FINDING AN ILLUSTRATOR

Okay, so your book is finished, and you can't draw! This is what most Children's Authors are faced with, including myself. Once I finished my first book, The Greenhouse Kids, Dan Delion's Secret I had to jump over the next hurdle, finding an illustrator.

I called and met with an instructor at our local University of Windsor to see if they had any recommendations. They did for editing, but not for illustrations. I checked with two graphic artists that I know, and I did receive two recommendations from them. I also received a third recommendation from a local graphic arts company in Windsor, near to where I live.

I was at a point where I was ready to proceed with the illustrations even though I had yet to find a publisher. If you have a publisher, check with them before proceeding with finding an illustrator, because many of them supply their own.

At this point, I was unsure if I would be self-publishing, or if I was going to get picked up by a publisher, so I decided to proceed with hiring an illustrator myself. I sent out a description of the characters to all three illustrators and asked them to forward their artwork to me, along with their pricing. I then selected Constance Rose Zonta, a local illustrator, as I preferred her work best. We then came to an agreement on price and signed a contract between the two of us. I looked up a general contract on the web, and we altered parts of it as agreed upon.

Shortly after, I received the call from my publisher, Borealis Press, that they were interested in publishing. I explained to them that I already had the illustrations done. This was not a problem. In the end, I paid for the illustrations, but I also got the artwork that I wanted, so I was not unhappy at all.

I am meeting with the illustrator this evening regarding my second book in the series, The Greenhouse Kids, Ghost Walk. Hopefully this will go smoothly.