Winner of the Revelation Prize, Liberation Readers’ Prize, and Poland Prize from the Angoulême International Comics Festival and named one of FNAC’s “Top 10 Graphic Novels About Illness”! From the publisher (Top Shelf): A triumph of graphic memoir, Parenthesis narrates the author’s experience with tumor-related epilepsy–losing herself, and finding herself again. Judith is barely out of her…
This is your LAST CHANCE to be the FIRST to read my next graphic novel—for free! There’s no catch. This is not a gimmick. I just want to hear your thoughts on my book before I send it to print. Sign up for my First Readers Club here or read on to learn more. NOTE: NEW READERS MUST APPLY…
Read part 1 here, read part 2 here, or read on to find out how I used the feedback I collected from beta readers and used reader suggestions to improve my all-ages graphic novel. Getting Feedback From Readers I started getting reader feedback on the same day I sent out the link to the rough…
Read part 1 here or keep reading to learn how I found and reached out to beta readers, and shared my all-ages graphic novel before it was published. Finding Beta Readers It might be somewhat easy to find people online who want to read a book for free, but I figured I would need to…
Read on to learn more about: Creating my 224-page rough draft in 3 weeks while stuck in bed Finding beta readers to proofread my graphic novel Setting up surveys and forms to gather feedback from beta readers Using reader feedback to revise my graphic novel Hi! My name is Jess Smart Smiley. I’m an author/illustrator…
The Good News: being stuck in bed with constant, debilitating pain for the past 14+ months afforded me more reading time than I usually get. The Bad News: much of my reading time and enjoyment was cut short by the effects of medicine (headaches, brain fog, memory and concentration issues). That being said… 2019 was…
Be the first to read my newest graphic novel–FREE!
When I was given the opportunity to teach a set of week-long comics workshops at the Charles M. Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa, CA, I had no idea it would be such an important week in my life. This summer has been packed with teaching comics workshops for children and teenagers in my home state…
I’m all packed and ready to go to SAN DIEGO COMIC CON! This is happening! To celebrate the upcoming release of Upside Down: A Hat Full of Spells, I’ll be scribbling in books all day Friday & Saturday at the Top Shelf booth #1721. Come say “hi” and pick up a book or two. Seriously–if you’re going, I…