XML Feeds
Report from SCBWI London Professional Series - Commissioning Editor Night
by Laura 
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.
.JPG)
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.
01/23/12 03:52:00 am, 5 comments
Thanks for taking the time to do this. Scbwi is such a great organisation but sometimes the good events are just too far away to get to in person, so this is really useful. I know we shouldn't be writing to try and fit the market, and that what's hot now might not be by the time we get our books to the publishers' desks (here's hoping) but it's so useful to just get a feel of what the industry thinks it wants!
Hi Louise, and thanks for stopping by. It is tricky, knowing how much to try to write for a market and how much to just follow your instincts and writing passions. I'd say to lean towards the latter. No one ever knows what the next big trend is going to be. But as you say, it's good to see what people in the industry are saying. 
Great post Andy. Good to see that all genres still accepted. Encouraging to hear about the emphasis on voice too. 
Thanks,I did feel bad that I wasn't properly taking notes for the picture book audience, but it really did seem to be a matter of "you can't guess what the next trend will be" across the board. And although I haven't read Hugo Cabret, or even seen the film for that matter, I did get the impression that your passion will prevail, and that that's exactly what they're looking for - projects that are passionately realised (along with having a great hook and an amazing voice!)
Andy
Thanks Andy (and laura for posting it) - I couldn't make it to the meeting, so very helpful.