EP 454 - Finding Surprising Success Publishing Kids' Books with Darcy Pattison

Mark interviews award-winning author Darcy Pattison about publishing childrens' books. In their conversation, Mark and Darcy talk about: Darcy's background on getting into being an author of children's bookThe 70 books Darcy has written in the past 13 yearsThe number of different illustrators Darcy has worked with over the yearsThe Moments in Science picture books Darcy has written with along with the specific illustrator who has worked on a dozen of those titles with herThe books for authors Darcy is releasing in January 2026 that collect details about the current state of publishing for children's booksThe challenge of doing layout for a children's picture bookThe importance of an author being clear on their own definition of successHow children's book authors can find the right illustrator and/or designerHow Darcy fulfills orders online for her booksGetting her books into education distributors (Follett, etc - Follett can order their books through Ingram)The EPIC app and how Darcy earns money from itThe various reviews Darcy gets, including paid Kirkus reviews (which are important)Who you are writing for versus who you are selling to when it comes to kids booksFiction VS Non-FictionThe importance/difference of being good at illustration versus being good at text (or even layout)The challenge of scaling up things like school visitsThe benefit of finding places that will sell a kids' book in bulkAnd more... After the interview Mark reflects on the unique element of the two audiences for childrens' books, as well as the efficient business mind-set Darcy adopted in her approach to how to grow a more scaleable author business. Links of Interest: Indie Kids Books Mims House Books Manuscript Report (Mark's affiliate link - use MARK10 to save 10%)Buy Mark a CoffeePatreon for Stark ReflectionsMark's YouTube channelElevenLabs (AI Voice Generation - Affiliate link)Mark's Stark Reflections on Writing & Publishing Newsletter (Signup)An Author's Guide to Working With Bookstores and LibrariesThe Relaxed Author Buy eBook DirectBuy Audiobook Direct Publishing Pitfalls for AuthorsAn Author's Guide to Working with Libraries & BookstoresWide for the WinMark's Canadian Werewolf Books This Time Around (Short Story)A Canadian Werewolf in New YorkStowe Away (Novella)Fear and Longing in Los AngelesFright Nights, Big CityLover's MoonHex and the CityOnly Monsters in the Building The Canadian Mounted: A Trivia Guide to Planes, Trains and AutomobilesYippee Ki-Yay Motherf*cker: A Trivia Guide to Die HardMerry Christmas! Shitter Was Full!: A Trivia Guide to National Lampoon's Christmas VacationI Think It's A Sign That The Pun Also Rises The introductory, end, and bumper music for this podcast ("Laser Groove") was composed and produced by Kevin MacLeod of www.incompetech.com and is Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0