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| Fabulously serious logo by Sarah McIntyre |
I got back from my summer holiday last night. I went to CWIG, which is not an obscure Welsh village, but the Society of Authors Children's Writers' and Illustrators' Group conference. It happens every three years in different cities, and this year it was in Reading.It was called 'Joined-up Reading'. Is that 'joined-up reading' or 'joined-up Reading'? Who knows. Maybe both.
Normally, we writers and illustrators spend our days, doing what we want, bossing around people who don't exist and skiving work to chat on Skype/Facebook/twitter about the work we should be doing. We're not used to being with other people all the time, or doing as we're told. We're not used to having to get dressed before working, eat at regular times, use a knife and fork nicely or sit quietly without telling a bunch of lies. But a conference is a proper organised thing with set mealtimes, talks to attend and other people to interact with.
So why do we go? Holiday!
CWIG is a delight. Full of old friends and potential new friends, a chance to gossip, eat, drink and whinge. If any snippet of useful information leaks in, that's a bonus.
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Nicola Davies, unfazed by being
elbowed by a giant ghost - all in a
day's work for us |
CWIG is just writers and illustrators - it's not somewhere to look for an agent or publisher. And so no one has to be impressive, there's no point in showing off, and we can all just relax. It's a time for singing silly songs and drinking the bar out of wine. (We did that on the first night; the last time I was party to drinking a bar out of wine was in Outer Mongolia in 1990 on the day the Iraq War started.)
I loved it. But like all the best holidays, it had its grumble-points. The food was poor, the bar was hopeless, the cabaret compulsory (hah! we laugh in the face of compulsory!), the coffee undrinkable (that's serious) and the microphones non-functional. The Germans took all the sun loungers and there was tar on the beach. Oh. Hang on.
But we don't get this stuff every day, unlike, say, manager-type-people who are forever going to conferences and staying in the Scunthorpe (or Dubai) BestWesternMarriotHilton hotel. Indeed, most days we don't get interaction with another human being who actually exists. To be in a whole room of around 100 people, none of whom can be given green hair or three arms on a whim, is quite a novelty. CWIG is a weekend away in the real world.
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Only our invisible friends were
skiving outside |
But look - we can play in the real world, too.
We talked about the state of publishing (in turmoil), of what the hell the government thinks it's doing with libraries (wanton armageddonising), of the progress of e-books in children's publishing (mollusc-like in its rapidity) and whether Allan Ahlberg's glass contained red wine or Ribena (who knows?) And heard the usual disingenuous comment from a publisher that there's never been a better time to be a children's writer.
Now for my holiday snaps. Don't shuffle like that. You might like to visit the real world one day.
Here is our venue: a very plausible-looking Henley Business Centre at Reading University.
We had proper signage, just like real business people. Well, perhaps not
quite like real business people.
Just in case we didn't know where to walk ...
.... and where to dance, there were some stick people drawn on the floor.
(Obviously the nice people at Reading know that all writers - and especially illustrators - speak fluent stick.)
We know how to dress. Alan Gibbons and John Dougherty, as usual, wore shirts chosen to burn out the eyes of Ed Vaizey. I won't dazzle you with those. Sarah McIntyre chaired her session in the best conference hat I have ever seen.
[What do you mean, 'what's a conference hat?'] Allan Ahlberg brought his teddy.
And he had a drink on the stage, though his wasn't see-through, like they usually are when you see conferences on TV.
We all transacted our own little bits of networking and business. I secured a promise from Catherine Johnson to translate some text into Jamaican Fairy and asked Jane Ray if I could commission a dodo from her.
So you see, we
do know how to do it.
I had a wonderful time, but holidays can't last forever and it's time to settle be back into speaking stick and bossing around a steam-powered autamaton and an orphan in a boat. Sigh.
(If you would like to read a more informative account of what happened at CWIG, you could turn to David Thorpe. I'm sure more will appear, and I'll update this list later in the day/week/millennium.) Anne Rooney(
Stroppy Author)
by Teri Terry
"But in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes."Â Benjamin Franklin, 1789.
In my closet. Quick - shut the door!
Yesterday I went to one of the Society of Authors ‘Tax Talks for Authors’ run by Barry Kernon and Andrew Subramaniam, senior accountants in HW Fisher & Company's Authors and Journalists Team. Yes, that’s right: they have an actual team for
I am probably the last person you expected to say what I'm going to say: the internet has all got too much and I am going to take control. It's become like one of those eat-all-you-can buffets and it's making me feel somewhat sick.
After I spoke about "building your online platform" at the Society of Authors conference, people said they were terrified by my apparent energy. How did I find the time? Vanessa Gebbie asked on my blog for advice about how to use the internet without wasting time. Blithely, I replied, a) define wasting time b) when it feels too much, stop - don't let it take over. Discipline, my child!
Well, I was OK at that point. After all, I only had a few blogs and three FB pages and Twitter and a new website in progress and three existing websites and Audioboo. And this collaborative blog. And the Authors Electric blog, which I'd just joined as a newbie ebook publisher. (And immediately volunteered to manage their Twitter account...)
But then, my behaviour tipped over some kind of precipice: I investigated (purely for research, you understand) LinkedIn, where I found groups and threads and discussions, and where I spent a lot of time deleting randomly-generated emails. And Google+, which everyone said was "better" than Facebook, and where I found circles and groups and threads and discussions and hangouts to hang out in with people I already knew from Twitter and Facebook. Then (purely for research, you understand), I thought I should join the Kindle Boards (because I am interested in ebook publishing) and the Kindle UK forum (ditto and because it exists) and the Absolute Write Water Cooler (ditto and ditto and because people asked me to) and in all of those places I found forums and groups and threads and discussions and spent a great deal of time in a great many similar conversations.
And in those places, I kept seeing the same people. Often lovely people. "Fancy meeting you here!" I was often tempted to ask, "Do you come here often?" So I was communicating with existing friends in umpteen places. They were everywhere, all at the same time, and so was I.
As well as that, within 24 hours of arriving on one particular site, I had THREE private messages warning me to be careful what I said because the conversation could sometimes be vicious. The word "vicious" was actually used in each case. Why would anyone want to hang out anywhere where people were going to be vicious? I didn't see any viciousness but I know people who have experienced it. And I don't want to.
After a couple of weeks of all this gorging on the buffet, and working longer and longer hours to get any actual work done, it all became too much and I thought, "Blimey, this is the definition of wasting time." And I reminded myself of what I'd told Vanessa Gebbie: Discipline, my child!
Also, I was getting more and more frustrated with Facebook - I seemed to be force-fed information and photos and quiz results and Farmville pink rabbits from people I literally didn't know. At. All. I am sure many of them were lovely people, but I didn't know them and they didn't know me and there are actually only so many hours in the day.
So I began slipping away from some of the afore-mentioned places, without wanting to offend the perfectly decent and sensible people there. Today, I began to try to untie the strings of Facebook. And what long FB conversations that caused! Facebook has this horrible word, "Unfriending". In order only to interact with people you actually know, you have to unfriend the others. It's horrible. You have to do it one name at a time and a little - well, OK: big - message comes up asking if you're really sure you want to unfriend so-and-so. Meh.
On Saturday 17th September 2011 at The Surgeon's Hall in Edinburgh the
Society of Authors in Scotland (SOAiS) held their annual conference with a theme of understanding and making the most of the digital revolution in books and looking for new opportunities.
The conference was also followed on twitter and you can follow the tweets on #soaconf
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Sara Sheridan and Marion Sinclair
networking- 'Let me give you my card' | |
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There were over 100 delegates attending the conference which was open to all, not just members of the Society.
It was a fascinating day with lots of great speakers who were generous with their advice and happy to answer questions. We started off with author Sara Sheridan who as always was energetic and enthusiastic in her approach.
By: GraemeNeill,
on 9/16/2011
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London independent Goldsboro Books is sponsoring a new prize for debut historical fiction from the Historical Writers Association.
The inaugural prize will be for the best debut published in the UK in 2010 and 2011 and will be presented at the independent bookshop’s History in the Court Festival on 27th September.
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By: GraemeNeill,
on 9/14/2011
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Authors including Neil Gaiman and Ian Rankin will collaborate with the public in a short story "Tweetathon" organised by the Society of Authors.
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By: katieallen,
on 8/19/2011
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Authors of Macmillan titles put on hold during the recent Serious Fraud Office investigation say they have been given a "glimmer of hope" for the future, with "sensible" discussions now beginning with the publisher after months of poor communication.
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The Society of Authors, the Writers' Guild of Great Britain and actors' union Equity have jointly sent letters to both BBC Trust chairman Lord Patten and director general Mark Thompson, asking them to stop the BBC Radio 4 cuts to the short story.
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The Society of Authors' petition against the cuts to BBC Radio 4's short story programming has now amassed over 5,000 signatures. SoA general secretary Nicola Solomon and assistant general secretary Jo McCrum will present the petition to BBC Radio 4 controller Gwyneth Williams at Broadcasting House in central London at 4 p.m. on Thursday (28th July), along with authors Alison Joseph, Ali Smith, Jackie Kay, Simon Brett, Susie McGuire, and Ian Skillicorn, director of National Short Story Week.
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The Society of Authors has said it would be a "great shame" if the BBC goes ahead with its planned cuts to short story coverage on BBC Radio 4 and pleaded with the broadcaster to reconsider.
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Yesterday I signed the contract for my latest book project, the one I told you about a while ago, that I have written as well as illustrated. Hurrah!
It's taken about a month to get it sorted, because there were various negotiations to be done, emailing backwards and forwards, sorting out the fine detail of the contract.
For anyone who has never seen one, picture book contracts are a nightmare, bursting at the seams with clauses and subclauses, percentages and rights, territories and timescales. I don't pretend to understand it all, that's why I am a member of the Society of Authors. They are brilliant, and essential for anyone who doesn't work through an agent. You can send them the proposed contract and, within a day or two, a specialist will have gone through it with a fine tooth-comb, ensuring it is fair and suggesting any changes that it would be wise to press for.
My hot tip for any new authors or illustrators, getting signed up for their first book: don't assume that, just because a contract looks all official and is in fancy, legal lingo, it's set in stone. You can ask for things to be changed: the worst that can happen is that they will say 'no, we want to leave it as it', but publishers are often more flexible than you would think.
I'm really glad all that hard-nose bit is done and dusted now though, and I'm looking forward to getting stuck into the roughs. I've done quite a lot of the drawing already, but have to turn my big planning sheets into something more precise and ordered, fitting the picture book length and format.
7 Comments on All Systems Are Go!, last added: 6/28/2011
Author Gregor Dallas has accused the Society of Authors of not doing enough to defend its members from large publishers which are cutting back on range and creating a "national scandal" with the declining quality of their books.
Dallas, a historian and chair of the SoA’s France group, has put himself forward for a position on the SoA’s management committee, forcing the first election at the body for several years.
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On Tuesday this week, I went to a Society of Authors summer meeting. It was the first time I'd ever been to 84 Drayton Gardens, the socety's headquarters. The meetings often sound interesting, but it's a long schlep from the wilds of Cheddar Gorge - which, incidentally, will be coming to a screen near you next summer for all of 70 seconds in a blockbuster film called Jack the Giant Killer, starring Ewen McGregor, Bill Nighy, Ian McShane and Nicholas Hoult. They were filming here last week - oh, how excited we've all been! Anyway, that's completely irrelevant - back to Drayton Gardens.
The discussion was entitled Fiction for 7-9s: The Poor Relation? It was elegantly chaired by our own John Dougherty in a lovely flowered shirt, and the panel included Kathy Webb from OUP, Annie Eaton from Random House and Charlie Sheppard from Andersen Press.
First, John asked each of the panel members to give an overview of the market for this age group.
Kathy Webb
- One difficulty is the diversity of this age bracket, which makes matching the reader to the right book quite tricky.
- At this age, there are lots of other activities which take up children's time. On the plus side, they are open minded, they have great imaginations, and they recommend books to each other. Peer pressure is not a problem - it's okay to be seen reading!
- There are a lot of series. Kathy discussed this at some length, explaining that boys like the 'collectability' of series such as Astrosaurs, Beast Quest, Horrid Henry etc. She said that girls also like series, but they are much more author led. However - they like books by the same author to have a similar look and feel. Kathy stressed that they don't cut corners with series; each book gets the same amount of attention as a standalone. She would very much like to publish more standalones, but it's difficult to get kids to read them.
Charlie Sheppard
- Charlie said that this, at the moment, is the Cinderella age group, and is overshadowed by books for older children. Looking at the reasons for this, she said that they need more illustration and more design and are therefore more expensive to produce - and yet the price is the same as it has been for the last fifteen years: so it's difficult to make any money from them.
- Other problems: Smiths and Waterstones prefer series - books for this age group are usually thin. One by itself will get lost, whereas a series creates a presence on the shelf. Series like Yellow Bananas, which were standalones, used to have the same effect because they were strongly branded (ie they looked the same), but similarly packaged series are not being produced now.
- Usually, it's the books for older readers that glean reviews and prizes.
- Then there are the gatekeepers. Or not... librarians have had their budgets slashed, teachers tend not to keep up with recently published books (and so recommend classics, or the books they enjoyed as children or read as students): parents naturally buy what they see - namely, series.
- Another factor is that you can't sell translation rights for this age group, for some reason, so there's no money to be made there either.
- On the plus side, Charlie Has A Dream! She feels that change is in the air. That one day soon, out of the mists of Storyland, there will emaerge, clothed in white samite and gleaming in the sunshine - one book! One book to change them all, one book to guide them - a book so stunningly good that all shall raise their standards and declare, 'Lo! Now is the Age of the Standalone!' (Sorry, got a bit carried away there - my histrionics, not Charlie's. It's the proximity of blockbusters and men in black leather doublets that does it...)
Annie Eaton
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Damn! I knew I should have come...but I was at The Globe, a prior engagement...next time...NEXT TIME!
Thanks Anne. Glad you had fun.
Cindy xx
How I wish I'd been there. Instead I was wrestling with Cornish lobsters in the bath. Yes, pretty much literally, this is not a euphemism.
I am booking my holiday at CWIG for three years hence. A lovely account. Thanks!
Thanks for reminding me of some of the lovely moments of the CWIG Conference, Anne, and the pleasure of meeting so many friends there.
Brilliant Anne - great snapshot and so good to see everyone who made it - commiserations to those who didn't.
Love the photos you've taken - the elbowing ghost is superb. And your plea for better coffee - does no one know what writers need to drink?!
Sounds like a right proper writerish conference- wish I could have been there but I was at a wedding, which was lovely, but hope to get to CWIG next time.
It was terrific, wasn't it? Lovely to see you there. And... a shirt to burn out Ed Vaizey's eyes? I shall get googling immediately!
Just one correction, Anne - I think that's Nicola DAVIES who's being elbowed out of the way by the ghost, isn't it???
(Oh - and I quite enjoyed the food. But perhaps you live in a better class of garret than do I...)
John, that's what I had, and then I panicked and thought it was the other Nicola and changed it! Aaargh. But you're right. I'll change it back!
Good luck with the shirt hunt. We'll all chip in...
Lovely to see you again, Anne, albeit quite briefly, when I was complaining about the tonic water (which turned out to be soda water, not surprising it tasted awful with gin). Too many people to see, to meet, but it was lovely to briefly catch up and meet new people. For me it was my first as published author so that made it extra special.
Actually the food was OK if you pretended to be vegetarian.
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My first CWIG conference - and lots of fun to hear such passion and I came away full of ideas and renewed zeal to help save the libraries.
Food really was pretty unspeakable though. Ran out of the veggie options on the first night (maybe because of the refugees from the meat options, Janet) and on the second I ate meat for the first time in over twenty years when what I was told was mushroom stroganoff turned out to be . . . well, beef. Or lamb. Or something. Euch.
Didn't spoil it though!!
Kate - I don't eat meat, but do eat fish, so ate the dried-out, shrivelled salmon the first night as the slices of pastry thing were so HUGE. I'm surprised they 'ran out' though, as they were offering it reheated for lunch on Saturday! When, again, they had no clue which dishes had meat in and which didn't.
John - I think your medals for school visiting are showing. It was school-dinner fare!
good information...
Adventure Holidays to Darjeeling
Cultural trip to Darjeeling
thanks for sharing..