mermaid treasures

Hilary July 15, 2022

One of my dreams is to do book covers and internals for burgeoning chapter book readers and to help it take flight I’m going to show what I can do. Da Da DAaaaaaaa!

Firstly I’ve created myself a little dummy logo for some dummy book publishing, introducing Platypus Books!

This is going to be used in my dummy book covers as a place holder, so that publishers can see it all laid out before them and they’ll have no option but to commission me to work with them on their next series *fingers crossed*

Then I made up an author name, I have a few, pulling from family names and the like. I settled on L.M. Hoskin, a good robust name that is gender neutral and may be used in other formats for a couple of other projects I have bouncing around in my rather roomy noggin.

For the cover, I took an image which got really great feedback when I posted it on Instagram. I set about finessing it in Procreate so that it could be laid out correctly, making room for the title etc.

original

finessed

I’m also not a writer so I sourced some dummy text using the old faithful Lorem ipsum. This site, https://www.lipsum.com will give you any number of paragraphs for your own adventure if you’re interested. This place holder text allows me to show how a finished page might look with the text in place.

Again, using Procreate, I set about drawing some images to represent other aspects of the imagined story to show I can do consistent characters, provide motifs, some fancy border action and incidental characters.

page borders

motifs and cover border

sketch ideas

From these I finished up three images in a greyscale format.

Working in InDesign I fiddled about. I’m not a graphic designer, but have had cause to use the program before and was willing to have a bash at it.

I used two fonts: MVB Grenadine for the body text and Providence Sans Pro for the titles and page numbers.

Creating shapes I allowed the text to flow around the more organic edges of some, but not all, of the images. The result is below, and I think I’ve knocked it up into something really good (I also had a person give an opinion or two, and they liked it (once I made the changes they suggested)).

sample cover

sample chapter 1

sample page 5

sample page 10

sample page 20

sample page 25

So, if you are a publisher of early chapter books or middle-grade fiction, I’m contactable here.

If you’re not a publisher BUT you know someone WHO IS a publisher of early chapter books or middle-grade fiction, send them this page.

And, if you like what I’ve done, let me know on Instagram or Twitter, give us a follow or just send out some positive vibes.

I’d love to do some of these in real time, but until then, Platypus Books might just dummy up some more!

the shop is open!

Hilary October 20, 2021

Hey-de-ho!

After a couple of requests I have made some greeting cards using some of the pandemic drawing I’d done throughout 2020 and into 2021. The inside of all the cards are blank so you can write something special of your own.

So I’ve re-opened my online shop and added them, check it out here essayer.com.au/shop

I’ve had them printed professionally, but only in a small run, to test the waters. Essentially the early bird will catch the worm here. But I’m happy to print more especially if you want to make a large or, dare I say, a wholesale order or would like to distribute them or… well the possibilities are endless, email shop@essayer.com.au and I’m sure we can work something out.

So, check out the cards, I’ve also got a few tea towels left and some copies of the book I did with Wild Dog Books, Earth Matters : loving our planet. Which you can opt to purchase, if you so wish.

There’s also a link to my Redbubble page there to order t-shirts, just in cases :)

Cheers!

Earth Matters: How to make a book, from catastrophic fires and through a pandemic

Hilary March 18, 2021

Part 1: Catastrophic fires can’t stop my self promotion

The story of how I got to illustrate this book is just as amazing as getting it done. Really, it is.

It all began with the 2019/2020 new year. We’d decided as a family to go and camp at the block my sister-in-law and her husband own. Spending a couple of days seeing in the new year, singing songs around the campfire, swimming in the cool clear waters of the Sapphire Coast, doing the Merimbula Shuffle (where you and all the other tourists wander up and down the main street of Merimbula), just like last year!

But it had already begun.

By the time we got there, the rest of the camp was on high alert. Not a lot of action in town, people staying put. Weary and worried, we were welcomed nervously. With the smoke already in the air, we settled in the best we could.

The next day we went to the beach, while there, a cavalcade of caravans and campers started setting up in an area not to be used for that purpose. Word spread. They’d been evacuated from Mallacoota.

The following morning, we went and did the Merimbula Shuffle, that is, we walked up and down the main street of Merimbula looking in the shops and eating all the foods.

We went back to the camp packed everything up leaving only what we actually needed to put our hands on, just in case. We had dinner at Eden’s Fishermans Club, deciding not to head too far away from the camp - but trying to get out of the smoke.

With the red glow showing over the mountain at the back of the block, we had a nervous night at the camp. Ash was everywhere when we woke up. Camp Leader decided we needed to move closer to town, out of the bush land. They had a friend with an empty house not far from town and we would all stay there. We made sure the cars had full tanks. The smoke was very thick by now, and everything was orange. The road to Melbourne was closed. The road to Canberra was closed.

NYE was stressful - to say the least.

New year’s day dawned and we woke to the news that the road to Canberra was open. We didn’t hesitate. We got the last of our belongings packed and we headed out in a convoy.

Camp Leader decided to stay.

So we went home the long way. Nose to tail until Cooma. We were on the road for 14 hours, with a short stop in Canberra. We were safe. A bit smokey, very tired and with raspy voices.

We continued to watch the emergency apps, hoping then camp and Camp Leader was keeping safe.

Alerts and stories were being shared all over Twitter: what can we do, who can we, help, where can we help. Celeste Barber had raised so much money but it was set up for a narrow band of recipients, so different parts of the community started to step up. #AuthorsForFireys was born. Led by Emily Gale, it created a way for established Authors and Illustrators on Twitter to provide services like manuscript reads or portfolio reviews or query letter finessing or signed copies of works etc... Ran as an auction it raised over $500,000 (AUD).

I spied a little tweet.

I put in a bid and da da dahhhhh... I won a portfolio review!

It was from that quick look at my website that Donna saw something for a friend in the industry, and from there the rest is in the previous post.

So out of the catastrophic fires came a book illustrator. Hopefully, that’s the last time that happens and the next one comes from a quiet search through portfolio sites. No more fires, thanks.

Stay tuned for Part 2: Pandemic Ahoy!

Cheers,

…and Camp Leader and camp were all ok too.

Self-publishing

Hilary March 16, 2019

or I've written a picture book and I need some pictures done…

You’ve put in the hard yards in and taken some words, massaged them into place and created a beautiful story. It’s a great thing to do and it’s something you’re very passionate about. You know you need some pictures for the story and so you’ve landed here. That’s great, and I’m looking forward to our adventure together.

Before we start, there are a few things I need you to understand and there is no judgement in this, but from many requests I and many of my illustrator colleagues get it is clear that there is a gap in the information available to writers as to how and what it takes to get a book published.

Let me be very clear, If you are going to submit your book to a publisher, they will want to chose their own illustrator. Employing me to draw anything will be a waste of your money, the drawings will be discarded. Publishers do not want illustrated submissions unless the author is an illustrator, illustrating their own writing.

Publishing houses exist is because it takes a lot of work to get a book published and involves a lot of people. Looking clearly at how the industry works will protect you emotionally and financially. It will help you clarify what you want out of me and what other things are involved in getting your book out into the market place.

Editor: Basically, the project manager, pulling all the parts of the book together. Managing expectations of the author, illustrator and book designer to get the best result

Art director: Like and editor, but for pictures
Book designer: A specialist graphic designer who lays in the text and places the illustrations getting the item ready for print
Author: Writes the words with editing guidance from the editor
Illustrator: Draws the pictures under direction from the editor (and/or art director)
Marketing: Assess the book for sales potential, deciding on print run and distribution
Printer: Prints and binds the book
Distribution: Delivers the book to the shops

If you are going to self-publish, you take on all of these functions or you pay someone to do them for you.

Illustrators and anyone you ask to do work on your book will expect to be paid. Your passion project is not their passion project. By all means you can ask for advice, almost everyone is happy to share their knowledge (if they have time) but it is not right to ask them to work for free or at a discount.

It can cost thousands of dollars to get a book published and the person doing the publishing will bear this cost.

Economies can be made with the scope of the project, but the illustrations alone can cost $5000 to $15000 (maybe even more), depending on the illustrator, the number and complexity of the illustrations and how soon you want them.

I am not trying to step on your dream or be nasty, this is an industry and there are, few (if any) short cuts.

There are successful self-published authors, it is a lot of hard work and an ongoing commitment to your project is needed.

Find a few and talk to them.

Join the ASA and/or SCWBI, these are your network. You will meet lots of people who have lots of information and advice to get you on your way. They are your peeps!

SO, when you’re ready and you’ve learned all you can about publishing and want to go ahead and get a quote for me there is one more step (sorry). Fill in this form and send it through when you request your quote.

It will help you clarify what you’re asking for and it will help me put together an accurate figure for you.

I want us to have a fun and rewarding working relationship, getting the best result and realising your vision. Having a comprehensive understanding of what’s involved and clear communication paths is the foundation of a really positive experience for everyone.

See below for some further information to read and listen to. Good luck and hopefully I haven’t done myself out of too much work.

Cheers,

Further information…

On publishing…

Sarah McIntyre 'Can you illustrate my book?' Some tips for writers approaching illustrators, 25 April 2016 https://jabberworks.livejournal.com/744387.html

Tania McCartney, The Happy Book Children’s Book Podcast, 2 January 2019
http://taniamccartney.blogspot.com/2019/01/the-happy-book-childrens-book-podcast.html

Australian Society of Authors, Find and answer, Publishing https://www.asauthors.org/findananswer/publishing [5 March 2019]

Australian Publishers Association, Getting Published
https://www.publishers.asn.au/resources/getting-published [5 March 2019]

Join…

Australian Society of Authors (ASA) https://www.asauthors.org
Contract advice, workshops, industry information

Society of Childrens Writers and Book Illustrators (SCWBI) https://www.scbwi.org
Meet your people, network and learn.

Keep and eye out for…

CYA Conference https://www.cyaconference.com

KidLitVic http://www.kidlitvic.com

Melbourne Art Book Fair

Hilary May 15, 2015

Recently the Melbourne Art Book Fair was held and I went to the opening night at the NGV. It was a crowded affair with many beautiful books on display and for sale. It was a fantastic opportunity to see books from boutique and micro publishers as many of these type of publications a not held in bookstores. They're even hard to come across in independent bookstores.

I'm still processing some of the things I saw on the night, and I might discuss the later in other posts. Needless to say though the hall looked gorgeous, we are so lucky to have this available to us... (And I bought a tote bag! I love a tote bag.)