Hi everyone, my name is Lindsay DeRollo and I am a children's picture book author and illustrator. My first book is self-published through Amazon and is part of a ballet series (called "Sugarplum Stars"). The picture book is titled "Sugarplums and Shooting Stars".
The inspiration behind my books is my love of ballet. I have read many ballet books and have seen many dance recitals and productions, so I always pick up on some kind of inspirational message that I find. I also used to take ballet lessons when I was a young adult and I really enjoyed it. It made me appreciate all of the hard work and dedication that was put in to make something look so beautiful and effortless! It has an ethereal aspect to it, and is also a sort of fairy tale which I believe attracts young children in "becoming part of the story".
One tip I have for writing children's book is to always have an editor, no matter how good your grammar and talent is. Oftentimes we either miss something small, or a sentence can be re-worded to make the words "flow" more. There are a lot of little changes, either through dialogue or actions, that can make a huge difference in how well it is written. A mistake I have made in the past is with one of my title covers that I uploaded through Amazon. At first, the text ended up being too blurry in print (I suggest practicing with different fonts, colors, and sizes to see what makes the title stand out the most (and be easy to read). Another problem was with the color contrast in one of my book cover illustrations: there was barely any there! Luckily a couple of authors mentioned it to me; otherwise, I might never have noticed it! I was going for a pastel theme, but I needed to learn more about contrast and saturation of colors. Always remember to learn as much as you can and to practice, practice, practice!
By the way, I am very excited and proud to announce that my next two books in the series (#2 is "Pinky Takes the Stage!" and #3 is "If the Slipper Fits...") will be out and ready to order on April 7th, 2019 through Amazon!
*The new publishing company I was accepted into, called "Two Girls and a Reading Corner". My second and third books are being published through them: https://twogirlsandareadingcorner.com/
*If you are an author or illustrator and want to share your story with us please email us at magicbeansbookstore@gmail.com