SCBWI's roving reporter, Lynda Calder passes on some of the information gleaned from the publishers' session...
From craft to social
media
Panel of Publishers
Laura Harris
- Penguin Australia
Lisa
Berryman - HarperCollins
Zoe Walton -
Random House
Karen
Tayleur - Five Mile Press
Dianne
Wolfer (Chair)
Some of this
topic was touched on during yesterday's sessions. But the big words that kept
being repeated were trust, discretion and loyalty.
HarperCollins
does accept unsolicited manuscripts. Random House, Penguin and Allen &
Unwin have a pitching day.
Lisa Berryman goes on the journey
with the creators. She prefers to work collaboratively with authors who are
patient. It is unusual to find a manuscript that is ready but she does expect
an author to take feedback and use it. She doesn't expect an author to accept
all the advice but expects it to be respected and listened to.
A good picture
book requires illustrators and authors working well together. All should
respect deadlines and schedules. Especially since the release of a book can
cause stress in other departments and delay releases that may be carefully
timed.
Assets
digital trailers, interviews, magazine articles. Authors will be active on social
media - Facebook, Twitter and Blog. It indicates that the author has a handle
on what is required to market the book. Authors should back up book sales with
school visits, be available for festivals and other events organised for them.
Local book shop contacts and media. It is key to success and contributes to
when your next book comes before Acquisitions to be judged.
Zoe Walton - Random
House
Do's and Don'ts in the
Editorial Process
Do
·
Be ready to be edited
·
Open to suggestion (open mind but not so open your
brains fall out)
·
Look at suggestions with all faculties switched on -
think about each, do you agree and, if not, why not? There needs to be a
discussion. Don't come into
·
Expect to get a say in the cover design (in
Australia), but it more like a vote. All votes need to be respected -
marketing, sales etc. Sometimes the designer has a perfect cover first time but
sometimes it takes months.
·
Meet your deadlines. Tell them about things that come
up. But remember there are certain slots for releases.
·
Feel free to make suggestions for publicity. Let them
know about your contacts. But if your suggestions are outrageous the answer is
likely "no" but if you are ready to work with your publicist and
suggest interesting angles for publicity, all will be well.
·
Get the basics right - especially a professional
author photo. A biography. Simple website about you and how to contact you. The
buzz word is "discoverability" - i.e. easy information about you can
be found using Google.
 |
| Zoe Walton |
·
What is right for you and your book - don’t start a
blog if you can't keep it up, don't Twitter if you don't know how.
Don't
·
Freak out when editorial report is as long as a book -
you may freak out, but everyone does. Take a cup of tea, sit down, be calm,
come back to it later and go through the suggestions one at a time.
·
Panic if you don't hear back for a while. There is a
chance they may hate it and can't bear to tell you but that is a 1% chance.
It is usually that they need quality time to have their first, most important
read.
Karen Tayleur - Five
Mile Press
Writing to
be published is a business and you need to treat it as a business.
What doesn't
work
·
Flowery note papers with doodles and kittens.
·
"I want this published because my Grandmother
thinks it's nice."
·
No spelling mistakes in the cover letter.
·
Sent to the wrong person or name misspelt.
·
Scattergun submissions are not the best way to spend
your time. It's a waste of their time and your time. If they have written a
story or know what kind of story they want to write - check out the market, see
what publishers are producing and target the right publishers. She does
understand multiple submissions BUT let other publishers know if you get a
nibble somewhere.
They look to
be able to get on with author, to communicate, for them to be open to
suggestions. You can't be too precious about your work BUT you can take a stand
on things you believe in. Remember, there is a reason people say things and
they may be guiding you into a better idea.
Be careful
with social media, especially about what you say as Children's and Young Adult
authors. You don't have the luxury of being yourself unless you use a
pseudonym. Teachers and parents are looking at what their children are reading
and don't what them reading books who have questionable photos or language
online.
 |
| Karen Tayleur |
Be on time
turning up to interviews. Dress professionally. Speak coherently. Project
confidence - even if you are a quivering mess. If you can't, create a character
and be that character when you go out.
At the
moment at Five Mile Press they are looking for work for 0-8 year olds - board
books and picture books.
Laura Harris - Penguin
Australia
It is good
to know that as a community and industry, Children's book publishing is similar
between us. Publishers get played off against each other by authors. Don't do
it because they all know each other. They all have experience in the industry
and you should generally err on the side of taking publishers' advice. They do
everything they can to make it work out in the market.
No one sets
out to make a bad book.
Three words
that come into her mind on a daily basis:
·
Professionalism'
·
Decency'
·
Dedication
Simple words
but many people don't act decently. You should expect back and question if you
don't. Be open to the "changing landscape of publishing". Things are
very different today than they were six months ago, one year ago and a year
before that. Everyone is still trying to figure it out, especially authors
trying to figure out where their work fits.
She expects
writers to write and illustrators to draw. Spend your time doing that.
She hates
rejecting people and it is very hard to say a work is not right for them. It
could be it doesn't suit where you are up to or there are four other works in
progress that are similar. She doesn't have time to say why. A personal letter
from someone says they do care.
They get 3000 unsolicited
manuscripts a year! Thus, the unsolicited manuscript submissions have just been
shut down so they can catch up on the back log. They read absolutely everything
that comes in. They used to send more detailed notes back but they can't keep
up with the demand if they do that. This is because more people are writing.
If
you've been rejected by three people, rewrite, or start writing something else.
Don't be so attached to the one manuscript that no one else seems to
understand. Just write - practice, practice, practice. The more experienced you
are as a writer the more that will come out in your work.
There is a
sad shift and we are losing book shops because of the digital world. How do you
get your book noticed? Borders and A&R used to take 25% of the books in the
market and they are now gone because not enough people were in there to sustain
it. How are people looking for books? Online, especially to get better prices.
On the
editorial process: their editor role is to be invisible. They will put to you
different ways to look at your work. Editing is not just about the repetition of words -
structural edits, copy edits are two different things that require a lot of
dedication and work by you. If you don't agree, respectfully let them know.
Nothing is about point scoring but making the book best it can be.
She doesn't
want a synopsis or biography. She wants the whole book and not to have
distractions by anything else. Laura has lots of great ideas and can be
entertaining but can't write a book. Thus, a great idea may not necessarily
translate into a good book and ordinary ideas may make great books. So, just
write, Write, WRITE!
 |
| Lisa Berryman |
Discussions
Diane Wolfer: If you are a shy author and aren't out there on
social media what is the most important thing to be involved with?
Laura: You can do yourself a disservice if you use a medium
that is not organic for you. Don't use YouTube if you are not experienced with
it - reading your picture book to camera can go against you.
Zoe: Just a website, really simple and updating it is very
important. This who I am, these are my books and this is how to contact me for
school visits.
Diane: Sarah is doing a session on making a website like
that.
Karen: If you are making picture books for 0-8 year olds,
your end user, the people you are pitching to are the gatekeepers - parents,
librarians, and teachers.
Diane: There seems to be this "thing" out there that
authors and illustrators must be kept apart. Is this true?
Karen: It gets very tricky because you are dealing
with two creative forces with egos and this needs to be harnessed. If they
can't work well together, they are not being policemen but are just managing
personalities.
Laura: Sometimes it's just about geography. Picture books
tend to start with the text and the illustrator has to come along and
interpret. 90% of the job is managing expectations - especially the authors'
expectations.
Zoe: The Publisher always has to be involved and make sure
everyone is happy with every step of the process.
Question - Have sales
of picture books and children's books dropped off now that people are buying
online and from overseas?
Laura:
There are industry statistics that are coming through. 12 months ago
there was a panic when book shops closed. But in the last couple of months the
reality is that, as an industry, sales are 20-25% lower across the board. What
skews it in Children's publishing are phenomena - Harry Potter, Wimpy Kid,
Hunger Games, and Twilight. Certain books have sustained themselves, others
have dropped off. Some books work very well in independent book shops. Others
do well in larger chain stores - Target, Big W. If something goes into both and
kicks off, great. But everything on her list has dropped off. This is the way
it is now so they just modify print runs, advances change and costs changes.
