In Depth

« Back to Features

Careers in children’s books

15.05.08 Hannah Davies

Big-name authors, such as Philip Pullman, J K Rowling and Jacqueline Wilson, have helped to make children’s publishing a vibrant sector to work in. Hannah Davies talks to an editor, a marketing director and a bookseller to find out what options are available for people passionate about kids’ books

Averill Whitehouse
Walker Books, commissioning editor

With one of her authors short-listed for this year’s Brandford Boase Award (Atinuke with Anna Hibiscus) and another for the CILIP Carnegie Medal (Tanya Landman with Apache), Averill Whitehouse is having a good year as a children’s editor. Describing successes like these as one of the highlights of her job, she says: “I have a really close relationship with my authors and it is great for them to get that acknowledgement.”

Whitehouse developed an interest in children’s publishing at university, having studied a few children’s literature modules as part of her English degree at Nottingham. “It flagged up to me how complex it is,” she explains. “The relationship between the pictures and the words, and the challenge of targeting books to specific age groups.” After graduating in 1999, she turned down a number of offers from adult publishers to join Walker as an editorial assistant.

She quickly rose through the ranks, achieving her current position as commissioning editor for fiction after three years with the company. Whitehouse now has a wide brief, working on anything from young illustrated fiction up to adult cross-over titles. “I really like the mix. One minute I’ll be working on a 450-page novel, the next a 64-page illustrated title. It keeps your brain moving around so you don’t get stuck in a rut.”

Everyday is completely different, says Whitehouse, with a workload varying from undertaking complex structural edits to liaising with sales and marketing teams. She is cer-tainly enjoying her time at Walker. “I am starting to build my own list here and I really like my authors and the way my skills are developing alongside theirs,” she says.

 

Kirsten Grant
Puffin Books, marketing director

Kirsten Grant’s big break in children’s publishing came during her M.Phil publishing studies course at the University of Stirling. As part of a 20,000-word dissertation on children and books, she set up an interview with then Puffin marketing director Justin Somper. Proving that building contacts is a key to getting ahead, when Grant completed her course, she contacted Somper who offered her some temping work at Puffin.
Children’s publishing has always been appealing to Grant. “I get the feeling you are either a children’s person or you are an adults person,” she explains. “And I’ve always had a yen for children’s books.”

Twelve years on, and Grant has now moved into the post Somper once held. She initially worked her way up through the sales, publicity and marketing departments before getting to her present role in 2006.

Part of what she loves about the job is the creative meetings Puffin holds for each book and author. She says: “We brainstorm to come up with big, blue-sky thinking ideas at the beginning. Then the challenge is to narrow it down to something that will actually work and you can make happen. Seeing a big idea become a reality many months later is really satisfying.”

Grant’s recent campaigns include working with high-profile authors and Puffin brands—Young Bond, Artemis Fowl, Cathy Cassidy—and the Puffin Classics relaunch. She says that the key to making the marketing work for these brands is adapting to the evolving market. “Marketing has changed completely since I began; the way consumers are finding out information and the ways we reach them are always adapting. There is never a moment to stagnate because there is always something new.”

 

Laura Smythe
The Golden Treasury, assistant manager

Working in a children’s bookshop was not Laura Smythe’s initial career plan. After graduating from Leeds University in 2002 with a degree in English and Philosophy, she went travelling, then worked in a nursery before setting her sights on a job in publishing. While doing two days a week of work experience in the editorial department at Virgin Books, she worked part-time at the Golden Treasury, a specialist children’s independent bookshop based in Wandsworth. In 2006, after five months working both jobs, an events manager’s position came up at the shop which she says was too good an opportunity to pass up.

In the role Smythe spent a year organising the store’s author events. She was instrumental in getting the children’s publicity departments on-side and building up the shop’s reputation as a good events venue. “It is great getting new authors,” she says. “They get to know you and the shop.” Two of the authors she is proud to have attracted are Tony Mitton and Jean Willis.

Smythe has just been promoted to assistant manager of the store and is in charge of all the schools accounts, which she says are crucial to the shop. Key to her role is giving customers recommendations. “I have to read a lot of children’s books. In fact, I don’t often get time to dedicate myself to an adult book. You do really have to be passionate about reading.”

A job in publishing is still in the back of Smythe’s mind and she knows many people who have made the switch. However, her main criterion for a career switch has narrowed; she insists it will have to involve working with children’s books: “I think you are either a person who falls completely for children’s books or you don’t. I’m definitely one that did.”

Childrens Puffin Hannah Davies Walker Books job The Golden Treasury

See Also