Dear SCBWI (VIC) members
Our SCBWI Vic event, held at Melbourne Docklands Library on Saturday, September 5 was another terrific and well attended event! Our guest speaker was Maryann Ballantyne, the wonderful publishing director of Wild Dog Books, and our member speakers were illustrator Annie White and author Rebecca Fraser.
Here’s a little about our afternoon.
Following a warm welcome from our ARA Caz Goodwin, the afternoon began with our usual Show and Tell segment. What a dazzling array of talented members with their latest creations - congratulations everyone!
Our first member speaker was illustrator Annie White. During her presentation titled “Decades of Drawing”, Annie spoke about some of the pivotal “star moments” across her career as an illustrator and author. Beginning with her art and design studies in the 1970s, Annie reflected on learning everything from setting type by hand to designing around text, and how her career gradually moved from design into illustration and picture books. The arrival of the internet was an important turning point, helping her share her work and eventually leading to her first picture book in 2008. Annie shared highlights including Clementine’s Walk and Clementine’s Bath being read on Play School, and seeing young readers dress up as one of her characters. Another recent “star moment” came with Dog Beach at the National Library, where she also got to meet plenty of dogs.
Rebecca Fraser author, our second member speaker spoke about the twists and turns in the road to publication. She started by submitting stories to magazines and anthologies and suggested that it was a good place to start, because you can get some publishing credits. She noted that there are a lot of disappointments and rejections on the road to publishing a book, and that persistence and resilience are important. Rebecca shared some statistics, which showed that she has received over 100 rejections for picture book submissions, and has yet to receive an offer of publication. However, she has had more success with books for middle grade and young adult audiences.
Afternoon tea was enjoyed downstairs in the activity space, with lots of time to share Book Week stories and mingle.
Our final speaker was Maryann Ballantyne, the wonderful publishing director of Wild Dog Books. Maryann spoke about developing strong relationships with publishers and reminded us that some of the best books come out of conversation. She encouraged writers to find publishers they genuinely enjoy working with and to think beyond a single book. Maryann also encouraged writers to draw on subjects they know and have a connection with. She shared the story behind We Are Australians, which began with a conversation with someone working in citizenship who was asked, 'why aren't you writing a book about the subject?'. Maryann also offered practical advice about publishing contracts, including territory rights, advances, royalties and hold-back clauses. She noted that some authors choose separate territorial contracts because royalties can be diluted through worldwide rights deals.
That concluded our Dockland gatherings for the year but mark your calendars for our final event of 2026, the popular, creative, and relaxing - Sketch and Scribble on November 14.
A huge thank you to everyone who came along to make this event another special one. We love seeing so many friendly faces at these events. Thank you again to our fabulous and generous speakers, and to the SCBWI Vic Committee - Caz Goodwin, Amy Adeney, Judy Watson and yours truly, Kaye Baillie. We hope to see you again soon.