BfK Briefing and News 192: January 2012

AWARDS
Costa Children’s Book Award

The 2012 prize has gone to Moira Young for her debut book Blood Red Road.

Set in a dystopian future world, Blood Red Road (Marion Lloyd Books) tells the story of 18-year-old Saba, a tough young woman who embarks on an epic quest to rescue her twin brother when he is kidnapped by four mysterious horsemen. Moira Young was one of the twelve writers and illustrators featured in last year’s Books for Keeps feature on rising talent, and the article praised her fluent, witty and irreverent style, as well as her inventiveness with future world technologies and customs.

The other books on the Costa short-list were Flip by Martyn Bedford, The Unforgotten Coat by Frank Cottrell Boyce and Small Change for Stuart by Lissa Evans.

Useful Organisation No. 56

Author Profile

These days, authors are expected to hit the ground running – demonstrating knowledge, energy and commitment in areas such as online networking, author branding, delivering high-impact events and dealing with the media in a confident and informed way. Author Profile is a new training company run by Justin Somper, author and publicist, and Phillip Norman, an expert in learning and development. Author Profile is committed to sharing industry experience and fast-tracking authors over all the kinds of hurdles they are likely to encounter in today’s fast-changing publishing industry. Training is typically conducted in small groups within publishing houses, although one-on-one and out-of-house training is also available. All Author Profile training is geared towards helping authors shape their own careers more proactively than ever before and change how they feel about the author/publisher partnership in a very constructive way.