My husband and I have riden bikes for fun for years, but over a year ago we started getting a bit more serious about it. To be in better general shape (at our ages!) we even started doing Spin Classes at our gym a couple of evenings a week, along with Yoga and some weights on different days. And, being in southern VA, we can often ride outside as well. My husband has really taken the challenge on and will try his first 150 mile MS ride this spring….from Richmond to Williamsburg and back to Richmond in two days.  I’ll cheer him on!  

I share all this because I often THINK when riding…. and I see connections to life in general, and our industry and creativity in particular.  There are certain things one has to have, and be, to keep your balance and ride at all.  For either long or shorter mileage!  I find one needs some of these same strengths to be in and succeed in this industry. (any industry?)

ONE:  You must have confidence.  If you worry about falling off the bike…you’d never get on it! (Lance may have said that….)      If you worry about ‘will they like me’ you won’t be able to draw or paint or write a word.  Just DO it.  (did Nike say that?)

TWO: Know your own core strength.  Test and build yourself, but know your weaknesses as well as what you do well.  Keep your sights realistic.  It is about the RIDE, like it is about THE STORY.  Don’t get distracted with non essentials.

THREE:  It may be not just WHAT you are doing but WHY.   Is what you are doing a perfect compliment of all going into this project? Is there the proper emotional resonance for you? Are you enhancing your project and your life doing what you are doing?  We find there is often a special ‘turning in’ while riding. You become newly aware of yourself; how you feel; what you are capable of. (or not capable of! and that’s ok too…back to knowing your strengths!) ‘Turning in’ to your story will bring so much more out of it!

FOUR:  it takes a Village!  Essentially, we ride alone, even if we go together or with friends or a riding group as some do. We live our life alone. We create alone. But keep in mind there are so many outside supports and necessary variables to how well ’the ride’ goes.  The bike trails if they are there and maintained for safety and ease.  Support groups can only help you if you use them. Agents can only get you assignments if you produce.  Others who share the road can make or ’break’ you (ouch!).   You have to be aware of  the competition and the direction the road is taking you.  If you deviate it’s great, but look and listen first!  And for a big event it takes lots of players (agents, editors, AD’s, sales and marketing, distributers, bookstores, buying public) …all have a part to play to get you to the end of the race with a smile on your face!  Watch YOUR balance and enjoy the ride!

from Karen Stormer Brooks….

from first Cheryl Kirk Noll….  and our ground hog from Nancy Hayashi……

a classroom from Roger Motzkus first….   and then a salon day from Cathy Gendron

AND we just learned that this book has ALSO won  the AMELIA BLOOMER PROJECT list as one of the BEST FEMINIST books of the year! 

I will still carry dummies and some printed samples.  Clients LIKE to flip through pages of illustrations and words…just like kids do.  How about that!  Sales of books might be down but they ARE selling and still being loved by those of us who WANT to hold paper books.  The holidays were a big time for book sales this year.  B&N reported that overall sales then were up 4% and that’s the FIRST TIME this has happened in 5 years.  That is good news.  Now, Nook sales rose too…43%, and digital content by itself more than 113%. You’d expect that with new devices and pricing etc.   The overall 2011 year book sales did decline 9.5% (Nielson’s Bookscan)…. 66.3 million units lower than 2010 total.  Kids books were down 5%.  It’s a mixed message to understand, that’s for sure. 

So lets look at what we can do as artists and writers to get more and better books published.  Lets avoid some mistakes first off.  Don’t get too focused on technology rather than the more important biz and artistic needs.  Try to avoid being too REactive rather than PROactive. (do what YOU do best and get ‘it’ out there!) Fight being too rigid about what’s ‘always been done.’  It’s a new world out there, and we have to stay flexible.

Now, things to ask yourself as you paint and write:  Who is your audience?  what specific age, and interests are you appealing to? (remember it is parents who buy the books ….) Are your characters engaging, and will readers CARE about them, remember them and want MORE of them? Is everything developmentally appropriate?  Does your style set you apart from other artists and writers?  Remember it’s all about THE STORY…is there a good memorable one?  Will it have ‘the WOW factor?’  Is it a story kids will come back to over and over….I hear that need/want from publishers over and over!  One joke books and ’one offs’ aren’t what the market is looking for just now. 

It’s still a slow tough market for picture books, but lots are being sold and published as you probably noticed when you went to the bookstore this holiday season!  Keep focused and active and passionate about what you do.  That will be noticed!  So what new ideas have YOU GOT?    taken Christmas Day 2011 from hightest point in Brooklyn by CATugeau

I wanted to end the year with wisdom shared in two visits with valued clients this Fall.  The first is Isabel Warren Lynch, the Executive Art Director at Knopf, and I’d asked her about e-books and Knopf’s wishes and plans.  They are not looking at this time for original e-books but working on their own wonderful back list for gems to bring into a new format.  This was the pearl of her comments:  it’s not about format so much. It is about “what the author or artist has to say!”  AMEN  It’s all about the story…. appealing, distinct, and expressive.  Whether printed book, e-book or story app, if the story and characters are intimate enough to touch  readers/viewers they will be gathered and folded into those hearts.

Stephanie Lurie, Editorial Director of Hyperion (Disney) was wonderful to share with me some of her ‘likes’ and ‘dislikes’. (please note that Hyperion does NOT consider any un-agented submissions per Disney legal policy.) Likes: “characters that are distinct and memorable and relatable to kids, universal themes, HUMOR, emotional resonance, short texts that allow illustrations to do 50% of the story telling, satisfying narrative, arc with ups and down, a climax, and resolution.”   Dislikes: “Rhyme, morals, condescension, overly long and descriptive texts, ‘talking heads’, adult protagonists and/or concerns, one-joke books, concept books, ‘list-like’ books and stories that begin with an issue, situation or anecdote.”  May I share that this list is a good overview of the industry in general these days….take heed.  And thank you Isabel and Stephanie for sharing…..

So with these gems to guide us, I wish one and all a very creative new journey forward into 2012!     cat                                                             (resting logo from Stacey Schuett)