So when the adult coloring craze hit in 2015, I was one of the first people to jump on the bandwagon. I used to adore coloring as a child. The new intricate designs for adults, with small spaces just big enough for a bright gel pen to fill, were my catnip. If life got too stressful, I’d pull out one of the coloring books I bought and fill its black and white pages with color.

As an author, I’m always on the lookout for new ways of connecting with readers or grabbing their eye. I’ve tried dancing robots, pens with games inside them, and homemade necklaces with quotes from my favorite books. But when I realized that I could get coloring pages, marketing took a backseat to making cool things for me… and maybe to share with my readers and friends.

To date, I have twelve coloring pages completed. The majority I’ve commissioned from artists and a few I’ve put together myself. Mine aren’t as intricate, but I’ve enjoyed making them as much as I’ve enjoyed coloring the ones by the artists.

How in the world can I afford to commission art, you say? Easy. I’m a Fiverr addict. If you’ve never used Fiverr, you should check it out. You’ll find a wealth of people willing to do anything for five bucks. You can get birthday videos made (by Welshmen in thongs even), jingles written, mobile apps created—anything you can dream up, someone is selling for a few dollars. I love this site! If you saw the teaser trailer for my book, THE KLOCKWERK KRAKEN, you saw the animated tentacle at the end—that was a Fiverr job!

But getting back to commissioning coloring pages, I go to www.fiverr.com, locate an artist who has a style I like and is open to quirky pages and designs. Then I give them my information. I tell them what the book is about, what imagery I’d like the page to contain, and specify that the title of the book and my pen name should be in the finished product. I wait about a week (or however long the artist specifies they take to turn around a commission). And Voilà! a new coloring page is born.

Things to consider when commissioning your coloring page:

1. Will your coloring page have one central image and background or contain multiple characters? Some artists will charge more for each additional character on the page.
2. Will you be using it commercially? If so, you’ll need to buy a license from the artist.
3. Image resolution. How will you get your coloring page to your readers? Are you going to have them available at reader events, send it out in your mailing list, collect them in a book, or put them on your website? If any of these require a high resolution image, request one from the artist at the time of commission.
4. Make sure revisions are part of the deal. If you want the name of the book more prominent or if you think the design doesn’t meet your expectations, you’ll want to have the artist fix it.
5. How fast do you need it? Some artists will speed up a commission to meet a certain deadline if you inform them about it.

If you’d like to download some of my awesome coloring pages for FREE, they’re here:   http://www.aideeladnier.com/coloring-pages/

Happy Coloring!

—Aidee

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