Clay Illustration for Babybug.mov

Check out how Susan Eaddy works. I'm always amazed by artists who work in 3 dimensions - whether it be cut paper or... plasticine. Wow.

Random Acts of Publicity (Giveaways!)

This week is all about Random Acts of Publicity! One of the hardest things in publishing is getting your books FOUND. So a few years ago, author Darcy Pattison came up with the great idea to randomly shout about the books/authors we love.
     And there are GIVEAWAYS!!!
     September 9: Guest Dana Lynn Smith: How to Get Your Book Reviewed by Dana Lynn Smith of The Savvy Book Marketer. www.thesavvybookmarketer.comOne-day chance for you to enter your Friend to win a FREE copy of How to Get Your Book Reviewed by Dana Lynn Smith
     ALL WEEK: Post your Friend’s name/book title on the Facebook page for Random Acts of Publicity to be entered to win a FREE The Book Trailer Manual by Darcy Pattison. One ebook given away daily; must post Friend’s name that day to be eligible and you can post it each day if you like. (Today is the last day - so get thee to facebook!)
     Twitter: Use #RAP2011
     My current fave? CLEOPATRA'S MOON by Vicky Alvear Shecter!
     What's YOUR favorite book right now? Give it some love in my comments!

#KidlitPRChat - transcript

We had a great first twitter chat last night at #KidlitPRChat as we talked about "Author Platform" - Building an Author Platform. What it is, and how to do it and what should you avoid? Couldn't stop by? You can find the transcript at http://bit.ly/rbO2GR.

Come join my Twitter Chat on Self Promotion!

Announcement! Authors Katie Davis, Dianne de las Cassas, and Elizabeth O. Dulemba will be hosting a twitter chat every first Wednesday of the month from 6 pm to 7 pm EST to discuss ways to promote yourself and your books. The twitter tag will be #kidlitPRChat and the first one will be held Wednesday, September 7th.
     Did you enjoy my article "Marketing - the Snowball Effect", "Blog Book Tours", or "Build an Easy Website (Using a blog)"? Or maybe you've attended some of my conference talks on "Online Promotion for Authors and Illustrators"? If so, this is the tweet chat for you! Because I know NOTHING compared to Katie and Dianne and you are sure to learn tons.
     And while I've dropped in on twitter chats from time to time, this is the first time I'm helping to host one. So please visit - ask questions - maybe learn a thing or two. Hope to see you there!

Google's Search by Image

This is a pretty big idea for artists, and one more tool to protect ourselves from copyright infringement:

My novel takes flight...

My mid-grade novel is going to publishers. Yup. Two and a half years worth of work - finally heading out the door. My agent emailed me while I was on vacation in Seattle. I knew she'd be getting back to me soon, but wasn't sure if it would be a 'sign off' or another revision request. I was beyond thrilled to read it was the first!
     So now my baby is on its way into the world, to stand on its own, to be judged objectively and with luck, found to be worthy. Send good vibes!

QR Codes - the Coolest thing EVAH!

OMG. So I generated a QR code for dulemba.com at Kerem Erkan's QR Cod and 2D Code Generator, and I got this:
Then I installed the Qrafter - QR Code Reader app from iTunes onto my iPhone. With it, I scanned my QR code and up popped.... the URL to my website with a direct link!!!!
     Can you imagine the possibilities??? Scanning bar codes (or these new fancy QR codes) is becoming the wave of the future to instantly access more information about the products we buy. So, I can add my QR code to my bookmarks and postcards and VOILA! People will be able to instantly access my website by scanning my handouts. HOW COOL IS THAT?
     Want to try it for yourself? Download the app, then scan my QR code - right here on your computer screen. Click the URL and you'll be able to visit dulemba.com on you cell phone too. Groovy!!

Skype Visit with Bonner Elementary

A few weeks back I enjoyed a Virtual Visit with Miss Emily's elementary class all the way up in Minnesota. Hi Guys!
     That's what's so awesome about Skype visits - they didn't have to fly me in and yet we were still able to share lots of fun information together. It also filled a technology requirement for the school. This was the view from my end:

     Did you know that many authors and illustrators offer 10 to 15 minute Skype visits for free (including me). You can find them at:

     Interested in asking me to speak to your students via Skype? While a short visit is free, I do ask for a few things up front:

1) Students I speak to have read at least three of my books. (You can see my titles at http://dulemba.com/index_books.html.)

2) Students have spent some time in my website learning about me and my books to provide informed questions. http://dulemba.com

3) The students and/or teachers have prepared questions prior to the chat, and somebody hangs around for tech backup (you may need your cell phone).

4) I can use a screen capture of the visit to promote my Skype visits on my blog.

If all that sounds okay to you, I'd be happy to virtually stop by! And remember, I also do one-hour Skype visits for $250 as well as in-person visits. More information is available at http://dulemba.com/index_visits.html.

View my blog DYNAMICALLY!

Blogger has a cool new feature which works with blogs like mine. Curious to enjoy my content in some neat new ways? Check out the MOSAIC feature. Or how about the FLIPCARD feature?

What about the TIMESLIDE view? Ot the ever groovy SIDEBAR view? Oh, and my fave - the SNAPSHOT view.

If you'd prefer to follow my blog in one of these layouts from now on (although none of them seem to pull up my coloring page images) - the trick is to add "view/flipcard (or whatever)" to the end of my URL. So, http://dulemba.blogspot.com/view/flipcard. Or just bookmark the URL in your favorites. Groovy, eh?

Judging Books By Their Covers

With eReaders becoming more prevalent, there's been a lot of talk about the future of book covers. This is an especially good story on the subject by CBS Sunday Morning:

Want to read more about an illustrator's view of the future of book covers? Read Judging an ebook by its cover at e is for book.

Marketing Tips at KatieDavis.com

Author/Illustrator Katie Davis is well into her "30 Days of Marketing Tips" as she prepares for the release of her latest picture book LITTLE CHICKEN'S BIG DAY. There is some great advice in there - so I highly recommend the read!

A Critique Retreat

So a few weeks ago I went on retreat with my Cheese Whizzes (the official name of my critique group) to the North Georgia mountains. Through a long weekend of laughing, playing, deep discussions and too much good food, we also shared our work.
     I must say, I love my critique group. These are some of the most talented ladies on the planet and my respect for every single one of them is huge. They are also incredibly intelligent and inspiring. Such open minds, yet with sincere convictions, are hard to find in today's world and I like to think there's a reason we found each other. They are, from the top left - Vicky Alvear Shecter, Moi, Robyn Hood Black, seated from left, Gail Karwoski, Kim Siegelson, and Mary Ann Rodman.


     Not only did I have the great pleasure of reading the progress of their amazing works, but I also received fabulous feedback on my novel. And I'm thrilled to report it was mostly positive! "Smooth as a smoothie," and "It's just soooo good!" Let me tell you - getting comments like that from these ladies was a very big deal for me.
     They did have a few suggestions. I'm moving a flashback scene to the opening scene and making my main character, Archie, a bit more lovable. Not hard things to do. I'm thick in the middle of the edits now and hope to have this version (I'm hoping the last version) back to my agent at the end of the month. Woosie!

And I admit, I am totally double posting on this one as it first appeared on my new blog about writing: Love My Muse.

Would the Bard Have Survived the Web?

There's an important article in the New York Times everybody should read (you may have to register with a free account - please do!): "Would the Bard Have Survived the Web?" by Scott Turow, Paul Aiken and James Shapiro. The article talks about the importance of copyright protection and how its invention basically allowed the creative explosion of playwrites in Shakespeare's time. (It's a very interesting read.)
     However, with the advent of the internet and easy access, copyright protections have come under attack. To quote:

They [file-sharers] ... ignores centuries of scientific and technological progress based on the principle that a creative person should have some assurance of being rewarded for his innovative work.

     Sadly, this has become more and more of an issue for me as I've had to be diligent making sure my coloring pages are used fairly. While I offer them for free for personal or non-commercial use, I often find companies using my images for logos, business promotions, or including them in public correspondence, etc.
     It's often my awesome followers who alert me to the infringements (thank you!) and I do indeed go after the infringers (twice just this week).
     Most of the time people use my images out of ignorance over copyright laws and I use the infringement as an opportunity to educate. Others respond as if I'm a big meanie, and they haven't done anything wrong. Those are... disappointing.
     My art is how I make my living after all, and if somebody uses my art in a commercial way without compensating me, well, they're basically keeping food off my table. That ain't cool. Again to quote the article:

As with much else, literary talent often remains undeveloped unless markets reward it.

and

A rich culture demands contributions from authors and artists who devote thousands of hours to a work and a lifetime to their craft.

     Bottom line - artists deserve to be compensated for their work. Otherwise, we won't have time to create the works society craves. We'll be too busy working 'regular' jobs.
     Which, by the way, I work longer hours as a free-lancer than I ever did with my 9 to 5 jobs. The key to remember is artists don't get paid to show up to work every day (and boy do I miss that sometimes). We make our living when people pay to use our creations.
     What do you think? Will you help protect my ability to create? Spread the good word about copyright protection!

Note: Click my angel above to read more about my copyright guidelines
Thanks to Claudia Pearson for the article link.

How Does a Dinosaur Deal With Rejection

With permission from the fabulous Jane Yolen, I share the poem she posted on her facebook page recently:

How does a dinosaur deal with rejection?
By kicking the table, a slight misdirection?
By taking a shower and shouting in pain,
and cursing the editors, each one by name?
No, a dinosaur reads each critique with great care,
and figures out which one's the one she should share.
Courageous, she smiles and she says nothing rash,
than rips up the thing, throws it into the trash.

My job here is done.
©2011 Jane Yolen All Rights Reserved

Awesome!

New Look for dulemba.com and sponsors...

Did you notice dulemba.com has a new look? (If you subscribe via RSS, stop by and check it out at dulemba.com.)
     I've been meaning to make my design wider for some time now as that seems to be the trend of most computer monitors these days. But I'm also trying out something new. First, some background...
     Did you know I've been creating my coloring pages since May of 2007? That's almost four years now that I've been creating a new image every single Tuesday for you to download - for FREE. I love creating them for you and am thrilled you guys appreciate them so much! Thank you for all your wonderful comments, creations and support!
     I'm happy to say, Coloring Page Tuesdays has grown ridiculously popular. Here are some numbers:

over 1.5 million page loads in 2010
over 130,000 page loads per month
over 80,000 unique visitors per month
over 4,000 page views per day
over 2,500 subscribers to the weekly newsletter

     Can you believe it? Me neither!
     With numbers like that, sooo many people have asked me 'how much money do you make from your website'? (Pardon me while I clean up my spit-out milk...) It became obvious it was time to... monetize.
     That means I am going to start accepting gracious sponsors to host ads on dulemba.com for products and services you all use during your card-making, class time, parent time, and reading time anyway. You may notice a few white boxes around the site where they will hopefully go, like at the bottom of this post. (For any potential sponsors out there - click on a box to learn more or click the "sponsor" link on my nav bar above.)
     Don't worry - I still don't and won't share your names and/or email subscriptions with anybody (that's just wrong). But I hope you won't mind a few ads when you come by to visit.
     More than anything, I'd love to know what you think, both about the new design as well as my new endeavor. Please leave your thoughts in a comment below!! And thanks so much for your continued support!

I am a Child (children in art history)

I've been following a beautiful blog lately called I am a Child (children in art history). It's the creation of one "Marco" although I can't seem to find more information than that. He's posting classic paintings through history - all featuring children.
     It's fascinating to see not only the beautiful paintings, but how the children are rendered, era clothing, their activities, etc. Definitely inspiration material for our own children's book illustration work!
     The painting above is by Fredierick Morgan (1847 - 1927). It's called Bob Apple. Isn't it lovely?

Apps vs. eBooks

I originally posted this article on the new e is for book blog. In case you haven't discovered it yet, here's a preview of the type of topics we cover there...

     There's a lot of confusion between Apps and eBooks. Despite the lump term of this being the "eBook revolution," Apps and eBooks are not the same thing.
     While eBooks can mean anything from a .pdf to other formats (click here for a comparison of eBook formats on Wikipedia), they often use what is called ePub format. Text flows within a 'frame.' Controls allow the reader to change the font, increase or decrease font size, etc. within that frame. A vignette image, video or sound bite can be embedded in the flowing text, but images cannot run off edge (bleed*) or be locked into a certain layout (because of the ability to resize text). Full illustrations as double page spreads cannot be supported, although single page images can (within the frame) as a single image or screen shot, which is the current move towards placing picture books into the ePub format. However, currently, those page shots are in black and white (on the Kindle, although not always on the iPad). The text is not adjustable. Pages are small and hard to read. So, as of this writing, ePub doesn't truly support picture books.
     Apps are a completely different animal. Apps are like mini-programs, which basically means, the sky is the limit. That's where all the interactivity can come in, with touch screen controls, sound, full bleed images, etc. Picture book apps have been called eBooks, interactive storybook apps, story apps, or children's book apps. But whatever the term used, they're awesome.
     So why aren't all books apps? Because currently, most eReaders run primarily via ePub. And it makes sense when you compare the size of what is basically a text document to the size of an interactive app. The iPhone/iTouch/iPad put apps on the map. However, even within apple, the iBookstore only represents eBooks - not apps (which is another can of worms I'll talk about later).
     That may not seem fair, but technology is changing rapidly and the two technologies are slowly meeting in the middle. They're not there yet, but give it a little time. And I do mean a 'little' - the eBook revolution is moving fast!
     Need an example? My picture book, Lula's Brew, is an app available on the iPhone/iTouch/iPad (check the version), but it is not an eBook.

*Note: As of December 15th, iBooks 1.2 now allows full bleed, double page spread layouts with zoom - a true picture book experience online. Not many exist yet, and it's not on the Kindle, but if you search for "Tron: the Movie Storybook" in iPad's iBooks, you can download a free sample. It still can't read to you, and has no interactivity like apps do, but it really is the closest thing to a traditional picture book that I've seen on an eReader so far. Bottom line - this changes everything.

My OTHER blog

I have an announcement to make. I have another blog, which I've kept secret until now - well, until my interview on Illustration Island. I've been posting about the things that have inspired me while I write my novel. It's about my writing process and things that make my wheels turn. Maybe you'd like to visit?
It's called "Love My Muse."

My interview on Escape from Illustration Island!

Thomas James started Escape from Illustration Island a few years ago, and it has become a premier resource for illustrators just starting out (and some of us who have been in it a while). I was honored to be a guest recently for an Illustration Island podcast: Episode #68. And boy was it thorough! I got a little philosophical in some of my answers, but hopefully shared some information that will be of value to budding illustrators. If you listen, I hope you'll let me know what you think!

e is for book

I receive a lot of requests for information on how I created my App, Lula's Brew. I usually refer people to my article "My 1st Picture Book App" - although that is really just the beginning of the story. So, recently I joined a group of traditionally published children's book authors and illustrators on a collaboration to explore the new territory of eBooks. It's called e is for book and I have a feeling a lot of you are going to find it incredibly valuable.
     Our mission statement is:

We are a group of published children’s authors and illustrators who are interested in or are already creating digital books for kids. The premise of our name is that a book is a book regardless of the format. With the option of interactivity within some formats, new creative possibilities are open to us. Our already-published books range from pre-school to Young Adult, so there should be something for almost everyone.

We also include a list of topics from 'reviews' to 'what is an ebook and what do we want it to be'?
     Hope you'll check it out!