On day #3 of the blog book tour for Ripple's Effect , I thought it would be interesting to show some of the behind-the-scenes planning of "collateral assets" used to promote a title, as well as how "branded" products are created. There is more to what meets the reader's eye than what they see when they open the covers of a book. Lots more is going on behind the scenes to support the successful launch of a new pu blication ! Sarah Seward is the talented graphic artist who uses the artwork developed by the illustrators in creative ways on other company products. For example, she created the moving carousel on the Little Pickle Press website . She is also one of the talents behind the free lesson plans we talked about in a previous post , in which she embellishes the projects with images from each picture book. Here is the lesson plan for Ripple's Effect . But there's more. Even after the book is in print, the job of the publisher in...

Little Pickle Press publishes children’s books that present relevant topics of the times, and help parents and teachers begin conversations with their children about subjects like the environment, ethnicity, entrepreneurship, and other values that children and parents worldwide can embrace. To help adults further guide children through the basic concepts introduced in the picture books, the publisher also offers free expanded lesson plans available for download at their website. These are a great help for busy educators as each offers three exercises to reinforce the book's concepts, as well as many Internet links to related topics and information! Today we welcome, Meredith Moran, who is a Ph.D. candidate in Curriculum Studies and Teacher Education at Stanford University. Meredith researches and writes the lesson plans that complement the LPP stories. The latest project is for BIG (written by Coleen Paratore and illustrated by Clare Fennell), which was just released ...

By Dani Greer, Chief Red Pencil It hasn't been very long since the traditional publishing model meant printing a hardcover edition of a new book, then following that with a low-cost paperback edition, and maybe, if the publisher was really sharp, making an e-book available on the heels of print. In today's rapidly changing publishing environment, all three versions of the book are usually published simultaneously, or at least within very narrow time-frames. This gives readers all the options quickly, and multiplies the opportunities for sales. In the past year, a growing number of publishers have started printing new titles in only e-book version first, presumably capitalizing on the success of indie authors who have discovered the potential of feeding the e-reader market. Later, if e-book sales proved successful, the door might remain open for a print run, particularly if libraries and schools demanded the title for their shelves. But fast disappearing are the days of larg...

March Madness may be over but I thought I would write about the madness of promoting and get some help from our fearless leader, Dani Greer at Blog Book Tours . She is always passing me a promo tip and then pushing me to move down the court and put it in some basket. Most recently, she suggested I ask everyone to "like" my author page on Amazon. Then she asked if I posted a link on my blog, Web site and every social site I belong to. Well, of course I had not. I write. I don't think of things like this. So here’s a little discussion we had and would like to share with you, readers and authors. Please join us in the comments if you have suggestions of your own. Maryann : Dani, how on earth does a writer balance writing time and promoting time? Dani : Maryann, promotion just requires a plan and an hour or so a day. Authors should develop their own blogs by posting at least three times a week. They should also promote their blogs and their books daily on social networ...

As many of you know by now, I have a special interest in children’s literature. As an artist and writer, the story of how a picture book comes alive with the addition of complementary illustration never ceases to fascinate. After all, a picture is worth a thousand words! Today Sarah Ackerley joins us to share how the newest book from Little Pickle Press came to her drawing board, and how she developed a seemingly dry subject matter – how your brain works – into a fantastically humorous and delightful book for children ages 4 and up. Dani: Sarah, first tell us a little about how you prepared for a career in picture book illustration. Sarah: I studied fine art at the University of Texas at Austin where I focused mainly on drawing and painting. UT doesn’t have an illustration department, but I always had it in my mind that I would like to some day pursue picture book illustration. After graduation I began to build an illustration portfolio, attend SCBWI meetings, and read everythin...

Children’s book illustrator, Sue Cornelison, was trained as an art teacher. In 1995, she started free-lancing for an educational publisher where she was able to make good use of her classical art training by providing works for many books and catalogs, including re-prints of classics like The Brothers Grimm . Her opportunity to illustrate a book for Coach John Wooden proved to be the turning point in her career. She soon landed a New York agent and has been illustrating children’s books ever since. She even writes some of them! When I interviewed Sue as part of the Sofia’s Dream blog book tour, I was interested in how she came to work with the publisher, Little Pickle Press, and since I do behind-the-scenes projects for LPP, I knew that the turn-around time on this book was very fast. Dani : Sue, thanks for stopping by to chat with us about this cool project. I love the message of the book, and equally, your illustrations. First tell me when you actually got the manuscript and...

Little Pickle Press is an environmentally conscious publisher of children's books and other 21st century media. From its inception, digital products like e-books and downloadable tunes for each of the titles were part of the product mix. Their global focus made this particularly important, so that readers around the world could download the books with the click of a button. When their latest book, Sofia's Dream by Land Wilson was released, one of the team's agenda items was e-book conversion - a particular challenge as picture books don't transfer very well to digital products like Kindles and smartphones. Little Pickle Press has a professional team of artists and designers hired to enhance their socially and environmentally relevant stories - the delivery of the artwork had to maintain the creative integrity of the original works. Today, we talk to Doug Rowell of Media Tavern , and he explains how his company is able to create quality e-book products for Little Pic...

Eliza Wheeler was born into a family of musicians, artists, and teachers, and was raised in the north woods of Wisconsin. As a toddler, she adored crayons, and drawing has been her favorite creative outlet ever since. Recently she was chosen by Little Pickle Press to illustrate What Does It Mean to be Present? The book, which explores various ways children can learn to live consciously--to "be present" in their lives--is the third title in this award-winning series. Eliza agreed to talk to us about life as an illustrator, and about her current project. Q. What was your inspiration for choosing illustration? And how did you prepare yourself for your career? A. I studied Graphic Design at University of Wisconsin-Stout, and also took all the drawing and painting classes there that I could. After college, it didn't take long for me to tire of a profession that is based almost entirely on the computer. I'd been building an illustration portfolio, but didn't kno...

I’ve been a fan of children’s literature since writing and illustrating my first little book as a senior in high school, winning the art student of the year scholarship and award. Wow, that was a very , very, very long time ago. Over the decades, I collected children's literature for my own pleasure, and even worked as a trade rep at the Denver Merchandise Mart just so I could sell all the Random House imprints. What a marvelous time that was, getting boxes of new books every week. I was gifted with a tremendous selection, from classics to the newest contemporary, and before very long I developed an “ear” for a story that children and adults both could learn from and enjoy. It was an education through immersion. Of course, it didn't hurt that Dr. Seuss himself was the director of the Beginner Books division at the time. What could possibly inspire a fledgling writer more? Recently, Little Pickle Press caught my eye at Facebook just as owner, Rana DiOrio, was releasing the ...