Egmont Press Interview

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WriteWords talks to Philippa Donovan of Egmont Press

Tell us all about Egmont; history, ethos, aims, people involved

Egmont UK is part of the Egmont Group, one of Scandinavia's leading media groups. We publish books and magazines for children and their families. Our business is divided into two divisions: Egmont Press and Egmont Publishing
As a leading UK children's publisher, Egmont took a bold decision to commit to ethical business practices to ensure that the delight that we strive to bring readers of our books is not compromised by damage done to the environment. As a result, the Ethical Egmont practices guarantee that we now know where every single tree comes from that goes into every paper that makes up every book, and that all the paper used in all Egmont's books now complies with our grading system. This means we know that the trees used to make our paper are not from illegally sources and are not species which are endangered. We also pride ourselves on high standards regarding product safety and author care.

Who’s on your list?

Enid Blyton
Michael Morpurgo
Lemony Snicket
William Nicolson
Michael Grant
Winnie-the-Pooh
Tintin
The Little Prince

What excites you about a piece of writing- what keeps you interested?

Originality
Convincing dialogue
Spirit and pace

-and what makes your heart sink?

Unthinking copycat books without a new hook
Anything autobiographical presented as fiction

Can you tell us what makes a pitch/covering letter/synopsis/etc work best for you?

Brevity
Humour
Knowledge of the market/Egmont list/my taste
Absence of exclamation marks

A longer version of this interview is available to WriteWords Full and Community Members.
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Comments by other Members

CarolineSG at 14:07 on 23 March 2010 Report this post

Thanks Phillippa. I would love to sign up for the YA Masterclass - where/when can I find out more? Couldn;t see anything on the website..

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Shika at 10:50 on 26 March 2010 Report this post

I'm up for it too. S

Read the WriteWords interview with Emmanuella Dekonor (Shika)

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nessiec at 13:29 on 07 April 2010 Report this post

how exciting to find my lovely editor and copy/editor on here doing an interview! Good stuff.

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