How Keisha Morris built the art for A GIRL CAN BUILD ANYTHING — and a giveaway!

I’m happy to welcome illustrator Keisha Morris to the blog today. Keisha created the art for A GIRL CAN BUILD ANYTHING, written by e.E. Charlton-Trujillo and me, which joined the world on April 18. When e.E. and I were writing the book, we thought it would be super-cool if the …

Continue reading

Collaboration tips: Writing with a co-author. And, a pre-order contest.

For most of my writing career, I never considered writing with a co-author. I was happily writing my own picture books with no shortage of inspiration or ideas. And, then, my long-time writing friend, e.E. Charlton-Trujillo said: “I’ve got this idea for a picture book.” e. is no stranger to …

Continue reading

A NEW BOOK TO ADD TO YOUR CHRISTMAS CELEBRATION

If you’re looking for a family Christmas book to read out loud, there’s still time to find CHRISTMAS FAIRIES FOR OUMA, a new picture book by Lindsey McDivitt and Katarzyna Bukier that came out this year from Familius Books. The book is about Tessa, who wants to show her far-away …

Continue reading

Superior structure: SHIRLEY CHISHOLM IS A VERB

I’ve been thinking a lot about picture book structure lately. In fact, I wrote two Picture Book Builder blog posts about it not so long ago. Here’s one. And, here’s the other. I’ve become a firm believer that the best picture books have a very solid structural foundation that elevates …

Continue reading

My thoughts about two confusing words: ‘marketing’ and ‘promotion’

Today’s post is about two words that often confuse authors, both new and veteran — marketing and promotion. And, there’s a reason those words confuse people. Because they are, in fact, confusing. They generate so many questions: What should the publisher do? What should the author do? When should it …

Continue reading