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Author needs your help

156 replies

mortalcoils · 14/02/2010 17:50

Sorry if this is the wrong place (or, indeed, thing) to post, but I'm after some advice. I'm perhaps best known as an author of slightly edgy/very edgy teenage novels, e.g. Hellbent, Henry Tumour and The Knife That Killed Me. Over the last couple of years I've also written 4 books for younger children, beginning with The Bare Bum Gang and The Football Face-Off. All 4 books are about the same group of children, and are aimed at 7-10 year olds. They are published by Random House, and got really nice reviews from all of the broadsheets. However, they haven't exactly set the world on fire, commercially, and I've been told it's because the titles, which all feature the dreaded words 'Bare bum Gang', have been putting people off. I've been told as a fact that book clubs won't have them because of the 'bum'. The books are really quite sweet, albeit rather rude, in a fart/poo kind of way. So, what do you reckon - should I ditch the bum, or keep on trying?
Regards
Anthony McGowan
(apologies again if this isn;'t the kind of thing that belongs here.)

OP posts:
roisin · 14/02/2010 19:20

Is this really you?

I have to say Henry Tumour is fantastic: my son read it and recommended it to me, and I enjoyed it too.

Are Random House editors/marketing people not giving you advice on the titles and covers of the new books? I don't like the titles, but then I don't like "Captain Underpants" titles either and it didn't stop my boys reading them when they were little.

There are plenty of books with poo/bum/bogey stuff in their titles. For example, I remember was very popular at school last year.

zapostrophe · 14/02/2010 19:18

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

Ilovemybed · 14/02/2010 19:15

what an intriguing post!

I would ditch the bum. I wouldn't buy them as I would prefer ds not to say bum, and I wouldn't buy them as a gift in case the parent was .

Also might kids be a bit embarrassed to be seen reading something with 'bare bum gang' in the title? It sounds a bit...... gay, which is apparently a no-no at schools (which obv I don't agree with, but just saying).

BlauerEngel · 14/02/2010 18:56

Definitely ditch the bum bit. As shitemum says (great name, BTW) it's too Viz-like. Now I don't mind a bit of funny edginess in a book - DD2 at 7 is currently chortling her way through 'Disgusting Dave and the Farting Dog' or some such - but I just wouldn't buy a book for the kids with that series title, unless they asked me to do so. Not because it's 'obscene' in any way, and I do dislike censorship, but it just wouldn't spontaneously appeal. And I KNOW that my mother (who buys a lot of books for the kids) would avoid it in case it turned out to be porn, but that's just her generation.

Shitemum · 14/02/2010 18:10

Had a google and I think your bare bum gang would make a good cartoon strip or cartoon.
They sound quite 'Viz'.

Would it be worth doing one as a cartoon strip book to see if it takes off?

Shitemum · 14/02/2010 18:06

Has your publisher suggested changing the name of the gang or is the problem also the fart/poo content?