• Take a look inside this folder of art that I made in 1987 – That’s like history!

    The artwork is for Lambdrover Jim, The champion sheepdog a Country story I was commissioned to write and illustrate. The images are based on the village of Pennal in West Wales Near the Market town of Machynlleth see the map here:

    You can see me tell the story of Lamb Drover Jim – The Champion Sheepdog – here: https://youtu.be/qjDTnBMLcxM

    If you would like to read the book for yourself, you can get a copy from Amazon: UK: https://amzn.to/3H4A6Ue USA: https://amzn.to/3rYy0kp Canada: https://amzn.to/3I1n6Aj3

    I recently showed you the artwork for the companion book to this title (see Victoria the Wednesday Market Bus Victoria The Wednesday Market Bus – Story for children ) And I am very pleased to say that all the artwork is now going to be adde to the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in Wales in Machynlleth. See their website here https://moma.cymru/en/

    (more…)

  • I’m clearing up my artwork store in my attic. I’ve illustrated over 300 books, so there is a lot up there!

    In this video I show you what is in the folder for my book, Victoria the Wednesday Market Bus.

    You can see me read the the story here: https://youtu.be/MChLn7vHBXE

    If you would like to read the book for yourself, you can get a copy from Amazon: UK: https://amzn.to/3I1U7wd USA: https://amzn.to/3H2A4fM Canada: https://amzn.to/3I3HiS3

    The story is about the Wednesday market bus that takes everyone to market. Adding trailer loads of goods for sale along the way – until the bus breaks down. Written back in 1986, when I was living in a small Welsh village, observing the life of the village, writing about and drawing it.

    (more…)

  • In this video, I explain how much you can expect to earn from a children’s book as an author/illustrator and how earnings have changed over the years – I warn you it’s not good news!

    I made a poll here on YouTube a few years ago asking how much people thought children’s authors earned per book. Most thought 25-50% Youtube stopped polls so exact results have disappeared.

    A publisher gives an author or illustrator an advance to pay for time spent working on the book and as a goodwill payment. This advance has to be paid back, bit by bit, from book sales. When it is paid off, the author then receives royalties on further sales.

    Over the years, as publishers and booksellers have been bought and sold and amalgamated into international corporations, the earning structures have changed.

    The relationship between author and publisher has changed too. Authors are now more like raw material suppliers than the partners or collaborators they were in the past. I

    f you think you can turn out a children’s book and make some cash – kids books must be easy, right? – think again. Writing a book is only the beginning. The marketing is everything and the competition has exploded since I first began writing.

    I should add that the example of £10 a book is for easy maths. To this day, I’ve never had a book sold for £10!

    (more…)