Self publishing an art book with Catherine Davis
Last week you had the chance to meet Catherine, and learn a bit about her creative journey. Today we are taking things a step further by talking about one of Catherine's most exciting undertakings...self-publishing a coloring book! In this post you'll find out how Catherine put the book together and will learn what she has planned for the future. Enjoy!
Hi Catherine! What was the inspiration for your coloring book?
It was a combination of a few things, really. At that time I was trying to grow my business and was thinking of other ways to ‘get my name out there.’ And so I thought, what better way to build my brand than to combine my love of surface pattern design with achieving something from my personal ‘bucket list.’ Publishing my own book. It just made sense when I thought about it.
I researched colouring books and looked into other designers who had published them. I was surprised to discover that there wasn't even one patterns colouring book. That is when it all fell into place.
I actually have another colouring book on my 'to do' list, but right now I’m concentrating on other things.
Catherine Davis Coloring Book
How did you go about putting it together and self-publishing it?
I spent a lot of time researching and contacting publishers, getting quotes, finding out about distribution and learning all about how it works. I discovered that the best deal for me was to self-publish through Createspace which is a part of Amazon.
The book was automatically set-up to sell on Amazon once published, so distribution was covered. I also purchased stock of my book so I could sell it locally. Through the process I also made the decision that I wanted to support Watermarkfund. It is a local charity that gets 20% of every book sale, both thru Amazon and other retailers.
From start to finish it took me about three months to pull the colouring book together. I had to squeeze it in, as I was still only working part-time and client briefs took top priority.
What did you learn from publishing a book?
It was a really steep learning curve. But once it was done I was filled with a great sense of achievement. I’d tried something new and with hard work it paid off. And... I’d ticked something off my bucket list!
Coloring in book
Can you tell us a little bit about the new book project you're working on?
My new book isn’t a colouring book (although I do have another one in me). Instead, it's based on an idea that hit me nine years ago while I was on maternity leave with my eldest son. When he was a baby I would write children's stories and read them to him. There was one about a witch-in-training and another about a baby dragon. So many stories! But I never got around to creating illustrations to go along with my stories, which is something I wanted to do myself. Because of this I never sent them off to any publishers.
The specific book that I'm working on now is about a herd of fairies preparing for the Autumn Equinox festival. The book is a heavily illustrated, full colour book so I don’t think Createspace is the right platform for it. I'm currently writing and illustrating one fairy, and designing the layout, so I have a visual to send off to publishing houses. I’m really hoping the idea gets of the ground. Fingers crossed for me everyone!
What are your plans for the future?
Where do I start...there is so much I still want to do! I love doing all things creative so I'm constantly drawing, painting and crafting. My new favourite craft is making origami flowers. Right now I'm only sell them locally, but hope to set-up an Etsy shop sell them along with wedding stationery, posters and greeting cards. These are all things I don’t currently sell on either of my websites, so it's pretty exciting. I’d like to link up with wedding planners too so I can work directly with them in addition to selling on Etsy. I just never stop really, my creativity really is what drives me. It gets me up in the morning and keeps me up at night!
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