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