Mike Motz - Children's Book Illustration

Q: Who are your clients?
A: Almost 100% of my clients are individuals from all walks of life that have dreamed for years of seeing their children's stories in book form. A large number of these writers have submitted their stories to the major book publishers and have either been rejected (for any of a variety of reasons) or have never heard a response back regarding their submission, and have decided to take matters into their own hands. Some of my clients are elderly or terminally ill and would like to see their stories in book form as soon as possible.

Q: What are some of the reasons that stories don't get reviewed (or get rejected) by the major publishers?
A: The major book publishers prefer to publish children's books with generic, "feel good" themes that appeal to the very broadest global audience. A large number of writer's stories that I work with target a specific niche of the children's book market. For example, I've helped create books that deal with sensitive issues like building a deformed child's self-esteem, or how a family copes with a death or a life-threatening disease in the family. Also, the major book publishers receive 5,000 (or more) children's book manuscript submissions per month to review, and most of the publishers do not have the staff to review even a small fraction of those manuscripts.

Q: Is there a difference between a "major" publisher and any other kind of publisher?
A: With the arrival of Print-On-Demand (POD) publishing the term "publisher" has been altered from its previous meaning. There are a number of different expressions for self-publishing which I have grouped under the label "Print-On-Demand". Here are the differences in general terms:
A major children's book publisher was (and still is) a publisher that pays you to publish your story. They incur all the illustration, print and marketing costs.
A Print-On-Demand publisher requires that you pay them to have your book published. Don't feel flattered that a Print-On-Demand publisher says that they will publish your story, they will publish any story (regardless of quality) as long as you pay for it to be published/printed. With POD publishing you pay for the illustrations, printing and marketing of your book.

Q: Why can the price to publish my book vary by hundreds (or thousands) of dollars between POD publishers?
A: For the same reason that the same item is more expensive at one "upscale" grocery store than the other "no frills" grocery store. You just have to know where to shop. While writing this FAQ, I was on the internet reviewing the features of two children's book publishing packages from different respected PODs. One package price was $1,800 and the other was $99. The only significant difference was that one package included creating the camera-ready artwork (artwork that merges the manuscript with the illustrations for print) that is a mandatory requirement in order to print your book. I create the camera-ready artwork on every project free-of-charge. In this instance, if a writer were to utilize my services and the POD with the $99 package price, they would save themselves $1,700. It makes sense to comparison shop, especially when it comes to publishing costs.

Q: Are there any other ways to get my book printed/published?
A: Printing your books in volume (in the thousands) is a more traditional way of getting your books printed and it results in the lowest cost per printed book. The major drawback to this method is that if your books don't sell you could be stuck with a large printing bill and a lot of unsold books lying around your house. There are pros and cons to every method of publishing .

Q: Can I hire you to create a couple of illustrations for my book so that my manuscript will stand out among all the others at the major publishers?
A: You could, but there is no proof whatsoever that it will give your manuscript any preferential treatment, and those illustrations will probably never be used if your manuscript defies the odds and is chosen for publication. The major publishers prefer to team their favorite illustrators with unpublished authors, in their opinion it gives the book a better chance of success.

Q: Do you create free illustration samples?
A: Sorry, no. It doesn't matter whether your project is valued at $500 or $5,000, all illustration samples are priced at the same amount as regular illustrations.

Q: I like a couple of different illustration styles on your website. I just don't which one to pick for my story. Do you have any suggestions?
A: I can give you my opinion as to which illustration style I think might suit your story. Another option is to have one "sample" illustration from your story created in your most preferred artwork style. These single illustrations must be paid for upfront. If you like the sample illustration it would then become one of the finished illustrations for your book. Fully colored sample illustrations are the same quality as any other illustration that we create.

Q: Will you personally be illustrating my children's story?
A: I, or one of my assistants, will be illustrating your book, depending on the illustration style that your choose. I do however personally create the camera-ready artwork (book design, etc.) for clients that require it.

Q: How long will it take to illustrate my book?
A: That depends on how many illustrations your story requires and the workload of the illustrator whose illustration style you've chosen for your book. As an example, a 15-20 illustration project with an immediately available illustrator will take approximately 3 months to complete.

Q: Do you know of any successful self-publishing authors?
A: The most famous ones that I know are Beatrix Potter, Mark Twain, Rudyard Kipling, and L. Frank Baum (the Wizard of Oz).

Q: Do you accept book royalties as payment for illustrations?
A: Sorry, no. Due to the many variables that are out of our control with the marketing and selling of children's books we do not accept book royalties as payment for illustration work.