I'm going to have my say on the Walliams/children's book thing because I'm a publisher, and because this is something that really annoys me and has for a long time.

I get pitched several children's books a year based around football or sport, and I have to turn them all down.

Basically this market is completely impenetrable thanks to our own industry - publishers and sellers.

In short you can write an excellent children's series, get reasonable sales, work really hard on PR and promo, enjoy a bit of online traction and talk, and feel fairly happy.

Until, that is, a C-List or above celebrity decides to release a book that's not as good but now enjoys all the prominent shelf and table space in shops, takes up the very little review real estate availability, and is then the default prize for all competitions and giveaways

It's fundamentally broken on both sides, financially doped to suit celebrities, and great books either never see the light of day or never make it to past high three figures sales if they're lucky.

And it won't change any time soon in reality.

My advice is always to readers not writers.

Look past the tables and eye-level shelves, try something different, support writers who write books your children really enjoy, and tell people about them. Lots of people if possible, in any medium you can.

If your kid likes David Walliams books, fine, they are reading, this is a good thing, but try and find something else too written by someone you've never heard of.

There is so much great stuff out there that just... disappears.

TL:DR - The children's book market is broken until we start promoting (and buying) on merit.