Books For Keeps
  • Home
  • Reviews
  • Articles
  • Past Issues
  • Latest Issue
  • Authors and Artists
  • Latest News
  • Search
  • Menu Menu
May 1, 2012/in Editorial /by Richard Hill
This article is featured in BfK 194 May 2012
This article is in the Editorial Category

Editorial 194: May 2012

Author: Rosemary Stones

This issue of Books for Keeps devotes a number of articles to picture books, from Joanna Carey’s ‘Ten of the Best Kate Greenaway Medal winners’ to Jan Fearnley’s ‘Windows in Illustration’ on her latest picture book to an obituary of one of the greatest picture book makers of the twentieth century, Maurice Sendak. But while the focus of these pieces is, rightly, on the artistic attributes (text, illustration and the interaction between the two) that contribute to the quality of the finished product, the processes of production, the costs of these processes and the revenue likely to be generated also demand our attention if we are truly to appreciate the constraints and the opportunities they impose on picture book makers.

In her article ‘Process, Creation and Audience: the 32 page picture book’, the Deputy Publisher Picture Books at Random House, Sue Buswell, gives a lively account of the technical processes involved in printing and why an extent of 32 pages is the most economical and therefore the most usual length for a picture book. Meanwhile Clive Barnes discusses his visit to the annual Bologna Book Fair, the largest international rights fair specialising in children’s books. As Clive describes, publishers will often take dummies of proposed picture books to rights fairs such as Bologna of Frankfurt. If they can sell foreign language rights, editions in other languages can then be printed at the same time as the English language edition (changing the black ink plate to allow for the translated text) bringing the unit cost of the printing down considerably.

Translation issues when it is UK publishers who are buying rights pose other cost issues as Clive discovered in conversation with publishers such as Phoenix Yard and this helps to explain why relatively few foreign picture books find a UK publisher. As Clive says,’to be at Bologna is to be astonished both by what is published for children internationally, how little of this we see in Britain, and yet how large a presence British children’s books have worldwide.’ For many of the books in translation that we do have (eg Asterix), we have translator Anthea Bell to thank. Gillian Lathey discusses the challenges posed by translation with her in this issue.

Finally, Alison Green of Alison Green Books, a list devoted to the publishing of picture books, is asked how she came to create her list and to explain the challenges and constraints of the market place. She talks about ‘a polarization in the home market, with the reduction in the number of independent and chain booksellers, and the rise of the supermarkets’. In a fascinating interview, Alison reveals the very individual approach required for each picture book depending on the writer and illustrator’s way of working, whether they are one and the same person or even two people who never meet! She also reminds us that picture books with rhyming texts or which depend upon wordplay, such as Nick Sharratt’s Octopus, Socktopus must usually rely entirely on sales in the home market.

‘Every book,’ as Brian Alderson once wrote in Books for Keeps, ‘has a private history of its own, both of its conception and its execution.’ The more we know of the particular private history of picture books, which must include an understanding of the processes involved in their creation, the greater our critical appreciation can be.

Share this entry
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on WhatsApp
  • Share on Pinterest
  • Share on LinkedIn
  • Share on Reddit
  • Share by Mail
http://booksforkeeps.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/bfklogo.png 0 0 Richard Hill http://booksforkeeps.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/bfklogo.png Richard Hill2012-05-01 10:00:012021-12-01 17:36:56Editorial 194: May 2012
BfK 254 May 2022 Download BfK Issue BfK 254 May 2022
Skip to an Issue:

Related Articles

Editorial 254: May 2022
BfK 254 May 2022
Editorial 253: March 2022
BfK 253 March 2022
Editorial 252: January 2022
BfK 252 January 2022
Editorial 251: November 2021
BfK 251 November 2021
Guest Editorial 250: September 2021
BfK 250 September 2021
Editorial 249: July 2021
BfK 249 July 2021
Life-Changing Libraries: Making a start
BfK 249 July 2021
Guest Editorial 248: May 2021
BfK 248 May 2021

About Us

Launched in 1980, we’ve reviewed hundreds of new children’s books each year and published articles on every aspect of writing for children.

Read More

Follow Us

Latest News

Shortlist for the 2022 SLA Information Book Award

June 23, 2022

2022 Yoto Carnegie Greenaway Winners Announced

June 16, 2022

UK Nominations for IBBY’s List of Outstanding Books for Young People with Disabilities 2023

June 14, 2022

Contact Us

Books for Keeps,
30 Winton Avenue,
London,
N11 2AT

Telephone: 0780 789 3369

ISSN: 0143-909X (this is our International Standard Serial Number).

© Copyright 2022 - Books For Keeps | Proudly Built by Lemongrass Media - Web Design Buckinghamshire
Process, Creation and Audience: the 32 page picture book Darren Shan’s New Twelve Part Series
Scroll to top