What, in your opinion, are the three most important qualities needed to be a successful teen/YA author?
2) Communicate with your audience. Your fans are your best friends. If they send you an email, answer it – there are safe ways of doing it. A lot of my early fan-base came out of really nice, loyal fans. Value them.
3) Be professional. Everyone involved with books is busy – the librarian and teachers you visit are busy, the people at your publishers are busy. Make sure you deliver your manuscript on time, make sure you arrive at meetings on time. That way everyone is happy to do things for you because you're easy to work with. There are some crotchety children's writers around – and I've met a fair few – who just epically don't get that.
I used to do a lot of them and they're definitely something I'd recommend new authors do. They're hard work but they're a really great way to connect with kids. And they're also a source of income. When I first quit my job, school visits are what paid the rent.
I'd say don't be discouraged by the £11,000 figure. People who've got a publishing deal with a reasonable publisher and are writing one, maybe two books a year and are moderately successful will be earning significantly more than that. For a new writer the best figure to keep in your head is that you should be making 50p for every book you sell, so for every 10,000 books you sell you're probably going to make £5,000.
Your latest Cherub book, Lone Wolf, is about drugs – are there any topics that are out of bounds for YA?
In the context of the Cherub series I try to make it realistic but not extreme. There are a few 'craps' and 'shits' in my books because I don't think that will warp any teenage minds. But I don't use sexual swear words, and we're not allowed to use the 'N' word. There are rules and guidelines and I stick to them.
Writers' block… does it exist? Are you affected by it? And, if so, how do you overcome it?
Yes it exists, although I do like the saying, 'only wealthy writers can afford writers' block, the rest of us just have to deliver the work on time.' I've never had writers' block for a prolonged period of time but I do have days where the words get mushed up in my head and I can't get them down. It's horrible. What I tend to do is something else work-related instead, whether it's answering fan-mail or updating my website or just doing my accounts. I'd feel quite guilty if I stopped writing and buggered off and went shopping. I've always got other stuff I could be doing.
I get up, have a bit of breakfast, try to be at my desk by nine and carry on until five. Sometimes, if I'm in the mood and I want to finish a long chapter, I'll work late. But, on average, it's pretty much a nine to five job.
My office in my house. I can read and do research anywhere but the only place I actually write is at my desk in my office – it's like a shrine to writing.
Can you describe the view from your writing space?
It overlooks the music room of the local primary school. When it gets hot, like at this time of year, they open the windows and I can hear them playing music. But I always know when the teacher goes out of the room because suddenly there's loads of banging and clanging. It's hilarious. It's quite a nice noise actually.
Might it inspire you to try writing for a younger audience?
I've actually tried that. I've tried it three times and never been happy with the result. I'm currently toying with the idea of writing an adult novel. It's fun to do something different.
Not having to commute. I live and work in London and I really appreciate the freedom of not having to travel back and forth.
It can be very isolating, especially for me because I live on my own. You can get into this thing where you're in your house, on your own, and you're really getting into your book and it can be quite scary. You end up living in your head and not getting out enough. I've actually got some techniques that I use now if I feel myself getting to that stage – I have people I go and see and I make sure I arrange to do stuff.
Book-wise, what have you got coming out next?
I've just delivered the second book in my Rock War series (about a group of teens who enter a rock music reality TV show). The first one came out in February and the new one's due out the middle of next year. There'll also be another book in the Cherub series, but I haven't written that yet.
Jo Dearden spent 15 years writing about other people's stories – as a reviewer and feature writer for various TV listing magazines. Three years ago she attended an Arvon course on writing for children. She loves writing didactic rhyming Picture Book texts with copious illustration notes. Despite this, her story 'Betty's Bellybutton' was recently placed third in the Winchester Writer's Competition and she has previously had a story shortlisted for the Mumsnet/Walker Books Book of Bedtime Stories. Jo lives in Rawtenstall, Lancashire along with fellow SCBWI-ers George Kirk and Steve Hartley (only in the same town though, not in the same house… that would just be weird).
I love reading about a writing spaces, picturing the writer at work. Some useful qualities to note about productivity too.
Great questions - and answers!