As I told you last
time, three Jamaican authors were planning to host a signing session at the
Things Jamaican Shop at Devon House, one of Kingston’s popular spots for liming in the restaurants, eating
ice cream and patties in the garden with the resident birds demanding their share of your food, or browsing at a variety of shops.
This was an
experiment, in the belief that together we could pull more of a crowd than
singly. Veronica Carnegie's book isThe Tie Came Back (adult short stories), Diane Browne's - The Ring and the Roaring Water, and mine Bernie and the Captain's Ghost (both for children 8-12 years). I promised to tell you how it turned out.
First, we were
competing time-wise with World Cup football, an athletic meet and various other
forms of entertainment in the city.
However, several persons turned up and we had a good time chatting about our
books. Some sales were made and more persons became aware of the existence of
our books. We authors held a kind of workshop for ourselves swapping stories
and giving encouragement.
Perhaps the best
part was that we kept each other company. If you have ever had a signing
session, (and you are not J.K. Rowling or Stephenie Meyer) you know how tedious
it can be - waiting for persons to show up to buy or, more likely, to browse and
not buy your book.
We had fun, and
will probably repeat the exercise at other venues.
On Saturday, June 26, Diane Browne, Veronica Carnegie and I will be hosting a joint signing session at the Things Jamaican store at Devon House, a popular Kingston venue. Diane will be featuring her latest children's book The Ring and the Roaring Water, the second in her sci-fi historical series for the 10-12 age group. Veronica Carnegie will be featuring her collection of short stories,The Tie Came Back (for adults). My book is Bernie and the Captain's Ghost.(age 10-12) Together, perhaps, we can draw a larger audience than we could as individuals. Veronica is very keen on getting authors to support one another in promotions and marketing. I'll tell you how this experiment turns out.
Easy readers (easy-to-read) books are for children just starting to read on their own (ages 6-8). They have many
illustrations in colour, but the format is often a smaller book size than the ‘baby’ books.
Transition books - sometimes called "early chapter books" for ages 6-9. These are longer, about 30 pages, and broken into 2-3 page chapters. Books are smaller and now have black-and-white illustrations not necessarily on every page.
Chapter books for ages 7-10. Stories usually contain a lot of action. Readers love adventure stories.
Middle gradebooks (novels)This is the golden age of reading for many children, ages 8-12. Stories are longer and have more complex plots and sub-plots involving several characters. Readers love series books where they can follow the adventures of favourite characters, e.g. the perennially popular Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew books. Illustrations in fiction books are now few and far between and are black and white.
Young adult books These are for ages 12 – 16. Books can go up to 200 pages, plots can be complex with several major characters, though one character should emerge as the focus of the book. Themes should be relevant to the problems and struggles of today's teenagers.
The age divisions overlap and are merely guidelines as many children will be comfortable reading either behind or ahead of their age group. The important thing is for parents or adults buying books for children to be aware of the child’s interests and reading level. Often adults will buy books which appeal to them (from their memories of their own childhood) or books which they think the child should read, and then they wonder why the child is not excited about the book they have bought. Children get enough of the books they should read in school, buy a book which will be pure fun for the child to read– fiction or non-fiction.
In the Caribbean you will find publishers more willing to publish books for the age ranges mentioned above, especially for the middle grade readers. Although stories are longer, the absence of colour illustrations, except perhaps for the cover, makes it cheaper to produce. There will be more sales - to libraries and if the books get recommended for supplementary readers in schools.
There is a general feeling that fiction both for adults and children doesn’t sell well in the Caribbean. Some days ago, I was watching a television interview with a local publisher who said, emphatically, that fiction doesn’t sell in the Caribbean in any numbers to make it viable for a publisher to invest in same. Later, Collin Channer of Calabash fame was on the program disputing this. His point was that the problem was in the lack of adequate marketing and promotion for the books. When last, he asked, have you seen a Caribbean book title (fiction) advertised on television, heard it on radio, seen it on a poster or in the print media? Food for thought.
A mini launch supported by a few committed souls, a newspaper review (if you are lucky) – that’s usually it for promotions, so the general public remains largely unaware of the book. Also, in Jamaica, at least, we seem to have developed a culture that the children should get books. Publishers know they are taking a risk putting out fiction for children. More on this another time.
