Authors back changes to literary festival circuit
04.11.09 Caroline Horn in The Bookseller

Effective event promotion by festival organisers and a set rate for attendance are among the key requests by authors following a downturn in attendance and book sales at some of this year's literary festival events, reported by The Bookseller last week.

Author and reviewer Amanda Craig said the proliferation of regional literary festivals had resulted in "too many events", and added, "many authors feel that they have a gun put to their head by their publishers to attend them". Craig added that discounted books should also be introduced. "Authors are in despair at how badly hardbacks are selling. No one wants to pay for a ticketed event and a full-price hardback during a recession."

Author Meg Rosoff called for an "honest attempt" at publicity and a warm welcome for authors. "Without publicity and ticket sales, the whole enterprise is just depressing." Adèle Geras said careful programming, where less well known authors were paired with bigger names, could help avoid low audience numbers, as well as side-stepping event clashes with high profile authors.

Some literary festivals are experimenting with different approaches. City funding for the StarLit festival in Hoxton Square, run by the Shoreditch Trust, enabled pupils to each 'buy' a book. Author Catherine Johnson said: "Every author/illustrator who took part knew that their audience was able to choose any book they wanted from the shop." Children's writer Emma Barnes suggested putting children's authors directly into schools for the day alongside public events, so guaranteeing "a sizeable audience and a decent fee", she said, "both of which are good news for the author".

Author Liz Kessler said UK festival organisers could learn from the National Book Festival in Washington where every author was assigned a 'festival escort' for the day and events were held in easily-identifiable marquees. She said: "I found the whole thing extremely well organised, brilliantly attended and an absolute delight to take part in!"

Alyx Price, group publicity director for Scholastic, said successful events depended on festival events and publishers working in partnership. "Publishers can't expect to book an event for an author and then walk away from it. Successful events require work from all parties."