The Ins and Outs of Author Publishing - A Self-Publishing Panel: Lee Wind

 The Ins and Outs of Author Publishing - A Self-Publishing Panel: Lee Wind

Lee is an award-winning author, who is an incredibly powerful advocate for inclusive storytelling, championing young people, and people who write and illustrate.

He also ran the official SCBWI blog and the Conference blog for many years, and recently passed the baton on to me, Justin Campbell and I am so glad to be covering him in this post!

 Lee serves as Chief Content Officer at Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA), which is one of SCBWI's valued partner organizations.

"I think that the term self-publishing tricks people into thinking that they can just "download the software to their computer", and design the cover of their own book. If you want to publish something that you created, you're now the publisher. You have to hire a team of professionals to help you make your book indistinguishable in quality."

So that's why, at IBPA, the Independent Book Publishers Association, they've begun to use the language of author publishers. "I think it's a really good mental model shift. That's why it's called the Ins and Outs of Author Publishing."

Lee currently has seven books out; his first book being crowdfunded and author-published and the other six being published by independent publishers. 

His most recent is Like That Eleanor, from Cardinal Rule Press, about a little girl who is named after Eleanor Roosevelt by her two dads. Eleanor sees some unfair things happening in her school, and when she talks to her dads about it, they tell her about the real-life Eleanor Roosevelt, her namesake, who inspires young Eleanor to stand up and be an ally to make her corner of the world a little more fair.

His picture book that came out last year, Love of the Half-Eaten Peach, illustrated by Jieting Chen was just named a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award for Picture Books. Congratulations, Lee! 

"The decision about whether to publish a book yourself, or to have it traditionally published is about a particular project, it is not about you as a creator."

That decision has a lot to do with your journey and what you want out of your journey.

Check out the panel posts by Jolie Stekly and Jaime Temairik for the in depth Q&A session. Panel recordings available through September 14th, 2025! 

Lee Wind writes the books that would have changed his life as a young Gay Jewish kid. His latest nonfiction book for readers 11 and up is “The Gender Binary is a Big Lie.” Kirkus’s starred review cheered it as “an accessible, thorough, curiosity-provoking introduction to gender.” Lee is also the author of YA novels including his gay teen homage and critique of James Bond movies, "A Different Kind of Brave," that Foreword Reviews' starred review called “A gem for young adults.” His picture books include "Red and Green and Blue and White"(art by Paul O. Zelinsky) that the New York Times celebrated as “beautiful.” His June 2025 "Like THAT Eleanor" (art by Kelly Mangan) received a starred Kirkus review that praised it as “An ideal guide for readers of any age to learn how to be an ally.”

www.leewind.org/

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. 

---

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.

Denise Deegan and Kara Levin's Workshop: The Unique Opportunities and Challenges of Self-Publishing

Denise Deegan is a hybrid author with novels both traditionally and self-published. Denise’s coming-of-age, historical novel, Through the Barricades won the 2016 SCBWI Spark Award, an annual award that recognizes excellence in children’s books published through non-traditional publishing platforms. Denise’s novels have been published by Penguin, Random House, Hachette and Lake Union Publishing. The three novels in her contemporary young adult series, The Butterfly Novels, published by Hachette, were bestsellers in Ireland. Denise has just self-published the trilogy in territories where she retains rights. www.denisedeegan.wordpress.com.

Kara Levin is a first time children’s book author and clinical psychologist. Dr. Levin’s debut picture book, Soldier, won the 2016 SCBWI Spark Award, an annual award that recognizes excellence in children’s books published through non-traditional publishing platforms. Kara juggles being a psychologist, writer, and mother of twin seven-year-old sons. Visit www.littlewoodenflute.com.

Among the things Denise tells us is the journey of one of her titles. It was traditionally published, and then eventually she got the rights back. She then self-published it with a new title and cover and pen name, and it started to do really well… And then Amazon approached her to publish it under their imprint, and with another new cover:

It rose to be the #1 title on Kindle!

On the choice between self-publishing or traditionally-publishing, Denise advises,

"It doesn't have to be either or, it can be both."

She has an agent and has projects out on submission to traditional publishers, and at the same time is self-publishing, including "Through the Barricades," which has won the 2017 SCBWI Spark Award.

Kara shares about the journey of her picture book Solider, how her illustrator and designer was able to get the book published in the Ukraine which brought down the cost and enabled the print-run to happen, and how it won the SCBWI Spark Award.

The interest from the award has resulted in her being approached by agents, and she's excited to see where it goes next.

Kara says, "Self-publishing made us more sympathetic to the process" of traditional publishing, and the risks involved in taking on each book.

About Solider opening from the top (rather than the side,) saying, "that's one of the joys of self-publishing, there's no one to tell you 'no.'"

They speak about the speed of self-publishing compared to traditional publishing, online store platforms, the challenge of distribution, the opportunity of book fairs, and the power of winning the Spark Award… As Kara put it, "It helps to have that seal!"

"Entrepreneurship. That's the difference here." - Kara Levin

The session is filled with questions from the fascinated attendees, and great answers!