Welcome!
Let's nerd out about illustration and fancy spreadsheets.
Hi! I see you've found my little corner of the internet.
If you're reading this, then you've probably joined me right at the start of my substack journey. So I want to be honest: I'm not much of a writer1.
I have a degree in Writing, Literature, and Publishing, but I managed to make that almost entirely about the Literature and Publishing. I think the last time I've stared down a blank page to write creatively was for my college admissions essay.
But I really love children's books and representing illustrators, and after working in children's publishing for almost 15 years, I've learned a lot that I'd like to pass along. (And I am not into social media or algorithms.) So I'm going to give this newsletter thing a shot! I hope I'll get better at it as we go.
There are a lot of smart people who are sharing their knowledge of the publishing industry in various places (including here on substack!). You should check out those sources too. Maybe one day I'll write a post about some of my favorite resources.
But I've found there isn't quite as much out there specifically for children's book illustrators. So that's what I'm going to focus on here!
Oh, and one more thing. I also really love making color-coded spreadsheets.
I've used airtable – a cloud software that's like a leveled-up spreadsheet – for a while, and I really leaned into it when I became a literary agent in 2020. I use it for just about everything now, and while I'm still constantly learning new things (I frequently have to call in IT support2 when creating new formulas) I know a few good tricks.
I'm planning to write about:
How I use airtable in my professional life as a literary agent (though I may occasionally throw in some of my recreational spreadsheets to spice things up);
Various information about traditional children's publishing that I want illustrators to know, from querying tips to advice on how to have a long career making books, and everything in between;
And occasional interviews with my incredibly talented clients to celebrate their books!
I hope you'll consider subscribing! You can choose to get all my posts delivered right to your inbox, or only receive certain types of posts.3
Truthfully, this is as much a research project as it is a passion project. A number of my clients are substack-curious4, so I want to learn more about this new platform myself too. And what better way to do that than to dive right in?
So without further ado – welcome to art agenting & airtable. I'm really happy you're here!
With the exception of Very Long Emails. I have written a lot of those.
My boyfriend, lol. He actually does work in IT.
If you don't get excited about elaborate color-coded grids than fiiiineee, but everyone should subscribe to the interview/book posts. I promise that my clients' books are excellent. You will want to hear about them.