow in depression when a piece doesn't work out....when you spend a lot of time on an image and you wish you had never started it. I know what it's like to try to talk yourself into liking your own work. And I know what it feels like when you show a new piece to someone and their facial expressions just can't lie as good as their lips....and how when you work and re-work a piece and re-work it some more you want to smash it and scream. Been there. I'll admit it I've shed real tears over my art and I don't cry very often...although "Driving Miss Daisey" gets me every time.

I wanted to post this as encouragement to my fellow artists - and leave you with this: I've realized that all those frustrations, emotions, disappointments and tears have led to one happy camper. I love my job. :)

How To Illustrate Children's Books

I'm so pleased to announce my new video series - "How to Illustrate Children's Books".

I made these videos while my kids played xbox and my wife caught up on her reading. It was a choice between relaxing doing dishes, cleaning bathrooms, and taking my turn cooking OR...Making a video series. It was a toss up - on one hand I'd get the satisfaction of cleaning and watching my kids mess it up again or creating something that I've been thinking about for quite some time.

I've put quite a bit of work into my college picture book class but I always thought I could do more with it. In class the images that I show are static and often leave me feeling that I could have done better. Video is a much better medium for showing someone exactly what you mean in many cases. Don't get me wrong - I demo in my classes but sometimes you just aren't prepared or equipped to do exactly what you want. I've tried to include just about every aspect of the children's book making process in this series to provide viewers with a basic knowledge of what they need to work on.

It's definitely not perfect but I'm proud of the work I put into it and hope that it brightens the lives of those who want to learn more about narrative illustration. Perhaps this isn't your cup of tea but if you know anyone who might appreciate it send them a link - I can't wait to get feedback!