Category Archives: idea

Books are too expensive, or so I’ve been told

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What can you do? You hear something like, I really love your books but this one is too expensive. Why is so pricey?

You explain; all the expertise, time and hours that have gone in to making the book, the production in China, the… You realise that your fan has glazed over, dipped out, you’ve lost him or her.

16 illustrations later, many other hands involved in the process, the publisher’s cut, the bookstore’s cut, the distributor’s cut, everyone has a cut of your £7.99 book. I sometimes think it’s hard to be published these days because so many people have to get paid. We don’t seem to have found a better way to do this publishing thing.

On the other hand people will spend £30 on a poster, which is one piece of paper.  I found that out when I offered the Nursery rhymes by hand as A3 prints. A larger profit margin than a book and less effort. Cheaper to print, store and ship.

I haven’t seen many successful attempts at combining posters and books, i.e., one page books. I like the idea a lot.

I’m going to give it a try. Hold on for Design Tribe Books, coming your way soon. I’ll be posting more information over the coming weeks.

K

Teams

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Publishing is a team effort with each person playing a specific and vital role in the development of a book. It is also a space where one person with one idea can change everything.

Take diversity in Western publishing organisations. It has been discussed and argued for decades that a more diverse industry will be a more profitable one. But it hasn’t happened. On the other hand, is publishing in the huge markets like China or India as diverse as Europe or the US? Perhaps the timing of the idea and the practical need for action are not yet in sync.

Back to my main theme; to team or not to team. I have had the honour to work with a wide range of children’s publishing professionals, have taken my own ideas to them, or brainstormed ideas together and most of them turned out very well. On reflection it seems that ideas are the spark that activate certain people, while other people are the ones who activate ideas and teams into action. It’s always a great time to be a catalyst, or a troubleshooter. It is also important to be the doer, the closer, the support.With the right combination of roles in one team there can be magic.

Writing and illustrating means working alone most of the time, talking to yourself, fighting to stay disciplined and focused. Furthermore, I have witnessed teams dwindle or disappear or change as children’s publishing tries to find its new way forward. May author illustrators are despondent. Gone are the days of the shy writer living in a faraway place, afraid of the spotlight. Gone with them are potential masterpieces and best sellers. Gone are the reclusive but brilliant editors too.

Everyone has to be social media ready, loud(er), bigger, faster…

… but not necessarily better.

As publishing sheds its skin it is hard to know what will emerge. Hopefully something shiny and lightweight and full of energy.Teams will still be there, though, leaner perhaps, but still there.

K

“Cowboy Come home”

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Working with text and pictures.

The text is written and the layouts are nearly done. The working tittle is above. Here are sketches showing the treatment of the text which, to me, should be almost illustrated. The final exploration will be to bring type and image much closer together.

Recently, agents and publishers have asked for more finished presentation of book ideas. I have to admit to refusing to do this. It takes blood, sweat and tears! The reward is often a rejection with little or no explanation. It is an understandable development, though. Many people want to be published and there are not enough publishing lists is one reason.

Self publishing has opened a door of opportunity for the brave ones. It will take a little while longer to find the best way to do this with kids books, in my view, as they are still more expensive to produce.

K

 

What about other cultures?

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I spent time in book shops over the festive season.  I realised it is still a better experience than being online.

I also noticed the lack of contemporary stories for children about other cultures. Most, if not all publishers have an anthology of folk tales from ‘the world’. Then, most publishers have the obligatory ‘multicultural’ collections, or a series about a character from somewhere else. But there aren’t many of these and they are so similar that they can be mistaken for being the same.

Children that don’t have access to cultural stories will grow up to be adults that don’t have access to cultural stories. What will they pass on to their children? Flights of fantasy for young children don’t have to all be dragons and giants and talking animals that are candy coloured, or warm and fuzzy. In this age where more respect is being given to a person’s background celebrating cultures could go a long way.

Youth culture is current and ever-changing and really quite exciting. We cannot look at it like a sub culture. It has its own language and code of behaviour which comes out of the your person’s experience as a child.

African culture is all but forgotten by publishers. Traditional culture is crammed in to the one volume I mentioned earlier and modern African culture is simply not present. 54 countries and the cradle of human life is not seen as interesting enough…

If you ever have the opportunity to sit with a book seller our buyer you will hear that these stories simply don’t sell, it’s a sales and marketing issue. I believe it is one of misunderstanding and slight fear. As the world looks to Africa and the East it is only a matter of time before that will change.

So, this year, I will be focusing on cultures of all kinds: How to make them fun, how to turn them into stories. What’s more, I’ll let you know how the year progresses.

K

Txt me- a collection of hand lettered text messages between friends and family.

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There was a time before texting, you know. While the world has become enchanted by the mobile phone and its unchallenged convenience and up-to-the-minute-ness, we’ve lost the charm of the hand-made message. Following on from the land lettered nursery rhymes project which is now underway, here is something a little more grown up. Here is a request too; send me your bet, funniest, saddest, memorable text message and I’ll try to give it the respect it deserves.

I’ll hand letter it and you can have it back as a download or a postcard or some other printed form for a small fee. I’m working out the prices but really what you pay for a priceless memory?

Baa Baa Black Sheep

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© Ken Wilson-Max 2011

The earliest publication for the “Baa, baa black sheep” rhyme or poem was 1744. The Music that we know today was first published in the early nineteenth century. The song  makes a link between wool and sheep. Babies imitate the sounds or noises that animals make –  onomatopoeia – as part of  learning through playing.

The rhyme has had its controversial moments too but it seems unfounded. That is there is no way to prove or disprove any controversy.

Incy Wincy Spider

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The perils of rushing. I made a mistake on this latest version… boo-hoo! It’s back to the drawing board. The sun dries, not washes, silly. This is the corrected piece.

 

Three Blind Mice

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Three Blind Mice
The ‘farmer’s wife’ refers to the daughter of King Henry VIII, Queen Mary I. She was a staunch Catholic whose violent persecution of Protestants earned her the nickname ‘Bloody Mary’. Three blind mice refers to the massive estates which she and her husband, King Philip of Spain, owned.
The ‘three blind mice’ were three Protestant noblemen who were convicted of plotting against the Queen – she did not have them dismembered and blinded as in the poem but she did have them burnt at the stake instead.

More Nursery Rhyme sketches

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This was the first sketch for this rhyme. I don’t think there was a second.