Interview with Lydia Williams, former professional soccer player and goalkeeper for the Matildas
Back in 2018, soccer player Lydia Williams and I worked together with the team at Allen and Unwin, to create her first children’s book SAVED!!! Working on this picture book was such a positive experience! While I learned about Lydia’s background growing up in the Australian bush, Lydia learned all about the publishing process.
SAVED!!! is a great fun. It’s a lighthearted, inspiring story of perseverance, with plenty of Australian animals and a colourful bush setting. Lots of kids loved it and they still do - yippeee!
After this, we also created the book GOAL!!! together. It turns out Lydia used to work in a zoo, so GOAL!!! has lots of zoo animals, as well as another great story about friendship, sport and teamwork (I especially enjoyed drawing a giraffe playing soccer).
I asked Lydia some questions about what it’s like to publish a picture book for the first time, and how to make sure everything works out well. (Spoiler: it’s all about teamwork)
Why did you want to write a children’s book?
I wanted to write a children’s book because I thought my story could really resonate with the younger audience. A lot of key experiences I went through were as a young child – so I thought my story could help inspire and help kids as they go through different challenges.
Using animals was a no brainer, because I loved animals when I was young and I still love them now!
Was the publishing process what you expected?
I went into the publishing process with a completely open mind, because I had no idea what to expect. It was eye opening – the best experience seeing people with different expertise than I working together amazingly and bringing my story to life. Everything went so smoothly with timing and creative development, and feedback both ways really helped the process.
I also loved seeing little Lydia and her animal friends come to life.
Are there any parallels with creating a book and playing soccer?
The whole process required teamwork and collaboration, being open to listening and providing feedback - that’s how the story became something we all were excited for. We all provided commentary, but also took on the differences when it came to areas that might need more work.
Standing out in the market is hard! What did you do to promote the books?
Definitely social media and traditional media helped – always making sure to tag and post each other in any media that came out. We were all proud of the books – so anything that helped promote and but also show them off … we all wanted a hand in!
I also loved adding little Lydia to my social posts as it gave me a lot of reassurance, reminding me of my journey from the desert to the World Cup stages.
I passed on some of my illustrations to Lydia – and she put together the social media posts. She is the ‘dream’ collaborator!
What have you learned about the children’s publishing industry through Saved!!! And Goal!!! ?
That it takes multiple books, series and continuous writing and publishing to make significant money out of it.
Also… just the amount of books that are created and the creativity behind them. The imagination of people who create for children is amazing. And it was an insight into how incredible a child’s imagination is and to learn about their reading preferences too.
Thank you, LYDIA WILLIAMS
You’re the perfect team player!
Click on the covers below to find out more about Saved!!! and Goal!!!
