Nosy Crow's Blog, page 192

There's still time to apply for a Design Assistant position at Nosy Crow

Is your New Year’s Resolution to begin a career in children’s publishing? Well, there are two weeks left to apply for this Design Assistant role at Nosy Crow!

We’re looking for a highly creative, hardworking, bright and enthusiastic graphic design graduate to join our design team at Nosy Crow on a full-time basis, working in the London office of Nosy Crow near London Bridge.

You can read more about the vacancy here – the closing date for applications is Monday, January 20, and if you’re interested, you should send our Head of Design, Stephanie Amster, your CV, accompanied by an application letter, as soon as possible via email (stephanie@nosycrow.com).

Good luck!

Predictions for Children's Books in 2014

I was amused to see #2014YAPredictions on Twitter, a hashtag prompted, I think, by School Library Journal.

Here are some of my favourite YA predictions from Twitter:

@morethanbookish: The protagonist will let out the breath they didn’t know they were holding.

@adamseltzer: Writers will try to write the sort of books bloggers say we need more of, publishers will find them unmarketable.

@elvenjaneite: An author will respond rudely to a review. A reviewer will respond rudely to a book/author. There will be 900 blog posts.

@kjerstanavige: There will be Strong Female Leads. They will be vague in the personality department, but will be Strong, Female, Leads.

But what predictions – serious or otherwise – can we make for children’s books?

Here are a few of our predictions:

The UK market for print children’s books will continue to be remarkably resilient, and publishers will focus on making books that celebrate the physical bookiness of the book.

There will be a growing appetite for retro, and a return to traditional illustration styles (even if artists are using digital to create a traditional look). Some illustrators will go back to traditional illustration techniques.

There won’t, this year, be a bestselling children’s book that started as a self-published ebook sales phenomenon. For an oblique take on why, see the first paragraph of this.

Publishers will look to web (particularly YouTube) and app properties for hot licences.

David Walliams books will be everywhere like a rash, but still won’t sell in America.

Lots of publishers will get caught out publishing books that they acquired on the basis of 2012 and 2013 trends, having overpaid in an overheated market.

We’ll see more illustrated fiction.

Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler’s The Scarecrow’s Wedding will be the bestselling UK hardback picture book of 2014.

Publishers will say that they should probably publish fewer titles better, but they won’t.

China and Brazil will continue to grow in importance as rights markets.

Nosy Crow’s market share will continue to grow.

Predicting anything to do with books and the market for books will turn out to be a mug’s game.

Sort of related to this, I thought it was worth drawing attention to this more general (you’ll see, if you work your way through the comments that I asked what they expected would happen for children’s books) US- and digital-focused Digital Book World piece.

Maybe we are just predicting what we want to see – what fits with our view. In fact, this is altogether a difficult blog post to write, even tongue-in-cheek. Of course we are aware of the market: we spend as much time as we can in bookshops, we speak to book retailers and other publishers; we go to – hell, we speak at and we run – conferences; we read book-trade press… but, honestly, we’re not trying to second-guess something abstract. We make our book publishing decisions on a book-by-book basis. We publish what we really, really like, what we think children will enjoy and what we think parents will buy.

But what are your predictions for children’s books in 2014? We’d be really interested to know, so do please tell us here or on Twitter.

Shifty McGifty and Slippery Sam's television debut!

Happy New Year! We hope you all had joyful (and relaxing) holidays and a great start to 2014.

And what better way to start the new year than with books! We were terribly excited to see Shifty McGifty and Slippery Sam, written by Tracey Corderoy and illustrated by Steven Lenton, televised on ITV for Bookaboo over Christmas… and it’s not too late to watch Shifty and Sam’s silver screen debut!

You can watch the Bookaboo trailer for Shifty McGifty, featuring Coronation Street actor Simon Gregson (delivering an absolutely superb performance), at the top of this post – and the full version is available on the ITV Player website here.

And you can take a look inside Shifty McGifty and Slippery Sam below:



Buy the book online.

If you’d like to stay up-to-date with all our book news, you can sign up to our monthly books newsletter here, and we’ll write to you about all of our upcoming titles, along with interviews with our authors and illustrators, information on upcoming events, and exclusive competitions and giveaways.

What we'd like in 2014 (and some New Year's Resolutions)

Before we all finished work for the year, I asked everyone in the office what they’d like in 2014, and what their new year’s resolutions were. This time last year, writing (separate) blog posts about what we wanted to see in 2013 and what our resolutions were for this past year, I noted that some things never change… and I think that remains the case! Really, what we want to see more than anything else are exciting, child-focused stories… and what we’d all like to be is more organised! Here’s what everyone said:

Camilla:

My submission wish-list is probably the same as last year:

- A brilliant, heart-warming, secular Christmas story

- A genius, future-classic novelty book by an author-illustrator, and which has either flaps or holes

- A fast-paced, funny picture book story with a surprising, but incredibly satisfying ending

- An action-packed fantasy/adventure featuring girls and boys for reading aloud to 5-8 year olds.

My new year’s resolutions are to keep a tidy desk, file my emails and be incredibly efficient. Oh, and to drink less wine. So absolutely no chance of keeping any of those.

Joanne:

I’m really excited about taking our books to new places, and new people, through developing partnerships with like-minded creative companies that make excellent non-book products – or provide excellent services – for children and families.

I’m also keen to create lots more useful resources for retailers and librarians – resources that enhance children’s in-store/in-library experiences of books, be it guides for reading groups, or fun POS and activity-based material.

Dom:

In 2014, it would be great to be especially creative with our events at festivals – I DO love a show…

Kristina:

Would love to see something handcrafted. All media is interesting to work with, but think it would be personally be very new and exciting to work with an screen-printing, lino-cutting, or even 3D artist.

Personal resolution. I’d like to do life drawing regularly again. I love the discipline and focus it requires, and I always feel relaxed afterwards. Though since leaving university I’ve not made enough time for it, so next year I aim to do it fortnightly. Oh, and to resist more of the biscuits on offer in the office.

Tom:

Like last year (and, inevitably, next year) my resolution is to Get On Top of My Email, which is a bit of a Sisyphean task, but one to which I could nevertheless be more dedicated.

And I’d really like to see some imaginative, text-based digital stories for 7/ 8+ readers – ideas which take advantage of a screen and break up the conventions of a linear story on the page. Basically, what I’d like is for someone to write Blackbar for children.

Ola:

In 2014, I would like to sell rights to our books in new territories – maybe Russia? And a New Year’s resolution which is partly work-related and partly personal… I’d like to be able to say a few words in Italian by the time the Bologna book fair comes around! I don’t think I have that much time left…

Little Red Riding Hood has been shortlisted for a Digital Book Award!

If you’re lucky enough to have received an iPad, iPod Touch or iPhone for Christmas, and are looking for some apps with which to fill it, look no further!

Accolades for our Little Red Riding Hood app have been piling up in the last month – it’s been included in Best of the Year lists by the App Store, The Observer, Kirkus, and School Library Journal – and to cap off an excellent year, it’s also been shortlisted for a Digital Book Award!

The awards (previously known as the Publishing Innovation Awards) are designed to celebrate innovation in apps and ebook publishing, and Little Red Riding Hood is competing in the category of Best Children’s App, against a very strong shortlist – here’s the full list of nominated projects:

The Adventures of Captain Underpants (Scholastic)

Axel’s Chain Reaction (Allison Pomenta)

COWZAT! (Colour Me Play)

Goodnight Moon Storybook App (Loud Crow Interactive)

Little Red Riding Hood (Nosy Crow)

This is the third time we’ve been recognised in this category, after winning with our previous fairytale app, Cinderella, at the 2012 awards, and being shortlisted with Rounds: Franklin Frog at the 2013 ceremony, so it’s something with special meaning for us!

You can watch the trailer for Little Red Riding Hood here:

And you can find it on the App Store here, for just $5.99/ £3.99.

You can read more about the awards, and find the shortlists in every category, here. The winners will be announced at the 2014 Digital Book World Conference & Expo in January – wish us luck!

Christmas with Slippery Sam

Earlier this month we posted instructions to make this fantastic Shifty McGifty christmas decoration by illustrator Steven Lenton… and not wanting to show favouritism, it seemed only right that we ALSO post instructions to make a decoration for our other favourite robber dog, Slippery Sam, the co-star of Shifty McGifty and Slippery Sam.

Click the image below to download a high-resolution version, print it out (on card if possible) and follow Steven’s simple instructions for a brilliant Sam decoration – an absolute must for EVERY discerning household this Christmas…

And here’s a step-by-step photographic guide with one I made earlier!

You can take a look inside Shifty McGifty and Slippery Sam below – and if you’d like to read the full story, you can buy it online here.

And don’t forget, there’s loads more great Shifty and Sam stuff on Steven’s blog. If you make your own Shifty and Sam decorations, tweet us a picture – we’d love to see them!

The books that Nosy Crow will be giving (and hoping to receive!) this Christmas

As you might expect from a publisher, we’ll all be giving (and, hopefully, receiving!) a LOT of books this Christmas. I thought it might be quite interesting to write about our literary wish lists, so about 10 days ago I emailed everyone at Nosy Crow and asked them for their choices.

Unfortunately this blogpost will probably come a bit too late to act as Christmas gift inspiration for anyone (unless you’ve left it really late, in which case, (a) here you are! good luck! and (b) gosh, you really have left it rather late), but after harassing everyone for their answers it seemed a shame not to post them at all. So here you are – this is what we want for Christmas:

Camilla Reid, Editorial Director:

I am giving:

Maps to my adventure-hungry 6-year-old daughter

The Fairy Doll by Rumer Godden to my gentle, book-crazy 8-year-old daughter

Daughter of the Desert: The Extraordinary Life of Gertrude Bell to my slightly eccentric mother

And if it were published yet (but it’s not! How crazy is that?) I would be giving the National Geographic: Round the world in 125 years to my partner. But it’s not published until Jan 25!! What were you thinking, National Geographic??

I would like:

Life after Life by Kate Atkinson

The Luminaries (but whether I ever read it is another matter).

The National Geographic: Round the World in 125 years

Dom Kingston, Head of PR:

I’ll be giving my niece The Bedtime Frog – she’s a biiiiiig Pip and Posy fan and has been since she was 2. And now she’s starting to read them properly for herself, which is so good to see … and it means we don’t have to spend ages listening to/singing ‘The Alphabet Song’, with all the letters and the sounds they make. We’re now stringing the sounds together more confidently. Well, she is… We often play Pip and Posy – but if I deviate from the stories in the book … do a bit of ad-libbing … I’m sharply reprimanded.

[Dom has insisted that at this point I mention this blog post, about a 20-month-old telling a Pip and Posy story.]

And I want the biography of The Mystery of Princess Louise by Lucinda Hawksley. I really enjoy historical biographies … especially a gossipy one…

Tom Bonnick, Digital Project and Marketing Manager:

I can’t reveal ALL the books I’ll be giving because my mother reads this blog (I should make clear that by this I mean that I am giving her some books; not that they are too rude to say), but I think it’s probably safe to share that I’ll be giving my two-year-old cousin some Pip and Posy books and Axel Scheffler’s Flip Flap Farm, which I LOVE. I’ve also given copies of The Goldfinch (Hatchards on Picadilly have signed copies!) and what is, to my mind, one of the stand-out books of the year (certainly one of the most beautiful), Letters of Note.

I think that I would quite like to receive Maps, the book that Camilla will give to her 6-year-old – it’s an amazing book for all ages (and one I’ve not been quite able to justify buying for myself). I’ve felt a slight sense of bitterness towards The Luminaries and have churlishly refused to read it until now, after I lost a phenomenal sum of money betting that Jim Crace’s Harvest would win the Booker Prize, but I think I’ve finally made my peace with the outcome now, and would quite like a copy of Eleanor Catton’s winning novel.

Kristina Coates, Junior Designer:

I plan to give to my nephews The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales, by John Scieszka. I’ve revisited this on repeated occasions all year for typographical inspiration and it never tires, so I’m hoping they’ll find it just as funny as I do.

I would love to receive David Roberts’ illustrated edition of The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame. I completely fell in love with his artwork for it at the British Library exhibition this year. Though I do own another version of WiW already, so I wouldn’t mind having some food inspiration too. Perhaps Beating the Lunch Box Blues as I’m currently stuck in a soup rut!

Ola Gotkowska, Rights Executive:

After Tom showed us Letters of Note, I decided I must have it, so I guess that’s one of my picks! It seems like the perfect book to pick up in between other books, if that makes sense… Also Margaret Atwood’s The Year of the Flood, because Oryx and Crake is one of my favourite books ever and the time has come to read the second of the series. Wouldn’t mind getting one of the Leon cookbooks either.

What books I’ll be giving: one of Madhur Jaffrey’s cookbooks, Alice Munro’s Friend of My Youth and Robert Galbraith’s (aka J.K. Rowling) The Cuckoo’s Calling. My little cousins will get some of Nosy Crow picture and fiction books next year, when they’re published in Poland…

Joanne Owen, Freelance Marketeer:

I’d really love The Circus and Other Stories by Samuil Marshak and Vladimir Lebedev. I love the illustration style of picture books from this era (1920s Soviet Union), and the fact that these particular collaborations were inspired by the idea that a children’s book is an important cultural object makes it even more of a must-have. Oh, and being a massive Arsenal supporter, I’d also like the autobiography of one of our greatest legends, Dennis Bergkamp!

Like Tom, I know a couple three year olds who will LOVE Axel Scheffler’s Flip Flap Farm. Also, two of my nieces will be delighted with The Bear who had never seen Christmas.

What books are you giving this Christmas? And what would you like to receive? Do let us know in the comments!

Win copies of our January books!

It’s time for our monthly book giveaway – and our first one for 2014! You can win any of our upcoming January titles – and here’s how. If you’re a resident of the UK or Ireland, you can win any of next month’s releases simply by subscribing to our Books Newsletter and either tweeting to @NosyCrowBooks or leaving a comment underneath this blogpost, telling us the name you subscribed with and the book you’d like to win. And here’s what’s up for grabs…

We’re launching a brand new novelty series – the Can You Say It Too? books, illustrated by Sebastien Braun. As all parents know, little children LOVE making animal sounds. So a flap book in which they can spot an animal’s tail, lift the flap to reveal the complete creature, and then make its noise is guaranteed to be a winner!

The first two volumes will be Can You Say It Too? Moo! Moo! and Can You Say It Too? Woof! Woof!

We’ll be publishing Dinosaur Rescue – the third fantastic dinosaur book by Penny Dale. Featuring a riotously rhythmic text and vibrant illustrations, this brand new picture book in the hugely successful series is packed with adventure and a rabble of roaring, rescuing dinosaurs! Here’s a look inside:

We’re publishing the first paperback edition of Just Right for Two, written by Tracey Corderoy and illustrated by Rosalind Beardshaw. A heart-warming tale about life and friendship, this is an absolutely charming story with beautiful artwork – bound to become a bedtime favourite. Here’s a look inside:

We’re re-issuing Mega Mash-Up: Romans v Dinosaurs on Mars by Nikalas Catlow and Tim Wesson, and and Magical Mix-Ups: Birthdays and Bridesmaids by Marnie Edwards and Leigh Hodgkinson, in new large formats! These activity books – combinations of fiction and doodle book – are particularly good for reluctant readers: you have to take part and finish the story yourself! Scribble, design and draw while you read – these books need you!

We’re publishing The Rescue Princesses: The Ice Diamond – – another exciting instalment in Paula Harrison’s Rescue Princesses series. Princess Maya is delighted to welcome the Rescue Princesses to the Kingdom of Lepari. It’s a beautiful land with snow leopards living in the mountains. These amazing animals are very rare, so when Maya and her friends discover that the big cats are in danger, they have to act fast. Can the magical Ice Diamond help the princesses to save the snow leopards? Here’s the first chapter:

We’‘re publishing a HILARIOUS debut from an exciting new voice: Baby Aliens Got My Teacher by Pamela Butchart – a brilliant, laugh-out-loud novel for 7+ year olds, featuring crisp twins, pea phobias, and aliens-in-ears. Here’s the first chapter:

And we’re bringing another series to a close with The Black Crow Conspiracy by Christopher Edge, the thrilling conclusion to the Twelve Minutes to Midnight trilogy. The year is 1902 and London is looking forward to the new King’s coronation and ignoring the threat of war from across the sea… Penelope Tredwell, the pen behind bestselling author, Montgomery Flinch, is cursed with writer’s block. She needs a sensational new story or her magazine, The Penny Dreadful, will go under. So when a mysterious letter arrives, confessing to an impossible crime, Penny thinks she has found a plot to enthrall her readers: the theft of the Crown Jewels by the diabolical Black Crow. Ghostly apparitions, kidnap and treason – this is the stuff of great stories. But what if it’s all true? Here’s the first chapter:

You can subscribe to the books newsletter here (if you’ve already subscribed you’re still eligible for this competition) – and every month we’ll write to you with details of our upcoming titles, author events, exclusive interviews, and all of our news. So have a good think about which book you’d like to win (we can only accept one entry per person), and good luck!

Come to the January #NCGKids Reading Group!

After a brief December hiatus, the Nosy Crow Guardian Reading Group will be back in January with an absolutely brilliant book for discussion – the Guardian children’s fiction prize-winner Liars and Spies by Rebecca Stead. The group will be taking place at 6.30pm on Thursday, January 16, and we’d like you to take part!

If you’d like to come to the physical event at our office in London, send an email to tom@nosycrow.com and we’ll try to fit in as many people as possible – if we can’t save a place for you this time, we can, if you’d like, keep you on our waiting list for cancellations and add you to our mailing list for future events.

And if you can’t make it here, we’d love for you to join in online, either on Twitter with the #NCGKids hashtag, or on the blog page of The Guardian’s website (we’ll post a link to this page closer to the date).

You can buy Liars and Spies from the Guardian Bookshop here – and you can also read an extract from the book on The Guardian’s website here.

We’ll post some discussion points for the book a little closer to the date – we hope you can join us!

Come and work for Nosy Crow - we're hiring a Design Assistant!

We have a fantastic opportunity for a highly creative, hardworking, bright and enthusiastic graphic design graduate to join our design team at Nosy Crow on a full-time basis, working in the London office of Nosy Crow near London Bridge.

You’ll need a BA (Hons) degree in graphic design (or illustration), and you’ll have excellent typographic skills together with a proven interest in children’s books and children’s book illustration.

Candidates must be proficient in Indesign, Photoshop and Illustrator programmes. The Design Assistant will predominantly act as a support to the Head of Design, but will also be required to assist other members of the team in the design and production of our exciting and rapidly growing frontlist, backlist and sales and marketing material.

This would include creating and photoshopping art for our books, apps, marketing material and websites; preparing files for reproduction; designing paperback editions of hardbacks; making dummies and other sales material for presentations; and preparing files for rights customers.

Any experience (as an intern, or through work experience, for example) of working on children’s books would be an advantage, but we would expect the successful candidate to learn (quickly!) on the job and to develop into a highly skilled and valued member of the Nosy Crow Team.

Please send Stephanie Amster your CV, accompanied by an application letter, as soon as possible via email (stephanie@nosycrow.com).

The closing date for applications is Monday, January 20 – good luck!