A LIFE IN CHILDREN’S BOOKS

 What kinds of influences draw a person into the world of children’s literature? Contemplating this recently, I decided to draw on my own life experiences to see why three decades of my life have been devoted to the subject.

As a child who was a voracious reader, I only ever owned one book – Heidi, which was a birthday gift one year and which I re-read many times. When I was young there were few books specifically for children; every Friday I fronted up to Mortdale Public Library and asked the librarian. “Has Miss Blyton written another book this week?”  Other books I remember reading avidly as a child and teenager were The Swiss Family Robinson, How Green was my Valley, and Charles Dickens’ novels. I also found a coverless book of Australian poems which I fondly read aloud and copied, attempting to write poems myself. At school a fifth grade teacher read aloud the whole of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn (both of which I loved), I don’t remember any teacher ever encouraging me to read. What I do remember was that at home I was discouraged from reading in order to “better” spend my time working on our family farm. Ours was a home without books or reading, though occasionally my mother bought a woman’s magazine.

It never occurred to me to become a writer: my career goal was always to become a famous painter. However, lack of talent put paid to that idea, so as soon as I was able I left home, armed with a Teachers’ College Scholarship. Two years later I graduated and became a primary school teacher, a job that I loved and flourished in. I especially loved writing plays for my students to perform and reading and recommending books to them. It was only some years later that I was asked by a schools’ inspector if I would like to take on a temporary (six month) position as assistant to the editor of the NSW Department of Education. Working with the editor, children’s author Lilith Norman and alongside assistant editor Joanne Horniman, I soon learned how to edit my writing ruthlessly.

My secondment finished, I moved to a remote area of NSW where I began writing my first children’s novel, Terri. Reaching a stumbling block with it, I enrolled in a five-day writing course with (the late) author Joan Phipson (whose stories I had read in the NSW School Magazine), author Eleanor Spence and Children’s Publisher Ann Bower-Ingram (of William Collins). I learnt much during that short period and was able to finish my novel. In the meantime, I met the late author/editor Michael Dugan at the Adelaide Arts Festival and when he’d stated he’d only ever had two manuscript submissions during his editorship of the national children’s magazine Puffinalia, published by Penguin Books, I secured the correct address and began submitting short stories I’d written. Michael was kind and generous, and moreover published my stories. He also agreed to read my completed manuscript of Terri, passing it on to Kay Ronai, then children’s editor at Penguin Books. The day I received a call from Kay saying Penguin wanted to publish Terri stands out in my memory. I rang my mother with the good news. “That’s nice, dear,” she said. “Did I tell you that your sister won the Tomerong Ladies’ Squash finals last week?”

Penguin published my second novel, Piggy Moss, which had an amazing launch at a Sydney school (even though there were no copies of the book available on the day as the Melbourne publicist had forgotten them!) It was at the launch that I met other children’s literary figures, such as Simon French, Lowell Tarlington and Maurice Saxby. Lowell’s book Taylor’s Troubles, co-launched the same day (no copies available, either) and Terri were among the first Australian Puffins ever published. (Prior to that, Australian children’s books were always published in the UK and exported to Australia.)

It came as a blow when Penguin refused my third book (and one of my favourites), the humorous tall tale The Belligrumble Bigfoot, but I was happy when it was contracted by Kangaroo Press. Many books I have written – over 100 – have since been published by publishers such as Hodder Headline, Random House, Rigby, HarperCollins, Harcourt Education, Angus & Robertson and numerous others.

During my career in children’s books, I have worked in other fields besides authorship. As well as speaking at conferences and attending numerous CBCA children’s literary lunches, I have sold books, including my own remainders and in a Wollongong bookstore, working with Jean Ferguson of the ABA who introduced me to many wonderful titles. Then I sourced and sold new and second-hand children’s books at book fairs in local primary schools. For many years, too, I worked as a schools’ performer on author visits at hundreds of schools around NSW and interstate. At first I worked alone, but then my husband, award-winning children’s author Bill Condon, joined me. He would perform for children in the infants’ department while I worked with primary students. At lunch-times we often sold our remainders - thousands of them over the years! Often I also presented writing and editing workshops to primary-aged children and to teachers. Sometimes I gave talks to parents and/or ran Wordgames’ evenings for them (Wordgames are writing games I devised for team competition; they were very popular, and helped schools raise funds.)

At various stages of my career I have founded writing workshops and groups. These latter included the Fellowship of Australian Writers (at Campbelltown and still running over 25 years later) and the south-west branch of the Children’s Books Council of Australia (also at Campbelltown in 1993). During the four years I presided over the two CBCA branches, we had many successful functions. These included literary lunches with authors (Jackie French came along to one, shortly after her first book was published) and with local identities, as well as author evenings. One night we had a huge crowd for the English children’s author, Pat Hutchens. We also organised a very big conference at Warwick Farm where speakers included Bruce Whatley (at his first CBCA gig), Duncan Ball and others. Unfortunately the CBCA branch floundered when I left town three years later. However, in that short time, we managed to have more than 40 authors and illustrators visit the south-west. In February 2008, I formed the Illawarra branch of the Children’s Book Council of Australia and was elected its President, a position I held for three years.

Many years ago, too, I co-founded (with authors Mary Small and Joan Dalgleish) the Sydney Network of Authors and Illustrators, a loose group of published children’s book creators. Originally we met for some years at the Australian Journalists’ Club near Central Railway Station, but more recently Network met at the Hughenden Hotel in Woollahra. Some attendees at early meetings included the late David Bateson (who was our unofficial photographer), Vashti Farrer, Margaret Wild, Nigel Gray, Libby Gleeson et al.

In my job as co-editor (with Doug Macleod) of Puffinalia children’s magazine (published by Penguin Books), I mentored many young writers: one of them, a recently published 15-year-old, made the trip from Melbourne to visit Network with her mother. Sonya Hartnett was reserved, but obviously in her element. Since then, Sonya has written numerous books and won major literary awards including the highly lucrative Pippi Longstocking (international) Award.

One achievement I feel very pleased about was establishing a weekly online newsletter, CAINON, for those in the children’s book industry, which I ran as a volunteer for over six months, building up a following of over 500 before the job overwhelmed me and I passed it on to a young woman I had been mentoring for some time. She, in turn, re-named it Pass It On (PIO), and began charging a fee for it. As time passed, I regretted my decision and so started up an online magazine, Buzz Words (All the Buzz about Children’s Books), also for people in the children’s book industry. I relied on freelance writers for most of the Buzz Words book reviews, and paid article and interview contributors as well as writing many articles myself. After five years of putting out Buzz Words ,  I passed it on to Vicki Stanton, a children’s writer I mentor. (www.buzzwordsmagazine.com)

Over the years I’ve devoted myself to other aspects of children’s books. At one time I presented a one-hour program on community TV, a children’s book chat show where I interviewed authors such as Margaret Clarke, Susanne Gervay, Moya Simons, the school boys who financed Colin Thompson’s first trip to Australia and numerous others, including schoolgirl, Jessica Carroll, who wrote her first (and only) picture book text, Billy the Punk (illustrated by Craig Smith) when she was in sixth grade as a class project. I have also mentored and/or taught many new writers in the early stages of their careers, namely Margaret McAlister, Sue Whiting, Susanne Gervay, J A Mawter, Moya Simons, Sandy Fussell, Maureen (Mo) Johnson, Delwyne Stephens, Jackie Hosking, to name but a few. All of them have gone on to publish children’s books; Margaret is also a highly regarded teacher and writing mentor (Writing4Success); Sue now works as children’s editor for Walker Books Australia and Susanne Gervay won the 2007 Lady Cutler Award for services to children’s literature.

I’ve presented papers on children’s literature and writing at many institutions, and taught writing and editing classes at evening colleges, universities, primary and high schools, TAFEs and writers’ centres. Currently I have a correspondence creative writing course running for young writers (through the NSW Writers’ Centre) and an online writing course for adults wishing to write for young people. For a time, too, I handled the publicity for the KOALA (Kids Own Australian Literature Awards) organisation.

As well as reviewing many children’s books (Reading Time and Buzz Words), I’ve worked as a children’s magazine editor. For several years Doug MacLeod and I co-edited Puffinalia magazine; I worked as story editor for Little Ears, a magazine for children aged three and up. (www.littleears.com.au) While at Puffinalia, I published the writings of three newcomers to children’s books: Robin Klein, Errol Broome and Alan Baillie.

In the 30 plus years since I first started writing for children, I’ve progressed from typing manuscripts on an old-fashioned Olivetti manuscript typewriter to working on the latest whizz-bang computer. Over the course of my career in children’s books, too, I’ve met and made friends with many other children’s writers and editors. Being in this field is like being part of a large and caring family. Time and again I hear budding children’s authors say how generous my colleagues are with their time and advice, and it’s true: there is a genuine camaraderie in the industry. I feel privileged indeed to be a part of the children’s books fraternity and hope to continue being here for many years to come.

Dianne (Di) Bates’ most recent book is Crossing the Line (Ford Street). She is married to award-winning children’s author, Bill Condon, and lives in Wollongong, NSW. Her website is www.enterprisingwords.com

A MARRIAGE MADE IN (BOOK) HEAVEN

Writing led to my husband and I meeting one another; it was a crucial element of our courtship, and now 30+ years later it is still a vital part of our lives together. In 1981, the author of two children’s books (both with Penguin), I applied for funding from the Literature Board of the Australia Council to run a poetry reading during the Campbelltown Fisher’s Ghost Festival. Part of the funding agreement was that half of the invited poets should be from the local area. Someone told me about a quiet, unassuming man who wrote hilarious poetry so I followed the lead. On the program were poets of the calibre of Nancy Keesing, John Forbes, Chris Mansell, Geoffrey Lehmann, Susan Hampton and Max Williams but the audience favourite on the day was that local, Bill Condon.

A short time later Bill joined the South-West regional Fellowship of Australian Writers of which I was the founding-President: soon he was elected Secretary and we worked hard to raise the profile of writing in the Macarthur region. For years Bill had written plays, poetry and short stories while working as a shift-worker in a milk factory: a few of his stories had been published in a greyhound racing magazine. My background was in journalism and teaching: I’d been seconded from the latter for a short period to work on editorial team of the NSW Department of Education School Magazine.

In between working full-time at our respective jobs, and over a period of about six months Bill and I co-wrote a collection of children’s plays which eventually was published under the title Madcap Café and Other Humorous Plays. Although long out of print, we still continue to receive occasional CAL payments and requests from teachers for permission to stage plays from the book. We also co-wrote a children’s action novel, The Slacky Flat Gang, also published and now out of print.

After ten years as a labourer, and at my urging, Bill quit his factory job with the aim of becoming a full-time writer while supplementing his income with part-time journalism at a provincial newspaper. However he was immediately offered a full-time job at the paper, quite remarkable considering he had left school in his Intermediate Certificate year. Meanwhile, I was doing as I had done for many years – freelance writing and working at a variety of part-time jobs including schools’ performer, writing teacher, bookseller, journalist and advertising sales’ rep for a newspaper. I was fortunate on four separate occasions to also receive grants and fellowships for the Literature Board, all of which allowed me to write full-time and to produce many books for young people. I’m quite sure that without the Board’s funding I would have given up writing and gone back to full-time teaching.

Bill worked for ten years full-time on the newspaper, and then part-time until eventually he left permanently, again with the idea of full-time freelance writing. By this time my well-paid work as a Department of Education Accredited schools’ performer gave me hope that I might one day own my own home so this became my main occupation, along with freelance writing. As his pile of manuscripts turned into published children’s books (mostly poetry and play collections and educational books), Bill joined me as a schools’ performer. He overcame his shy, retiring nature and developed some wonderful comic skills while working with infants’ children and their teachers. While he was entertaining in the junior school department, I would be performing to primary classes, both of us promoting our books and a love of reading as well as offering writing insights and advice. At lunch-times we would often sell our remaindered books, all of which we had autographed the night before. It was a hard-going but fun-filled few years before, finally, at the age of 50 my dream came true: Bill and I bought our present home in Wollongong, NSW.

A fantastic change occurred to us and to all (mainly) children’s authors in 2000 when the Federal Government introduced Educational Lending Rights, a payment scheme to compensate authors for books held in educational libraries. This annual payment combined with our annual PLR payments, meant that Bill and I can both work from home as full-time writers without having to undertake part-time work. We have also been able to cease commissioned work (mostly from educational publishers) and instead focus on what really want to write. In 2002, Bill’s YA novel Dogs (Hodder Headline) was awarded the Children’s Book Council of Australia’s Honour Book for the Year for Older Readers and a year later his second YA novel No Worries (University of Queensland Press) also won CBCA Honour Book of the Year. The crowning prize for Bill working in YA books was in 2010 when he won the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards for Confessions of a Liar, Thief and Failed Sex God.

Meanwhile, I have had the time and freedom to finish two YA novels (Crossing the Line, Ford Street) and The Girl in the Basement, a verse novel (Nobody’s Boy, Celepene Press, 2012), compile an Australian children’s poetry anthology (Our Home is Dirt by Sea, Walker Books, 2012), and work on a number of non-fiction children’s books (published by Cambridge University Press and Hinkler).

How is it working with another writer in the same house twenty four seven? Wonderful! Bill and I each have our own offices, mine downstairs, his upstairs. Normally we are in front of our respective computers by 9 am, although I often start very early in the morning, my preferred working time. We meet for lunch and generally finish around 5pm, but often we will work at night. Usually when one has finished a major writing project, the other will read and offer constructive criticism; sometimes we will thrash out ideas for new stories or scenes in books. Once a week we hold a weekly writing workshop in our home with other local children’s writers. This is our life: we are truly blessed.

Dianne (Di) Bates and Bill Condon have published over 200 books between them, mostly for the juvenile market. Their website is www.enterprisingwords.com

Getting Past Publishers' Locked Doors

Not all of us are the J.K. Rowlings or Stephen Kings of the writing world. We do not have agents and publishers begging us to sign the next contract or readers counting down the days before our next title hits the shelves. We have to take the risk of submitting our manuscripts to publishers who often put so many obstacles in our path that sometimes it seems our potential best-seller will not even get read - if indeed our manuscripts ever reach the slush pile.

Writers who are prepared to put in plenty of pre-writing slog can help get their manuscripts contracted long before they have written THE END. You, too, can get past the "not taking on any manuscripts" or "work only submitted via an agent" signs which one sees posted so often on publishers’ web sites and in writers’ newsletters. You can get published, even if you have never written before.

So, what’s the secret? There are, in fact, numerous secrets, but know this – if your writing is sub-standard, if you demonstrate that you are less than professional in the presentation of your manuscript, and if you cannot ruthlessly and competently self-edit, you will never get published. Never - even if you know and apply – all the secrets which follow in this article. The competition today in publishing is fiercer than it has ever been. Many more writers (often with University degrees in creative writing) are submitting, and because of various factors (one being company mergers and re-mergers, the advent of e-publishing and the closure of bookshops), there are fewer books being published than ever.

Top secret
Okay! Secret number one to becoming published is knowledge. You need to know all the publishing houses in your area of writing interest and what they specialise in (for example, not all children’s book publishers take on picture books or YA novels). You need toknow who the key people are in the publishing houses you want to submit to. You need to know how to approach these people so they respond to you. You need to know the writing genres you wish to specialise in. You need to know the "gaps" in that market. And you need to know what readers will want to read in the future (even if they don’t know it themselves).

As a full-time freelance writer and author who specialises in writing for children and makes a decent freelance writing income, I keep myself informed about all these things. It is not easy (especially in the early stages) and it requires constant vigilance and often distracts from the task of writing. But it does bring contracta and sales if you work at it.

If you want to be as informed as I am, then you need to outlay some capital: subscribe to the really important magazines (such asAustralian Bookseller and Publisher) and zines (such as the Publishers’ Weekly on-line newsletter), both of which are available from Thorpe-Bowker, Melbourne. Join professional organisations such as theAustralian Society of Authors, or the Children’s Book Council of Australia, the Australian Writers’ Guild, the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators and so on. I advise you to network extensively by contacting other writers, publishers, illustrators, librarians and so on, and by attending writing courses, conferences and festivals. Don’t just listen: approach people in the industry, published and unpublished – talk to them, offer them a cup of coffee and/or swap business cards. Swap information constantly. Don’t just take, but share generously.

Another thing: get in first. By this I mean when you see an opportunity, grab it immediately. Don’t wait until the last date stipulated, but show your keen interest and enthusiasm by submitting your manuscript to the market or in the competition straight away. And never, but never, miss a deadline.

The major players

Learning what the publishing houses are and their catalogue of publications is as easy as surfing the net. Check out the imprint (information) pages of newly published books. However, staff members change constantly; thus you need to invest time and money to keep up to date. Obtain copies of (or create) bookseller and publisher directories. Check out publishers’ and editors’ current names and addresses; ask your booksellers and librarians for help.  Phone up or email publishers and ask them to send you their catalogues and staff lists.  Up-date your information regularly.

Networking

Networking is without doubt one of the best ways of keeping your finger on the pulse of the publishing world.  Buzz Words is a monthly online networking newsletter for people in the children’s publishing industry. I founded it (and previously CAINON) in order to keep in touch with what is happening in my writing world (and because I live in a regional area where writing conferences are never held). Publishers, booksellers, film producers and others in the children’s book industry are Buzz Words contributors, reviewers and recipients. You too can establish your own network, even if you are house-bound. Being pro-active is one of the keywords to being successful. Nothing will land in your lap – or rarely: I’ve found from years of experience that if you want something to happen, you need to make it happen!

Key personnel

Getting to know key people in publishing houses can take time, but it is do-able.  Meet them at conferences, seminars, book fairs. Invite them to speak at your writers’ groups (pay their expenses and buy their books, at least!) Give them your business card while you hand them a drink or snack. Follow-up any contact.  Keep emails and letters to them short and succinct. 

Getting publishers to know you is a matter of getting your work noticed.  Establish a reputation by writing letters to and/or getting stories, poems, reviews and articles published. Enter and win writing competitions! Numerous magazines and on-line websites need volunteer reviewers: you will get your name well known this way, especially if your approach is professional and your writing sparkly and erudite.

You can get your name imprinted in the minds of key industry personnel in many ways: a bunch of flowers works wonders for a jaded editor! Remember that publishers and their staff are people first and foremost: like you and me, they want to be treated with kindness.  If you read and loved a publisher’s new title, why not let her know with a personal letter/email?  Let the author know too! Good, sincere public relations never harmed anyone. Oh, and be nice to the publisher’s assistants – they are often editors of the future!

You can use these tactics to find a literary agent, but agents are harder to crack.  Learn about agents – not all of them represent your area of writing expertise – and then approach them.  Novelty is good, but the better, safer way of making worthwhile contact is via a third party, preferably a published writer. By the way, new writers are over-anxious to have an agent represent their work, but it is generally more difficult to get an agent on-side, unless you wave a contract in front of their faces (that is, you place the manuscript first and then find the agent!)

Contacting authors

It is easier to get to know and curry favor with authors than with anyone else in the book industry. Authors are the bottom of the industry food chain (wrongly, of course, but the fact is that not many call the shots).  Most authors are approachable. Go to their book launches, book signings, places where they present, send them friendly emails via their web site (or their publisher’s).  Talk to them enthusiastically about their work, buy their books and ask for an autograph. Take them out for a meal.  You will generally get a friend for life!  Keep in touch with the author, and become needed before you even begin to ask for favors -- for example, offer to read and comment on works-in-progress.

Author as mentor

Most authors know their industry. They can inform you about publishers and their staff and make representations on your behalf (as I do with those I mentor if their work is of high enough standard); they can direct you to manuscript assessment and to editorial services.  Once I heard well-known literary agent Selwa Anthony tell her clients that she would be willing to look at manuscripts that they had personally read and approved of: “do NOT,” she said, “give third parties my contact details.”

Some manuscript assessors offer to write a letter of recommendation if the work is outstanding. One well-published writer I know highly recommends that new writers pay for professional editing of their work before submission in order to get the best chance of acceptance.  (I think he has a point there; as you know, it is extremely difficult these days to break into book publishing, especially if you are an unknown.) Even before the said writer submits to his agent, he gets a range of (voluntary) readers to read and comment on his manuscript.  Invariably he takes their opinions on board when re-writing. 

Manuscript-in-progress reading is one (of many) services you could offer a writer who mentors you.  Too many beginner writers accept mentoring but give nothing in return. It has happened to me time after time that I have expended much time and energy helping new writers to find publishers to take their work, see them get their books published, and then I observe they do nothing to help other new writers. Those whom I now mentor help me out personally in numerous ways, for example by passing on children’s writers’ newsletters and magazines, photocopying, undertaking on-line research, reading and commenting on my manuscripts (as I do for them, free of charge) and so on. Too many writers ask me for help and when I oblige, often at great length, they do not even bother to thank me. I would suspect that this lack of good manners from writers they have helped in the past is why some well-published authors ignore letters and emails from fans and new writers.

The market

Many authors write the book, and then look for the market. My approach is often to find a gap in my market: if I am passionate about the subject, I then write to fill that need.  Recently, when I enquired about gaps, an educational book-seller told me that he cannot sell a book about Australia’s involvement in the Korean War to the young adult market - because no such book exists.  A librarian friend is constantly begging me to write a children’s novel set in a rain-forest, another “hole” to be filled. These projects do not interest me, but for every need, there is a potential writer.  Seek and you will find!

Currently my “niches-to-fill” completed manuscripts include a three book non-fiction series about children’s achievements: there are no books like these so far published in Australia. I am also trying to place a children’s poetry anthology, Our Home is Dirt by Sea, which features poetry by as yet unpublished poets, some of whom I mentor. (NB: To be published by Walker Books in 2013; my book Aussie Kid Heroes was published by Interactive Publications. I have also been asked – and completed – to compile another two children’s poetry anthologies.)

Non-fiction market

Professionally presented publishing proposals which show you’ve discovered a gap, undertaken market research, found any competing titles (and their drawbacks), and have a solid knowledge of proposed contents and approach can – and do – appeal to non-fiction publishers. It is not difficult to get an up-front contract before you write the main text. The main thing to know is that your proposal must show the publisher the possibility that it can make profits; this, after all, is why the publishing company is in business!

Future trends

Knowing what readers will want to read in the future is a matter of informed intuition. One has only to astutely keep in touch with current news to know what are going to be next season’s “hot topics”.  It is clear now, for example, that if you are writing for the e-book market that series of short non-fiction books create the most readership – and wealth. Whatever your interest, there is always something that is evolving in that area: it is really a matter of thinking about the ramifications and acting on them quickly. Being proactive is what being a published writer is all about, not sitting and waiting for prospects to land in your lap.

Dianne (Di) Bates is the author of 120+ books for young people. She has worked as a children’s magazine editor and manuscript assessor and currently offers online courses on writing for children. She is a recipient of the Lady Cutler Award for distinguished services to children’s literature. Her website, which she shares with her award-winning YA author husband, Bill Condon, iswww.enterprisingwords.com

THE GIRL IN THE BASEMENT

What is the title of your next book?                                                                                                                                  I’ve been really productive this last year, with the result I have three books contracted – a collection of anonymous children’s verse, Erky Perky Silly Stuff, also The Beginner’s Guide to Better English and an adult novel, The Girl in the Basement, due out in May 2013.

Where did the idea come from for the book?                                                                                                A photograph was the impetus for The Girl in the Basement.  Found in a US shopping strip mall car park, it showed a teenage girl in the foreground who was gagged and bound; behind her was a boy about seven, also gagged and bound. When the photo appeared on national television, two sets of parents came forward; their respective children had disappeared months previously and this was the first evidence of what had happened to them. I wondered what kind of man would kidnap children and why.

What genre does your book fall under?                                                                                                                  Written from two points of view – the girl’s and the kidnappers – the novel is a psychological thriller.

What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?                                                                                                      Edward Norton would be a good choice for the kidnapper/serial killer while Abigail Breslin would probably suit the role of Libby, the kidnapped teenager.

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?                                                           A serial killer looking for love kidnaps and imprisons children.

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?                                                                              The book will be published by Morris Publishing Australia www.morrispublishingaustralia.com

How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript?          First draft took about 12 months but it’s been rewritten a number of times so all up from inception to completion it’s taken three years or so.

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?                                                                            A YA novel, Stolen by Lucy Christopher, which is set in outback Australia wherein a teenage boy kidnaps a girl he has a crush on while she is in transit in an overseas airport. There are parallels, too, with Stephen King’s Misery.

What else about the book might pique the reader's interest?                                                                                        My publisher has described The Girl in the Basement as ‘thrilling’, ‘gripping’, ‘chilling’ and ‘action-packed’. The kidnapper is a psychopath, ready to kill at a moment’s notice, so there is considerable tension in the novel as his teenage hostage tries to keep alive by employing at much guile as possible, all the time despising him and seeking ways of escaping. 

Cultural Donations as Tax Deductions

This week I attended the Smilies’ monthly meeting at a Paddington pub. The Smilies is a group of mostly children’s authors who network to share their writing successes, worries and publishing  information. One of the pieces of information I shared was how to get a tax deduction as a writer under the Cultural Grants Program (previously known as the Tax Incentive for the Arts Scheme).

It works like this: one collects relevant papers, which might include letters from publishers and other authors, illustrators, etc., working drafts of a book, critiqued drafts, handwritten notes — anything to do with the creation of a book. (An illustrator, for example, might collect roughs in progress, notes from editor or art director and so on). My next donation includes captioned photos of authors, illustrators, editors and others in the children’s book industry, old book contracts and some essays written when I was a teenager. When you have a pile of material ready, you contact the organisation to which you want to donate.

My author husband Bill Condon and I donate to the State Library of NSW (but it could be to the National Library of Australia, the Lu Rees Archives, etc). A field officer comes to our home and collects our material which is then valued by two independent valuers. When this is done, an average is taken and a certificate then posted to the donor. The certificate states how much you can claim as a tax deduction in that financial year. Bill and I donate every 3 to 4 years; this last year my deduction was $2,000 and Bill’s was $3,500. This tax bonus is something that not many people know about.

At the Smilies’ meeting one of the writers complained about the fact that she had paid $50 to enter a writing competition (with a $50,000 first prize), but was shocked and angered to discover that some writers had been ‘invited’ to enter. The results of the competition are not out yet, but this writer was so upset by the condition of entry that she wanted to ‘do something.’ My contention — and that of others at the meeting — was that there is nothing she can do. The rules set out the information about ‘invitees’ and so it was up to her whether or not to accept this condition; obviously she did, though it would be safe to say she hadn’t really studied the conditions before submitting her entry. The only recourse she has is to let other people know of this stipulation, and not to enter competitions with similar conditions.

Another author at the meeting told how she was now writing for digital down-loading — book apps and longstories (whatever they are). She is saddened that the Australian writing community, including the Australian Society of Authors, is not au fait with what is happening with regards to e-books. Even when the ASA organises seminars on digital publishing, she claims their presenters are out of date. What I found startling is that the writer doesn’t know if she will be getting any income from her hard ebook writing. For myself, I want to wait to see where there is money to be made e-publishing before I succumb to putting my out of print manuscripts into e-book publishing. What do others think?

AUSTRALIAN CHILDREN'S POETRY

This week I received notification from the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund that my application for funding was unsuccessful. I had applied for a mere $25,000 to establish a website to be called Australian Children’s Poetry. Of the 75 applications from CAL under its Cultural Fun, 34 were successful and a total of $678,000 allocated.

My idea of having a unique website that focussed on Australian children’s poets and their poetry was to redress the lack of interest in children’s poetry in our country. As a children’s poetry anthology compiler (Our Home is Dirt by Sea, Walker Books, 2013, and Every Day is a Birthday, currently with a publisher), I have worked with the Walker Books rights’ manager trying to locate poets for permissions.

Most poets do not have social media or website presence and it was really difficult locating poets or, in the case of deceased poets, the managers of their estates. A dedicated website would have done much to redress this problem — and would do so for future anthology compilers. Such a website would also showcase Australian children’s poetry, providing a central location for anthologists, teachers, children, academics and others to look for poems and relevant information.

As I wrote in my CAL application, one major outcome of having a children’s poetry website would be to have a coordinating source for competitions, poetry workshops, conferences festivals and schools’ visits that featured children’s poetry (such as they have in the UK, where they also have a Children’s Poet Laureate).

It’s sad that in Australia at the moment there is only one ongoing market for children’s poetry: the NSW Department of Education School Magazine. It’s even sadder that CAL did not see the amazing possibilities of a website devoted to Australian children’s poetry.

Writing for Children Competition

10th KATHLEEN JULIA BATES MEMORIAL WRITING COMPETITION

For an unpublished short story to 1,000 words suitable to be read by children aged 7 to 10 years. The theme is open but the main character should be human. All entries are to have a separate title page with full contact details and to include a stamped self addressed envelope for results. No emailed entries. Manuscripts will not be returned. Entry fee $10 per story; money order or cheque payable to Di Bates, or payment online (apply to dibates@pacific.net.au for details). All entries will receive a score sheet with comments as well as a results’ sheet. Open to Australian residents only. There is no limit on number of stories entered. Prizes: $200 first prize, $100 second prize with three runners-up to receive an online writing module valued at $75 www.enterprisingwords.com. Judge will be award-winning children’s author and editor, Dianne (Di) Bates. Entries close on Monday, 29 October, 2012. Send entries c% Di Bates, PO Box 2116, Woonona East NSW 2517.

Note: Kathleen Julia Bates was my second daughter who was killed a month after she turned two years old. There is no gravestone for her so  I run writing for children competitions to honour her memory.