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[CCBC-Net] from Roni Schotter
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From: Ronisch at aol.com <Ronisch>
Date: Thu, 7 Jun 2007 05:52:33 EDT
And several years ago, I was asked to ghost write a celebrity book . . . (I didn't do it) so I now assume that most of the "celebrity books" are, in actuality, written by us journeymen/women children's book authors. I also know of a celebrity whose books have been heavily edited by the editor, and my guess is that "heavily edited" really means rewritten. For those of us who have been writing a long time, who take children's books and children seriously, who live and breathe children's literature, the idea that only celebrities can garner media attention is, well, incredibly annoying! I wish more newspapers, journals, magazines, talk shows, etc. made it a practice to discuss/review/celebrate children's literature so that more good books could be brought to people's attention. I wish people would contact newspapers, journals, magazines, talk shows, etc. and suggest to them that they deal with children's literature. (After all, we're talking about future adult readers, so what could be more important???) Perhaps then publishers wouldn't need to rely on singers'/comedians'/actors' notoriety to sell books.
And, yes, I'm not yet in my 80's, but I find that, although I love meeting the children and teachers who read my books, public speaking which is now a necessity to support my writing, is exhausting and cuts enormously into my writing time. It also, of course, requires a different sort of "head"--not the one I use to write, so, it really does cut into creativity. Here again, if publishers better advertised the books of us ordinary writers, we might all be able to spend more time writing and speak out of total enthusiasm, rather than frequent necessity.
The cult of celebrity books is pernicious, I think, on many fronts. It is also something that makes children think that they can't themselves be writers. When I speak to children, I make certain that I do it in a non-celebrity/non-distant way so that children never feel that they can't, if they choose to do so, continue to write and become a "writer" when they grow up--as they already are now!
Well, I'll calm down now. Most of us who write for children are not happy about this new phenomenon! Roni Schotter
************************************** See what's free at http://www.aol.com.
Received on Thu 07 Jun 2007 04:52:33 AM CDT
Date: Thu, 7 Jun 2007 05:52:33 EDT
And several years ago, I was asked to ghost write a celebrity book . . . (I didn't do it) so I now assume that most of the "celebrity books" are, in actuality, written by us journeymen/women children's book authors. I also know of a celebrity whose books have been heavily edited by the editor, and my guess is that "heavily edited" really means rewritten. For those of us who have been writing a long time, who take children's books and children seriously, who live and breathe children's literature, the idea that only celebrities can garner media attention is, well, incredibly annoying! I wish more newspapers, journals, magazines, talk shows, etc. made it a practice to discuss/review/celebrate children's literature so that more good books could be brought to people's attention. I wish people would contact newspapers, journals, magazines, talk shows, etc. and suggest to them that they deal with children's literature. (After all, we're talking about future adult readers, so what could be more important???) Perhaps then publishers wouldn't need to rely on singers'/comedians'/actors' notoriety to sell books.
And, yes, I'm not yet in my 80's, but I find that, although I love meeting the children and teachers who read my books, public speaking which is now a necessity to support my writing, is exhausting and cuts enormously into my writing time. It also, of course, requires a different sort of "head"--not the one I use to write, so, it really does cut into creativity. Here again, if publishers better advertised the books of us ordinary writers, we might all be able to spend more time writing and speak out of total enthusiasm, rather than frequent necessity.
The cult of celebrity books is pernicious, I think, on many fronts. It is also something that makes children think that they can't themselves be writers. When I speak to children, I make certain that I do it in a non-celebrity/non-distant way so that children never feel that they can't, if they choose to do so, continue to write and become a "writer" when they grow up--as they already are now!
Well, I'll calm down now. Most of us who write for children are not happy about this new phenomenon! Roni Schotter
************************************** See what's free at http://www.aol.com.
Received on Thu 07 Jun 2007 04:52:33 AM CDT
