Hi People,
I’m away next week – writing in West Cork – so no posts ’till the following week – but I’ll leave you with this – a fab event for kids and teens – with Derek Landy, Judi Curtin and many, many more . . . (oh and me!)
Check it out – and book asap!
In the meantime, happy writing,
SarahX

Bubblegum Club Book Bash – Monster Book Fun!

Saturday 3rd October 2009 (During the Children’s Book Festival)

At the Kingston Hotel, Dun Laoghaire
12pm to 3.30pm

The first ever Irish literary lunch for children and teens. An author or book guru at every table! Come along and meet:

Derek Landy, Mr Skulduggery Pleasant himself! Winner of this year’s Irish Book Awards.
Marita Conlon McKenna, much loved and multi award winning author of Under the Hawthorne Tree
Sarah Webb, author of the hugely popular Amy Green series and bestselling author for mums and big sisters too!
Don Conroy, writer, artist and much loved Uncle Don from Den TV
Joe O’Brien, author of the Alfie Green series and other brilliant books
Judi Curtin, creator of the mega cool Alice and Megan books
Celine Kiernan, author of the Moorhawk fantasy/adventure trilogy
Claire Hennessy, teen writing sensation who started her career at age 13!
Alison Walsh, uber experienced editor Ivan O’Brien, publisher, O’Brien Press
Plus more amazing writers – David Maybury, Maeve Friel, Jane Mitchell, Roisin Meaney, and Sarah Rees Brennan. And David O’Callaghan, book guru from Eason.

A fantastic, once in a lifetime chance to talk to these amazingly talented authors.

Plus Derek Landy will entertain you with tales from the depths of his wickedly creative mind. And our crack team of book trade professionals will answer all your questions on how a book is created and how you too can get published.

It gets even more exciting – every young reader will go home with a goody bag, and there will also be an Author Auction – win a writer to visit your school, or signed books by Darren Shan and other cool writers, plus a bookshop on site.

Please note tickets are limited and early demand has been unprecedented, so please book now to avoid disappointment. Children e20, adults e25 (child and adult tickets both include lunch – and child tickets include free goody bags)
All children under 12 must be accompanied by an adult

Booking: email – bubblegumclubbookbash@gmail.com
Tel: 01 2360456 or 086 2628888 or check out www.bubblegumclub.ie for details
Children’s Book Festival info: www.childrensbooksireland.ie

Paths to Publication
September 2009

How to promote and market you newly published book

These are the notes from a talk I gave at the Paths to Publication Conference run by Children’s Books Ireland in association with the Society of Children’s Authors and Illustrators, Sept 2009.

Firstly I gave a brief introduction – detailing my work as a writer and a children’s bookseller (15 years and counting!).

Then I continued . . .

All successful children’s writers work extremely hard and are passionate about their books and about their writing career. If they intend to stay writing, they will do whatever it takes. If that means doing publicity, even if it means telling people what they had for breakfast, they will do it.

The good news is that every writer can do a lot to market and promote their own book.

The secret – and yes, there is a secret – but like most things it’s this – hard work, being organised and determined – a lot of work can be done behind the scenes months before your book reaches the bookshop shelves.

When I started out in books, I had no experience in marketing or publicity – I just used my head – so what I did, you can do too.

But before that some general points.

First things first – don’t worry about any of this unless you have written a book worth promoting. Put your time and energy into the writing first and foremost.

Also – publicity and marketing are 2 different things. Now, I don’t have any marketing qualifications so these points are in my own words and probably not very ‘scientific’.

The way I see it, marketing means promoting your book to the market and in the marketplace – ie the shops. It means getting information about your book to the relevant children’s buyers and booksellers, backing up that information with display material – such as posters and bookmarks. And keeping the bookshops informed of any publicity you have lined up for the book.

In general, your publisher should be on top of the marketing – but if they don’t intend to do posters or bookmarks – say for example they are small, your book is self published or published in England (this is directed at Irish authors of course!) – and few books get much marketing spend – think about doing it yourself. And dropping postcards/posters/bookmarks in yourself to your local libraries, bookshops and schools.

Think of investing in business cards, stickers, thank you cards – useful things are good – keyrings maybe?

Yes, it costs money. But think of it as money invested in your future as a writer.

The more booksellers know about your book the better chance it has of being recommended, restocked, put on a table, put in promotions. But there is a fine line between being pushy and helpful. Never be pushy, never be arrogant. Treat booksellers like royalty – they are the ones who put your books on the shelves and into parents and childrens’ hands.

If your book is not on the shelf, it is nothing personal. See it as your problem. Send them some information on your book – or even a copy of the book with a friendly covering note saying you are a local author and would be delighted to see your book on their shelves.

Always check with your publishers before calling into bookshops and talking to booksellers. They may like to ask your sales rep to go along and intro you. They may like to use it as a sales opportunity. Work with your publisher.

But remember – no one cares as much about your book as you do. Be passionate and talk about your book with enthusiasm – and as Patrick Ness would say, joy!

And no bookseller wants to hear you grumble about how little your publisher does to promote you – get on with it yourself (and over yourself) – take control.

But one thing I’ll come back to time and time again – be prepared to work hard and do things yourself. Do not leave everything to your publisher. They have a lot of books to market and promote. Your book is your baby. Once your book is published, your journey is just beginning.

There are over 8,000 children’s books published every year. If you want to make your book stand out, and especially if you want to be a career writer – someone who earns their living from writing or part of their living from writing, then you must do all you can to promote your book.

The reality is it is not enough to just write a book and sit back and see what happens. You also have to connect with children, with booksellers, with librarians, with teachers, with parents – with anyone who buys books. You need to make them aware that your book is a/ in the shops now and b/worth buying.

Looks do not matter – you don not have to be a supermodel – but personality and professionalism do.

Above all, be yourself. Maybe a glittery, happy version of yourself – but still yourself. I call it being on – be the person you’d be at a party, or at a job interview. And think about the image you are projecting – if you write horror, don’t look like an accountan.
Some good black shirts are a good investment. You could go so far as having a signature style – Terry Prachett has his hats, Jackie Wilson has her silver jewellery.
Think about what you are wearing when visiting bookshops/schools/going to children’s book conferences – I’m looking around this room and I don’t see anyone here that screams out interesting science fiction writer; quirky, fun teen romance writer; playful, arty illustrator.

And get involved with your own publicity – but keep your publisher informed of what you intend to do. It can be daunting at the beginning – but having a plan makes everything easier.

Publishers are only too delighted to have help – well organised, professional, well planned help – talk to them about how you can help.

Publicity – means using the media to tell people about your book – print, radio, telly.

4 to 6 months before your book is published – set up a meeting with the publicity person in the publishing house (if possible) and bring a list of possible publicity angles – I’ll talk about angles in a few minutes – and any media contacts you might have.

Think of it like planning a wedding.

In a moment I’m going to fly through the different stages of an ideal publicity plan.

But first – my first book – for my first book I started local. Everyone can do this!

Kids Can Cook – I had no profile at all

I rang Southside news and wrote a piece on cooking with children for them.

My church newsletter – I wrote a piece for them.
I also did a piece for my sailing club newsletter.

The Evening Herald did a piece on me – the first cookbook for children in Ireland – I friend of mine worked in the herald and she set this up. I had an angle – Dublin single mum gets kids cooking.

I did a lot of school events – during the children’s book festival – that my publisher set up and that I set up – I also did some CBI events – I basically told them what I did – cookery sessions with children- and they booked me in to schools.
Because it was something different, they really liked this. And I did several special needs schools also. Also library events

That book is still in print 10 years on and has sold thousands of copies. And it’s still selling.

If I was bringing out a first book now I would certainly use the internet to reach readers – see below for details.

For Amy Green, my latest children’s book, the publicity plans were a lot more elaborate – Walker Books made a special Amy Green website, and did some super posters and hand outs, but I still did some of the publicity myself.

Here is a what I call the ideal publicity plan – with all bases covered. If you can do some of this – great! I hope it will make you think and consider the possibilities. It is not meant to scare you, just to point out what can be done . . .

4 months before publication

Meet the pr person in your publishing house
Draw up your pr plan with the pr person

Set up your website – I would advise every children’s writer to get a website – and put the details of the website in your book so readers can contact you and also teachers and librarians can contact you.

Consider setting up a Facebook page, or a Bebo page, or Twitter or My Space – whatever suits you and your book best.

If you do not want people to know too much about you, invent a writing persona – and invent things to tell your readers – but be consistent.
But you must connect with people online these days. Especially if you want an international career.

3 months before publication

Submit feature ideas to magazines
Now this many take months, years to get anything taken – but keep at it – once you have one piece published, it is so much easier.
Are there any specialist magazines you subscribe to – try submitting an article to them – a great place to start. Or internet magazines/newsletters – again, good experience.

You could offer to review for Inis magazine (specialist Irish children’s book mag) – which is how I started reviewing – for free of course – but I got a/ experience and b/ some lovely books!

2 months before publication

Submit feature ideas to the magazines of newspapers

Set up your book launch if you would like to have one (organise your own in a local bookshop or venue – and yes, you may have to pay for the wine!)

Set up some school and library events – use your contacts – your child’s school etc
But make the events interesting – don’t just expect to go in and read to them. I spend about 3 weeks a year working on content for talks, workshops and readings and making it fresh and exciting. Work at it! Practice! Watch other authors in action and pick up ideas.
Once these events are fixed – send the details to the listings of the newspapers and also local newspapers.

And on that subject – network – go to children’s book events, join CBI, join the Society of Children’s Writers and Ilustrators.

Read Mag from CBI’s the hungry caterpillar blog; read David Maybury’s blog – full of good info. And UK and Americian blogs.

1 month before publication

Submit ideas to the features pages of newspapers – yes, you need to come up with these ideas yourself – depending on you and your life/book

Think of column ideas for guest columns (Realistically – this will be down the line when you have some experience of writing articles etc)

Write your press release (your publisher will probably do this for you – ask them for advice)

3 weeks before publication

Send out the invites to the launch

2 weeks before publication

Send out review copies of your book to relevant newspapers and magazines – eg Inis, Book Fest etc (your publisher may do this – check with them), the irish indo, the irish times.

Set up radio interviews – using your press release (again, your pr person may do this)
Don’t forget local radio – a great place to start – east coast for eg. Send a book and a press release and then ring them politely – with the blessing of your publishers of course. Local radio stations love local authors! You could do a competition and give away copies of your book.

After Publication

Start your school events and library events

Send out press release to newspapers (your pr person may do this – check with them)

If you have any news stories – this is the time to use them – advances, film deals, winning competitions, your dog winning a dog show (for the local papers!)

Angles

An ‘Angle’ – something that makes you stand out as a person for pr purposes.

Some of the ones I’ve used:

Single mum
Parent of teens and toddlers at the same time
Partner of a hopeful Olympic sailor

Other people’s angles:
Teacher – Eoin Colfer
Librarian – Patricia Scanlan
Movie geek and ex screen writer – Derek Landy

Anything that makes you different is good – and that you are prepared to talk about!

Everyone has something -
Do you keep bees?
Can you shoe a horse?
Do you dive? Travel a lot?
If so, you can write about it

Finally, I hope I’ve given you some ideas to think about.
You put 100% into writing your book – so why not put 100% into doing the best you can to promote that book? It deserves it. Writing for children, getting published and visiting and meeting young readers are rewarding and joyful experiences – and worth fighting lions and sweating blood for. I wish you all the best of luck with your own journey to publication.

Good luck!

Sarah XXX

I’m so nice to you all out there – that instead of writing Amy Green 3 – which is actually at a really fun part – a boat trip in Paris – I’m writing this blog on:
1/ the personality you need to be a published writer
And 2/ how I wrong my very first book for early readers (age 5+) and got it placed with O’Brien Press.

So first to number 1: It takes a particular kind of stubbornness to be a published writer. A sense of self belief, of it being your right to have a book on the shelves. Not in a cocky He-Man, Master of the Universe way, but in a ‘Hey, I can do this, I’ve worked hard and I deserve it,’ way.

The people I see getting published (sometimes after years and many, many books) are those who have clung on to this self belief.

Of course you’ll have wobbles along the way, jeepers we all have them. But in general you have to keep the writing faith and believe that in the end, you will get published.

OK, number 2: Mrs Noah and the Penguin

I’ve just had an early reader accepted by O’Brien Press (thank you Michael, Ivan et al!)

I’d never written for this age group before so this is how I went about it.

a/ I had a general idea – sparked by a girl in a writing workshop. I was ‘teaching’ her creative writing – they taught me far moe than I taught them, let me tell you – anyway she told me how she went to school one day dressed as a carrot as she thought it was a fancy dress day and it wasn’t. We were talking about embarrassing moments and how to use these in your work!

Long and funny story, but basically the poor mite had to spend the whole day in orange tights, orange top and a pair of old gym shorts the teacher found in lost property (as her cardboard carrot costume wasn’t great for sitting in as you can imagine).

So I got to thinking about this – and that was the basis of my own story, about a little girl who dresses up as a penguin for her Noah play in school – but is the only one in a costume.

I added the extra dimension of a feminist Noah’s Ark play – hence Mrs Noah – as I’d written one for my daughter’s school at the start of this year – and very proud of it I am too!

So I had my idea, my plot. And my character – a 9 year old girl called Emma (after my youngest sister).

B/ I took a whole load of Panda books (the early reader series it will be part of) out of the library and I read them to my daughter. Then I picked the ones she liked the best and I re-read them and noted why they worked, the language, dialogue used, and word count.

c/ Then I started making notes for my own book, scene by scene.

- Emma hears about the play
- Gets picked as a penguin – disgusted by this – but there is a reason- she’s a natural comic and great at making people laugh
- Sick – misses school
- Dresses up as a penguin for dress rehearsal – but this has been cancelled due to leaking school hall roof
- Goes into school in costume
- Everyone laughs at her
- She decides to do a silly dance and make them laugh with her and not at her
- She gets a starring role in the play as Mrs Noah’s Penguin

Ta da! I know it’s hardly Booker stuff, but it works.

d/ I wrote up the story and reworked it many times until I was happy with it.

e/ I submitted it to O’Brien Press and they said yes! Hurrah!

The moral of the story – when it comes to writing for children, do your homework! Read books for that age group, think of a strong idea, pack it with great characters and rewrite until as perfect as you can make it.

Good luck!

SarahX

Hi All,

The weekend was a bit hectic – with the Mountains to the Sea Festival children’s events running both days. Fab authors – Marita Conlon McKenna, Derek Landy, Oisin McGann – all gave thier all. David Maybury did a stonking Dahl reading – very talented boy, that David.

Festivals and talks are an important part of a writer’s life, and it’s always lovely to meet young readers and their parents. So hi to all the gang I met at the festival, especially the lovely Abby!

As the Indo did not have room for my children’s reviews last month – here they are – a little out of date but not to worry!

August round up:
There are many ways to create a reader for life, and taking children along to meet their favourite author is one of them.

Here’s your chance, with two September Book Festivals – Books 2009 and the Mountain to Sea Festival – both providing comprehensive children’s programmes. And October sees Children’s Book Festival swing into action in schools and libraries all over Ireland.

Derek Landy, author of the hugely popular Skulduggery Pleasant books will be speaking at both September festivals – Saturday 12th September in People’s Park, Dun Laoghaire, and again in the National Gallery, Dublin, on Saturday 19th September. Other highlights include John Connolly reading from his new teen novel, The Gates (Books 2009); and much loved author, Marita Conlon-McKenna talking about her writing (Mountain to Sea).

Speaking of creating readers, O’Brien has come up trumps with The Train Driver by Kunak McGann (e5.99), a charming and well written early reader about a young boy, Dara, who’s mad about trains for children of 4 plus, with excellent full colour illustrations. For GAA fans, Feile Fever by Joe O’Brien (e7.99) will hit the spot. Fast paced, exciting, with lots of authentic match action and well rounded characters, this is a welcome addition to sport literature for readers of 7 plus.

And Somerville Press in Bantry has just published West Cork and Kerry for Kids by Cammy Harley (e9.99), a comprehensive guide to activities in these areas, ideal for holiday makers.

Finally, for teens, The Wisdom of Dead Men (£6.99 Random House) by Irish author, Oisin McGann is an explosive fantasy read, set in the Victorian era. It opens with a gripping spontaneous combustion scene and the action never lets up. Idea for any Philip Reeve fans. Oisin McGann will also appear at the Mountains to Sea Festival, don’t miss him!

Sept round up:
Teenagers are well served this season, with some exceptional titles including The Bride’s Farewell by Carnegie Winner, Meg Rosoff (£10.99 Penguin), a beautifully produced hardback about Pen, a young woman who runs away on the morning of her wedding. Set in the 19th century, it’s a lyrical, Hardy-esque read for older, thoughtful teens.

Love, Aubrey by American writer, Suzanne LaFleur (£9.99 Puffin) is another hard hitting novel, this time set in America. When Aubrey is abandoned by her mother, she has to fend for herself, before starting to rebuild her life with the help of her granny and some old and new friends. Cleverly plotted, with some exceptional writing, ideal for older readers of 14+.

If Darren Shan books are your teen reader’s poison of choice, check out The Enemy by Charlie Higson (Puffin £12.99), a taut, gore-filled horror/thriller set in London. A strange disease has turned everyone over the age of 14 into a zombie, but one hardened gang of youngsters is determined to survive.

Life Swap (Walker Books £6.99) by Abby McDonald is a clever, well written ‘grass is always greener’ novel about two girls, American party girl, Tasha and shyer English girl, Emily. What happens when the two girls swap places makes for light hearted yet compelling reading. Ideal for Meg Cabot fans.

And finally, Irish author, Celine Kiernan is back with book two of the Moorhawke Trilogy, The Crowded Shadows (O’Brien e10.99), a theatrical historical fantasy set in medieval Europe. This time our feisty teen hero, Wynter Moorhawke sets off to find the Rebel Prince, encountering dangerous wolves, and the strange and otherworldly Merron people along the way. With smatterings of Irish, used to great effect as the Merron language, this is a cracking adventure yarn, with added layers.

A Change of Scenery – Writing Tips

Hello lovely blog readers! In the last few weeks I’ve realised that rather a lot of people are reading this blog, which is very gratifying but rather scary!
So thanks for reading, first of all. And please do let me know if there are any writing or publishing topics you’d like me to cover. I’d do my best to be of assistance.

I have lots of things to say today but not much time to say them in. So I’ll write a longer blog next week about writing for the 5 to 7 age group (I’ve just had a book accepted by O’Brien Press and I’ll explain how I went about researching and writing it), but today I’ll talk briefly about writing in bed.

Yesterday I felt pretty grotty – bad throat, headache, sniffy nose – so I took to my bed in the morning with my notebooks and wrote in my pyjamas with a pencil, ‘cause you can’t write lying down unless you have a super duper astronaut’s pen (I actually used to have one, no idea where it is though!). It takes a peculiar kind of stubbornness to be a writer, and writing while feeling sick is a product of this. But I actually had a very productive writing day – lots of scribbled notes on a new adult series I’m working on the proposal for (I’ll get it to you soon I promise, Peta! – Peta’s my lovely agent), and another chapter of Amy Green Book 3.

Sometimes changing where and how you write can help you over a sticky bit. A new pen or pencil, a new notebook; writing in bed, in the car, in the library, on the train. I used to write a lot of my books on the train – I travelled a lot when I was working for Eason. While the other buyers read the paper, I wrote!

Writing something else before you tackle your book/short story can also help. Which is why I sometimes write a blog before getting started on my fiction. Writing anything can get the words flowing – just describing how you are feeling – stiff, snotty, tired in my case! But as I’m stubborn that way, I’m still going to work today – typing up my notes and scribbles from yesterday.

Next week – how I got an early reader accepted by O’Brien Press.

Until then – check out the mountains to sea festival – www.mountainstosea.ie – see you there! Free book readings and events for kids – Sat and Sun, 1 to 5 in People’s Park, Dun Laoghaire. Derek Landy, Judi Curtin, Marita, me. You’d be mad to miss it.

I was talking to many lovely ladies at an Inkwell workshop on Saturday morning – it was called Getting Started and I was telling them about how I got started and how I come up with plot ideas, characters and stuff like that.

It was most interesting for me (not sure about them – hope they found it of some use!) – and I found out a lot about ‘L-plate’ writers – nice term, Mel – and their hopes, dreams and what keeps them motivated.
Basically – getting published.

Now, I know I’ve spoken and blogged about this before – but getting published is something special and certainly something to aim for in the long run.

But I do get a little hot and bothered when newbies who have not written a thing yet ask me about agents and publishers. And yes, hate to say it, but they are often of the male variety, this particular cart before the horse gang!

But then I got to thinking – if that’s what truly motivates someone – then what’s the harm. However it seems a waste of time spending 2 hours talking about getting an agent at a getting started workshop when we could be discussing writing.

But (sorry, lots of buts today!) here’s the rub – I see a lot of my role as a purely motivational one. Passing on this message: Read, Write, Never Give Up.
This is basically my writing mantra – I make the young students I visit in schools chant it after me – Read, Write, Never Give Up.

Yes, I can tell would be writers about creating characters that are ‘real’, yes, I can explain why not to use what are called embellished tags in their dialogue – basically things like ‘I love you,’ she said lovingly.

She glared angrily at him.
I was a divil for them in my first three books – I cringe reading them now!
I can talk about plotting and planning and story boarding and all kinds of things like that.

But if someone doesn’t have the motivation to write, and the sheer determination to finish a story or a book, there’s actually not much I can do to make a difference.

However (see, no but!), saying all that, Vanessa, who runs Inkwell told me that 2 of the women I have previously ‘taught’, after many rejections, have had books accepted for publication. How exciting is that?

I claim absolutely no credit – they would have got there without me, I’m positive of that. But it just goes to show, the tough cookies get there in the end. And if they were at a writing class in the first place, paying out good money to the likes of Vanessa and moi, they were obviously serious about their craft.

So congrats, the Inkwell Two – and here’s to many more of you.

But – yes, sorry, another but – the moral of the story is – work hard, and never give up, even after rejection after rejection! Sorry folks, it’s the only way!!!

SarahXXX

PS Some of my ideas still get rejected – and I’ve been at this writing lark for years now – nature of the beast – get used to it!