The Big Myth About Traditional Publishing in Children's Books - 18 

Will, THIS right here is why I have followed you for 8+ years. Heartfelt, real, practical information that touches on so many aspects of not only being an artist, but how to navigate the challenges of life. I hope the person you spoke to at the end will take your advice to heart (geez, I wanted to reach out and hug them!).

I recommend your Vlog and channel to every illustrator I know, especially if they are very interested in being entrepreneurial or in self-publishing books and comics. You're an incredible resource and so inspiring, plus your work is top notch. I'm sorry to hear that politics would come into play when it comes to your relationship with art directors or editors. You always speak from the heart and you lead a very admirable life. I would buy anything you put out because I love your work and your creativity. In my book you are one of my top 10 favorite children's book illustrators. Go, Will Go!! (Great video today, by the way.)

This is a heartfelt video that speaks volumes to the illustration world today. Thanks for having the honesty to tell us even the hard truths and get us thinking outside the box. One nitpick: I wouldn’t call (most) artists narcissistic. That’s a specific personality type that lacks empathy. I don’t think you lack empathy, and I don’t think most other artists do either. What we are looking for is a certain kind of emotional communication and connection that, if we do it well, makes ourselves and others more fully human, not less so. You show this humanity in your videos. Go Will!

Thanks for your insights and sharing your personal experience and thoughts on that last heartfelt comment. I graduated high school in 2002 and I didn’t get to start my art career until 2019. I wasn’t ever able to go to art school and I didn’t think my art career would start until I retired. But after losing both my parents (they were only 51 and 59 years old) I realized that tomorrow nor retirement are guaranteed. God led me down this path and I took a big leap of faith and God has not let me down! He brought my very first author and has continued to bring one amazing author after the next so I can illustrate full time. Now God has called me to author (and illustrate) my first book in a series! So I have been chipping away at writing my first book series! Another big leap of faith! God is good and He will help me. One thing I have learned is that so many people could be an author, illustrator, or both. But many do not have perseverance to see it through and they give up too soon. I waited 17 years to make it as an artist because I didn’t believe in myself. Believe in yourself and keep going if you really really really love creating art! And as you have been showing through this RU-vid series is you need to treat it like a business and learn the industry and process. On a related note I think all art schools should require business, sales, and marketing classes as part of the degree. They also need career coaches or similar to help artists get a job in their desired field. All that to say… Don’t give up! If you love creating art then do it! And if you need to take a job while you do it try to pick a job where you learn useful skills you will need as an artist. Such as business, accounting, sales, marketing, teaching, librarian, etc. God bless you all and I am wishing you all the best!!!! 😊❤

Will, you’re a blessing to artists everywhere!

Thanks for brining this to light Will. I know it's a big issue in all types of media and is also part of the reason I want to self-publish.

Good for you Will, also thanks for the advice, I'm nowadays also done with caring how things will end. so I decided to invest in printing machinery to create and sell prints/ products. its gonna be expensive and might not work in the end, but I don't care anymore.. I will keep trying until I succeed no matter the cost. And if I fail so be it..

I can fully relate to that story, being an artist that graduated in 2007 with a degree in animation. Straight out of Art college, I have more logistics experience than I do as a graphic designer or illustrator experience. I've been there, and the discouragement gets critical. it's still creeping up in my mind to this day. Am I ever going to be completely self-sustaining as an artist? Will, I salute you and everything you shared, everything you're continuing to share. I really do appreciate everything you, Lee, Jake, and SVS Learn are doing! Keep up the great work sir! I sincerely encourage that artist to keep their head up, stay positive, and find time to work on their portfolio even if it's just for the love of their craft. Stay encouraged creators!

I am entrepreneurial at heart and I plan to one day write and illustrate my own books. Right now I don’t have the audience in place to sell to and I also don’t have the idea yet. (I am confident that the timing isn’t right yet, but one day I’ll be ready.) in the meantime, I’ve built my art career to the point where I am making a very comfortable living illustrating other people’s books. My income as an illustrator has more than doubled every year since focusing on working primarily with self-published authors. I believe this is a viable market right now because I am seemingly constantly on-boarding new clients and am booked up until Fall 2023 with at least 2-3 book projects going at once. I really think there is a need for competent illustrators in the self-publishing industry. I’m not a top-tier illustrator but I am confident, knowledgeable, easy to work with and I think I produce well-designed illustrations. If other illustrators go this route they can charge quite a bit and make a legitimate living. Like you said, Will- NOW is the time!!!

Thanks Will, your videos are encouraging and are giving me the extra motivation I need to work harder for myself!

Terrific video, Will. I'm glad you are writing stories you want to tell. You reinvented yourself and show others how. Thanks for being there for others. All the best!

Thanks, Will! I really needed to hear that last message today. This last year has been challenging, and today especially. This is such great content. Keep it up!

More inspiring words Will. I never want this series to end.😊

Thank you for these incredible videos and for sharing all your wisdom, experience, and encouragement. I have so much respect for what you stand for and for what you do.

Everything about this video - yes. I actually cried several times throughout cause of how relatable it is to our journey as well, and especially to the persons heartfelt question at the end....literally same thing my husband went through. You are so right with your advice at the end. We created our own series Brudders Books and for the last 2 years have been doing the same thing you're starting to do with Pickleball Paul. Now we're starting to get some big publishing eyes on us but my gut is guiding me down our own path still. Your videos are so helpful to learn what the experience was like on the big publishing side. Anyways we are so excited to support you and follow your journey and thank you for taking the time to answer that person's question, my heart broke listening to you read it, and us having been there, your response was exactly true and so well said.

This is some of the best advice I've ever heard. While it isn't always fun, I'm very grateful for the art career that I have. You may not remember me but you taught me once at UVU and I learned more from you and your class than any other class I had. Thank you for the advice and help you give so many of us.

This was a fantastic video. I am going to put into practice the things you've been talking about. It's going to be a test to see if I can take myself from virtually unknown to a full fledge illustration career. I'm about 50% finished making a 200ish page graphic novel that I've put on hold for the last couple of years because I keep thinking that I probably shouldn't finish the whole thing before I get a publisher. The way I see it, is that the one thing that I can get from a traditional publisher that would be way hard for me to pull off is the potential for a large audience. But I keep going back and forth between going at it on my own verses going the traditional route. Personally, I would love to get my book into schools and libraries. If I go at it alone that would be much harder. I have submitted my graphic novel to several agents and editors and I always get the nicest rejection letters. It almost always is that it's not right for their list at this time. Keep up the good work, Will. I love your videos. I watch pretty much all of them even if I rarely comment. Thank you.

Hi. I have just watched this incredibly touching video after many,many months of missing your encouragement. Your end message was heartfelt and gives us a glimpse of your kind personality.❤

Thank you Will, this is exactly what I needed. I honestly think that in my case I am not what you call politically correct artist and it could be why I get rejected so much. For the past two weeks I've been researching Self-publishing and your video is the confirmation that I needed that this is the right path.

Really appreciate your honest opinion and sharing experience. You are the most resourceful illustrator to go to.

Thank you, Will! You are a total inspiration.

Always love your content, Will! The SCBWI category that you are talking about is the PAL (Published And Listed) group.

Thanks for another great video Will- it’s so great to hear as it can be so difficult to keep going as freelance artists- your videos keep us going! ‘Right now is the time to make what you want to make’ - awesome words thanks. :) quick question- publishing on Amazon im a bit confused as to what the Kindle Kids Book Creator is as you haven’t used this? Should I be using this for my book? I’m not sure what to do at this point. Any help would be greatly appreciated many many thanks:)

You are such an amazing man, mentor and person. Thank you for sharing from the heart!

So glad to hear you speak about publishers chosing one side of the political spectrum over the other with whom they hite. It's been going on in comics for the last decade. Brilliant creators like Chuck Dixon, Mike Baron, etc. (Plenty more) no longer get work in the mainstream. Mainstream comics are no longer made by the best talent but the best talent they can find within a very narrow potical subset of the population.

Thank you for sharing Will!

Great video!

Such a great, heartfelt video and such good advice to the artist currently working as a janitor. I have suspected that any books I create would be rejected by a woke publisher, too. I admire you for standing up for your values. So far we’ve only self published heavily illustrated Bible Story curriculum geared to churches. But I also want to illustrate some dreams that I feel the Lord has given that are parables. Any ideas on marketing? I realize this would probably be a very niche market. Plus I am not a new age dreamer. So that market is out, too. The dreams always have a Biblical truth.

What I would like to know is if the guy from Indiana has been saving up if he’s 27 and been living at home. If he saved up a nest egg, he should leave Indiana and move to Chicago! Move to a bigger city and meet new people with different mindsets. He’s young, and if he saved a nest egg he could work a job in a city, live in a studio and use the free resources online to build an animation and motion graphic portfolio. Opportunities are out there but you have to be aggressive and resilient.

10:51 Thank you for coming out and saying it!!! I agree with you wholeheartedly on this point.

More valuable information. Thank you!

Hello Will, I really love your illustrations and am interested in hiring someone to illustrate a book or two, if possible. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Have a great rest of the day!

Thanks for highlighting my question regarding posters. I’m not ready to buy at this point. I’m still at the beginning of my book. If you were OK with giving me her contact knowing that I will not contact her until I’m 100% ready to buy. Thanks again for these videos and also I LOVE the longer videos. Bring on more king videos please.

Super encouraging and inspiring video. Don't play pickle ball... still bought the book to support you.

very powerful ❤️

Go Will!!🌟💫👏👏👏🏆I have 2 people in mind already 🥰

Will I’ve been watching your videos for years now and you’re a big inspiration and a great help. I can completely relate to your situation of being essentially unwanted in the industry because of your politics. I’ve been trying to get into children’s book illustration for quite a few years now and have had very little success. I’ve been lucky to finally get a book of mine that I’ve written and illustrated accepted by a small Australian publisher, but I know given how small they are it likely won’t make many sales. That being said I’m still very grateful to them for giving me that opportunity. Like you, I just want to write and illustrate good entertaining stories with a good universal message. As an illustrator, if a publisher wanted me to illustrate a book that was slightly progressive then I’d probably be fine with that, but having scrawled through countless publisher submission pages I always see the same pattern; they’re prioritising certain demographics which through no fault or choice of my own I am not a part of. Regardless of who you are and where you are from if you are good enough you should be allowed to succeed, but the fact that the publishing industry seems to be so anti meritocracy has really made me sometimes ponder if this really is what I want to do. Maybe I’m wrong about the bias I don’t know, it just feels that way after getting countless rejection after rejection. Your insight into self publishing does give me some hope, I will admit though that not having the exposure and relevance that you do makes me question how I can make a dime from it but I have to at least try. I‘ve always known since university that I don’t fit the mould of working by other people’s standards or expectations and I think you’re right that going it alone is often times the best approach in the arts, if at least for our creative satisfaction. Apologies for the long rant. And to the guy who sent the heartfelt message; keep going, I’ve been in that same exact place as you for longer. Try and have belief in yourself.

If you want to answer my question privately, I totally understand.

The guy from Indiana should stop chasing the vague dream of "working in movies". It's like having a dream of working at Disney or Blizzard, why do we artists dream of working for corporations? We should dream about our own projects and find a way to make those projects real. Yes, a paycheck from a corporation that makes Art can give your ego a boost, but it's going to be a 9-5 like your janitor job, and half your check would be going to rent living in an expensive city. A job is a job, spend whatever free time you have honing your craft, posting your art online or sharing it with your local community, connecting with other artists (there's online communities for every type of art style), thinking about how to monetize your skills and finding your audience. Maybe you can paint interesting portraits of comic book characters and apply for artist alley at Indiana's comic con next year. Maybe you can paint portraits of the men working in the factories where you live, create a body of work and apply to show your work at an art gallery in Indianapolis. Start painting what you want to paint right now instead of waiting for a job to allow you to create. I hope this helps.

Im going to disagree with you on your point in publishers not knowing whats going to be successful. I think compared to a fresh new illustrator out the gate they will have better chances of knowing whats going to be more successful in the general marketplace. They have collective experience in what is successful and access to a lot of sales statistics that we dont. So they can make a better educated guess than we can in most cases. But where the individual has more advantage is that we can move faster around the market, and create product faster and make a profit in smaller niches on our own if we see a demand, like you w pickleball pb. We have less overhead and are just one person. Compared to a bigger publisher who has to cover all their operations costs and thus needs to sell more and thus needs to appeal to woder audiences. I think thats where we as individuals have more power.