Laurel is a member of the Society for Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI), has various advanced degrees, and a tendency to smuggle vegetables into storylines.
The Many Publishing Lives of Skye MacKinnon Never mind that Skye MacKinnon shares her Scotch heritage, teaching ability, and calm courage in the face of a changing world with J.K. Rowling’s Professor McGonagall. Or that MacKinnon’s cat never appeared during our interview, so spectacle-shaped markings around the...
For Creatives, Doing ‘Nothing’ Can Be Essential to the Process Can you tell the difference between wasting time and giving an idea space to develop? Creativity coach and poet Mark McGuinness has a simple rule of thumb. “Procrastination happens before hard work,” he writes in his book Productivity for Creative...
Children’s Author-Publisher Darcy Pattison Builds Her Brand with the Youngest Readers in Mind Ten years ago, children’s author Darcy Pattison faced a dilemma. After publishing with multiple traditional publishers—Lothrup, Lee & Shepard; Harcourt Inc.; Sylvan Dell Publishers; Philomel; and Stone Arch Books—from 1991 to 2011, she...
Children’s author, Marti Dumas (https://martidumasbooks.com) is an indie publisher who started her career with a clear mission: to provide specific books for specific readers. In some ways, her mission hasn’t changed at all. When her six-year-old ran out of books and started taking Jonathan Swift off...
Introduction to Anthology Organization for Authors Are you an author who likes to volunteer your time for a good cause, find mentors, learn from your peers, or learn by doing? By organizing an anthology for your target audience, you can not only build your publishing skills and the audience for...
Going to the Frankfurt Book Fair Going to the Frankfurt Book Fair is a jolt of adrenaline for book lovers. For the past seventy-four years, from all the regions of the world, publishers have been coming together to show off their beautiful work for readers, and as an indie author,...
