Welcome to my blog
Hi, this is me. I’m Lisa Bentley and I’m an author and Illustrator of children’s books. I currently have two children’s books, published by Simon and Schuster, and written and illustrated by myself out at the moment with many more to follow. I’ve been writing and illustrating books for children for a few years now and have gained a lot of experience along the way. So, I guess that’s why I’m here, now, writing this blog. To give something back.
Why I do what I do
It sounds very cliché, but this job really is what I was born to do. It has not been without its ups and downs though. Quite often it feels like there are more downs than ups to be honest, but it is a job that fulfills me like no other can and I shall go into more detail about this in a later blog post. It is a job that has bought with it some unexpected side effects, the majority
of them lovely, others are ones I find more difficult to navigate but I’m getting there! One of them being my unconscious ability to attract attention. Not completely unwanted (as it’s nice to not feel invisible sometimes) but nonetheless for me, a challenge.
Dealing with Attention
Creating books as a job is not something I ever thought would bring me so much attention. Attention on me is not something I deal well with and yet, it’s something I have had to learn to cope with as it would appear it’s just “part of the job”. I can’t go anywhere now without people I don’t know asking me what I do for a living and then immediately gasping in disbelief at my response. The questions that succeed this inevitably follow this format; “Are you published then?”, “How did you get into that?”, “Do you write as well?!” “Are you good at art then?” etc. and then It’s almost immediately followed by “I’d love to write a children’s
book”.
The Mystery of the Industry
I’ve come to realise that this job I have is a dream for many and being given this opportunity is something for which I should be eternally grateful. This makes me more determined that I should continue to embrace and work on my reluctance to talk about myself and what I do.
The questions I receive from people also made me realise that for some reason this industry is shrouded in mystery. I remember when I left university, a budding, young illustrator, desperate for a break, I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. University had taught me so much about being an illustrator but what it hadn’t taught me was HOW to become one.
Early Rejections
I eagerly and somewhat blindly sent manuscripts and artwork off to many publishers, costing me a lot in time and money. Money that I didn’t have. Of course, these all came back with rejection letters. Lovely comments about my artwork but they couldn’t publish me because “we are in a recession” or “we’re not taking any new artists on right now”. If only I had known what an unsolicited manuscript and a literary agent were, I would have focused my attention on trying to find myself some representation, as in reality, I am sure, that is the real reason why my work was never accepted.
A Later Start
Who knows, maybe I would have been published years ago and be celebrating over ten years in the industry. Or maybe I am more knowledgeable now, with some life experience behind me, more able to write and illustrate with the worldliness that is required to reach the hearts of others. As it happens, I didn’t embark on this career after my short-lived post university stint until thirteen years later, after changing career, settling down and having children.
Why Now?
So why now? Why after thirteen years have, I been able to break into one of the “most difficult industries” (as I was constantly told time and time again) and carve myself my dream career? In short:
Great ideas
Representation
The world’s best support network
Advice on how to become an author illustrator
I’ll talk about all these things in much more detail in future blog posts, but if you never read anymore of my blogs, then please take this small piece of advice as a token of my appreciation for reaching the end.
Make sure your ideas are great. A story is not a great story without a great idea. Find something interesting and unique to write about and turn it into something wonderful. If you are an illustrator, find something great to do to showcase your work. This can help you generate money on the side of your publishing career. Yeah, sure, social media is key, but I found that creating a separate product that people could buy really opened up a whole other door for me where I could be seen, sell my work and meet potential clients and readers of my books. For me it was my animal name prints that helped me break into book and art fairs and give me more exposure online.
Find an agent to represent you. They are a bunch of extremely knowledgeable, lovely people who adore stories, and they come with a huge number of contacts. They already have their foot in the door and will be more than willing to help you get yours in the door too! And finally, find your support network. I couldn’t do what I do everyday without a huge amount of support from my partner, family, agent and my writing and illustration community. Go find your people and allow them to help you emotionally and financially achieve your
goals.
Looking Ahead
These points of course are just the tip of the publishing iceberg. There are many other factors to address, but I consider these my most important three. All of these and other subjects, will be covered in much more detail in future blogs.
My hope is that my monthly musings can help other people with dreams of writing or illustrating a book one day. Providing an insight into what working in publishing is really like and also hopefully dispelling a few myths along the way. I know it’s something younger me would have been grateful to have read and I know older me is going to be very grateful to be able to write it.
Here are some links to some of the fabulous people and teams I have collaborated with so far on my journey. Please visit and support them too: