Q: When is a launch not a launch?
A: When it’s a panel of children’s authors
joined by a publisher and an agent
Well, here we were, three Cambridge based children’s
authors - myself, Pippa Goodheart and Gillian McClure - all published by Troika books, each with a new book or books to
promote and an offer from the wonderful Heffers Children’s Bookshop to host an
event for us.
‘Please,’ I said, ‘don’t make it a launch,’
remembering all the times I have press ganged loyal friends to come to past
launches, listen to me spout and then feel duty bound to go away clutching a
copy of my new book.
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| My new book |
Then publicity whizz, Andrea Reece, came up
with the idea of a panel event.
‘Let’s call it Writing Great Books for
Children. Each of you write for a
different age group, so you can talk
about the whole range from babies to teenagers.’
THAT sounded better. Something like this could be of genuine
interest to children’s writers and illustrators, particularly to those just starting
out and looking for a publisher.
‘ We’ll need a publisher on the panel.’
So Martin West of Troika agreed to lead the
discussion.
‘And a children’s literary agent.’
Anne Clark, literary agent based in
Cambridge, was approached and came on board.
Both Andrea and Heffers really got behind
this idea and publicized it widely.
There was a huge response and, despite
torrential rain and traffic chaos in Cambridge, the audience flooded
(literally) through the door, dripping but eager and cheerful.
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| Crowd at Heffers |
We each spoke, first, about our backgrounds
and what drew us to writing for
children. Pippa admitted that she wasn’t
much of a reader as a child but then had a Saturday job at Heffers and ended up
working there, surrounded by children’s books – and was hooked.
Gillian thought she was set for a career in
teaching but when she couldn’t find an alphabet book to excite her reception
class, she created her own, blending the
letters with her unique and enchanting illustrations. This was spotted by a
schools inspector who showed it to a publisher – and the rest is history.
Unlike Pippa, I was an avid reader as a
child, often living in the imaginary world of fictional characters and I even
wrote a ‘book’ when I was ten and was incensed when it was rejected by a
publisher! Undaunted, I started writing again when my children were young,
always drawn to a young audience with their vivid and receptive imaginations.
Next, we were asked what we found rewarding
about working in the genre.
Pippa spoke about how she finds the variety
and range of children’s books really stimulating, Gillian about how she loves
the fact that she has control over the whole book, both text and illustrations,
and I spoke about the fun of researching topics for my historical novels and,
more recently, about the research I’ve been doing with local gypsies for my
series ‘The Travellers’.
Then Martin and Anne gave an overview of
the children’s books market. Martin, as a small, independent publisher, has the
freedom to publish what he wants without the encumbrance of the acquisitions
meetings, marketing approval, etc, of a large publishing house. He also mentioned that so many large
publishers are wedded to series – if it’s successful let’s have more of the
same – whereas the small publisher can publish more stand alone books and
popular titles which have gone OP. The
digital age, too, favours the small publisher in that he can print small
quantities initially and, if necessary, reprint within a week. With his long experience in the industry, Martin
can see how it has changed, particularly with authors now being expected to
play a large part in marketing their books.
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| The panel |
Anne talked about how, in many ways, this
is the golden age for children’s books, the genre being taken much more
seriously by publishers. So, while there
are huge opportunities, there are also a lot more writers seeking
publication. The secret to success, she
said, was to write an excellent story with a distinctive ‘voice’.
Next the three of us discussed new books
for children and why we admire them. I
went for Sheena Wilkinson’s ‘Declan’ stories – ‘Taking Flight’ and ‘Grounded’.
I particularly admire her characterization and ‘voice’ (see above). Sheena
taught teenagers and she has a really authentic and assured touch, combined
with absolutely thrilling plots – and
she doesn’t shy away from difficult issues.
Then we were asked what we felt made a
great children’s book.:
First and foremost, a great story with
plenty of tension, a problem to solve, a crisis and a resolution, with strong
credible characters to whom a young reader can relate. Setting is important,
too, either grounded in the real world of school or home or in a world of the
imagination with different rules and landscapes.
Pippa talked about the importance of emotional
impact (tugging at the heartstrings) and how this has to be done with subtlety.
And Gillian chose an example of what she felt was the perfect picture book
‘Rosie’s Walk’, a story of only 32 words, but with tension, humour and that
essential ingredient that makes a child desperate to turn over the page.
There was some discussion, then, about
which current bestsellers might last – stand the test of time – and why.
And finally, we were each asked to give a
couple of pieces of advice to those wanting to write for children:
· Read and read. Inside and outside your genre. See how stories work
· Write from the heart. Love your subject and your characters. Don’t try and jump on bandwagons
· Get your story read by others (preferably by a authors’ advisory service so you have an objective opinion and constructive criticism)
· Don’t rush to get your work seen. Put it away and come back to it
· Don’t agonize over the first page. Crack on and then come back to it when you have relaxed into the writing
· Don’t use current buzz words or slang as these will date
· Consider entering competitions (Chicken House, for instance) as a way of getting your work read and considered seriously
The questions from the audience were
interesting and varied and the feedback was really enthusiastic, especially
from those just starting out on their writing careers.
I’ve
learnt so much from this. A brilliant
evening. Thank you!
RESULT! Oh, and some books were sold, too.
