Getting the Attention of Art Directors

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How can a children’s book illustrator get the attention of art directors? That’s the question of the century, at least for those of us who are attempting to get our foot in the door of children’s publishing. Diane Earley, the Creative Director of Charlesbridge Publishing will be tackling it in her presentation Illustrating Children’s Books: What are art directors looking for? How to get noticed. And what happens once you get the job?

As the creative director of Charlesbridge, all projects are run by and approved by Diane. She has art directors and designers working independently on projects under her (and Diane is simultaneously art directing book projects as well) but at the end of the day the final stamp of approval comes from her. She has worked with illustrators such as Doug Salati, Wendell Minor, Peter H. Reynolds, Laura Freeman, Grace Lin, and Don Tate.

In this webinar Diane will give artists tips and strategies which will help. From researching publishers to email blasts to websites/Instagram, she will detail ways to showcase your work in a professional and appealing way. She’ll also discuss how to strengthen your portfolio through the choice of the pieces you present, character design, composition, and visual storytelling. Then learn what happens after you get the job—contracts, negotiation, schedules, sketches, feedback, and final art. The goal of this webinar is to give illustrators greater insight into how an artist is chosen for a book and the collaborative process which follows! 

Even more exciting: Charlesbridge is continually striving to uncover new voices, visions and directions, so following the webinar illustrators are encouraged to submit their work!  

Submission guidelines can be read in full at https://www.charlesbridge.com/pages/submissions.

They publish fiction and non-fiction board books, picture books, early reader, middle grade fiction and nonfiction, and young adult fiction and non-fiction. Nonfiction tends to focus on nature, science, math, social studies, history, and the arts.  In both fiction and non-fiction, they are committed to reflecting and celebrating our diverse world. 

Diane’s webinar  will be held Wednesday, September 20 at 7pm.  Registration is open until September 5th with a cost of $16. 

Please join us for this exciting presentation to help jumpstart your career illustrating children’s books!

-Katie Eberts

The Buzz About The Biz: Preparing Yourself For Success Webinar Series

Wouldn’t you love to attend a children’s book conference without traveling? 

No airports, hotels, gas stations, or expense reports?

No work time lost?

Register and view our affordable webinars from the comfort of your home or office — wherever and whenever you have access to a computer. Or join your friends and colleagues who have registered and watch together.

So, what’s the Buzz About the Biz? How can you prepare yourself for success in the publishing world? 

Art by Lauren Nyquist

Join 4 industry professionals every Monday evening during the month of October as each takes you through a different look at the business side of the publishing journey.

The cost of each webinar is $15 for SCBWI members and $25 for not-yet-members plus a small online registration fee. Want to become a member? Click here.

Registration for all webinars is now open. Register for individual webinars or all. Click here to register.

Can’t attend? Each webinar will be recorded. Links to view the recordings will be sent to registrants and will be available for viewing for two weeks after each webinar.

Here's the schedule. Sign up for any session or all:

October 7th: 7:00-8:15 - Jillian Manning 

The Book Business - Publishing From Start to Finish Through The Eyes Of An Acquisitions Editor

October 14th: 7:00-8:15- Laren Panepinto and Marc Scheff 

Art Business Bootcamp: Learn how to get found, get hired, and get paid from real live industry Art Directors and Curators

October 21st: 7:00-8:15- Nancy Castaldo 

Be the Perfect Panelist

October 28th: 7:00-8:15- Megan Tripp 

Social Media for Authors and Illustrators

Click the link below to learn more about each webinar, the presenters, and available critiques. But hurry, the first webinar is this Monday! 

https://michigan.scbwi.org/2019/05/17/the-buzz-about-the-biz-preparing-yourself-for-success-webinar-series/

School Visit Webinar: So You're Not a Juggler?

Would you love to attend a children's book conference without traveling? Webinars offer an inexpensive and flexible format to interact with speakers and other audience members right from your home computer. Or, if you're unavailable at the scheduled time, you can view the webinar at your leisure on another day.




SCBWI-MI offered a series of webinars this year, and the most recent topic was So You're Not a Juggler: Planning Amazing School Visits with Suzanne Morgan Williams. We asked one of our SCBWI-MI members to tell us about her experience.

Here's Sandy Carlson:

An important take-away I learned from Suzanne’s webinar on school visits is that there is always something more you can be doing as a business person. I look on this advice the same way as I see cleaning my house. There are daily tasks. Each day at home there are dirty dishes, laundry, yard work etc. And there are always big ways you could improve these tasks, like buying a snow blower in addition to your handy, decade-old shovel. In home and house work, there’s always something more I could be doing. So it is with being a writer. Suzanne helped bring out both the details and the big things, for being a writer is so much more than just writing. (Now, wouldn’t that be a fun career? Just writing?)

Another take-away for me from the webinar was Suzanne’s encouragement (guide) to creating an author brochure for school visits. I’ve seen many author brochures. In fact, it has been on my to-do list for quite a while now. Other things always took priority, like shoveling the driveway or raking a forest of leaves from our yard. Besides your business cards, a brochure is a concise way

to present what you’ve written and what you are available to present. Being part of this webinar gave me the confident push to get my own author brochure created and done.

Thank you, Suzanne. And thank you SCBWI-MI RA’s and fellow writers for being always so supportive.

Sandy is a 10 year member of SCBWI. She has spoken at three writers conferences and done many school visits for her MG historical fiction books. A former teacher, she lives in Battle  Creek with her husband. Find out more at www.sandycarlson.com

That author brochure that Sandy mentioned? Done. Check out her quality work on her website.

Learn more about Suzanne Morgan Williams, her books and presentations, at her website.

 For more information about any of the 5 webinars SCBWI-MI has hosted this year, visit the Webinar Library. You can still register and view the webinar for up to 3 months after the live date. That gives you until Feb. 12th to learn all about school visits with Suzanne Morgan Williams. Hop to it!