Notes from the CWIG AGM and an announcement, by Dawn Finch

On September 20th  2022 we had the Society of Authors' Children's Writers and Illustrators Group (CWIG) AGM, and there was a lot to report! Apologies in advance for this long article but there's a lot to tell you.

Since the main pandemic restrictions eased the committee and the SoA have been working hard to embed lots of things that were previously in the planning stage.

Things that have happened this year in CWIG:

• We released our statement opposing the government’s plans to convert the Oak National Academy into an Arms Length Body, which can be read in the Where We Stand section of the SoA website.

• In March, CWIG released a joint statement with the SoA in support of Simon Green and the LGBTQ+ community, when his school visit was cancelled for being ‘outside the scope of what is permissible in a Catholic school’ by the Southwark Archdiocese. You can read this statement on the SoA website, Click here.

• The committee has been examining issues surrounding DBS documents (Disclosure and Barring Service), with the result being that the SoA is planning to help authors acquire DBS through an umbrella body as a membership benefit in the near future. Further details of this will be announced very soon and we are sure that our members will be hugely relieved to have access to this. 

This was a matter that we had discussed extensively over the past few years and we are fully aware that in theory an author should not require this extra level of safeguarding, but in practice an increasing number of local authorities are demanding it. We were faced with two options; we could continue to argue the case on behalf of our members and risk alienating schools, teachers and local authorities, or we could work towards SoA becoming an umbrella body so that members could get this documentation. We felt that in the long term it would make more sense to help our members get the extra documentation they required in a simple and affordable way. This helps schools fulfill their safeguarding requirements and ultimately protects and supports our members too.

• The Committee has been working with SoA staff on new template contracts for school visits, which is currently under construction and will be available very soon. Two new guides will also be made available to members: one to help authors draft their own terms and conditions for school visits and other events and a separate guide members can send to schools/events organisers. The aim is for these to be regularly updated.

• In our events we hosted a Big Issues in Children’s Literature event with A M Dassu, Darren Chetty, Stuart Lawrence, chaired by Isabel Thomas. The event was a huge success, as you can imagine. We only made this event available for one month on Vimeo at the request of the panel. I have been asked why we might make a panel event available for only one month and there are a number of reasons, the most important being panel member request. It is a good reminder to everyone who has an event recorded that you should consider what will happen with that recording and you have every right to ask for an expiration date for the recording for whatever reason you see fit.

CWIG hosts many online events throughout the year and we decided to continue with this online access as it has the potential to reach many more people than and in-person event. Our most recent event was an Industry Insider event exploring school visits and how to protect yourself with booking forms and clear conditions. This is a perfect example of the kind of events that are there to provide really practical career guidance.

• Our CWIG Reading for Pleasure Award for schools continues to be well received (and much desired by schools) and we are thrilled to announce that author Nicholas Allan has stepped forward to offer financial support in the form of a grant that will benefit the recipient schools in their work to support reading for pleasure. The Reading for Pleasure Award was rather the victim of its own success and therefore we needed to have a bit of a refresh to make sure that it kept its status. Nicholas Allan stepping up to support the award is very exciting and CWIG are looking forward to being able to relaunch the award in the near future. In the meantime you can still nominate as the existing award will run on the current model until the relaunch. If, however, you wish to hold off until the new model is in place that should be later this year.

• SoA group staff coordinators have also been busy on our behalf -  Teddy and Sarah attended Farshore’s Annual Insight Presentation for their review of the children’s book market.  Group coordinator Teddy McDonald represented the committee in attendance at the Carnegie Greenaway Awards at The British Library. 

Coordinator Teddy McDonald joined a sector partners meeting with Great School Libraries and received an update on the next phase of their campaign. Phase two will focus primarily on head teachers, Ofsted, and government. The SoA will be amplifying the findings of their next survey into primary and secondary school library provisions when the results come in – the survey is still open, so please do submit to this. See their website for more information. 

• As well as my work on committee I have been in conversation with the National Literacy Trust about speaker fees. I took part in the All Party Parliamentary Writers Group report giving evidence and examining the negative impact covid has had on the incomes of authors. As well as engaging in all discussions at the Society and beyond about the rights, incomes and careers of creatives. I continue to work with library and literacy groups to support reading for pleasure and have a number of ongoing author rights discussions that I will see through.

After five years as a CWIG committee member, and two and a half further years as Chair, the time has come for me to take a breather. I have been on committee with dozens of members and when I agreed to take on the role of chair back in 2019 I thought that it might me a lovely way to end my time at CWIG. A few award ceremonies and launches, some lovely events with a few chilled glasses and lots of lovely chats with interesting people.

Sadly a pandemic put paid to that and instead of invites my inbox was full of heartbreaking pleas for help and support. I’m so proud that the Society and CWIG stepped up during this time. We suddenly found ourselves immersed in a world where we could only reach out to our members online, and so that is what we did. I never did get to go to those fizzy wine awards, but I did have a much more important time than I expected. 

Now, I’m delighted to hand over to Isabel Thomas and I’m very happy that I’m leaving the committee and the new members in such safe and expert hands. Isabel is already very well known to most children's authors as an award winning author with over 150 books under her belt, but you can find out more about on her website. 

I would like to thank everyone at CWIG for making this possible and for making such a difference during the most challenging of times. Thank you Teddy, and Sarah at Soa and Jo McCrum who guided my hand at the start of my journey. Thank you Nicola Solomon for your guidance and leadership, and special thanks to Joanne Harris who has talked me into calmer waters more than once! Most of all thank you to the many committee members who have been there with me over the last 7 and half years. You know who you are, and I’m honoured to have worked with you.

My own future in writing for children is far from certain, I had not had any contracts since before the pandemic and I may have to make some difficult decisions in the near future. that said I will continue always to make a stand for rights for creatives. Children's books and the people who create them and work with them will always be close to my heart.

Dawn Finch (aka Dawn McLachlan) - is an author, poet, activist, allotmenteer, seed herder, community cook, and former chair of the Children's Writers and Illustrators Group at the Society of Authors

www.dawnmclachlan.com

Twitter @dawnafinch

Instagram @dawnamclachlan

To join the Society of Authors and gain benefit of all this and more, please click here.

 

Industry Insider Event, by Dawn Finch

The CWIG AGM is scheduled for September and this has given me cause to look at all we have done over the past year. Writing my report for what will be my last AGM for CWIG has certainly been interesting. I was asked to become CWIG Chair back in 2019 and I when I accepted I had no idea how challenging that time would be. We have come through the demanding times as authors and personally I went from being a complete technophobe about being on camera to being quite a dab hand. The last couple of years have turned us into Zoomers and if you have missed any of the incredibly useful (and fun) online events we have done you can always catch up on the SoA Vimeo channel. My personal favourite was the afternoon tea with Dame Jacqueline Wilson and you can hardly see my excitement.... well... I did my best to act professional!

Now the Pandemic conditions are (almost) past and many of us are taking up bookings for school and public events again. This is heartening as I know how much people have missed being out in the "real" world and we all know that the positive impact of author visits in schools is well documented. 

Sadly, times have changed and I have been contacted dozens of times by people who are finding that they are being cancelled at the last minute, or that they are having to cancel themselves. I have also had messages from people who have been cancelled for vague or even unethical reasons, and this raised many conversations at CWIG committee meetings and at the Society of Authors.

One of the pieces of advice we always give people is to get things in writing. I firmly believe that when it comes to bookings it is not enough to rely on a few phone calls or emails when you are committing you time and money to an event. Getting it in writing is often easier said than done and writing your own contract can feel like navigating a legal minefield. At CWIG we were thinking about how we could help to get some advice on contracts to our members and we thought the best way was to put together an online event with some of the most experienced in this field. 

On Sept 20th 2022 join us online at midday for our AGM and hear all about CWIG and find out what we've been up to and what we plan next (and discover who I'm handing over to as the next CWIG Chair for 2023) and sign up for the Industry Insider event at 1pm. This event will focus on contractual terms for authors visiting schools - essential knowledge and guidance for anyone booking their own visits and events.

The panel will be discussing how authors can protect themselves and what terms authors should agree with schools to ensure the visit is a success? The panel will be made up of Sarah Burton (Society of Authors' Head of Advisory Team and Senior Contract Advisor,) and top children's authors Jo Clarke, Karen Inglis, Ross Montgomery, Nicola Morgan.

This promises to be a fascinating and practical event not to be missed, and I'd love the share my last AGM with you!

See you there

Dawn Finch (aka Dawn McLachlan) is a children's author and library activist and the current Chair of the Children's Writers and Illustrators Group (CWIG) at the Society of Authors

Links - Industry Insider - contractual terms for authors visiting schools

            CWIG AGM

            @dawnafinch

            www.dawnmclachlan.com

Show me the paperwork! by Dawn McLachlan (aka Dawn Finch)

At the start of the Pandemic, I was the new chair of the Children’s Writers and Illustrators Group committee (CWIG) and much of my first few months in the role was spent trying to reassure children’s writers that one day things would be back to normal. The Society of Authors did its best to support members through medical and financial crises as work vanished and things looked increasingly bleak.

Two years on and we are finally starting to see things take a turn for the better. Despite many challenges in the world of publishing sales have risen over the last two years and this has meant authors are again seeing contracts. Schools are largely open again and are booking school visits. In fact, there has been an interesting new trend in schools booking and paying for digital and online visits and this has meant great accessibility and improved diversity and inclusion as well as more potential online opportunities.

However, it is my job to act as the creaking gate in the wind and to grumble about things that concern me. My current worries centre around the increasing number of cancellations I’m hearing about. Cancellations happen, and in this fragile Living With Covid world they are happening with monotonous regularity. Obviously, this is often not the fault of those making the original event booking, but it is also not the fault of the booked author – yet it is the author who is out of pocket.

As you know from my constant posts about matters like this – I’ll say it loud again – EXPECTING TO BE PAID AND TREATED FAIRLY IS NOT BEING GREEDY.

There, I said it. Anyone accepting a booking will find themselves out of pocket with the planning and the travelling and therefore you need protect yourself. You should expect to be paid.

I used to do events that were booked just by a casual email, but failure to reply and confusion over dates meant that I started issuing contracts for each booking. At first, I was worried people would think I was being too formal or that my expectations were too high, but what I actually found was that when I began treating myself like a professional, others treated me like one too. Schools and other organisations booking me did not balk at things like contracts and deposits because they were doing exactly that with every consultant or inset trainer. Some raised a virtual eyebrow at it, but still signed. One or two schools did not sign, and I did not accept the booking. All but one of these schools later returned to me and made official bookings.

Your booking paperwork or contract should always cover cancellation clauses.

The Society of Authors has a very useful booklet covering all aspects of school bookings and on the subject of cancellation clauses in contracts they are very clear.

They suggest that cancellation fees and timings must be made clear and if the booking is conditional then this must be clarified at the outset. They suggest wording along the lines of:

- The author must be paid in full if the event is cancelled within six weeks of the event date;

- The author must be paid 50% if the event is cancelled earlier;

- Any out of pocket expenses already incurred must be reimbursed whenever the event is

cancelled.

Of course you too should have a cancellation clause covering your need to cancel. If you need to cancel for any reason (other than reasons beyond your control such as transport cancellations or pandemic restrictions) the Society would recommend that neither fee nor expenses will be charged and that the organiser will be reimbursed for any pre-paid expenses. If you cannot reach the school due to, say the sudden cancellation of train services or closure of the school due to snow, the Society suggest that you do not charge a fee for the missed session, a new date is mutually agreed and that you are reimbursed for any prebooked expenses.

The Society of Authors has a basic sample contract that you can amend to suit your needs and it is best used in conjunction with the full leaflet about school visits and you can find links to both of these documents at the foot of this article.

Sadly, it is likely that cancellations will remain a concern for us, and therefore protecting yourself and your pocket is important. To my mind a booking contract with a solid set of cancellation clauses is also another form of protection as it is a form of protection against bigotry.

It is awful to have to raise the subject of cancellations for less legitimate reasons but recent cancellations of school visits for authors Simon James Green and Savita Kalhan have given serious cause for concern. If you are a member of the Society of Authors and have been cancelled for reasons that concern you, it is well worth getting in touch.

Get your contracts written, get them signed, and then relax and enjoy the visit and do what you do best – bring joy to your readers!

 Dawn McLachlan (aka Dawn Finch) is the current chair of the Children’s Writers and Illustrators Group at the Society of Authors.

For a Guide for Authors Visiting Schools by the Society of Authors - click here

For sample T&C's for Events in Schools by the Society of Authors - click here

For details of further help and support offered by the Society of Authors - click here

Hi, Society! - John Dougherty

Today’s post is unashamedly for authors - which, as I tell kids on my school visits, is all of us. So let me narrow it down a little: today’s post is for published authors. Or self-published authors. Or people who would like some day to be published or self-published authors… 

Oh. Still haven’t narrowed it down much. Okay; perhaps it would be better if I told you what this post’s going to be about. Today, I would like to give a shout-out to the Society of Authors. Hello, everyone at the Society! *waves*

I remember the first time I spoke to someone at the Society. I can’t remember who had suggested I join them - it might well have been my editor - but I was very hesitant. As I recall, the conversation went something like this:

VOICE ON PHONE: Hello! Society of Authors! How can I help?

ME: [nervously] Um… hello. I’m… well, I’m not sure if I’m eligible for, um, membership or anything, but, well, someone suggested I talk to you…

VOICE: [encouraging noises]

ME: I mean… I haven’t had anything published yet, but, well, I have a contract for a, um, children’s book with Random House…

VOICE: [cheerily] Oh, well, you’re certainly eligible for membership, then. Let me talk you through it…

Actually, they almost certainly didn’t say ‘Let me talk you through it,’ because there’s not much to be talked through; joining the Society is pretty simple. Anyway, the point is that the Society of Authors is much more inclusive than its slightly grand-sounding name and Kensington address might make you think. There are two levels of membership - full member and associate - but aside from the right to vote on or stand in council & committee elections, there’s really no difference between the two. And you’re eligible for associate membership if you’ve had an offer from an agent or a publisher, or if you've self-published. The Society really is for all authors.

Now, other organisations for authors are available, and I’d encourage you to join as many of them as you like - I’m very glad, for instance, to belong to the Scattered Authors’ Society - but whichever other writers’ organisations you belong to, I really, really recommend that, if you’re eligible, you join the Society. You see, although it’s great that there are other organisations for networking and professional development, that’s not all the Society provides. 

It’s our trade union. It fights for us. It campaigns for writers, and for the book. It protects us and our rights. If you’ve been offered a contract - whether by an agent, a publisher, or someone who wants to adapt your work for another medium - the Society’s legal team will look at it for you, and give you free legal advice. If you’re not sure what your rights as an author are, the Society will happily tell you. And it will help whether you’re just starting out, or have been published for decades.

I’m almost at the end of my term as chair of CWIG - the Society’s Children’s Writers & Illustrators Group - and if there’s one thing I’ve learned serving on the CWIG committee, it’s that the people who work for the Society of Authors are good people who work very hard for all of us. So I hope you’ll join me in thanking them, and if you're not a member, I hope you’ll join us by clicking on this link.

___________________________________________________________________

John's Stinkbomb & Ketchup-Face series, illustrated by David Tazzyman, is published by OUP.

John has been a CWIG committee member since November 2010, and chair since November 2013. 

What I did on my summer holiday in the real world - Anne Rooney

Fabulously serious logo by Sarah McIntyre

I got back from my summer holiday last night. I went to CWIG, which is not an obscure Welsh village, but the Society of Authors Children's Writers' and Illustrators' Group conference. It happens every three years in different cities, and this year it was in Reading.It was called 'Joined-up Reading'. Is that 'joined-up reading' or 'joined-up Reading'? Who knows. Maybe both.


Normally, we writers and illustrators spend our days doing what we want, bossing around people  who don't exist and skiving work to chat on Skype/Facebook/twitter about the work we should be doing. We're not used to being with other people all the time, or doing as we're told. We're not used to having to get dressed before working, eat at regular times, use a knife and fork nicely or sit quietly without telling a bunch of lies. But a conference is a proper organised thing with set mealtimes, talks to attend and other people to interact with.

So why do we go? Holiday!

CWIG is a delight. Full of old friends and potential new friends, a chance to gossip, eat, drink and whinge. If any snippet of useful information leaks in, that's a bonus.

Nicola Davies, unfazed by being
elbowed by a giant ghost - all in a
day's work for us

CWIG is just writers and illustrators - it's not somewhere to look for an agent or publisher,  no one has to be impressive, there's no point in showing off, and we can all just relax. It's a time for singing silly songs and drinking the bar out of wine. (We did that on the first night; the last time I was party to drinking a bar out of wine was in Outer Mongolia in 1990 on the day the Iraq War started.)

I loved it. And like all the best holidays, it had its grumble-points. The food was poor, the bar was hopeless, the cabaret compulsory (hah! we laugh in the face of compulsory!), the coffee undrinkable (that's serious) and the microphones non-functional. The Germans took all the sun loungers and there was tar on the beach. Oh. Hang on.

But we don't get this stuff every day, unlike, say, manager-type-people who are forever going to conferences and staying in the Scunthorpe (or Dubai) BestWesternMarriotHilton hotel. To be in a whole room of around 100 people, none of whom can be given green hair or three arms on a whim, is quite a novelty. CWIG is a weekend away in the real world.

Only our invisible friends were
skiving outside

But we can do it.

We talked about the state of publishing (in turmoil), of what the hell the government thinks it's doing with libraries (wanton armageddonising), of the progress of e-books in children's publishing (mollusc-like in its rapidity) and whether Allan Ahlberg's glass contained red wine or Ribena (who knows?) And heard the usual disingenuous comment from a publisher that there's never been a better time to be a children's writer.





Now for my holiday snaps. Don't shuffle like that. You might like to visit the real world one day.



Here is our venue: a very plausible-looking Henley Business Centre at Reading University.

We had proper signage, just like real business people. Well, perhaps not quite like real business people.

Just in case we didn't know where to walk ...

.... and where to dance, there were some stick people drawn on the floor.

(Obviously the nice people at Reading know that all writers - and  especially illustrators - speak fluent stick.)

We know how to dress. Alan Gibbons and John Dougherty, as usual, wore shirts chosen to burn out the eyes of Ed Vaizey. I won't dazzle you with those. Sarah McIntyre chaired her session in the best conference hat I have ever seen. [What do you mean, 'what's a conference hat?']

 Allan Ahlberg brought his teddy.

And he had a drink on the stage, though his wasn't see-through, like they usually are when you see conferences on TV.

We all transacted our own little bits of networking and business. I secured a promise from Catherine Johnson to translate some text into Jamaican Fairy and asked Jane Ray if I could commission a dodo from her.





So you see, we do know how to do it.

I had a wonderful time, but holidays can't last forever and it's time to settle be back into speaking stick and bossing around a steam-powered autamaton and an orphan in a boat. Sigh.

(If you would like to read a more informative account of what happened at CWIG, you could turn to David Thorpe. I'm sure more will appear, and I'll update this list later in the day/week/millennium.) 

Anne Rooney
(Stroppy Author)