A book of your work, your art, illustration, photography or design, is the dream of many freelancers. This is another in my “increasingly inaccurate trilogy” of topics on adding profit centers to your freelance business (thanks to Douglas Adams). Also, special thanks to Jami Giovanopoulos, vice president of theispot.com for personal introductions to many of the illustrators interviewed for this article.

Though not a mainstream source of revenue, getting your work published has many benefits:

• You do get paid.

• You gain credibility and exposure.

• You receive extra copies to give to clients as promos.

The place to start is to find your passion. It will take an enormous amount of your time and energy for a book, so you will need to love the topic as though it were your child, blood of your blood. My first book came out of a class I was teaching on self-promotion for photographers, a long-time passion of mine. This is also your legacy and will outlast any ad, annual report or brochure you create. You will want to be proud of it for a very long time.

Finding your topic
Never “cold call,” that is submit your book idea or illustrations without following submission guidelines. Unsolicited work is subject to loss or damage and is discouraged by publishers. In addition, following the submission guidelines will give you a better chance as these firms receive hundreds of submissions a week to review. When the publisher is not interested, you may receive the traditional letter of rejection but many have changed to a policy of contacting you only if they are interested in the project.

Michael Bartalos, www.bartalos.com: “My book Shadowville (published by Viking) resulted simply from the fact that my cut-out figures resemble silhouettes! Besides that, I chiefly draw on my travel experiences for story ideas, and make stuff up from there.”

Carin Berger, www.theispot.com/artist/cberger: “In my real life, I design book jackets for all the major U.S. publishers. But then I had my daughter and she was impossible to get to sleep. In those very long, drifty hours while I waited, I made up poems to amuse myself. Those eventually grew into my first book Not So True Stories and Unreasonable Rhymes. With my second book, All Mixed Up, the illustrations came first. I liked the idea of “collaging” my illustrations and they evolved into a book project when I showed them to my publisher, Chronicle Books.”

Sophie Blackall, www.sophieblackall.com: “My first book was Ruby’s Wish, by Shirin Yim Bridges, published by Chronicle Books in 2003. Chronicle had three illustrators in mind for the project and had each of us illustrate the same passage. It was a strange exercise in a way, and I remember thinking it might actually change my life if I got it right. It was a Chinese story and there were so many possible ways to approach it visually. In the end I decided to make the picture I would want to see. I got the job and the book won the Ezra Jack Keats Award that year.”

Cathi Mingus, www.mingusillustration.com: “I became more successful as an illustrator when I began to focus more on one area of illustration. My niche is the ’tween market. I focus my illustration for girls in the age range of eight to twelve. Showing images that appeal to that market led me to a variety of books and projects that I really enjoy.”

Joe Morse, www.joemorse.com: “My editorial and advertising work had established sports as one of my strengths. The editor at KCP Press was considering Thayer’s classic, Casey at the Bat and wanted a fresh perspective. I presented Casey as an urban and contemporary tale. It was gutsy of the publisher to go outside the lines. I had another well-known book publisher decide that my sports work was ‘too advertising.’ Now with a successful book published, I can dispel that slur, but it is important to remember that books are narratives, not just cool images strung together. Show them that you can tell a story with a picture. A great idea helps or if you decide to make pictures for existing material in the public domain—Pinocchio anyone?—think about what you are bringing to the subject that is new.”

Gail Piazza, www.gailpiazza.com: “I think in my case the book topics discovered me! Because of the sensitive way I depict children in my illustrations (soft colored pencil and pastel); I was being chosen by publishers to illustrate books on sensitive issues, such as Dyslexia and ADHD.”

Calef Brown, www.calefbrown.com: “I have loved nonsense verse since I was a kid, mostly short vignettes rather than longer narratives, so that was what I drew from when I wrote Polkabats and Octopus Slacks. I just concentrate on doing an engaging group of paintings held together by the spirit of the writing. It’s important to me that what I publish appeals to both kids and adults, and it’s very rewarding when I hear from family, friends and fans that the books are inspiring their kids to read, write and/or draw.”

Laura Coyle, www.coyleart.com: “When I first started freelancing in Atlanta, I was introduced to Carolyn O’Neil, an anchor and producer of travel and food programs at CNN. Carolyn was pitching a TV show and a book that would later become The Dish. She saw the lively little food spots I was creating for editorial clients and hired me to add illustrations to her presentations. For the next several years we kept in touch and in 2003 Carolyn signed with Atria to publish The Dish and recommended me to illustrate it.”

Paul Rogers, www.paulrogersstudio.com: “Wynton Marsalis and I have been friends for a few years and we often talked about a book project we could collaborate on. I came up with the idea of a jazz ABC book (Jazz A.B.Z.: A Collection of Jazz Portraits from A to Z) that could serve as an introduction to the legendary names of jazz for children and adults. I made a list of 26 musicians, one for each letter of the alphabet, and painted portraits that utilized the letterforms of the names and visual references to both their music, and to the era of the 20th century that each musician is most associated with.”