School of Visual Storytelling

I just love these guys, and again they brought together an other very interesting conversation about picture books! Thanks for sharing your knowledge and opinions. Will, I would love to see and listen about the other half of your book selection! Great stuff, I only can recommend it!

Thanks, for this one. Learned so much. Specially the hidden tips like looking up books at amazon and see how the do. Wish you would have shown more examples from inside the books. but that's maybe for copyright reason.

I thought this discussion served those who listened. Three very accomplished professionals in the world of children’s books analyzing what makes a best selling book. It is easier to look at best selling books and point out the positive attributes as an explanation for their sales numbers than it is to find an equally impressive work and explain why it did not sell well. Including marketing in your discussion was awesome because you gave hope to the failed author/illustrator with the poorly selling “masterpiece.” By the way, kudos for turning down the opportunity to illustrate a “celebrity” book. Your story reminded me of the story Dolly Parton tells of turning down Elvis Presley’s offer to record the song “I Will Always Love You” in exchange for songwriter credits. Good job, guys. Thank you for sharing your expertise.

Being true to yourself and not copying was the message. Even if you try to copy that could have the opposite results. one needs to be bold and 'believe in their product". Great job guys.

The information on how to become a successful children's author/illustration is very good. The presentation format leaves a lot to be desired. In spite of that, I would recommend watching it.

Really great intro to children's picture books! I would LOVE LOVE LOVE a follow up course on some further details of the publishing industry here. How to plan for success and avoid a list of beginner mistakes. Things more specific than "don't copy. be original." Also, it would be super to have some homework of a list of books to check out and maybe some questions we can ask ourselves as we study the books. My problem is, with the vast amount of styles and approaches, as a new artist/writer, its hard for me to tell why certain things work. Overall, fantastic lesson to listen to on repeat and pick up great advice from! Only gave 4 stars out of 5 because I simply wanted more, but the content was really great! Loved the variety, seeing modern classics as well as old time stories that will never die!

I enjoyed this discussion on what makes a children's book a bestseller. The information I received was thoughtful and insightful. It helped expand my own thoughts on children's books and what goes into the making of them. There are several questions that each author and/or illustrator needs to ask themselves in order to get things right for their book. I'll be asking a lot of these questions to myself to help me narrow in on a topic or theme, all the way through to the finished product. I'm new to the making of children's books and I'm excited to start on this new path of creativity.