Welcome to our monthly Ask A Publisher feature, hosted by
Sara O'Connor, Editorial Director, Print and Digital at
Hot Key Books. This month, the Q and A is about graphic novels, editing, second novels, titles and a little bit about submitting. Next month, Sara will tackle some of the great questions that she couldn’t get to this time, about covers, genres, the acquisition process and more!
I am curious to know if you have noticed any increase in interest for graphic novels or comic books for children? My experience is that the general public are much more receptive and enthusiastic in conversation about this kind of book but are they buying and reading them? NoBrow, a publishing house dedicated to graphic novels, has just launched an imprint for children - FlyingEye Books. How this has been received by others in the industry? Has it or will it inspire other publishing houses to do something similar?I have noticed a fair amount of attention for graphic novels in the mainstream recently. About the same time I got your question, Julia Eccleshare had written
this response in support of the format: and there is the fantastic
Phoenix Comics magazine for kids that is mainstream enough to be on sale in supermarkets. (Buy it!) You could also argue that WIMPY KID and all its inspirations are graphic novels – which people are buying in droves.
There was an interesting comment on the Big Green Bookshop’s blog recently about
shelving. They could sell poetry more effectively when it was shelved among the general fiction. I wonder if we would see more graphic novel sales if they were mixed in among the YA books, rather than tucked away in its own section – or best yet, shelving in both?
At Hot Key we are experimenting with a graphic biography of sorts. Later this year, we are publishing
Isobel’s Journal, written and illustrated by an eighteen-year-old girl. As with a lot of books we publish, it’s not easily classified into any particular niche, but it is wonderful and fascinating and we can’t wait to see readers’ reactions to it.
We are happy to consider graphic novel submissions (for ages 9 to 19) – so please do send them in.
How important are titles to the pitching process?Not hugely, and this is because your publisher will ask to change it if they don’t think it’s perfect. I think the title is hugely important in the selling process, but pre-publication, it is quite common for titles to change.
I think the title is hugely important in the selling process, but pre-publication, it is quite common for titles to change.
How much time do you generally spend on editing a manuscript after an author submits their 'finished' draft? What are the most common areas of improvement that you come across?Apologies for the cliché, but how long is a piece of string? It depends on the state of the manuscript when it comes in. For some, I’ve asked for major overhauls – for others, I’ve only done a close line edit. It can be one round of edits or three. I write editorial letters that I obsess over, have editorial phone calls and/or spent hours making tiny notes within the script.
As for common areas of improvement, I am a cutter – really questioning if what is there is necessary. Have a look at coverage of one of
my SCBWI masterclasses written up by Candy.
How quickly would you expect an author to write their second book?As quickly as you can while matching the quality of your first book. If you’ve written a fantastic novel, your audience will want to read something else by you – now. As close as you can get to “now” without going completely insane or compromising quality is what you should aim for.
The trend is to get your second book out a year after your first. So, if you sign a deal in January 2013 and your book is coming out in January 2014, your publisher will likely want book 2 publishing in January 2015 – perhaps delivered in the summer of 2014. That’s 18 months from the signing deal.
Other SCBWI writers will be able to speak much more to the perils of this. As a writer, you’ve got to balance the needs of your audience and the needs of your creativity to find the right amount of time. My advice is to be honest with yourself up front, at contract stage. As long a publisher has time to plan – and you aren’t missing deadlines – there should be time for you to write book 2.
The trend is to get your second book out a year after your first.
I have a children's book which is almost complete – written and illustrated. Should I attach the pdf in my first contact with the publisher, or should I get in touch initially just to say hi and can I send it along for their opinion? Any help appreciated and if anyone has access to anywhere with sample letters that would be great too.Great, congratulations on finishing! As you submit, you should check each individual recipient’s submission policy – there will be a lot of variation. Some will want a query with nothing attached, some will want a sample, some will want the whole thing. (I would advise your PDF to be smaller than 5MB or you will struggle to get it received by various company servers – or send a link to download once it’s been requested.) You can look
here for great querying advice:
So, my questions for you:
1. How many of you have bought a graphic novel in the past six months?
2. Second time authors, any advice for your fellow writers about the time it takes to produce that second book?
If you have any questions for Sara, you can either submit them in the comments section below or you can email them to
writers@britishscbwi.org. Sara will return with her answers on the 15th July.
Sara O'Connor is the editorial director, print and digital at
Hot Key Books, acquiring books like The Sunday Times Children's Book of the Week
Shrunk! by Fleur Hitchcock,
Tribute by Ellen Renner,
Boonie by Richard Masson and
Clockwise to Titan by Elon Dann. She looks for books that are brilliantly written, that stand out and that have lovely authors behind them, with a slight preference towards the 9-12 age category.
She's also in charge of the digital strategy for Hot Key, working with a brilliant digital team to produce projects like the interactive iBook of Costa-award-winning
Maggot Moon.
