I'm off to a workshop tomorrow at the Byron Bay Writers Festival. Like a good music folk festival it is one of the richest experiences you can have creatively in Australia. The writings, the readings and the discussions are all music for the soul and the intellect.
What a pity then that such festivals will be reduced in size and will potentially fizzle out as fewer and fewer Australian publishers are able to invest in homegrown talent and nurture their local authors. Should the parallel import restrictions (PIRs) on books be lifted, there is every likelihood that this may happen.
Australian editions of books like 'Harry Potter' (published here) provide Australian publishers with the financial rewards that enable them to continue to invest in Australian-authored books which may have a smaller print run. Without this help many Australian stories may not be told.
If PIRs are lifted the foreign editions of Australian books will be sold here side by side with the Australian edition. However, the Australian author will receive a reduced royalty and if the foreign book is a remaindered copy the author receives no royalty at all.
The Productivity Commission admits that the foreign edition may displace the opportunity for the author to 'sell' his Australian published book, thereby directly affecting his income further. Not only does he receive no royalty on the 'remaindered' copy, but he misses out on selling the local edition - a no win situation.
It hardly seems worth spending years writing a book, then re-writing and editing it for no reward.
So tomorrow I will be going to the Byron Bay Writers Festival armed with a petition.
You can download your copy from http://savingaussiebooks.wordpress.com
It will be my way of stopping this madness.
Join me.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Thursday, July 23, 2009
CHEAP QUALITY BOOKS
In today's Courier Mail, regarding the parallel importation debate, Suzanne Clarke had this to say about the myth of cheaper books:
"Surely the question is which books will be cheaper? The latest Dan Brown and myriad other American bestsellers, or offerings with a lower print run from Australian authors? You can bet we will be bombarded with the former. It's the equivalent of saying an abundance of fast food outlets is a victory for cheaper food."
Here, here. These low quality books will be found at your local giant supermarkets and multinational mega retailers, where you will see the following advertising slogans:
Cheap quality books - the fast food meal of words
Cheap quality books - the drive-through literary experience
Cheap quality books - the take away wrapped in a dust jacket
Cheap quality books - do you want fries with that?
http://savingaussiebooks.wordpress.com/
is the TAKE ACTION blog for those of you who wish to take action immediately against the recommendations of the Productivity Commission re the lifting of The Parallel Importation of Books.
This blog has been started by a group of writers, teachers, parents and readers passionate about supporting the Australian book industry and...
it has a wealth of information, with articles, news items, blog posts, politicians' email addresses and handouts for you to use and pass out to friends, colleagues, family and neighbours.
Go and check it out. Join the campaign to save our Aussie books.
While you're there, leave a comment.
"Surely the question is which books will be cheaper? The latest Dan Brown and myriad other American bestsellers, or offerings with a lower print run from Australian authors? You can bet we will be bombarded with the former. It's the equivalent of saying an abundance of fast food outlets is a victory for cheaper food."
Here, here. These low quality books will be found at your local giant supermarkets and multinational mega retailers, where you will see the following advertising slogans:
Cheap quality books - the fast food meal of words
Cheap quality books - the drive-through literary experience
Cheap quality books - the take away wrapped in a dust jacket
Cheap quality books - do you want fries with that?
http://savingaussiebooks.wordpress.com/
is the TAKE ACTION blog for those of you who wish to take action immediately against the recommendations of the Productivity Commission re the lifting of The Parallel Importation of Books.
This blog has been started by a group of writers, teachers, parents and readers passionate about supporting the Australian book industry and...
it has a wealth of information, with articles, news items, blog posts, politicians' email addresses and handouts for you to use and pass out to friends, colleagues, family and neighbours.
Go and check it out. Join the campaign to save our Aussie books.
While you're there, leave a comment.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
SAVE AUSSIE BOOKS NOW!
I am rather chuffed today. You see my letter to the editor of the Courier Mail was published in yesterday's (Saturday) paper. They gave it an accompanying colour photo, a central position, a major headline and two columns. I'm glad to see that the Courier is open to reporting both sides of the debate.
I am taking action and I encourage you to do the same.
What can you do?
Follow my link to 'Saving Aussie Books' under 'Angela's Places' and there you will find all the email and postal addresses you need to make a difference, plus all the details of the impact the Parallel Importation of Books will have on our book industry and our children's literacy. I am so angry that not only did I email Mr Kevin Rudd, but I sent him a letter too. And it was so easy! Saving Aussie Books tells you how.
For your information I have included my letter to the editor below:
To the editor,
MARKET UP FOR GRABS
The market control that Woolworths and Coles now hold over petrol pricing and groceries will soon be extended to include books. Together with Dymocks, and under the guise of the Coalition for Cheaper Books, they have been lobbying for the lifting of the current restrictions on the parallel importation of books.
By hiding behind this collective name, the 'Coalition' has duped their customers, guaranteeing cheaper books.
There is no guarantee. These retail giants are not obliged to pass on any savings to the consumer. In fact, they have a history of not doing so.
In its submission to the Productivity Commission, Penguin Australia said: "At the moment two of our biggest chains are selling many titles significantly above the recommended retail price."
According to industry sources, Kmart and Target (Coles Group) demand up to 70% discount on the RRP from the publisher. (By comparison the author receives less than 10% of the RRP.) Then these mega-retailers add a few dollars over the RRP.
Does anyone really think they're about delivering cheaper books?
I don't.
I am taking action and I encourage you to do the same.
What can you do?
Follow my link to 'Saving Aussie Books' under 'Angela's Places' and there you will find all the email and postal addresses you need to make a difference, plus all the details of the impact the Parallel Importation of Books will have on our book industry and our children's literacy. I am so angry that not only did I email Mr Kevin Rudd, but I sent him a letter too. And it was so easy! Saving Aussie Books tells you how.
For your information I have included my letter to the editor below:
To the editor,
MARKET UP FOR GRABS
The market control that Woolworths and Coles now hold over petrol pricing and groceries will soon be extended to include books. Together with Dymocks, and under the guise of the Coalition for Cheaper Books, they have been lobbying for the lifting of the current restrictions on the parallel importation of books.
By hiding behind this collective name, the 'Coalition' has duped their customers, guaranteeing cheaper books.
There is no guarantee. These retail giants are not obliged to pass on any savings to the consumer. In fact, they have a history of not doing so.
In its submission to the Productivity Commission, Penguin Australia said: "At the moment two of our biggest chains are selling many titles significantly above the recommended retail price."
According to industry sources, Kmart and Target (Coles Group) demand up to 70% discount on the RRP from the publisher. (By comparison the author receives less than 10% of the RRP.) Then these mega-retailers add a few dollars over the RRP.
Does anyone really think they're about delivering cheaper books?
I don't.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
The Productivity Commission gets it wrong
I am angry! I am amazed... I am at a loss to explain the reasons why the Productivity Commission has failed to take any notice of the 100s of submissions sent to them from concerned Australians .
Instead the Productivity Commission has published its report to the Government recommending that the current restrictions on the parallel importation of books be lifted.
(The current laws state that if a book is written, designed, edited and published by an Australian, an overseas publisher cannot sell their edition of it here. If it is produced overseas, Australian publishers must publish it here within 30 days of its foreign release, or it can be "parallel imported".)
Most at risk from the lifting of these restrictions are Australian published books, specifically children’s books, their readers, and the workers involved in their publication.
For this reason I strongly disagree with the Productivity Commission’s recommendations and wish to make the following points:
The USA, UK and Canada do maintain territorial copyright and restrict the parallel importation of books.
Foreign publishers will flood the Australian market with foreign edited versions of Australian books. These are called ‘remainders’. These remainders will undercut the Australian editions.
Small publishers will struggle and close, larger publishers will likely move off shore.
Jobs will be lost in publishing, printing, editing, marketing, distributing, bookselling, writing and illustrating books.
Independent booksellers (30% of the market) will be unable to compete with the multinationals. (Sound familiar?)
Resulting in fewer Australian books being published and our unique Australian culture will be put at risk.
There will be less choice for the Australian reader. The multinational booksellers will decide what they offer us. (Coles, Woolworths, Target, K-mart, Big W, Dymocks, Borders etc. are behind the push for the lift of PIR’s)
Quality Australian books will increase in price not fall, like a fine wine no one can afford.
Publishers will not invest in new talent. ie There will be no one to replace Mem Fox.
Australian children need books that reflect their world, their culture and history.
The effect on our children and students:Foreign published ‘remaindered’ editions of Australian children’s books will be ‘dumped’ here. These will have been edited with American spelling and idiom. Eg. Ute > Pick-up, footpath > sidewalk, footie > gridiron etc.
With diminished opportunities here, Australian children’s authors will be forced to de-Australianise their writing to suit the global market. Kate Grenville said: “If I had said no, I would never have been published overseas.”
Australian publishers will be unable to afford to invest in new picture books and new authors. Yes, no new Possum Magic.
Foreign editions will end up replacing the Australian editions, as fewer Publishers continue to invest in Australian talent..
Australian children already struggling with reading and spelling will be further confused with the foreign editions.
Australian humour in books will be edited out because the foreign market will not understand our jokes. This will then be sold back to us.
Our children need to develop a strong sense of self and an identity of who they are as Australians. Australian books by Australian authors, which display Australian content with Australian spelling and reflect Australian social and cultural values and indigenous beliefs are one of the few sources still available to them. Young people are already bombarded with more than enough popular American culture and language in the forms of music, movies and food without taking away the only resource left to them which reflects who they are – Aussie books.
Worth reading is the closing address by Richard Flanagan at the recent Sydney Writers Festival www.randomhouse.com.au/editor/documents/richardflanagansydneytalk.pdf). Flanagan says this issue is about Australians' rights and our need to have our own stories in our own voice.
What you can do now:
· Write to Kevin Rudd http://www.pm.gov.au/ and your local member before this becomes law.
Please feel free to use any of the above.
You may also like to read through some of the submissions to the Productivity Commission at www.pc.gov.au/projects/study/books (Two of them are mine)
I have to go now and have a herbal calmative...........fuming steam escapes my ears
Instead the Productivity Commission has published its report to the Government recommending that the current restrictions on the parallel importation of books be lifted.
(The current laws state that if a book is written, designed, edited and published by an Australian, an overseas publisher cannot sell their edition of it here. If it is produced overseas, Australian publishers must publish it here within 30 days of its foreign release, or it can be "parallel imported".)
Most at risk from the lifting of these restrictions are Australian published books, specifically children’s books, their readers, and the workers involved in their publication.
For this reason I strongly disagree with the Productivity Commission’s recommendations and wish to make the following points:
The USA, UK and Canada do maintain territorial copyright and restrict the parallel importation of books.
Foreign publishers will flood the Australian market with foreign edited versions of Australian books. These are called ‘remainders’. These remainders will undercut the Australian editions.
Small publishers will struggle and close, larger publishers will likely move off shore.
Jobs will be lost in publishing, printing, editing, marketing, distributing, bookselling, writing and illustrating books.
Independent booksellers (30% of the market) will be unable to compete with the multinationals. (Sound familiar?)
Resulting in fewer Australian books being published and our unique Australian culture will be put at risk.
There will be less choice for the Australian reader. The multinational booksellers will decide what they offer us. (Coles, Woolworths, Target, K-mart, Big W, Dymocks, Borders etc. are behind the push for the lift of PIR’s)
Quality Australian books will increase in price not fall, like a fine wine no one can afford.
Publishers will not invest in new talent. ie There will be no one to replace Mem Fox.
Australian children need books that reflect their world, their culture and history.
The effect on our children and students:Foreign published ‘remaindered’ editions of Australian children’s books will be ‘dumped’ here. These will have been edited with American spelling and idiom. Eg. Ute > Pick-up, footpath > sidewalk, footie > gridiron etc.
With diminished opportunities here, Australian children’s authors will be forced to de-Australianise their writing to suit the global market. Kate Grenville said: “If I had said no, I would never have been published overseas.”
Australian publishers will be unable to afford to invest in new picture books and new authors. Yes, no new Possum Magic.
Foreign editions will end up replacing the Australian editions, as fewer Publishers continue to invest in Australian talent..
Australian children already struggling with reading and spelling will be further confused with the foreign editions.
Australian humour in books will be edited out because the foreign market will not understand our jokes. This will then be sold back to us.
Our children need to develop a strong sense of self and an identity of who they are as Australians. Australian books by Australian authors, which display Australian content with Australian spelling and reflect Australian social and cultural values and indigenous beliefs are one of the few sources still available to them. Young people are already bombarded with more than enough popular American culture and language in the forms of music, movies and food without taking away the only resource left to them which reflects who they are – Aussie books.
Worth reading is the closing address by Richard Flanagan at the recent Sydney Writers Festival www.randomhouse.com.au/editor/documents/richardflanagansydneytalk.pdf). Flanagan says this issue is about Australians' rights and our need to have our own stories in our own voice.
What you can do now:
· Write to Kevin Rudd http://www.pm.gov.au/ and your local member before this becomes law.
Please feel free to use any of the above.
You may also like to read through some of the submissions to the Productivity Commission at www.pc.gov.au/projects/study/books (Two of them are mine)
I have to go now and have a herbal calmative...........fuming steam escapes my ears
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Finding the Window
In my experience a good lesson uses a variety of teaching strategies to capture the interest of each individual learner in the class. The time sequence needs to be flexible and reflect the interest of the group as a whole. When teaching a second language, I generally change to a new activity every 5-10 minutes, depending on the age and ability of the group. If the class is engaged in the activity then I allow them to continue. But each individual learner comes to the situation with different experiences to the others and they will react differently to each new activity as it is introduced. What interests one child may not interest another.
When a child is 'interested', when he/she is 'engaged', then that is your chance as a teacher or parent. That is your Window of Opportunity.
For very young children, children for whom English is a second language and children with learning difficulties, this window of opportunity offers them the chance to succeed. Finding this window of opportunity for children with learning difficulties can also be the key to teaching them to read.
Recently I came across The Fun Funnel, a picture book written by Robbie Cameron, an Australian author from Byron Bay. This picture book speaks, sings and dances across the page. It appeals to the visual and auditory learner on a variety of levels. It offers children a window; children with learning difficulties who have not previously understood that those squiggly marks on the page are in fact the words of the story.
To achieve this Robbie Cameron has successfully taken the karaoke idea and transformed it into a picture book with DVD. http://www.dvdstorytime.com/
The book is displayed on the screen as it is 'read', showing the turning of each page etc, while the child holds the book. What impressed me most was how each word 'bounced' on the page as it was read aloud in a clear Australian accent, making it obvious to the child which word they were up to. The cheerful illustrations are also animated, bringing to life the light-hearted tale of a grumpy old man who (like the Grinch who stole Christmas) tries to steal all the fun.
I tested The Fun Funnel out on my niece and nephew, who are 2 and 5 years old. First I gave them the book and as avid book lovers they devoured it while I read it aloud a couple of times. We then watched the DVD together with the book and that is when the window opened. The words on the page started moving and my nephew followed with his finger on the word in the book. Later that day my sister found him copying the words from the book onto a page. He had never done that before.
The Fun Funnel has proven to be successful with children with Autism Spectrum Disorders and Downs Syndrome. The parent of one boy with Aspergers had this to say about The Fun Funnel: "The jumping words have sparked his interest in individual words and he often points to words in other books now and asks What's that?" There are many more similar testimonials on Robbie Cameron's website with an overwhelmingly positive response from parents.
If you have a child who has difficulty reading or is just starting to read, then The Fun Funnel may be just the window of opportunity you are looking for.
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Picture Book Illustrating
At the moment I'm working on picture book illustrations for the CYA competition. Three illustrations with accompanied text (mine) have to be submitted by the 30th June. I'm not sure that I'll make it, but what I like about this comp is that it forces me to be still and focus. With three weeks left to go, one illustration is pretty much ready and without too much distraction (from family etc) the other two should come together in time.
I am working in watercolour and colour pencil as I like the soft effect against the white paper. Jan Ormerod, Freya Blackwood and Julie Vivas are three of my favourite picture book artists, whose depiction of children has influenced me. My characters have their own 'look' and I am slowly coming to recognise this as my style. This style has been with me since forever and no matter how much more experienced I am now, this 'look' keeps emerging. It annoyed me at first, but now I own it. My characters can border on being cartoony as I did draw a lot of cartoons all through childhood and into my twenties, even my wedding invitation.
For the last three years I have been under the tutelage of Tony Champ at The Gold Coast Art School. Tony used to be the resident illustrator for the Courier Mail and Sunday Mail , during which time he won the coveted 'Stanley Award' for Black and White Illustration three times. He has also taught illustration at Illustration House in Brisbane with the likes of Gregory Rogers.
Last year I entered the CYA comp and was placed 7th in the illustration category. The illustrations were done for my picture book manuscript Roly-poly Baby and show a cheeky one year old climbing out of his cot. My daughter did this repeatedly and it is also my first childhood memory. The illustrations are on Arches smooth 300gm watercolour paper.
I really love drawing children. I hope you enjoy these ones above from last year...
Angela
I am working in watercolour and colour pencil as I like the soft effect against the white paper. Jan Ormerod, Freya Blackwood and Julie Vivas are three of my favourite picture book artists, whose depiction of children has influenced me. My characters have their own 'look' and I am slowly coming to recognise this as my style. This style has been with me since forever and no matter how much more experienced I am now, this 'look' keeps emerging. It annoyed me at first, but now I own it. My characters can border on being cartoony as I did draw a lot of cartoons all through childhood and into my twenties, even my wedding invitation.
For the last three years I have been under the tutelage of Tony Champ at The Gold Coast Art School. Tony used to be the resident illustrator for the Courier Mail and Sunday Mail , during which time he won the coveted 'Stanley Award' for Black and White Illustration three times. He has also taught illustration at Illustration House in Brisbane with the likes of Gregory Rogers.
Last year I entered the CYA comp and was placed 7th in the illustration category. The illustrations were done for my picture book manuscript Roly-poly Baby and show a cheeky one year old climbing out of his cot. My daughter did this repeatedly and it is also my first childhood memory. The illustrations are on Arches smooth 300gm watercolour paper.
I really love drawing children. I hope you enjoy these ones above from last year...
Angela
Saturday, May 30, 2009
My first review (from a child I don't know)
My recently completed children's urban fantasy manuscript for 9 - 13 year olds is ready and polished. To celebrate its 'birth' as a final draft manuscript I sent it off a few weeks ago to a couple of friends. One of these friends has no children herself and so gave my manuscript to a friend's child to 'test it out'. All I know of this little girl is that she loves reading and is 11 years old. I was thrilled then to receive this feedback:
I really enjoyed it. I thought it was imaginative and really surprised me at the end. I just loved the way it kept you hanging at the end of the chapters. And also how it tied in with the show at school. I thought it was really funny how the prince knew everything about the blue powder and the girl turning into a frog. (Ellen, age 11)
Does that have you intrigued? A publisher has solicited the manuscript and it is being sent out next week. Fingers and webbed toes are crossed.
Call in next week. I'm making my mum's apple strudel.
Angela
I really enjoyed it. I thought it was imaginative and really surprised me at the end. I just loved the way it kept you hanging at the end of the chapters. And also how it tied in with the show at school. I thought it was really funny how the prince knew everything about the blue powder and the girl turning into a frog. (Ellen, age 11)
Does that have you intrigued? A publisher has solicited the manuscript and it is being sent out next week. Fingers and webbed toes are crossed.
Call in next week. I'm making my mum's apple strudel.
Angela
