CCBC-Net Archives
from Brenda Bowen
- Contemporary messages sorted: [ by date ] [ by subject ] [ by author ]
From: Leda Schubert <lschubert>
Date: Wed, 07 Mar 2001 13:51:34 -0500
Brenda's having technical difficulties too: here's a post from her.
This will be just a quick response to Susan Faust's comments, below:
Do you think that the award will help focus attention on what detracts from an information book, for example, lack of documentation or sketchy author authority? Do you think that the award will spur innovation/experimentation in information books? Do y ou think that the award will highlight information books as worthy beyond their utilitarian role? In other words, will it be easier to
"sell" information books for their own sake?
Here's the answer from this publisher: YES!
The standard has been set in non-fiction publishing by the first Sibert awards. The bar has been raised. I think the response in the publishing community is that we will redouble our efforts to make every non-fiction book we publish fulfill the criteria o f the Sibert committee. This we'll do not simply to win an award
(collegial as we are, we are also natural competitors); we'll do this to make our books as thorough and comprehensive as we possibly can.
Awards granted by librarians have a built-in customer base, as we might say in a sales meeting here: librarians buy books endorsed by ALA. Now, when we're faced with acquiring a "marginal" non-fiction manuscript -i.e., one where the audience will be ext rememly limited -- we can work our hardest to make the book meet Sibert criteria, and thus stand a chance of winning the award (and expanding those marginal sales).
I know that when we buy a book in translation, or translate a book here, we hope we will be recognized by the Batchelder committee -- and that our translated books will thus have higher sales than they would without a Batchleder designation.
Publishers almost always welcome new awards -- especially ALA awards, which tend to be extremely well-thought-out and unlikely to become debased. I am eager to see what the Sibert committee will choose next year, and I am optimistic that a book with the S ibert "seal" will be easier to booktalk, to sell in to a bookstore, and sell through to a consumer.
BUT: here's a question: Do you think the Newbery committee will now regularly "dismiss" non-fiction titles, believing that non-fiction is
"covered" by the Sibert committee?
AND: for those of you who were on the Sibert committee: Was it harder to evaluate very young, picture-book non-fiction than it was to evaluate non-fiction for older readers?
Not such a quick response after all ....
Brenda Bowen Simon & Schuster
Received on Wed 07 Mar 2001 12:51:34 PM CST
Date: Wed, 07 Mar 2001 13:51:34 -0500
Brenda's having technical difficulties too: here's a post from her.
This will be just a quick response to Susan Faust's comments, below:
Do you think that the award will help focus attention on what detracts from an information book, for example, lack of documentation or sketchy author authority? Do you think that the award will spur innovation/experimentation in information books? Do y ou think that the award will highlight information books as worthy beyond their utilitarian role? In other words, will it be easier to
"sell" information books for their own sake?
Here's the answer from this publisher: YES!
The standard has been set in non-fiction publishing by the first Sibert awards. The bar has been raised. I think the response in the publishing community is that we will redouble our efforts to make every non-fiction book we publish fulfill the criteria o f the Sibert committee. This we'll do not simply to win an award
(collegial as we are, we are also natural competitors); we'll do this to make our books as thorough and comprehensive as we possibly can.
Awards granted by librarians have a built-in customer base, as we might say in a sales meeting here: librarians buy books endorsed by ALA. Now, when we're faced with acquiring a "marginal" non-fiction manuscript -i.e., one where the audience will be ext rememly limited -- we can work our hardest to make the book meet Sibert criteria, and thus stand a chance of winning the award (and expanding those marginal sales).
I know that when we buy a book in translation, or translate a book here, we hope we will be recognized by the Batchelder committee -- and that our translated books will thus have higher sales than they would without a Batchleder designation.
Publishers almost always welcome new awards -- especially ALA awards, which tend to be extremely well-thought-out and unlikely to become debased. I am eager to see what the Sibert committee will choose next year, and I am optimistic that a book with the S ibert "seal" will be easier to booktalk, to sell in to a bookstore, and sell through to a consumer.
BUT: here's a question: Do you think the Newbery committee will now regularly "dismiss" non-fiction titles, believing that non-fiction is
"covered" by the Sibert committee?
AND: for those of you who were on the Sibert committee: Was it harder to evaluate very young, picture-book non-fiction than it was to evaluate non-fiction for older readers?
Not such a quick response after all ....
Brenda Bowen Simon & Schuster
Received on Wed 07 Mar 2001 12:51:34 PM CST
