Who are you?
Pie Corbett – I’m a freelance educational consultant, storyteller and poet.

Do you have a ‘day job’?
Since 2000, I have been self-employed. I was previously a head teacher, college lecturer and inspector. I packed in the day job because being an inspector was becoming increasingly bureaucratic, and I knew that there were poems to be written and stories to be told.

I earn some of my income from talking at conferences, working with education authorities or clusters of schools. Research and development projects are also an important part of keeping in touch with schools and developing new ideas. The writing is interwoven with the in-service and development work.

The poems and stories sometimes get written alongside children but also when I am travelling. I love writing on trains. Most of my writing gets done very late at night.

What do you write?
Educational resources, and children’s poetry and stories. I also edit anthologies. Altogether I’ve written and edited over 250 books.

What prompted you to start writing?
As a child reading and writing were a way to escape into another world. It is such a habit that I don’t think I will ever stop writing creatively.

Where have you been published?
I have been published by all the major publishers. The main publisher for my poetry is Macmillan Children’s Books. I have also published a vast number of articles in teacher magazines such as Junior Education and for a while I did a weekly column for the Times Educational Supplement.

What are the most surprising aspects of writing in your field?
I guess every author would say this – but I never know what is going to sell. Sometimes, you can write a book that you absolutely love and it sells very little. Other times, I have knocked off a book with perhaps not as much attention as it deserved and it sells well. Word of mouth is hugely powerful.

To what extent have digital developments changed the market for your writing?
You can use the internet to boost sales through Twitter, Facebook and by maintaining a lively blog. I think that these media have introduced a more personal element into publishing in that readers can have more of a relationship with their favourite authors.

The downside of the internet is that people feel that they can take poems or articles and just pass them around the web – without realising that someone wrote them and should therefore be paid for their use.

Over the last ten years, I have written more for computer and classroom use through the interactive whiteboard. It is an interesting form of writing because you have to think in a different way – it is much more visual and auditory as well as being less chronological. You have to imagine the experience of viewing the screen whilst you are writing.

How did you hear about ALCS?
ALCS contacted me to say that they had some money collected from photocopying for me and I rapidly signed up!

For what kinds of uses of your work do you receive ALCS income?
Most of the income comes from either schools or training colleges photocopying materials or articles. My stories and poems seem to be photocopied all the time.

How important are your ALCS payments in terms of your overall income?
You cannot predict how much you will earn through ALCS so I never count on it. Then if money comes along, it is a nice surprise. Over the years, the ALCS cheques have been very welcome. ALCS is the key institution that upholds my rights as an author in a tangible manner.

What does the future hold for your area of writing?
It will be interesting to see how much things like phone applications (known as apps), iPads and the Kindle begin to influence sales. I gather that anyone can put up a book for sale on the Kindle, completely bypassing publishers. I envisage a time when schools no longer use exercise books but everyone has the equivalent of a Kindle that has everything on it.

Which fellow living writer do you most admire and why?
Michael Morpurgo has been writing fine stories for many years. There are many good children’s authors but no one else who gives so much of his energy to promoting reading and stories in such a powerful way. I admire that.

Jade Scully works in the Communications Department at ALCS.

 

ALCS currently holds over £600,000 in undistributed royalties in the children’s and educational sector. Please tell your writer friends about us as we could be holding money for them. Search for royalties at www.alcs.co.uk

You can also see our page Can you introduce us to…?, for a list of authors with whom we’ve been trying to get in touch. If you can help, we would be delighted to hear from you.

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