Welcome to the Children's Books Section. There are further
sections to choose from ...
Children's publishing has undergone huge and dramatic
changes in the last few years. Last year, for the first time,
a children's book, The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman, won
a major British literary award - the Whitbread. New and
established children's authors are, if the hype is to be
believed, starting to receive unprecedented advances for
their work. Book festivals are experiencing more demand than
ever for their children's events. Sales of children's books
are healthy and bookshops are starting to expand their
children's departments for the first time in many years.
Sales of children's books are now approximately 12-15% of
total sales in Irish bookshops, and are up by 10-12% on
previous years. And 'crossover books' like Macmillan's Across
the Nightingale Floor are being marketed successfully as
teenage books with adult appeal. Children's books are big
business.
You can call it the 'Harry Potter' factor, but JK Rowling is
not the only author of children's books to have had huge
success recently: there's also Meg Cabot, Eoin Colfer, Darren
Shan, Lemony Snicket, Jacqueline Wilson. Two of those authors
are Irish and living in Ireland (Colfer and Shan), but both
are published in Britain. (To be accurate, Eoin Colfer is
published also in Ireland, by The O'Brien Press, but it is
his Artemis books, from Puffin, that have enjoyed most
success.)
By contrast, there is not one Irish-published author (by this
I mean published in Ireland alone) who is making a reasonable
living from their children's writing. The Irish market is
simply not big enough, and Irish publishers are making
virtually no impression on bookshops in Britain. The simple
economic fact is that Irish authors who want to make a living
need a British or international publisher if they want to
make a living from their books.
On top of that, many Irish children's writers feel that some
Irish publishers do not respect them or their work. Many are
locked into restrictive contracts, some have been
unceremoniously 'dumped' by their publisher, and even
well-established authors may hear nothing about a submitted
manuscript for nearly a year. 'My publisher has no interest
in children's books,' one aggrieved writer said. 'Some Irish
publishers pander too much to the schools and are keeping
their books too tame,' said another. The complaints go on:
'Irish publishers don't want to publish real teenage books.'
'I am completely disillusioned and disheartened with the
Irish publishing world.' 'It's unlikely that I'll ever write
for an Irish publisher again.'
My personal experience as an author of adult and children's
books with six different publishers in Ireland and the UK has
been that though UK publishers are extremely organised,
efficient and respectful of their authors, they can lack the
personality and quirkiness of Irish publishers, and of course
they do not have the same interest in publishing books with a
specifically Irish appeal.
Where does all this leave our Irish children's publishing
houses? The problem is that there are two competing, and
apparently irreconcilable sets of needs: of course Ireland
needs an indigenous Irish children's publishing scene for
artistic, political and economic reasons, and to publish
those books that have particular local appeal; but our Irish
children's writers also need to make a living, especially if
they want to be full-time writers, and to be taken seriously
and treated well. This is no more than they deserve.
There is a familiar pattern to the children's bestsellers
lists in recent years. With some notable exceptions - Neil
Gaiman's excellent Coraline, for example - they are full of
the authors I mention above, along with Roddy Doyle. I am
talking here about the bestsellers in Irish bookshops - but
where are the Irish-published books? They aren't showing up
on the bestseller lists, because the truth is that they just
don't sell in the same numbers as British-published books.
For example, since publication, Artemis Fowl - The Arctic
Incident has sold almost three times more than Colfers own
The Wish List, five times more than Siobhán Parkinson's The
Love Bean and almost six times more than Gerard Whelan's War
Children (figures supplied from a leading Irish bookseller).
I asked various people what they thought the reasons were for
this discrepancy. Rosemary Hetherington, an esteemed
children's librarian, and for many years one of the Bisto
award's main driving forces, said: 'I feel all the excitement
has gone from Irish-published children's books. I used to
look forward to every October's new crop but in the last few
years things have changed. In British children's publishing
there are lots of new things happening, the whole scene is
very vibrant. I feel the enthusiasm is dying [in the Irish
children's book world].'
Similarly, Robert Dunbar, who is well known as an academic
and critic in the children's books field (and whose regular
slot on Rattlebag on RTÉ radio was mentioned as one of the
more positive developments in children's books in Ireland
recently), feels that Irish publishing 'peaked too soon'. In
the mid-eighties there was a huge demand for 'Irish books for
Irish children' but not all Irish publishers were concerned
with the standard of what they were producing to fill the gap
in the market.
If that is the case, perhaps it is not so surprising that in
last year's Bisto awards, only two of the prizewinners out of
ten were Irish-published - Adam's Starling (O'Brien Press)
and An Sclabhai (Clo Mhaigh Eo), though there was an Irish
co-edition of the British-published Izzy and Skunk.
David O'Callaghan, the children's buyer in Eason, said that
in general there is a 'huge void between what the Irish
publishers are coming up with and what their UK counterparts
are doing'. He mentioned covers in particular and said that
he has yet to see something from the Irish publishers that
'stands out in a line-up' with strong covers like Across the
Nightingale Floor and Strawgirl. These views are shared by
many in the trade.
Almost everyone I spoke to felt that there is only one Irish
publisher that is taking children's books seriously - The
O'Brien Press, and I got many positive comments about this
publisher: 'The Pandas have been a huge success. That was
very clever publishing.' 'O'Brien are very good at the
back-up end of things - sending out posters and helping with
authors.' 'I believe that Michael O'Brien's heart really is
in children's books.'
Some Irish-published children's books, however, and
especially those aimed at younger readers, look like books
published in the seventies and eighties. Some Irish
children's books have poorly designed covers, dated
typography, and boring blurbs. In general, Irish publishers
need to look more carefully at the whole area of covers,
presentation and marketing, if they are to compete on the
world stage.
I can think of only one comprehensive marketing campaign for
an Irish-published book last year - Siobhán Parkinson's The
Love Bean. O'Brien produced book proofs, posters, flyers and
held a book launch for this title - unprecedented attention
which worked to make the book stand out as one of their most
important titles of the year. And yet another indication of
how important children's books are to O'Brien. On the other
hand, there were at least monthly marketing campaigns for
British-published books by Irish authors, for example Martin
Waddell's Snow Bears (dinner, proofs, cuddly bears, glass
coasters) and Eoin Colfer's Arctic Adventure (dinner,
miniature Artemis vodka bottles, ice sculpture, T-shirts,
customised proofs).
Quite apart from the marketing, there are Irish-published
books where the writing is perfunctory and pedestrian, though
authors like Gillian Perdue, Conor McHale and Pat Boran have
produced excellent books in recent years with Irish
publishers - all in series: Wrens (from Poolbeg), Flyers
(from O'Brien), and Red Flags (from O'Brien).
According to one source, a respected voice on the Irish
children's book scene, Irish publishers (with the notable
exception of O'Brien) are publishing 'all kinds of rubbish,
the standard of some of their books is appalling'.
Interestingly, the same source also pointed out that several
authors' writing has improved dramatically on their transfer
to a British publisher, which may be a reflection on poor
editorial standards in some Irish publishing houses.
Mary Arrigan was one author mentioned in this regard, whose
recent books, including Baldur's Bones, have won much
critical acclaim. Mary herself is quick to point out that
some Irish editors are excellent, and she mentioned Rena
Dardis in particular. But she felt that in general she got
more encouragement and backing from her British publishers.
'When nurtured and encouraged [by our editors] we writers
produce the goods,' she said. And she feels that the wider
audience available to her through British publishers spurs
her on to write better. Mary also said that having an agent
has changed her writing life. She has been with the London
agent Sophie Hicks since 1997.
If things do not change, Irish publishing may be left behind,
in terms of the the content of the books they are producing
and in terms of covers and design and marketing and
publicity. Our best authors may all have moved to British or
international publishers to make their living and Irish
children may no longer have indigenous books in their homes,
except for specialist publications, such as books in the
Irish language and books produced with grants from the Arts
Council or in association with particular schools, libraries,
arts projects and local councils.
This could happen and it will happen unless things in Irish
publishing houses change and change quickly. Penguin and
Hodder have recently set up Irish editorial offices to
specialise in Irish-interest books, which is another
challenge for our Irish publishers (though it must be said
that they are only interested in the big names - the Eoin
Colfers and the Darren Shans of the children's book world).
One bookseller I spoke to made a very interesting point -
that Irish children no longer want to be seen as 'Irish'. And
they don't want their books to be overtly 'Irish' any more.
They want their books to be 'cool'. And as Rosemary
Hetherington put it, 'The nature of childhood is changing and
children are ready for more contentious and stronger issues.
We need to look at what modern children are reading and
publish for them.'
Is there some way that a compromise can be made? Can Irish
authors and Irish publishers both win? I think they can. I
talked to Michael O'Brien about his recent experiences with
The Wish List by Eoin Colfer, a book that was on the Irish
bestseller lists for the second time last Christmas (it had
been published in a different format two years previously).
Michael was in no doubt that the interest in Eoin stemmed
from his worldwide success with Artemis Fowl published by
Penguin in the UK and in Ireland. However, he was quick to
point out that rights to some of Eoin's books had been sold
before the Artemis effect and that it is was the strength of
Eoin's writing and the humour in his books that makes him the
huge success that he is - not the marketing or PR campaigns,
although he conceded that they have certainly helped. The
Wish List has been O'Brien's most successful book on the
world market since the phenomenally successful Under the
Hawthorne Tree, and rights have been sold to over sixteen
countries. Michael says that this book shows how 'Irish
rights can be separated from British rights' and how
publishing in this way can be beneficial for both publisher
and author.
He was adamant also that Irish publishers must attend Bologna
(the annual Children's Book Fair in Italy) and employ agents
to sell foreign rights if they are to take their children's
publishing seriously. Michael would like to see more Irish
authors tackling universal subjects in their writing and
being more 'market savvy' in their approach in the future. He
mentioned the areas of fantasy, sport and romance as genres
he would like to see covered. He also mentioned the
importance of the writing: 'The quality of the writing is the
single most important thing,' he said.
If there are to be Irish-published books on the bestseller
lists in the future, perhaps The Wish List model is the way
forward - ie co-editions with British publishing partners of
books that originated in Ireland with an Irish publisher. We
will have to wait and see. But in the meantime something has
to be done if Irish children's publishing is to forge ahead
in the near future.
I asked some of my interviewees to name their favourite
children's books of 2002.
Rosemary Hetherington (children's librarian)
Star Seeker by Tim Bowler, Oxford University Press
Jake's Tower by Elizabeth Laird, Macmillan
Journey to the River Sea by Eva Ibbotson, Macmillan
(Rosemary also mentioned War Children by Gerard Whelan and
Siobhán Parkinson's The Love Bean, both from O'Brien Press,
as her next two choices)
Peggy Cruickshank (children's bookseller)
Stravangaza by Mary Hoffman, Bloomsbury
Ruby Holler by Sharon Creech, Bloomsbury
The Trouble with Win Dixie by Kate Di Camillo, Walker
(Peggy had particular praise for Bloomsbury)
Robert Dunbar (lecturer and critic)
Straw Girl by Jackie Kay, Macmillan
Star Seeker by Tim Bowler, Oxford University Press
The Alchemist's Apprentice by Kate Thompson, Random House
(Robert mentioned War Children by Gerard Whelan as his fourth
choice)
