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'In children's books we punch above our weight'

3 October 2016

‘One of the most important things I'd like to help alter is the general view of writing, this idea that somehow we're amateurs who only do it for love and not for money. That's not the case. Of course we love what we do, but we're also professional people, providing professional services and producing material that generates enormous economic and moral value. Therefore we should get the return on it that we're entitled to. We should be taken seriously...

People are often patronising about writing for children - but children's books are among the most celebrated publications of all time. Just look at the mega-successes of recent years such as Harry Potter, Northern LightsHandy site which provides links to 7,500 US publishers' sites and online catalogues. www.lights.com/publisher/, The Hunger Games. Then there are the classics - Narnia, Roald Dahl, Beatrix Potter ... I could go on, but the truth is that in children's books we punch above our weight, and our books generate a huge amount of interest. Publishers of children's books are also very sharp and locked into the world of entertainment, franchises, publicity and social media: something all writers could learn from...

There is more content now, there are more scripts being written for more outlets, which should be a good thing. But whether writers are being paid as well as they should be is another matter.'

Tony Bradman, author of more than 200 children's books, on becoming Chair of the Authors Licensing and Copying Society, in ALCS News