Last week I met with Barry Cunningham, the publisher of Chicken House; JK Rowling’s agent, Neil Blair, from the Christopher Little agency; Waterstone’s children’s book maestro Sarah Clarke and bestselling children’s authors Michelle Paver and Sophia Bennett, to discuss the best way of writing, presenting, publishing and marketing a new children’s author. The Masterclass was sold out, with so many people on the waiting list that we will be reconvening it for The Times Cheltenham Festival in October.
Aspiring authors, young and old, took notes, asked questions, shared jokes and (we hope) gained inspiration. For those who missed it, here are our top ten tips.
1. Read other authors on publishers’ and agents’ lists and see if your book resembles what they already handle. Tell them why you like their list. It’s only polite.
2. Don’t take rejection letters personally. See what specific things the agent/editor doesn’t like and try to address them. Remember to spell-check your own letter and manuscript.
3. You don’t need children of your own to write for them. Michelle Paver doesn’t and neither did many of the best authors. Write the book you longed to read as a child.
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4. Agents especially now look for international appeal as overseas sales are the way children’s books make money. Don’t be afraid of being very English (like Harry Potter) but make sure you understand the universal appeal of courage, humour and good, clear style.
5. If taken on, be prepared to re-write your book many more times in order to get it right. Sophia Bennet re-wrote Threads 17 times.
6. Publishers are especially interested in books for the 6-9 age group, so look hard at these.
7. Remember that children are aspiration readers so you can make your characters older than 6 or 9 — or even adult — to appeal.
8. You do not need to have a six-volume series in draft form, but the potential for more is always interesting. However, publishers do also look out for one-book stories.
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9. Don’t worry about the impact of Kindles and iPads, which is the publisher’s job. Concentrate on traditional story telling.
10. No more vampire/werewolf/angel stories. Please.