Tuesday Debut is a weekly feature designed to introduce authors, illustrators, and author/illustrators who are publishing their first picture book. It posts on Tuesday because that is the day most picture books release.
Tuesday Debut is a chance for newly published picture book authors, illustrators and author/illustrators to get some visibility, and a chance for us to learn from their journey to publication in the hopes that it may help us with ours.
Topics range from where their book idea came from, to how much revision they did, to research, to contracts and advances and print runs, to marketing and publicity efforts and lots of other things. Debut picture books can be fiction or nonfiction for any age of picture book reader.
While most of the debut books shared are traditionally published (because that is what most readers here are interested in pursuing) we do have some self-published books as well. There are also a few different types of debuts: a debut publishing house, a few debuts specifically for religious markets, one or two board books, a co-writing debut, and a hybrid publishing debut among others. Hopefully something for everyone to learn from and gain from!
Interested in being featured? Please ask! I’d love to help you spread the word about your first ever published picture book! You can contact me using the handy button on the menu bar above CONTACT or by emailing susanna[at]susannahill[dot]com.
All previous Tuesday Debuts are listed below for your convenience:
Christy Mihaly – Hey! Hey! Hay! A Tale of Bales And The Machines That Make Them
Jessie Oliveros – The Remember Balloons
Beth Anderson – An Inconvenient Alphabet: Ben Franklin And Noah Webster’s Spelling Revolution (nonfiction)
Hannah Holt – The Diamond And The Boy (nonfiction)
Laura Renauld – Porcupine’s Pie
Annie Romano – Before You Sleep: A Bedtime Book Of Gratitude
Melissa Stoller – Scarlet’s Magic Paintbrush
Sherry Howard – Rock And Roll Woods
Kate Narita – 100 Bugs! A Counting Book
Vivian Kirkfield – Pippa’s Passover Plate
Laura Roettiger – Aliana Reaches For The Moon
Matthew Lasley – Pedro’s Pan: A Gold Rush Story
Natalee Creech – When Day Is Done
Margaret Chiu Greanias – Maximillian Villainous
Wendy Greenley – Lola Shapes The Sky
Danielle Dufayet – You Are Your Strong
B.J. Lee – There Was An Old Gator Who Swallowed A Moth
Cathy Ballou Mealey – When A Tree Grows
Pippa Chorley – Counting Sheep
Sandra Sutter – The Real Farmer In The Dell
Jill Mangel Weisfeld – Riley The Retriever Wants A New Job (self pub)
Kathleen Cornell Berman – The Birth Of Cool: How Jazz Great Miles Davis Found His Sound (nonfiction)
Eleanor Ann Peterson – Jurassic Rat
Sarah Hoppe – Who Will? Will You?
Marla LeSage – Pirate Year Round
Stacey Corrigan – The Pencil Eater
Shannon Stocker – Can U Save The Day?
Nadine Poper – Randall And Randall
Christine Evans – Evelyn The Adventurous Entomologist (nonfiction)
Karen Kiefer – Drawing God (religious market)
Dawn Young – The Night Baafore Christmas
Heather Gale – Ho’onani: Hula Warrior
Ciara O’Neal – Flamingo Hugs Aren’t For Everyone (self pub)
Theresa Kiser – A Little Catholic’s Book Of Liturgical Colors (religious market)
Lindsey Hobson – Blossom’s Wish (self pub)
Kirsten Larson – Wood, Wire, Wings: Emma Lilian Todd Invents An Airplane (nonfiction)
Valerie Bolling – Let’s Dance!
Janet Johnson – Help Wanted: Must Love Books
Heather Kinser – Small Matters: The Hidden Power of the Unseen
Kelly Carey – How Long Is Forever?
Mary Wagley Copp – Wherever I Go
Nell Cross Beckerman – Down Under The Pier
Claire Noland – Evie’s Field Day: More Than One Way To Win
Sharon Giltrow – Bedtime, Daddy!
Gabi Snyder – Two Dogs On A Trike
Lisa Katzenberger – National Regular Average Ordinary Day
Teresa Krager – Before Your Birth Day
Lindsay H. Metcalf – Beatrix Potter, Scientist
Nancy Roe Pimm – Fly, Girl, Fly! Shaesta Waiz Soars Around The World
Jolene Gutiérrez – Mac And Cheese And The Personal Space Invader
Julie Rowan-Zoch – Louis (picture book illustration debut!)
Janie Emaus – Latkes For Santa
Amy Mucha – A Girl’s Bill Of Rights
Melanie Ellsworth – Hip,Hip…Beret!
Rebecca Kraft Rector – Squish Squash Squished
Gnome Road Publishing (publishing house debut)
Sue Heavenrich – 13 Ways To Eat A Fly
Julie Rowan-Zoch – I’m A Hare So There (author/illustrator debut)
Nancy Derey Riley – Curiosity’s Discovery (author/illustrator self-published debut)
Moni Ritchie Hadley – The Star Festival
Sita Singh – Birds Of A Feather
Ann Magee – Branches Of Hope: The 9/11 Survivor Tree (nonfiction)
Amanda Davis – 30,000 Stitches: The Inspiring Story of the National 9/11 Flag (nonfiction)
Jennifer Buchet – Little Medusa’s Hair Do-lemma
Michelle Vattula – The Stalking Seagulls
Christine Van Zandt – A Brief History Of Underpants (nonfiction)
Candice Marley Conner – Sassafras And Her Teeny Tiny Tail
Becky Scharnhorst – My School Stinks!
Darshana Khiani – How To Wear A Sari
Ana Siqueira – Bella’s Recipe For Success
Kate Allen Fox – Pando: A Living Wonder Of Trees (nonfiction)
Jenna Waldman – Sharkbot Shalom
Karen A. Wyle – You Can’t Kiss A Bubble
Rebecca Mullin – One Tomato (board book)
Cynthia Argentine – Night Becomes Day: Changes In Nature (illustrated with photographs)
Karen Greenwald – Vote For Susanna: The First Woman Mayor (nonfiction)
Anne Appert – Blob (author/illustrator)
Dianna Wilson-Sirkovsky – James’ Reading Rescue
Karen Condit – Turtle On The Track (hybrid publishing)
Renee LaTulippe – The Crab Ballet (picture book poem)
Amy Duchene – Pool Party (collaboration/co-writing)
Kimberly Wilson – A Penny’s Worth
Candace Spizzirri – Fishing With Grandpa And Skye
Carrie Tillotson – Counting To Bananas
Patrice Gopo – All The Places We Call Home
Rebecca Gardyn Levington – Brainstorm!
Jocelyn Watkinson – The Three Canadian Pigs: A Hockey Story
Shachi Kaushik – Diwali In My New Home
Carrie Sharkey Asner – Blueberry Blue Bubble (self published)
Gela Kalaitzidis – Ozzie & Prince Zebedee (author/illustrator)
Caroline Perry – The Corgi And The Queen (nonfiction)
Phyllis Harris – The Gift Shop Bear
Royal Basinger – Kasanova: Lost In Love
Kizzi Roberts – The Elves Go Marching (self-published)
Mindy Hudon – Kodi’s Adventures: How I Learned To Defeat The Time Snatcher (graphic novel)
Picture Book Junction ’23 (a picture book promotion and marketing collective) – Part 1
Ask Infowoman: A Library Consult (Kathy Halsey) (a new business to help authors arrange and design school visits)
Amanda Henke – NOT A Book About Bunnies
Natasha Khan Kazi – Moon’s Ramadan
Marzieh Abbas – A Dupatta Is. . . (includes some Q&A with the illustrator, Anu Chouhan)
Jennifer Raudenbush – In The Palm Of My Hand
Debra Daugherty – The Memory Jar
Aimee Isaac – The Planet We Call Home
Cathy Stefanec Ogren – PEW! The Stinky and Legen-Dairy Gift from Colonel Thomas S. Meacham (nonfiction)
Lisa Varchol Perron – Patterns Everywhere (illustrated with photographs
Suzy Levinson – Animals In Pants (Fiction Poetry Collection)
Stephanie Gibeault – Toby Tootles
Nadia Ali – Humphrey The Egg-splorer
Jenna Beatrice – The Loud Librarian (with illustrator Erika Lynne Jones)
Laura Seely-Pollack – Cave Girl’s Big Idea
Polly Owen – Darwin’s Super-Pooping Worm Spectacular (Nonfiction)
Alan Smith – A Very Silly Reading Book Meow: Adults No Longer In Charge Of Reading (self published, for reluctant readers)
Picture Book Junction ’23 (a picture book promotion and marketing collective) – Part 2
Mary Vander Plas – Call Me Calvin
Jilanne Hoffman – A River of Dust: The Life-Giving Link Between North Africa and the Amazon (Nonfiction)
Laura Wippell – Feeling Hopeful (Australian publisher)
Kari Ann Gonzalez – How To Hatch A Reader
Meghan Wilson Duff – How Are You, Verity?
Heather Stigall – Paisley’s Big Birthday
Rachel S. Hobbs – Tango Red Riding Hood
Astrid Kamalyan – Bábo: A Tale of Armenian Rug-Washing Day
Robin Hall – The Littlest Weaver
Kelsey Gross – Winter: A Solstice Story
Leslie Barnard Booth – A Stone Is A Story (Nonfiction)
Ronni Diamondstein – Jackie And The Books She Loved (Nonfiction)
Picture Book Junction ’23 (a picture book promotion and marketing collective) – Part 3
Jamie Siebrase – Tonight! A Bedtime Book (fact based fiction)
Susanna Leonard Hill 