Potential Clients: Bologna Children's Book Fair 2016
Bologna Book Fair
Research publishers for my books
Find names of professional Contacts
I would like to pursue writing and illustrating children's books, it is the field which drove me to do this BA Hons degree in Illustration. I did approach with an open mind, was bewitched momentarily by animation, intrigued by applied arts and comics, have sampled each form of illustration taught by experts in their fields and have traversed home again to my original motivation, the magical world of children's books. And currently working on my second children's picture book I think it is time for me to identify suitable publishers for my books.
Following tutorials with several tutors, I was advised by them all to seek publishers in Italy or perhaps France. For a few reasons. The scale/format of the designs is on the larger side, and the UK market simply doesn't go this big. Also the style I seem to have developed is less conventional and has a definite "European" look and feel about it. My illustrations have been described as new, fresh and exciting, "we haven't seen anything like this before". Very encouraging words, particularly appreciated as I am a perfervid and dedicated artist.
So, I am off to the prestigious Bologna Children's Book Fair 4-7 April 2016. I have booked my flight and Airbnb; to save a few quid staying in a resident Bolognian's apartment. Who and what will I see? Time to plan my visit and research the list of publishers...oh my word, every country is represented and every conceivable type of children's literature. OK, my first search is:
Italy
Children's and Juvenile Literature
Age group 5-10
Not too many then...mmm...better get started...I have updated the links to the sites which are relevant to my work, the others all point to Bologna Book Fair website.
Just made a useful discovery. I am now downloading the Google Chrome browser because it has a built-in translator! Fantastic.
I have not captioned the screenshots for the publishers I have included as the names of the companies are visible in the images.
New Entry Lounge - Archaeology, not my area
Pad. 26 Stand B/12 - Not my style...
 |
| Ant's Books Some New Titles 2016 |
Pad. 26 Stand A/50 - possibility
Artebambini is accredited by the MIUR (Ministry of Education, Universities and Research). They would be a good one to contact regarding my recent book as it is about childhood fear & anxiety. Also the style of some of the artist's work has a similar vibe to mine. Books are in a variety of sizes too.
Pad. 25 Stand B/5 - not my style
Pad. 26 Stand A/52 - Whilst some of the illustrations show that there is a possibility they might be interested in mine, all the books are square!!
Pad. 26 Stand B/49 - there are some interesting styles here, but nothing like mine
New Entry Lounge - cannot find a website, pay them a visit In Bologna? I think Libro is library??
Pad. 26 Stand A/54 - not right
Pad. 26 Stand B/51 - a possibility, a broad range of styles, content and format.
5. Camelozampa
Pad. 26 Stand A/52 - A range of styles, some British illustrators published by them, famous ones: Tony Ross, Quentin Blake and Michael Foreman. A possibility.
Pad. 25 Stand A/31 - Large company, lots of publications, Chris Riddell in included in their listings, nothing like my stuff though,
Italy -
Pad. 26 Stand B/84 - Their website is under construction, but i did manage to find some of their book for sale elsewhere, could be worth a re-visit. Different styles, some quite dark looking (which is good) and a variety of formats.
OK, so I am not going to write reviews (even two word ones) on the ones that are not appropriate for my work...there are simply too many. I will just delete them from the list. And the list will be much easier for me to navigate when attempting to narrow it down again before my visit to Bologna in April 2016.
Pad. 26 Stand B/21 - do a nice range of classics and fairytales, wide variety of styles, worth considering in the future to be used by them to illustrate a classic.
Pad. 26 Stand B/84 - needs a closer look, big company, lots of books tricky website to navigate
Pad. 26 Stand B/1 - possibility, massive company, vast range of books
11. Fulmino Edizioni
Pad. 26 Stand B/82 - Another wide range of styles and formats, website a pain to navigate, having to click on each title to view any book!
12. KalandrakaItalia
Pad. 26 Stand B/2 - interesting range of books, worth visiting
Pad. 26 Stand B/25 - possibility
 |
| Orecchio Acerbo |
Pad. 26 Stand A/8 - large commercial, has translations of harry Potter & Philip Pullman, Roald Dahl, Horrid Henry; that said they do have some unusual illustrated books too, worth checking out their stall when I get to Bologna, you never know...
Pad. 26 Stand B/4 - visit this stand to see what they offer for foreign students, international illustration school
Pad. 26 Stand B/35 - stylish mix of children's books, sell to schools too.
17. Topipittori
Pad. 29 Stand D/36 - nice variety of styles, worth a look
Pad. 25 Stand A/5 - Looking at this website, found a children's "...book to talk about feelings through nursery rhymes and drawings..." very promising, the illustrations might also suggest they may like the look of mine...who knows...? They also publish foreign illustrators and authors.
 |
| Matter of Gears - Isabella Christina Felline & Roberta Angeletti 2013 |
 | |
|
Pad. 29 Stand D/44 - these guys publish Oliver Jeffers, Jon Klassen. There are a lovely variety of beautifully illustrated children's book here. Worth a look.
Italian publishers seem to divide their genres to include a section for "boys", but not one for girls, they all do it, I wonder why?? I will have to ask someone when I get there!
From a list of approx 100, I have shortlisted these ones. I am going to have a more thorough look at their sites and narrow it down further if possible. It may be easier to do this when I get there as the Google translations are a bits rubbish and it is not possible to view the content of most of the books. I will try searching a few titles on Amazon to see if there are any inside pictures.
I think its worth having a look at the French Publishers too. When I was in Paris October 2015, I spent a fair bit of time perusing the book shops and I think there are definitely some publishers worth considering. In fact I actually bought some books, so I will start by looking up the publishers from these titles. It is all terribly exciting!
26th February 2016 - I am going, its official, just got my discount code and ordered my ticket!
26th February 2016 - I am going, its official, just got my discount code and ordered my ticket!
No comments:
Post a Comment