After spending a week sightseeing in Italy, the sun shone more for London Book Fair than Bologna.The venue at Earl’s Court was buzzing with digital news, publishing plans and author events. Kobo adverts spread across the building in banners and the HarperCollins, Bonnier, Penguin and Random House stands prominently displayed their new titles. Whilst Bologna felt more personal, thousands of stands pressed close together in halls filled with friends and professionals discussing business for 2013-14.

Volunteering on Tuesday provided the perfect opportunity to sit in on a series of talks and learn about the current publishing climate. My duties for the day ranged from answering queries from the attendants, providing water for the speakers and greeting them to the room, and acting as microphone runner during Q&A sessions. 

I was situated in the Old Press Office with the Children's seminars which means I have a lot of exciting things to blog about! 

The first talk I was asked to help out with was the Booktrust Equal Measures panel, discussing inclusion and diversity in books for Children and Young Adults. Having attended the LGBT YA talk in February and then been lucky enough to have Beth Cox from Inclusive Minds come to talk to the Children’s Publishing class at Brookes, I was particularly excited to listen to what the panel had to say. The talk was introduced by Alexandra Strick who demonstrated the brilliant talking pen poster for Inclusive Minds. This gave voice to children’s experiences of seeing themselves represented in fiction and books. “Why are children like me always the sidekick and never the main character?”

The incredible Verna Wilkins delivered her key note speech, and gave the audience a short history of Tamarind Books, the publishing house she established to give black children like her son images of themselves in stories. Her message was that if you want to change something, you can, just be proactive and prepare to fight for your voice to be heard. Good teachers recognise that education is a widening of experiences so Tamarind books sold well in schools. And in response to booksellers saying that their customers didn’t look like her characters, Verna’s son recognised that her response was going to be “You got a lot of Gruffalos around here?” and promptly distracted her. Beth pointed out that the best kind of inclusion is incidental, not making a statement for the sake of “issues” or ticking off a box, but simply representing the world as it is. All children need to see diversity in books to provide a true representation of the world and learn to be open minded. Fen Coles from Letterbox Library listed some gaps in the current publishing landscape for inclusion: books representing transgender characters, diverse socioeconomic backgrounds, children with mental health issues and disabilities, and more. She posed the challenge of writing material that excluded use of gender pronouns full stop and simply explored children living their lives and pursuing their interests as individuals. She also warned against the perpetuation of harmful stereotypes for example villains portrayed as scarred. 

PHD student Erica Gillingham researches LGBT* inclusive books and says that yes books are out there, despite the lack of awareness for mainstream business. She pointed out that when it comes to love and romance for LGBT* characters, the US is leaps and bounds ahead of the UK (as was discussed during the LGBT* YA panel in February) and that even then the majority of characters were cis!male white teens in America. The B and the T in the umbrella need a lot more exploration. She recommended Malinda Lo’s science fiction YA novel Adaptation for an excellent representation of a bisexuality, but could only name four trans* books for the young adult market. I've just finished reading LR Lam's YA novel Pantomime which features an intersex character and fluid sexuality, with a futuristic fantasy setting and scenes of circus life.

The key advice for the industry was “Be brave, little things make a difference, avoid negative stereotypes, think about language and be inclusive.”

The ‘New Demands On, and Support For, Writers’ panel chaired by author Justin Somper, featured many of the buzz words of LBF13. Author Sarah McIntyre (jabberwocks) championed blogging as a means of networking by building an author brand. She also discussed supportive initiatives such as SCWBI and Society of Authors to hone skills. Curtis Brown Literary Agent Stephanie Thwaites and Bookbrunch journalist Liz Thompson discussed the merits and pitfalls of writing courses. Although much of the audience seemed to appreciate the feeling of companionship and the advice offered, Liz warned that research is vital to finding suitable courses that provide reasonable advice. Sarah McIntyre suggested a compromise, requesting chunkable courses that focus on improving key areas such as social media writing and management. This would help publishers and authors manage the demands on writers to become brand names, generating their own PR and participating on the festival circuit. Another suggestion came from the audience who suggested booksellers are often happy to run events with authors not present if they are later contactable for feedback or competition judges for individuals.

In the panel discussing “What’s Poetry’s Problem?” the speakers suggested that digital routes such as YouTube and twitter provided an excellent route for engaging young readers in poetry as spoken performance. They noted that children love poetry and rhyme (The Gruffalo is in rhyme after all) and that it is parents and teachers who are uncertain and lack confidence in teaching the material, perhaps because Key Stage 3 poetry encourages writing and reading, whereas GCSE poetry becomes heavily analytical. Penguin have launched a Poetry by Heart app which gives an audio visual experience. This was also referred to during the digistories panel about enhanced books. PenguinUSA’s poetry app has received much fever after its recent release, making learning interactive. However drawbacks include the trouble with free apps with monetized stages embedded within, and the controversies surrounding hidden costs after point of purchase. The panel agreed that there is indeed a future in enhanced fiction, but the work at the moment is a constantly evolving process with kinks still to be worked out on a trial and error basis. Fellow OICPS student, Judith Paskin, has been researching the books/ebooks/apps popularity among children in the Oxfordshire area. Her research shows that older children are more jaded about the gadgets and need more enticing to consider them stories. But that they are more likely to choose their own books with the anonymity of online buying (parents credit card access aside!) The most important thing for publishers to do is ensure that interactivity is right, that digital isn't just a distraction from the flow of reading. A sentiment shared by the publishers on the panel.

Digital received a huge buzz throughout the fair, from the opening conference talk with Neil Gaiman asking publishers to take risks and think big and fail better, to smaller projects such as the Random House initiative sourcing teen authors in their Movellas competition. The final talk in the Old Press Office discussed the future of enhanced fiction. Sarah Benton demonstrated the utility of Sally Gardner’s Maggot Moon iBook which provides video and sound insight into the mind of a dyslexic reader as well as factual research surrounding the narrative. Hot Key Books have also been involved in an on-going online writing project Story Adventure for young children, in which they collaborate with author Fleur Hitchcock to write the sequel to her fiction book Shrunk!. Gaming developers suggested the epic world building around fantasy novels provided the most exciting opportunity for the end users, authors and gamers alike. The most important factor to separate gaming from publishing books was the involvement of authors and a clear narrative. Publishers are experts in story and need to bring those skills to the table when collaborating with the technical departments.

In all the experience of volunteering at London Book Fair was extremely beneficial. I met many industry insiders, was able to discuss areas of interest, research New Product Development by observing companies operate. Most of all it was fun and rewarding experience. Maybe next year I will get to attend as a professional publisher, rather than bookseller and student!

I shall be writing a follow up blog in the next few days on the two New Adult panels I attended, with author Abbi Glines, Liz Bankes and Tanya Byrne, so keep an eye out for "New Adult and YA and Steamies, oh my!" and in the meantime here's a sneak peek featured on the Oxford Brookes Publishing site.

"Anxious, greedy, and deluded." 

That is how Simon Mason describes himself when wearing the cap of author, a different breed of animal entirely from "patient and wise" Mason in the role of editor. 
Talking to the Children's Publishing class at OICPS about his dual professions this afternoon, Mason drew on his experience as author of several children's and adult books as well as an editor at David Fickling Books and Random House. 

Mr Mason had three golden rules for future publishers:

* Be open and share with authors.
* Be supportive
* Be honest and realistic.

Above all the publisher's responsibility is to establish a relationship with the author in which you can successfully manage expectations in order to create the best work.

The commissioning process is a big moment in the author's life, the culmination of private work being accepted and celebrated. What does an author want in these circumstances? Mason reminds us that the author creature is "anxious, greedy and delusional" and looking for is a hodgepodge of flattery, white lies and money...remember the import of delusional in that sentence! What an editor can offer is acknowledgement of work in the form of a face to face meeting. Building a rapport from the offset. In his role of patient and wise editor, Mason views this as an opportunity to glean information about the author. Picking up clues as to work method; is this your first novel? How long have you been working on it? Why are you looking to publish this piece? What would you like us to do for you? And most importantly, are you open to constructive criticism. 

Can we build a mutual bond to bring about the creative best in each other?

Money is important, an author will be enticed by a higher offer of advance, however it is not the be all and end all. Non-monetary value can be found in the questions; does the publisher offer a vision, how would they approach publishing the novel, is there a personal approach and good reputation?

Will they offer 'good news sandwiches', building the editing process around honest criticism without shattering egos in their wake? Are they clear, bold, direct? How can editors encourage the author to improve upon their own work?

Keeping the author informed is key; during the editorial process, explain the whys. In designing the cover and giving the expressive heart of the book a face, listen to their aesthetic and utilise their ideas building the author into the process in conjunction with Marketing and Sales to create something pleasing to author and end user. Mason described the process of redesigning the cover of his novel Moon Pie in the reprint between hardback and paperback, to better suit a 9-11 year old market. Selecting designs passed on by the editors at David Fickling Books to create a more mature front.

Publicists work intensively with the author, getting the word out about their work on blogs, radio, signings at fairs. Here is where the author will expect amazing things, and the publicist may have to work carefully to bring them back down to Earth and celebrate their work in a way that is both realistic and beneficial. Passing on mentions to the author to show that their work is being received and appreciated within it's niche adds a real world demonstration of results. 

Literary agents offer a perspective to authors that bridges the gap between the intimacy of working directly on the text with an editor, often better preparing them for the world of book publishing. A gateway of realism to bolster the anxious authorial beast.

As editor and author, Mason demonstrates the balance between both worlds.

This Monday I was lucky enough to staff a book signing event and meet Eowyn Ivey, author of The Snow Child, and as of last night newly crowned winner of the International Book of the Year at the Specsavers National Book Awards. 

On a tour organised by Headline publishers, Eowyn traveled all the way from Alaska to do a whirlwind tour of book shops on Snow Day. The Book House were thrilled to participate as the novel has been the top of our staff choices, already selling over a hundred copies - incredible for a debut novel in an Independent Book Shop. Many delighted readers came to have their treasured hardback editions signed by the author (including my Mum in the middle of that picture!) and even more purchased the book as that perfect seasonal Christmas gift.

 
Based on a Russian fairy tale, The Snow Child is about a couple in 1920s who years on are still deeply mourning the loss of their baby. Set against the stark background of Alaska, Jack and Mabel are astonished by the appearance of a young girl who appears mysteriously on their land. Her arrival causes joy and foreboding. The novel is enchanting and tragic, superbly written and deeply affecting.

Eowyn had a particularly interesting outlook towards her book shop tour, as she herself runs an Indie book shop called Fireside Books back home in Alaska. She was very interested in the running of the shop and the local customers, comparing them to her own experience. Her Headline publicist, Sam Eades, documented the tour with a variety of photos taken from the road - treating followers of the tour on twitter to an abundance of imaginative snow themed windows and displays.  

Working author events such as this one has been my favourite part of being a book seller for the past seven years. Seeing authors connect with their readers and hearing the stories of those who have loved and been touched by a book we have sold is incredibly heartwarming. Eowyn's friendly and approachable nature meant this event was a complete joy. You can follow her snowy Alaskan adventures on her twitter.

I hope you all get the chance to read The Snow Child this winter!

 
Be afraid, be very afraid, it was Halloween. And not just because of the first official marketing examination of the course – no matter how terrifying – but instead the series of spooky talks I attended this week.

Braving the rain to hop on a train to London, it was slow going. A hurtling taxi ride and a brisk run to Leicester Square, we arrived just in time and I was counting myself lucky that that was the worst of the storms affecting us. “Send us your book related Hurricane tweets” asked one of the reinstated twitter accounts that Tuesday. The freak of nature, Frankenstorm Sandy, had hit America; disrupting servers, leaving publishers out of office, destroying shop floors, and cancelling the flight of one of the speakers I’d hoped to see the next evening.

So stranded was Erin Morgenstern, author of bestselling novel The Night Circus, tearing her away from being on stage with Audrey Niffenegger (Time Traveller’s Wife, Her Fearful Symmetry) for the  Waterstones and Vintage Books ‘A Halloween Spectacular’ at The Prince Charles Cinema. The evening was perfectly themed for a haunting Halloween, and Vintage had organised a brilliant piece of pull marketing. I discovered the event through social media, spread by word of mouth through links on twitter to an events page on Facebook with easily accessible ticket purchasing routes and the authors’ names emboldened on an eye catching banner.

Erin used the magic of technology, joining us via Skype from her Boston apartment to talk to her disembodied audience. Thus we were not left disappointed, and were treated to an international conversation on the flights of fantasy housed in the heads of two successful authors.

The night began with Audrey Niffenegger treating us to a ghostly short tale she’d written for the Chicago Tribune, reading aloud for the first time her story entitled Secret Life, With Cats, for what could be more terrifying than the mundane loveless marriage of her protagonist except the invisible creatures going thump in the night and perhaps the grizzly end of her spinster friend Ruth, a fellow volunteer  at The Happy Cat Home?

          I didn't mean to sleep. Even as I was falling asleep I thought, no, I must get back to work, but I knew I was  
          sleeping already. It was the kind of sleep that is like dropping into a hole. Then I was half-awake, and had a 
          curious sensation: there was a weight on the bed, leaning against me, and as I moved in my waking the 
          weight went to the edge of the bed and fell off. It landed with a thud on the floor. 

         I sat up and looked at the floor, but there was nothing there. 

This was followed by Erin Morgenstern reading a passage from The Night Circus. Projected on the cinema screen, surrounded by carved pumpkins and candles, adorned in a blood red cloak like a grown Little Red Riding Hood on the cover of an Angela Carter novel, Erin took us on a journey into the tents of the circus. She wrote the book because she wanted to create her own Wonderland. Young Bailey is not a secondary character, but vital to the story, she said, because she was fed up with only the English ever getting to go to Narnia.  

          Bailey finds a gap in the side of one of the tents. A split in the fabric, each edge dotted with silver grommets,
          and a black ribbon hangs just above his head, as though this opening was meant to be laced together to 
          keep the tent firmly closed. He wonders if some circus member forgot to re-lace it. 

The floor was opened up to a Q&A session.

How do the authors bring their reader along on their fantasy ride?

By grounding the tales in reality, be it through complex and real relationship issues (A.N) or the sense memory of a familiar scent (E.M.)

How do you write what you know when writing fantasy?

You know more than you think you do. You read, you talk to people, you empathise and imagine. If you ask someone what it’s like to be pregnant, they WILL tell you. The glimmer of truth opens doors to the fantastical.

What is your writing process like?

For years Erin couldn’t write, she’d write a page and hate it. But she took part in NaNoWriMo and forced herself to keep writing. The Night Circus was an accident sparked in the middle of this experience, when she found herself imagining the place. She was, she speculates, an architect in a past life. How does it look? Who were the people who ran this mysterious circus? With a background in theatre and experience with lighting design, directing and acting, she says writing gives her the chance to do all the jobs at once and create things she could never achieve on stage. She binge writes. Audrey on the other hand, percolates ideas for a lengthy time before tackling writing like a cart hurtling down hill picking up speed as she goes. With The Time Traveller’s Wife she started with that titular phrase. Immediately she had two characters, their relationship, and the fact that the husband was a time traveller. Next she asked questions. What was it like for the wife to have a husband who jumped through time? How did this affect their marriage? Questions are the key to writing. As both authors are also artists, Erin theorised that writing was about layers upon layers, like abstract painting.

In Halloween spirit, Audrey discussed her time spent as a tour guide for Highgate Cemetery whilst researching Her Fearful Symmetry. Writing gives her the chance to experience things she’d never do in her day to day life. Erin laughed and pointed out that she was sat in a cloak in her kitchen, so they may already have being a bit different on their side. They left us with their recommendations for Ghost Stories. Erin recommended Hamlet, and Audrey suggests H.G. Wells’ The Door in the Wall.

Sponsored by Waterstones and Vintage, the evening ended with a signing session and for those who hadn’t brought along their own much loved copies like I, books were on sale in the foyer. I congratulated Ms. Niffenegger on her feline spectres and scurried away with my signed novel and a photo.

I’ll be keeping an eye out for the next time Ms. Morgenstern is in town. Hopefully no hurricanes!


~ Charlie