HELLO! Welcome to Chapter Three of The Happy Book. In this chapter, I will be  talking to illustrator, author, and friend, Jess Racklyeft. Jess and I  have published three picture books together, with another two in  production. We’ll be taking you through the picture book production  process and how we created our books—from how the ideas were formed  through how we actually liaised and worked together with our publishers.   I’ll also talk to Jess about her book illustration journey—where it  started and where she’s going now. She’ll have some wonderful tips and tricks on illustrating that you won’t want to miss. Fire up your device, cram in those earbuds and enjoy this foray into the  magical world of kids’ book creation. If you have any questions or  comments, you can say hello at [email protected]. I’m Tania McCartney and I’m an author, illustrator and editor of  children’s books. I’ve always wanted to live inside a book, and now I  practically do. Welcome to The Happy Book. GUEST – JESS RACKLYEFT Jess Racklyeft is a Melbourne based-illustrator, working as a picture  book illustrator, card designer, and for various freelance illustration  clients. She began her working life in publishing, working for almost a decade in  customer service and sales roles before having her first child—which  gave her the nudge to work harder than ever before launching her own  business as an illustrator. Since then she’s illustrated over a dozen books, and has seven books out  in 2019. She’s also the illustrator coordinator of SCBWI Victoria, and  mum to two young kids. Most of the time, she’s either drawing picture  books, visiting the local bookshop or library, or reading them to her  kids. SHOW NOTES 01:35      Introducing Jess Racklyeft 03:45      When Jess first passed thought to illustrating children’s books 05:22      Returning to your 8-year-old self and what you loved 06:26      The first book Jess worked on as an illustrator 09:24      What does a typical workday look like for Jess? 13:40      The collaboration route   17:19      Illustration notes 19:24      Collaborating by email – Ivy Bird 21:45      The importance of digital illustration skills 22:20     Jess’s illustration process   24:50      Producing Smile Cry 28:38      Animal or human characters 29:19      What advice would Jess give authors on working with illustrators 30:58      The author and illustrator as equal creators 32:30      Jess’s new role as author 36:08      The benefits of being an author/illustrator 37:27      Tips and Ideas for emerging illustrators 52:34      Showing portfolios at conferences 54:46      The most difficult parts of illustrating a picture book       56:33      Balancing work with family and life; being present 57:45      Weighing up the pros and cons of opportunities 59:12      Progressing your illustrator career and making the right choices 1:00:06   What’s the most enjoyable part of creating books? ...and more

HELLO! Welcome to Chapter 2 of The Happy Book. In this chapter, I’ll be taking  you through the entire picture book creation and production process.  What more could you want? Truly? Is there anything better? You’ll learn about where ideas come from, what themes are overdone, the  types of picture book narrative, the layout and structure of the pages,  who comes together to create a picture book, which books excite  publishers, narrative and visual narrative, dialogue, illustration,  story craft, word count, pacing, and insider info that will make your  toes curl with delight. Fire up your device, cram in those earbuds and enjoy this foray into the  magical world of kids’ book creation. If you have any questions or  comments, you can say hello at [email protected]. I’m Tania McCartney and I’m an author, illustrator and editor of  children’s books. I’ve always wanted to live inside a book, and now I  practically do. Welcome to The Happy Book. SHOW NOTES 00:35       Introduction 02:50       Coming up with an idea 03:04       Ideas being stolen 04:41       How do I get my ideas? 06:30       Reflecting back to when we were children—An Aussie Year 08:37       Top tips for finding ideas 10:37       Books for trade AND educational markets 11:07       Don’ts! 11:32       Moralistic, didactic and message-driven books 13:12       Writing to fill a market gap 13:38       Themes that are done to death 15:58       Age groups for picture books 16:48       Using more difficult words 17:50       Writing Peas in a Pod and Smile Cry 18:55       Page-turning potential 19:55       Types of narrative—linear, cyclical, episodic 21:20       Peas in a Pod—cyclical stories 23:04       Smile Cry and See Hear - episodic books 24:18       Word count          26:39      The visual narrative 27:11       Show Don’t Tell 29:25       Dialogue—one of my bug-bears 30:37       Conflict and resolution 32:05       Adults in picture books 33:23       Plot points 37:04       Rules and breaking them 37:35       Marrying text with image 38:44       Illustration notes 40:08       Working with an illustrator and much more

HELLO! Welcome to Chapter 1 of The Happy Book. In this chapter, it seems fitting to start at the starting line. I’ll be discussing the children’s book creator journey, how mine came about, how the careers of others came about, and how yours can come about. You’ll learn that not all journeys are the same nor created equal. You’ll also learn the importance of Getting Industry Involved and forming friendships with other creators. On top of that, I’ll go over the submissions process, and how best to do it, and give my top tips for submission success. Special guests mentioned in this chapter are: Dee White, Jacquie Harvey, Dub Leffler, Sheryl Gwyther, Danielle McDonald, Emma Quay, Gus Gordon and Jen Storer. Fire up your device, cram in those earbuds and enjoy this foray into the magical world of kids’ book creation. If you have any questions or comments, you can say hello at [email protected]. I’m Tania McCartney and I’m an author, illustrator and editor of children’s books. I’ve always wanted to live inside a book, and now I practically do. Welcome to this happy place—the Happy Book! Tania SHOW NOTES 00:35 Introduction—a cup of coffee and a pile of blueberries 01:30 My publication journey 02:13 The start of my children’s book journey 02:30 Self-publishing – Riley and the Sleeping Dragon 03:41 Becoming involved in the industry 05:42 My journey with the National Library of Australia 06:58 My collaborations with Jess Racklyeft 08:38 My contracts with Windy Hollow 09:45  Relationships in publishing are everything 10.14 The collective nature of your publication journey 11.05 My illustration journey + the 52-Week Illustration Challenge 14:24 The story behind Australia Illustrated 15:28 My Australia and World Illustrated Maps journey 16:28 Why you will be more likely to secure contracts once you’re published 17:08 My commissioned book with the National Library—The Gum Family Finds Home 17:50 The Mamie journey—my book on May Gibbs (HarperCollins) 21:17 Not all journeys are the same 21:56 Being afraid to share your ideas 23:54 The publication stories of friends and colleagues—and advice! 24:02 Dee White 24:47 Jacqueline Harvey 26:42 Dub Leffler 27:25 Sheryl Gwyther 28:27 Danielle McDonald 29:29 Emma Quay 30:58 Gus Gordon 33:04 Jen Storer 34:35 Another cuppa and a mandarin 35:00 Advice for submissions 35:54 Target the right publisher 37:00 Submitting work that is well-edited 38:45  Large v indie publishers 39:32 Top tips for making submissions 40:15 Following publisher submission guidelines 40:48 Keeping a submissions database 41:37 Multiple submissions 43:11 If you receive a no… 43:53 Keep your career goal in focus—no selling out 44:52 General submissions 47:27 Wrap-Up 48:21 A piece of Christmas cake and a glass of champagne 49:00 Coming up in Ep 2 49:38 Fin Music: Ukulele Whistle by Scott Holmes