1. What is your official title and role at Hodder Children’s?
BB: Senior Commissioning Editor. I find new authors, guide and develop their career and their writing, and support, guide and continue to build those authors I have brought to the list.
2. Tell us about your background and what brought you to children's publishing.
BB: I grew up in Kenya in the transition years between British colony and independence, and came to England for the first time to study for A' levels. I travelled widely in Africa, America and Europe before graduating from Cambridge University with a degree in Economics and Sociology and joining Penguin Books to work on economics textbooks. But within a few weeks someone offered me the chance to work on children's books. I knew at once that I had found my home, and have never looked back. At first I worked on illustrated non-fiction, running that alongside some non-fiction writing. In 1981 I began writing full-time (a backlist of over 40 books). I returned to combining writing and editing ten years ago, when I joined Hodder, and now edit and write just fiction.
3. In the past five years, what book(s) are you proudest of having worked on? Why?
BB: I’m immensely proud of all the books I’ve edited, and all the authors I’ve worked with – but if I have to pick out some of the most recent, I’d say Geoffrey Malone’s moving, hard-hitting TIGER, Charlotte Haptie’s unsettling and magical OTTO IN THE TIME OF THE WARRIOR, Catherine Fisher’s completely extraordinary INCARCERON, Tanith Lee’s madcap PIRATICA sequence, Helen Fox’s terrific EAGER books – there are now 3, L.J. Adlington’s striking CHERRY HEAVEN, the sequel to the equally striking THE DIARY OF PELLY D, Rachel Anderson’s typically no-holds-barred RED MOON, and Rachel Billington’s subtly funny and scary THERE’S MORE TO LIFE. In their very different ways, they are all special and unusual, and deserve accolades. Most recently of all I’m thrilled to be three writers new to children’s books – Sarah Mussi’s superb, fast-paced debut THE DOOR OF NO RETURN; and two books yet to be published - S.I. Martin’s very special JUPITER WILLIAMS (Oct 07), and Paul Bryers KOBAL, the first of an unusual sequence called THE MYSTERIES OF THE SEPTAGRAM (Jan 08), longlisted for the Waterstones prize. Both are going to cause quite a stir.
4. How would you describe the publishing program at Hodder Children’s Books? What kind of books do you publish and how many new books do you acquire each year?
BB: Buoyant and wide-ranging, in ages, genres, styles, tastes. It’s very difficult to categorise, because we're just looking for writing that really stands out from the crowd, stories that keep you turning the page, characters who live and breathe, places you can feel yourself in, however far-fetched it may be. Writing that sucks the reader straight in. Vigorous, individual voices with something compelling to say, or just exuberant with fun. There's a wide range of traditions and styles within the lists - humour, fantasy, science fiction, animal fantasies, young, zany illustrated fiction (Cressida Cowell being the perfect example) and of course sharp, upbeat contemporary YA. There’s no target for how many I have to acquire in any one year – I acquire a book as and when I find one I want to – and then we schedule according to overall questions of the shape of the list in that year, seasonal strengths and weaknesses, competition, and so on.
5. What are the biggest challenges involved in building a new list in an already established and competitive market?
BB: Finding ways – appropriate ways - to make other people notice the books you think are worth publishing. There is so much out there, the bookshops are all shouting about their selected promotions, the customer can be forgiven for not knowing where to turn and not noticing any one individual title, spine out, on the shelves. There has to be a hullabaloo about it. But there aren’t enough promotional slots for everything published, and the window of opportunity to ensure a book makes a mark on the consciousness of the bookbuying public is very short. Enough said …
6. When and how did you start writing children’s books?
BB:Initially, while I was working as a non-fiction editor, I became fascinated by certain subjects in the history of science and went on to write a number of narrative non-fiction titles. But I had always wanted to write fiction, ever since, while still at university, I submitted a diary entry disguised as a short adult novel to several publishers. Amazingly, it led immediately to a contract for a new 'untitled novel' from Anthony Blond. I never completed it; it’s still in my bottom drawer. When in 1981 I left editing to write full-time. I resurrected my memories of growing up in Kenya in my first children's novel, THE KEEPER OF THE GATE, drawing on the political and emotional responses to those years that I hadn't been able to make sense of when I was younger. I generated a large and varied backlist, including picture books and retellings of Shakespeare, but I now concentrate on the novels.
7. How do your roles as author and editor support each other? Conflict? As author I am enriched by my close editorial involvement with other authors – constantly amazed at their qualities of imagination and narration. It keeps me on my toes! I am also aware – painfully – of the vagaries of the ‘market’, so I think it makes me very realistic.
As editor, I am told by my authors that I am particularly sensitive to an author’s predicament, and helpful in supporting them through thick and thin. And so I should be – most editors are! But knowing how it actually feels to be on the other side of the fence probably adds some dimension. The conflict is just in finding time, and mental space for writing. As editor I have such close involvement in the ups and downs of others’ creative struggles - I sometimes feel little energy left for my own!
8. How do you view the relationship between an editor and an author?
BB: It’s essential for the author to trust their editor’s judgement, and of course the editor has to earn that. The editor is a sounding board for an author's developing ideas. If they are clear in their guidance, and the reasons for it, and clear and visible in their enthusiasm, but at all times recognise that the book is not the editor's but the author's creation, they will succeed in supporting the author's effort in the best possible way. There is of course all the other side: publishing the book well, looking after production quality, marketing and sales support, and ensuring that all parts of the company are fully informed about the book so that enthusiasm. for it is spread in the right places to achieve maximum sales and intelligent use of resources in supporting it. So it’s important for an author to feel an editor is doing that for them. Equally, it’s important for an editor to feel that an author is receptive to feedback – not obedient, that is a different thing – just professionally receptive to the idea that even a very well-written text could have room for work, and gives honest and serious consideration to editorial feedback. If there isn’t that sense of a two-way street, the relationship will simply founder. Even the most superb of writers needs an objective editor’s eye on their work.
9. What do you perceive as the role of the books you publish or write in the lives of contemporary children? Creating life-long readers. Enlarging vision – and enjoyment from reading - so that you entice a youngster along a path of continual exploration of books. Twin aims, inextricably linked, I think. Books – stories and non-fiction, enlarge a child’s worldview – they allow children to try on other lives, explore the ‘what if I was there, did that, went there? I don’t think you can understate the significance of good children’s books in enhancing the life chances of children who have access to them.
10. Are you aware of any trends in children's publishing at the moment?
BB: How do you feel about them? It’s increasingly difficult for new writers to be published, and for established writers to sustain a career. Lots of books, fighting each other for slim promotional opportunities; high sales expectations for each book if the publisher and bookseller is going to stick with it – expectations that are difficult for many worthwhile and readable books to actually meet. Continuing pressure on authors to be self-promoters as well as writers. On the one hand it forces writers to really examine and improve the quality and appeal of what they write. On the other hand many books which are superb, and you know would be enjoyed by the target readership if they ever got their hands on them, simply don’t get through all the intervening doors, because they are in some sense quieter than others. It’s very sad for literacy, and range – leads to a shrinking horizon defined not by issues of quality but salability.
11. What say does the sales/marketing department have in the look or type of the book you produce?
BB: A substantial say in how a book looks, but not at the expense of authors' views – often a difficult balancing act. A decision to publish a book is taken at a meeting where sales and marketing play a very significant part; the editor has to convince everyone of the commercial viability of the book, and create a far-reaching enthusiasm for it. Editors do not always succeed in leaping this hurdle, but their judgement and conviction is still the prime mover in the process.
12. Are you accepting unsolicited manuscripts at the moment?
BB: Unfortunately no as far as Hodder general policy is concerned. But editors (like myself) who have been to writers’ conferences do open the door to submissions directly to them. In this case it’s important to record in the submissions letter that you have met the editor and been invited you to submit. If it’s true, the text will get looked at. If it’s not true, your prized submission will simply be returned, unread.
Thank you very much, Beverley.
