Crafting Your Career with Cynthia Cliff

The journey to publication can take many different forms and directions, raising the question: Which path is right for you?  Should you query an agent or go it alone?  Is traditional publishing right for you, or would self-publishing be a better avenue?  If you are traditionally publishing, do you approach the “Big Five,” or would a small press be a better fit?  And how do you turn this whole thing into a business?  These swirling questions can sometimes be the most difficult part of the journey, so it helps to have a plan.

To help craft this plan, we are so excited to welcome Cynthia Cliff to our fall “Crafting Your Career” webinar series on October 18th, where she will share how she shepherded her art hobby into a professional picture book writing and illustration career through the development of a business and “illustration school” plan, enabling her to find her own style and voice, and a pathway to art directors and publishers.

Cynthia is a self-taught picture book illustrator and author who began making art in 2016 after living many other lives.  She became enchanted with storytelling through art, and decided she needed to make it more than a hobby.  She developed her “illustration school” and business plan to convert her newfound joy and passion into a career.  She is now the author and illustrator of two children’s books through a Penguin/Random House imprint, and currently has two additional books underway, slated for spring 2024 release. 

In anticipation of her exciting webinar, we asked Cynthia a few questions about how she got her start in publishing and how she turned it into a successful career.

Q.  The road to getting published can be a very long and arduous one.  How long did it take you from the time you started this journey until you had your first book published?

A.  I started seriously self-studying to be an illustrator in 2017 after about a year of making art as a hobby. My first book offer came in 2020, so it came kind of fast.

Q.  You are an author and an illustrator.  Did you begin with one and the other followed, or were they concurrent?

A. I was initially focused on illustration and didn’t believe I could do both, but my first book offer was as an author/illustrator.  When I was approached by the publisher of my first book, they asked me if I wanted to write and illustrate that book. I thought “I have no idea how to do that!” and I did not feel confident about my writing at all. But this was an opportunity that I could not turn down, so I said “yes” and knew I’d just have to figure it out. I found that if I applied some of my illustration plan guidelines to writing, they helped me to get better and find my author voice and style. I believe that the very hardest part about writing is to find an idea that is unique, creative and has value.  Since then, my agent has encouraged me to write, and I got a second author/illustrator book deal a year after that first book. 

Q.  How did you decide which path to take in your career?

A. I had decided early on that I wanted an agent and to pursue traditional publishing, so I developed a “plan” to help me get there. This plan helped me find my voice, style, and determine my goals and strategies for learning. I put myself in the position to attract attention and to be ready. My first book offer came directly from a publisher because they had seen my blog (it is no longer up) that was both a written and illustrated newsletter about something that I love to do—bake with my daughter! The publisher wanted me to write and illustrate a book by the same title as my blog and include some of the content. You never know who is watching you out there!

Q.  What books do you have published, or in the pipeline to be published?

A. “Pie for Breakfast” and “The Wild Garden” [have been published]. For Spring 2024 I have a board book coming out “My Weekend Trip—A Find Pepin Book” that will be the first in a series. I’m also illustrating a book for Free Spirit Publishing to come out Spring 2024. I’m working on a few manuscripts that I hope to have ready this fall/winter for my agent to shop around, fingers crossed.  

Thank you for taking the time to chat with us, Cynthia!

- Katie + Jen, Co-Illustrator Coordinators

Cynthia Cliff grew up in a tiny, historic village in rural Virginia surrounded by her large superstitious family, farms and woodlands, where she spent every waking hour, and her imagination flourished.  This upbringing provided her with a love of history, family, nature, and folklore - themes that find their way into much of her whimsical, folk-art inspired and optimistic artwork.  She currently resides in northern Virginia just outside of Washington, D.C. with her partner and four-legged family.

To learn more about Cynthia’s career plan and how to craft your own, please join her for the webinar “Crafting your Picture Book Career Plan” on October 18th at 7:00 as part of the “Crafting Your Career” webinar series.  Registration will be open August 9th through September 5th.  If you sign up for this (or any other) webinar in the series, you will also have access to the webinar “Tools for Finding Your Agent” for FREE.  We look forward to joining you!