@AmberCaraveo talks to @HouseRowena
Recorded June 20th 2014
in London at Orion Children's Books
Sunday, 7 September 2014
Ask a Publisher, Amber Caraveo, Editorial Director, Orion Children's Books and Indigo
Saturday, 6 September 2014
Getting Out There
Welcome to the month of Motivation & Challenge - and you should be after reading Bekki Hill's post on Wednesday. Solid practical advice on how to get your arse in gear - did I just say arse? Yes I did.
For those of us in England and Wales, September is the back-to-school month - do we ever lose new term trepidation? After a dismal couple of weeks submission-wise, I was ready to shred every page I'd ever written and play my ukulele into the sunset but this evening, at the start of term, and after our Southampton SCBWI goal setting supper, I have a plan.
Sometimes for our sanity, we have to wrest back a little control and if, with a certain project, that means going it alone, so be it. Nick is finding inspirational people who are doing just that. Last week, Julie Day, this week Olivia Kiernan and her vlog are among the brilliant people popping up on the Blog Break.
If you're thinking of going it alone too, picture book writer or not, you would do well to study this week's Ask a Picture Book Editor - KNOW YOUR HOOK - so important it demands upper case.
You can read the whole series of Ask a Picture Book Editor by clicking here or on the link on the left.
Reading Bridget's overview of the French and US magazine market makes me realise that, to a certain extent, everyone goes it alone, whether it's sourcing work for magazines, self publishing, or handling social media. So whether our confidence has been boosted by the affirmation of an agent's offer of representation as Sarah Baker's has recently (Congratulations again Sarah!), or it hasn't, we all need motivation & challenge to get out there. Kate Bush has her son, we have SCBWI!
If you've enjoyed a Words & Pictures post and don't have time to leave a comment could you just click on the tweet button at the end of the post? We really appreciate everyone who helps us get W&P out there too!
Next week:
- Hot news at the end of last month was the forthcoming launch of Skylark Literary in November. Still in her capacity as Editorial Director at Orion Children's Books & Indigo, Amber Caraveo is our sixth Ask a Publisher podcast on Monday. Essential listening for anyone thinking of submitting to Skylark when Amber and Joanna are up and running in November.
- I'm delighted that I've persuaded another Southampton SCBWI onto W&P. On Wednesday Helen Dineen turns the challenge of the 21st century App to the book market on its head…
- And it's new featured illustrator time! Yay!
Jan Carr
Results - The Slushpile Challenge July 2014
This challenge was set by Lauren Pearson of Curtis Brown.
THE CHALLENGE...
was to bring Christmas to July.
We sent all our picture book and chapter book entries to Lauren Pearson.
Lauren gave us some tips about how we could make the stories better.
Generally speaking, though the concepts were exciting, quite a lot of them needed work on the execution. It’s a cliché, but for a picture book textevery word counts, and sometimes (quite often), the fewer the better.
That's great advice, Lauren. What about rhyming text? Did you get a lot of rhyming picture book entries?
For rhyming to work, it has to be absolutely spot-on; the story can't wander just to make a rhyme, something I saw quite a bit of.
And the winner is Alison Mary O'Donnell for her picture book entry - Wendall's Wonderful Christmas.
We asked Lauren to tell us about the entries she received and why she chose Wendall's Wonderful Christmas as the winning entry.I had great fun reading these entries in sunny August. The stories, which were mostly picture book texts, covered just about every angle of Christmas that I can imagine, and then some!
Santa eating silly foods, aliens decorating for Christmas, big machines saving the day, ninjas, a very sweet little donkey--there were a number of great ideas and some very original concepts. (And actually several writers that I'd love to chat with!)
But the winner for me is WENDALL'S WONDERFUL CHRISTMAS, which features a Scrooge-like dog who has a more exciting Christmas Eve than he'd bargained for. Our canine hero was a great character and there was a lot to the story that young readers would love.
Lauren gave us some tips about how we could make the stories better.
Generally speaking, though the concepts were exciting, quite a lot of them needed work on the execution. It’s a cliché, but for a picture book text
Side comments about how someone's feeling, that they are sweaty, etc. might fit in a chapter book but they can spoil the flow of a picture book.
That's great advice, Lauren. What about rhyming text? Did you get a lot of rhyming picture book entries?
For rhyming to work, it has to be absolutely spot-on; the story can't wander just to make a rhyme, something I saw quite a bit of.
Writing picture books is always tricky - because you are writing for young children but parents buy the book. Here is what Lauren said about that specific conundrum.
And a few of the entries also seemed to lose track of what young children can understand and find funny. Never forget your audience and what they bring to the [Christmas dinner] table—or more importantly, what they don't bring to it.
My rule of thumb is to write for the children, not their parents.
Are there are any rules when writing a holiday book? Especially something as mega-grand as Christmas that has universal appeal?
Everyone's taste is different, but as an agent and as a parent, I avoid picture books about Father Christmas that stray too much from the traditional Father Christmas backstory--i.e, that he's one, single person who lives in the North Pole and has done forever and ever.
For me, some rules aren't made to be broken.
We will be inviting Alison to talk about Wendall and her experience submitting to and winning the Slushpile Challenge and how her meeting with Lauren went.
Chitra has published over 20 books in Singapore, UK, USA and India. She loves writing picture books and retelling folktales. She's also working on fiction for 7+ . Chitra is a member of the Words & Pictures' editorial team, managing The Slush Pile Challenge.
Friday, 5 September 2014
A Diamond-Studded Success for Sarah Baker!
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| @bysarahbaker |
‘Angela’s Ghost’ is Sarah’s first book, a middle-grade time slip tale, which she describes as A Monster Calls meets The Secret Garden; the story of a troubled twelve-year old suffering from survivor’s guilt after the death of her family and how she gets through this with the help of a boy from 1898 France.
Criminally, Sarah says she hasn’t yet had much chance to share her wonderful news. She says, ‘referring to 'my agent' in conversation is still relatively new, shiny and thrilling. I haven’t had much of an opportunity because I'm at home busy editing and in all honesty, the cats aren't that interested.’ So we asked Sarah to share her journey to representation with us at Words&Pictures, the perfect way to celebrate your success, Sarah!
So how did it all begin?
‘I followed a relatively standard submissions path, sending out only to a few agents I'd researched, actually met or been recommended to. Then came the agonising wait in that post-submission-time-vacuum where a week lasts a month and two weeks even longer. Thank goodness for supportive SCBWIs and Book Bounders.'
'It wasn't too long before I had requests for the full manuscript (very exciting) followed by requests for meetings (so exciting I had to revise the perfect 'meet the agent' outfit several times). With dress and shoes sorted, I have to say that there was nothing quite so wonderful as a professional enthusing about my book directly to me. In actual conversation (and not just in my head). I'll never forget it. I may have skipped in the street afterwards'.
'I knew when meeting Bryony Woods (my agent!) that she was the one. We met at the top floor cafe in the newly renovated Foyles on Charing Cross Road. I got there early to browse (and buy) books and check my hair (it was a windy day). She arrived with bags of enthusiasm, plenty of notes and a brilliant plan. She was definitely the one. I told her as much shortly after and she said I'd made her day. With the contracts signed and an announcement on Twitter, I soon received my line edits and a few weeks later I'm tweaking the book into the best shape I can get it. Oh and I'm loving it. Yep, loving the editing and loving having an agent who gets my book, gets my writing and trusts me to get on with it. So that's where I am. Getting on with it (and loving it). *skips*’
Sarah, thank you for sharing your adventure with us. We love the sound of ‘Angela’s Ghost’ and we wish you lots more success on your journey to publication. Come back and tell us all about it!
Thursday, 4 September 2014
Children’s Magazines and the Working Illustrator
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| One page of an 11 spread story, Doudou du Loup, for Belles Histoires Oct 2012 © Bridget Strevens-Marzo |
Have you ever considered working for US or French children’s monthly magazines as a worthwhile sideline to your career as a children’s book illustrator? If you are starting out, seeing your work in print for the first time will give you some hope. If you are published, perhaps there is a gap to fill between the last book advance and the next. That’s how I first started, filling in gaps to keep my bank account in the black.
Why not UK children’s magazines? Well I’d be curious to know if anyone is getting decent pay from original illustration work here. Please say if you are! What happened, for example, to the lavishly illustrated Look and Learn and their stories, features and games? Aside from increased production costs, I suspect it was all about hard competition with good children’s TV not to mention the licensed TV character take-over of UK kids magazines. From the 1980s most of those titles offered far less, if any, space for original illustration. The good news now is that some new and exciting print magazines are now seeing the light, including Okido (for 3-8s) Anorak (for 6-12) and the bi-monthly Stew. Fingers crossed that they’ll prove as successful as the US and French magazines. That way they will be able pay illustrators properly and let’s hope they can then call upon an increasing variety of talent.
American and French children’s magazines which are mostly monthlies, have survived ups and downs and pay illustrators fairly, thanks to a large and loyal family of subscribers, good distribution and arguably less competition from quality TV. Highlights magazine is the oldest established magazine - for 6-12 year olds – of a range published by Highlights Corporation has been going for over 50 years. Like many of the French magazines it is a veritable institution.
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| Small selection of Highlights High Five Mags |
“The Highlights staff are a lovely bunch of people to work for" writes UK author-illustrator and active SCBWI member, Mike Brownlow.
“(Highlights High Five) gives me roughly two covers a year plus the occasional double page spread illustrating a story or a poem. They’re always polite and complimentary with lots of positive feedback, and they always pay on time. They’ve been a repeat client of mine for about 3 or 4 years now. I never did find out how they came across me, but I know they have links with SCBWI. They decided to award me ‘Best Cover of the Year’ for 2012, so I’ll always be fond of them.” You can find out more about High Five here.
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| Here’s Mike’s Highlights High Five prize-winning cover |
Like Mike, I’ve been illustrating a couple of stories a year in an occasional series for High Five. For 4-5 illustrations on two spreads I get around $1800- 2000. Some illustrators may perhaps balk at the work-for-hire terms – they buy both copyright and authorship. I see it as all about quick turnover and a window onto another market – a refreshing counterbalance to the slow book publishing world - and it keeps you busy!
Even more plentiful are French children’s magazines. I took this snap of a small area of the children’s magazine section in a French railway station this summer and you might think they all look pretty similar. In the summer many come with freebies which sadly means you can’t flick through and marvel at the variety of features, stories and illustrations they contain. And inside they do look different, though full of variety. Each magazine is aimed at a distinct age group and market. Milan’s Toboggan for example, has a very different feel to it from Bayard’s counterpart for the same 3-7 age group, Pomme d’Api.
You don’t have to be French to work for French children’s magazines. I know of Spanish and Japanese as well as several English illustrators who work for one or more of Bayard’s range of 27 magazines for children from 0- 16. One famous name long associated with Bayard is Helen Oxenbury who created a long term series Leo et Popi (Tom and Pippo in the US) which gave its name to Bayard’s youngest magazine for 0-3 year olds Popi. Helen Stephens (guest illustrator at the SCBWI Picture Book retreat) has also worked for them more than once as you can see from this English language version of a story she illustrated for Belles Histoires. She writes “I first met Bayard when they came to London to meet some British illustrators in about 2003 (ish) I think. They seemed to like my folio, but didn't get in touch. So the next time I was in Paris I went to see them, and a lovely relationship ensued!”
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| The first page of Bayard’s English language Storybox magazine with Helen Stephen’s illustrations to a story for Bayard’s Belles Histoires. |
Around 15 years ago I started by illustrating countless graphic games for Bayard’s general magazine for 3-6 year olds in Bayard’s Pomme d’Api which has been famous for its games features since the 1960s. I’d never have tackled this kind of work in the UK and it taught me to be bolder and work with limited colour palettes. Some of these illustrations were the springboard for two big doodle books published by Bayard Editions co-edited with Tate Publishing UK in 2006 -7. The first, Les Petites Mains Dessinent has just been reprinted in paperback.
Bayards’s Popi, for babies and toddlers has very short stories and sometimes, like this spread I illustrated, a novelty element. In this instance, a baby rabbit you can punch out, and slot into bed.
Bayard’s Tralalire magazine for 2-5 year olds, also has the odd novelty element as well as great regular features by well-known names including Herve Tullet, UK illustrator Tor Freeman and Jennifer Darymple.
In recent years I have been lucky to have had several commissions for the main story in Bayard’s Belles Histoires. At 11 spreads, this story is virtually a picture book though the magazine contains other features, including at least one comic and a science-based article.
You’ll find more information about the full range of Bayard’s 27 magazines here but to appreciate just how wide the range of types of illustrators they and other magazine publishers use for kids of all ages, it might even be worth going to the illustrator heaven of the French national kids book and press fair in Montreuil, Paris this year from November 28 - December 1 or at the very least spending some time in a newsagents in France.
If you want to work for magazines, you’ll have to be able to work to clear specifications and layouts – and be supple enough to adjust the content to the feedback they’ll give you on your roughs. As for payment – there are fixed prices. For an 11 spread story I am currently illustrating I will get €4000. You’ll get a contract for a limited term of usage, which ensures you will get additional payment for any reprints in other children’s magazines across the world (and there are plenty from Spain to China) and the promise of a separate contract if ever your work becomes a book.
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| Talking of foreign reprints, here are some covers of Storybox alongside a couple of Belles Histoires covers I did |
Interested in getting in touch? Here are some links.
Marianne Vilcoq, my Bayard art director at Belles Histories and Tralalire, has kindly agreed to me sharing her name, if you’d like to send a PDF of samples to this address which she can pass on to another Bayard magazine if relevant. Like most French publishers, she’s happy to work in English with foreign illustrators.
Milan Presse, another reliable publisher, publish 17 children's monthlies as well as books. It is based in Toulouse, and in the past held an open day or ‘portes ouvertes’ for illustrators to meet with their ADs online or in person. There is talk of this happening again in June so follow this and practise your French.
Oh and don't forget that SCBWI has a Magazine Merit award! Deadline for submissions is Dec 15 in the year of publication.
Now I'd better get back to work on the next 11 spread story for Belles Histoires.
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| Here’s a rough with a layout and art director comments in yellow. The final colour spreads for the January 2015 number are due on September 20th and I have not begun them yet – help! |
Bridget Strevens-Marzo is a former SCBWI board member and International Illustrator Coordinator. Based for many years in France, she now lives in London and is a key member of the illustrator's committee. www.bridgetstrevens.com
Tuesday, 2 September 2014
Goal Setting
Bekki Hill
10 Rules for Goal Setting
The way we set goals can make a huge difference to how hard or easy our journey to achieving them is and even to whether we accomplish them or not. Using the following ten goal setting rules can help make your journey smoother and increase your chances of success.
One: Define your target.
Define your target by asking yourself what you want to achieve. For example you might want to finish a first draft, get an agent or draw for two hours each day. Knowing exactly what you want to accomplish allows you to:
- Identify the best steps to take to achieve it.
- Focus fully and accurately on accomplishing it.
- Recognise when you have achieved your goal.
Two: Phrase your goals using the four Ps.
The way goals are phrased is very important.
‘I have completed the first draft of my novel Stardust by December 31st 2014.’ Is a well phrased goal, because it is:
Personal - The goal belongs to the person who is achieving it.
Precise - The goal states exactly what will be achieved and when it will be achieved.
Present Tense - Writing a goal in the present tense allows our subconscious to see the goal as ‘happening’ now. This motivates us to work on it immediately and not put it off until later.
Positive - Goals that state we will lose or not do something are unattractive to our subconscious and therefore we will be less highly motivated to achieve them.
‘I will not procrastinate when I should be writing.’ is a poorly phrased goal, because:
- It is negative – it says what you don’t want to do.
- There is no timeframe telling you when you will achieve your goal.
- It is ill-defined, because it does not tell you what you will be doing when you are not procrastinating or when the times are that you will be writing.
‘I write for two hours from 7- 9 pm every weekday evening by October 31st 2014.’
Three: Take control of your goal.
Goals such as writing 500 words a day, completing a first draft of a novel in six months or spending three hours illustrating each day are fully within your control. However, goals like finding an agent or signing a book deal depend on other peoples’ choices and actions. Since you cannot take full control of the goals like these, set appropriate goals that should bring you to have what you want. For example, if you want an agent, you could set a goal to make a certain number of submissions each month and/or to attend appropriate networking events.
Four: Break big goals into smaller chunks.
It’s easy to put off working towards a goal or lose focus on a goal if we see it as something we won’t achieve for a very long time. Long-term goals may also seem so big that accomplishing them feels impossible or highly unlikely so we don’t even start working towards them. Always break big goals into smaller goals that build to achieve the bigger goal.
Five: Create an action plan.
Identify exactly what actions you are going to take to achieve your goal and when you are going to take them.
Six: Be realistic about what you can achieve.
Beware of creating plans that don’t make the most of your time and abilities as well as ones that are so hard or time consuming they’re doomed to failure from the start.
Seven: Write down your goals.
Writing goals down helps you to remember to work on them and to focus on them more clearly. It is also good to write down your action plans for exactly the same reasons.
Eight: Don’t be afraid to move the goal posts.
Once you start working on a goal, you may discover the parameters you originally identified need to be changed. This is fine, as long as you are honest with yourself about why they need changing.
Nine: Remember everything is a learning experience.
Thomas Edison is quoted as saying “I have not failed 700 times. I’ve succeeded in proving 700 ways how not to build a light bulb.”* Whether you ‘succeed’ or ‘fail’ to achieve a goal you set, always identify what you have learned on the journey and how you will use this learning in the future.
Ten: Create a positive experience.
When you achieve a goal, celebrate your success. If you ‘fail’ to achieve it, don’t be too hard on yourself if there are good reasons you didn’t succeed. However, don’t be too kind to yourself if you haven’t got good reasons.
*Edison originated this idea in an interview for the New York Times, however the exact words he used are disputed.
Monday, 1 September 2014
Ten-Minute Blog Break - 2nd September
The triumphant return of Kate Bush to the stage has certainly fired up our bloggers this week. KM Lockwood contributes a wonderfully empathetic piece that delves into Kate's thoughts and motivations for her great comeback. Sue Hyams also avoids the concert review route, examining how the power of heartfelt emotion binds Kate Bush and her audience together.
Encouraged by proximity and her very obliging family, Sarah Broadley threw herself body and soul into the Edinburgh International Book Festival. Her exhaustive (but far from exhausting) post takes in many literary luminaries, including Scoobies such as Sarah McIntyre, Dave Cousins and Stephanie McGregor.
Another well-deserved success at the Edinburgh Book Festival was Nicola Morgan, whose signing queues have now swelled to rival those authors who seemed to overshadow her in past years. But it's not just a matter of ego, as her blog post makes touchingly clear.
I know I claimed I wasn't going to say any more about me, but Space on the Bookshelf did a whole series of posts about Stew Magazine last week and I was very proud to be interviewed, as was fellow SCBWI member Lisa Mann. You can also read the thoughts of editor Ali Fraser and Grace Sandford, who is one of the fine Stew illustrators. Remember, it's never too late to subscribe ;-)
Finally, here's a technological departure for the Blog Break, our very first vlog! For the uninitiated, these are video blogs, and I've embedded Olivia Bright's whiteboard-tastic introduction to her self-publishing process below:
Olivia also posted an accompanying blog about the wider process of bringing her book to the market. And I say good luck to her!
Nick.
Nick's most recent blog post is "less a cry for help, more a squeal of frustration" as rejection and dejection find him Falling Back.
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