Sean Dever

S.M. Dever has been an author/illustrator for most of his life. He is from Bucks County, Pennsylvania. After high school at Central Bucks East, he attended Penn State University. He then flew in the US Navy as a sensor operator and combat aircrew. After traveling the world in the military, he moved with his family to Florida. He started working in radio and at a local TV station, and then spent a few years as a stagehand working concerts such as U2, George Strait, Paul McCartney, The Rolling Stones, Grateful Dead and many others from Florida to Ohio. In 1993, he was accepted to The Film School at Florida State University. He graduated FSU and worked on feature films such as Just Cause, True Lies, Gone Fishin’, and others, and also worked in television news and other entertainment industry positions. He has also taught creative writing at Weslyan College and Edison Community College.

In 1996, he released his first two novels (Blind Pass, and So Others May Live) and a non-fiction book IF…a book of thought provoking questions for people with way too much time on their hands. Sean was represented by Sarah Piel of the prestigious Arthur Pine Associates literary agency in New York. Sean was also a partner and co-founder of Adventure Magazine, and Young Punks Films. He also founded Global Media International, a military software company. He moved back to SW Florida and changed careers again when he became an artist on Captiva and Sanibel Island, Florida. He is now enjoying life as a writer/illustrator and has had over 40 books published..

Author Q & A / Tip Sheet / Discussion Points for Interviews

1.Who is the target audience?

I have two audiences. My children’s books, such as Parsley Dumpling or the Buddydog series is for grade 7/age 12 and below, although many of the books appeal to older age groups just as Dr. Suess or Winnie-the-pooh stories do. We have some books for those children who are just learning their ABC’s, and the Easy Reader series for those who are just learning to read, and then the Buddydog Learning series and the Parsley Dumpling books for those readers who are looking for a fun story with a lesson or two thrown in. My novels, and non-fiction such as IF…, Life of a Painting, and Ghosts in the Machine: Military Aircraft Desert Boneyards are for general readership.

2. Why make Buddydog the main character of your books?

Buddydog was my dog for 15 years. Actually, he was found by my brother as a puppy in a flea market in Fort Myers, and he bought him. But due to circumstances, he quickly became my dog. He traveled with me to car shows, and race tracks, and to work on Captiva Island, Florida as an artist, and greeted customers as I painted. I used to say I would make more money if I charged tourists a dollar to pet and play with Buddy than I ever did as an artist. I started drawing buddy into my paintings, and Buddydog Art & Design was born. He even had a line of hot sauces. Buddy had more personality than any dog I ever met. Everyone who met him loved him. So the idea of Buddydog NOT being the center of my art and children’s books never crossed my mind.

3. When did you write your first book?

My first book was MY TRIP TO THE ZOO written and illustrated by me in 1977 when I was 10 years old. It was written to compete in the YOUNG AUTHORS CONTEST at Barclay Elementary in Warrington, Pennsylvania. In fact I still have a copy of the book (Enclosed is a photo of it). I guess that showed nme it was possible. I was hooked on drawing and writing ever since.

4. What made you decide to write and illustrate children’s books after writing novels and non-fiction books?

I actually was sitting at the dinner table in Forsythe, Georgia with my college girlfriend’s family back in 1995. I was in film school at Florida State University, and so I was in that creative state of always looking for a story. Her mom was cooking, and I asked what she was cooking, and she said PARSLEY DUMPLINGS. I said that sounds like the character of a book, and I remember getting up, going to the living room and writing the story right then, and I included the recipe on the last page! I did some of the artwork back in 1995, and marketed the book. But the children’s book market back in 1995, before Amazon and the internet was crazy hard to break into so the idea went to the backburner. Jump to 2019, and Amazon.com came out with KDP, a publishing system & program specifically for children’s book publishers and authors, and suddenly I found my nirvana!

5. How long does it take you to create a book, write the story, create the illustrations?

It depends on the story, as each is different. I wrote my first novel, BLIND PASS, in a week while watching James Bond Week on TV in 1993. But my next novel, SO OTHERS MAY LIVE, took almost a month. PARSLEY DUMPLING was started in 1995 and finished in 2019. But the first five Buddydog books were written on a Sunday in January, and the illustrations were completed for all five books in less than a week, and they were up for sale on Amazon less than two weeks from the time I thought of the stories. I can do five to ten illustrations a day. And now I usually release one to two books every other week, and always have two to five books under development.

6. How does it actually work, how do you actually create the book?

The illustrations are the easy part for me. I draw them out in pencil, then paint with acrylic paints on 140lb, 300 grain watercolor paper. I then scan them into my computer, I may change things or add things using Photoshop. Then I create two versions of the book. One is in Word, and that is uploaded to Amazon for the printed version, and then I create the digital version for Kindle downloads in Photoshop as PDF and upload that to Amazon.

7. Where do you get your story ideas from?

Most of the storylines come from just seeing something in everyday life. Whether it is Buddydog Goes To NASA because I watched a movie about an astronaut or Buddydog Goes To the Airport because I was sitting at the airport observing people while waiting to pick up a relative, the best way to come up with a storyline or book idea is by being very observant. h, and keeping a small pad of paper to write down the ideas when you get them so you don’t forget is a must..

8. How many more books can we expect to see?

As of now, we have about 75 titles of children’s books on the board or in some stage of production. I have a few ideas of non-fiction books we would like to do, and I have three potential novels that would be adapted from screenplays I have written. The goal right now is to release 40-50 title a year. So far we are on pace to do that.

9. Will you also be publishing other authors books?

I created Buddydog first and foremost to publish my own books. However, I have been contacted to help other authors who have ideas but not the industry knowledge or the artistic courage to create their own books. There is a lot to know that has nothing to do with writing a book. Over 20 years I have learned the business from copyright registration, to ISBN registration, to how to price a book, marketing and publicity, etc. For someone who wants to have a book out there in the marketplace and see what will come of it, I am happy to help. For someone who wants a huge advance paid for their idea, Buddydog is not the place. At least not yet!

10. Do you illustrate other author’s books?

As an artist, I am available to not only illustrate books, but to create artwork for products, logos, or other commercial or commissioned art. I was a full time artist for many years, creating over 900 pieces of artwork and there are still many pieces in galleries from Ft. Myers to Key West.

11. Where or how can someone purchase your books? Contact BuddydogPublishing@gmail.com directly. We recommend directly contacting us by email for schools, libraries, retail outlets looking for multi-book or wholesale orders. The public is also free to contact use directly. And, of course any bookstores who carry our items, or other outlets like pet stores, farm or construction equipment and supplies for some titles, or other retail outlets. And you can always come to a book signing.

12. Why self or small publisher vs traditional publishing houses?

A few reasons:

It may take a year to get to market and the control is lost to others. There was never a reasonable alternative to traditional publishing, but there really is only a few actual publishers left, and only two distributors Follet/Baker & Taylor or Ingram. Baker & Taylor was a distributor of all genres of books until Follet bought them and now they are focused on institutional/educational sales (schools and libraries) only. Ingram is the last major distributor, except Amazon, and they are also coming out with a small/self publishing platform. Now that Buddydog can partner with Amazon, an independent author has the largest publisher, the largest retailer, and the largest bookseller in the world with them. This allows independent small publishers and authors to play on the same field as everyone else.

Another issue is that different agencies and agents represent different material. Back in the 1990s I was represented by Sarah Piel, of the Arthur Pine Associates agency in New York. However, as great as Sarah was with my novels, she did not rep children’s books.

A few more advantages:

1.Quicker to market. What took a year or so by standard print methods does not apply any longer. Our books can be conceived, written, illustrated, and digitally uploaded, and for sale in a very short time. The shortest time from concept to sale so far for Buddydog Publishing was 3 days. We conceived a need for an ABC’s book for elementary school students who do not speak English on a Friday and the digital version was online and selling Sunday afternoon, and the printed book was available Monday afternoon. Now, that would rarely ever happen in traditional publishing unless it was a scandal or the Mueller Report.

2. More money for author. Because the books are either downloaded in digital form, at a reduced price, or printed upon purchase on demand, there is no need for large print runs which is a large capital outlay for any publisher. While a publisher, or client, or author can order up to 999 books at any time if they desire, there is no required printing point to break even, and no returns, so no money for chargebacks to the author. Also, the printing and shipping is handled by Amazon, and there is no storage costs, the profits go to the publisher/author.

3. More control over the storyline, artwork, and the rights for the author. Because a traditional book has all kinds of “hands in the pie” it usually takes months to get an approved final version. And once handed over to a traditional publishing house, they determine the marketing, promotion, who the artist is, and suggest (in very firm language) story and character changes. Not that this is necessarily good or bad, unless you as the author disagree with it. Also, they may take advantage of a new writer and demand various rights to story, character, ancillary (toys, animation, etc) be turned over to the publisher.

4. Distribution to worldwide markets almost immediately, and because the kindle edition can be translated to other languages, it can be sold in a truly worldwide market without waste. There is also no need to create a large print run, as the books are printed on demand as sold, so no waste or returns to be charged back later.

Of course a couple disadvantages are:

1.No cash/payment advance. However, as this is simply a “loan” from the publisher, and unless you are a celeb, politician, part of a scandal, or astronaut, you probably would not get a large advance anyway.

2. No large promotional or travel budget, or connection to get on TV or media to promote your book. Okay, see above to #1 who gets that large budget.

3. Distribution and sales force to sell your title. Again, that has diminished since the internet. The contacts and agent has for movies, tv shows, etc. are still worthwhile, however that is a separate issue from big house publishing.