One of my clients, Andy Dickenson, attended the recent SCBWI British Isles event on January 17th, part of the London Professional Series. This was Commissioning Editor Night, and included Barry Cunningham (Chicken House), Lauren Buckland (Random House), Ruth Knowles (Andersen Press), Stephanie Stansbie (Little Tiger) and Emily Lamm (Gullane Books).

Here's Andy's write-up:

It was a packed room above the Theodore Bullfrog Pub in London, and firstly I must thank the couple that left a seat free near the front so I could quietly slip in late and mainly un-noticed. Secondly I must apologise, as these notes are anything but comprehensive and focus almost entirely on teenage fiction. The headlines, then, are as follows:

Books for teenagers/young adults are huge. Hunger Games is now, Barry reports, the biggest book in the US, as well as shifting enormous amounts online. Crossover sales also play a major part in this, with an accelerated pace in the children to adult market.

However, the current book market is generally “unstable”, Lauren warns us, especially for new authors.

There are no trends or genres that aren’t currently being accepted. Supernatural and dystopian books are still selling strongly. Traditional fantasy (Lauren), more literary works (Ruth), war and historical fiction (Barry) are all popular, and across all age ranges, humour is a winning ingredient.

“The voice” is key. From picture books to crossover pieces it’s the voice that excites these editors. After that, a great premise that’s easily conveyed will help get your books noticed, but the voice is paramount.

Covering letters can also be extremely important - but more so the pitch contained.

Publicity departments love blogs and bloggers. Getting your work noticed on teen blogs is especially good.

A few eBooks and Apps are being made by picture book publishers but it’s very much a “wait and see” approach by all involved.

A graphic format for older children, mixing pictures and words, is something Barry would very much like to see. It could fall somewhere perhaps between Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Hugo Cabret. Could it be digital? While graphic novels remain a small market in the UK.

And then the panel ended and we descended on publishers like pigeons on a bread bag in Trafalgar Square.

I'm going to be the speaker at the Lewes Children's Book Group's AGM gathering. The topic of my talk is, "What's the Story? Issues around diversity and publishing in the UK." This will start at 7:30 pm, and will take place at the Lewes Public Library (near Brighton). It is free of charge, and all are welcome. Please do come by and say hello if you are in the local area. You can also support this important organisation which aims to promote the reading and enjoyment of children's books (as is a member of the Federation of Children's Book Groups).

I've just posted my December newsletter - with news and updates, along with gift vouchers for manuscript critiques and mentors. I hope everyone has a great festive season!

You can read the newsletter here.

Monk's House in Rodmell, once home to Virginia Woolf, where we had exclusive access for a picnic lunch

I am late to add two posts from participants who attended the one-day "Writing Children’s Books and Getting Published" course that I ran in July of this year. I don't yet know when I will be running my next on-site workshop, though I am developing towards running an on-line workshop. Do get in touch if you want to be updated about either.

Published illustrator, Guy Parker-Rees, shared his experience of the course:

I went on a one day workshop with Laura called, ‘Writing Children’s Books and Getting Published.’

I wasn’t sure what to expect, I just knew that Laura had come highly recommended by a friend. I mainly illustrate other people’s stories but I have had some published which I have written.  I was stuck with a  book I was working on- I had a sketch of the character and  had written a version of a story for him but his voice wasn’t coming  through. I thought  the workshop might help.

The day was very well structured - Laura would look at a topic, like ‘Plotting and Pacing’ or, yes, ‘Narrative Voice,’ and then we’d do a quick writing exercise.

It was great fun. Laura presented  the  many dimensions of writing children’s books with  huge knowledge and boundless enthusiasm.

We all had a  sunny lunch under an apple tree in the beautiful garden of Monk’s House. It felt idyllic , there was Virginia Woolf’s little hut in the garden with desk and chair waiting, maybe blessing the proceedings or maybe  gently reminding us just to get on with it.

There was much to cram into one day and it  left me with a lot to think about. But mainly I came away with a reminder that there is no escaping the fact that there is a craft to writing. It takes much practice and perseverance and only by learning this craft and putting in the hours do we create the conditions for inspiration to strike.

And after the course, armed with bundles of printouts on all aspects of writing  children’s books, I was all fired up and indeed ready to get on with it.

Now I’m sure I will find that voice - if I put the hours in to let it come.  Laura also said  she offers a service to help edit and  develop  the story further.  I think this is something she would be very good at and look forward to getting in touch with her about it in due course.

Jenny Jewiss also wrote the following about the day:

"I attended one of Laura’s day workshops to ‘test the waters’ writing for children. Despite being past retirement age and so considerably older than the other attendees, who, mostly, had some experience in this field, I never felt ‘left behind.’ This was due to Laura’s teaching expertise and generous imparting of her considerable knowledge. The day was inspiring and I am greatly encouraged to venture into the field of children’s writing."

Final report, I think, from the SCBWI British Isles conference. I did take notes from the two panel events, but am running out of steam.

This report was written by two members of my writing group: Astrid Holm with input from Lizzie Strong (who is working on a fab realistic MG novel). I wish I'd been to this session - but feel like I almost was having access to these great notes.

Lil Chase on Books that Sell and Sell Well

Lil Chase started with some mind-blowing statistics about Mills and Boon books.  Apparently they sell up to 150 million books every year.  She explained that these books make a ‘promise to the reader’.  The reader knows what she wants, a hunky hero and a heroine they can identify with, and always gets it!.  Her point was that whatever genre you’re writing in, you have to ‘keep your promise’.

She went on to talk about what was needed in a covering letter:

The hook- only five sentences

We spent some time on the hook.

It’s good if you can say your book is similar to something well known... ‘My book is like....but different because....’

Lil’s pitch had been ‘My book is a funny, coming of age story for 10 to 14 year old girls, similar to Louise Rennison, but with more heart.’

The most important word in the pitch or hook is ‘but’ (or similar words).  If there’s no ‘but’ then the story has no conflict.

We were then asked to write our hook for our own stories and some volunteers read theirs out.

The positioning of your story, e.g.10 to 14 year olds, coming of age story. (Earlier in the conference Editorial Editor at Orion, Amber Caraveo said she didn’t want to be told where your book fits.  She can work that out for herself! So decide if you want to go into too much detail with this.) This shows that you understand and have bothered to make yourself familiar with your target market.

The title. You should try and show the concept in your title as in ‘Snakes on a Plane’ or ‘My Sister’s a vampire’!

An interesting passage about you. The publisher wants to invest in you, so they want to know something else.  Lil Chase told her publishers she had started the book when she was ten.

Some tips on finding your characters and story:

The ordinary girl/boy becomes special in some way.

If the book is for 10 to 12 year olds, make your protagonist 12.

The protagonist should be ‘nice’/sympathetic.

For middle grade books, the protagonist should be a boy.  Girls will read about boys but boys won’t read about girls. If it’s YA, the protagonist can be a girl.  Lil did stress that this is a guideline.  If your story is middle grade and it has a girl protagonist, don’t panic!

Inciting Incident.

This kicks off the story.  It is a dramatic, visual external event.  You should show normal life before the event happens.

The protagonist must not be able to turn away from this incident.

It could be a goal.

It could be the introduction of an obstacle that gets in the way of a goal.

It must happen in the first chapter.  Back story could come later.

Scene Structures.  All scenes should have this structure

ABDCE

Action, character doing something

Background (brief)

Development of the scene

Conflict reaches a climax

Ending.  Who wins the conflict?  Often the main character will lose the conflict in each scene.The ending must resolve the conflict from the inciting incident in the first chapter.  Often the character is changed by the story.

Tick list for commercial fiction

Age range             Word Count

5-7                             8,000

8-10                          8-10,000

10-13                       10-50,000

13+                            40-80,000

• Absent or clueless parents
• Short chapters
• End chapters on cliff hangers
• Inciting incident in first chapter
• 1 protagonist
• Protagonist has friends they can talk to
• Protagonist is a boy (unless it’s YA)
• Protagonist is active, pursuing the goal.

The whole talk was very interesting and enjoyable. It gave us all lots of ideas of how to position our stories in a competitive market.