SUBMISSION SPOTLIGHT 9: YA NOVEL

For those of you who don't know how these work: an intrepid writer sends me her covering letter plus the first 500 words of the proposed MS and I put them here for your constructive comments. It is assumed that if this was actually being sent to agent or publisher, a synopsis would be included, and more than 500 words, so please allow for that.

This submission is from Sarah - she can say her surname later if she wants to but I'm just calling her Sarah. She is offering her novel, The Looking Glass, for your comment.

When commenting - and please do! - be constructive, honest, fair and open. Say whether you have any particular knowledge of or affinity for this genre / age-group, either as writer, editor or avid reader. We don't necessarily expect all comments to agree so if someone says something and you disagree, do say so. It will be up to Sarah to work out how to interpret and value your comments. These have been very successful in the past and writers have unanimously benefited, so you all have a lot to live up to!

Over to Sarah...

------------------------------

Dear Ms. Morgan,

            They lived happily ever after.  Of course they did.  Cinderella was beautiful and Prince Charming actually enjoyed attending the ball.

            This time, the heroine isn't the loveliest lady at the ball, and the prince dances with her alluring second cousins instead.  This time, a country's romantic custom becomes the center of a plot to steal the throne.

            The Looking Glass is a 95,000 word YA novel that begins a century after King Richard of Eiden fell in love with a maid when he returned her dancing slipper.  Now royal balls are part of Eiden's traditions and one of Prince Philip's chief annoyances.

            After her parents' deaths, Elsbeth moved from the Lowlands to live with Lady Augusta.  Lady Augusta believes that with enough training, plain-looking Elsbeth could be almost as admired as her own two daughters.  After a humiliating experience at her first ball, however, Elsbeth decides she'll attend the next one her own way.  Lady Augusta can't pick her partners or monitor her conversation if she can't find her.

            As Elsbeth hides on the edges of the three-night ball, she discovers part of a plot that could cost Prince Philip the crown.  The future of Eiden will be decided at the ball- by a girl who didn't want to be there in the first place.

            I'm a member of SCBWI and participate in a critique group.  The Looking Glass is my first novel, and I'd be happy to send you the manuscript. Thank you for your time.

FIRST 500 WORDS
Chapter 1

The tables in the low hall of the Underwall Inn overflowed with merchants ready to display their wares at Taylan’s Fair. Few men spoke, however, as Elsbeth finished her story. For a heartbeat, silence stretched across the room. Then someone shouted from across the hall.

“Elsbeth, you changed the end!”

Elsbeth came back from that world between the story she’d told and the crowded room before her. She half-smiled and called to the leather merchant, “I always change something, Nigel! You never complained before.”

“You never mucked around with one of my stories before!”

Elsbeth scowled for the crowd’s benefit. “Your story? You told me you heard it from one of your tanners.”

“A tanner, Nigel?” called someone over the laughter in the room. “We like our Elsbeth’s version better!”

Already the room echoed with dozens of conversations spoken in at least four languages. She had told one tale earlier that evening, but the men had coaxed her into telling one more. It was the last tale she’d spin at the sUnderwall. The knowledge weighed on her, and she sensed the others felt it as well. They had stopped heckling Nigel.

Before they could request another story, she walked towards the table nearest the kitchen hallway. Lady Augusta’s three men had camped there all evening, their livery setting them apart from the travel stained clothing of the merchants. Still, one could have told they weren’t merchants without the livery. The footman nervously eyed the curved knife of a passing merchant, and the man who rode as guard remained stone-silent. Only the coachman, with his endless appetite, occasionally nodded at those who walked past.  They were her first glimpse of the High Valley. She felt her heart sink a little as she watched them, and realized she had hoped friendlier men would escort her there.

She glanced again at the door on the far end of the hall. He still hadn’t come.

            “Miss Elsbeth…” Sadie, one of the Inn’s servants, appeared before Elsbeth reached the men. In her nervousness, the poor girl had all but knotted the rag she used to wipe the tables.

            “Yes?”

            Sadie gestured at a table of scowling merchants from Ermion. “Them from-” she faltered over the foreign name, “Er-mee-non declare they will not eat the stew Mistress had the kitchen prepare. They say they’ll leave. And if they do, Mistress will…” the girl shook her head miserably.

Elsbeth knew Marion, wife of the Inn’s new owner, wouldn’t hesitate to make good use of a cane across Sadie’s back. She caught the gaze of the irate merchants, and held up a finger, asking them to wait. Jin’s face lost some of its sternness when he recognized her. He nodded his approval, and said something to the men at his table.

Elsbeth touched Sadie’s shoulder. “Come with me.”

Elsbeth stopped just inside the kitchen to see if Marion was there. She wasn’t. Of course she wasn’t. The sharp-faced woman rarely entered the kitchen, lest the meal’s odors cling to her new, fine clothes.

 ------------------------------------------------

Over to you...

MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT WRITING

I've blogged before about the misconceptions that non-writers (and often aspiring writers) have about being a writer: what it involves and why we do it. These misconceptions feed into the conversations we find ourselves trapped in and often irritated by, and if you're hoping to be published you need to be prepared for these conversations.

So, my post today is not about how to get published, or wishing to be published, but about being careful about what you wish for, and being ready for it.

Two things I'd like you to do.

First, read this post here - long-time readers of this blog will remember it.

And second, head over to Strictly Writing, here, where you'll find a fabulous video made by Caroline Rance.

And as a little extra, but unrelated to the message, you might like to watch the video I made last year with the same software. It's great fun to use and is even free.

I have another misconception for you on Monday, which is a Bank Holiday in the UK. And no, the misconception is not about the sun always shining on bank holidays, though that's one as well. You want a clue? It's also the reason why my blogging has slightly gone off the boil temporarily. That and the fact that I don't currently have a desk or any peace at all.

There's another clue here:

NO WASTED WORDS: FLASH FICTION COMP

There's a flash fiction competition announced today over on my new blog for Wasted - see here.

That's all! I thought you'd like to be involved - you are all writers, after all. I had a Flash Fiction comp on this blog a while back and you seemed to have a good time and produce some great results, so I thought I'd re-run it and kill two birds with one pebble.

Did I ever write a shorter post? 

My point exactly.

HOW NOT TO HOOK AN AGENT

There are many ways not to hook an agent but today we are talking about just one: the ill-considered use of a middle-person to make the approach for you, even if the approach includes a glowing report on your book. I have just had a message from an agent telling me about a submission she's just had.

First mistake: it began, "We write on behalf of our client..." NO! Avoid outfits that claim to offer your MS to a whole raft of agents and publishers together. Knowledgeable agents want to hear from YOU, not some cowboy crew who think they know about publishing. Your approach must be personal and tailored if you want proper publication with a real publisher and a great service from a genuine agent. The exception is if the agent already knows and respects the opinion of the sender of the letter, but they will attach no importance at all to the recommendation of strangers.

Second mistake: the website of the outfit sending the letter had basic errors. (Not that the agent got as far as looking, but I did.) Dodgy punctuation, dull writing, no evidence of real knowledge or passion, and a claim to use a "published author!" - their exclamation mark, as though finding a published author to help them was such a big deal. If the person making the recommendation writes such dull English and fails to understand how publishing works, why should the agent trust the opinion of said person?

Third mistake: before describing the MS, the organisation offered boring and irrelevant info about its "client's" background. When offering a novel, background is irrelevant unless it happens to be relevant. If the people in this outfit don't know that, they don't know anything.

Listen at the back, please. Stop fiddling and pay attention. If you're a writer and you have a publishable book, do not demean yourself by getting someone to present your book to an agent on your behalf. By all means quote a genuine endorsement if you have one that means something, but don't use a third party that the agent hasn't heard of. Using a third party may seem professional to a novice, but it isn't. It's just not how publishing works. Publishing works very simply: professionals (agent and / or editor) love your book, believe it can sell and know how they would sell it; said professionals sign you up, buy the rights (well, the publishers do) - and buy means PAY FOR - and put their company's money into marketing, distributing and selling your book, passing on a % to you twice a year. You do not need any other middle people. Yes, you can have other people helping by giving feedback, either informally or formally, but once your book is ready to send out, you must do this yourself if you want to gain respect.

Sometimes writing consultancies do offer to present your book, if they feel it's good enough, to agents or publishers with whom they have contacts. Sometimes this is OK, but only if the consultancy is a quality outfit with genuine connections.Unfortunately, too many are not, and some are now getting themselves a bad name for giving over-glowing reports on dud MSS.

My consultancy (Pen2Publication) does NOT offer to submit your work to agents or publishers for you. However, if I came across an MS which I felt was ready and suited to an agent or publisher of my acquaintance, I might create an opening and / or endorsement, but that would be all. I don't advertise that fact because it's rarely going to be the case and I don't want to raise hopes. Also, I know very well that most agents worth their salt want to be approached directly by the writer and if the work is good enough my opinion won't be needed. I certainly would never make the approach for a writer and I would not recommend any writer to use that method.

You're a writer: write your own letters. Get genned up on publishing and do your research. Write the best book you can and stand up for it yourself. Getting someone else to submit your work is NOT the best way to impress an agent or publisher. Trust me.

IN WHICH I HIJACK MY OWN BLOG

Indulge me while I hijack my own blog briefly, please. See, it's that time of year again: book promo time. As in mine. Not the one I mentioned yesterday - I haven't written that yet. (Note to self: DEADLINE.) But the one that's published on May 3rd.

All I'd like to say to you today, in a calm, subtle and measured way, is that some of you may not know (if you've been asleep) that I have a new blog starting, especially for the new book.

Ahem. I've just committed the first mistake of an author with a book coming out. Did you notice? Basic, absolutely damned basic.

I

have

not

mentioned

the

name

of

the

book.

First rule: mention name of book at all opportunities

So, the book is called WASTED. Some of you have already read it and everyone who has commented has amazingly loved it. The latest fab comment / review is here and my publishers say there's a terrific buzz about this book, which has come from readers, not any clever tricks by marketing people. Readers have more power than anyone in the writing and publishing process.

Anyway, you need to know that I am about to go on tour till the end of May, but fear not: I will still be here, by magic. Yep, it's a blog tour, so I will still be here for you and this blog will experience no hiatus. I would not leave you, really. You will find me all over the place, thanks to the fabulous organisational skills of my charming new assistant, Catherine Hughes, she of this blog's readership. (Check out her own blogs here and here, btw.)

And the blog is here. I mention it today because it launches properly tomorrow and I'd love you to be there. Sign yourselves up as followers and you get a weekly chance to win a copy of the book. Or just pop by each day for entertainment and enlightenment - a new post every day. During the next few weeks there will be many opportunities to win books - some of them requiring skill (writing competitions) and some pure luck. See, the book is all about luck, chance, randomness, fate, risk, causal determinism, and the odd spot of quantum physics.

There's something for everyone. Well, not everyone. Not people who don't like a challenging, different read. Not people who don't like to think. And not people who don't enjoy a good time.

I have written a post for every day for the next six weeks. A flipping marathon, but Catherine is a hard task-mistress.

Now, I have one small thing to ask. If by any chance you end up reading Wasted, and if by any chance you like it, could you please say so, kind of a little bit loudly? Possibly even on Amazon? (And if you don't like it, could you possibly be very, very, very quiet?)

Whatever, please join me over on the blog. I'd love to get 100 followers before launch day.And Catherine would be pleased with me, which is quite important, too.

THANK YOU! And sorry for giving you no publishing advice at all today.

STANDARDS IN PRIVATE LIFE

Despite being a crabbit old bat, I have an unnatural sympathetic streak which cringes when people are found out for their bad behaviour. It's embarrassing.

BUT behaviour like this REALLY pisses me off. I have never read Dr Rachel Polonsky's books and therefore have no opinion as to their wondrousness, but she did not deserve to be rubbished by someone disguising the fact that she was the wife of a rival. If her books are bad, and if you think so, you should either say so under your own name in an accountable fashion or shut the hell up, frankly.

I have also had very weirdly vitriolic bad reviews on Amazon, from people saying things like "worst book I've ever read" and signed by "Bob Geldof", who, frankly, I think has more important things to do than review my teenage books. I'm sorry but if my books are the worst you've ever read, you haven't read many. Consequently, I now don't trust Amazon and other online reviews unless it's clear who wrote them. (Or if they're good, of course, and about my books - then I KNOW they're true! Erm, not...) I have had some good ones, btw, lest you think I'm totally crap.

That's irrelevant. I just want to make a stand for integrity. Yes, I could go and write a stinking anonymous review for a rival's book. But I wouldn't. Why?

Because I wouldn't be able to sleep at night, is why. OK?

Have some standards. Your soul is at stake.

INSPIRATION, INDULGENCE AND SHEER BLOODY GRATITUDE

You've all put up with enough of my moaning. There's been the failed heating system and need to replace ALL the pipework beneath the floors of the "new" flat. There's the broken oven, broken washing-machine (which flooded my legs as I tried to stem the tide), blocked sink, broken waste disposal, dripping taps, cellars full of appalling rubbish left by the previous owner, and the fact that when we arrived, the previous owner hadn't left. Nor had his possessions. And of course you had almost two weeks of me moaning about lack of internet access and how I was getting fat in Starbucks just so that I could get online.

Today I bring you the other side of the coin, because there is always another side. And this side is so spectacular that I feel ashamed for moaning. I bring you a story in pictures and you need to know that these pictures were all taken within a ten minute period on Saturday, beginning in my new back garden, all with my iphone.

I bring you the story to do two things: to turn the tables on my moaning and to show you where my inspiration is going to come from while I live in this flat on the side of fabulous Calton Hill, in Edinburgh. Calton Hill is what gives Edinburgh its name - the Athens of the North - and you will soon see why.

First, I stood beneath the palm tree in my garden and looked skywards.
 

Then I walked through our gate, into the amazing gardens owned by all the residents of this street and the next one. We all have keys, and each time I walk into these gardens I have to pinch myself. So does my dog, I think.

Through one of the gates and we're on Calton Hill. I offer no words to accompany the following pictures - they say it all. You may question how the weather could be so different within ten minutes but all I can say is that a) this is Scotland and b) we have 360 degree views from this hill so the pictures are taken in every direction, with the first one taken straight into the sun.

 

 

One lucky author and one lucky dog? To have this on our doorstep? Remind me never to moan again.

And the "gratitude" mentioned in the title? To you for putting up with two weeks of moans. This week I will be bringing you some proper writing / publishing advice and also a very exciting piece of news. But it's currently embargoed. Hehehe.

HOW LONG IS A BOOK?

You quite often ask "How long should my book be?" and I've been meaning to blog about this. Then I belatedly came across Linda Strachan's vg post on ABBA, on the subject of lengths for children's / YA books, and it reminded me of my negligence to you. Do go and read it and pay attention to the comments beneath it, which answer the questions that Linda poses.

Writers worry quite a bit about how long their books should be. And people like me worry quite a bit about how to give the right advice - because you want a straight answer, but the only true answers are quite wiggly.

As a writer in the arty sense, the truest answer I can give, though it's not the one you want, is that "the book should be the right length for the story." The story should fit beautifully inside the covers (whatever size those covers are) and the reader should not feel that you either spun it out or cut it short in its prime with a headlong rush towards the end.

As a writer in a practical frame of mind, however, I have to have some commercial considerations  in mind. These considerations are even truer for the unpublished author, who has not established an audience.

The first thing I'd say is that if you're going to look around to check out the lengths of similar books to yours, a) that's a very good idea indeed, and I hope you do, BUT b) do not consider the unusually short or long in this equation; and do not consider any books which had phenomenal success despite being extremely short or long. For example, if you're looking at the lengths of books for 10-12 year-olds, ignore the length of the Harry Potter books. Extremes and exceptions tell you nothing useful.

The second thing I'd say is that word count is a bit of a red herring. Yes, we have to use it because it's the only objective method we have, and agents and publishers need it. But publishers are perfectly capable of making a book look longer or shorter than it is - by judicious use of font size, font type and letter/line spacing. That's what they'll do, but unfortunately it doesn't help you because they do sometimes get quite hung up on word length at the acquisition stage. 

Here are some simple commercial considerations which publishers will be using and which you should therefore note:

1. Each book will be costed at an early stage in the process - often at the acquisitions meeting which is also deciding whether to accept it. The cost must account for the number of pages to be printed. The price points of particular books don't vary as much as word length, and they have to compete price-wise: so the price cannot usually reflect the different costs of production between a book of, say, 300 pages and a book of 500 pages. Therefore, an over-long book which a publisher is unsure about is more likely to be rejected than if it was a standard length.
2. Readers do sometimes consider the value of a book according to how long the pleasure will last. So, some readers will reject a book if it's too short, especially by an unknown author. I know that doesn't seem right, as a book's value is not related to length, but it's what many readers do, often subconsciously.
3. Similarly, and particularly in some genres, a book that's too long may put readers off. This is particularly the case in children's writing.

So, what are the recommended lengths? Ah, now this is where it gets tricky. I can only be very vague because it really does depend on the specific sub-genre in which you are writing. Sagas and fantasy books are often much longer than other genres, for example. There is no substitute for good research here and my suggestion is as follows:

1. Identify twelve books which you think would be your competitors - with the same readership. But do not include extremes (see above). 
2. Remove what look like the two shortest and the two longest.
3. Do a rough word count for each of the remaining eight: simply do an accurate word count for ten full pages in each and multiply by the number of pages. Make some vague adjustment for pages which only have a few lines on them.
4. Is there a very large range? For example, is the shortest 90,000 and the longest 250,000? In that case, your genre is wide open and you don't have too much to worry about as long as you keep within that range. If they all seem a similar length, work out the average and try to stick to within 15-20% of that average.

(What about a novella? A debut author is unlikely to get a novella published. The reason is that readers will generally not take a punt on such a slim volume at a relatively high price-point. Sorry.)

As an enormous generalisation, because I sense that you want me to give figures, I'd suggest that a starting-point is that a novel for adults will generally be longer 100,000 words and a novel for teenagers will be less than that. My novels have ranged from around 42,000 (Mondays are Red) to 78,000 (the Highwayman books). When you hold them in your hand - which is what really matters to the reader, who has no idea of the number of words - Mondays are Red feels too short to me and the Highwayman books feel too long, especially since they are aimed at younger teenagers, including 10+. Despite that, they both did well, but I'll never know who was put off by the length of the Highwayman books.

In my opinion as the author and a keen book buyer, my new baby, Wasted, feels like the perfect length. Mmmm, beautiful - I'm still at the stroking stage, I warn you. It feels chunky enough to last a good number of hours, but not at all off-putting. It has 352 pages and contains something not much over 60,000 words. That's the target I've given myself for the next one, and it just "feels right".

Would you like to hold Wasted in your hands and see if you agree?? You can stroke it, if you like. I've had fabulous feedback from the advance readers, including booksellers, and I am offering a weekly draw over on the Wasted blog. All you have to do is register as a follower and you'll be entered each week. The Wasted blog is launched on April 23rd and from that day on I offer you a feast of info, snippets, competitions, stories of fate / luck / chance, and lots of ways for you to get involved. Head over there now so that you are with us when we begin the fun and games!

PICTURE BOOK NOVELTIES

When I can't offer expertise in something, I find a person who can. So, to tell you about the ins and outs of writing picture books and novelty books, I turned to Anna Bowles.

Anna started in children’s publishing as an editor at Egmont, where she worked on Winnie-the-Pooh sequel, Return to the Hundred Acre Wood and the relaunch of Rupert Bear, amongst many other projects. Since going freelance two years ago she has done a stint as a Senior Editor at HarperCollins and written series fiction for Hothouse, in addition to operating as an independent consultant on children’s books. As an author of branded story and novelty books she has written about characters ranging from Barbie to Ben 10, and her books have sold over two million copies. Her next novelty publication is My Journey with Thomas the Tank Engine, due out in June.

Anna is available for consultancy and freelance editorial work. Visit www.annabowles.co.uk  or check her blog www.chocolatekeyboard.blogspot.com for details.

Talking of Thomas the Tank Engine, I really ought to be an expert in this subject, having spent many a hallucinatory hour writing a series of these delights, but somehow I see only a blank space in my brain where sensible advice should be.

Anna, on the other hand, not only knows this stuff but manages to say it lucidly and remain sane.

NM: What do we mean by a novelty book as opposed to picture books?

AB: Novelty books certainly have pictures in them, but they aren’t picture books. Some writers can find this confusing, not surprisingly.

In publishing, the term ‘picture book’ specifically refers to a storybook (or occasionally some non-fiction) for children aged 0-5. It can be hardback or paperback, but it always has full-page illustrations and only a small amount of text per page. The standard format is something like A4, only more squarish.

Novelty books are a lot more diverse, and can feature anything from paper flaps to sound chips or other fancy additions. Quite often they are aimed at young children, but pop-up books for adults, for example, are still novelties. ‘Novelty’ is an umbrella term for any publication that physically consists of more than just flat pages and a cover.

NM: Is there a difference in whom we approach and how, in order to be published in these different formats?

AB: With picture books, the way to go about seeking publication is via the standard route of polishing the text as much as possible, and then trying to interest an agent or going directly to a publisher who has an open-door submission policy. Just make sure that the publisher or agent in question does in fact take picture books. Most will, if they deal with other kinds of children’s books, but check the small print.

Because of the physical elements involved, novelty publishing requires specialist knowledge and resources. Only a limited number of publishers are set up for this, and as a result a lot of novelties are originally produced by book packagers, although you might not realise this from the finished project as it will have the publisher’s logo on the spine. A packager is a company that writes and designs a book, then sells it on to a publisher which prints and distributes it. Many packagers are very small operations, with just one or two people on staff, so they’re open to using freelance writers and designers.

An agent is unlikely to take on a novelty book, except for an existing client, so if you have an idea for one your best bet is to approach a packager. They don’t generally have a profile outside the publishing industry, but you can find them in the Writers & Artists’ Yearbook.

NM: Can you outline the technical rules of picture book writing?

AB: Picture books are aimed at the 0-5s, and generally have 32 pages, about 24 of which are given over to the story and illustrations. The maximum wordcount for prose is usually said to be 1,500, though in my experience 500-750 words is considered ideal.

Picture Book Checklist
1) Concept - Is the action of your story comprehensible to very young children who probably have little experience outside home and maybe nursery?

2) Language level - Maybe not every word in your book will already be familiar to a three-year-old, but without making your text at all drab you should make sure that difficult words are kept to a minimum and presented in a context that helps the child absorb their meaning.

3) Sentence structure - This should be as simple and direct as possible.

4) Read-aloud-ability: flow - Picture books are meant for reading to children as much as by them, and it should be possible for an adult to pick up a well-written picture book and read it aloud straight out without stumbling.

5) Read-aloud-ability: flair - If you listen to a parent reading a picture book to a child, they often put a lot of drama into it. Onomatopoeia, lively dialogue and (limited) sound effects all help mum or dad to give a first-rate performance.

6) Illustrations: subject - No, you don’t draw them yourself (more on that below). But you need to think about how your story will work in visual terms. If it’s all set in the same place, for example in a child’s bedroom, you could have a problem because the illustrator will be hard-pressed to make that interesting.

7) Illustrations: spacing - You don’t have to know exactly where the page breaks will come in your text, but it’s good to have a rough idea, so that you can be sure there are no pages where the artist will be hard-pressed to find something to draw.

8) Editing - The usual advice about merciless editing applies tenfold to picture books. You can’t waste a word.

I’m assuming here that your picture book does have a story, but in fact not all do. Hooray for Fish! by Lucy Cousins, which lists different types of imaginary fish, is a favourite with toddlers and a great example of a picture book with virtually no narrative. I wouldn’t recommend the non-narrative approach to beginners though; it’s good to prove to publishers that you can write a story.

NM: And the technical rules for novelty books?

The most important issues in novelty publishing are cost and the ever-increasing raft of safety regulations. A case in point: I remember being handed a bag of crayons by Production and asked to tell them which colours I wanted for the crayon pack on the front of a book. I handed them all back five minutes later, having determined that the answer was ‘none of them’ because they physically didn’t work. The ingredient that would make the crayons actually function had become illegal in products for under threes, and been removed.

As a result of this kind of headache, novelty books often come about through a process of in-house brainstorming of the format, after which the text is written by an editor. However, the search for new formats, or innovative ways of presenting old ones, is an ongoing challenge, and if you come up with a really fresh idea it could well be of interest to a packager.

Novelty book checklist
1) Concept
Is the novelty element an integral part of your story, or just a bolt-on? The story has to be told through the flaps/pieces of cloth/LEDs or whatever it may be.

2) Mechanics
Is your book physically possible? You have to be able to visualise it very clearly, or you end up, for example, not realising that a die cut (hole in the page) on page 5 will of necessity appear on page 6 as well. It sounds obvious, but I know of a book that got to the sample copies stage before the editor twigged.

3) Affordability
As a very rough rule of thumb, a £4.99 children’s book will be able to have one expensive novelty element like a mirror plus some flaps and tabs, or two less expensive elements such as cloth and PVC.

4) Safety
Safety regulations are complex but you can guess the obvious ones, such as no small detachable elements for the under threes.

5) Variety
For budget reasons you may need to have the same kind of cheap feature – a pull-tab, say – on each of your five spreads, but the illustrations will still need to look substantially different from each other Your story should be written with this in mind.

Novelties don’t seem to get discussed much online, so to get a handle on the market a good idea is to do some extensive research in a bookshop, or seek expert advice if you can get it. The runaway success of the novelty world is of course the Usborne “That’s Not My…” series, so do take a look at them if you haven’t already.

NM: How do publishers go about matching books with illustrators?

Well, the key word there is ‘publishers’, not authors. Genuinely multi-talented author-illustrators are welcomed, but sending in a manuscript with illustrations by your friend, as some new writers do, only signals to editors that you don’t know much about the business.

An acquiring editor is likely to have strong ideas about the illustration style that would suit a particular picture or novelty book. She may take the project straight to a specific illustrator she has in mind, or get samples from a number of candidates. The writer will be consulted during this process, but it is a case of the publisher keeping the writer informed rather than the writer actively driving the process of finding and approving an illustrator.

NM: So many would-be writers start by writing a rhyming text, because we all know children love rhyme and that's it's a great way to engage them. Can you please set writers straight on this?! 

AB: Yes! In fact rhyme is a disadvantage. This is mainly because of foreign rights. To explain: rhyming text is more difficult to translate, so foreign publishers are less likely to buy the translation rights from your agent or UK publisher. That means editors see rhyming manuscripts as less likely to make money than prose stories.

That said, you will find lots of rhyming books on the shelves. The novelties are often written by editorial staff, and many of the picture books are by big names like Julia Donaldson, whose work editors are confident of selling on abroad in spite of the translation issue.

Some, though, are by first-time authors. Breaking into the picture book market with a rhyming manuscript isn’t impossible, it just adds an extra obstacle. So unless you are a very confident writer of verse, and you have a story that just doesn’t seem right in any other form (it happens!), I’d advise sticking to prose.

NM: What other big mistakes do inexperienced writers make?

AB: Most flawed manuscripts are let down by failure to deal with one or more of the points I’ve mentioned above. Plus a large number of manuscripts have a mishmash styles suited to various different ages, which immediately disqualifies them, or are overtly moralistic. If a book has a lesson at all, it has to be couched in, and totally shaped by, a fun story.

It’s also a waste of time to submit a manuscript that just goes “A is for apple, B is for boat” or “Bananas are yellow, strawberries are red” thinking that it’s an easy way to make money, although I’m sure no-one with the sense to read this blog would do that. If text genuinely looks so simple that you can’t imagine anyone being paid to write it then they probably weren’t; the editor did it.

Submitting a single manuscript can also be unwise, because someone who only writes one very short book won’t be seen as worth a publisher’s investment. If you’re working on 10 picture books don’t send them all, as a couple of them will be enough for a professional to make a judgement about your style, but do send two or three and mention the others.

NM: Any further advice, bugbears etc?

AB: collect bugbears! I’ve worked on a lot of TV tie-in novelty books and the thing that irritates me most is the assumption in some quarters that these books are automatically cheap and naff. Unfortunately some are, because of publishers looking to make a quick buck off the back of a trend, but it’s not actually necessary.

In terms of approaches from writers, I suppose the most frustrating thing is when someone seems to think that books are manufactured for free, and waxes lyrical about how a story will be enhanced by having glitter on one page, a pop-up on the next, then a mirror… ain’t gonna happen, much as we might like it to.

I find that it helps to think of the picture book format as a discipline similar to poetry, not because picture books have to be in verse but because they are relatively short and highly sculpted. Making that analogy helps fix a writer in the necessary frame of mind for the amount of fine work and honing that a successful picture book MS requires.

Anna, thank you so much for the huge amount of time you put into that generous advice! I hope would-be picture book writers will agree that it's been incredibly infornative, and eye-opening for anyone who thinks it's easy.

Writers: do check out Anna's website and blog: www.annabowles.co.uk  / www.chocolatekeyboard.blogspot.com.She tells it how it is. Also, if you're thinking of contacting me through Pen2Publication for picture book writing advice, I'd be passing you straight onto Anna anyway, so just contact her direct. Cut out the middle-woman! (Not that I was taking any commission anyway, I hasten to add.)

Note, though: all this advice helps you avoid the practical errors that writers usually make. But much harder is actually coming up with the idea and then translating it into compelling tight writing. I have never even attempted a picture book story: MUCH too hard for me! Julia Donaldson is a friend of mine and I see the talent that goes into her work - pic books nay be short but they require very special skill.

THE WINNER OF THE WASTED DRAW IS...

Just about to be announced.

To remind you, I decided to celebrate passing the 500 follower mark by offering a free copy of Wasted to a randomly chosen commenter from the post where I announced the comp.

I thought I'd spin this out a bit but then I realised that spinning things out a bit is really not the best use of time for me just now, so I won't.

Except

just

a

little




bit.


OK?


So

the

winner

is


um


oh, I 've forgotten. Hang on.

It's Elen Caldecott! So, Elen, please email your postal address to me and I will post your signed copy of Wasted. Let me know who you'd like it signed to if not yourself.

And to the rest of you, better luck next time: sign up to the Wasted blog and you'll be entered for a weekly draw until the end of May. And if you win, do comment on the book - I need all the help I can get, as I'm really really worried this book is going to disappear into a dark hole. There are reasons for this worry, but I won't bother you with them. Just ask for your help! HELP!