[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":11},["ShallowReactive",2],{"blog-post-pictures-mean-business-after-careful-consideration":3},{"_type":4,"body":5,"bodyHtml":6,"excerpt":5,"featuredImage":5,"publishedAt":7,"slug":8,"tags":9,"title":10},"blogPost",null,"So here's my latest update on the \u003Ca href=\"http://jabberworks.livejournal.com/693279.html\">#PicturesMeanBusiness campaign\u003C/a>. Like most illustrators, I still don't know very much about why we regularly get left out of being credited for the books we illustrate, but I'm discovering more and more that it's not a \u003Ci>complete\u003C/i> lack of respect from people in the publishing industry. It all keeps coming back to two things: \\r\n\\r\n1. Tediously faulty data systems, or 'meta data'\\r\n2. People who don't think to question this faulty data\\r\n\\r\nThat's why we had an \u003Ca href=\"http://www.thebookseller.com/news/childrens-illustrators-say-were-undervalued\">article\u003C/a> in The Bookseller quoting \u003Ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axel_Scheffler\">Axel Scheffler\u003C/a> feeling undervalued for his work, right above a listing where he's not mentioned with the picture book he illustrated (\u003Ci>Superworm\u003C/i>). It wasn't deliberate, someone just didn't put two-and-two together:\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/bookseller_axel_zpswgkoi9qr-cb3ca660ec.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nIt happened again today: the \u003Ca href=\"http://www.redhousechildrensbookaward.co.uk/\">Red House Children's Book Awards\u003C/a> were announced and when I clicked over to their \u003Ca href=\"http://www.redhousechildrensbookaward.co.uk/winners/index\">award page of their website\u003C/a>, only the writers of the books were listed. Which is odd, because you can see a little picture of illustrator \u003Ca href=\"http://www.oliverjeffers.com/picture-books/once-upon-an-alphabet\">Oliver Jeffers\u003C/a> on their home page. So they were obviously \u003Ci>thinking\u003C/i> about him, they just forgot to put his name into the listing. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/redhouse_zpsnrupxwsa-63d259081b.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nNow anyone who looks at Drew and Oliver's book sees it's highly dependent on illustrations and Oliver's hand-drawn lettering. And you may think, does this even matter? Everyone knows Oliver illustrated that book. ...Well, yes, it does. That press release will have gone out to the media and there's a good chance many of them will plug the data into their articles without even checking to see the illustrator's been left out. Illustrators rely heavily on brand identity for ongoing sales, and this doesn't help.\\r\n\\r\n\u003C!--more Click here for more under the cut!-->\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/oliver1_zpsbpfdl1ke-9b8030201b.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nI (rather nervously) brought it up with the award's hosts, \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/TheBookPeople\">The Book People\u003C/a>, on Twitter, and they're like most of us, they're people who love books and want to get things right, they're just rushing a bit and don't have the latest software. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/bookpeople_zpsktto59xz-8014a65c23.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nIt wasn't just illustrators; even a co-writer (\u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/AmandaSwift5\">Amanda Swift\u003C/a>) got left out because they couldn't fit two names on the date entry line. \\r\n\\r\nBut the whole point of these awards is publicity and raising the profile of children's books, so it would make sense for awards people to stop and think how they're presenting this information ('after careful consideration') to the public. I'm sure the judges put a lot of thought into the selection, and the website people are separate from the judging process, but it makes the awards look slapdash, like the people involved haven't actually sat down and looked at the physical books, to notice that they're illustrated. I'm sure this isn't true, but it's not a clever way to present the public face of the award.  \\r\n\\r\nI was happy to see a few hours later that the website had already been updated to include Oliver's name. Hurrah! So it IS possible, it's not too much of a programming nightmare. But there are several other illustrators who need added - \u003Ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Ross\">Tony Ross\u003C/a> (illustrator of \u003Ci>Demon Dentist\u003C/i>), \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/thomasflintham\">Thomas Flintham\u003C/a> (\u003Ci>Baby Aliens Got my Teacher\u003C/i>), and \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/BruceIngman1\">Bruce Ingman\u003C/a> (\u003Ci>Let Loose the Leopard\u003C/i>). And throughout the website, there are lots of other illustrators left unlisted (for example, \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/gumdraw\">David Tazzyman\u003C/a> and \u003Ca href=\"http://sarahhorne.co.uk/\">Sarah Horne\u003C/a> in their \u003Ca href=\"http://www.redhousechildrensbookaward.co.uk/pickoftheyear/bycategory\">Pick of the Year\u003C/a> list). Here's the fixed entry:\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/picsmeanbiz_zpscvsbdsan-a59df766ce.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nKudos to the rep at The Book People for replying so quickly and starting to get on the case! I realise they honestly do mean well. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/bookpeople2_zpsx2y0hpsv-db393bca90.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nBut it's a call for people to \u003Ci>think\u003C/i> when they get book data. I'm hoping very much we can fix some of the most cumbersome systems (Nielsen - and Biblio/Virtusales, which I only just heard about) and encourage publishers enter all the right information. (Good ol' Nosy Crow...)\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/nosycrow_tweet_zpshxmurkyn-baa712e8d9.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nBut until then, publishing world and media, \u003Cb>if you love book illustration, please stand by us and fix this faulty data manually\u003C/b>.\\r\n\\r\nKeep an eye on the hash tag and add your comments: \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/search?f=realtime&q=%23picturesmeanbusiness&src=typd\">#PicturesMeanBusiness\u003C/a>\\r\n\\r\n. . . \\r\n\u003Cfont size=\"4\">NOOOOOOOO!!!!\u003C/font> Just as a saved this blog post, I saw a tweet from wonderful writer \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/carylhart1\">Caryl Hart\u003C/a>. And I love The Reading Agency, they hosted me as last year's Summer Reading Challenge illustrator, but guess what, they've \u003Ca href=\"http://readingagency.org.uk/children/news/record-breakers-book-collections-announced.html\">forgotten to credit a lot of illustrators on their book list\u003C/a>. And again, it's most likely a data problem. And people not paying attention. ARGHHHHHHH. Please, someone just make it stop...!\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/readingagency_zpsgvb89lir-3b526eb8a1.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n(See the picture book list \u003Ca href=\"http://readingagency.org.uk/children/Book%20List%202015%20-%20YOUNGER.pdf\">here\u003C/a>.)\\r\n\u003Ca href=\"http://readingagency.org.uk/children/Book%20List%202015%20-%20YOUNGER.pdf\">\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/turnip_readingagencylist_zpsdxa5qlad-dabde5149c.jpg\">\u003C/a>","2015-02-27T22:11:00.000Z","pictures-mean-business-after-careful-consideration",[],"pictures mean business: 'after careful consideration...'",1776628727399]