Stop buying books? — Anne Rooney

How, as authors, can we reconcile a deep and passionate commitment to the environment at the same time as relying for an income on the slaughter of innocent trees and processes of making and moving books that generate carbon dioxide? It's hugely troubling, but the publishing industry is trying to get to grips with the problems. 

There have been a number of initiatives to address the impact on the climate and environment of making and distributing books, most of which have been publisher- and printer-oriented. Authors have been largely left out of the loop. After all, we just produce a digital file, and have little or no say in how it is converted into a book and distributed. But we are ideas people, and we are communicators.

We can already do a little bit. The Society of Authors has just launched the 'Tree To Me' campaign, which encourages authors to talk to their publishers about sustainability. Tree To Me provides ten questions to ask a publisher so that authors know how the impact of their work is being mitigated or minimised. It aims to start a dialogue about sustainability and to nudge publishers towards initiatives such as Publishing Declares. Publishing Declares, set up by the Publishers' Association, asks publishers to sign up to sustainability aims. Authors and illustrators can sign, too. 

Producing paper and pulp generates as much carbon dioxide as the aviation industry (though of course not all that paper and pulp is used for book production), and 95% of a book's environmental impact comes from the paper it is made from. If we're producing paper books there will always be some impact, but it can be reduced. High gloss paper, shiny patches of plastic over parts of the cover, glitter and other eye-catching options all increase the environmental as well as the financial cost of books. They also make the books hard or impossible to recycle at the end of their lives. The colours of illustrations might not be as vibrant with a more sustainable paper, but with good design that can be a feature rather than a drawback. In children's books, it's easy to make these changes because new readers are always coming along, growing into the age range we produce for. A 40-year-old reader remembers the books they bought 15 years ago, with foil on the cover and high gloss paper and might grumble about the change. This year's 7-year-old reader hasn't read any books for 7-year-olds before so they're not going to know. Or at least, there will be a short overlap of people who've got books from an older sibling who might notice but overall the transition can be relatively grumble-free on the consumer's side.

Just as important as the production of books is extending their lifespan through re-use. Authors and illustrators are often paid a royalty on sales, which encourages them as well as publishers to aim for producing and selling lots of books. But re-using books is one of the most environmentally friendly things people can do. If instead of buying a book, readers borrow from a public library, the author/translator and illustrator (in the UK) can receive micro-payments for loans — this year it was about 11p per loan, which is often more than the royalty on a book anyway. If instead of buying a  new book, a reader buys a secondhand book they can make sure the author and illustrator get a royalty for that, too, by buying from World of Books. Each copy WoB sells is recorded and a micropayment made to the author and illustrator through a scheme called AuthorSHARE administered by ALCS (the Authors' Licensing and Collecting Society).

Finally, a couple of suggestions. 

1. What if instead of just listing 'bestsellers' measured by sales, there was also a 'bestlenders' list? This would show the genuine popularity of a book, rather than 'popularity with people who can afford a brand new book'. The British Library, which organises the PLR (Public Lending Rights) payments could make a big splash about this and try to get the list published

2. And perhaps new books could be printed with a QR code to scan to make a micropayment  to the original publisher, author and illustrator when someone buys a book secondhand, is given a used book, or borrows a book from a friend? This would be entirely optional for the person who gets the book, but I'm sure many people would happily make a payment — say a default of 30p (10p each to publisher, author, illustrator), so close to a library loan? Perhaps this could be yet another task for ALCS, which already handles micropayments for photocopying and AuthorSHARE?

We need to think and act creatively to find ways of keeping books going without damaging the livelihoods of the people who make them but without them costing the Earth. 

Anne Rooney

Out now:

Baby Owl, Oxford University Press, 2023; illustrated by Qu Lan

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.

 

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

On not being a joiner, by Dawn Finch

I’m really not a joiner. I don’t mean that I am no good with furniture (although that statement still stands) but rather that I’m not the kind of person who joins clubs and groups. Despite the fact that I’m a serial volunteer* (insert rousing chorus of “I’m just a gal who can’t say no…”) I’m just not comfortable with group activities. I can’t bring myself to join groups and never have been, but it is groups that have kept me going through lockdown.

There’s no doubt that for many of us one of the hardest things to cope with during lockdown has been the isolation. I’m one of those people who are happy in their own company. People who know me in real life know that I’m an introvert and have a history of vanishing during events, or simply not showing up due to a crisis moment on the way out the door. For me hell is very much other people! However, this past year has driven even me to need to reach out to others and it’s been groups that have made all the difference.

Many of us are members of organisations like the Society ofAuthors (SoA) of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators(SCBWI) but haven’t reached out to the networks and groups. Lots of us feel that first contact is going to be awkward, or that we will find a clique where we don’t fit so how can we get that first foot in the door without feeling as if we are an interloper?

Here’s where I come back to volunteering. I struggle in social situations but I’m really good at organising and helping out and I know I am much better at getting to know people over a task or project. Put me in a room with music, nibbles and a glass of wine and right from the start I’m making sure I know the quickest route to my coat and the exit. Put me in a room with ten rows of chairs, a speaker due to arrive and hand me a clipboard and I’m all set for the evening.

Lockdown has meant that volunteering events have not been possible, but it hasn’t meant that the working groups have vanished, in fact it’s been the opposite. In this new digital world we’ve all been forced to learn new skills about virtual meetings and events, and we’re doing amazing things! I went into a pandemic with a horror of seeing my face on a screen, and now I’m zooming along with the rest of the world.

If you’re wondering where the next year will take you, or if you just want to feel a new purpose and a new sense of belonging, reach out to the special interest groups in your societies. If you find that there isn’t a special interest group for you, then maybe others are feeling the same way too. Maybe it’s time you got a few people together and started up a group in your area. If you’re not sure how to get started with groups and projects you can start by taking a look at their social media. Join quietly and have a little lurk for a while. If you see a friend joining in just ask them to introduce you to others. Try jumping in, the water is not as cold or as deep as you might fear. Maybe just sign up to attend an event and have a virtual mingle. The Society of Authors has a fantastic range of online events.

The world has changed, but it’s become smaller not diminished and that means it’s easier than every to reach out to each other. We might be physically distanced, but that doesn’t mean we have to be socially distanced.

*Dawn Finch is the current chair of the Children's Writers and Illustrators Group (CWIG) at the Society of Authors. She is also the secretary of her allotment group, a member of the community bookshop team, curator of her local seed library, a member of the judging panel for the Pupil Library Assistant of the Year Award, current chair of the Ethics Committee for the Chartered Institute of library and Information Professionals, and a community volunteer for local food projects. She is also tired, very very tired... what's that you say? You need someone to help organise that thing you're planning? Pass me that clipboard!

Granted - why you should apply for grants for creatives, by Dawn Finch

As you know I am always badgering authors to ask for (and expect) fair pay and fair deals for their work, but as 2020 marches towards its close many of us are looking to a winter that will make excessive demands on our already overstretched incomes.

I often forward links to grants and hardship funds for authors, only to have people reply to me with “Oh, I wouldn’t want to take money away from anyone worse off.”

I’m going to have to stress this in no uncertain terms – THAT IS ABSOLUTELY NOT HOW GRANTS AND HARDSHIP FUNDS WORK.

Your application will be assessed on genuine need and merit and if the assessors feel that you are in genuine need (or that your project is of genuine use and merit) you will be fairly awarded a grant. You will NOT be taking the money away from people who are “worse off”. No one is going to come around your house and shame you for a grant application that is approved - or not approved. These grants are all managed by good and kind people who know exactly what you are going through and they will try to support you the best they can.

Yes, the hardship funds and grants have never had more applicants than they have now, but they have also never had more support and more funds. These grants and funds exist to support authors and other creatives and often to help people re-examine or reimagine their careers in this CV-19 world. This might be the time to revisit that creative project you started but didn’t have the funds to finish. Taking the financial burden off you for a while might just unlock that creative block that’s been hanging albatross-like from your shoulders.

Applications for grants and hardship funds can, at first, appear complicated, but the Society of Authors can give members support and advice with how to progress, and all of the online access points to the various grants offer extensive guidance. It is also worth noting that you do not have to be a member of the Society of Authors to apply for hardship grants handled by the Society.

 I know that most of you will already have had these grants on your mind (and may have already looked at the websites and forms) but I hope that this blog encourages you to apply. It is important to society as a whole that creatives find a way to survive this financial crisis (for that is what it is) and this means many of us will need some help, and that’s what grants and hardship funds are for.

The creative industries are vital to a thriving economy. YOU are vital!

Lockdowns and restrictions have been hard on everyone, but I know with absolute certainty that it would have been impossible to get through this without the output of creatives. Where would we all have been without books, music, art, drama? With so many creatives struggling to continue it is important that you feel comfortable applying for grants so that you can continue with your work, and continue to make this all bearable.

Without creatives, we’re all just staring at blank walls.

 A few handy links

As of 26^th October, the Society of Authors partnered with Creative Scotland to help distribute £600,000 in grants from their Hardship Fund for Creative Freelancers in Scotland.

https://www.creativescotland.com/funding/funding-programmes/hardship-fund-for-creative-freelancers

If you are working on a larger or more long-term project in Scotland, you might also like to look at the Open Fund. This is a fund that provides organisational and individual funding for much larger projects that work with the fabric and culture of Scotland. The grants are complex application forms, but they will answer questions by email and there are full booklets that take you through the process step by step.

https://www.creativescotland.com/funding/funding-programmes/open-fund-sustaining-creative-development

 

The Authors Contingency Fund is managed by the Society of Authors and the website has a simple questionnaire to assess your eligibility for any funds before you apply.

https://www.societyofauthors.org/Grants/authors-emergency-fund

The Society of Authors also manage a number of other contingency grants for some for works in progress and most of these do not require SoA membership.

https://www.societyofauthors.org/Grants

Arts Council England have a number of “open funds” to which you can apply. These all have different eligibility requirements, and each of these can be accessed through these portals.

https://www.artscouncil.org.uk/funding

It is also important to not forget the third part of the Government’s Self-Employment Income Support Scheme Grant. The grant was extended from 1 November 2020 and will cover the critical period of the winter months. The third grant will cover a 3 month period from 1 November 2020 until 31 January 2021. The Government will provide a taxable grant calculated at 80% of 3 months average monthly trading profits, paid out in a single instalment and capped at £7,500 in total. This is an increase from the previously announced amount of 55%. The Government has also already announced that there will be a fourth grant covering February 2021 to April 2021. 

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/self-employment-income-support-scheme-grant-extension/self-employment-income-support-scheme-grant-extension

 

If your family has an overall low income, and you also have limited savings, you should also examine Universal Credit. This is particularly important for people in your family who are in full-time education but have found that the pandemic has stripped them of the opportunity to earn money through casual employment. If your income has fallen to worrying levels and you are concerned about your ability to financially support your student children, they should apply for Universal Credit and this could ease some of the worries you are currently feeling.

https://www.gov.uk/universal-credit/eligibility

Dawn Finch is the Chair of the Society of Authors' Children's Writers and Illustrators Group, Trustee of CILIP, library activist, children's author, seed library curator, community bookseller, allotment committee secretary, and is currently a food writer (on top of everything else...thank you 2020) Most of these jobs are sadly unpaid... #ShowMeTheMoney 

www.neepokra.co.uk

 

 

 

Managing money as a freelance writer – does it make you panic, too? Moira Butterfield

 Being a full-time writer is no financial picnic. It’s a tough career choice because there’s no monthly salary cheque. I compare it to the mental skill you need to walk along a cliff path - i.e.: keep going and don’t look down. Here are some of the things I’ve learnt about this tricky money thing. I hope it will make you feel less alone in this crazy choice we’ve made.

Don't look down 

1) Keep your accounts up together as best you can. If, like me, just thinking about money can make you feel a bit sick, this isn’t a natural piece of behavior. I’ve thought about getting one of those apps they’re advertising on TV, where you photograph your receipts and they go magically into a spreadsheet. Is anyone using such a thing? I actually get my partner to do my books, and my Mum once used to do them – basically because I’m so panicky about doing them myself. One way or another they do get ordered, anyway.This applies to part-time writers, too, of course. 

2) Keep writing earnings and expenses very plainly separate from your household accounts. This is in case you have to show the Inland Revenue. I’ve written before about tax investigations and I won’t bang on about them again, but assume it could happen to you and be prepared. If you can’t clearly show where money came from and where it went, you could be in for a bill.

3) Get tax investigation insurance because if you are chosen it’ll cost you in accountancy fees (unless you are very up-together on tax you will need them to come with you for interviews). Members can get it through the Society of Authors (and they also have a free tax helpline for members) or I get it through my accountant. I have been investigated twice, both times when my earnings went down due to childbirth. I think that the big swings in yearly earnings aroused their suspicions. They probably thought I was hiding money but I wasn’t. In the end they charged me for some opal fruits on a petrol bill and a £4.50 toy on a receipt but it cost me £1,000 in accountancy fees to prove I was clean (apart from the opal fruits).

4) Pay tax monthly or at least save it somewhere. The Inland Revenue now has a scheme enabling you to pay an amount of your choice by monthly direct debit – and you can stop and restart at any time or get the money back out (it's easy to set up online). By the time my tax bills come (January and July) I’ve just about cleared them. It’s a total godsend to me as I could never save in my own private account (I always found I needed it somehow), and I often used to have to borrow the money when the tax bill arrived. The way I do it now is a huge weight off my mind.

What I used to do with my tax 'savings'

5) On fee-paying writing jobs don’t allow publishers to delay paying your invoices past the end of the month after the month invoiced (ie: 30 days, effectively). If they haven’t coughed up, ring their accounts office (or get a confident friend to ring and say they are your financial advisor working on your accounts – Mum used to do that, too). On work that is invoiced through an agent it will be up to them to chase payment, but I’m sure it would be worth reminding them if what you were expecting doesn’t turn up.

6) When working direct with publishers don’t accept payment excuses such as ‘we can’t find your invoice’. Scan it, email it and ask when payment will occur asap, as this is not your mistake.

7) Always check stage payments carefully in a contract. Are they weighted the way you want? You’ll need a fair amount up front and less at the far end because you need to eat. If accepting a fee-paying contract I would never agree to delaying any payment to publication date, as you will have no control over it. On royalty contracts I do accept that because I have a more ongoing interest.

8) Don’t start comparing your earnings to other people in different professions. That way lies madness. If you make the choice to be a full-time writer, own it.

9) Remember that you are not alone. There are lots of us out there on that cliff path, ready to listen. I know that the Society of Authors has a hardship fund, and though I’ve never used it, I have in the past been in a position perilously close to needing that helping hand. That’s why I have such a difficult relationship with this subject. I would personally prefer never to think of money again, and instead think only of words, but I know I have to face it every year, and so do you. Let’s do the best we can.

It's not easy dealing with this, but we're not alone. 

Moira Butterfield

www.moirabutterfield.com

Twitter @moiraworld

Instagram @moirabutterfieldauthor 

For tax advice and insurance be a member of:

https://www.societyofauthors.org

Blinded by the Light by Paul May

‘Hi, nice to meet you.  What is it you do?’

‘I’m a writer.’

‘Ah, very good.  Have you had anything published?’

I think most writers have experienced some version of this conversation. So far I have managed to resist the obvious reply— ‘Why would I tell you I was a writer if I hadn’t had anything published?’—because I think they’re trying to be polite and, to be fair, everyone knows that for every published writer there are dozens more tapping away on their keyboards in garrets and garden sheds and cafés, all of them desperate to see their work in print.  

I was one of those people once, and I want to explore how the lure of seeing one’s name on the cover of a real book, a proper, published book, means that authors like me have no idea what they are getting into.  

I was a teacher.  When I sat down one summer holiday in the early 1990s to write a children’s book I knew almost nothing about the business of publishing.  I had a few not very good and not very original ideas that I soon abandoned, and one or two interesting characters who stayed with me and eventually did find their way into books.

I gave up my full-time teaching job and started working part-time.  I wrote two days a week while the children were at school.  I kept at it for several years, sacrificing quite a few trees in the process (I printed everything I wrote back then) and eventually I finished a novel.  One thing I thought I knew about publishing was that I should try to find an agent. So I sent off three chapters of my book, and waited.  Three months later a letter arrived asking for the rest of the book, and six weeks after that came an invitation to lunch.

Blurred, headless photo, taken by his young
 son, of the author with an
 encouraging letter from a literary agent.
(My family had already opened it!)

So, there I was having lunch in a swanky London hotel where it turned out I hadn’t quite got an agent yet, because although my writing was ‘lively and entertaining’ I had written a book that was twice as long as it should have been—for the market.  I told you I knew nothing about publishing. 

But now, suddenly, the glamour and the fame and (why not?) the riches, were almost within touching distance, dazzling me.  ‘No problem,’ I said airily over the petit-fours and coffee.  ‘I’ll remove a couple of those unnecessary sub-plots.’  

I didn’t ask how much I might get paid for all this work.  I didn’t ask about the chances of actually finding a publisher.  I didn’t consider what my hourly rate might eventually be.  The distant, sunlit uplands were in sight, beckoning me on.  It took three months to rewrite, and it was a few more months before a publisher expressed interest. But there was one small problem.  My young heroine was a girl who dreamed of becoming a professional footballer.  The publisher thought my sales would improve if the girl was a boy.

Living the dream - first book.

I did as they asked.  What was a few more months’ work, after all?  My agent was now my agent, thus reducing my hourly rate by 10%.  (I know—only 10%!  Those were the days.)  I was going to get an advance and it felt like a lottery win, albeit one that wasn’t paid all in one go.  A year later the book was published. I started looking for the piles of my book stacked up in the bookshops, but I couldn’t see them. Where was my book? ‘What’s it called?  By who?  Ah, yes, we had a copy last week . . . but we sold it.’

I was starting to learn.  My friend who was already a ‘published author’ had warned me, but I hadn’t been paying attention.  ‘If you want a launch party, you’ll have to do it yourself,’she’d told me.  And she may have said, ‘It’s not how you think it’ll be.’ I knew now that when a bookseller sold the last copy of a book they didn’t automatically order another, because more new books by other unknown authors would, by then, be jostling for attention.

But I was dead keen and working hard and I’d already finished another book and they gave me a two-book deal, which seemed great.  And don’t get me wrong, I was happy.  I had learned that if I wanted publicity from the local paper I had to ring them myself, so I did.  I did interviews on local radio.  My books were reviewed decently and my first book was shortlisted for the first Branford Boase Award. 

Three of us from the publisher were on the shortlist.  None of us won, but we had a little celebration anyway.  The publisher had brought along a well-known picture book illustrator who said, as we downed the consolatory champagne: ‘Enjoy it while it lasts, guys. When your sales start to fall they’ll drop you like a hot potato.  Only joking!’ he added quickly, as the publisher looked daggers at him.

It may have been a joke, but it stuck in my mind.  No one ever said anything about sales.  And I felt it might spoil things if I asked.  When the royalty statements started to come in I could see the numbers but I had no idea whether they were good or bad and neither my agent nor my publisher ever talked about them.  I sometimes wondered about this, but I was far too busy writing to investigate. Conversations with my agent and the publisher were always about my writing and almost never about money.  No one told me about PLR or ALCS or the Society of Authors. I’d imagined that the form I’d signed to do with registering my books with the British Library meant I’d automatically get PLR.  It was only a chance remark from another author that put me right.

When I got my first advance I could have sat down and done some sums.  Those sums would have told me that I’d earned about £1 an hour for that first book (the movie options never did roll in).  But that wouldn’t have stopped me.  I enjoyed writing (most of the time), and I used to tell people it was better than buying a lottery ticket, financially speaking.  The next book could always be the breakthrough book.

My agent did give me a little advice at one of our early meetings, after she’d asked me if I wanted to be a full-time writer.  If I did, she said, it would take me ten years to build up enough income.  I think she may have been optimistic.  She also advised me not to give up the day job and, thanks to that advice, I have a teacher’s pension that provides me with the time to write this.  She couldn’t have predicted that, had I carried on teaching during those two days a week, I would have earned roughly twice what I earned from writing in that time, and would have added several hundred pounds a month to my pension.

Better than the staffroom

But I don’t regret any of it.  Teaching full-time was slowly driving me crazy anyway, and I always enjoyed doing the school run and having lunch in the garden under the apple trees.  I’ve had the best of both worlds and I’m very grateful, but wouldn’t it be lovely if, when you signed up with a publisher or an agent, and you were contemplating with shining eyes the dazzling future ahead of you, a fairy godmother could appear through the glittering smoke and hand you a little book outlining all the things you might need to know in this new job you’ve just begun?

Paul May's website is www.paulmay.co.uk

PS If you're interested in Enid Blyton, who I've mentioned once or twice in previous posts, you might like to look at a couple of pieces by myself and by librarian Nazlin Bhimani from the Institute of Education over on the Newsam News blog. 

Adventures in the real world - Anne Rooney

How many times have you heard of or witnessed a child being told to choose a 'proper book' rather than, say, a book about pirates or cars or football, a book of funny science facts, or a book of riddles or jokes? Why? Why we should we tell a child what they are supposed to enjoy when choosing to read for pleasure? And why is reading 'not real reading' if it doesn't include a portion of stuff that is made up? If a child prefers tennis to football, we don't say that's not a proper sport. If they prefer bananas to apples, or fish to chicken, we don't say it's not proper food. It's not as though non-fiction books are unhealthy, or take any less skill to read, or demand less of the child's intellect or ability to project imaginatively or to empathise. And, curiously, it seems to be the other way round when it comes to watching TV. How many people would rather their child watched a wildlife documentary or Newsround than Hollyoaks or another re-run of Friends?

There are many different types of pleasure to be gained from reading. One of those kinds is escape into an imaginary world - the pleasure offered by fiction. But that is only enjoyable because, however implausible the setting and action, we recognise that the emotions and behaviour of the characters are realistic - they are true to life. We enjoy recognising the true bits. Indeed, it can make no difference to the degree of empathy and imagination involved whether the story we engage with is made up or true. Shackleton's heroism in saving his colleagues is every bit as inspiring and engaging as the actions of a fictional hero. In fact, I'd say it's more inspiring and engaging for being true.

Of course, Shackleton's Journey is a story, it's just a true one. It may not be fiction, but it is narrative. Is story the only valid structure for pleasurable reading? Of course not. And to defend the pleasures of non-fiction by recourse to narrative is cowardly. Non-fiction offers much more than narrative. Released from the straitjacket of having to be made up and have a narrative arc, books can explore further afield. They can explain, reveal, instruct, question, describe, list, amuse, astound.

The child who bores everyone at Christmas reading out endless facts or jokes from their new book is getting pleasure from reading, and it's a social pleasure that helps build their communication and interpersonal skills as well as their skills in reading and processing information. Understanding jokes takes a particular type of mental agility with language - it's a serious business. The child who reads the technical details of vehicles is processing complex and often mathematical or scientific information. They are comparing and evaluating. These are skills we value. And the child is enjoying doing it - where's the harm?

There is a dirty pleasure involved in the reading of non-fiction. It's the elephant in the room. Let's look at it face on. It's thrilling to acquire new knowledge. Thinking about things in a deep and meaningful way is a rewarding and pleasurable experience. Challenging and stretching your mind is fun. There's the bit of pride in knowing something that other people don't know - that appeals to children ('did you know...?') But more than that, there's the feeling of new vistas of potential discovery opening up, and of things falling into place, of making sense of the world, and the wonder at realising there is so much more to everything than you ever suspected. (There is also something I call cognitive angst which is the opposite of this, and comes with knowing enough to realise how little you know, but I don't think that hits in school years, so we'll leave that for now.)

Why is this pleasure, which readers can gorge on in non-fiction books, not spoken about and celebrated? I think it's because intellectual effort and its rewards are considered elitist and divisive, even in schools. There is so much effort put into making learning 'easy' and 'fun' that the thrill of learning and understanding something hard has been pushed under the classroom mat. It makes the mat rather lumpy at circle time, but it can be easily stamped down. You can pretend you know things by listing the ingredients in a Harry Potter potion. You'll get more kudos for that than for knowing how antibiotics work, how a spacesuit protects an astronaut, or how to make an engine. The child (usually a girl) who wants to read about horses can indulge in horsey stories with facts slipped in like hidden vegetables in a pie, but the child who wants to read about trucks or computers is stuck with a geeky label and a 'not proper' book. This is actually shameful. It is a despicable tyranny, even. When did knowing things and wanting to know things and enjoying learning become something to hide, even in schools? And why does no one recognise the disconnect: we want more STEM graduates, but if you're eight and you want to read about molecules, well - put that back and laugh about how the Wimpy Kid screws up at school (an easy pleasure, no challenge to anyone else).

Perhaps the most iniquitous aspect of it all is that the children who are struggling suffer the most. They are most in need of sensing the excitement that knowledge can bring, so that it spurs them on to want to learn and to read. These children, many of them boys, often don't see the point in reading stories. For them, reading is a means to an end. The end is knowledge, even if it's not 'proper' knowledge, but information about sport or computer games or skateboarding. They enjoy knowing it, and will read to get that - so let them! Knowledge - information - non-fiction - can be a gateway drug to all kinds of reading and to success in life. So why shut the gate in the face of a child who wants to step through and start the journey? Why insist they take another path that they will 'learn to enjoy'? Fiction might be an acquired taste for some children, like olives. But - like a taste for olives - it doesn't matter if they never acquire it as long as they are enjoying themselves reading something else. Reading for pleasure is reading what you want to read, whatever it is. How can that be so hard to grasp?

Next week (19th July) I'm chairing an event at Waterstones Piccadilly, called Adventures in the Real World and it's all about reading for pleasure. But not 'normal' books. It's about reading those books you have to hide under the desk and aren't allowed to choose when you go to the library - books about things that are true. 

There's a brilliant panel lined up, so if you want to hear what some better qualified people have to say about this, come along and listen to Jenny Broom (publisher, and author of Animalium), Dawn Finch (president of the Chartered Institute of Library and Informational Professionals, and author), Nicola Morgan (author, and expert on the brain and how reading affects it) and Zoe Toft (children's book consultant at Playing by the Book).

Anne Rooney

Currently writing about: astrobiology, dinosaurs, astronomy, maths.