SCBWI Reception Rocks Edinburgh International Book Festival!

@edbookfest

This week it's HUGE Congratulations to..... 
SCBWI British Isles! 
Specifically to Natascha and South East Scotland, in the shape of Sheila Averbuch and Louise Kelly, for engineering a great big Sparkly SCBWI arrival at Edinburgh International Book Festival. Sheila has written a spectacular report, here it is....



Who attends the Edinburgh International Book Festival, come August time? Only everybody! That’s why we were triple-thrilled this year to host a SCBWI reception that gave rise to a lively industry discussion, involving a knowledgeable audience of seasoned literary professionals from around the UK.

 Jonathan Meres of The World of Norm
Photograph courtesy Candy Gourlay

Janey Louise Jones of the PRINCESS POPPY series, Jonathan Meres of WORLD OF NORM fame, Keith Gray of OSTRICH BOYS, Moira Young of BLOOD RED ROAD… all were guests at a glittering SCBWI British Isles reception hosted by the Southeast Scotland network on the evening of 13th August. The aim was to have a relaxed industry question-and-answer, "Festivals Uncovered," helping writers and illustrators understand what's expected of them when they're tipped to speak at a festival like Edinburgh, at a library or a school.

Janey Louise Jones of the PRINCESS POPPY series

Photograph courtesy Candy Gourlay

We were joined by a fantastic panel that included author Nicola Morgan (TEENAGE GUIDE TO STRESS), agents Lindsey Fraser and Lucy Jukes (Lucy also co-coordinates the Picture Hooks mentoring scheme for picture book illustrators in Scotland), Falkirk Librarian Yvonne Manning, Sales and Marketing Manager of Floris Books Chani McBain, and the Children & Education Program Director at Edinburgh International Book Festival, Janet Smyth.

Children & Education Program Director at Edinburgh International Book Festival, Janet Smyth Photograph courtesy Candy Gourlay 

In addition to the panel, we reached a great selection of librarians, booksellers and other industry guests who were invited to participate, thanks to Janet's assistance and the wonderful Scottish literary contacts of Louise Kelly and Nicola Morgan. The venue was the stylish multi-hexagon Party Pavilion inside Charlotte Square, made even more beautiful by the travelling SCBWI Illustrators Showcase, a curated annual exhibition of member images. And of course the whole event was made possible through the kind sponsorship of SCBWI British Isles and support of our Regional Advisor (Chair) Natascha Biebow, who is a passionate advocate of professional development events like these, which are dedicated to supporting published authors and illustrators in furthering their careers. Questions, answers and yurts.

L to R: Lucy Juckes of Jenny Brown Associates and Picture Hooks,

Lindsey Fraser of Fraser Ross Associates

Chani McBain of Floris Books

Photograph courtesy Candy Gourlay

Following a wine reception we kicked off the Q&A with questions for the panel about how the role of festivals has changed over the years, as well as how authors and illustrators can attend the events they want to without spreading themselves too thinly.

L to R: Susan Bain, Christina Banach and Maureen Lynas
Photograph courtesy Candy Gourlay

There was a real feeling of focus and intense interest in the topic among the audience, which included SCBWI authors Candy Gourlay (SHINE - shortlisted for the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize 2014), Christina Banach (debuting this year with MINTY) and Maureen and Katherine Lynas (CUPCAKE CATASTROPHE! ). We were also delighted to welcome Frané Lessac, Regional Advisor for SCBWI Australia West, an experienced illustrator who teams up with her husband Mark Greenwood on a number of collaborations.

And did someone say YURT? The evening finished off with a number of us decamping to the hallowed ground of the EIBF yurt, where the conversation about all things literary carried on 'til late in the glow of the wood-burning stove.

SCBWI reception highlights

For you SCBWI members who didn't get a chance to come to Edinburgh, more school-visit events are planned in London, York and at our annual conference in Winchester  later this year, but here's a selection of what you missed in Edinburgh:

Published authors need to protect their writing time.Beware the exhausting schedule that can spread you thin and make your creative time disappear. Be clear with your agent about what kind of events you'd like to do and how many, and they will help remind you to make time for writing.

If you're doing author/illustrator events, the standard rate is £150. Many schools and libraries know the rate, and if they don't, let them know and don't feel guilty about it. This prompted a robust discussion about fees. Many people feel willing and keen to do free events for the experience, and to spread the love of literature among kids, but Nicola Morgan advised you make it clear you're doing it free/cheap because you’re new to this and are looking for feedback. I guess the lesson is if you're doing it free or cheap, be very clear about your reasons why, rather than having "free" as the default because you feel you can't ask the standard rate. Candy, for example, has done free events in the run-up to a bookstore-based book launch to help ensure attendance (several people mentioned that bookstore events can often be badly attended); that strategy worked well, helping numbers for the bookstore event and leading to a number of paid school visits. (Bookstore events, incidentally, are unpaid and typically part of a promotional tour at launch).

More thoughts from Nicola on events, including why charging a real rate should be your default mode, is here in her excellent blog post: Getting and giving great author events.

Have a pitch ready if someone asks, "Do you do events?" Put your events info on your website, and make sure you're listed everywhere you should be (including in the SCBWI Speakers Bureau; the Scottish Book Trust  also lists authors).
Don't hesitate to say how long your events last. Janet Smyth mentioned that 30 min. to 45 min. is plenty for very young kids.

It's not only "big names" that get invited to festivals. For example EIBF in particular feels it has a role to promote new writers, including our Southeast Scotland member Emily Dodd, who's speaking at this year's EIBF following publication of her picture book with Floris, CAN'T DANCE CAMERON.
It's okay to approach festival organisers and librarians and let them know what you do; we were all stunned to hear that festival organisers who approach publishers seeking a specific writer don't always get them! The hard truth is that not all speaking invitations that go via the publisher are passed on to the writer, so make sure you clearly communicate your availability and preferences for events.

Panicked about the idea of doing a school or festival event? Ask your peers! The SCBWI community was terribly helpful to me when I did the mother of all school visits earlier this year, and many authors and illustrators will agree to allow you to tag along to see how they do events.

Make connections with storytellers where possible and take them along advised Janey Louise Jones, author and storyteller Janis Mackay (2014 winner of the Scottish Book Trust’s Children’s Book Award for THE ACCIDENTAL TIME TRAVELLER) and Chani McBain. See how they present stories, helping you to become more comfortable with the "performance" aspect of an event.

(Seated) Carnegie and Greenaway judge Joy Court, who's also behind
the free-to-attend Literally Coventry book festival, relates her Terry Pratchett anecdote
Photograph courtesy Candy Gourlay

Carnegie and Greenaway judge Joy Court, who's also behind the free-to-attend Literally Coventry book festival, related a fabulous anecdote about KM Peyton. Peyton willingly admits that in the days when authors were offered nothing more than a geranium as payment for an event, she would go along and "give them a geranium's worth." But one day, giving an event alongside a dynamic and fabulously entertaining young writer, Peyton realised how thrilling events can be – that young man was Terry Pratchett.

(Ed: BIG Note here)

'Live literature is where it’s at.'

As Janet Smyth noted, even with the distractions offered by so many other media and online, live literary events – like live music – are enjoying a resurgence. People long to connect in a face-to-face way with the artists who are the source of so much inspiration. You, authors and illustrators, are that source of inspiration – so embrace the chance to get out there!

A big team of people came together to make the SCBWI reception at Edinburgh International Book Festival so successful. Louise Kelly and I, who coordinate the Southeast Scotland network of SCBWI BI, would like to thank our RA Natascha for her support, Vento Ludens for donating display boards, and all the SCBWI members who gave their time to help bring the gorgeous SCBWI illustrators showcase to Edinburgh, especially Jeanne Dron, Sarah Broadley, Stephanie McGregor, Candy Gourlay, Anne-Marie Perks and Bridget Strevens-Marzo.

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L to R: Sheila and Louise

Sheila Averbuch is the co-coordinator of SCBWI British Isles Southeast Scotland network and is currently mudwrestling a draft of a reality-slip story for 9 to 11s, set in Massachusetts. She blogs at www.spacekidsbooks.com.

Festivals – a writer’s view

Filipino Fiesta

Alex English talks to Candy Gourlay and Teri Terry about the perks and pitfalls of appearing at festivals.

  

What’s your favourite festival?

It would be impolitic to name a favourite festival because they are all different! But I have to say in terms of impressing my 14 year old daughter, the Hay Festival was a highlight, with a green room filled with famous people, lots of free food, drink and cake, and rock star treatment. But that's my 14 year old daughter.

I've appeared at two: Edinburgh last year, and Hay last weekend. I'll be at Edinburgh again this year. I don't think I can choose between them: they were both great experiences. The schools programme at Edinburgh is great as the audience is school groups, so in my case, packed with teenagers. The evening event there was more adults than teens, but there were teachers and librarians there so that is obviously brilliant also. Hay was more young people than adults. From a financial point of view - Edinburgh pays authors to appear, and Hay gives authors a very heavy box of wine (tricky on the train). They are both brilliantly organised and look after authors extremely well.

For me the most emotional festival had to be the Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival when I was on a panel with the two other shortlisted authors for the Blue Peter My Favourite Story Award. It was held in Christ Church Hall - the setting of Hogwarts Dining Hall. We walked in and it was packed with hundreds of small children (who obviously had all come to see Blue Peter presenter Barney Harwood, but still). My whole family attended because it was my birthday that day, and I got to have lunch with one of my favourite authors, Philip Reeve!

Blue Peter Award Panel

In a different kind of festival, I was one of eight authors and illustrators that the Pop Up Festival asked to curate a pavilion at Central St martin's last year. I decided to hold a Filipino Fiesta - with a tiny budget, I cajoled my SCBWI author friends into joining, promising them fame with no fortune but most of all fun. I think we had fun. It was a proud moment when Filipino dancers performed before the open mouthed festival audience.

Most recently, I was involved in the Shoreditch Town Hall Festival which combined visiting schools with workshops over a festival weekend. What was great about it was that the children of the schools I visited actually read my books and because we met on more than one occasion, the children were very comfortable with me and really enjoyed my workshop.

How do writers get involved?

For some festivals, the publicity departments of various publishers put forward their authors of the moment. But I think reputation is key - authors and illustrators need to project a strong and engaging persona on their websites. And if you are a good performer the news gets round very quickly (if you are a bad performer unfortunately the news gets round very quickly as well).

Look for opportunities to raise your profile with gatekeeper groups involved in literacy and hone your presentation at school visits. Any public performance is a mini audition. Many festivals like the Shoreditch festival and the Schools Reading Festival at Southwark are tied with booksellers, so a good relationship with a bookseller can lead to festival gigs.

Look for opportunities to raise your profile with gatekeeper groups involved in literacy and hone your presentation at school visits.

I was invited to appear at both festivals I have been to. My understanding of how it works is this: publishers pitch authors to the major festivals, festivals decide who they want, and then send out invitations through the publishers.

Also take note that the gigs usually come with a new book. If you haven't got a new book, you are less likely to be invited.

What are the benefits of appearing at a festival?

It is obviously great exposure to appear at major festivals. Also it is a brilliant opportunity to interact with your target audience, both with questions at events and at the book signings after. But they are also just good fun: at Edinburgh I was there longer, so went to a bunch of other events. It's also lovely meeting other authors.

It is obviously great exposure to appear at major festivals.

I have to say, unless you've written a blockbuster, festival appearances are not a guarantee of massive book sales. But if you choose your festival wisely, it's a great way of raising your profile and building an audience. Festivals usually expect to pay tiny honoraria or nothing at all, so you have to balance your need to raise your profile with your need to make a living. Sometimes the benefit comes from having said you were there. Blogging about the festivals you've been involved in often results in invitations to appear at other festivals.

Shoreditch Town Hall Festival

What advice would you give to authors about to appear in their first festival?

It's not as scary as you think. Panel events, especially, can be good fun. Because they are chaired, you don't have to prepare a long talk - it is more about discussion and answering questions, both from the chair and the audience.

It's not as scary as you think. Panel events, especially, can be good fun.

When you’re deciding to appear at a festival, ask yourself three questions:

• Does the festival put me in contact with teachers, booksellers, and librarians? 
• Will it help me build a relationship with a community? 
• How much 'echo' will there be after my appearance (eg. will people blog about it? Will there be a film? Will there be coverage?)

Thank you to Candy and Teri. What’s your favourite festival? Any tips for festival virgins? Please tell us in the comment section below.

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@alexthepink

Alex English is a freelance journalist and copywriter from London. By day she writes for national papers, magazines and commercial clients, mostly on food. By night she wrestles with kids' fiction. Her first picture book, THE YAK THAT SAID YUK, will be published by Maverick in 2014.