The Art in Storytelling

I Knew This Story Needed Pictures

I knew this tale needed images.
To bring light to sad places.
To soften the poem and let it sail.

So I began researching how a book is born: how you find an illustrator, how publishing really works, and what actually happens behind the curtain. I dusted off my tried-and-true networking skills and started asking questions.

The Publishing Maze (lessons from networking)

A fellow Hoya and former business partner connected me to her sister-in-law, a children’s book author. My cousin’s son’s wife, also a children’s book author, answered my out-of-the-blue text and pointed me to online resources. An old colleague from American Express connected me to a grammar-school best friend who knew an author. A new friend in New Orleans introduced me to a college friend who’d spent decades in publishing.

One conversation led to another, and eventually, a few truths emerged:

• Getting a literary agent can take years, sometimes more than ten.

• Traditional publishers often move even slower, with production timelines stretching two years or more.

• The margins aren’t in your favor.

• Publishers typically choose the illustrator, and once matched, it’s largely hands-off. You trust the process and step back.

Without those channels, though, it’s easy to get lost in the shuffle of distributors and gatekeepers.

So what to do?

The Probable Path

More research, and a bit more networking, led me toward self-publishing: sourcing my own illustrator and finding my own way.

I first explored a partnership with my talented stepson, an animator with a deep love for Martha’s Vineyard and his grandparents and step grandparents. Alas, his irreverent, Adult Swim–style voice, combined with the realities of a first grown-up job time constraints, made it clear the timing wasn’t right.

Next, I connected with a watercolorist from the Massachusetts coast whose work I adored. We shared an easy rapport and a clear creative vision—but as life sometimes does, timing intervened again.

When the Right Door Finally Opened

Around that time, I found my way to Susan Schadt and her wonderful team, beloved in New Orleans and beyond for championing authors, poets, and creatives to bring their visions to print. They embraced a first-time author and introduced me to one of their favorite illustrators: Aileen Bennett.

We met virtually, and everything clicked.

Aileen grew up in Britain with fond memories of seaside holidays. Love brought her to Lafayette, Louisiana. Everyday-curious, adventurous, food-loving, optimistic, and deeply kind, she was the perfect match for this story. Aileen’s whimsical coastal illustrations bring magic, grace, and grief’s lagniappe to the pages.

She wrote and illustrated A Little Book About Fire (and the people who carry it inside them), takes annual food pilgrimages to Manhattan to draw and eat her way around the city, and has supported countless authors before me in clever, generous ways.

From Creative Match to Creative Friendship

Working with Aileen has been a dream. She brought magic to the pages and heart to the process.

She visited Martha’s Vineyard, where we ate our way around the island, took boat rides, walked beaches, outsmarted a swarm of bees craving lobster and met the characters who shaped the book. When I dropped her at the airport, she turned to me and said, “I think we’re friends now.”

She was right.

I couldn’t be prouder—or more grateful—to call her both a dear friend and a creative partner.
👉 Click here to see my latest Insta Reel about Aileen, or click here to start following her work.