SCBWI Professional Series Book Camp

On the evening of Tuesday 6th March we all met once again in the upstairs room at the Theodore Bullfrog pub in London for the latest Professional Series event. This time is was 'Book Camp' with Julia Churchill, Lirerary Agent of The Greenhouse, and Ali Dougal, Commissioning Editor of Egmont Press (who was standing in for the poorly Leah Thaxton, Publishing Director at Egmont).

The evening was billed as a run through of the process of finding an agent and getting a book published and so, logically enough, Julia went first.

Julia started her career as an agent in 2002 when she joined Darley Anderson. At that time DA specialised in commercial fiction and non-fiction and did not represent children's authors but in 2004 a manilla envelope dropped on the floor with a submission from Cathy Cassidy for Indigo Blue. Everyone cried on reading the script but didn't know what to do with it. So Julia sat down with the Writers' and Artists' Yearbook and started to contact publishers. The rest, as they say, is history.From that start Julia built up the children's side of the business until she left Darley Anderson in 2009 to join Sarah Davies' new agency, where she is responsible for all non-USA clients.

At Darley Anderson, Julia's day started with the post. All the agents would sit round and go through the submissions before anything else, on the principle that they wanted to be the first agency to get back to a good prospect so as to seal an exclusive look at a script. At The Greenhouse all subs come via email and so Julia finds herself going through this process not once, but many times a day, and night and at weekends too! She reads the first 5 pages of a script and if she likes it, askes for a full. If she likes that she will either sign up the writer immediately or do some editorial work with them first and sign them up if that works out. In her experience most debut writers need some editorial work, and much as she would like a script that could be sold immediately, she is happy to work on perfecting it.

Sara believes that agents are increasingly becoming editors. This is to ensure their books get sold. Publishing editors receive on average 5 scripts a day from agents but they are buying less. At Macmillan, for example, debut novels are down by 30%. So your script needs to stand out. In addition there are few old school publishers around now where the editorial team takes the acquisition decision. Now, an editor will have to justify acquisition to the whole company. That can be a bloody experience and so the editor really needs to love the book first.

Once Julia has a book ready for submission she tries to find a good pubilshing match. Some agents do a lot of research and then sub to a few publishers. Julia prefers to sub more widely as she thinks this is more successful. With a publisher hooked, her next role is to negotiate the optimum contract. She notes that the difference between accepting the first contract you're given and fighting can mean as much as 20 to 30p per book extra in royalties. She looks for better options for authors in terms of rights, advances and payment schedules. In particular she is keen to keep foreign rights so that these can be sold off separately as this generates more income streams. In her terms she turns a publisher-friendly contract into an author-friendly one.

A debut author's career starts with the first novel and the first deal but this doesn't always develop into a second book with the same publisher. An agent works with an author to develop their career. This may mean finding a new publisher, developing new novels, or advising on a pen-name. And even if an author stays with a publisher, the agent is still their long-term business partner, as editors often move between publishing houses.

So that's what she does for her 15%!

Julia then went on to discuss what she's looking for:

• trends - this is for her to sell a book, not for an author to write one, as the timescales don't work. There are typically four or more years between an author starting a script and a book being published. Trends can change a lot in that time.
• taste of certain editors - in spite of Julia's wide submission policy there is no point in sending some books to some editors
• holes in publishing lists
• something that will become a classic

Her personal view is that debut business in the short-term will focus on a lot more younger fiction: 'the world doesn't need much more Young Adult'.

In reviewing a script she looks for six things:

• Concept - The hook, in a few lines. This is the focus of the book, its USP. It needs to be fresh, a new twist.
• Character - Should leap off the page and be tied into the plot. She wants to get to know the characters and like them so that they become her new friends. They need to change and learn, be fresh, and be credible in their world.
• Story -What do the characters stand to win or lose? There needs to be anguish, real choices, courage, action. Characters need to face high stakes involving outward danger and/or emotional challenge.
• Setting - Needs to enhance the action and be integral to it.
• Theme - This is the residual that stays with you after you've finished reading the script. It's something deeply felt, at the heart of the story.
• Voice - Needs to plug into the age group, be identifiable, different, special, authentic. Julia says it's hard to explain but easy to spot!

Julia finished up with some advice to debut writers:

• know your market- read widely and understand the dreaded age categories.
• distance yourself from the first draft so as to get a fresh perspective on it. Better still get a crit buddy to look at it.
• when reviewing the first draft look at the main story arc: where does it go, does it start strongly, what do you find out about the main character in the first few pages, are there too many characters, do all the scenes need to be there, are you entering late and leaving early in each scene?
• read the dialogue out loud or better still, get some else to do it for you.
• make sure there are no 'lessons' - don't preach
• show don't tell!

At that point Ali Dougal took over the microphone.

Ali works as a commissioning editor with Egmont Press where she handles books in the age range 5 years to Young Adult and Crossover. She started her career at Puffin where she was for 5 years before joining Egmont three years ago.

Egmont is regularly in the top 5 publishers each year. They are the largest publisher in the UK, if you include the whole business of magazines, tie-ins and character books, and fiction. In fiction they have a good split between back and front list. Their backlist includes Enid Blyton, Flat Stanley, Michael Morpurgo and provides them with the financial means to keep a good front list going. Their biggest brands include the backlist as well as the Mr Gum books and Michael Grant.They used to be focused more on younger books but now have a dedicated YA imprint (Electric Monkey). The list is small but growing. This means every book has impact.

There are four editors and a pubishing director. Although this is a small team it is pretty typical.

Ali desribed what she is looking for in a debut:

• stand-out writing. This could be eccentric or anarchic
• great story-telling - something that resonates with adults as well as children
• characters that are going through a real emotional struggle
• a good hook as this will help her sell the book to the sales team
• YA that appeals to her teen self
• younger fiction and anything that plugs gaps in the list (this needs to be balanced with mass market, literary and reluctant reader book all covered)
• quality middle grade - she would love to find the next Artemis Fowl or Percy Jackson

 Ali notes that a lot of agents don't work on scripts and most scripts still need a lot of editing. So the script doesn't have to be perfect to be accepted but it does need a really great hook.

 She then went on to discuss the author-editor relationship. It should be personal so that:

• the author's vision is shared
• you want to work with each other
• there is a connection - this is especially important with humour
• there is confidence, trust, honesty
• the author's career can be grown.

Ali likes to meet with an author before signing them so that she can set up this relationship at the earliest opportunity.

Once the deal has been signed she likes to meet the author again to discuss the mutual vision in more detail. The author then meets the marketing team. Each book has a tailored marketing strategy. The editor is involved in this as well as design, productions and sales.

Then the editing process starts in earnest. This should be fun and collaborative. When editing, Ali focuses on character consistency, a clear journey through the story, voice consistency, pace and fitness for target reader.

The editorial team and author will also sit down with the design, marketing and production teams to discuss the cover. They try to get the right illustrator for each author and book and will change illustrators if necessary.

Ali next went on to talk about the state of the industry. She noted that in 2010-11 only 36% of the population bought a book. During that period booksales dropped by 8%, largely as a result of a drop in the sales of paranormal romances. Egmont bucked the trend and saw a rise of 18% over the same period. Other observations included:

• e-books are growing fast but still a very small percentage of sales
• books that are tied in to cinema releases have huge sales
• there are a few months in which sales are strong and so it is important to think about this when deciding when to publish a book
• there might be a case for concentrating more on royalties than advances

For Ali, the ideal author will push their book themselves, albeit with support from their publisher. So they will attend festivals, build a brand, hone the script to perfection, know their readership, play to their strengths.

At this point the meeting broke for a few refreshments followed by questions. Sadly, your trusty reporter had to leave to catch a train and so I can't provide a digest of the questions as I would usually.

Caroline Hooton has also written up the evening over on her blog and has more photos too. So check it out.

Many thanks to Julia and Ali for sharing all this with us and not minding me taking the photos!