Templar Publishing celebrate 10 Year Anniversary of Classics with Robert Ingpen

After 10 years and several beautiful editions of classic children's books, Templar Publishing are pleased to announce the release of the stunning new illustrated edition of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi. 

With over 70 unique illustrations, the original artwork is from multi-award winning illustrator Robert Ingpen. 

A classic tale, beautifully told, Pinocchio joins other popular titles in the list such as The Jungle Book, The Secret Garden and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

Over 130 years old, the story of a wooden puppet full of tricks and mischief who wants more than anything to be a real boy has transcended time to become a true classic in children’s literature. Turned into the hugely popular Disney film in 1940, there is also a live-action film adaptation in production from Tim Burton and Guillermo del Toro starring Robert Downey Jr, proving that Pinocchio is an enduring classic with ongoing appeal for all.

Robert Ingpen is a prolific writer and illustrator who has contributed to over 100 books. He has received the prestigious Hans Christian Andersen Medal for illustration, and has previously worked for the United Nations. He lives in Australia with his wife Angela and has four children and four grandchildren.

*WIN* To celebrate the release of this stunning new edition of Pinocchio and celebrate 10 years of Templar Classics, we are giving away 5 copies of the book. 

For your chance to win, answer the question below as a comment:

What does the word Pinocchio actually mean?

A. Pinenut/kernel

B. Wooden Puppet

C. Real Boy

D. Chocolate Pudding

Entries must be made by 5pm on Sunday 9th March - Good luck!

Click HERE to order Pinocchio now...

My week as an intern

This week, Templar's editorial team have been lucky enough to have the very lovely Katie with us. Below, she shares her thoughts.

My time as an intern at Templar has been short but sweet. During this week I have learned a lot about the world of publishing, which I’m sure will help me next year when I begin studying English Literature at university.

Everyone has been so lovely to me. I have been allowed to help with many different things including testing games and puzzles, proofreading ozalids and learning that there is more to editing than most people think – it’s not all correcting typos.

I would have loved to spend even longer here, as clearly there is so much more that I could learn; but unfortunately everything must come to an end and I am so grateful for what I have seen and done. Thank you, Templar Publishing!

The Shadow Lantern Book Launch: Much Deserved Thanks!

Teresa Flavin is on the blog today telling us all about the launch of her latest book, The Shadow Lantern.

On the eve of May Day, with spring finally in the air in Glasgow, forty-five guests and I assembled in Waterstones Argyle Street to celebrate Templar’s publication of The Shadow Lantern, the final adventure in The Blackhope Enigma trilogy.

After a busy day preparing chocolate cakes and chilling down the beverages, it was wonderful to stand in front of a table heaped with copies of The Shadow Lantern, a vase of flowers and a cool lantern-style planter brought by a friend. I was flanked by ‘Watson’, the skeletal star of the new book trailer who attracted quite a lot of attention throughout the evening!

Having held my two previous launches at studio spaces, it was a pleasant change to have this one hosted by Waterstones and to be surrounded by shelves of books. My lovely agent, Kathryn Ross of Fraser Ross Associates Literary Agency, spoke first, saying lots of things that were so nice my face went crimson. By the time it was my turn to speak, I had to rely on the notes I’d made on an index card to remember all the people I wanted to thank. Besides Kathryn and Waterstones, I thanked Templar Publishing and Candlewick Press for their continuing support and enthusiasm for my books. I really am pleased to work with both these fantastic publishers.

I also thanked The Scottish Book Trust and Creative Scotland for awarding me a four-week writer’s residency in Finland last spring. I wrote much of The Shadow Lantern while living on Suomenlinna, a stunning and historic fortress island that is a World Heritage site. I was fortunate to meet a number of Finnish authors, illustrators, artists and publishing professionals who enriched the experience even further.

One of the most enjoyable aspects of promoting my books has been making video trailers (watch the trailer at the bottom of the post) and building new websites. I had a lot of friends and colleagues to thank for their expertise and help with filming, editing, sound engineering and website development. My final thanks went to my dear husband, who has encouraged and supported me throughout my writing journey.

It was great fun to read a particularly dramatic excerpt from The Shadow Lantern. Some years ago, the idea of reading my work aloud to an audience would have made me very nervous, but now it is one of the chief pleasures of doing events. I also love signing books; it gives me a chance to speak with everyone, especially young readers, and thank them for choosing my books.

We ended the evening stuffed with chocolate cake and fizzy drinks. When the last guests had left, I could do nothing but smile; the trilogy was happily finished and launched. At that moment my mind turned to the future – and the excitement of writing the next book.

Follow Teresa on twitter: @TeresaFlavin

Lucy Serocold: Two weeks in Editorial

Hi, I’m Lucy, a Classics graduate from London. I’m hoping to get a job in publishing, so over the past two weeks the folk in Editorial have kindly allowed me to join them for proof-reading, researching and generally being helpful. I’m very much hoping they’ll let me come back again in the future (hint hint), which is why today I’ve been bribing them with pistachio & lime cupcakes…
(nb. the cupcakes were devine!)

I started off last week with a proof-reading test, using a list of the BSI marks to get familiar with them. This was pretty straightforward, but the second part of the test was much harder: a ‘style test’ to put the information from the test into a format suitable for 5-8 year olds. I found it surprisingly tricky to get the information across in a way they’d understand, as well as being engaging and fun. It’s quite a wide age range to bridge for reading level as well as level of understanding. All in all, a very useful insight into the writing side of the editor’s job, as Templar pride themselves on using their editors’ writing skills as well as honing others’ work. Katie’s example was much better than my attempt – practice obviously does make perfect!

Luckily, for most of the rest of my time I managed to stick to the editing side: I was given lots of proof-reading and tweaking text for books. Being a pedant, this was perfect as it’s the kind of thing I find weirdly enjoyable. One of my jobs was altering the text to make it suitable for different markets: I ‘Americanised’ (or should that be ‘AmericaniZed’?) Penguin in Peril, a gorgeous new picture book, which has recently come out in the UK. Highly recommended, and not just by me!

http://booksniffingpug.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/top-secret-sneak-peek-penguin-in-peril.html

http://paperrobinstudio.com/2013/03/07/book-of-the-month-penguin-in-peril-by-authorillustrator-helen-hancocks/

With Penguin being a picture book, there wasn’t too much to do to make it suitable for subway-riding, movie-watching Americans, but the following week I was presented with the daunting task of ‘Anglicising’ a whole YA novel! Thankfully a freelance proof-reader had already done the hard work of marking up the manuscript, but while putting her corrections into InDesign I discovered a fair few things which had been missed. This just proves that the more different pairs of eyes checking a book, the better. I’m pretty confident I got the majority of the changes such as ‘defense’, ‘-ize’ verbs and expressions like ‘in back’ (which to me just sounds ugly), and as a bonus, I got to read a cracking story as well.

My other major task was picture and sound research for various projects that are in the pipeline (the details of which are all under wraps for now: I even had to sign a confidentiality agreement!) Picture research and fact checking was fun, broadening my own knowledge of a huge range of topics. I particularly enjoyed the sound research, as I got to listen to all kinds of crazy wild animal noises while watching the work of the office going on round me – a great juxtaposition of worlds!

Another ongoing job for any intern is assessing the slush pile. It’s good fun as you get to see the range of writing that people consider publishable – some of it’s good, and some so bad it’s funny. Doing the rejections can be a bit sad, but enlivened by seeing how far some of the letters are going (people send stuff from Australia!), as well as making the discovery that ‘Universal Postal Union’ coupons don’t work at the post office any more. (Readers who are submitting work from abroad, take note!) Templar is usually quite strict about only sending letters to people who enclose a SAE, but we made exceptions for the UPU coupon people, since they really had tried to pay for the postage.

With the help of the lovely George (see his post below), I also categorised a large stock of books from the archive. These are all now sitting happily on some shelves outside the main studio, so that people can wander past and pick up a book for inspiration. It was fascinating to see the range that Templar publishes, as well as how some topics for children are timeless and keep coming up again and again. I also started a ‘reference’ section, with encyclopaedias and anthologies on topics ranging from Ancient Egypt and animals to pirates and poetry. We enjoyed displaying some of the books to attract attention, as well as assembling the concertina books to show off their structure.

Overall I’ve really enjoyed the past two weeks, and can’t believe how quickly the time’s gone by! I’ve loved getting to know everyone here and feeling like part of the team, and hope to return for another placement in the future…(I’ll bring more cake!)

My week with Templar

Neave, age 16, spent her work experience week here at Templar Towers. Here are her thoughts on how the week went...

I’m extremely grateful to Templar for giving me the opportunity to spend a week with them, I got a great insight to how publishing works in a relaxed environment. Thanks to all the lovely people who helped me throughout the week. Some of the tasks I was set took a couple of hours whilst others lasted up to two days. Some days were creative, such as making posters for events and others saw me writing reviews on unpublished books. Also, I spent a lot of my time sending books out to magazines, radio stations etc. for reviews. I even sent one to a Hollywood film producer! Exciting! It was fantastic to be able to muck in with even the most basic tasks!

I appreciate the time spent by the Marketing team and a variety of other people to help me settle in and make sure I had plenty to keep me busy. What I have most enjoyed during my time was being able to sit in on a publishers meeting to witness how a book comes to life: From the initial idea to final product.

 I am very fortunate to have been able to spend a week here and have gained valuable skills, which, I hope I will take me into my working life. I found that the office was a pressure free and friendly environment. Everyone I met made me feel at home and welcome, which helped me to relax throughout the week, so I’d like to thank you all for this. Special thanks to Jayne and Emma for providing me with great jobs and making me feel very much at home.

Thank you very much for all your hard work Neave! We wish you all the best for the future.

We're looking for an International Sales Intern!

International Sales Internship – Templar Publishing, Dorking based (expenses paid)

We are currently looking for an organised and enthusiastic intern with an interest in children’s books for our International Rights/UK Special Sales department.

The internship will include both International Sales and UK Special Sales administration support. Duties are as follows; helping to draw up and monitor contracts, checking invoices and purchase orders, organising drop shipments and tracking schedules and approvals at all stages of the publishing process. This is a great opportunity to see how an international co-edition team works! The internship may also offer the opportunity to assist with customer presentations in the UK depending on timing.

The internship would be for a period of three months starting mid/end of January.

We can offer travel expenses of up to £15 per day and a small amount of subsistence. If you’d like to apply for the position, please email a covering letter and your CV to helen.binns@templarco.co.uk with the subject heading: International Sales Intern.

Deadline for applications: Friday 18th January

Templar is on the lookout for an intern!

Templar is delighted to be able to offer a six-week internship in our busy editorial department, starting in early January.

Working in editorial is exciting and varied – whilst here you’d be undertaking project work such as picture research and proofreading, as well as helping us go all out in preparation for the most important event in the children’s publishing calendar: the Bologna Book Fair. We're also going to be looking for help reading submissions and creating our autumn/winter catalogue. So if you have a passion for children’s books and a keen eye for typos, please do get in touch!

We can offer travel expenses of up to £15 per day and a small amount of subsistence. If you’d like to apply for the position, please send a covering letter and your CV to liza.miller@templarco.co.uk with the subject heading ‘Editorial internship’.

Deadline for application: 21st December 2012