The Happy Book: Recent Episodes

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HELLO!

Welcome to Chapter Three of The Happy Book. In this chapter, I will be talking to illustrator, author, and friend, Jess Racklyeft. Jess and I have published three picture books together, with another two in production. We’ll be taking you through the picture book production process and how we created our books—from how the ideas were formed through how we actually liaised and worked together with our publishers.

I’ll also talk to Jess about her book illustration journey—where it started and where she’s going now. She’ll have some wonderful tips and tricks on illustrating that you won’t want to miss.

Fire up your device, cram in those earbuds and enjoy this foray into the magical world of kids’ book creation. If you have any questions or comments, you can say hello at books@taniamccartney.com.

I’m Tania McCartney and I’m an author, illustrator and editor of children’s books. I’ve always wanted to live inside a book, and now I practically do. Welcome to The Happy Book.

GUEST – JESS RACKLYEFT

Jess Racklyeft is a Melbourne based-illustrator, working as a picture book illustrator, card designer, and for various freelance illustration clients.

She began her working life in publishing, working for almost a decade in customer service and sales roles before having her first child—which gave her the nudge to work harder than ever before launching her own business as an illustrator.

Since then she’s illustrated over a dozen books, and has seven books out in 2019. She’s also the illustrator coordinator of SCBWI Victoria, and mum to two young kids. Most of the time, she’s either drawing picture books, visiting the local bookshop or library, or reading them to her kids.

SHOW NOTES

01:35 Introducing Jess Racklyeft

03:45 When Jess first passed thought to illustrating children’s books

05:22 Returning to your 8-year-old self and what you loved

06:26 The first book Jess worked on as an illustrator

09:24 What does a typical workday look like for Jess?

13:40 The collaboration route

17:19 Illustration notes

19:24 Collaborating by email – Ivy Bird

21:45 The importance of digital illustration skills

22:20 Jess’s illustration process

24:50 Producing Smile Cry

28:38 Animal or human characters

29:19 What advice would Jess give authors on working with illustrators

30:58 The author and illustrator as equal creators

32:30 Jess’s new role as author

36:08 The benefits of being an author/illustrator

37:27 Tips and Ideas for emerging illustrators

52:34 Showing portfolios at conferences

54:46 The most difficult parts of illustrating a picture book

56:33 Balancing work with family and life; being present

57:45 Weighing up the pros and cons of opportunities

59:12 Progressing your illustrator career and making the right choices

1:00:06 What’s the most enjoyable part of creating books?

...and more

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HELLO!

Welcome to Chapter 2 of The Happy Book. In this chapter, I’ll be taking you through the entire picture book creation and production process. What more could you want? Truly? Is there anything better?

You’ll learn about where ideas come from, what themes are overdone, the types of picture book narrative, the layout and structure of the pages, who comes together to create a picture book, which books excite publishers, narrative and visual narrative, dialogue, illustration, story craft, word count, pacing, and insider info that will make your toes curl with delight.

Fire up your device, cram in those earbuds and enjoy this foray into the magical world of kids’ book creation. If you have any questions or comments, you can say hello at books@taniamccartney.com.

I’m Tania McCartney and I’m an author, illustrator and editor of children’s books. I’ve always wanted to live inside a book, and now I practically do. Welcome to The Happy Book.

SHOW NOTES

00:35 Introduction

02:50 Coming up with an idea

03:04 Ideas being stolen

04:41 How do I get my ideas?

06:30 Reflecting back to when we were children—An Aussie Year

08:37 Top tips for finding ideas

10:37 Books for trade AND educational markets

11:07 Don’ts!

11:32 Moralistic, didactic and message-driven books

13:12 Writing to fill a market gap

13:38 Themes that are done to death

15:58 Age groups for picture books

16:48 Using more difficult words

17:50 Writing Peas in a Pod and Smile Cry18:55 Page-turning potential

19:55 Types of narrative—linear, cyclical, episodic

21:20 Peas in a Pod—cyclical stories

23:04 Smile Cry and See Hear - episodic books

24:18 Word count

26:39 The visual narrative

27:11 Show Don’t Tell

29:25 Dialogue—one of my bug-bears

30:37 Conflict and resolution

32:05 Adults in picture books

33:23 Plot points

37:04 Rules and breaking them

37:35 Marrying text with image

38:44 Illustration notes

40:08 Working with an illustrator

and much more

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HELLO!

Welcome to Chapter 1 of The Happy Book. In this chapter, it seems fitting to start at the starting line. I’ll be discussing the children’s book creator journey, how mine came about, how the careers of others came about, and how yours can come about.

You’ll learn that not all journeys are the same nor created equal. You’ll also learn the importance of Getting Industry Involved and forming friendships with other creators. On top of that, I’ll go over the submissions process, and how best to do it, and give my top tips for submission success.

Special guests mentioned in this chapter are: Dee White, Jacquie Harvey, Dub Leffler, Sheryl Gwyther, Danielle McDonald, Emma Quay, Gus Gordon and Jen Storer.

Fire up your device, cram in those earbuds and enjoy this foray into the magical world of kids’ book creation. If you have any questions or comments, you can say hello at books@taniamccartney.com.

I’m Tania McCartney and I’m an author, illustrator and editor of children’s books. I’ve always wanted to live inside a book, and now I practically do. Welcome to this happy place—the Happy Book!

Tania

SHOW NOTES

00:35 Introduction—a cup of coffee and a pile of blueberries

01:30 My publication journey

02:13 The start of my children’s book journey

02:30 Self-publishing – Riley and the Sleeping Dragon

03:41 Becoming involved in the industry

05:42 My journey with the National Library of Australia

06:58 My collaborations with Jess Racklyeft

08:38 My contracts with Windy Hollow

09:45 Relationships in publishing are everything

10.14 The collective nature of your publication journey

11.05 My illustration journey + the 52-Week Illustration Challenge

14:24 The story behind Australia Illustrated

15:28 My Australia and World Illustrated Maps journey

16:28 Why you will be more likely to secure contracts once you’re published

17:08 My commissioned book with the National Library—The Gum Family Finds Home

17:50 The Mamie journey—my book on May Gibbs (HarperCollins)

21:17 Not all journeys are the same

21:56 Being afraid to share your ideas

23:54 The publication stories of friends and colleagues—and advice!

24:02 Dee White

24:47 Jacqueline Harvey

26:42 Dub Leffler

27:25 Sheryl Gwyther

28:27 Danielle McDonald

29:29 Emma Quay

30:58 Gus Gordon

33:04 Jen Storer

34:35 Another cuppa and a mandarin

35:00 Advice for submissions

35:54 Target the right publisher

37:00 Submitting work that is well-edited

38:45 Large v indie publishers

39:32 Top tips for making submissions

40:15 Following publisher submission guidelines

40:48 Keeping a submissions database

41:37 Multiple submissions

43:11 If you receive a no…

43:53 Keep your career goal in focus—no selling out

44:52 General submissions

47:27 Wrap-Up

48:21 A piece of Christmas cake and a glass of champagne

49:00 Coming up in Ep 2

49:38 Fin

Music: Ukulele Whistle by Scott Holmes