Top writer and editor extraordinaire, Adrienne Mason has posted a fantastic wish list suggesting ways to celebrate Canadian Children’s Book Week on her blog, Tough City Writer.
Among the list are tips like: sending a favourite Canadian book to a young person you know, giving that local bookseller who has a great selection of Canadian kids books a coffee or cookie and saying “thanks.”
But by far my favourite it Wish # 7:
If you are a published writer or illustrator, sit yourself down with a friend or relative who loves you, but just really doesn’t get it, and explain how royalties mean that you are only getting 10 or 7 or 5 percent (or maybe less?) of the list price of a book and that authors actually have to buy their own books and that it’s really not a great idea to be demanding books for less and less because, ya know, it hurts the author, the illustrator and the publisher too. And then ask them, pretty please, to tell two friends and ask them to tell two friends and so on and so on and so on. (Oh, and while I’m at it, tell them that photocopying your book and sharing it with all of their friends is NOT a good idea — yup, it happened to me — do it with a smile and give them a cookie.)
Thank you Adrienne! But even if you aren’t a published author, don’t let that stop you from explaining number 7 to anyone who cares to listen. It does get a little tiring explaining to people that despite the fact I have over 20 books published, I don’t own a Jag, fly in my own jet or have servants to make me breakfast each morning – and it isn’t just the school kids who think is.
But this kids author isn’t complaining. This year, I’m going to be celebrating Canadian Children’s Book Week in style: Nunavut style, that is. I’m busy packing, finalizing details and getting psyched for my 7 am flight tomorrow morning (ack!) that’ll take me to Ottawa and then north to Iqualuit.
Hopefully, I can grab a minute to post something on here while I’m up north. But if you don’t hear from me, don’t worry. I’ll have plenty of photos to share when I get back.
In the meantime, get going on that wish list!
