In Conversation ... with Georgie Donaghey

  

In Conversation with 

Georgie Donaghey

Tell us about your most recent publication.

This year Creative Kids Tales celebrates ten wonderful years in the children’s writing industry. https://www.creativekidstales.com.au 

 

Our initial goal was simple.

• Assist emerging authors and illustrators on their publication journey.
• Give them a voice and a place to display their work.
• Provide one site that contains the tools and services to assist them.
• Share stories and advice from well-known industry names.
• Publish a collection of CKT members stories.
• Hold a Festival.

I’m pleased to say we achieved those goals and more. 

Here are some of our highlights from the last ten years. 

• We’ve promoted over 500 authors and illustrators through our website.
• We’ve published over 100 authors and illustrators in our anthologies.
• We branched out into radio via The Author’s Shelf.
• We’ve hosted two writer’s festivals that have seen four up, and coming authors receive traditional publishing contracts. 
• We provide an Author Personal Training service.
• Manuscript Assessment service.
• Online Critique Group – many authors from this group, have secured multiple publishing contracts.
• For several years, we were the primary corporate sponsor of the KOALA Awards.
• We’ve interviewed over 100 prominent authors and illustrators.
• We’ve featured 21 key book industry organisations.
• Our YouTube channel is home to our Author’s Shelf interviews, including a few that didn’t make it to air. 
• We host various social media platforms for authors/illustrators to connect, share, and be inspired.
• We developed the INVEST the Write Way workshop, which provides detailed information and tools for a successful writing career. 
• We run workshops through the CKT Writing Academy. Our presenters include Jackie French, Jacquie Harvey, Susanne Gervay, Louise Park, Agent – Justine Barker, Jan Latta, Wendy Orr, Sue Whiting and Tracey Hawkins. We have more workshops to come in 2021. 
• We run writing competitions.
• We ran the CKT Kids Book Club, which provided kids with free books to enjoy and review.
• We featured Australian publishers via our Publishers in Focus series.
• We’ve supported Books in Homes and Love2Read.
• We are listed on the National Library’s Pandora Archives.
• We’ve reviewed books and blogged.
• We donated thousands of dollars worth of books to hospital kids wards.
• In 2019 we launched the CKT Speakers' Agency.
• In 2021 we launched CKT Publishing. Our first title, Tortoise’s Home will be launched in 2021.
• Our site averages 400,000 - 500,000 hits per month from local and overseas visitors. 

On a personal note, I have met some amazing people and formed incredible friendships. 

What do you enjoy most about the writing community?

The friendships. The support. The hard work. The failures. 

The successes. The growth. 

What is so worthwhile about networking?

In our solitary profession, being able to connect with others is vital. We spend hundreds of hours glued to our keyboards. Networking with like-minded people is how we stay grounded and sane. Never pass up the opportunity to network with other authors. You never know what tasty morsel of information you might be passing up. Network – Learn – Grow.

Why are writing workshops so valuable?

You will not get anywhere in this industry if you expect it to be handed to you. You need to earn your stripes. It doesn’t matter whether you are just beginning or further down the road on your creative journey, there is always something to learn. It’s good to invest in workshops, courses, festivals, and opportunities to learn skills to help enhance your writing.

Top tip/s for promotion?

Never give up. Writing, promoting, marketing, networking are all full-time jobs. You have to juggle them all with equal precision. Everything you have been doing up until receiving that contract has been practice. Once you sign on the dotted line is when the real work begins.

Have you ever had a fan moment and met somebody famous? Tell us about it?

Authors and Illustrators are my rock stars. I have been fortunate to meet many prominent authors, both international and local.

One of my favourite ‘meets’ would be when Andy Griffiths introduced me to Jeff Kinney (Diary of a Wimpy Kid). Andy shared with Jeff about Creative Kids Tales and how it had been instrumental in helping so many from the Australian children’s writing industry. I was dumbfounded to hear Andy and Jeff talking about my little website. That was definitely a goosebumps moment.

Probably an equal second would be meeting international author James Patterson at a cocktail party hosted by Penguin House. James and I talked about Creative Kids Tales and how to help reluctant readers. 

My meet the ‘Queen’ moment was meeting the AMAZING international best-selling author and Newbery Medal winner, Kate DiCamillo. Walker Books had invited me to meet Kate when she visited Sydney in 2017. The two Walker reps were busy chatting among themselves, so Kate and I got to spend 95 glorious minutes talking one-to-one over coffee about our writing insecurities. Yes, despite her successes, she still has them. We discussed Creative Kids Tales and our book babies. Kate was generous, relatable and absolutely gorgeous. Oh, and my introduction to Kate was ‘Hi, I'm Georgie. I'm a big fan and an idiot.’ I’d left my well-researched questions and notes back on my desk. The words just blurted out, and Kate laughed. As I said, she was gorgeous.

Working with Jackie French and bringing together a range of workshops has been beyond my wildest dreams. We are working on another project we look forward to sharing soon.

What writing resources would you recommend?

Creative Kids Tales 😊

CKT Speakers Agency 😊

There are a number of online resources I refer to – BuzzWords, Just Write for Kids, and Pass It On are the ones that come to mind.

Oh, did I mention Creative Kids Tales 😊 CKT has everything you need to help you on your journey to publication and enjoy a long successful author career.

How can we learn more about you? 

   

  

   

  

Thank you for joining In Conversation this week. Remember to always 

Dream Big ... Read Often.