So You Want to Be a Picture Book Author

With Tara Lazar
November 6, 2011
Sages Pages, Madison, NJ

Author Tara Lazar explained "Everything I wish I had known"
in The Writers Circle's 2011-12 Speaker Series

"There's a difference between being a picture book writer and a picture book author," said Tara Lazar as she began her workshop, So You Want to Be a Picture Book Author? on Sunday afternoon, November 6, at Sages Pages in Madison, NJ.

Tara Lazar, picture book author of The Monstore (Aladdin/Simon & Schuster 2013) and I Thought This Was a Bear Book (Aladdin/Simon & Schuster 2014), explained to a packed audience that the road to publication requires perseverance, current knowledge of the industry, and a great idea that no one else can write in the same way you can.

TWC Founder/Director Judith Lindbergh praised Ms. Lazar's success and market-savvy, "It's remarkable that Tara's second children's book has been picked up even before her first has come out. She really knows what it takes to create a publishable manuscript in this very competitive market."

Ms. Lazar explained the in's and out's of the children's book business, and shared some terrific tricks she wished she'd known when she started crafting stories that would sell from just 500 well-chosen words.

Ms. Lazar's workshop was the second in The Writers Circle's 2011-2012 Speaker Series, bringing authors, poets, cartoonists, Broadway actresses and other creative professionals to talk about their craft in workshops in Madison, Maplewood, West Orange and South Orange, NJ.

One workshop participant shared her impression in Ms. Lazar's presentation: "She even answered questions I did not know I had!"