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Publishers press on with age guidance

04.06.08 Graeme Neill

The Society of Authors is to meet with the Publishers' Association's Children's Book Group to discuss this week's unprecedented author rebellion over age guidance. But publishers said today (Wednesday, 4th June) that the author rebellion would not change their plans.

Elaine McQuade, m.d. of Scholastic Children's Books and chair the Publishers' Association's Children's Book Group (CBG), said she would be talking to concerned authors, and showing them the research that drove the decision. "Quite a few publishers have embarked on consultation with authors and have had little negative response," she said. "Publishers like Random House, Penguin and OUP are well ahead [in rolling out age guided books] and they haven't had much bad reaction."

A full page ad will be published in this week's Bookseller opposing publishers' introduction of age guidance. Led by Philip Pullman, more than 80 authors, illustrators, librarians, teachers and booksellers voiced their opposition to the initiative and disassociated themselves from age guidance. The website, www.notoagebanding.org, has so far received almost 400 signatures of support. It describes the proposal as "ill-conceived, damaging to the interests of young readers, and highly unlikely, despite the claims made by those publishers promoting the scheme, to make the slightest difference to sales".

But McQuade added that guidance provided an "open ended starting point" for those who did not have the confidence to buy children's books. "The librarians, specialist booksellers and authors who feel very angry about this are very experienced children's book reading and book buying people," she said. "We are trying to do the same thing as them - broaden the access to the children's book market, not restrict it."

McQuade said that the CBG would continue to talk with authors about age guidance. It has already held two meetings with the Society of Authors to discuss the issue this year.

Kate Poole, deputy general secretary of the Society of Authors, said age guidance was a "matter our members feel very strongly about". "While we appreciate that publishers are doing their best to sell books . . . a book should come out as an author wishes it to".

The strength of feeling among authors has been demonstrated online at theBookseller.com, where a number have left comments. Darren Shan, the HarperCollins author behind the Darren Shan Saga, said that he was "100% against" age guidance. "I see it as...a way for publishers to exert even more control over their authors, to make writers conform to their idea of what a book should be, how it should be pitched and marketed, and - even more crucially and worryingly - how it should be written in the first place," he said.

The decision to introduce age guidance was taken in April by a number of children's publishers, including Hachette, Penguin, Random House, Scholastic and HarperCollins after more than three years consultation led by the Publishers' Association's Children's Book Group (CBG). A black and white design will be placed on the back of fiction books, near the bar code, with the categories of 5+, 7+, 9+, 11+ and 13+/teen. Reprints from April carried the new ranging and it will be rolled out to new titles from the autumn.

Authors Philip Pullman children's Graeme Neill Home Society of Authors age guidance

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By Darren Shan

I wonder if Elaine McQuade is one of those people who brazenly stand up and declare that global warming is poppycock and that absolutely nothing is wrong with the planet?!? Hundreds of authors publicly state their opposition to age branding, yet she boldly claims that there has been "little negative response". Had she been around when the meteorite struck in the age of the dinosaurs, I imagine she'd have shrugged that off too -- "It was just a little bump. Nothing to worry about." What worries and upsets me most about this is the attitude of certain publishers that their authors don't matter. My own publishers have taken my opinions and feelings on board, and assured me that, since I am so opposed to age branding, they will not inflict it on my work. I fear that, from Elaine McQuade's comments, authors at Scholastic might not meet with such a favourable response. Behaviour like this is to be expected from Hollywood producers and music moguls -- there has long been a very wide dividing line in those businesses between creative people and those who work behind the scenes. But I always felt there was more respect between publishers and authors, that we saw ourselves as being in the same boat, rowing in the same direction, with the same goals and ideas about how to chase them. It seems I might have overestimated that relationship somewhat. I'd feel silly and naive, except hundreds of other authors evidently felt the same way -- the response to this from childen's writers has been one of outrage born out of shock. I don't think many of us saw this coming, that writers as a group could be treated so poorly by publishers as a whole. As for "the research" that Elaine McQuade is so keen to share with her authors ... Well, we all know that you can make "the facts" say whatever you want them to. What's beyond any doubt in this case is that hundreds of authors, from every level, are opposed to age branding, and have made their opposition very clear and very public. Will Elaine McQuade and those on her side put their faith in "research" or in their authors? Will they try to steamroll ahead with their vision for the future, or will they respect the views of the people around whom their entire industry is based? Will they treat their authors with integrity, giving them the freedom to choose how their work is presented to the world -- or is this the dawn of the publisher as all-controlling producer? Is Elaine McQuade the new Simon Cowell?!?!? I, for one, perish the thought ...

04 Jun 08 22:34

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By Julie Bertagna

The kids seem to be revolting too. But authors and children are obviously not key figures in the children's book industry... CBBC children's comments on age-banding: http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_7430000/newsid_7439200/7439226.stm

06 Jun 08 11:54

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By Diana Kimpton

Calm down, Darren. People who disagree with you just have a different opinion - they're not heretics. Just as with the global warming debate, it's not easy for authors who don't object to age ranging on their books to get their voices heard - there's no way to register non-agreement on www.notoagebanding.co.uk. Does anyone want to help put a bit of balance into the discussion by joining together to express the other point of view? If so, please contact me through my website.

06 Jun 08 22:09

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By Peter & Helen Ollerenshaw.

My husband and myself are appalled to learn that children will soon be forced to publicly declare their reading ability for no reason other than the presumption by publishers that parents are incapable of deciding what is suitable for their children to read and what is not. The state schools’ systems are torment enough, particularly for those children that fall behind their classmates. We cannot see how another age/ability related stigma is going to encourage them to get stuck into a book. If this scheme was already in place we feel sure our 9 year old son would not have already developed literacy skills expected of a child in year 6. He would have been very conscious that the books I was suggesting he try were too old for him and assumed they were therefore beyond his ability, instead of which he read the likes of Clockwork, by Philip Pullman, when he was just 7 and thoroughly enjoyed it. When we have long road trips to make we usually download a couple of books, currently Anthony Horowitz’s Alex Rider series, to our MP3 player. Listening to a book above their reading ability has given both our sons a passion for stories and a desire to learn to read. If publishers wish to guide parents and children towards books that might best match their reading ability then perhaps they should ensure retailers clearly label the shelves that the books are displayed on rather than burden children with the potential humiliation of reading a book marked below their age, or the pressure from overzealous parents to read a book full of vocabulary they don’t understand. Our eldest son is currently reading the Mister Men books...all of them! Who are we to judge whether they are too young for him or not. If he enjoys them and they fire his imagination then they’ve done their job. He is also half way through Eldest by Christopher Paolini (read by myself at bedtime)and almost half way through Skorpia by Anthony Horowitz (on MP3 in the car). He also begs me to buy boxes of cereal that have mini books in them, the current one’s being based around characters from His Dark Materials.

12 Jun 08 22:40

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