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[CCBC-Net] Celebrity books
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From: Hopkinson, Deborah <Deborah.Hopkinson>
Date: Wed, 6 Jun 2007 10:00:03 -0700
My author friends and I send a lot of time talking about this: not so much the narrow topic of celebrity books, but the underlying issues. Our question usually boils down to this: Is it possible to build a career in a field -- children's publishing -- where so much is out of your control? (This includes celebrity books, cuts in school/library budgets, decisions that affect where marketing dollars go, one's editors' career decisions.)
Yes, it's possible to write good, award-winning books. But that's not the same as progressively building a career and a steady income to support a family. Yes, one can depend on school visits for income, but this involves concerns about the exhaustion of constant travel and the ability to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Lately friends have asked: "How will I do school visits when I'm 80?"
Someone yesterday mentioned that some celebrity books seem surprisingly good, which brought to mind an incident where children's authors were approached about coming up with book concepts, for a kill fee, for a celebrity to review. The celebrity would then presumably choose one and the author would then ghost write the book. (For the record, I passed.) And one reason is that although I love talking to teachers and kids about historical literacy and nonfiction and research and writing, I'm most definitely not nightclub material (and certainly won't be at 80!). And so that day job I never managed to give up, advancing science, K-12 education outreach, and climate change research, increasingly seems like a lucky path to have been on.
Deborah Hopkinson
(Part time author) & full time director of Foundation Relations Oregon State University Foundation www.deborahhopkinson.com
-----Original Message----- From: ccbc-net-bounces at ccbc.education.wisc.edu
[mailto:ccbc-net-bounces at ccbc.education.wisc.edu] On Behalf Of Vicki Cobb Sent: Wednesday, June 06, 2007 8:30 AM To: CCBC-Net at ccbc.education.wisc.edu Subject: [CCBC-Net] Celebrity books
I certainly sympathize with Jane Yolen. I, too, can't complain in spite of the fact that HarperCollins is putting me out of print and has no interest in buying anything new from me, in spite of the fact that the Science Play series (still in print) won rave reviews and a national honor (Seibert).I'm told that their policy is to buy celebrity books and movie tie-ins.
Interestingly, my public speaking business has never been better, and in fact is becoming the tail that wagged the dog. I put on a show for kids that's like a nightclub act. I get that, before anything else, I must be entertaining. Schools buy into the celebrity culture and need to treat me as a celebrity so that kids will become interested in reading science. My agent tells me that in the future the money will come increasingly from author's public appearances with bookselling at such events. Like it or not, authors will have to get their acts together if they want to eke out a living.
Vicki Cobb
_______________________________________________ CCBC-Net mailing list CCBC-Net at ccbc.education.wisc.edu Visit this link to read archives or to unsubscribe... http://ccbc.education.wisc.edu/mailman/listinfo/ccbc-net
Received on Wed 06 Jun 2007 12:00:03 PM CDT
Date: Wed, 6 Jun 2007 10:00:03 -0700
My author friends and I send a lot of time talking about this: not so much the narrow topic of celebrity books, but the underlying issues. Our question usually boils down to this: Is it possible to build a career in a field -- children's publishing -- where so much is out of your control? (This includes celebrity books, cuts in school/library budgets, decisions that affect where marketing dollars go, one's editors' career decisions.)
Yes, it's possible to write good, award-winning books. But that's not the same as progressively building a career and a steady income to support a family. Yes, one can depend on school visits for income, but this involves concerns about the exhaustion of constant travel and the ability to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Lately friends have asked: "How will I do school visits when I'm 80?"
Someone yesterday mentioned that some celebrity books seem surprisingly good, which brought to mind an incident where children's authors were approached about coming up with book concepts, for a kill fee, for a celebrity to review. The celebrity would then presumably choose one and the author would then ghost write the book. (For the record, I passed.) And one reason is that although I love talking to teachers and kids about historical literacy and nonfiction and research and writing, I'm most definitely not nightclub material (and certainly won't be at 80!). And so that day job I never managed to give up, advancing science, K-12 education outreach, and climate change research, increasingly seems like a lucky path to have been on.
Deborah Hopkinson
(Part time author) & full time director of Foundation Relations Oregon State University Foundation www.deborahhopkinson.com
-----Original Message----- From: ccbc-net-bounces at ccbc.education.wisc.edu
[mailto:ccbc-net-bounces at ccbc.education.wisc.edu] On Behalf Of Vicki Cobb Sent: Wednesday, June 06, 2007 8:30 AM To: CCBC-Net at ccbc.education.wisc.edu Subject: [CCBC-Net] Celebrity books
I certainly sympathize with Jane Yolen. I, too, can't complain in spite of the fact that HarperCollins is putting me out of print and has no interest in buying anything new from me, in spite of the fact that the Science Play series (still in print) won rave reviews and a national honor (Seibert).I'm told that their policy is to buy celebrity books and movie tie-ins.
Interestingly, my public speaking business has never been better, and in fact is becoming the tail that wagged the dog. I put on a show for kids that's like a nightclub act. I get that, before anything else, I must be entertaining. Schools buy into the celebrity culture and need to treat me as a celebrity so that kids will become interested in reading science. My agent tells me that in the future the money will come increasingly from author's public appearances with bookselling at such events. Like it or not, authors will have to get their acts together if they want to eke out a living.
Vicki Cobb
_______________________________________________ CCBC-Net mailing list CCBC-Net at ccbc.education.wisc.edu Visit this link to read archives or to unsubscribe... http://ccbc.education.wisc.edu/mailman/listinfo/ccbc-net
Received on Wed 06 Jun 2007 12:00:03 PM CDT
