Are you thinking about self-publishing a picture book?
Having had my children’s picture book manuscript ‘The Rug Bear’ rejected by three publishers and two literary agents, I decided to self-publish it instead. The first thing to do was to find an illustrator. So, I simply put ‘animal illustrators’ into Google and amongst the results was Mike Terry’s brilliant book, The Selfish Crocodile. I thought, he can only say ‘no’, so I approached him through his website and after sending him the manuscript, he said, much to my amazement and joy, ‘yes’.
The next thing to do was to find a publisher. I had come across the name Troubadour during my extensive research, the reviews were good so I thought I would try them. Troubadour require your book to go through their acceptance/rejection system. Luckily The Rug Bear made it, and so I began my self-publishing journey.
Mike and I got on well but about quarter way through, after the thumbnail sketches had been completed, it seemed that the book lacked any overall vision and I wasn’t sure how or where to include the text. I decided to contact Andrew Watson, a graphic designer who I knew, and had a lot of experience designing children’s books having worked at publishers such as Walker Books, Carlton and Frances Lincoln. He said he would be happy to take on the art editing and design which was really wonderful.
At this point we had to go back to the beginning and review how the text would fit with the illustrations and in some cases the sketches had to be redrawn. Andrew was responsible for designing the typography, working with both Mike and myself implementing changes to his illustrations so they were the highest quality, engaging and ensuring colour and characters were consistent throughout the book, it was a real team effort. He was also responsible for delivering the print ready files to Troubadour’s production dept. (Books that haven’t gone through their art dept have to be presented ‘print ready’ which is quite technically challenging). Jan Moran Neill, editor and poet, proof read it, as did some very kind friends.
After Andrew submitted the book to the Troubadour production department, we had a few problems: the quality of the pictures were not good enough so they had to be rescanned. There was also a problem with the page cropping which meant the book needed to be re-printed, all of this meant the publication date was delayed and the original June date was pushed back to October. However, it was worth the wait as we all agree that the printed book looks fantastic!
The finished cover!
The Rug Bear was created completely by email. Mike, who I have never actually met, lives in Kent, Andrew lives in Spain, I live in Scotland and my daughter, Caroline Daisy, who does the social media, lives between Scotland and London.
It’s disappointing to have your book turned down but if it had been accepted, the publisher wouldn’t necessarily have chosen Mike and his illustrations have made the book what it is; I particularly like his depiction of Bear, Lion and Fox. But knowing what I know now I would never attempt something like this without an art editor and designer like Andrew; without him the book just wouldn’t have happened. He is also responsible for creating this fantastic website.
If you would like to buy The Rug Bear its available from all good book shops as well as Waterstones , Foyles and Troubadour
My Self-publishing Contacts
Troubadour Publishing - https://www.troubador.co.uk/
Mike Terry (illustrator) - http://www.thepaintbrush.co.uk/
Andrew Watson (designer) - http://www.andrewwatsondesigns.com/
Jan Moran Neill (editor) - http://www.janmoranneil.co.uk/