Freya North responds to a previous Bookseller opinion piece:

John McLay, founder of the Bath Festival of Children’s Literature, wrote in The Bookseller that when authors attend a festival, they enter into an unspoken agreement with the festival organisers not to expect a fee. I don’t agree.

McLay, who founded the Bath Children’s Festival, said this at the end of July:

The punters often pay to attend, but authors rarely get a cut of the box office. Should they? Where does all that money go? Is someone getting rich at authors’ expense?
Well, it’s not me. I founded the Telegraph Bath Festival of Children’s Literature in 2007 with my wife, using all of our own money. We staged nearly 150 public and school events over 10 days and attracted more than 10,000 paying visitors. And we lost a hefty five-figure sum. Ouch. By the time we handed over the festival to Bath Festivals to run three years later, we were in better financial shape—but still nursed a loss from that disastrous first year.
When authors attend a festival, I think they enter into an unspoken agreement with the festival organisers. We, the festival organisers, go to great expense and effort to stage a festival which will provide you with a platform on which to meet your public and sell your books. We take the box office receipts to help pay for our own expertise, venue hire, staging, lighting, sound, brochure, ticket services, refreshments, staffing, security, insurance, publicity and marketing. We spend a year planning it, worrying about every unsold seat and missing PowerPoint presentation, and live it for duration of the event itself.

In a nutshell McLay was putting forward the time-for-exposure rationale. He finished off: “These author/reader experiences plant seeds in the minds of the book buyers of tomorrow, and that is worth a lot in my opinion. We’re all part of the festival deal. It’s great that festivals exist, but they need everyone to only take the piece of the financial pie that rewards their contribution.”

North takes exception to this. In her response she writes:

For an author, festival events require a great deal of preparation, thought, generosity and often nerves. The festival fee we pay all our authors is not big bucks, but it is there as a token of our appreciation and respect. They are all hardworking, entertaining and inspiring professionals who simply ought to be remunerated for the service they provide. As Maureen says: “You don’t ask your local butcher for a free steak. Authors are giving their time and energy and yes they do benefit but why shouldn’t they? They deserve to feel valued.”

For more information about the Hertford Children’s Festival visit the excellent website:

via A fair shout for fees | The Bookseller.

The Hertford Children’s Book Festival website was designed by Shy Studios: