Izzy is back!
Fictional Corgi, based on real-life local pet, trades cowgirl hat for cape in new comic book-style adventureby Cynthia Scheer
Managing Editor, Washington County News. Children’s book author, and upcoming Washington County High School senior, Kady Toole, has written and illustrated a second book. This is Book 2 in the fictional series featuring her real-life Corgi dog, Izzy. The first book, Izzy the Cowgirl Corgi, came out in early 2021 and has sold more than 1,000 copies. This new book, titled Izzy the Super Corgi, is drawn with a comic book theme. Izzy is the pet of a superhero. The same “bad guys” from Book 1 appear in Book 2, Toole said. She said that it made sense to have a Book 2 because, at the end of the first book, one of the “bad guys” says, “I’ll get this Corgi if it’s the last thing I do.” The book is availalbe for pre-order on Toole's website, www.izzythecorgi.com, or can be purchased on Amazon. There will be a book signing party for the new book in downtown Washington . at Rebecca Frerking’s shop Styled by R as soon as the book comes. Making Book 2 Toole, who lives in Washington, said she wanted to make a book that kids would like. “And who doesn’t like superheroes?” she said. |
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Toole’s first two books are based on her real-life Corgi dog named Izzy. A series of books involving Izzy are being considered, though Toole’s mother, Erin Toole, said future editions of the first book might have to be labeled as Book 1 so that future readers can establish the order of the series.
While Toole’s first book was written and illustrated in the fall of 2020 as part of a high school project, this second book “is just for fun” and not part of a class project.
Her goal is to publish three books before she graduates from high school next year, and she plans to start Book 3 this summer so that it can be finished by the time she graduates next year.
Farther into the future, she said she hopes to write more books.
Toole said that the book writing and illustration is good experience she can use on college scholarships. Publishing multiple books will also help her to become a more well-known author, she said.
Toole, whose mother is the art teacher at Washington County, said she wants to double major in college in graphic design and either illustration or fine arts.
Making a book
For both of her books, Toole wrote the story first so that she could visualize the story. This helped her ability to draw the illustrations.
Toole said the books are all her ideas.
When Toole wrote the first book last year as part of a class, she was able to spend 30 to 60 minutes a day drawing illustrations for the book during class time. She spent the second semester of last school year marketing her book.
The books’ illustrations have been drawn digitally on a large computer-screen-like tablet. The Toole family decided to invest in a “good drawing tablet” when Toole first had the idea to illustrate a book, her mother said. A free drawing software is used. The images are drawn in the size the paper would be. Drawing digitally is faster than drawing by hand, she said. By drawing on the computer, she can select the paint bucket tool, select an entire area to color such as a cloud or a t-shirt, and color the whole thing with a click. Similar images can be copied and pasted.
Thought bubbles and speech bubbles are drawn but left empty until the content is moved over to the design software.
The images are then put into InDesign, and the words of the story are added.
Work for Toole’s second book had to be done at home during her free time. She wrote the book and did some sketches last summer. She spent the rest of 2021, including Christmas break, doing the illustrations. Layout and editing took a few months, but Book 2 went to the printer the first of April.
Printing
Toole has self-published her books, which means she owns the rights to the books and can switch to any publisher for additional printing.
Toole has paid a one-time fee of $1,600 to publish each book. It costs an additional $3,000 to publish about 1,000 copies. The Tooles originally printed only 500 copies of the first book but ordered another 500 copies a couple months later and has now sold about 1,000 copies of that original book.
Book 1 sold for $12 each; Book 2 will cost $14 because it has more pages, and printing costs have increased.
Toole signs the books for free. She takes the real-life Izzy Corgi to all of the events that allow dogs. Izzy has autographed some books with an ink print of her paw, but Toole said Izzy isn’t always a fan of giving autographs.
In addition to buying books directly from Toole, they can also be purchased from Amazon, though those books are printed on demand and ship from Amazon.
Money from the sales of Book 1 have been used to fund the publishing and printing of Book 2.
The Tooles are also printing more copies of the first book.
The books are available only in paperback for now because that is the only option available from the publisher she uses, though the Tooles have considered switching publishers so that the book can be printed in hard back.
Marketing
Toole said she plans to market Book 2 as she did for Book 1: Vendor shows, her website, summer library story hours, radio programs and Facebook. At her first-ever vendor show last year in Beatrice, Toole sold 60 books.
She said her grandmother, Deloris Syring, also sold some books when she “went off and visited friends.”
Toole sold her first book at 10 vendor shows last year as well as at about two story hours a week all summer long. She has presented to libraries and classrooms near and far; Dodge City, Topeka and Abilene were part of her tour last year.
This summer she has story hours booked at Sabetha, Clay Center, Belleville and Mankato and is open to more dates. She is also scheduled to be a part of a youth panel at the Kansas Book Festival in Topeka on Sept. 24, which will feature 50 authors.
While Toole’s first book was written and illustrated in the fall of 2020 as part of a high school project, this second book “is just for fun” and not part of a class project.
Her goal is to publish three books before she graduates from high school next year, and she plans to start Book 3 this summer so that it can be finished by the time she graduates next year.
Farther into the future, she said she hopes to write more books.
Toole said that the book writing and illustration is good experience she can use on college scholarships. Publishing multiple books will also help her to become a more well-known author, she said.
Toole, whose mother is the art teacher at Washington County, said she wants to double major in college in graphic design and either illustration or fine arts.
Making a book
For both of her books, Toole wrote the story first so that she could visualize the story. This helped her ability to draw the illustrations.
Toole said the books are all her ideas.
When Toole wrote the first book last year as part of a class, she was able to spend 30 to 60 minutes a day drawing illustrations for the book during class time. She spent the second semester of last school year marketing her book.
The books’ illustrations have been drawn digitally on a large computer-screen-like tablet. The Toole family decided to invest in a “good drawing tablet” when Toole first had the idea to illustrate a book, her mother said. A free drawing software is used. The images are drawn in the size the paper would be. Drawing digitally is faster than drawing by hand, she said. By drawing on the computer, she can select the paint bucket tool, select an entire area to color such as a cloud or a t-shirt, and color the whole thing with a click. Similar images can be copied and pasted.
Thought bubbles and speech bubbles are drawn but left empty until the content is moved over to the design software.
The images are then put into InDesign, and the words of the story are added.
Work for Toole’s second book had to be done at home during her free time. She wrote the book and did some sketches last summer. She spent the rest of 2021, including Christmas break, doing the illustrations. Layout and editing took a few months, but Book 2 went to the printer the first of April.
Printing
Toole has self-published her books, which means she owns the rights to the books and can switch to any publisher for additional printing.
Toole has paid a one-time fee of $1,600 to publish each book. It costs an additional $3,000 to publish about 1,000 copies. The Tooles originally printed only 500 copies of the first book but ordered another 500 copies a couple months later and has now sold about 1,000 copies of that original book.
Book 1 sold for $12 each; Book 2 will cost $14 because it has more pages, and printing costs have increased.
Toole signs the books for free. She takes the real-life Izzy Corgi to all of the events that allow dogs. Izzy has autographed some books with an ink print of her paw, but Toole said Izzy isn’t always a fan of giving autographs.
In addition to buying books directly from Toole, they can also be purchased from Amazon, though those books are printed on demand and ship from Amazon.
Money from the sales of Book 1 have been used to fund the publishing and printing of Book 2.
The Tooles are also printing more copies of the first book.
The books are available only in paperback for now because that is the only option available from the publisher she uses, though the Tooles have considered switching publishers so that the book can be printed in hard back.
Marketing
Toole said she plans to market Book 2 as she did for Book 1: Vendor shows, her website, summer library story hours, radio programs and Facebook. At her first-ever vendor show last year in Beatrice, Toole sold 60 books.
She said her grandmother, Deloris Syring, also sold some books when she “went off and visited friends.”
Toole sold her first book at 10 vendor shows last year as well as at about two story hours a week all summer long. She has presented to libraries and classrooms near and far; Dodge City, Topeka and Abilene were part of her tour last year.
This summer she has story hours booked at Sabetha, Clay Center, Belleville and Mankato and is open to more dates. She is also scheduled to be a part of a youth panel at the Kansas Book Festival in Topeka on Sept. 24, which will feature 50 authors.
