Have you seen a lot of author/illustrators who are also interested in just writing MG? I’m an author illustrator but I have several MG stories that I feel are better expressed in word. Do you think publishers are going to perfer these creators to incorporate their art rather than just words since they have been doing the illustration work for several years and sort of established a name?

literaticat:

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with an author/illustrator sometimes writing picture books that they DON’T illustrate, or sometimes writing novels or something else – but no, I haven’t seen many popular illustrators who both write and illustrate picture books and also write entirely prose novels. I’m sure there (probably) are some, but… all the ones I can think of who do both PB and MG, their MG novels are very much also illustrated.

For example: Peter Brown (THE WILD ROBOT series), Adam Rex (TRUE MEANING OF SMEKDAY), Brian Selznick (INVENTION OF HUGO CABRET, etc), Lynda Barry (wrote the YA novel CRUDDY) – and I rep Phoebe Wahl, who is currently writing a YA novel that was just announced – all of these are MG/YA by well-established author/illustrators… but all of them are highly illustrated.

I don’t think, though, that that’s because the publishers “prefer” it, or are MAKING them illustrate or something like that? I’m sure if one of these creators wrote a really great all-prose novel with zero illustration elements, a publisher would be delighted by that as well. It’s just that… well, they are gifted illustrators, they probably think very visually and bringing a visual element to these books for older readers that makes those books even MORE special. I don’t think any of these illustrators would have pitched a completely non-illustrated book – it just wouldn’t make sense for these books. With no illustrations all of these books would still be good – but with them, they are spectacular, the illustrations are intrinsically part of what makes the books special. So…

I mean again – it’s all about the book. If you have a great all-prose novel up your sleeve, that’s fine, and I don’t think anyone would MAKE YOU illustrate it. I just don’t really personally KNOW of any popular illustrators who also write long-form unillustrated fiction. Though they might well be out there!

ETA: I thought of one! Kevin Henkes has written MG novels (non-illustrated)!!!