Chapter One: Branding Brilliance

A highly informative and entertaining expose of how to create your public image and turn yourself into an icon.

Chaired by the wonderful Margaret Hamilton.  Here are her introductory points:

Branding is the deliberate and skillful creation of an  marketable identity

It should:

• Create audience knowledge
• Create a unique identity
• Have passion
• Have consistency
• Be competitive – constantly strive to improve itself, need hard work
• Get exposure, with more tools than ever before available eg social media
• Have good leadership, whether as single individual or company
• How does your brand measure up?

Next speaker was Holly Frendo, Publicity Manager at Harper Collins. She’s only been in this role for 8 months. Not traditional publishing background – BA in Business/Communications and PR, with clients like Cadburys! But was always an avid reader – very excited to be in this new role. Her role: To create awareness and shift perception

She employs different techniques for different genres and author histories. These include:

1. Author tours are incredibly successful – festivals, conferences, schools etc
2. Book sellers, signings, meet and greets. Makes a big difference when sellers meet authors – promotes sales and brand recognition
3. Press releases – features , reviews, interviews. Finding newsworthiness. (Susanne G. one of her faves in this regard. She got Susanne onto Today Extra for the recent Action Day Against Bullying.)
4. Think outside of box – what does the book relate to?
5. Social media - FB, Snapchat, Instagram – inspires brand love – DYI or get help if you find it challenging.

Photo attributed to Oliver Phommavanh

Next came Valerie Khoo, Director of Australian Writers Centre and co-creator of ‘So you want to be a writer?’ podcast. Her points:

Get over your hesitancy and cringe re building brand – the feeling that you ‘have tickets on yourself’. Don’t think of it as promoting yourself – it’s all about making a connection with your readers, or potential readers. Making genuine connections rather than promoting yourself.

You need to go all in, not half arsed! Embrace it all. Very easily done in not a lot of time. Open yourself up to it – reach potentially millions readers for free.  Keep making connections after your initial publicity period. Pick the one or two social media channels you enjoy and can do yourself.

Can seem daunting, but follow a step by step formula.  It actually works. One hour every weekend is enough to set your foundations.

'Show elements of your personality, not your personal life.'

Scheduled presenter Sandy Fussell was ill, so joint co-founder,Jodie Wells-Slowgrove from The Story Crowd kindly filled her place. Her points:

Let people see YOU and what makes you unique. Find your niche, and branding will take care of itself.

Created Writers Unleashed Festival, a space where authors and illustrators can make lasting connections. Book sales, signings and craft activities. Making it easy for new creators, and teachers and teacher librarians. Creators paid fairly but kept busy. Networking opportunities.  They love to help book creators.

Next came Sophie Masson

‘Lots of hats’  ‘Too many balls in the air’ – writing, publishing and doing PHD, plus a lot of chairing! She’s written more than 60 books, including for adults.

She did a lot of reading before she was published, did articles, stories in School Magazine. She also interviewed people whose work she admired. All quite instinctive.

She started her publishing company Christmas Press 3 years ago – all her years’ of writing experience, networks etc came together. They’ve had fantastic support and encouragement. Small, but they do things properly, Can only afford tiny advances. Trust so important in their operations – dealing with authors fairly. Quality paramount. They have big publisher quality. Distinctive niche. All 3 directors interested in fairy tales and legends. They hold their nerve, even if one book doesn’t do well. This applies to both creators and publishers

Then came Belinda Bolliger, Managing editor of Australian Standing Orders

Iconic brand. She reiterated Margaret’s points for branding success.

She makes the selections from publisher submissions every month. Audience is schools – time poor and understaffed. Helps them with expert literature selection. Teacher notes are supplied.

• Consistency – chooses style and quality of book suitable for CBCA awards.
• Uniqueness – 95% of books are Australian. This is their difference to their competitors.
• Small team – very approachable.
• They source books that are difficult to access – their brand is competitive and personable.
• Very good at picking CBCA shortlist
• Passion – Belinda’s worked for 25 yrs in the industry
• Company owned by Scholastic with its over 45 yrs experience

Margaret Hamilton then spoke about Pinerolo Cottage, herchildren’s book cottage in Blackheath where she runs picture book courses among other things; promoting illustrators primarily.

Her father taught her that ‘Everyone is as good as you but nobody is better’

She’s always made her presence felt and has worked extremely hard. (Once had a board meeting in hospital room!) She carried this philosophy through when she started her own company. Went to Bologna every year.

And finally she’s a published author! Never had the guts to send in a manuscript before. Margrete Lamond at Little Hare got back to her with a yes 5 mins later!!

B is For Bedtime has gone ballistic – 60000 copies in US. Second book to be launched in May.

Question time:

• Authors and illustrators should follow the same principles for branding . Great social media platform for illustrators is Instagram. Judith Rossell a great example of this. She never ‘sells’ as such – she simply makes great personality connections.
• Stylefile incredibly helpful to illustrators, and an honour to be selected.
• Lesley Vamos works Facebook really well.
• Character branding vs author branding – which one to pursue? Depends. For example, Liz Pichon presents as character Tom Gates rather than herself. Her character’s brand in other words.
• Sophie Masson did romantic fiction for YA under diff name – all the characters had social media presences – one had blog, one had YouTube etc. Extended the life of the characters. But you have to think about it carefully. Can be quite spooky!
• Belinda was asked whether she thinks about gender diversity, cultural diversity etc. Yes, she likes to support new authors and publishers as well. But limited by what’s being published that month. Books for boys and girls. Relies on publishers to have the right agenda.

Margaret – Kids’ books now 32% of sales as distinct from 25% a few years ago – they should have equal review space.

She mentioned her next course at Pinerolo this coming Saturday on creating kids’ books with Freya Blackwood – see website.

Phew – a very full session!!

Charlotte Calder Roving Reporter

#SCBWISyd

Chapter One: Dynamic Duos: A Case Study

Pairs of publishers and authors (+ one illustrator!) offering insight into the book creating process.

Dynamic Duos, vibrantly hosted by Deb Abela, was a conversational panel about the importance of collaboration in creating a children’s book.

Author Lesley Gibbes and publisher, Ana Vivas (Scholastic) were first-up, chatting about the highly successful picture book, ‘Little Bear’s First Sleep’. This is a gentle bedtime story about a bear cub embarking on his first long winter sleep.

Early on in the acquisition process Lesley and Ana agreed that the warm and soft drawings of illustrator Lisa Stewart would be the perfect complement for Little Bears story.

The collaboration on this book took an interesting turn when Ana recognised that the gloominess of the cave setting left little scope for Lisa’s illustrations.

In response to Ana’s concerns Lesley rewrote the text to include moonlight and snow allowing Lisa to use more white in her illustrations. The designer also worked to maximise the contrast of lighter areas while still keeping the soft feel of the book by setting light vignettes against dark pages.

 From bedtime to wartime New Zealand author, Maria Gill and Clare Hallifax (Scholastic) had a very different book project with, ‘Anzac Heroes’. This is a highly awarded non-fiction text covering 30 Anzac heroes from WW1 and WW11.

Maria’s book tells the stories of individual soldiers, sailors, airmen, spies and medics. She was keen to highlight not only well-known servicemen but some of the lesser recognised figures of the world wars including women and indigenous peoples. She talked with admiration about the subjects of her book in particular the daring Nancy Wake (the white mouse) who worked as a spy and guerrilla fighter behind enemy lines in WW11.

Clare of Scholastic was on board with Maria’s concept from the start. She could see its value in tying in with WW1 100 year commemorations and as a needed educational resource.

‘Anzac heroes’ required painstaking and far-reaching research of primary and secondary sources. Maria spent many hours in the war memorial viewing military records, talked to RSL representatives and to the families of the heroes.

What is striking about this book is the mastery of design. The main body of text is complemented by fascinating facts and snippets in coloured boxes. Each double page hero spread is decorated with illustrations, beautiful digitally enhanced photos, icons, pictures of military awards, documents, letters and timelines.  Although there were no designers on the panel. It was acknowledged that the designer had a vital role in bringing all the elements together.

Dianne Wolfer was next up discussing her latest book ‘Shark Caller’. Unfortunately, her publisher Zoe Walton (Penguin Random House) could not attend. 

Dianne had an interesting story to tell about this book’s road to publication.

Dianne had long held a fascination with the underwater world and the culture of the peoples of Papua New Guinea due to her holidays spent diving and snorkelling in that region. She began to write a YA novel about shark calling, a ritual imbued with spirituality practiced by the indigenous people of the New Ireland Province of PNG. However, Dianne’s writing stalled, finding the blend of fact and fantasy required for the story difficult to negotiate and outside her usual genre.

Some years later, while studying for her PhD on the topic of anthropomorphism Dianne decided to take up the story again, completing the novel to form part of her thesis. Dianne still had relatives who lived in New Guinea who she could contact to ask for advice on aspects of the indigenous language and culture.

During this time Dianne attended a writers retreat on Rottnest island. Zoe Walton from Penguin Random House was in attendance. ‘Shark Caller’ seemed like a good fit for Zoe’s stated interests so after the retreat Dianne sent her manuscript to Zoe who quickly championed it. Dianne said that the editorial process at Penguin Random House was quite painless as advice was always given in a considered and gentle manner. Within a year of the Rottnest retreat ‘The Shark Caller’ was on the shelves.

 The final panel members were Sharon Evans (Big Sky Publishing), Aleesah Darlison and Shane McGrath - not a dynamic duo, but a terrific trio. They collaborated to create the poignant picture book about the last wild thylacine titled, ‘Stripes in the Forest’.

Aleesah’s childhood growing up on a remote bush property inspired her love of native animals and wild landscapes. ‘Stripes in the Forest’ is written from the first person POV of a thylacine mother lending intimacy and emotional impact to the text. Although the story has an ecological message and deals with the likely extinction of a species.  Aleesah said she was careful to write a hopeful ending. Is the thylacine still out there somewhere?

It was evident that Sharon, the publisher was as passionate about this project as Aleesah. She was excited to acquire the book and procure Shane McGrath to do the illustrations.

Shane McGrath didn’t just rely on Aleesah’s text to create the illustrations he was meticulous in his research of the thylacine’s appearance and behaviours. He was also careful to ensure the man-made structures such as buildings and ships were accurate for the time periods spanned in Aleesah’s story.

Shane used a combination of manual pencil drawings and digital photoshop to create the pictures

‘Stripes in the Forest’ was clearly a project of passion for author, publisher and illustrator.

 This panel gave us an insight into the passion, dedication and meticulous care that goes into making a beautiful book. From the author to the publisher and illustrator to the designer – all are invested in making the book the best it can be.

Leigh Roswen Roving Reporter

#SCBWISyd

Chapter One: Behind the Book

MC Carolyn Goodwin and Louise Parks

In a splendiferous and fantasmagorical event, Louise Park - author, educator, publisher and publishing consultant - took SCBWI Members through a one-hour whirlwind session entitled BEHIND THE BOOK. The session was designed to make it easier for authors and illustrators to navigate the publishing process and was jam-packed with useful information about what happens to a manuscript when it goes to a publishing house.

With an enthusiasm and excitement for the industry that was only matched by her impressive dance moves at the SCBWI Dinner later that night, Louise talked about distribution channels, the importance of sales data and exactly what happens to a manuscript when it goes through the acquisitions process. She gave a truly fabulous overview of the costs involved in bringing a book to life and I'm sure I was not the only one surprised by the level of financial investment involved. No wonder publishers take time to consider each manuscript carefully before committing!

Book Production and Overhead costs. It takes approximately AUD $100,000 to take an idea to the shelf

My big takeaway from the session was the importance of thinking about where a manuscript fits in the marketplace even before it is submitted. Questions to ask include:

• What is my target audience?
• What other titles might the reader of my book read?
• What is my point of difference?
• How might someone discover my book?

These questions will be asked during the acquisitions process anyway, so there is the potential to strengthen the submission if these issues are addressed by the author in the cover letter. Most importantly, it will give authors a clearer understanding of exactly where their manuscript fits within the current publishing landscape and give them an opportunity to refine their work until it is simply irresistible! Then we can get on with the important work of signing those contracts and celebrating.

A collective example of the four channels which will eventually sell your book: Discount bulk sellers, Chain stores, Indie Book shops, and Online. Not forgetting the ubiquitous school Book Fairs and Clubs.

Louise has a variety of websites for you to explore.

Author website: http://www.louisepark.com.au/

Book packaging and publishing: http://www.paddlepoppress.com.au/

Consulting: http://www.storiesinc.org/

Karen Collum Roving Reporter

#SCWBISyd