Marketing: The Best of Times, The Worst of Times

By Alison Baverstock 

Just before Christmas I attended the SCBWI conference in Winchester and yesterday I went to another conference in Cambridge.

On the way back I was daydreaming on the train (a favourite thing to do) about the experience.
I always enjoy the sense of the world being temporarily joined up – gaining a sense of commitment, purpose, and what’s going on, and I suppose the reassurance of knowing that I am reading the pulse of the market correctly.


I was a publisher, became an author and now both write about the industry/parenting, and teach an MA in Publishing at Kingston University, so it’s vital that I test out my ideas and understanding at regular intervals.

Authors who are also parents interest me particularly! I have to say that right now the plot for authors and illustrators seems to me to be both depressing and yet at the same time exciting.

While the news from the industry seems to go from bad to worse, there are glimpses of possibilities just around the corner that look pretty heartening to me.

To start with the depressing bit. Publishers are exceptionally nervous about what the move to digital content will do to their business. The demise of Borders and the transmutation of large numbers of consumers towards buying most things online means that there is less time for browsing, less time to explain a book’s specific qualities in 30 words (or however many Amazon allows), and hence the confusion and fear.

So many products, nowhere to browse and buy them.

Libraries’ budgets, if not their very existence, are under threat, and the vast mass of the population seems to have no time for reading – we heard yesterday of ‘screenagers’ who have failed to acquire a book habit at all.

Marketing is important - but have you made a product worth marketing?

And yet, and yet...the one person who does emerge with some degree of power in this hugely difficult situation is the author.

As creators of the content that publishers turn into books, they also need our networks – our connectedness – to help it all sell.

Ten years ago you would have been given leaflets to circulate. Today they want us to blog, twitter and Facebook interest in our titles. Of course many authors are uncomfortable doing this and, even for those willing to take part, you have to make a decision about how much time you are going to spend communicating if you are to have time to produce anything to talk about.

For this reason although I do blog occasionally (I rather enjoy sharpening a couple of paragraphs for instant dissemination) I don’t Twitter, and my teenage children would be horrified if I joined Facebook.

I think the secret is to think  about what you belong to, or where you could sow a seed of interest in your work at times when you could not be working on it – like walking to school or in the bath.

Friends tell me that dog walking is good for this purpose. For me exercise always clears my head and I come back from a run with a cleared brain and several good ideas. As for the optimistic bit, it does seem to me that new horizons are opening up.

You can set up a website and display your work, or consider self-publishing which, having been a sad admission of failure for so long, now suddenly seems to be a form of creativity or self-actualisation; parking a project in a finished format and so allowing you to move on with something else rather than experience endless rejection.

Polishing a piece of work for permanent keeping is an uplifting thing to do, and in six months’ time you may review it and either decide that now’s the time to try and get it published – or maybe that your work has developed an increased maturity since (which is always encouraging).

The key to it all is marketing, and I was reflecting yesterday how far this has come.

When I became a publisher in 1980, marketing was a dirty word and editors were totally dominant. Today the author who can imagine why the rest of the world might be interested in their work, and explain this to a publisher, is further down the road to finding one.

One final caveat. There is a rather worrying trend emerging in writing about writing: an undue emphasis on marketing that somehow implies that this is the most important thing of all. It’s not; the work always matters more.

Whether you are writing/illustrating for self-publication or external investment, the writing you preserve has to be as good as you can make it – or it’s simply not worth marketing.

To save reinventing the wheel, Alison Baverstock’s book on author marketing is available to you at a special price of 10% off plus free postage and packing. To order see Marketing your book, an author’s guide. 

Lincoln Book Festival 2010: Janetta Otter Berry

Gill Hutchinson reports on a talk on Diversity and Inclusion given by Janetta Otter-Barry (pictured left) of Frances Lincoln at the Lincoln Book Festival on May 15th 2010.


An audience which ranged from young teens to grandparents gained a much clearer perception of the complex processes which result in the publication of such modern favourites as Amazing Grace.


It was fascinating for those of us who have read such books aloud and watched young children absorb their sensitive messages, to hear about what goes into their production; the careful pairing of writers with appropriate illustrators, and the conferences during which Janetta needs to “sell” the ideas she likes to her colleagues.

One thing came over very clearly, and that was the depth of Janetta’s involvement in the entire process. She clearly rates all of her writers and illustrators very highly and gave us insights into the range and scope of the fiction and non-fiction books celebrating cultural diversity which are the “niche” of her own list at Frances Lincoln Books.

In a lively question and answer session, Janetta explained to her audience how publishers seek out new talent – writers and illustrators – and exactly what she and her colleagues look for in work submitted to them (not to mention a few hints to aspiring writers about how not to approach someone you are trying to impress).

“At the end of the day,” she told us, “its how you have written it.” Janetta pictured with a copy of ‘Takeshita Demons’ by Cristy Burne, winner of the Frances Lincoln Diverse Voices Award – this annual award is open to unpublished children’s writers.

Creative Minds: How much is too much?

Writers such as Melvin Burgess (pictured) have attempted to push open the boundaries of what is considered acceptable and have faced mixed reactions, writes Stephanie Williams. He has become the writing equivalent of Marmite – you either love him or hate him!
Perhaps he could be seen as brave, daring to bring a touch of gritty realism to young adult fiction and to tackle the subject of sex from a very honest and sometimes frank standpoint.

There is a varied school of thought when it comes to the question ‘how much is too much’ regarding writing for teens, particularly when the issue of sex is introduced.
The urge to protect young minds is very strong, particularly in those working within the education system and perhaps even within the publishing industry itself.

Does young adult fiction need more voices like Melvin's? Can it hurt to have more writers who are tackling the real issues that teenagers face? I attended a talk at Waterstones in Manchester where William Nicholson and Melvin Burgess discussed love and sex in the young adult novel.

Honestly when I first bought my ticket I half expected to disagree with everything they said and come away with my slightly conservative views on what is acceptable completely in tact! I didn’t.

I walked away feeling like the boundaries of what is classed as acceptable are actually wide open, whether I agree with it or not, teenagers experience far more of life than perhaps they are given credit for and they like it, they want to experience it and they don’t want to be wrapped in cotton wool.

The most pertinent question that a writer can ask a teenager is why they pick up a book? What makes them decide to read a particular title and what do they expect to find within the pages? Escapism versus reality! Surely anything that encourages a young person to pick up a book and read can’t be a bad thing! Escapism is catered for in abundance in the current market.

 There are supernatural romances saturating the shelves but realism is a little harder to find. The major players over the last few years have been Stephenie Meyer and J.K. Rowling who offer their readers excitement and adventure; romantic and yet frustratingly unrealistic love.

William Nicholson’s novel Rich & Mad is explicit to a point but it depicts love in its most vulnerable form. Love for teenagers is exciting and yet terrifying; fragile and yet all encompassing. It is also comical and awkward, two people literally feeling their way around and making a mess of it in the process. That is what William Nicholson wanted to depict; not the impossibly perfect true love of Bella and Edward but the real love that teenagers experience every day.

So back to sex! Is it possible to depict real teenage life without not just touching on this issue but actually embracing it?

Both Melvin Burgess and William Nicholson would say no and there is a strong possibility that they are right! Teenagers are naturally curious and they want answers, what they don’t know is where to get them from and so they search. They search on the internet, they search under their parents’ bed and they search their friends’ often false accounts of personal experiences. Why not make it easier to find?

Melvin and William have done their research. They have made their visits to schools and they have spoken to their target audience. Teenagers love the honesty of their books but they aren’t the ones with  the buying power and unless teachers, librarians and parents jump on board then their books will remain relegated to an adult readership.

There is "of course" still a strong and intelligent argument for protecting teenagers from unnecessary and crude depictions of sex, along with various other aspects of grim reality, but perhaps the answer is to have enough diversity out there to cover everyone’s tastes and for writers to keep writing whatever messages they want to send out into the world.

A few words from William Nicholson 

What inspired you to write Rich & Mad?
I’ve only written fantasy books before for this age group. My publisher suggested a contemporary love story for teens and the idea took root in my mind.

What do you hope that it will accomplish in the field of writing for teenagers?
I’ve tried to get into the book what it’s like for the girl and the boy – all the doubts, fears, insecurities in this area – as well as telling a good story. I think books really can help readers know what happens in other people’s minds. Also very few other writers seem to be writing about sex – not the mechanics but the emotions and muddle of it all. So I decided to wade right in there too. Otherwise teens will think that what they see in porn videos is all that happens.

What kind of feedback have you had so far?
Good and bad! Terrific response, with virtually no criticism of the sex detail. It gladdens my heart to hear teenage girls saying, “it’s so like me, how on earth did you know?” The negatives: some have said my hero, Rich, is too nice. My daughters said, “Where can we find a boy like Rich?”

What do you think of the current trend of supernatural romance novels?
They’re fun, so I’m not going to knock them but the more fantasy there is out there about love, the more we need some other books that try to get real.

Some people believe that reading should be about escapism and that teenagers need a break from grim reality. What is your response?
I agree entirely. Reading should be fun. But the best books manage to be both fun and revealing. Not all reality is grim.

What would you say to teachers, librarians and parents to encourage them to make your book available to the teenagers they are responsible for?
First, read the book. Every teacher who has done so has realised that there is no problem giving it to their students. There is a problem, however, for those who haven’t read it and make wrong assumptions – so a teacher may be afraid a parent would feel their child is too young for the book. Again, if the parent reads it, I think the problem will go away. There are of course some people who believe no teenager should be thinking about sex until they’re married. Such people should not read this book.

If you had 250 words to say to other writers who are writing for teenagers what would they be?
I can’t preach to other writers. We all do what we can, within the limits of our own ways of writing. Any writer who gets teen readers gripped is doing something that works, and gets my vote. All I would add is that writers for teens don’t need to be afraid to bring sex into their stories where it’s appropriate. Their readers know it all already. It doesn’t come as a surprise. So the opportunity is there, to tell love stories that young readers can really identify with, and to some degree take as role models. I’ve had my go at it. Other writers will be able to do something different, and better. The more versions of real love there are out there the better.

Rich & Mad is available in all good bookshops.

London Book Fair 2010: Take me to the Book Fair

The London Book Fair was a bit of a sad spectacle this year, with so many exhibitors prevented from flying in by aeroplane-stalling volcanic ash from Iceland.


The saddest sight was the South Africa pavilion – every year the London Book Fair picks a country as a focus and this year South Africa was it. But the flight ban made it impossible for many publishers to come over – empty stalls were a common sight.



Still, it was far more relaxed than the usual elbowfest, and the famous serpentine queues at the various eateries were not too bad. This correspondent ate well (despite the ahem catering).

A book fair as such is not really designed for writers or illustrators but for the businesses that underpin the publishing industry. The publishers exhibit their wares and hold meetings – but they are scoring deals with other publishers, not with authors. It’s all about rights, technology, etc etc zzzz.

I used to come to the book fair with a roller bag to collect catalogues from the various publishers I was stalking. These days the receptionists turn up their noses and say with holy zeal, “Please download the catalogues from the internet to save the environment.”

So if you can’t stalk publishers, what is there to do?

Three days of spotting, bumping-into and stalking opportunities

In recent years LBF organizers have cottoned on to the need for children’s book events. The seminar programme now has a dedicated series of talks and panels targeted at people from the children’s book industry. These are attended not just by us writers, illustrators and wannabes but by rights people, publishers, editors, reps, librarians, and booksellers.

It’s three days of good stuff plus good spotting, bumping-into and stalking opportunities (if you know what your targeted agent/editor looks like) – at the very affordable price of £40 … and if you are a member of the Society of Authors, it’s only £10!

This year’s seminar programme seemed to focus on the looming onset of  Digital (apparently it’s now turned into a noun). All the panels I attended appeared to feature innovating people doing something digital plus one dinosaur (ie. someone who’s not made the digital leap).

For example, at a talk called Children’s Bookfutures: Children’s Literature and Digital Imagination they had a publisher making picture books for the iPad, an author writing online novels and computer games, and the managing director for Templar arguing the case for pop-up books.

At a talk about New Opportunities: Graphic Novels and Digital they had webcomics people and digital comics people up against David Fickling (my publisher btw), who is publishing good old fashioned comics with pages you have to turn. Fascinating.

The LBF appeared to be making an effort to boost its appeal to illustrators, with a corner devoted to Artists working live at a stall stocked with Foyles’ graphic novels department.

And a keynote event for the children’s publishing featured Children’s Laureate Anthony Browne with illustrators Marcia Williams and Martin Brown arguing the case for The Importance of Illustrating for Older Children.

I ran into many authors scurrying around to meet up with publishers (one of them explained that it was the one time they got some face time with their publishers, a chance to get their publishers to buy them a meal or a glass of wine – which made me sad, thinking about LBF catering).

But it was also a chance to meet up with other writing friends – some of whom I knew only via Facebook.

I’m sure the publishing industry will look back at the 2010 London Book Fair as a disaster. But I attended a lot of good events, saw cool stuff, met friends – I for one will remember this as a great LBF. Candy Gourlay

Candy Gourlay’s debut novel Tall Story is out in June

Undiscovered Voices: What a Discovery!

Nobody can dispute the success of the previous Undiscovered Voices anthology, the winners have gone on to accomplish great things and I’m sure this second set of writers will do just the same.

So how did the concept come into existence? And what does the new selection of writers think about their success?
Here is the lowdown from Sara O’Connor of Working Partners and one of the brains behind Undiscovered Voices:

Who came up with the idea?
It was the genius Sara Grant’s idea with a bit of input from me.

Does every submission to the competition make it in front of the professional panel? If not how do you decide which ones do? 
Every submission is given careful consideration and read by at least two industry professionals. The long list is read by the entire panel.

How do you pick the panel?
We have lots of editors and agents keen to be on the panel and prefer to work with people who have signed up previous Undiscovered Voices authors.

What kind of feedback have you had from other Publishers and Agents on Undiscovered Voices? 
Everyone is incredibly impressed at the standard set by the 2008 anthology and really excited about the quality of 2010. The energy at the launch party, with over 40 agents and editors in attendance was quite a buzz!

When will the next competition be launched?
There is nothing official yet for a third anthology, except that at the launch party the MD of Working Partners, the project’s sponsor, said he was looking forward to the next book. If it does all go ahead, we’ll be opening for submissions in 2011 with the book coming out in 2012. Copies of the new Undiscovered Voices anthology can be purchased at http.www.undiscoveredvoices. com/home via Paypal. A copy costs £5 with postage included.

Let’s meet some of the winners of 2010!

Abbie Todd 

How long have you been writing?
A long time! My first piece of work was published when I was 9.

What encouraged you to start writing in the first place?
I enjoyed it and found that I was good at it. I had a wonderful teacher at primary school who really encouraged me to pursue my writing.

What made you write for children?
When I was 16 I (grudgingly) took a job in a children’s bookshop – I’d applied to work in the grown-up bookshop, but they saw on my CV that I’d worked with children so I ended up there. I can remember absolutely falling in love with children’s books all over again – we could borrow what we wanted, so the whole shop was available for me to read. Before then, my short stories had been aimed at adults (even though I was barely an adult myself). Afterwards there was never any question who I would write for.

How did you feel when you were told that you had won Undiscovered Voices? 
Ecstatic, but if I’m honest, also a little scared. When I won I had 4000 words of polished writing and 66,000 words of very rough stuff. I couldn’t have predicted the interest that would follow, but knew I’d have to do something to get it into shape.

Tell us a little bit about your entry?
Blinding Darkness is a futuristic fantasy for teenagers. Amber lives in a world dominated by an elitist race called the Alaimsir, who are obsessed with beauty. They kidnap those perfect enough to join them, and try to eliminate everyone else. Amber’s people are divided: living on an island until it is destroyed, then moving to the next. When Amber’s home is attacked, she loses her father and sister in the chaos of the escape. Travelling with another family she evades Alaimsir’s attacks and hopes to become reunited with her family.

What happens next?
I’ve signed with an Agent now and we’re working on a re-write. The second draft is overdue at the moment so I’ve beavering away at it on weekends and lunch breaks, trying to incorporate all the comments. After that, she’ll be sending it out into the wide world, and I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed very tightly!

Claire O’Brien 

How long have you been writing? Always. As a child I copied from books, mostly my animal encyclopaedia; for hours and hours, but I didn’t start creating my own stories until about 20 years ago when I began working with children. What encouraged you to start writing in the first place? Miss Fox in class six at Primary School regularly sat me at a desk in the corner on my own. She thought she was punishing me for various behaviours but I discovered that I loved the solitude and the movement of my pencil on paper. Thank you Miss Fox! What made you write for children? I used to be an infant teacher. Reading and rereading picture books and seeing the uninhibited delight children had in them must have been part of it. The characters who come to me when I am dreaming up a story are usually young; sometimes very young and sometimes teens. My voice just sits more happily there. How did you feel when you were told that you had won Undiscovered Voices? A bit numb, a bit giddy and I knew that 20 years of hard work and getting good at my craft was finally starting to bear fruit. I will be eternally grateful to the Saras for their energy and the opportunity they gave me. They will be forever in my prayers.

Tell us a little bit about your entry?
My main character, Cordelia Codd, has plenty of issues. She’s twelve years old and her dad has just run off with another woman. Her mum is having a bit of a breakdown and school is the usual dramatic pre-teen muddle. Cordelia is fiery, ambitious, and not always nice but has the capacity to self-reflect and take responsibility for her situations. She develops the ability, with encouragement from friends, to live bravely. Most of my writing is about how when we live bravely we can take control of our destiny.

What happens next?
I now have a fantastic agent, Alice Williams at David Higham and a 2 book deal with Orchard. Not Just the Blues is scheduled for publication in early Summer 2011 and Cordelia’s second adventure, which is well underway, will be out early 2012.

Lisa Smith 

How long have you been writing?
I’ve been writing all my life, ever since I can remember. I just did it, it seemed impossible not to.

What made you write for children?
Writing for children crept up on me because my main characters always seemed to be children and eventually I just gave up trying to write for adults.

How did you feel when you were told that you had won Undiscovered Voices?
When I won a place in Undiscovered Voices it felt like fate had given me a big sloppy kiss.

Tell us a little bit about your entry?
My entry, Slugs in the Toilet, is supposed to be good fun – it’s a school story with a difference because the hero, Alvin, is the only human in a school of aliens.

What happens next?
At the moment I’m waiting for a decision from three editors, and I have the next book in the series ready, all about troublesome space-nits, just in case anyone wants it!

Yona Wiseman 

How long have you been writing? As I grew up I had nearly every typical ambition going – vet, policewoman, teacher, doctor, ambulance driver, spy, astronaut, traveller, architect… Eventually I realised there were only two ways I could do them all – write or act. No decision to make. I was already a writer.

What encouraged you to start writing in the first place?
I have always written – stories, little books, newspapers, magazines, websites… I never grew out of reading books for children because I never grew out of delighting in seeing the world through a child’s eyes. Likewise I never ‘matured’ into writing books for grown ups.

What made you write for children?
The first book I tried to get published took me eight years to complete and didn’t make the cut in the first Undiscovered Voices competition. I began my second, Becoming Invisible, almost immediately – inspired by the two years I had just spent living and teaching in Peru. Lima is a city of contrasts; I worked with some of its most privileged children in the school and some of its most disadvantaged in a street clinic on the other side of the city. Striking in their similarities more than their differences, all of them were characters who left a lasting impression.

How did you feel when you were told that you had won Undiscovered Voices?
Winning the competition was like being given permission to write. As if the judges – real live agents and editors – were saying “Yep you really can do it, you’re not kidding yourself, keep at it!”

Tell us a little bit about your entry?
I now knew my next book would be about a boy who has to leave his life of privilege and ends up on the streets. Once the characters had their theme and setting they were off – scrapping on the streets, stealing dune buggies, tip boarding, negotiating labyrinths, battling larger than life villains, creating legends, seeking heroes and rescuing damsels (and children) in distress. The book is written in the form of journal entries from the main character, the old friends who try to find him and the new friends he makes on the way. Becoming Invisible was ready within two years, in time for the second Undiscovered Voices competition. Blur’s ‘The Universal’ (well here’s your lucky day…) was my theme song for last summer and my lucky day came on my nephew’s 5th birthday. The wonderful SCBWI Saras called with the good news that I had been selected for the 2010 anthology and as I tried to respond calmly, my whole family waited and wondered why I was dancing about the room.

What happens next?
So I am keeping at it. Becoming Invisible is currently sitting on the desks of two editors and the threads of my next young adult book are coming together. Destiny is at this very moment preparing to steal free will from all of humanity. Whether or not she succeeds depends entirely on six teenagers and who they fall in love with…

Dave Cousins 

How long have you been writing?
I’ve always found that if anything really captured my imagination, I would want to have a go at it myself. I was obsessed with space travel as a kid, so I wrote to NASA asking how I could become an astronaut. To my delight they wrote back – even if they didn’t offer me a job! When I saw the Beatles’ film A Hard Day’s Night, I decided that being in a band looked like fun, which was how I ended up spending ten years touring and recording and was nearly famous! It was the same with writing – I loved stories, plays and films – so it seemed natural to try and write my own.

What encouraged you to start writing in the first place?
The first thing I remember attempting aged ten, was a script for an episode of Fawlty Towers. I didn’t get past the first few pages, but that didn’t matter. I wrote off and on for years, purely for the joy of making up stories. When I was in the band, I would often spend the long hours on the motorway in the back of the van, scribbling. Later, I made picture books for my children, then eventually decided to see if I could write anything as good as the books I loved to read. It took many years before I was happy enough to send something out, by which time I had three completed novels and half a dozen abandoned manuscripts in boxes under the bed. My first real success was The Floodlight Man, a short story broadcast on BBC Radio Five Live, read by me!

What made you write for children?
Those are the stories that arrive on the page – though I suspect I’m still thirteen in my head! I remember certain books being really important to me when I was growing up. It’s a time when books, music and films can have a huge impact on the way you see the world and start to discover your place in it. I read all the Robert Westall I could get my hands on, and I was a big fan of Jan Mark, Susan Cooper and Robert Cormier. I think some of the best books on the shelves today are those written for teenagers. Authors like Siobhan Dowd, Mal Peet, Kevin Brooks, Catherine Forde and Patrick Ness to name just a few – have produced some superbly written, captivating and thought provoking novels. It’s a tough crowd – kids won’t stand for self-indulgent ramblings about one-dimensional characters with no story to tell!

How did you feel when you were told that you had won Undiscovered Voices?
 Surprised and delighted! I was at work when the call came through from Sara at SCBWI, telling me I had been selected for the 2010 Edition of Undiscovered Voices. I hadn’t expected to hear so soon and certainly didn’t think I’d win. It didn’t really sink in until the emails from agents and editors started coming through.

Tell us a little bit about your entry
Fifteen Days without a Head grew out of an incident I witnessed in a pub one afternoon: a very drunk woman arguing with a stranger at the next table – much to the embarrassment of her two young sons. It made me wonder what life was like for those two boys, what would happen when they got home. The story is told by Fifteen-year-old Laurence Roach. He longs for a normal life – but it’s not easy when your mum is a depressed alcoholic, and your six-year-old brother thinks he’s a dog. When Mum fails to come home one night, Laurence tells nobody, terrified the boys will be taken into care if anyone finds out. Instead, he attempts to keep up the pretence that Mum is still around: dressing up in her clothes to trick the neighbours and spinning an increasingly complicated tangle of lies. After two weeks on their own, running out of food and money, and with suspicious adults closing in, Laurence finally discovers what happened to his mother. And that’s when the trouble really starts … A nail-biting thriller, following the brothers through some hilarious, surreal moments during their heartbreaking journey, Fifteen Days without a Head is a tender, honest story about family, forgiveness and hope.

What happens next?
I’m currently working on final revisions for Fifteen Days without a Head prior to sending the manuscript out to editors. It’s almost a year to the day that I sent in my submission for the competition, and my life as a writer has changed dramatically in that time. I now have an agent – probably the best agent in the world! Plus, I have been fortunate enough to meet and talk to many other writers, editors and industry people, all of whom have been very welcoming and helpful. Winning Undiscovered Voices has been a fantastic experience and fingers crossed this is just the beginning. In the meantime I’ll keep writing and making up stories, while I wait to find out what happens next!

Nick Cross 

How long have you been writing?
I’ve been writing seriously (i.e. children’s novels) for about seven years. But before that, I wrote all sorts of stuff – scripts for the University film society, a comedy fanzine called Cheesecrank, a movie script about a time-travelling Pope and I even had a regular satire column on a home cinema website (now there’s a niche!).

What encouraged you to start writing in the first place?
I was the miserable “smart kid” at school, and it wasn’t until I got into sixth form that I really started to come out of my shell and enjoy myself. I discovered that I could be funny and suddenly I felt like I’d missed years of my true vocation, which was being the “class clown”. I was taking English Literature A Level and the whole experience of reading books and discussing them inspired me in so many ways. My first notable creation was a satirical pamphlet entitled “The Sylvia Plath Guide to Gas Cookers”. That pretty much set the tone for all my future work.

What made you write for children?
Like many people, I started writing for children pretty much by accident. I had an idea for a Young Adult novel and it all spiralled into madness from there! After a while I realised that children’s books and children’s writers were so much less pretentious, so much more “real” than most adult novels and authors. I like the story-driven nature of children’s fiction and the freedom from tight genre restrictions.

How did you feel when you were told that you had won Undiscovered Voices?
Weirdly I wasn’t that surprised. Call it ignorance or arrogance, but I’d had a feeling all along that I was going to be one of the winners. This is not the way it usually works for me at all, as I’m quite a pessimistic person. I think I just had an unbreakable confidence in the book and that obviously carried through into my submission. I will say that I’ve had a devil of a time since, trying to make the rest of the novel match up to the quality of those first three chapters!

Tell us a little bit about your entry
Back from the Dead is a comedy horror novel aimed at 9 – 12 year olds. A thirteen year old boy wakes up to find himself captive in a basement laboratory. He doesn’t remember where or who he is, but it quickly becomes clear that he used to be a zombie. Like all good thirteen year old boys, he knows precisely what a zombie apocalypse looks like so he’s rather disappointed to discover that life is still carrying on as normal. As he comes to terms with this new environment he finds out that the scientist who cured him isn’t exactly sanctioned by the government and that his parents are also zombies – running wild on the Yorkshire Moors and eating sheep. Thrown into the eye of a very English storm, Griff Lawford, has to cope with a family he didn’t want, the search for his real parents and the daily struggle of not turning back into a zombie.

What happens next?
I’m just coming out of a really intense period of working on the book with my fabulous agent (Jenny Savill of Andrew Nurnberg Associates), but we’re not going to submit it to editors until it’s absolutely ready. I’ve had a fantastic response from the industry to the extract in the anthology, so I’m cautiously hopeful of placing the book with a publisher. At the end of the day it isn’t just about contacts or blogging or the buzz that you create – the book has to be as close to perfect as you can get it. You can read all about my journey towards publication on my blog – www.whoatemybrain.com

FROM YOUR REGIONAL ADVISOR

Hello, everyone, and happy summer!

The first half of 2010 has been a busy time for the SCBWI-BI with lots of events and good news from our members.



In February, we hosted the launch of the 2010 edition of Undiscovered Voices to much buzz from the industry.

We are excited to see several authors already being snapped up by agents and keen interest from publishers.

We are excited to see several authors already being snapped up by agents and keen interest from publishers.

The Masterclass Series is in its second year, offering hands-on, craft-oriented workshops for both writers and illustrators - check out the forthcoming events for this autumn and don’t miss out!

 This autumn we are also looking forward to the Agents’ Party, which will feature high-profile agents giving us an update on the state of the industry. So, even if you already have an agent, don’t miss out on insider tips that will give you the cutting edge in this competitive marketplace.

In May, we launched Pulse, an exciting new initiative that aims to provide workshops, lectures and professional development for published children’s book writers and illustrators. We have our finger on the pulse of what’s happening in the industry and will bring you updates on trends, help you market yourself in the “new-media, digital age”, offer exclusive networking opportunities and much, much more! Look out for more happenings this autumn and at our conference in November.

Yes, we are thrilled to announce that our Conference will be returning to Winchester on 13-14 November with a stellar line-up, lots of seminars and Pulse panels to help you take your career to the next level. We will also be hosting a party to celebrate over ten years of the BI region and members who were published this year. We look forward to celebrating with you there!

The SCBWI-BI board has been hard at work too, brainstorming ideas for how to add to our offerings for all our members, particularly illustrators and published members.

We will be launching some really exciting new initiatives this autumn. We would like to encourage you to join in the discussions by emailing us with your ideas for the BI region.

I am delighted to welcome two new members to our advisory board: John Shelley joins Anne-Marie Perks as Illustrator Co-Coordinator and Benjamin Scott joins me as Assistant Regional Advisor. Many of you will already have been chatting to Benjamin on the yahoo group as he has launched our new yahoo group moderator series. Welcome to both Benjamin and John!

See you at one of our events soon!

Natascha Biebow

FROM THE EDITOR

From the Autumn Winter 2010

Welcome to what I hope is another great issue of Words & Pictures!

We will take a look at the winners of Undiscovered Voices; review the recent London Book Fair and explore how much is too much as far as sex is concerned in young adult novels; not forgetting the introduction of the new Book Review section.



This issue also sees some marvellous illustrations from Kim Geyer who stepped in at the last minute to provide some beautiful images. I would love to hear from more of you with your thoughts on the newsletter and this issue contains a questionnaire regarding members services for the SCBWI-BI which I would be grateful if you could answer.

Words and Pictures is always looking for volunteers to help with the production of the newsletter and fresh ideas for content so please get in touch if you would like to contribute.

Stephanie Williams

FEATURED ARTIST: Kim Geyer

From Autumn Winter 2010 


I was born in London and studied textiles at Loughborough. Having had a varied career working as a freelance designer for English Eccentrics, and an agent selling textile designs in London and New York, I have also lectured in design at several London colleges and produced designs for Lambeth council.



I took some time out to have a family, but since returning to work I have studied illustration at both Chelsea and Putney. I have a passion for children’s book illustration and am currently writing and illustrating children’s picture books.

I enjoy the writing as much as doing the art work and often a single image can unfold to become a manuscript with sketches for characters in a matter of hours, and that is really exciting. Then I rewrite and redraw the whole thing a few times and things start to get a bit more serious.

As an artist I wear two hats – that of the painter and that of the illustrator.

As an artist I wear two hats – that of the painter and that of the illustrator. I find it rather easy to go from one to the other, although my studio can be a bit chaotic at times, and I do have to remember to be wearing the right hat for the right job at all times.

I would describe myself as a figurative artist. I work mainly in oil, acrylic, collage, ink and pencil on canvas, board and paper. There is a strong graphic/ illustrative influence in my work and I draw inspiration from pop culture juxtaposed with personal history and memory.

Favourite artists include Lucien Freud, Anthony Micallef, Jenny Saville, Richard Hamilton and Oliver Jeffers.

My most recent paintings are semi-autobiographical collection of crisp images depicting social and personal commentary, where I create characters that are often humorous, but can be dark and contradictory. They are in some ways anthropomorphic, as I have always given most creatures or objects, alive or dead, inanimate or imagined, human attributes.

Growing up in seventies Sussex suburbia there were few opportunities for me to see fine art for real, so I looked to comics, animation and books for inspiration. Seeing Disney’s animations, and reading comics and picture books, I was always intrigued by the look and style in which the characters were depicted.

Years on, although I do work from life I still find using photographs an immensely satisfying, immediate and uncomplicated way of finding imagery. The compositions can be quite stark, but the space I have given the figures is necessary. The emphasis is exactly where it needs to be and the balance between white and worked space are realised almost like a pattern.

I have just started work on a new collection of paintings and drawings called ‘Growth’, looking at how teenage girls portray themselves in our culture. I live with my husband and three children in South London and am a member of the Association of Illustrators. Kim Geyer

VOX SCBWI: My Strengths and Weaknesses

From Autumn/Winter issue 2010

We asked members: What do you consider to be your greatest strengths and weaknesses?

I’m always pushing myself to write better and therefore I’m a compulsive reviser. I need to know when to stop! Paeony Lewis

Over the years I have seen my greatest weaknesses turn into a strength. I had a passion to write for children but life got in the way. Finally I got my youngest two off to nursery and reception and sat down to write the stories in my head.
Then I had to confront a big weakness: I have NEVER been a disciplined person, one who did a certain chore at a certain time. My native state was a creative fog in which I drifted through life, barely clocking the essentials so that at least my kids were dressed and out the door on time. The new children’s writer in me quickly learned that if I left breakfast dishes in the sink and ignored any other thing clamouring for my attention (this was before the internet), then I had just two hours of quiet writing time before going to collect the youngest. I discovered that, even writing very slowly, I eventually produced a book. Today, although I’m still a creative drifter, I try to follow that pattern – sitting down for at least two hours every morning to write. It doesn’t get done otherwise! Donna Vann

One of my overall writing strengths is being able to come up with ideas for stories. I have a great time thinking up characters that would appeal to children. I give them names, assign them attributes, and even find them friends and interesting situations in which to act. In terms of storytelling, my biggest strength is creating dialogue. I have a fairly easy time making characters talk to one another. For me, it’s much more difficult to write the exposition – how to get a character from this point to that point, how to describe setting in a believable way, etc. so that’s my greatest storytelling weakness. Greatest weakness for the whole writing process? That’s easy – procrastination. Even when I have extra time in my day (which doesn’t happen all that often), I tend to fill it with meaningless chores, surfing on the internet, and/or reading a book instead of working on one of my writing projects. I still haven’t figured out why I give so little time to my writing. I guess I’ve had enough rejections from children’s book publishers that I’ve lost some of the faith I had in my writing and storytelling abilities. Or maybe its because I have lazy tendencies and actual writing is much harder work than chores, surfing and reading. When people ask me if I like being a writer I often say that I like ‘having written’ more than I like ‘writing’. Maybe that’s it? But since I can’t ‘have written’ without ‘writing’ perhaps I’d better stop procrastinating and start to tackle one of my in-progress stories now. So many vibrant characters are waiting for me to get my act together. Eileen Nester Ramchandran

From an illustrator’s point of view, I think my strengths are doggedness in the face of adversity. A willingness to change the illustrations, re-jig and even start all over again, if things aren’t working out. My weaknesses are self-doubt and an inability to draw hands and things with wheels. And a fear ... I’ll get found out! Kate Shannon

My greatest strengths: I have the self-discipline. I know the difference between good and bad writing. I’m quite hard on myself. I can write well. I’m good at writing with the senses, putting the story in the here and now. My weaknesses: I sometimes lose the nerve to network as I should. Sometimes, the imagination lets me down: it is a paltry thing after all. Look how science fiction continuously failed to predict. And I worry, but only occasionally, that at 58 I’m still inclined to write for young adults more than anything else. But the latter is more of a worry than a weakness. Gill James

My greatest area of strength as a writer is probably my obsessive personality. Writing is not a sane activity. Otherwise, the areas I feel are strengths include: a strong imaginative life – in other words, I’m a fantasist; visual writing and a good ear for dialogue; pageturnability and characterisation as well as the ability and desire to work collaboratively and professionally with editors. I also enjoy the rewriting process (within limits!). But, most importantly, I am able to ignore a messy house for weeks on end. My greatest weaknesses are: disorganisation and a profound need for eight hours sleep a night; an unhelpful tendency to self-doubt and self-criticise. I am an intuitive and impulsive writer. I have an antipathy to intensive pre-plotting or boffiny world-building. This can lead to a great many rewrites, so I’m trying to learn to plot more in advance. Ellen Renner

My weaknesses? Letting it go. The baby’s born, weaned, grown, we’ve had our ups and downs and now its goodbye – very tricky. But the up side of never letting go is that I can keep coming back to clean and dress and feed the baby and never get tired of it (actually not sure if that’s a strength or a weakness). Addy Farmer

Strengths: Keeping on keeping on (because my eclectic transferable skills don’t seem to apply to sensible reliable jobs); self-discipline with deadlines (a must in this industry); ability to accept criticism despite it smarting a bit; being able to see weakness in own work; ability to work alone without going insane; admitting defeat where appropriate (sometimes it’s just not possible to do something – I’m a human-being not a machine). Weaknesses: Thinking that all other illustrators’ work is better than mine therefore I might as well give up (aka not silencing the critic!); not looking at other work enough; looking at other work too much; Facebook (it sucks you in although I have gained writing work through FB); crisps (very distracting when popping to kitchen for refreshment break); impatience leading to ‘not starting’ personal projects (aka trying to eat the elephant in one mouthful instead of digestible chunks); deadline dread – mostly unfounded. Paula Knight

Hmmm. My greatest weakness, I think, is that I am too much of a perfectionist. I always try to fix errors in my drawings to the point that I sometimes lose the freshness of the movement. Maybe that could also be seen as a strength because I’m always trying to get better, always trying to move forward so I’m improving a lot and I can feel it, I can see it. Manuela Pentangelo

From brief to book - trials of a non-fiction writer

By Claudia Myatt

Fiction writers work inside out – from idea to story to pitch to publication.  Non fiction writers usually work the other way round, from an idea that starts inside a publisher’s head.  You have to get inside the subject, make it your own, learn about it and make it fun. 

 

Early last year I was asked by my publisher to write and illustrate a book for children about looking after the marine environment. My reply of “er… not sure about that…..” was taken as enthusiastic consent.   By autumn I had been given a title, a brief and a lovely marine biologist as consultant.  “Start with the origins of the earth”, they said.  Of course.  Good idea.  I was just about to suggest that myself.

This sketch book page shows the messy way it all started, trying to draw and write my way into the unknown and give it some shape and structure.  I’ll gloss over the struggles of the next nine months.  You know the kind of thing - long hours, research, sharpening of pencils, self-doubt, redrawing, rewriting, whingeing on facebook and heavy dependence on Google.  Editor Susie made encouraging noises amongst her corrections, publisher Phil left me in peace apart from occasional emails saying, “I’m glad you’re enjoying this book”.  

Enjoying wasn’t the word that sprung to mind, but as each chapter was complete and each tricky subject tackled I became more comfortable with it.  It wasn’t their project any more, it was mine.  I was getting used to drawing fish, albatross and sea defences and came up with a joke for every page - more or less.  I found out more than I ever wanted to about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and the time that single use plastic takes to decay.  I glared at people who bought cellophane wrapped bananas in the supermarket and found marine conservation groups to join. 

By September it was done, and the book is finally in my hands.  I can’t bear to look too closely at it though – far too worried about finding mistakes.

There’s a nice preview piece on http://responsibletravelnews.blogspot.com/2010/11/rya-go-green.html though the cover design has changed in the process.

One of these days I'd like to write and illustrate a book from the inside out - there are plenty of ideas lurking in the back of my head, though they always get put to one side when a 'real' job comes along.  Though that would mean pitching to a publisher which looks about as comfortable as jumping out of a plane without a parachute.  One day, perhaps!

http://www.claudiamyatt.co.uk/
http://www.rya.org.uk/shop/pages/product.aspx?pid=G75(RYADefaultCatalog)&mode=t&type=BK(RYADefaultCatalog)

'In Conversation' Illustrator Masterclass Event

Despite the snow and ice that had disrupted travel earlier in the week and the presence of lots of London Christmas shoppers illustrator members and non-members came to hear Ben Norland, Art Director from Walker Books, and author illustrator Viviane Schwarz talk about their working relationship at the last Illustrator Masterclass Series in 2010 on 4 December at St George's in Bloomsbury.

Viviane speaking about her book, Shark and Lobster's Amazing Undersea Adventure. Both Ben and Viviane spoke about how an illustrator's ability to write greatly increased their odds of being published as there are degree courses turning out illustrator's every year but very few courses that teaches how to write picture books.

Viviane speaking to illustrators at the tea break.

Everyone surrounded the table during the feedback session given by Viviane and Ben on the book dummies brought in by attendees.

An example of Viviane's world building for her latest book. She made the sketch on the left based on a 'set' created by toys and other materials in her studio.

Ben and Viviane 'performed' Vivian's latest book written by Alexis Deacon, available for sale in July 2011. Ben and Viviane spoke about how a picture book needs to be read aloud and is a performance.

More from the book by Alexis and Viviane, A Place to Call Home. When asked if Viviane starts with her characters, she said that she begins with 'place' - 'builds the house' then populates it. She often makes 3D models of her characters like a sock puppet. She even shares her puppet making as you can download from her website patterns to make knitted cats from her book, There are Cats in This Book. Ben added that in his opinion there are three important elements to every picture book: Consistency of character, sense of context and place and a sense of humour.

More on the Sketchcrawl!

The morning was cold and clear and the company, warm and fun. The images above were done in the V&A Museum in the afternoon. While drawing the study of the fellow with the hawk from one of the huge tapestries at the museum, I was asked very politely to leave for a half hour while the tapestries were given a rest from the light. I then went to Beatrix Potter's Peter Rabbit exhibit and was amazed at the vast amount of studies she made of her pet rabbit who of course, became Peter. Only that kind of 'knowing' your character so well would allow for this amazing view of Peter jumping as above.


At the Natural History Museum I warmed up on a horse head skull - I was thinking about a Susan Cooper book cover, then sketched this impressive mammal the Maned Wolf.


Last year I played around with the idea of pangolin characters and seeing this little guy inspired me to pull them out again and see how I could develop them more. All and all it was wonderful inspiring day. The usual anxiety of sketching in public just wasn't there knowing you had friends drawing throughout the museum. We all agreed we would definitely do it again in the new year and hopefully make it a regular event. Hope to see more illustrators at the next one!
Anne-Marie

London Sketchcrawl Report

26th November was the first SCBWI Sketchcrawl event in London.

The event was open for anyone, not just our illustrators, however as it turned out only members turned up on the day. A small but dedicated group of SCBWI children's book scribblers descended on the Natural History and Victoria & Albert Museums, pens, pencils and brushes at the ready. Here are just a few samples from some of the participants, I've posted all of my own sketches on my personal blog.

Amber Hsu - Fish

We started the Sketchcrawl shortly after 10.00 am in the Natural History Museum. The location, exhibits and visitors all proved to be inspiring subjects.

It was great to see the way each artist focused on different aspects of the museum. Some of us made copious notes and explored characters developed from the displays, while others sought to capture the environment and immediacy of the moment...

Clare Tovey - Bats

John Shelley - Griffon Vulture

Clare Tovey - Whale

John Shelley - Moeritherium

Some creatures past and present gave particularly inspiring ideas for children's book characters....

Amber Hsu - Girl and Bird

I think one of the biggest lessons for us all was how these displays encouraged us to broaden our vision, whether through new ideas or for texture, materials, treatment of our drawings etc.

The relatively limited time frame per image encouraged us to open new doors in our creativity.

John Shelley - Distant Relatives

John Shelley - Entrance Hall, V & A Museum

Sue Eves - Notes on Devonshire Tapestries

In the afternoon we moved on to the Victoria and Albert Museum, where once again the location itself as well as the exhibits proved a rich source of subject material.

Amber Hsu - Sculpture

some participants: L to R: Sue Eves, Amber Hsu, Anne-Marie Perks, Claire Tovey, John Shelley.

There were many more sketches and other participants, if I receive any more I'll add them to this post.

At the end of the day we gathered to share notes. It was a fascinating and very satisfying event which we certainly plan to repeat.




Sketchcrawls began in the US a few years ago based on an idea by Enrico Casarosa. Although there are set dates for Worldwide Sketchcrawls this SCBWI event was independent. More information on the original concept is on the Sketchcrawl website.

Illustrators: Starting Out? How to Get Noticed...

By Lynne Chapman

I'm get lots of emails from people trying to get started in book illustration so, to save writing individual replies, here's some more general advice, this time about getting yourself noticed.

It's following up on my post about creating a children's illustration folio, sharing what I can about the next step, and what worked for me at least.

Firstly: spend some time browsing the children's section of bookshops. Independants are best, but Waterstones will do the job. Bookshops are better than libraries for this, as it's all still selling, so never out-of-date.

Familiarise yourself with what different publishers do. Who publishes picture books? Who publishers chapter books? Which illustration techniques are used for which age groups? Who leans towards traditonal, beautiful, funny or off-the-wall?

Note the websites of publishers whose books look a bit like what you do, then check their newest releases on-line to see what they're after right now.

Get a copy of The Children's Writers & Artist's Yearbook (or something similar - there are a few different ones these days). This has listings of all the publishers with their contact details, as well as more advice and guidance.

Make colour prints of maybe three of your best pieces, marked with your contact details or, if you have the necessaries, design an A4 flyer, like the one above.

Post these with a short covering letter to the publishers you have researched. Unfortunately, publishers get unbelievable quantities of unsolicited material, so you have to work very hard to catch their eye. Here are a few hot tips that worked for me:

1 - Make sure you contact a named Art Director or Commissioning Editor (never send a 'to whom it may concern': it will probably go in the bin).

2 - Ensure any samples you send are produced to high quality - first impressions DO count.

3 - Be funny or different or cute (I designed this letterhead for my covering letter, with the tied-up cat printed top-right and the fish swimming along the page bottom, featuring the header 'See me soon, or the pussycat gets it!' )

4 - Be persistent, but not boring: send a printed sample of new work (not just the same old stuff) once a month.

5 - Get on-line: set up a simple website, or a Flickr portfolio, to refer publishers to (but resist the urge to pad it out with your less-good work).

6 - Be proactive: phone the art director a week later to ask if they will see you.

7 - The scatter-gun approach: do all of the above for lots of different (but relevant) publishers.

8 - Don't give up too easily: take on board any feedback you're lucky enough to get, but don't be put off by lack of success - even if you're good, it might take a while for someone to bite.

Initial Contact:

If in doubt about which individual to contact, don't be afraid to phone the publisher's switchboard to get the relevant Art Director's name. In your covering letter, tell them you would like an appointment to show them the rest of your folio. This is important, even if you're not local: I have always found that face-to-face contact is the thing that works. For me, samples sent out and website links are all about getting publishers to ultimately let me visit them at their offices, to present my work in person.

Don't be too disappointed if the Art Director doesn't remember your samples when you phone - they get hundreds. Ask again if you can make an appointment to visit them with the rest of your work. Be ready with a simple website or Flickr page, so they can quickly check your work on-screen.

OK, now the bad news - children's illustration is a very tough market to break into: there's so much competition and the standards are very high. My experience is that slogging round publishers and bombarding them with reminders about your work is the only way in.

But take heart: if your illustrations are of a high enough standard, are interesting, clever and relevant (perhaps even a little bit different, without being too off-the-scale), you should eventually get your foot in the door, if you stick at it doggedly enough.

Watch my blog for posts about what you should expect if you are successful in getting an appointment with an Art Director. In the meantime, if you missed my talk at the conference, why not read about how I got my first book?

Good luck!

Hot Tips Put Into Action!

I want to quickly pass on a couple of great tips I picked up at the wonderful SCBWI conference over the weekend (and take the chance to show you a couple of the sketches I did on my way there).

The first tip comes from Tim Hopgood, another picture book illustrator / author, who I first met at the Northern Children's Book Festival earlier in the week.

We were at the same hotel for 3 days, so had dinner together each night, along with other folks like David Bedford, Joan Lennon and Alan Durant. That's one of the lovely things about the NCBF: you catch up with people you've not seen in ages and keep adding new friends each year.

Tim and I got on like a house on fire, so I was especially pleased to run into him a few days later at the conference. He was giving a talk on how his book ideas evolve.

He's an understated, but very funny guy, and the talk was really interesting. We all did lots of giggling and one of many things that amused us was when Tim shared a bit of his working practice: every day, before he starts work, he turns up the music good and loud, and spends a whole hour dancing around the studio, all by himself! This is an illustration from his gorgeous book Here Comes Frankie!, that seems rather apt...

So anyway, yesterday, after I had waded through my back e-mails for the week I've been away, I decided to try it. I couldn't afford an hour, as it was already about 11 o'clock, but I jumped and bopped for a good 10 minutes, and found that Tim's right: it's really good for clearing your head.

Out of breath and slightly sweaty (must get more exercise...) I starting in on the re-planning I need to do for a text that's been buzzing around for a while. Gullane are showing initial signs of interest, but are right that the idea needs some re-thinking.

I also tried out a new, 'big-paper-ideas-map' technique that I picked up at the conference from Marcus Sedgwick. It's a way of tugging as many relevant thoughts from your head as possible and then marshalling them into some semblance of order. I usually just sit at the computer and write, so this is a new method and, so far, it does seem to help.

Thanks Marcus! Thanks Tim!