Today on Middle Grade Mavens we chat with Leesa Lambert of The Little Bookroom Carlton Victoria and Marisa Pintado of Hardie Grant Egmont, about the changing face of the children's book selling and publishing industry during Covid 19.

The Little Bookroom recommendation quiz link:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeiSQ2stZ5U-iNwsjB1t2veU9o-dqAVetdiMHKnM41o6XDJOw/viewform

Hardie Grant Egmont links:

https://www.hardiegrant.com/au/egmont

Ampersand Prize: https://www.hardiegrant.com/au/egmont/ampersand-prize

Sally Rippin Holiday Program: https://www.sallyrippin.com/?fbclid=IwAR3ULFONSwvSIuNzJA931zwFBrlhJ4PY6g_cKYyDlcmiLt1UkimuPlofeoI

Want to buy this book. Here's the information you will need

Title: Billy B Brown: The Grumpy Neighbour

Author: Sally Rippin

ISBN:  9781760501907

Release Date: 1 April 2020

Title: Billy B Brown: The Hat Parade

Author: Sally Rippin

ISBN:  9781760504984

Release Date: 1 April 2020

Title: Billy B Brown: The Honey Bees

Author: Sally Rippin

ISBN: 9781760504991

Release Date: 1 April 2020

Title: Little Legends: Taking Sides

Author: Nicole Hayes, Adrian Beck

Illustrator: James Hart

ISBN: 9781760505431

Release Date: 1 June 2020

Title: Little Legends: Ozzy Rules

Author: Nicole Hayes, Adrian Beck

Illustrated: James Hart

ISBN: 9781760505424

Release Date: 1 April 2020

Title: When It Drops

Author: Alex Dyson

ISBN: 9781760505042

Release Date: 1 May 2020

Title: Real Pigeons: Peck Punches

Author:  Andrew McDonald

Illustrator: Ben Wood

ISBN: 9781760502911

Release Date: 1 May 2020

If you’ve been listening to our show in 2020, you’ll know we did an #MiddleGradeMavensAskTheEditor series, to prepare you for conferences like Kidlitvic and CYA. The good news is these conferences aren’t cancelled due to the outbreak of Corona Virus.

Kidlitvic is merely postponed to November, and CYA is forging ahead in July going totally online.

In the space of about a month, the world has dramatically changed. Terms like essential services are spoken about on a daily basis and the world has been asked to stay at home.

We contemplated this long and hard when it comes to books, after all, we are all about books. The thing is, we consider books to be an essential services. Thankfully, we are pleased to discover many folks agree. We’ve opened our social media platform doors to authors and illustrators that have cancelled their book launches, offering to promote them the best way we know how, by showing you wonderful book covers and displaying fantastic book blurbs. Creators keep sending us those requests to [email protected]

We aren’t the only ones innovating obviously. Book shops are no longer open to the public but delivering door to door, and libraries are following suit by changing their services models to suit this terrifying and turbulent time.

When talking about books however, we can’t forget about the book makers.

We asked a bookseller and two publishers a few questions about how things are changing during Covid19 and guess what, they agreed. So sit back and have a listen to our bonus episode on how the kids book industry is changing world we live in.