Resources & Recommendations

authors I love and support for authors on their way

Books I Recommend:

Then you will LOVE these picture books from my friend Sue. I have never met Sue, but we meet over Zoom frequently. You see, we are writing buddies! 

We help each other out by critiquing each others’ stories. I highly recommend these delightful books.

Check them out!

We’ve known each other for over 35 years! How, you ask? Well… I was Emily’s kindergarten teacher when she was 5 years old… She was my “health” teacher when I was 60 years old! We’ve come full circle together!

Emily’s health and fitness course changed my life. It could change yours too! It’s all here in her book. 

get her book

Meet Emily.

Do you like cats…travel…adventure?

Are you interested in becoming a Children’s Book Author?

Here are some resources I used for my author journey

Little did I know there was so much to learn when I became a children's book author. And there was even more to learn once I decided to self-publish and market my books.

Here are my tried and true resources that I used that worked so well and were worth every penny!

Learning to Write

Just because I read thousands of children's books in my teaching career didn’t mean I knew how to write them.

It took me years of classes and practicing to learn my new craft.

My “go-to” online courses were:


Editors

I knew I didn’t want to put a book out for children to read that wasn’t first-rate. So hiring quality editors was a must.

Here are my “go-to” editors that I trust.

  • Two-4-one kid critiques: These ladies give two developmental edits for the price of one. 
  • R.C. Chizhov: R.C. is a great line-by-line editor. She gave me great suggestions while letting me keep my own “author voice.” R.C. also offers a variety of other services. 
  • Marcy Pusey: You can’t go wrong with Marcy! Her work is top notch and she makes sure yours is too! Marcy offers many other services besides editing. I also used her “Publishing With You” service.




Illustrators

Hiring an illustrator to bring your book to life is very personal, and can also be very expensive! I found that prices vary from $ 1,000 to $10,000. But I also found that you “get what you pay for”. 

So far I have worked with two phenomenal illustrators.

Penny’s illustrations have a “real life” look with vibrant colors. Just stunning.

Although some illustrators are book designers too, most are not. And trust me - you need a quality book design for your picture book! 

She’s a pleasure to work with! Very professional and prompt.


Penny weber

book designer

Zoe is a delight to work with. Her illustrations are whimsical and adorable.

Zoe Saunders

Bryony van der Merwe

Web Design

So I tried, I really did! I spent months working on a DIY website, and my attempts were quite pitiful. Finally, I admitted defeat and found a lovely gal to help. Doesn’t my website look wonderful?

Hannah worked closely with me to find just what I wanted and then she delivered!!

Hannah | Moonturn Design

I wanted a logo for “unstoppable stories” to publish all my books under. However, I have not one artistic bone in my body! I hired Susi to help me instead. 

Susi Clark helped me create the perfect logo for unstoppable stories.   

Logo Design

Susi Clark

Designers:

I love music, so I wanted songs to accompany some of my books. I wrote the songs but hired musicians to record them for me.

I recommend Joe R., on Fiverr. He’s a professional children’s music songwriter. Very easy to work with - a great guy.

Music

Having a mentor/coach is so important when you are doing anything new. I found it was a must in my new author career. 

Marcy Pusey was not only my editor, but I also used her mentoring services. As a plus, she is also a therapist and knows how to get you through that “imposter syndrome” when doubts are everywhere!

Karen Ferreira - One of the many courses Karen offers is author coaching. I love it and know so much more now about how to publish my books successfully instead of just hoping for success.

Mentors/Coaching