The trailer is decorated, the sun is shining, there’s ice in the esky and enough ice-cream for everyone… Giddy up and come along on a fun summer sleigh ride!

For most people, the idea of ever illustrating a children’s picture book for Christmas is a dream come true. I’ve been walking around in a daze in Melbourne lately because I’m seeing a thing that I created in window displays throughout the city. Some of my favourite, most adored bookshops have *my* book front and centre! Christmas is my absolute favourite time of year and seeing Sleigh Ride in-stores feels like the most unreal Christmas present I could ever have had.

And whilst it’s still more than 2 weeks before the big day, my life feels like a dream within a dream because I just found out that the artwork for Sleigh Ride will be featuring as Scholastic Australia’s 2016 Christmas e-card!

Yep, I know, WHAT?! I can’t believe it myself.

So, as it turns out, this e-card is distributed to Scholastic Australia’s creators and their agents, their overseas customers, Australian book retailers, key accounts and reviewers – the list goes on. Just when I thought I couldn’t be more excited about Christmas!

And yes, I’m aware that this post has been all about me taking the credit for this so far but anyone who knows anything about what it takes to get a children’s book out in to the world knows it’s a team effort. Sure, I put watercolour to paper, but it’s more than me. It’s the consideration of the editor, the design team, the marketing team and everyone else who I’ve never even met who have contributed to this book that even make it remotely possible for something like this to happen. So, sure, I’ll take some credit, but I won’t take all of it.

I’m thrilled to bits that my work will reach even more people this Christmas than I would have ever thought possible so grab a candy cane, or a glass of egg nog, some ice for your esky and an ice-cream from your local Mr. Whippy and celebrate with me!

In September this year, I travelled to Greece for a gorgeous 5 weeks in the sun and sea. And, instead of putting down the pencil and paper and brushes, I packed them all up and used them to capture the sights and sounds of this stunning place.

This was my 3rd trip to Greece and I could easily spend more time there. The combination of glorious weather, beautiful beaches, stunning countryside, bustling cities and the most deliciously simple food on the planet makes this one of my favourite holiday spots (as you can probably tell by now).

The people of Greece are one of my favourite parts. They have what some people would call a ‘laissez faire’ attitude to life but it’s absolutely infectious. Days begin at 10am with a 2 hour breakfast. We have a siesta between 3-6, and then the world comes alive again at sunset and nightcaps at 1am. Rinse and Repeat.

If eating, drinking and basking in the sun isn’t enough, Greece is one of those places where you go for a short stroll and serendipitously bump in to a 2000 year old structure. They’re everywhere! And dare I say, completely invisible to the greeks. Their historical sites are somewhat sparse in content.

Will we go back to Greece?

We’ve been to Greece for our holiday 2 years in a row now and to be honest, we could easily go back. I feel we’ve only scraped the surface of this amazing place. For sketching alone, it’s an incredibly inspiring and varied place. The other advantage of course is that watercolour dries so quickly when it’s 30 degrees celsius every. single. day. So yes, we’ll go back, but probably not soon enough.

I’m completely thrilled to be able to announce that I’ll be May Gibbs Creative Time Residential Fellow (or MGCTRF) in 2017!

What this means is that I get to luxuriate in 4 weeks alone time in the Trust’s illustrator’s studio in Adelaide. The whole purpose is to immerse in writing and illustrating picture books.

It almost sounds too good to be true.

Ever since I started writing and illustrating picture books, I’ve had so many ideas for books burning holes in my notebook. But, given my schedule (including still working full-time as a software designer), I’ve found it virtually impossible to progress these ideas beyond one or two sentences. This creative time provided by the Trust gives me a whole month (!) to focus on progressing these ideas that would otherwise probably never see the light of day.

I have a passion for telling Australian stories. My aim in this time will be to walk away with at least 4 picture book storyboards that tell some unique contemporary Australian stories. If I can get more than 4 out, even better. I’ve never had the opportunity to spend so much uninterrupted time on this picture book art form so I’m not even sure how productive I can or will be.

In order to track how I go during this time, I’ll be aiming to keep (and update) a daily diary for myself. I’ll no doubt be posting to social media along the way too so if you’d like to follow along. You can do that on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter.

I’m not sure when this will happen yet except for that it will be after April 2017 and probably before September 2017.

My sincerest thanks goes to the May Gibbs Children’s Literature Trust for giving me this opportunity. To find out more about the fellowship and the other participants, see the Trust’s announcement on their website.

I have just started working with HarperCollins Publishing. In fact, I only signed a contract with them a few weeks ago. So I was surprised when an invitation to their Annual Author Day landed in my inbox just moments after putting pen to paper. It was a lovely looking invitation and I felt very special having received it. But, what on earth was an “Author Day”?

I attend events very selectively. Sometimes what seems so great on paper turns out to be a waste of time because I either learn stuff I already know or meet people I’ve already met. That’s not to say that catching up with people I know and refreshing on topics I’m familiar with is not valuable; it’s just a fine balance when you have limited time.

When trying to decide whether I’ll attend, I typically try to answer 4 questions:

1. What happens at this event?
2. Is it worth attending? What will I get out of it?
3. Will I know anyone there? I hate networking and let’s be honest, I’m not very good at it.
4. If I go, would I go again?

Given my unfamiliarity with anything like this before, the only way for me to answer these questions was to attend. So I did. Here’s my wrap up of the event and why I think it’s one of the most useful events for a HarperCollins author/illustrator.

What happens at this event?

HarperCollins puts this event on so that their authors and illustrators remain informed about the broader ecosystem of publishing. It no doubt positions them well in the eyes of their creators because the day proved to be very helpful. In just over 3 hours, attendees received:

1. A ‘state-of-publishing’ wrap-up from HarperCollins CEO James Kellow. He presented some statistics about global publishing trends and insights. He also spent some time informing us about the industry’s actions around the complex subject of legislative changes to book selling in Australia (Parallel Importation and Copyright changes)
2. Q+A with bookseller Natasha Boyd from Book Bonding: She gave a wonderful insight in to what it’s like to start and grow a small bookselling business.
3. A publishing panel session with the 3 divisions of HarperCollins. A lovely warm panel discussion that gave creators some valuable information about the trends and insights across general adult fiction and children’s divisions as well as ABC Books, now an imprint of HarperCollins.
4. A chat with bookseller and owner of Readings, Mark Rubbo: Another amazing insight in to the journey of one of Melbourne’s longest running independent bookseller.
5. An incredible bag of goodies! Sooo good! Think books, toys and sweets.

Is it worth attending?

The short answer is yes, this event was definitely worth attending. In a short few hours I gained an exponentially in-depth understanding of HarperCollins’ view of publishing and the challenges that publishers face. Everything from market forces that are affecting the publishing space right now to the challenges and opportunities that present themselves in the day-to-day job of selecting and curating content for books, the marketing of those books and, when it comes down to it, selling copies of them.

Whenever I attend an event like this, I like to remind myself of the key things I took away. I’ve assembled these thoughts below but this list is not everything. In a wrap-up like this, I’ll only skim the surface of some of these ideas. In fact, a few of them deserve their own post. But I don’t want anyone to fall asleep so, without further ado, here’s a very brief insight in to what I got out of it.

1. Publishing is first and foremost about people. This is a no-brainer really but it’s nice to hear it articulated. Getting a book to market and selling books is about people. Strong relationships between creators, publishers, sales/marketing and booksellers are ultimately at the core of what makes and sells great stories.
2. It’s difficult to predict anything in publishing. Trying to predict what’s ‘going to sell’ and what sort of content should be published in the first place is really hard. It uses a combination of quantitative and qualitative research and, for the most part, it’s difficult to get the qualitative stuff.
3. Digital media is playing an important role in connecting readers that were once isolated from eachother. The day of the ‘book nerd’ is over. Social media is playing a big role in helping readers discuss, debate and share books which, in turn, helps the sales of books.
4. People are still reading, they’re just reading more slowly. Our time is being split infinitely as we use new platforms and technologies. Reading is now competing with Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, News sites and other lifestyle sources. The time people spend reading books is taking up a smaller chunk of each day. People are taking longer to read books and so, in a given year, they’re reading less. This doesn’t mean that they’re not reading at all though, and that’s a very important distinction. In fact, when you take point 3 in to account, you could assume that although we’re reading less, we’re reading ‘better’.
5. Other readers and bloggers are becoming influential in this space. Just as blogs became popular for fashion, a similar trend is beginning to emerge for books, particularly in the teen market. Readers now have a platform to share their views and reviews on books and these opinions are now accessible to a global audience. It means that readers can become their own content curators. They can create their own following and dare I say, make some money for their troubles. It’s remarkably similar to what happened to fashion blogging in the last 3-5 years.
6. Production values in children’s books continues to be important to audiences. This one really hit home with me. It’s my personal opinion that we’re saturated by glass-based digital technology interfaces. Just like a candle’s place in a world powered by electric light, books are becoming that ‘special’ object that we gift, that we care for, that we associate with warm and fuzzy feelings.
7. The key challenge with children’s books is that they need to appeal to several audiences all at once: kids, teachers and parents. As a children’s author/illustrator, this one was pretty obvious to me. I can only imagine the challenge that publishers face in the selection, curation, editing and marketing of a book when they need to consider all these different audiences for each and every book that they release.
8. The rise of the independent bookseller is more evidence about Australia’s push back from globalisation. Globalisation has been a hot topic in Australia over the past year or so. We’ve had some pretty rocky times in politics and I find it profoundly fascinating that a force like globalisation can influence so much, including how we like to buy our books – from local people who care about local creators.
9. People will be more likely to buy a book if they know the person/people/story behind it. Again, this is a no-brainer for me but I understand that creators can struggle to give people a bit more of themselves. Especially as most of us possess many of the traits that are typically associated with introverts. There’s no doubt  (even with my own purchasing habits) that knowing a bit about the person who created the thing I’m buying makes the purchase extra special.
10. Authors and illustrators are all working at their craft part-time. For most creators, book sales are not nearly enough money to be able to live from. Additional income streams are still needed. Not a day goes by where I don’t have someone say to me, “So, when are you quitting work?” Before this event, I didn’t know any other person who wrote or illustrated books, so it was a burning question for me too. Can an author/illustrator make enough money to survive from books alone? At the moment, the answer is probably not. When you learn that the average annual income of an author is $13,000 it suggests that no one is really in the author/illustrator game for the money.
11. Parallel Importation and Copyright protection laws are front and centre of the Australian publishing world at the moment. I’ll be very brief with this one without getting in to the detail. Essentially, there’s some legal changes that are being proposed in Australia that could have some very detrimental effects to this flourishing industry. It’s likely to raise the price of books, and make it harder for Australian retailers to sell them. This is an incredibly complex issue, far too complex to explain in this bullet point but for more information, head on over to here and if you love books, don’t ask questions, just just sign this petition.

Will I know anyone there?

The truth is, I didn’t know a single person when I arrived at this event. I got that usual stomach churning feeling when I walked in to the space where everyone was having pre-event chats and drinks. I was surrounded by strangers that I assumed knew much more about publishing than I did. But, after a few deep breaths, I was able to muster up the courage to start talking to people. To be honest, it was probably the most valuable part of the whole day. I met so many interesting, unusual, smart and driven people. It was my first ever event with a crowd like this and it’s left me craving more.

I had great chats with (in no particular order):

1. James Kellow, CEO of HarperCollins
2. David Day, President of the Australian Society of Authors
3. Lisa Berryman, my main contact for my upcoming book with HarperCollins
4. Cristina Cappelluto, Publishing Director of Children’s books for HarperCollins
5. Mark Rubbo, Owner of Readings books – a Melbourne institution
6. Super awesome illustrators Lucinda Gifford & Sonia Kretschmar
7. Angela Goode, Farmer, Writer and totally awesome.

So yes, even though I’ve always loathed the idea of ‘networking’ (my skin crawls with sleeze even as I type that word), it helps when you’re surrounded by such lovely people. Throughout the day, I discovered that what I really find most difficult about networking is “starting” the conversation. Once it starts, I seem to find common ground with people quickly (especially because we all have a mad passion for books) because we all have such interesting stories.

Would I attend again?

This is always the definitive question for me. Would I spend another 3.5 hours at this event next year? If you’ve read this far, you’ll know the answer. It’s a resounding yes from me. The information we received was relevant, educational, enlightening and, most importantly, heart-warming. I met some lovely people who I’ll be working with soon and, chances are, I’ll be seeing around (or at least at next year’s event). In the end, as this day has taught me, publishing is about the people.

Thanks to HarperCollins for putting on such a great afternoon and for your support of Australian creators. When big companies get behind locals it’s about as warm and fuzzy as you can get. It also provides the perfect motivation to do a great job with each and every book, together.

In July 2016 I released my first ever picture book. I learned a lot through this process and as a way to remember it, I thought I’d document it here, as much for myself as for aspiring or professional illustrators who are keen to learn from one another.

Step 1: starting with the text

It makes sense of course but the text is the cornerstone of any picture book. Without the text there’s unlikely to be any images. I find that my first reading of a text is probably the most important. It has to be done on paper and I have to have a pencil in hand. As soon as I begin to read, images may flow and I haven’t got long before they flow in one side of my head and out the other so the most important job at this stage is to capture whatever comes.

Step 2: Walk away and let it marinate

After an initial reading, it’s easy to get excited by the first idea that comes in to your head. You start to feel as if you can piece together a movie and, well, because it’s the only idea you’ve had, it feels so right! But often, my best ideas happen when I’m least expecting them and because I know this I let it play to my advantage. I take a few days or even up to a week to let the ideas of the book sit in the back of my mind. You can find inspiration in the weirdest of places so I just wait. I do repetitive, mindless activities like walking, showering, sleeping or yoga and sure enough, at some point, a few sparks ignite and more ideas begin to flow.

Again, the trick here is to capture them. I carry around a trusty little notebook where I simply make sure I write down all the things the book could be. It might be the whole book or just a scene, a spread, a page, a tiny image. Once it’s captured, I’ve done the hard bit. Then I move on to trying to put a jigsaw puzzle of ideas together.

Step 3: Fleshing out the idea

By this stage I have a lot of little bits. I have my sketches and ideas from my first reading as well as bits and bobs I’ve noted down over the week or few days after the first reading. It’s time to put these all together.

Some illustrators call this a storyboarding stage but that feels a little too linear and formal for me. I find that there are certain ideas I like more than others. Maybe they’re a bit funnier, or perhaps they relate to the text a little better than others. I usually start with these and try to link them all together in some logical way. Often, a story begins to emerge. Certain characters take on a personality of their own and I know it sounds silly, but they often tell me what they should be doing, rather than the other way around.

Step 4: Pulling it all together

After much time and iteration in the jigsaw phase, it’s time to get my hands dirty and prepare the drawings to show someone else. Often by this stage I can see the images I want to create very clearly but that doesn’t mean they’re any good for an editor to see. How do I tidy things up? I redraw the sketches with them in mind. I ask myself questions like, “What do I need to communicate with this image? What do I want the editor to feel? Do I want them to laugh or cry?” With this in mind, I then go about setting it out in a much more logical fashion than what my brain is used to.

Often, images alone don’t do a good enough job so where appropriate, I add notes to each image. I talk about things like colour and try to describe the mood of the image. Does it have a background? Is it full-bleed? What sort of clothes are the characters wearing? Like with any picture, words and images go together at this stage but it’s not about the book itself, it’s about trying to make sure I can reproduce what I see in my head in an editor’s head.

Step 5: The real work (and fun) begins

Once my initial ideas are shared with an editor, the project gets real. An editor will supercharge things by adding their years of expert experience in to the mix. When you’ve got a great publisher behind you, like I did with this book, it really does feel like you can’t fail. The team get together and discuss your ideas. Good ideas breed great ones and so often what happens (in the best case) is that a publisher comes back to you brimming with different things you can add, subtract or alter in the original idea. These ideas often make the narrative stronger, the pictures more appealing and overall, they make a much more beautiful picture book than would be possible if a person worked on their own.
A few redos of some artwork is all part of making the best picture book possible for everyone.

This was the question I was forced to asked myself 12 months ago when I was first approached by one of Australia’s biggest publishers offering a 3-book deal. I had never illustrated commercially before and had honestly never imagined I would. When it came to negotiating contracts, I thought I had it nailed. I spent almost 15 years in big design agencies and much of that time was going over complicated corporate contracts. I was pretty confident that I could take this journey in to publishing alone, after all, how different would it be? Well, the answer is that it’s actually incredibly different. I definitely under-estimated it. It was a very hard and stressful time for me and so I wanted to document what I discovered in my journey in the hope that it might be help to others.

Even if you read no further, my short answer is ‘yes’, having a literary agent is one of the best things I’ve ever done for my career. My agent is like my best friend and ally in the world of publishing. She helps guide me through every negotiation and interaction I have with the people that make picture books happen.

A quick note about agent fees

If you’re concerned about their fees? Don’t be. Every illustrator I’ve spoken to has said their agent is worth their weight in gold. I know mine certainly is. Here are my reasons why getting a literary agent is the best thing I’ve done for my career.

Publishing books is complicated if you’ve never done it before

When I was trying to decide whether I should get an agent or go it alone, I called many agents and emailed some. Every agent I called was happy to chat. The ones I emailed didn’t even respond. Lesson 1, make phone calls, don’t send emails. Many of them were more than happy to speak to an author/illustrator with a 3-book deal already on the table so I avoided the hurdle of trying to convince one to represent me, an unpublished illustrator. I know how lucky I am to have been in this situation and I will never ever take that for granted.

Each conversation I had with an agent (I called 5 in the end), showed me that I was out of my depth in trying to do this without one. The language that the industry uses is very specific and for someone new to it, very intimidating. Negotiating things like rights and deadlines on your own is a tough gig, even if you’ve done it before in another context. I think I could’ve bumbled my way through it competently enough but there’s nothing like the confidence you get when you have someone whose been doing it for 30 years in your corner. No matter how much corporate contract negotiation experience you’ve got (I had 15 years) – publishing seems very very different and the stress that an agent alleviates is well worth it.

Focus on illustration, let someone else handle the paperwork

After each call with an agent my feeling that I needed one grew exponentially. Most agents will tell you right of the bat that you’re crazy to try and go it alone. My cynical self though, “Of course they would, right?” Speaking with a few agents meant I was able to hear different takes on my situation from each one. Many agents also made similar points too. Don’t get me wrong, I certainly wasn’t fishing for free advice. I was armed with an amazing list of questions that was available to me through my SCBWI membership and because of this I had very natural conversations with many very lovely people who answered the questions that were most important to me.

Let’s face it, in publishing there’s a lot of paperwork. My agent handles all of this for me so I can focus on what I enjoy most, making picture books.

Learn how the industry works as quickly as possible

I didn’t know what I didn’t know when it came to publishing. Interviewing agents for about 15-30 mins each made me feel like I’d gone and done a crash course in publishing, and it was only the tip of the iceberg. Had I chose to go it alone, it would’ve taken me years to understand the publishing industry. Now, a year on, I’m already very acutely aware of who knows who the value that comes with the ‘relationship development’ that an agent assists with because, after all, an experienced one has some very good connections.

So finally

In my short experience, having a literary agent is probably one the best things you can do for your career. My agent takes a huge amount of stress out of the contract negotiation process. She deals with my paperwork, deadlines and communicating to publishers so that I can focus on the work that I enjoy. She’s a wonderfully supportive person and whilst I know not all agents are created equal, I can’t imagine a career without one.

If you’re looking to understand what a literary agent is and how to get one? Then I’d recommend starting here first.