[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":11},["ShallowReactive",2],{"blog-post-bologna-book-fair-excitement":3},{"_type":4,"body":5,"bodyHtml":6,"excerpt":5,"featuredImage":5,"publishedAt":7,"slug":8,"tags":9,"title":10},"blogPost",null,"Right now in children's book world, it's all happening in Bologna! Publishers and rights teams from all around the world have gathered in the vast Italian conference centre/warehouse for the \u003Ca href=\"http://www.bookfair.bolognafiere.it/en/the-best-venue-for-childrens-publishers-to-meet/878.html\">Bologna Children's Book Fair\u003C/a> to buy and sell the rights to publish each other's books in different languages. Britain is quite a small country, so if British writers and illustrators can have their work sold abroad, it's much easier to earn a living at their jobs. \\r\n\\r\nSo everyone who makes books is wondering... what will happen?? How are our books doing? Will the rights people talk up our books as extra-special, and will potential publishers notice our books when they walk past our publisher's stall? So nerve-wracking for everyone, but exciting, too! \\r\n\\r\nSo I was thrilled to see this banner in the \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/OUPChildrens\">OUP Children\u003C/a>'s stall, tweeted by our publisher, \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/LizJCross\">Liz Cross\u003C/a>. Yay, PUGS! \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/pugs_bologna_sm_zpseolz5jwe-81ac0124e6.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nAnd rights agent \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/Change_Places\">Karoline Bakken\u003C/a> sent me a peek of the catalogue that visiting publishers will be looking at. Here's the Pugs page: \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/pugs_bologna_catalogue_zps7vhcs9gp-3c96efe63d.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cb>24 languages\u003C/b>... that is AMAZING. Sometimes in the past, my books have sold in three or four languages, but this is incredible. Working with Philip Reeve and the OUP team was definitely a good idea. Liz just tweeted a picture of the \u003Cb>rights team\u003C/b>, here they are! A huge part of the success is down to their enthusiasm, and these people have done a great job so far. And huge thanks to our \u003Cb>translators\u003C/b>! A Belgian friend was recently reading the French edition of \u003Ci>Oliver et les Isles Vagabondes\u003C/i>, and she said that translator Raphaële Eschenbrenner's text was pure magic.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/LizJCross/status/582205729651761152\">\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/oup_rightsteam_zpslh4rmbso-c4be673391.jpg\">\u003C/a>\\r\n\\r\nI actually have TWO books at Bologna this year! I'm still working like mad on \u003Ci>Pugs of the Frozen North\u003C/i>, but I've seen printed copies of \u003Cb>\u003Ci>Dinosaur Police\u003C/i>\u003C/b>, which comes out with \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/scholasticuk\">Scholastic UK\u003C/a> in May. That baby is ready to walk! Big thanks to my Scholastic editor \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/PauliinaPopcorn\">Pauliina Malinen\u003C/a> and designer \u003Cb>Rebecca Essilifie\u003C/b>.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/dinosaur_police_scholtweet_zpsgvqq82hq-79e904394e.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nI hope \u003Ci>Dinosaur Police\u003C/i> sells lots of foreign editions, too, fingers crossed. I mostly just make picture that please me, but there are a few things I did to make it so foreign publishers wouldn't be put off. Take this spread, for example:\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/dinosaur_spread1_zps325ksucd-136393e081.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nIf we zoom in on the police car, you'll notice it's not absolutely clear who is driving. Now, it shouldn't really matter, since this is Dinoville, not Hong Kong or Norway or Egypt, but if publishers in a certain country are fussy about kids learning the 'correct' side a driver should sit on, this won't actually be incorrect. (I actually find that rather amusing, this slightly mysterious car.)\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/dinopolice_driver_zpsk8ilknm3-cd47375010.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003C!--more Click here for more under the cut!-->\\r\nCheck out the writing on this cinema poster. If I'd  made the writing all black, it could have been lifted and replaced with another language. (It's too expensive for foreign publishers to change all the colour layers, so the black text is on a separate layer they can lift off in one swoop.) But I didn't want the writing to be all black, and it's so tiny that I didn't think people could read it anyway, so I was able to make it red, and make it non-English. (Who says dinosaurs write in English, anyway?)\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/dino_cinema_zpsq9y4wc4x-cb63f465f4.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nNow, you might say, 'Hey, the lettering of that PIZZA sign on the left is in white, not black. But ah ha, there is a tricky way around this! Notice how it's all surrounded by black. That whole black bit can come off, leaving a blank space for the foreign publisher to fill in different lettering. And the pizza poster on the right is obviously in dino-language; publishers can leave it as it is. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/dino_poster_zpsi1ipbt6t-3686abbc4a.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nI'm not going to Bologna this year - I'm too busy finishing \u003Ci>Pugs of the Frozen North\u003C/i>! - but OUP did bring Philip and me out two years ago, to promote \u003Ci>Oliver and the Seawigs\u003C/i>. You can read all about that trip and find out \u003Ca href=\"http://jabberworks.livejournal.com/550549.html\">more about the Bologna Book Fair in this earlier blog post\u003C/a>. Bologna is notorious for not having a unified Twitter hash tag, but you can spot English-language news on \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/search?f=realtime&q=%23bolognabookfair&src=typd\">#BolognaBookFair\u003C/a> and \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/search?f=realtime&q=%23bcbf15&src=typd\">#bcbf15\u003C/a>.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Ca href=\"http://jabberworks.livejournal.com/550549.html\">\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/bologna13_philsarah_seawigs_zps502a6eaa-b972d88388.jpg\">\u003C/a>\\r\n\\r\nAnd Philip has an exciting new book going there, too! I've actually read it - or even better, had it read to me, when I had a bad case of the 'flu for two weeks! Philip gave me daily installments over Skype, editing his text as we went. And this story is AMAZING. Here's the new cover, designed by \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/LadyFlysox\">Holly Fulbrook\u003C/a>, \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/9peace8\">Jo Cameron\u003C/a> and the OUP design team!  \\r\n\\r\n\u003Ca href=\"http://philipreeve.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/railhead-unveiled.html\">\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/railhead_cover_zpsbdjyp7iq-d22ee8cace.jpg\">\u003C/a>\\r\n\\r\nFind out a bit more about the book \u003Ca href=\"http://philipreeve.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/railhead-unveiled.html\">here on Philip's blog\u003C/a>. Today you can take part in the Railhead Twitter promo: \\r\n\\r\n\u003Ca href=\"http://philipreeve.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/railhead-unveiled.html\">\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/railhead_promo_zps6tjkbcdi-6cb2ad3656.jpg\">\u003C/a>\\r\n\\r\nHa ha, here's my 'RAILHEAD Ambassador Hat', some assembly required.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/railheadambassador_zpsm1himun3-3d48f06d88.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nOf course, a big shout-out to our fab agents. \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/JodieHodges31\">Jodie Hodges\u003C/a> reps me at United Agents, and \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/JaneWillis9\">Jane Willis\u003C/a> is covering for her while she's on maternity leave; \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/LAWsomeTweets\">Philippa Milnes-Smith\u003C/a> reps Philip. (Fortunately they're all good friends.)\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/jodie_tweet_zpsorcxhp4k-8072d531ea.jpg\">\\r\n\u003Ci>Check out more at \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/search?src=typd&q=%23picturesmeanbusiness\">#PicturesMeanBusiness\u003C/a>\u003C/i>\\r\n\\r\nAnd Philip's written a very interesting article about judging the YA Book Prize. First prize went to Louise O'Neill with \u003Ci>Only Ever Yours\u003C/i>, but Philip reviews four of his favourites from the shortlist. \u003Ca href=\"http://philipreeve.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/ya-book-prize-winner-and-some-personal.html\">Do pop over to his blog\u003C/a>, it makes for a good read. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Ca href=\"http://philipreeve.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/ya-book-prize-winner-and-some-personal.html\">\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/ya_book_prize_zpsqfgpffpm-057e160e55.jpg\">\u003C/a>","2015-03-30T10:02:00.000Z","bologna-book-fair-excitement",[],"bologna book fair excitement!",1776628727517]