Profile Fiona Watt


Usborne editorial director Fiona Wat is one of the biggest-selling authors since records began and she’s probably the most ubiquitous author you’ve never heard of. But, as she tells Tom Tivnan, that’s exactly how she likes it— and a veil of anonymit has its advantages when it comes to book-fair browsing, too...


Watt’s up L


Usborne, are an integral part of the process. For those not in the know, That’s Not My... is an Usborne “touchy-feely” range of board books, with patches of fabric or felt that children feel and then outline why that can’t be part of the subject of the book. “It’s a deceptively simple formula,” Wat says. “Its success is probably because it’s a tactile and sensory experience, but there is also a comfortable rhythm to the repetition of the words. It is a sort of subtle language learning.” Incidentally, That’s Not My... almost did not see the light of day.{Peter Usborne originally tried to squash the idea saying he did not want to publish a children’s book with a negative in the title. “‘Over my dead body,’ is what he said,” Wat laughs. “[Tyler] and I persevered and even- tually brought him around.” Good thing: collectively, the series has shiſted around 20 million units globally.


Staying the course Wat originally set out to be a teacher, geting a bache- lor’s degree in education, art and design from the Univer-


ET’S FLASHBACK TO the old Nibbies book awards, 2008. Fiona Wat is up for the Children’s Book of the Year with That’s Not My Penguin, against an A-list of UK kids’ authors: Michael Morpurgo, Jacqueline Wilson, Francesca Simon and, um, Katie Price and her unforgetable classic My Pony Care Book. “It was a really glam event,” Wat says. “But I did have


to laugh, as before the actual ceremony we had to go to this red carpet and reception to meet all the press and other authors—and not one person knew who I was.” This perhaps encapsulates Wat’s hybrid career as an author cum Usborne editorial director. She flies well below the radar—except to the millions of parents who buy her books—yet she is one of the bestselling authors in UK children’s publishing history, having earned £57.4m through the tills during the BookScan era—a sum only Wilson, Julia Donaldson and J K Rowling have topped (although David Walliams, currently on £55.5m, will likely surpass Wat this year). She is responsible for writing and helping to create some of the cornerstones of the Usborne business, such as the That’s Not My... board book series and the Sticker Dolly Dressing range. Yet Wat insists she is completely comfortable being out of the limelight. In fact, she admits to being slightly ill at ease at the atention (and being interviewed). She explains: “I don’t do publicit. I don’t really need it. But, as a result, I know some people think ‘Fiona Wat’ is a made up name, like [Rainbow Magic collective pseudo- nym] Daisy Meadows. But essentially I’m part of a collab- oration. Sometimes I have a difficult time saying that these are my books. My name goes on some of my titles [as an author], but not all. What we do is just as much about the design, the illustration, the production...” Wat uses That’s Not My... as an example. She has worked with designer Non Taylor and illustrator Rachel Wells since the series launched in 1999 (the 50th in the range, That’s Not My Unicorn, is out in July). Wat also says Usborne art director Mary Cartwright, “whose name is not on many of our books, but is crucial to what we do”, along with publishing director Jenny Tyler, who has been at the company almost as long as founder Peter


12


10.6m


copies of Watt’s books sold through Nielsen BookScan UK since records began in 1998


£57.4m


total value of sales of Watt’s books


through BookScan UK since records began


Fourth


biggest-selling UK children’s author since BookScan UK records began


150


of Watt’s titles have earned more than £100,000 in sales through the TCM


24th March 2017


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