Welcome to Tuesday Debut, Everyone!

Today we have a special treat!

Our debut-ess is an illustrator!

Before we meet her, let me take a moment to announce that the winner of Leah Moser’s giveaway from last week – winner’s choice of a copy of I AM A THUNDERCLOUD or a picture book manuscript critique – is. . .

KATIE MAHOOD!!!

Congratulations, Katie! Please email me so we can get you your prize!

AND. . .

Today’s debut-ess is offering a giveaway of a signed copy of her book (US addresses only, please) to one lucky winner! Just leave a comment below by Monday April 15th at 3 PM and you could be the randomly selected recipient of this beautiful book!

Now then!

We don’t get too many illustrators here, and it’s a wonderful opportunity for us, as authors, to be able to see the picture book creation process from their perspective!

Please join me in welcoming Amanda Morrow, debut illustrator of FROM THE FARM TO OUR TABLE!

Title: From The Farm To Our Table
Author: Sarah Rowe (Northern Ohio, USA) agented by Amanda Luedeke with MacGregor Literary
Illustrator: Amanda Morrow (Southern California, USA) agented by Emily Fernandez at The Bright Agency,
though agent for this book was Analieze Cervantes
Publisher: Gnome Road Publishing
Release Date: April 2, 2024
Genre: Fiction
Ages: 4-6

Based on the author’s homesteading lifestyle, this book is sure to be a hit with farm-loving (and curious!) kids. Colorful, playful illustrations add layers of warmth and fun as readers follow twin siblings across the family farm to gather ingredients to make a shepherd’s pie.

SUSANNA: Welcome, Amanda! Thank you so much for joining us today! We always love to learn from our debut-ers, but it is a rare treat to get to hear about a publication journey from the illustrator’s point of view! What made you want to illustrate Sarah’s book?

AMANDA: When “From the Farm, to our Table” reached my inbox I was automatically drawn to it. My grandma was raised on a ranch in Oregon so growing up she would always tell me of her adventures. I couldn’t help but draw inspiration from her life when coming up with ideas for illustrating the book. Whenever I receive a new manuscript to illustrate I always create a Pinterest board with images and references that create sort of a mood board for how I want the illustrations to look.These images/references could be photography, other artists’ work I admire, color palettes ect… Pinterest really is an illustrator’s best friend.

SUSANNA: How do you go about taking someone else’s words and turning them into art for the book?

AMANDA: When generating ideas for the illustrations for a book I read the manuscript a few times. I try to really sit with the story for a while and sometimes there are pages where I can instantly envision what to illustrate. On pages where it isn’t so clear I again try and find some inspiration on Pinterest, but I find sometimes the best solution is to just start sketching. I use small thumbnail sketches to work out the ideas. Sometimes you have to do a few to finally feel like you’re getting somewhere. The purpose of a thumbnail is to create a tiny sketch to get a general idea of the composition of an illustration and/or the book as a whole. 

SUSANNA: How long did it take you to illustrate this book?

AMANDA: With this book I had a year to finish up which was very fortunate. Sometimes deadlines are very tight. I’ve had projects with deadlines as little as four months. During that year’s time frame you usually do have check-ins at each big finishing point of the project. For “From the Farm,to our Table” I had a check in for my thumbnails, finished sketches, and final art. Publishers tend to do this to make sure everyone is on the same page and to give you notes on things they would like to add or change. I’m sure writers go through a similar process when writing the manuscript of a new book.I like to make sure I keep all my deadlines in a calendar whether that be on google calendars or a physical planner or calendar. Staying organized is something not art related you really need to be aware of when illustrating a picture book.

SUSANNA: Did you go through many revisions?

AMANDA: As mentioned previously, I had revision stages at three major stages: thumbnails, final sketches, and final art. By publishers giving notes at these major stages we can ensure everyone is on the same page especially in the sketch stage as revising earlier on in the book is a lot easier than revising final art. I find art revisions helpful. As an artist, we get so close to our work we can sometimes overlook something or sometimes the author has a specific idea they want added in the book. Creating a picture book is very much a team effort and I always want the author’s vision for the book to come across as well as my own. It’s all about finding a good balance of the two.

Amanda’s two favorite work spaces: home office and the cafe!

SUSANNA: That is true for writers as well. We get so close to our work, and it becomes so familiar, that it is easy to miss things or to think something makes sense when, to someone who hasn’t been in your head during the whole writing process, it does not! How did you go about getting chosen to illustrate?

AMANDA: My illustration journey started a couple years ago. I started by creating a portfolio that I could submit to agents, publishers, and art directors. I queried for a while (got lots of rejections) until I got represented by my then agent who put me on submission to different publishers. A year or so later my agent emailed me with an offer from Gnome Road Publishing for “From the Farm to our Table”. This was my very first picture book project so I was ecstatic!

SUSANNA: How long after you found out about your art was being considered were you told it was a “yes”?

AMANDA: In this case I got lucky, Sandra at Gnome Road believed my art was a great fit for “From the Farm,to our Table”. So pretty much from the initial email from my agent it was a go if I agreed which was fantastic news for me! 

SUSANNA: How long was it between getting your offer and getting your contract to sign?

AMANDA: I believe once I was sent the manuscript to look over and read and agreed to take on the project I got the contract the same week.

SUSANNA: How did you celebrate signing your contract?  (If you care to share 😊)

AMANDA: I celebrated by going out to dinner with my family!

SUSANNA: Was the contract what you expected in terms of advance, royalty percentage, publication timeline, author/illustrator copies etc.?

AMANDA: “From the Farm, to our Table” was the first traditionally published picture book I was contracted to do, but I knew from my agent the contract was pretty standard. As a beginning illustrator your advances are typically on the smaller side. Gnome Road is also an indie publisher which means they don’t have as large of a budget as a bigger publisher would. As far as royalties, once the book earns out its advance I will be receiving 12% on paperback, hard back, and periodicals. As the illustrator I will receive 15 copies for my own use or to give to friends and family.

SUSANNA: Can you tell us a little about the artistic editorial process?

AMANDA: Before submitting my art to the editor or at any stage I always sit with it for a day and come back to look at it with fresh eyes to see if I missed anything. Many occasions I have accidentally forgotten to finish a small detail on a page so that time away helps a ton with those small mistakes. Once I’ve gone through and revised myself I will send it over to the art director. They will then go through and give me any revisions they may have. Most of the time, it’s small things like adjusting color or making sure the characters are consistent adding small details. For this book specifically I learned a lot about homesteading and taking care of the animals and land they live on. So most of my revisions were relating to that and making sure it was accurate to real life. My vision was pretty similar to my art directors. She was super helpful through the whole process if I had any issues.

illustration copyright Amanda Morrow 2024, Gnome Road Publishing

SUSANNA: Did the author have input in the editorial process?  What was that like?  And how do you, as an illustrator, feel about art notes?

AMANDA: The author did have input which I think is important as I’m bringing their story to life. Especially with the story having some non-fiction elements I wanted to make sure I was accurate in my illustrations. That being said as the illustrator, the picture book is at least half mine as well as the authors. It’s all about having a balance of what I can bring to the story without taking too much creative liberty. I like to try and add things you may not get from the text but add something fun! For example, I added a dog to the family that follows them throughout the story doing sometimes silly things on different pages. A dog isn’t mentioned in the text but it adds a little something of my own to contribute to the story. The author’s voice is very important to me and we both have the same goal in creating the best book possible.

SUSANNA: I love those creative additions that illustrators put in! They bring so much to the book. Did you get to see advance reviews from Kirkus, SLJ, etc? What was that like?

AMANDA: At this moment, I haven’t seen the Kirkus review yet! It did make the featured title in the ALA’s Booklist 2024 spring youth preview. Which was an absolute joy to find out!

SUSANNA: Congratulations! That is wonderful! How long did it take from offer to having the first copy in your hand?

AMANDA: I got the offer to illustrate the book in June 2022 and received my set of illustrator copies in February 2024. So when everything is said and done it took about 2 years. I turned in my final artwork in the summer of last year.

Amanda with her book for the first time! 😊

SUSANNA: What kind of marketing and promotion has your publisher done for this book?

AMANDA: They have been sharing on social media, having the author and I do interviews on blogs ect, sharing different awards and accolades the book receives.

SUSANNA: Describe any marketing/promotion you did for this book.

AMANDA: I plan on making coloring pages, social media posts, continuing to do interviews, and taking the book to my local library and bookstores to hopefully do a storytime. I am also doing a book trade with another illustrator where we plan on promoting each other’s books on socials.

SUSANNA: How long was it between the time you started illustrating seriously and the time you sold your first picture book?

AMANDA: I was illustrating freelance and doing commissions for 2 years before I decided to start my journey in kidlit. Got my first deal after getting an agent in year 3 of working as an illustrator.

SUSANNA: What is the most important/helpful thing you learned on your way to publication? (Or what is your most helpful piece of advice for up and coming artists?)

AMANDA: Spend time creating projects for your portfolio you would like to illustrate for a client one day. Before I got “From the Farm, to Our Table”  I created an illustration of characters on a farm that I shared on social media and put in my online portfolio. Later on when I got the project my art director told me that’s what drew them to me and chose me to illustrate the book! You never know what opportunities can arise from sharing your work online. I didn’t share that illustration thinking that it would be the thing to get me my first book deal but it was!

SUSANNA: Thank you so much for taking the time to participate in this series and paying it forward to other artists, and for helping make the publication process from the illustrator’s side less of a mystery to those of us who don’t illustrate! We so enjoyed learning from you today and wish you all the best with this and future titles!

Readers, if you have questions for Amanda, please post them in the comments below and if she has time I’m sure she’ll respond! And remember, your comment qualifies you for the random giveaway of an illustrator-signed copy of FROM THE FARM TO OUR TABLE (US addresses only, please) if you comment by Monday April 15th at 3PM!

Illustrator Amanda Morrow

https://twitter.com/amandamorrowart; https://amandamorrowart.com; https://www.instagram.com/amandamorrowart/

Illustrator’s agent, Analieze Cervantes
https://twitter.com/author_analieze
but now with Emily Fernandez at The Bright Agency.

Author Sarah Rowe:
https://www.instagram.com/wwevalhalla/
https://twitter.com/WWEValhalla

Author’s agent, Amanda Luedeke with MacGregor Literary
https://twitter.com/amandaluedeke

Publisher Gnome Road Publishing
Email: info@gnomeroadpublishing.com
Website: https://gnomeroadpublishing.com
IG: https://www.instagram.com/gnomeroadpublishing/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/GnomeRoadPub
Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@gnomeroadpub
Product Page: https://gnomeroadpublishing.com/products/from-the-farm-to-our-table

You may purchase Amanda’s book at:
(all links below are book-specific)

Indiebound/Bookshop.org
Amazon
Barnes&Noble

We can help our debut authors successfully launch their careers by:

– purchasing their books

– recommending their books to friends and family

– recommending their books to our children’s teachers and librarians

– recommending their books to our local libraries and bookstores

– suggesting them as visiting authors at our children’s schools and our local libraries

– sharing their books on social media

– reviewing their books on Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes&Noble, and other sites where people go to learn about books.

Thank you all for stopping by to read today!  Have a lovely, inspiration-filled Tuesday!  Maybe today is the day you’ll write your debut picture book 😊

Missed any previous Tuesday Debuts?  Check them out HERE!