An edited version of Philippa Dickinson's talk to the Children's Writers and Illustrators Group at the Society of Authors
Interview by Mary Hoffman
[Armadillo 5.1 Spring 2003]
Philippa Dickinson has been in children's publishing for 27 years and now, as Managing Director of the merged Random House and Transworld lists is possibly the most influential person in the children's book world. She is also a licensed pilot.
Living with an author for a large part of her life Æ Peter Dickinson is her father Æ has given Philippa Dickinson an insight into the creative process, though she was quick to say that all writers are different. Her father was a journalist and Editor of Punch, who also wrote poetry and read to his four children every night. Philippa was the eldest.
"We could do anything we liked while he read to us," said Philippa. "Except read, of course!" On long journeys between London and Hampshire, Peter would tell her and her younger sister and two younger brothers wonderful stories he made up, which would later be written down. "All four of us acted as editors when he read to us."
She went briefly to work with Jo Goldsworthy at Gollancz, who was her father's editor, and then to Puffin, to temp for Kaye Webb for six weeks setting up with an exhibition. She stayed a year. "Technically, I'm still on my gap year between school and university," she joked.
Children's publishing has certainly changed since the Seventies. Philippa expects her junior editors to accompany the reps to bookshops sometimes, so that they can learn about the hard realities. "Nearly ten thousand children's titles came out last year Æ who is publishing them all? Retailers are bombarded by new books all the time."
And editors have a tough time too. Philippa wants hers to be able to spot new talent, though she cheerfully admits to Transworld having passed up on Harry Potter Æ "not me personally!" Every commissioning editor takes a calculated risk with every title. And the money has to work. The bookseller chains account for 33% of the market, library suppliers 5% and dwindling, book clubs 4.8%, door-to-door sales like Ted Smart's Book People 3.8%, export sales 11% and co-editions up to another 11%.
Co-editions are essential for picture books; big publishers need print runs of 20,000 per title to make their margins work. And they need to sell them wherever they can, to reach the readership. "The market for books isn't growing. We used to publish new books every month and send them to all outlets. Now retailers all want a ëpoint of difference' and it's not just a question of price."
WHSmith, Waterstones and Ottakars have all had exclusive editions printed for them. "Books are becoming like any other fast-moving retail product and you have to cut a deal on every book."
There's a received idea among many writers of a certain age that editors aren't as good today as they were in the Sixties and Seventies but Philippa doesn't agree. Although she admitted to proofreading every cover Æ "because few young people have even a basic grasp of grammar and punctuation." Not their fault, if they have never been taught but she said we shouldn't hesitate to point out any deficiencies in that department.
But there's more to editors than that and finding new talent gives their job excitement. "It's not necessarily the big books that get good editors out of bed in the morning Æ it's the prospect of nurturing new authors."
This went down well even to an audience of necessarily already discovered talent. And a strong sense of relief at having already crossed the difficult border into publication, as Philippa went on to reveal that Random House have stopped taking unsolicited submissions. "We simply can't afford to sift through a slush-pile of fifty to seventy manuscripts a week," she said. "We'd have to employ someone full-time and it rots the brain."
So, only submissions from agents and already-published authors. Liz Laird asked how young writers were to get started in this climate (she had been picked up off the slush-pile herself). Philippa suggested that would-be-published writers should join reputable Writers' Groups and work on how they presented themselves and their work.
There were lots of new young agents now and that was, on balance, a good thing. "The best advocates for authors are the ones who best understand how the industry works. But ex-publishers are the toughest negotiators!" The hardest ones for her to deal with were the gaents for adult authors who decide to try their hands at a children's book without knowing the scene.
This brought us to the question of highly-publicised huge advances for books [though since then there has been a lot of coverage about how such advances are often mis-represented in the press as being higher than they are in reality Æ Ed.] Philippa described some of the sums as "insane" but said this had been going on in the adult market for years. "Now people know you can make money in kids' books, there are multiple submissions, auctions and eventually a bidding war. I never pay more than I think I can sell and often drop out. In the end, if authors aren't selling, however big the hype, they will be dropped."
The other side of this is waiting for a really good author to write a "breakthrough book". Transworld had been publishing Philip Pullman's younger titles for years with only modest sales, only to see him win the Carnegie Medal ("Northern Lights") and Smarties Prize ("The Fireworkmaker's Daughter") in the same year Æ both with other publishers.
In spite of all the caveats about money, percentages, margins and budgets, it was a very positive evening in which members felt reassured that one of the top jobs in the publishing world was in such a safe pair of hands Æ and held by someone with a good head for heights.