Interview: Joanna Marple on uTales.
Darshana Shah Khiani‘s interview on her Children’s Book Review site, “Flowering Minds”, with new children’s picture book author, Joanna Marple, is revealing on lots lof levels.
Joanna and Darshana met on children’s writer and illustrator FaceBook site, 12 x 12 , a very lively, supportive, share and learn community set up by Julie Hedlund. When Joanna released her very first picture book, a collaboration with the very talented Maja Sereda, Darshana jumped in with the interview offer.
“Snow Games” is a fun tumble and rumpus in winter’s wonderland aimed at 3 to 7 year olds. Maja’s wonderfully endearing little animal characterisations beautifully complement the story.
Joanna shares what it was like to collaborate with Maja to create “Snow Games”. Close collaboration between author and illustrator is a circumstance largely [and sadly] foreign to most traditional print publishing. For Joanna and Maja it was a fun and very rewarding experince. But the interview goes beyond the creation of ”Snow Games”. It also details Joanna’s experience of the uTales website and her thoughts on traditional and digital publishing.
Joanna mentions my collaboration with noted animal and wildlife illustrator, Muza Ulasowski, a story about surviving change, “The Sea Cat Dreams”. Muza was one of many wonderful illustrators I met on the uTales Facebook group and have since worked with to create a varied range of children’s books.
I have found the opportunity to collaborate with illustrators something eminently rewarding, an experience that enriches both participants and results in a more vibrant and much richer work. My first picture book, “Mending Lucille” was also a result of a collaboration. Working with the amazing Sarah Davis was inspirational! I have gone on to collaborate closely with illustrators all over the world to create numbers of other picture books, some digitally published**, some in process with p
Continuing the series about Alternate Publishing. This is 4 of 8.
Alternate Publishing Series TOC
uTales: Digital Picture Book Publishing Goes Global
Guest Post by Jean Helprin Diehl
In December 2010, my good friend Kathryn Freeman received an invite out of the blue to publish digital picture books through a new site, uTales.com. Nils von Heijne, the company’s creator, liked what he’d seen of her paintings and illustrations online. He included a code for logging on to the Beta version of uTales to check it out, plus three additional invites for colleagues. Katie and I are longtime collaborators, so she sent one to me.
Why not, we decided. We resurrected a project we’d always loved, which had garnered interest from publishers but no contract. By November 2011 we’d published this title, a href=”http://utales.com/books/palomas-pie”>Paloma’s Pie
, and started work on an interactive book we created just for uTales,
What Color is Fred The start-up venture we’d never heard of before had launched as an Apple app for iPad, iPhone and PC, and a respected editor from the world of traditional children’s book publishing, Emma Dryden, had joined the company to provide editorial oversight and approve books for publication. uTales customers could subscribe or purchase single titles from a library of more than 150 books – a number now nearer 200 – the work of writers and illustrators from around the globe.
See the Books on UTales:
(Note that the following links are to book previews of the first 8 pages – it’s impossible to access entire books without purchasing them:)
There are plenty of apps available for children’s books these days. uTales appears to have distinguished itself in at least three ways, so far.
- First, its international focus and its plans to publish books in multiple languages; English came first, Swedish is next (Nils is Swedish and the company has offices in Sweden and New York).
- Second, uTales’ software enables authors and illustrators to collaborate remotely on a manuscript from anywhere on the globe that has an Internet connection.
- Finally, one of the compa
Yesterday, Ariane briefly mentioned her book with uTales and I said I had info on this to share with you. uTales is in Beta testing right now, but anyone who wants to go on can use this link: www.utales.com/invitation and use the password: kathy to get into their site. They will ask you to agree with their terms and agreement, but this is not giving any of your rights away.
This could be the answer to all you writers who would like to do something with your book, but can’t find an illustrator. Below are some questions you might have.
What is uTales?
uTales is a world of digital picture books for kids, driven by a worldwide community of passionate and professional writers and illustrators.
uTales is both a website and an app, but more importantly uTales is one big disruptive idea. We’re a global community aiming to innovate and improve the concept of books in every way we can. We’re making picture books more modern and engaging. We’re making a greater variety of picture books more accessible for kids everywhere. We’re eliminating boundaries for talented storytellers to get published. And we’re trying to make the world a little better for kids, one story at a time.
How does uTales insure the quality of the books?
Only books approved by uTales will be featured in the uTales store and apps. uTales is proud to have an internationally diverse editorial advisory panel in place to approve all books before they are published to insure and uphold the highest safety and quality standards for our readers. This panel is made up of award-winning professional editors, authors, illustrators, and educators.
Our UQEP panel is led by children’s book editor and consultant, Emma D. Dryden, who has, over the course of the past twenty-five years, edited and published hundreds of books for young readers in her work with Margaret K. McElderry Books and Atheneum Books for Young Readers, imprints of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing. Emma oversees drydenbks, her own children’s book consultancy company, is a member of the American Library Association, and a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators Board of Advisors.
How do I support charity by using uTales?
We are very proud to have a partnership with Pencils of Promise, and that we, together with our uTalers, help them build schools in developing countries. Our uTalers have the choice to give up to 100% of their earnings to support Pencils of Promise – so every time you read one of their books, you bring education to a child in need.
Beyond that, we create specific uTales books with 100% of the earnings going to Pencils of Promise – and we hope to be doing even more together with PoP in the future. We’re building uTales for the kids.
For more information on Pencils of Promise, check out their fantastic website: www.pencilsofpromise.org
Can I end my uTales subscription at any time?
Yes you can.
For how long will I keep books I have purchased on uTales?
For as long as you have an account registered with us.
How do I create books on uTales.com?
Simply start a new book in our create tool on the website.
Once your book is approved by our UQEP panel (a process that generally takes from a few days up to two weeks), it will be available globally on uTales.com and in the uTales apps.
Do I give away all my rights as a creator?
No, of course not! We are trying to offer the most transparent and simple setup on the market. You’ll find al
The iPad has started a global children’s reading revolution - a revolution that
uTales is now about to take one step further with the world’s first community-driven store and subscription service for digital picture books for kids. With so many phenomenally talented writers and illustrators going unnoticed (and unpublished),
uTales aims to provide them with new opportunities where traditional publishing is often failing.
uTales is a place where writers and illustrators can create, promote and sell interactive digital picture books at no cost and without giving up their rights - all while given the opportunity to collaborate with other creatives from around the world, help build schools in developing countries and become part of the unique
uTales iPad app.
The staff at
uTales are passionate about introducing more children to a great variety of quality picture books, and they do this by combining new technology with a worldwide community of professional writers and illustrators and an editorial panel led by renowned editor Emma D. Dryden.
The
Illustration Pages readers have been invited to get early access to
uTales and have their story ideas come to life and be enjoyed by families everywhere on their iPads and laptops. To sign up visit
www.utales.com/invitation with this invite code:
illustpages This code is limited to 100 beta invites so don't delay - head on over to
uTales and take the site for a test drive.
I agree, Joanna’s story and Maja’s illustrations make for a wonderful story.
Thanks for this post. So good to highlight other publishing options and delightful stories.
Collaboration is such an amazing and wonderfully creative journey to take together!