A Life… in Children’s Books
By Dianne Bates

Being an Author
For the past 45 years I’ve been involved in the children’s literature industry as an author, book reviewer, magazine editor, conference organiser, CBCA sub-branch founding President, and bookseller – so I’ve noticed many changes in that time.

When I first started writing for children, in the late 1970s, I wrote on a non-electric typewriter (making carbon copies!)  I posted manuscripts and within a short time, publishers wrote back acknowledging their receipt. Publishers usually phoned soon with news of an acceptance. And, if they rejected a manuscript, they always sent a letter within a few weeks.

Nowadays when authors send manuscripts electronically there is never acknowledgement of receipt: if a manuscript is accepted, it takes months, and if it’s rejected, it’s a case of no news is the news. It’s no wonder then that authors make multiple submissions of each manuscript, and who can blame them!

Incidentally, numerous publishers these days don’t rely on the traditional ‘slush pile’: instead, they attend writers’ festivals where they listen to ‘pitches’, inviting those authors whose work interests them to submit their work.

Penguin Books, publisher of my first two Puffin titles, organised wide publicity as well as book launches. Back in those ‘good old days’, publicists conducted author tours, something that doesn’t happen today. These days the author is expected to promote their books through self-organised book launches and extensive social media: publishers’ publicists mostly promote titles through organising book reviews and that’s about it.

About Kids Books
One way in which I learned so much more about publishing was to establish About Kids Books, a children’s book imprint. In 2016 I explored the world of book design, editing, proof-reading, book cover and internal illustration, and printing, at times finding it all overwhelming. The first title was a middle-grade novel, All of Us Together, by my award-winning author husband, Bill Condon. Happily, the book sold to several book clubs, including Australian Standing Orders, went into reprint, and reaped a profit.

In 2025 About Kids Books published a chapter book, Terry Fide and the Bakery Ghost by Jeanette Stampone. It is too early to see if it will be a publishing success.

Buzz Words Magazine
Living in regional NSW with little face-to-face contact with others in the industry, I founded Buzz Words, an online subscriber magazine for those in the Australian children’s book industry.  Almost twenty years later, I still compile the magazine twice monthly.

Each issue features three interviews with people in the industry, profiles Australian children’s book publishers, offers marketing and other opportunities such as festivals, resources and industry ‘secrets’, and includes book blurbs, and extracts. There is a classifieds’ section and up-to-date book industry news. Buzz Words offers numerous opportunities for subscribers to get published in the magazine.

Buzz Words also has a children’s review website www.buzzwordsmagazine.com for which we have ten keen reviewers.

As discussed, I’ve seen many changes in the children’s publishing industry in Australia, and have been heavily involved in the industry myself in numerous capacities, but one thing that hasn’t changed over the years is my passion for creating, and advocating for, Australian children’s literature.

Copies of the Australian children’s books that I have created, reviewed, and helped promote over the years, can be found on the shelves at the National Centre for Australian Children’s Literature.

Dianne (Di) Bates has published 140+ books mostly for young readers. Some have won national and state literary awards including two Australian children’s book choice awards (KOALA and WAYRBA). Other books have sold overseas and in translation. Di has received Grants and Fellowships from the Literature Board of the Australia Council and toured for the National Book Council. She worked on the editorial team of the NSW Department of Education School Magazine, was co-editor of a national children’s magazine, Puffinalia (Penguin Books) and editor of another national children’s magazine, Little Ears.

In 2008, Di was awarded The Lady Cutler Award for distinguished services to children’s Literature. In 2014, she founded the Australian Children’s Poetry blog http://wwww.australianchildrenspoetry.com.au

See also:
NCACL Catalogue entries for Dianne Bates
Writing for Children: ABOUT DI BATES
Dianne (Di) Bates | Australian Children’s Poetry

Posted by: NCACL | Published: 30 Jul 2025