It's been a good while (update)

xin li

@smceccarelli @Eric-Castleman I wonder if you guys could share some tips on how to form and run a critique group.

Would it be beneficial to have people in the same critique group work in the same types of books (e.g. everyone is working on a picturebook dummy), and are interested in similar genres (e.g. animal/nature-themed picture book)?
How many people are in your critique group?
How do you structure a critique session?

I have never been to a critique group, so I do not really even know what I do not know. Is there anything I should keep in mind when starting a new critique group?

chrisaakins

@xin-li @Eric-Castleman @smceccarelli
I would add to @xin-li 's question

do they all need to be in the same place/skill level? Or is personality a better fit?

smceccarelli

@xin-li

Maybe @Eric-Castleman can give his view as well.

Based on my experience, 4-6 people is a good number. More becomes too impersonal, less may give too little input. We do not work on the same type of books, though we all work on children's books. Our styles are wildly different but all equally developed - I'd say we're more or less at the same skill level and we don't use the critique group to learn or discuss fundamentals (apart from when we pick on each other's negligence with regard to fundamentals - but that's part of the fun and strength of a critique group!).
Professionally we're more or less at the same stage of the journey, though we may have different goals and different ways to go about them.
I think diversity is a big strength - you want to have different perspectives - but it has to be give-and-take on all sides, so everybody has to be able to contribute something of value to the others. I think we're very balanced in that respect. In a way it's like Will, Lee, and Jake: their art is very different, they do different things and their career setup is very different, but you can see how they complement each other and each contributes a different and valuable viewpoint. @chrisaakins - we also have wildly different personalities. That's actually what makes it a lot of fun: we disagree on almost everything and therefore learn something new with every discussion

We don't have a "critique session". We're set up on FB and FB messenger and we just post whenever we have anything to post. I've been on many critique groups and that's probably the one thing that makes this one the most successful of all. Waiting one month or two weeks to get feedback on something is just plainly useless for me - either the deadline has passed or the time I had available to work on something has long gone. With no fixed schedule, anybody can get feedback anytime within hours (sometimes within seconds), and it's very much like working in the same room.

xin li

@smceccarelli thank you so much for sharing. This is really really helpful for me. A follow-up question: Do you do an in-depth critique of each other's manuscripts and picture book dummies via FB messenger as well? Is FB messenger sufficient for that purpose?

smceccarelli

@xin-li We use a private FB group for that. You can upload files to FB, so it's easy to exchange word documents and use the in-line comment function, as well as give comments to the post itself. You can upload pdf docs for dummies too or use some kind of online flipbook link. We use messenger for single images and everything else.

xin li

@smceccarelli thank you. I will try the same setup :-).

braden H

@xin-li said in It's been a good while (update):

@smceccarelli @Eric-Castleman I wonder if you guys could share some tips on how to form and run a critique group.

Would it be beneficial to have people in the same critique group work in the same types of books (e.g. everyone is working on a picturebook dummy), and are interested in similar genres (e.g. animal/nature-themed picture book)?

How many people are in your critique group?

How do you structure a critique session?

I have never been to a critique group, so I do not really even know what I do not know. Is there anything I should keep in mind when starting a new critique group?

Thanks for asking this. I was gonna ask similar questions

Nyrryl Cadiz

@smceccarelli i still haven’t received your invite for more than a year now.

Coley

@Eric-Castleman @smceccarelli any thoughts on benefits or disadvantages of being in same country or same continent ( in terms of critique group members?). We're really picking your brains here so thanks for answering all these questions being fired at you!

smceccarelli

@Coley That does not play any role, I'd say. We're all in different countries AND continents. And even those who are in the same country are thousands of miles apart! Markets are different though, one has to be aware of that.

Coley

@smceccarelli thanks! That's sort of what I thought but was curious if I had missed something, thanks

burvantill

Congratulations! Thanx for the status update. You give us hope.

garmin express 0

great information .thanks for updating

Nyrryl Cadiz

@smceccarelli hi Simona! It’s so good to have you back. I absolutely adore the books you’ve worked on recently. If it’s alright with you, I’d like to ask how many of your books were found by your agent and how many of them did you find by yourself. Also, how did you find them? What methods did you use? Postcards? Emails? Networking? Etc? Thank you so much.

smceccarelli

@Nyrryl-Cadiz Hi! It's nice to touch base with the SVS community now and again!
So....that's a simple question but there's not a simple answer. I do a lot of "marketing" myself and always put my agent's name everywhere. So, if somebody contacts my agent, is it because of something I've done or something she's done? Hard to say, and, in the end, not important. My agent negotiates all my contracts regardless, and she always gets more money and more time for nearly every project - and that's a huge credit to her and fully justifies her cut, even if I was responsible for getting most of the work.

Also, the quality and type of contract counts. The two best and most prestigious contracts I've ever done are 100% her doing. I would have never been able to get those by myself, regardless of how much I market myself: big publishers don't generally go hunting for illustrators on social media and probably get thousands of postcards - there's jobs you're just very unlikely to get with blanket marketing.

I talked about marketing in old posts, but here's my experience so far. I don't do postcards: I did one postcard volley one or two years ago, never got any lead, it's super expensive and takes a lot of time. That's the experience I've heard from a few other illustrators, so I stopped doing that. I print postcards to hand out in person and my agency does one postcard campaign a year, where they send several postcards in an envelope (from all their artists) and take care of all the addresses, shipment, etc...

I'm moderately active on social media, though my posting schedule is inconsistent. I got a couple of good leads from social media - the majority from Behance, which is by far the most serious and highest-profile platform for creatives in my opinion. I'm also on childrensillustrators.com, but I'll probably cut that next year, as I only get leads from self-publishing authors from there (if you're interested in those, that's a good place).

The absolute top source of contracts for me is in-person networking (which is also the major way my agent goes about it in NY). I go to the Bologna Book Fair every year and I added the Frankfurt book fair last year - but any occasion to meet and chat with art directors and editors, show your portfolio and hand out your card is good: whether is a workshop, seminar, SCBWI event, meetup, whatever. I also have a growing network of published writers, who can introduce you to their editors and publishers either in person or online - so chatting up to writers is also a good strategy. That's expensive, of course - with one visit to Bologna I could do 5 or 6 postcard campaigns. But from every visit I get 2-4 contracts, and those breed more as publishers get back for the next one or talk with other colleagues, or book previews come out in the secret channels that publishers use to share that stuff
So, my feeling is that, as much as we are in a super-connected and open world, the major source of business is still very much personal connections and word-of-mouth. Maybe that's just the way humans tick - we prefer to work with and trust people we sort-of-know rather than complete strangers, no matter how good...

Jeremy Ross

@smceccarelli, great feedback - thank you!

Nyrryl Cadiz

@smceccarelli hi, Simona! Thank you so much for the response. It’s very helpful. I’m currently signed with Advocate Art. I like them but I’m currently stuck doing educational books and though I appreciate the money they’re paying me, these books are just so uninspiring. I’ve always wondered if there’s something more I can do to receive more story book (or is the right term trade books) projects.

I think you made a great point in connecting with people through book fairs and conferences. I might just join the Bologna or Frankfurt book fairs in the future. Provided I earn enough money for the trip. Lol

Anyway, regarding connecting with art directors through fairs, do you just walk up to them during the event, introduce yourself, and give them a post/business card? Or do you need to sign up for an appointment like a portfolio review or something?

I apologize if I’m starting to sound annoying. This topic is really just so interesting for me and you know so much. Thank you!

smceccarelli

@Nyrryl-Cadiz Yes, that’s pretty much how it works.
Some publishers publish open slots on their booths (things like: Tuesday from 3-4: portfolio reviews). These are first-come first-served, so lines form up to 1-2 hours before the slot starts and you have to be lucky to still be viewed within the slot. But it works: 6 contracts and counting just from standing in those lines. If they have scheduled slots, they will not view portfolios outside of those.
Otherwise, you just walk up to the receptionist and say something like “Hallo, I’m an illustrator, and I was wondering if I could show my portfolio to somebody here at ...(Insert name of publisher).” Some will make arrangements, others will give you a card with their submission guidelines and contacts (which I follow up immediately after the fair), others will just take a card.
It is possible to make appointments beforehand, but not easy at the start - I only managed one in my first year and two in my second. Much easier once you have worked with a few people (I had six lined up before they moved the Bologna fair this year)...

Nyrryl Cadiz

@smceccarelli Thanks Simona! Do publishers announce that they only have limited slots on their sites?

smceccarelli

@Nyrryl-Cadiz Not that I know of. They post them on their booths at the fair itself (that’s for Bologna and Frankfurt)