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Children's authors are increasingly turning to self-publishing in order to break into the market as it becomes harder to find an agent.
A number of authors have turned to self-publishing sites or other opportunities to showcase their work such as the Arts Council-funded site YouWriteOn.com. Victoria Bennion's The Legend of the Golden Carp was published by YouWriteOn.com in a project supported by Legend Press. Bennion said she found it very difficult to find a publisher for her book despite it being "quite an old-fashioned story". She is now planning to use a self-publishing approach to attract a mainstream publisher or agent.
Amherst Publishing has its own self-publishing division. Director Roger Wickham confirmed the trend that as finding an agent has become more difficult, authors are "more willing" to publish their books themselves.
Agent Caroline Sheldon has said it is possible for authors to attract agents through self-publishing and has taken on a couple of self-published authors herself, including G P Taylor (Shadowmancer). She said: "I now look for authors and illustrators who I can sense have a career ahead of them in children's publishing, which may also include film and TV work. It is hard for newcomers to demonstrate that."
But she added: "While many are very enterprising, it is unbelievably tough to get a self-published novel into bookstores."
This was backed up by Frank Hinks, who writes and illustrates the Ramion series (Perronet Press). He said: "In today's climate, retailers prefer well-known names and are less willing to risk a small, independent publisher." He is now using digital resources to help sell his books online at www.ramion-books.com.