2016 Maurice Saxby Mentorship Journal

2016 Maurice Saxby Mentorship Journal
by
Rebecca Green
If you’re reading this,
perhaps, like me,
you’re an aspiring
writer. And perhaps
you’re thinking about
applying for a Maurice
Saxby Mentorship.
I recommend you do. I
was one of the 2016
winners and it was the
most awesome
experience of my
writing life.
I started writing
children’s stories when
my daughter was two
years old. She’s now
17.
Over the years I
submitted my picture
book stories to
publishers and
received enough
encouraging feedback
to keep me writing. I
entered competitions,
attended writing
classes,
Inside Penguin Books: Maurice Saxby Mentorship winner Rebecca Green.
joined a writing group,
edited other people’s stories
and read as many books as I could.
I entered the Maurice Saxby mentorship in 2012, 2013 and 2014, submitting a variety of picture
book manuscripts. In 2015 I submitted the first draft of my novel and received a lovely email saying
that although I had been unsuccessful I had come close and should apply again.
I spent the following year editing and redrafting my novel, and submitted it with fingers crossed for
the 2016 Maurice Saxby mentorship. The winners were to be announced towards the end of 2015.
Around Christmas I started checking my emails more regularly, always with fingers crossed. And on
December 29 there it was.
Dear Rebecca
I am delighted to tell you that you have been selected for the 2016 Maurice Saxby Mentorship.
The program will take place between 26 April and 7 May 2016, but we will arrange a meeting with
you and the three other successful applicants for some time in February. Albert Ullin, Pam Horsey and
I (from the CLAN Committee) will be present and, apart from getting to know you and outlining the
program details, we would like to find out your specific mentorship needs at that meeting, so that we
can assign you the most appropriate mentor.
Congratulations, and looking forward to meeting you soon - I am so pleased the Zorse made it this
time!
Cheers
Helen
Meet the judges
Tuesday, 23 February
Our first meeting was drinks at the Marriott Hotel. The three judges were there – Helen Chamberlin,
Pam Horsey and Albert Ullin - and the four winners – me, Rebecca Green (junior fiction); Katie
Flannigan (picture books); Alex Fairhill (YA); and Nean McKenzie (junior fiction).
A brief background on Helen, Pam and Albert, who have spent their working lives in the children’s
book industry, who love books, especially children’s books, and who through the Children’s
Literature Australia Network (CLAN) volunteer their time to support emerging children’s book
authors and illustrators.
“Helen Chamberlin is an Australian
legend who has revolutionised the
Australian publishing industry,”
illustrator Sadami Konchi wrote in
her blog. Shaun Tan said, “Helen
really is one of our industry’s great,
quiet achievers,” after Helen was
awarded the Dromkeen medal in
2014 for her outstanding
contribution to children’s
literature. Helen has worked in the
children’s book industry for more
than 30 years and has received
many awards. She is a publisher at
Windy Hollow books and was
previously with Lothian Books.
Meet the judges: (l-r) Pam Horsey and Helen Chamberlin.
Pam Horsey is a huge supporter of Australian literature and has won many awards for her work,
including the Leila St John Award in 2010 for services to children's literature in Victoria. Pam is
passionate about the work CLAN does and enjoys “meeting talented creators”. Pam was an
Education Marketing manager at HarperCollins for many, happy years.
Albert Ullin opened
Australia’s first children’s
bookshop in 1960 and
supported struggling picture
book illustrators by buying
their art. Albert built one of
Australia’s largest collections
of children’s picture book art.
Last year he donated this
collection to the National
Gallery of Victoria, so it could
be enjoyed by all Australians.
Albert has received many
awards including the
Dromkeen Medal in 1986 and
the Order of Australia Medal in
1997.
Missing from our drinks
evening was Maurice Saxby,
who died in 2014 and who
gave his name to the award
ten years ago. Maurice was a
teacher/librarian, author, book
reviewer, awards judge and
the first national president of
the Children’s Book Council of
Australia (CBCA). He
contributed so much to
children’s literature in
Australia he is known as “the
godfather of children’s literature”.
Books everywhere: Albert Ullin took us to Readings Carlton.
Through CLAN, Helen, Pam, Albert and Maurice wanted to “offer emerging children’s authors and
illustrators the opportunity to enter the children’s book industry via the Maurice Saxby Mentorship
Program”.
When we met at drinks, I was unaware of most of what the mentorship involved. Now, I know
better. Basically, for the two weeks of the mentorship the winners (also known as mentees) are
escorted around Melbourne by Helen, Pam and/or Albert and introduced to their friends and
contacts in the children’s book industry. It’s an amazing gift.
Overwhelmingly, everyone was enthusiastic, kind, supportive, generous with their time and
knowledge, and encouraging of our writing. We visited John Marsden’s Candlebark School, had
morning tea with Shaun Tan, and met editors and publishers at Allen & Unwin, Penguin and Text.
We watched authors and illustrators present to school groups, participated in creative workshops
and attended several official children’s book industry functions. It was a wonderful romp through
the industry we are trying to break into.
Every day for two weeks I kept asking myself, how lucky am I?
Event by event, the adventure unfolded like this.
Claytons Night
Thursday, March 17
The Clayton’s Night is the CBCA Book of the Year Awards night you have when you’re not having the
Awards.
It’s a really clever idea. And it was very well done. We enjoyed all the trappings of an awards night dinner, drinks and book discussion at Trinity Grammar, without any awards. Instead four industry
experts spoke about the books they felt should make the Book of the Year list, and why. The talks
were passionate, funny and informative.
Literature Alive Launch
Wednesday, April 13
Why just launch a festival when you can also launch a book,
an art exhibition and some emerging authors. The Literature
Alive festival is a two-week celebration of children’s books.
The festival includes author and illustrator workshops and
the Maurice Saxby mentorship for emerging authors and
illustrators. Thus when the Literature Alive festival was
launched over champagne and nibbles, so were the 2016
Maurice Saxby mentees.
Mark Wilson also launched his latest book Beth: The Story
of a Child Convict, a terrific story inspired by the
experiences of the youngest female convict on the First
Fleet. An exhibition “In the picture: The Art of Illustration”
was also launched. The exhibition featured work by Mark
Wilson, Kevin Burgemeestre (right), Adrian Wilson, Mark
Wilson and Jane Tanner.
Night of the Notables
Monday, April 18
Will Kostakis was the guest speaker at the announcement
of the 2016 CBCA Book of the Year Notables.
Wow, he sure knows how to entertain a crowd. Will started
with a delightfully funny tale about his grandmother trying
to buy his book in Dick Smith’s and ended with the recent
furore caused when a school offered to cancel a speaking engagement after Will announced he was
gay. Keep in mind Will is young and he’d just announced to the world he was gay. And this was one
of the first responses he got. Fortunately, Will said his phone ran almost constantly for three days
with messages of support from friends, family and that school community.
The CBCA Book of the Year Award has five categories – Book of the Year: Older Readers; Book of the
Year: Younger Readers; Book of the Year: Early Childhood; Picture Book of the Year and the Eva
Pownall Award for Information Books. You can have a look at the Notable Lists on the CBCA website.
The Short Lists are announced Friday, May 20. The Winners are announced Friday, August 19.
Northbrook Pop up Gallery
Friday, April 22
Fellow mentee Katie and I manned the In the picture: Art of Illustration exhibition today.
It had been suggested we bring something to do, in case there weren’t many visitors. Katie brought
coffee, cake and her manuscripts, so we workshopped Kate’s stories. We also admired the
illustrations in the exhibitions and took photos for our mentee journals. What a great way to spend
an afternoon.
Judith Rossell at the South Yarra Toorak Library
Tuesday, April 26
Today was the first event in the two-week mentorship intensive. During the mentorship we met a
number of people who make their living as authors and/or illustrators. This is impressive, as it’s
often said how difficult it is to make a living as an author or illustrator in Australia. School visits seem
to make a difference.
Author and illustrator Judith Rossell has written 11 books in 12 years and illustrated many others.
Her novel Withering- By-Sea won several prizes including the 2015 Children's & YA Indie Book of the
Year. In the week that we met Judith she had three school visits booked, plus a deadline for the
sequel to Withering-by-Sea. She was very busily living the dream.
We saw Judith presenting to a group of Grade 3 students. She was confident and relaxed and
grabbed their attention from the start by asking, “Did anyone else ever get into trouble for drawing
when they should have been doing something else?”
Judith read Bogtrotter, which Margaret Wild wrote and Judith illustrated. Then, using the
whiteboard, she taught the kids how to draw a bogtrotter. It was simple and fun.
Judith then read Oliver, which she had written and illustrated, and taught the
kids how to draw different facial expressions by changing the shape of the
eyes and mouth. Expressions included shy, angry, sad, happy, surprised,
excited, bored and after a bang on the head. The kids loved it.
The kids and the mentees were then taken step by step through drawing a
crazy character (pictured left) in three steps. Draw a head, fold the paper by a
third and swap with the person beside you. Draw the body, fold the paper
again and swap. Finally, draw the legs and open up your picture and see what
sort of crazy critter you have.
Dromkeen
Wednesday, April 27
Dromkeen homestead is a beautiful country estate, an hour from Melbourne. I first visited in 2012,
when Dromkeen was “the home of children’s literature”. Then, it was owned by Scholastic and
housed a collection of original children’s picture book art, known as the Dromkeen Collection.
Above: Visiting Dromkeen were (l-r)
Katie, Albert, Nean, Rebecca, Alex and
Helen with Dromkeen’s owner
Bernadette Joiner.
Left: The Dromkeen homestead.
In 2012 Scholastic announced it was moving the Dromkeen Collection to the State Library and the
Dromkeen homestead was to be sold. It seemed like the end of an era.
However, in 2013 Dromkeen was purchased by the Joiner family, who were determined to maintain
Dromkeen as a place that celebrated children’s literature.
When Albert and Helen took mentees Kate, Alex, Nean and me to Dromkeen, we were welcomed by
the new driving force behind Dromkeen, Bernadette Joiner.
A retired primary school teacher, Bernadette is passionate about children’s literature and picture
book art. Bernadette had beautiful children’s picture book art everywhere, including magnificent
dragon artwork by Marc McBride, who does the Deltora Quest book covers; a vividly orange Old
Tom by Leigh Hobbs; and a selection of art by Ann James from The Butterfly. On display in the
gallery was The Hush Treasure Book exhibition (on until September 16) featuring sculptures by Kevin
Burgemeestre.
In addition to regular exhibitions, Bernadette has established an annual festival (held in March) and
monthly storytimes for children (held on the first Saturday of every month). It was a wonderful visit
and I am really pleased to report that Dromkeen is still the home of children’s literature.
Back to school: the mentorship included a trip to John Marsden’s Candlebark school, which has its
own tepee (top right). (Above) Nean, John Marsden, Rebecca, Helen, Albert, Katie and Alex.
Candlebark
Wednesday, April 27
I have been curious about John Marsden’s Candlebark School ever since I first heard about it. On his
website, John describes the school as “somewhere between Steiner and The Simpsons”. It sounds
like the sort of school I would love to have gone to, so I was thrilled when we were told we would be
visiting John at Candlebark as part of our mentorship.
My first impression was of trees, trees and more trees. My next impression was of happy children
and unrestrained play. There were half a dozen kids on each of the two trampolines, boys on one
tramp, girls on the other; there was a girl whizzing everywhere on her bike; there was a tepee; and
there were half a dozen prep-sized pirates, some running around, the rest playing chess. It was
glorious to watch. We were told John was on his way from the Alice Miller Secondary School (which
opened this year), so we sat and enjoyed the trees and the cheerful chaos while we waited.
John arrived, looking more like a farmer than a school principal or international best-selling author.
He took us into the nearest classroom and we sat around one of the student tables. John asked us to
introduce ourselves and tell him about our projects. Tip for aspiring writers: it’s a good idea to have
a 10-second pitch of your novel ready for such occasions. Mine is: “Hi I’m Rebecca. I’ve written a
junior fiction novel. It’s about a girl, a boy, a horse and a zorse, and their issues.” I pause then,
because many people ask, “what’s a zorse?” John didn’t ask, he laughed.
After introductions, John started talking, telling us everything he knew about writing books, creating
characters and getting published. Here is what I wrote down in that lesson from John.
Characters
 When developing characters give them stories. The more stories you give them, the more
real they will become. Stories can be a sentence or a paragraph.
 Characters in fiction need a repertoire or library of stories, so the reader can connect with
them.
 The obvious way to tell a story is to be visual.
 Give characters a voice through their stories. To achieve their voice, use a catchphrase, let
them use certain words frequently, the rhythm of their language should always be the same.
 If you give someone an unexpected voice, for example a funky nana voice, you have to
explain it. John does this in Tomorrow When the War Began with Fi who uses the oldfashioned “gosh”. Ellie says, “Fi was the only person I knew under sixty who said ‘gosh’.”
 Voice changes according to gender, status, where you live, age, nationality and emotion at
the time.
 It’s satisfying to give characters a voice that makes them more apparent.
Content and style
 John gets his students to tell their life story in 14 words. They often start with quite
pedestrian writing, then they rewrite stylishly using fresh and more colourful language.
 If content is strong that’s all you need. If style is strong you can make content interesting.
 The writing shouldn’t draw attention to itself. It has to be very natural.
 Focus on the most important part of the story, which is what the character said, rather than
how they said it. “He said,” rather than “he chortled”.
 John quoted Raymond Chandler, who said: “Nothing in literature is worth a damn except for
what’s written between the lines.”
Editing
 Every sentence has to have energy. Every sentence has to have entertainment value.
 Cut words to improve the briskness and energy of the story.
 “Really”, “very”, “just” – cut, cut, cut.
Books, writing and reading
 After each book is finished Johns says he loves it for three months and rereads it a lot, then
stops.
 John’s greatest pleasure is to find a writer who uses words with great confidence. E.g. P J
Wodehouse used the word gruntled. “I could see that, if not actually disgruntled, he was far
from being gruntled.”
 James Joyce is difficult to read, but a master of language. You have to be in charge of the
language.
 A Fortunate Life by A B Facey is compelling reading.
 There are different types of writers. The bricklayer writes a sentence and then polishes it.
The architect plans extensively. The oil painter writes thousands and thousands of words
and then has to do lots of editing. The water colourist gets it right the first time.
Tips for good endings
 Writing is about solving problems. The solution has to be as good as the problem.
Shakespeare used death, Jane Austen used marriage.
Publishing
 It’s so hard to get published, but Jane Austen and the Brontes found it hard to get published.
 The integrity of Australian publishers is beyond question. Mainstream publishers are good.
 You can negotiate contracts.
 The royalty rate is more important than the advance, usually 10 per cent for a paperback,
and up to 15 per cent for a hardback.
 Ask your publisher: How many copies do you plan to print? How much will it retail for? What
marketing do you have in place?
 You don’t need an agent for work being published in Australia. John had agents for the
overseas sales and film rights.
 Australian editors move from publisher to publisher. Often authors will follow editors.
 John has only been pressured twice to change something – one was roos being shot and
another was “fuck” being changed to “damn”.
 Australia is fantastic at marketing books.
Allen & Unwin
Erica Wagner and Jodie Webster
Thursday, 28 April
Our visit to Allen & Unwin was amazing, mainly
because we were treated like we were actually
writers who would one day produce something
magnificent.
Erica and Jodie had organised morning tea and a
presentation in the boardroom. We were asked to
introduce ourselves and say a little bit about our
project. I had learnt from previous encounters and
had packed a couple of zorse photos. So, after my
spiel, when I was asked ‘what’s a zorse?’ I pulled
out the photos.
Amazing: Jodie Webster and Erica Wagner.
Erica’s presentation was about the processes
involved in getting published. It was a fantastic talk,
insightful, helpful and exciting. Here are my notes.
What Allen & Unwin are looking for when they consider a manuscript
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It needs to stand out.
Fresh original storylines.
Flair for language.
Characters they can’t get out of their head.
Authentic voice that will appeal to kids.
The X factor – this is really standing out.
 They have to feel passionate about a story and that they want to champion it and that there
is a place for it in the world.
Advice to aspiring authors
 Be yourself. (Erica and Jodie stressed they really, really believe this.)
 Write what you want to read.
 Write for who you most identify with in your own heart.
How a manuscript gets selected and what happens next
1. One editor gets excited about a manuscript.
2. Editor shares the story with other editors who read it. They discuss if they should proceed.
Things editors consider when deciding whether or not to take on a manuscript.
 What’s the author like?
 Competing titles (this is often the clincher). Is it going to compete well or not with
similar titles?
 Hard back, paper back?
 Who is the reader?
 How would we publish it? Is it a series? If it is, would we launch all at once or bit by bit?
3. Acquisitions meeting (An editor might have met with the author before this meeting.)
The editors pitch the book to the sales team. “These are our hopes and dreams for the
book.” The sales team would have glanced at the book, but won’t have read it. The sales
team need to be confident they know what sort of book it is and how they would sell it.
4. The book is given the thumbs up. The next discussion is what the author will be paid.
5. The publishers write a formal letter of offer to the author.
6. Once the offer has been accepted, a plan for publication is made, an editor is assigned to the
book (usually the person who loves it the most), a killer image is created for the cover and a
line that sums up the book (and that everyone will repeat) is decided on.
Towards publication
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A structural edit, which usually takes a few months, is done.
A copy edit, which takes about two weeks, is done.
The editor drafts a cover brief.
The author does a biography and explains background, themes and story.
Author writes a draft blurb (which will get changed many times).
Author reads page proofs, a freelance editor does too.
Reading copies sent to buyers and reviewers.
It’s one year from manuscript selection to publication. We were told, if one of our manuscripts was
picked up now, it would be published in 2018.
Book facts
Allen & Unwin do about 90 children’s books a year. Of these
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15 are reissues or reinterpretations
1 or 2 are board books
15 are picture books for younger readers (lucrative if you get it right)
3 graphic novels a year
24 junior fiction novels
12 younger teenage fiction
20 older teenage fiction
2-5 non-fiction a year
Other things you need to know about books and publishers
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Allen & Unwin are as invested in the book working as the author.
Word of mouth is still the best seller of books.
Kids like reading book series.
If you’re doing a series include a series outline in your submission.
Whatever you send to the publisher, keep it as simple and clear as possible.
Simultaneous submissions are okay, just advise the publisher in the covering letter. And if
one publisher does show an interest, make sure you let the other publishers know.
School presentation by author Anna Ciddor
Friday, 29 April
It was a joy to watch Anna present to a school group. Anna was professional from beginning (when
she asked a teacher to quieten the noisy exercise class next door) through the middle (when one of
the students fainted) to the end (when Anna congratulated the students for being a great class).
Anna has been an author for 30 years and has written and illustrated 55 books. She is an
experienced presenter.
The House with Two Front Doors, which took four years to research and write, is based on Anna’s
grandmother’s childhood in Poland. Set in the 1920s, it is about the marriage of the eldest daughter
in a large Jewish family to a man she has never met.
Anna asked the students to listen for four things, while she read the first chapter.
1.
2.
3.
4.
Facts (that might have come from Anna’s grandmother or from research).
Imagination (where Anna might have used her imagination to build the story).
Things that take you into another world (a Jewish home) and another time (1920s).
Interesting words.
The children listened attentively and had lots of great answers. Next Anna talked about the
characters. There are 11 main characters in the book plus several minor ones. Anna explained how
she made them all strong and different by using photos of her grandmother’s family to inspire her.
Anna’s approach to presenting was clever. She broke up the session by giving the students the
chance to ask questions, she provided lots of hands-on interaction and she gave them a task to do
when she was reading to them. And by reading the first chapter to them, Anna left them (and me)
wondering what happened next.
Penguin
Amy Thomas and Katrina Lehman
Friday, 29 April
Penguin editors Amy (pictured) and Katrina
showed us around their amazing Docklands office
and invited us to ask them anything we wanted
to know about publishing. So we did. Here are
their answers.
Publishing facts
 Penguin publish 100 titles a year, of those
five are from the slush pile.
 The voice is the most important thing.
 Don’t over edit your manuscript, they will
see the potential.
 If they like it, they’ll be happy to work on it.
 Simultaneous submissions are okay; but let them know if you are successful elsewhere.
 Publishing is very much about building authors, rather than doing a one-off deal.
 Penguin has a strong Australian publishing list.
Ethnic characters
 They like ethnic diversity. It doesn’t need to be overstated, just give little hints.
 Represent ethnicity as a normal part of life.
Novels and series
 A cliff-hanger at the end of each chapter is good.
 There are a lot of middle reader series for girls. Since the merger of Penguin Books and
Random House, they’ve realised it’s an area of duplication.
 Publishers happy with either first person or third person perspective.
Picture Books
 32 pages long and Include page breaks.
 Illustrative notes can be helpful.
General advice
 Enter competitions and go to children’s book events - you’ll find publishers there.
 When they receive a submission they look at the manuscript first, then the author bio.
 Authors should have a five-second pitch and a two-minute pitch ready to go.
Submissions
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In your cover letter, place your book in the market and name similar books.
Include if you have any expertise in the area you are writing about.
Say how your book will appeal to the target audience.
Use plain formatting and include page numbers on your manuscript.
Workshop: Collage Pictures with Mandy Cooper
Saturday, 30 April
Mandy has had a lot of experience teaching art. She is the
director of Gallery for a Day, a travelling exhibition of
original picture book illustrations, and before that was a
primary school art teacher.
I took my kids to Mandy’s workshop and we had a great
time creating our masterpieces. Mandy was super
organised and had everything we needed to make a work of
art. She had a book of great ideas, samples of things she
had made and a terrific assortment of textured, coloured and patterned paper.
Workshop: Whacko Creatures in Paper Clay with Kevin Burgemeestre
Sunday, 1 May
Kevin is an author, illustrator and 3D artist. He’s enthusiastic, innovative
and bursting with all sorts of crazy ideas. Kevin showed us how he makes
creatures from paper clay and then helped us to make our own. Two of
Kevin’s creations are picture on page 4.
The paper clay was easy to work with and lots of fun.
I made a zorse (left) out of the paper clay and then used felt-tip pens to
draw the stripes on.
Morning Tea with Shaun Tan
Monday, 2 May
Helen Chamberlin organised our morning tea with Shaun. Helen was one of Shaun’s first editors and
they have been friends for years. They worked together on a number of books including the hugely
successful The Arrival. It was fascinating listening to Shaun talking about his writing and illustrating;
and equally fascinating listening to Helen talk about her involvement with The Arrival.
Shaun on picture books
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The key thing for a picture book is don’t repeat; don’t draw what you’re writing about.
Picture book text has to be short.
You’re inviting the reader to be a co-creator.
Don’t use emotion in the description. For example, say: “Then she opened the box.” Not,
“Then she opened the box and was amazed.” Even better, say: “And then …” (and show the
box being opened in the illustrations.)
 Where the Wild Things Are is a great picture book to study.
 He likes to include pages without text
and says all good books have that.
It’s the illustrators doing a drum solo.
 Picture books are about the play
between words and pictures and
have to surprise people.
Shaun on writing
 Shaun starts off with a lengthy text
and as the pictures develop he takes
out words and sentences that are no
longer needed.
 Writing is difficult. It doesn’t get any
easier, even after all these years.
 He likes collaborating.
 He is quite savage with his own text.
 A good story is one that can be
interpreted in different ways.
 He tries to remove his own opinion
from the story.
 Writing is about being humble,
saying ‘look at this, isn’t it
interesting’.
Shaun on The Arrival
 Shaun said The Arrival “was a long and
 muddled process”.
 It was originally pitched as a 32- page
picture book, but kept growing and
growing. It was finally published as a
128-page book, which is as big as it
could be.
 32 pages was too slight an approach
for the migrant story because there
was so much to say.
 There are no words because words
make the story go too fast. Take away
the words and reading slows down.
Helen on The Arrival
It usually takes Shaun one year to do a picture
book. The Arrival took five years. Helen
Chamberlin was his editor at the time. I asked
Helen, if it mattered that the size of
the book kept changing and the deadline kept
moving?
“No,” she said. “We knew it would be good.
We just had to wait.”
Good morning: it was a treat to have morning tea
with Shaun Tan. He signed my book, below.
Art Detective workshop with Mandy Cooper from Gallery for a Day
Mandy is passionate about children’s picture book art and her collection of original artwork is
impressive. Mandy uses her collection to teach children how to be art detectives; how to spot the
difference and the sameness in different pieces of art and how to appreciate how the picture was
made and put in a picture book. Mandy does this by reading picture books, discussing the
illustrations and comparing them to the original artwork.
Mandy set up her Gallery for a Day exhibition so the room looked exactly like an art gallery, with
paintings hung on the walls and displayed on stands. The book each illustration was from was put
beside the artwork and the children were invited to find the matching picture in the book. The kids
loved it. It was fun for the mentees too.
Text Publishing
Jane Pearson
Tuesday, May 3
The Text Publishing team were one week from
announcing the winner of the 2016 Text Prize, and
madly busy with arrangements, when Jane (left)
welcomed us into their boardroom. Jane is one of the
two editors who work on YA and middle grade fiction.
This is what I learnt from Jane.
About Text
 This year Text will publish 14 young adult and
middle grade novels.
 Nine of them will be Australian.
 There are six editors at Text.
 The editors spend Friday afternoons in the
boardroom going through the slush pile. Each
script gets 5-10 minutes, more if it’s good.
The Text Prize
 There are 250-350 entries every year for the
Text Prize.
 The prize means the winner gets published
with a big bang.
Elements of a good book
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Ideally it has strong male and female characters.
Don‘t be too prescriptive when writing; it shows.
Tell a great story and then think about other things considered important to include.
Descriptions of character through what they say or do is great.
When describing people use brief brush strokes, do it gently, subtly.
Don’t make a big thing of different ethnic backgrounds.
Tell the story, let the details be secondary, kids don’t care
Writing a series
 Most kids are aspirational readers - they read stories about kids older than themselves.
 One of the difficulties with doing a series is that children are ageing as the books come out.
Young readers outgrew the Billionaires Curse series while it was still being written.
 To get new readers for a series like the Billionaires Curse, you have to convince the
booksellers to restock the earlier books when the later ones come out.
 If you’re writing a series, weave the back story into the later books.
Editing
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Often the second half of a story flags, or tails off.
You have to have stamina to write it until it’s completely finished from beginning to end.
Read your manuscript with the cold-hearted brutality of the people who will reject you.
Most manuscripts have too many adverbs and adjectives.
Jane held up a couple of pages of a manuscript she was editing. There were almost as many
editing notes as there were typewritten words. Don’t be offended if this is done to your
manuscript, she said.
Publishing in Australia
 A print run of 3000 books is good, a run of 5000-6000 is very good. Sometimes they’ll do a
small print run of 1500 books.
 What complements what we do, is selling the rights overseas.
 Books with Australian settings do okay overseas.
Wednesday, May 4
Today was a huge day of gallivanting around Melbourne’s book industry. We started with a show
and tell of old children’s books at the State Library. Then we went to Readings Carlton to learn about
selling children’s books from one of their children’s book specialists. From there it was off to The
Little Bookroom, Australia’s first children’s-only book shop. And then onto a discussion at the
Toorak/South Yarra library about connecting books and readers.
State Library with Children’s Research Librarian Juliet O’Conor
We didn’t always know what an event involved until the event was underway. This was the case
when Albert took us to the State Library. I assumed it would involve children’s books, but that was as
much thought as I gave it.
We were met by Children’s Research Librarian Juliet O’Conor, who took us behind locked doors
where she had a selection of books from the Children’s Literature Research Collection to show us.
Resting on pillows and tucked under tissue paper in their boxes were some of the oldest and most
unusual books in the collection. It was incredible to see them. Even more amazing, we were allowed
to handle them, turn pages and take photographs.
While we admired the books, Juliet gave us a brief talk about the collection.
 The library has more than 100,000 children’s books published between the 16th and 21st
centuries.
 The oldest book is a dictionary of vulgar Latin phrases from 1520. It’s not a book of swear
words; here vulgar means common rather than rude.
 Another of the oldest books is The Scholemaster written by Roger Ascham, the former
schoolmaster of Queen Elizabeth I and published in 1572.
 Children’s books became fun in the 19th century. Before then, children’s books were serious
and educational.
 We also toured the books in display cases, where we saw a first edition Alice in Wonderland
purchased by the library last year to celebrate 150 years since it was first published.
Rare finds at the State Library: Nean (above)
holding a horn book and (right) a first edition
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
Readings - the best bookstore in the world
I think everyone in Melbourne was pretty chuffed in April, when Readings was named the 2016
International Bookstore of the Year at the London Book Fair. As part of our mentorship we went to
the Carlton branch of the best bookstore in the world and were shown around the children’s
department by children’s book specialist Dani Solomon.
Did I say specialist? Dani was amazing. Dani lived and breathed the Readings philosophy of
promoting local authors and providing exceptional customer service. Dani knew all the books, all the
authors and what was selling. She shared her knowledge enthusiastically and generously. And at the
end of our visit, Dani invited us to launch our books at Readings!
Inside the Little Bookroom
This is where Albert Ullin’s bookstore adventure began more than 55 years ago. Albert opened the
Little Bookroom, the first bookstore in Australia to only sell children’s books, in October 1960. So it
was fitting that Albert should take us there and introduce us to the current owner Leesa Lambert.
Leesa and her parents bought the Little Bookroom in early 2008 from the three staff members Albert
sold it to in 1997.
The Little Bookroom is open seven days a week and specialises in quality children’s books, although
now it also has a few books for adults. Leesa said board books are their biggest seller followed by the
classics.
The Little Bookroom is a popular choice for book launches and at 10.30am every Thursday and
Friday its storytime.
Panel Discussion at Toorak/South Yarra Library
Bring a group of knowledgeable and enthusiastic book people together for a panel discussion and
you can be pretty sure the results will be fascinating.
Pam Horsey was the moderator and the panel included author and teacher Janet Maclean; author
and bookseller Claire Saxby; Books in Print’s children's book specialist Cathy Draper; Genazzano
College’s head of library Dr Susan Le Marca; and Malvern Library’s specialist librarian Kate Gilbert.
The conversation covered a lot of territory. Here are some of the main points:
Bookshops
 Andy Griffiths and Wimpy Kid books are popular with kids.
 The cartoon book genre is still really strong.
 Julian Clary’s new book is hysterical (I think this is The Bolds).
 Best-selling book of the moment is The House with Two Front Doors by Anna Ciddor.
 Parents, aunts and grandparents purchase books for very young kids.
 Older primary school kids start to choose for themselves. They are influenced by what other
kids at school are reading.
 It matters how publishers present books to buyers; how books are shelved in bookstores;
and then how they are purchased.
Ebooks and digital diaries
 Picture books are now being designed so they can easily be converted from a book to an
ebook. They have the pictures on one page rather than on two.
 It’s hard to tell how many people are using ebooks.
 The Australian War Memorial is digitising historical records, including diaries and letters.
Libraries
 The role of the librarian is to help children unlock the pleasures of reading.
 The Meet series (Meet … Nellie Melba; Meet … Banjo Paterson) has been very popular.
 Libraries are in the business of connecting people with resources.
 Don’t make judgements about what kids are reading. They pick up the 59 th Daisy Meadows
book because of the predictability. But they’re reading and that’s the most important thing.
They’ll move onto other books.
Genazzano
 Make sure books are available to students in as many varied ways as possible. Have guest
authors, books festivals, all sorts of things.
 Every student in Year 5-10 sees a librarian once a fortnight.
 Students keep a record of their reading and have a list of books they’d like to read.
 There is a reading list for every year level, plus lots of other book lists to help kids choose.
Bananas: Mark taught Melbourne High School students how to draw a turtle using fruit shapes.
Mark Wilson at Melbourne High School
Thursday, May 5
Mark Wilson only writes about two things – war and animals – because they are the subjects he is
passionate about.
Mark was sharing that passion with a group of boys at Melbourne High School. “You’re at the cross
roads,” Mark told the boys. “My generation failed. The extinction of animals continues. We have
destroyed their environments. Now, it’s up to you.”
Mark’s picture books about endangered animals include Migaloo the White Whale, The Dolphin and
Journey of the Sea Turtle.
Mark taught the boys how to draw a loggerhead sea turtle using fruit shapes - half a watermelon, a
wedge of lemon, two halves of a banana and an orange make one turtle. Mark says he learned to
draw by copying his favourite comics. He uses photos and film images to inspire his pictures. When
he was drawing horses for a battle scene, he watched lots of horse videos and visited ranches so he
could observe horses. He likes to have movement and action in his pictures.
Mark uses colour to create emotion. Orange and red are used for blood, death and fire.
Mark also shared some incredible war stories. He showed the boys a photo of his grandfather who
lied about his age and enlisted for World War I when he was only 15. The photo shows him sitting
behind a machine gun. It was his job to fire the gun - because he was so small, and the machine gun
was so big, it provided some protection from enemy bullets.
Meeting my mentor Kate Ryan
Tuesday, 10 May
One of the most exciting parts of the mentorship was getting feedback on my novel from an editor.
Over the three years it has taken to write Ruby and the zorse, I have workshopped large chunks of it
with my writing group, but no one (except the Maurice Saxby Mentorship judges) has read the book
as an entire story. Helen selected Kate Ryan, a children’s picture book author and editor, to give me
feedback.
After Kate read the manuscript she sent me an emailed, saying “I love it”, and it “has great potential
for publication”. She also wrote that she had some suggestions as to how I might strengthen the
story even further, which we would discuss when we met.
Our meeting was incredibly helpful. For an hour, we discussed what worked and why and what still
required attention. This included developing two characters that didn’t seem as real as the other
characters, strengthening relationships, adding more drama to one of the early scenes, showing
more of the nasty step mother, changing two of the boys’ names and adding place description.
I emailed Kate afterwards. “Your feedback was fantastic. Some of it was unexpected, but still I agree
with everything you said and I’m looking forward to getting back into the novel and seeing what
happens. I hope to have it finished and submitted to publishers by Friday, June 24.”
I’ve been madly writing my mentorship diary since then, but have now finished and can throw
myself enthusiastically back into my novel.
**
How do you equate being in no man’s land most of your writing life to being welcomed into the
heart of the industry? The Maurice Saxby mentees have been escorted from one end of the City of
Literature to the other, we’ve seen how publishing works, from several different perspectives,
people have shared their knowledge and offered support and we’ve been invited to submit to three
publishers.
The mentorship was so much more than I expected and exactly what I needed. Enormous thanks to
the many wonderful people involved, but especially to Albert Ullin, Helen Chamberlin and Pam
Horsey who made it happen.