The Ins & Outs of Author Publishing Panel - A Self Publishing Panel: Hilary Horder / Hillary Moore

BALLARD OF THE BROOM is an author-published book written by Hilary Horder Hippley and illustrated by Hillary Moore. 

Hilary Horder Hippely is the writer of the author-published BALLAD OF THE BROOM. She has also traditionally published 5 books. Hilary is represented by Karen Grencik, at Red Fox Literary.

Hilary notes that the choice to author publish is about your goals. You need to feel passionately about what doing. The BALLAD OF THE BROOM was decades in the making. And, there are reasons Hilary decided to author publishing (self-published). Hilary did share the manuscript with her agent, who loved it but also thought it would be a hard sell in the market. 

Some considerations that made Hilary go the author-publishing route were: It's a book that defies the rules of picture books. The subject matter not typical to most picture books. It's also a ballad, and verse is a challenging sell in the market; Most picture books are targeted to 4 to 8 years old. This book is for 6 to 10 year olds; And, Hilary wanted to be able to choose her illustrator, Hillary Moore. Hillary was exactly who Hilary Horder wanted for this project.

Hilary shares that Reedsy was a great resources for needed services. (Note: SCBWI members have access to self-publishing resources, which included vetted service providers. https://www.scbwi.org/self-publishing-resources )

A success moment connected to this book for Hilary: There are certain booksellers that love that book, and carry it. Just yesterday Hilary was a tiny bookstore and the BALLAD OF THE BROOM was tucked between Ferdinand and Where the Wild Things Are. Hilary says, "How cool is that?" Very cool! Also, a child approaching her, clutching it to her chest, tell Hilary that it's her favorite books and that she asks her parents to read it to her every night. 

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Hillary Moore is the illustrator of the author published Ballad of the Broom, which is a 36 page picture book, not typical for a traditionally published book, but when you are publishing, you can to make those decisions. This is her debut picture book. She is represented by Marietta Zacker at Gallt & Zacker Literary Agency.

Hillary says the owrk on BALLAD OF THE BROOM was a labor of love, and it was not a quick and easy process. Hilary Horder and Hillary Moore worked in collaboration together, making a whole lot of tiny choices to make the book happen. 

In doing this work Hillary learned a lot of new skills, mostly in the design of the book. 

A really interesting note shared by teh writer about the illustrator role: In doing the illustration for this book, Hilary Horder gave Hillary Moore the control over the illustration. A picture book is a marriage of text and illustration, and it was important that Hillary did the illustration in service to the story, not in service to the writer. 

A success moment connected to this book for Hillary: Hillary says there are so many. But the book is inspired by an actual island--a tiny--one you could walk across in five minutes. Hillary had been to this very island, such a obscure place, and felt magical. There was serendipity to it all when Hilary invited her to be part of this project. 

If you have interest in author publishing yourself, this panel is a must watch. So much information was shared. 

If you want to view this session to hear the full content, along with the rest of the conference,

register at https://www.scbwi.org/events/virtual-summer-conference-2025. Replays of the

conferences will be available until September 14th, 2025.