Thursday, February 16, 2012

Current Scratch: Local Author Opportunities, Business Talk

Howdy, folks!  Another great week to create children's books! Yay for the rain!
 
Our Schmooze this month will fall on 2-29-12 at 10 a.m at the College Station Barnes and Noble.  The topic is effective critiquing.

Also locally, sign up now! Free workshop on "Boy Books" March 24 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Andy Sherrod will be our workshop leader on March 24 for our SCBWI Saturday on "What Makes a Good 'Boy Book' and Why Should We Care?" Join us from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Arts Center, 2275 Dartmouth, College Station, Texas. Bring your own lunch. The event is free, but seating is limited, so we do need to know how many people plan to come. Please contact me at lizBmertz@gmail.com to sign up.

We have an Annual Poetry Contest for local 6th, 7th, and 8th Graders.  If you are interested, on the online blog, fill out the form in the left sidebar.
 
Also note the upcoming Austin SCBWI Conference in February and the upcoming Houston SCBWI Conference  in March.
 
If you want to join a critique group use our handy form found in the online sidebar on the left.
 
Check out our very own Sherry Garland's new book VOICES OF THE DUSTBOWL. Here is a link to the Pelican Publishing website to check it out.  Here is a peek at the cover:
 

Also consider voting for Molly Blaisdell's THE BIG FUZZY COAT, a finalist in the MeeGenius! Author Challenge, a contest on Facebook.  Vote for her book here:
 
 
Local Author Opportunites
 
On Friday, February 24th, the 6th grade GT classes at Brenham Middle School will host the 2012 Authors and Poets Luncheon at the Giddings Stone Mansion in Brenham, Texas.  It is a great experience for the students to meet local authors.  The event starts at 11:30 with a luncheon catered by the parents and then a brief talk by each author (5-10 minutes) on what they are working on/their writing process/inspiration, etc.  The event wraps up around 2:00.  Come out and enjoy a day in Washington County! Please contact April Albrecht if you are able to attend. aalbrecht@brenhamisd.net
 
Also, Giddings Public Library & Cultural Center and the Giddings Area Chamber of Commerce invite all published Texas authors to submit a book for consideration in their upcoming 7th Annual Texas Word Wranglers Festival on Friday, September 14, 2012.  For more information: contact Minnie Simmang by email at minnie@simmang.com> or  meks@gvec.net.  
 
Business Talk
 
 
You might be wondering how does Amazon fit into the new publishing paradigm. It's reported that Barnes and Noble and Books-a-Million refuse to shelve the Amazon books. Yep, there some tussling going on out there. Here are some thoughts over at the Behler blog.  
 
Here's another article over at PW: How to Navigate a Changing Business? Children's Agents Shed Some Light 
The views expressed here are my own, and not necessarily those of the SCBWI.

Friday, February 10, 2012

Current Scratch: The Revolution, Agent Resources, Free, Opportunity


Howdy, folks!  Another great week to create children's books!
Our Schmooze this month will fall on 2-29-12 at 10 a.m at the College Station Barnes and Noble.  The topic is effective critiquing.

Also locally, sign up now! Free workshop on "Boy Books" March 24 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Andy Sherrod will be our workshop leader on March 24 for our SCBWI Saturday on "What Makes a Good 'Boy Book' and Why Should We Care?" Join us from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Arts Center, 2275 Dartmouth, College Station, Texas. Bring your own lunch. The event is free, but seating is limited, so we do need to know how many people plan to come. Please contact me at lizBmertz@gmail.com to sign up.

We have an Annual Poetry Contest for local 6th, 7th, and 8th Graders.  If you are interested, fill out the form in the left sidebar.
Also note the upcoming Austin SCBWI Conference in February and the upcoming Houston SCBWI Conference  in March.
If you want to join a critique group use our handy form found in the sidebar to your left
.  
Local Authors is in the news. 
Kathy Whitehead's Art From her Heart  is featured at  and http://www.nyhistory.org/

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Current Scratch: ALA Youth Media Awards, Agent Info, Popular Agencies

Howdy, folks! Yay for the glorious rain. I hope that's got you holed up writing and illustrating!
 
Our Schmooze this month will fall on 2-29-12 at 10 a.m at the College Station Barnes and Noble.  The topic is effective critiquing.
 
Also locally, sign up now! Free workshop on "Boy Books" March 24 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Andy Sherrod will be our workshop leader on March 24 for our SCBWI Saturday on "What Makes a Good 'Boy Book' and Why Should We Care?" Join us from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Arts Center, 2275 Dartmouth, College Station, Texas. Bring your own lunch.

The event is free, but seating is limited, so we do need to know how many people plan to come. Please contact me at lizBmertz@gmail.com to sign up.

We have an Annual Poetry Contest for local 6th, 7th, and 8th Graders.  If you have contact information of someone who is interested in participating in this yearly event, please email me.

Also note the upcoming Austin SCBWI Conference in February and the upcoming Houston SCBWI Conference  in March.
 
If you want to join a critique group use our handy form to your left on the screen.  
 
Finally, noteworthy, Molly Blaisdell is finalist in a nationwide publishing Facebook contest with a New York digital publisher MeeGenius!.  Winning brings a publishing contract,  an e-library of books for Sul Ross Elementary in Bryan, and a $1500 cash prize.   Please give her e-picture book THE BIG FUZZY COAT a look, and if you like, give it a vote.  Feel free to pass this on to whomever you wish.  Here is the link: http://www.meegenius.com/challenge/book/6068/the-big-fuzzy-coat-by-molly-blaisdell/.
 
ALA Youth Media Awards
 
 
Agent Resources
 
Are you looking for an agent? Here are some helpful resources to guide you on your journey. 
 
The Association of Author Representatives  --  a professional organization of literary agents with a canon of ethics that all member adhere to. You might want to read that canon of ethics on the site.  Familiarizing yourself with agent ethics is a smart move.
Popular Agent Databases.
QueryTracker  - Agent Database
 AgentQuery  - Agent Database
Popular Blogs and Websites:
 Chuck Sambuchino’s Guide to Literary Agents Blog – great resource especially for current report of new agents.
Casey L. McCormick – Literary Rambles, an excellent agent resource for children’s authors. Many, many, helpful interviews from various children’s book agents – all genres are represented.
guidetoliteraryagents.com/blog/ – informative blog with agent news.

http://cynthialeitichsmith.blogspot.com/  offers numerous interviews with agents. 
http://www.agentsavant.com/ Especially if you want to know about literary agents and digital publishing.
http://misssnarksfirstvictim.blogspot.com/ This blog is a great place to connect with agents.
To get you started, check out these worthy agencies
Here are some well known Literary Agencies that represent children’s books.  Just a starting place, folks. There are way more agencies out there.
               
Erin Murphy Literary Agency                      
 
The views expressed here are my own, and not necessarily those of the SCBWI.