Nothing wonky about these royalties

The author of a famous children’s story is hoping he will be able to pay off his house when he gets the royalties from the book’s meteoric return to fame.

The Wonky Donkey, a book that uses increasingly silly adjectives to tell the tale of the three-legged ‘‘honky-tonky, winky, wonky donkey’’, was first published by Craig Smith nine years ago and was a bestseller in New Zealand and Australia.

But the book has now experienced a second wind of epic proportions after a Youtube clip of Scottish grandmother Janice Clark reading it to her grandson Archer a few months ago got more than 100 million views on Youtube.

The publicity sent international orders through the roof with a reprint of 60,000 books sold out almost immediately.

‘‘I won’t see the royalties for six months,’’ said Smith, 46, who has been in Taranaki this week to play a number of shows booked before Wonky’s resurgence.

‘‘It might change things when they come through. I might be able to pay my house off.’’

But for Smith it’s not about the money – he’s already in his ‘‘happy space’’ writing and performing.

‘‘This is what I do for a living.’’

Before Clark’s Youtube clip, Smith had been managing the online orders himself and signing 5-10 copies a week.

But when Wonky became an internet sensation, Smith’s website still gave the option of ordering a signed copy – leaving him with 3000 books to sign.

‘‘I signed 2300 the first day; that was over an eight-hour period. There was a guy putting them in front of me. That was pretty intense.’’

He estimates the book has now sold close to 800,000 copies in the US alone. He said the book crosses barriers and reaches kids whether they like music and dancing, like being read to, or like reading it for themselves.

He comes back to Taranaki regularly and one of his characters, Willbee the Bumblebee, also has a special connection – Willbee, who wears a black and yellow jersey, was based on former Taranaki Bulls lock Paul Tito.

‘‘If you look really closely on one of Willbee’s images it’s got ‘Go the Naki’ written on it in very, very tiny letters.’’

ANDY JACKSON/STUFF Author Craig Smith has a Scottish granny called Janice to thank for resurgence in popularity of his most well known book The Wonky Donkey.