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

 

The Newbery? The Printz? The Caldecott?  Follow this link to the winners of the 2012 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:

http://www.novelnovice.com/ -- here is a link to an excellent sample query letter.

 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.

www.nathanbransford.com A great article about how to find a literary agent offered by author Nathan Bransford. Check out the forums on his site for networking too.

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.

               

Writers House

Andrea Brown Literary Agency

Erin Murphy Literary Agency                      

Nancy Coffey Literary Agency   

Greenhouse Literary Agency

Adams Literary

Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency

Word Serve Literary Agency

 

The views expressed here are my own, and not necessarily those of the SCBWI.

Current Scratch: Awards, YA, Smiles

Howdy, folks! I hope you are enjoying our way early spring weather. We meet on  Jan. 25,  2012 at the College Station Barnes and Noble at 9:30  for critique (bring copies) and 10 AM for the Schmooze.  Molly Blaisdell will be speaking: Do You Need an Agent? How Do You Snag One?

Also locally:

The Children's Literature Book Club meets on the last Thursday, January 26th, at 4:30 pm in the Arts Council board room. Our book to read this month is Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson.

 

Also note the upcoming Austin SCBWI Conference in February and the upcoming Houston SCBWI Conference  in March.

 

Awards

 

Here's the lists of this year's children's finalists for the Mystery Writer's of America's 2012 Edgar Awards:

 

Best Juvenile: Horton Halfpott by Tom Angleberger (Abrams/Amulet); It Happened on a Train by Mac Barnett (Simon & Schuster); Vanished by Sheela Chari (Disney-Hyperion); Icefall by Matthew J. Kirby (Scholastic Press); The Wizard of Dark Street by Shawn Thomas Odyssey (Egmont USA).

 

Best Young Adult: Shelter by Harlan Coben (Putnam); The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson (Putnam); The Silence of Murder by Dandi Daley Mackall (Knopf); The Girl Is Murder by Kathryn Miller Haines (Roaring Brook); Kill You Last by Todd Strasser (Egmont USA).

 

YA

 

Here's an interesting article in PW called "YA Comes of Age," discussing the juggernaut status YA has in today's publishing climate.

 

Are you a writer of young adult novels?  You might enjoy checking out this blog: YA Highway -- a road worth traveling if you are interested in writing for young adults.  This blog is an immense resource for every aspect of YA fiction.

Smiles

Here is the real scoop on how books are created from Annie Burrows author of the Ivy and Bean series. 

Here is a blog post: "Eat the Butt Lies That Can Posion our Writing Career." This one might make you smile and think. 

The views expressed here are my own, and not necessarily those of the SCBWI.

Current Scratch: Awards, Revolution, Craft

Howdy, folks! I hope you have made your new year's resolutions!  Maybe working on marketing was one of them.  We meet on  Jan. 25,  2012 at the College Station Barnes and Noble at 9:30  for critique (bring copies) and 10 AM for the Schmooze.  Molly Blaisdell will be speaking: Do You Need an Agent? How Do You Snag One?

Also locally:

The Children's Literature Book Club meets on the last Thursday, January 26th, at 4:30 pm in the Arts Council board room. Our book to read this month is Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson.

Awards:

Bank Street

The Bankstreet College of Education 2012 Irma Black Award semifinalists have been announced. This award is given by children for the best picture book of the year. 
http://www.bnkst.edu/irmablack/semifinalists-2012/

Mark you calendars for this one: The American Library Association's Youth Media Awards, including ALSC's Newbery and Caldecott awards, will be announced at a press conference on Monday, January 23, 2012, beginning at 7:45 a.m. Central time, in Dallas.

The Revolution

An interesting article from Kathleen Duey on her blog writerwriterwriter about the revolution in publishing.

Here is an article about e-publishing about the new self-publishing platform for the iBook.   

Here is an article leaked from the Hachette Book Group that explains the relevancy of publishers.This is found in Digital Book World.

Traditional publishers are diving into self-publishing in various ways. Self-publishing fee-based services are popping up all over. Here are two:  The first is  Book Country. Here is the scoop from Agent Savant's blog: "Book Country, the free online writing community launched by Penguin last Spring, is now offering a Kindle-like self-pub option for DIY authors." Another version of traditional publishing partnering with self-publishing is WestBow Press, a self-publishing division of Thomas Nelson. 

Wondering about eBook readers? Here is an article in PW of the Nook tablet vs the Kindle Fire. 

Craft

A great article from Darcy Pattison about 12 ways to start your novel by categorizing famous first lines. Good stuff.

Twenty-five things you should really know about voice. Check out this blog post on TerribleMinds.

A list to help you on your revision journey.  Add what your story lacks.  Check out this blog post at The Editor's Blog.

The views expressed here are my own, and not necessarily those of the SCBWI.

Current Scratch: 2011 News, KathiVision, Encouragement, Hero's Journey, Accolades, Sales

Howdy folks, I hope you have made your new year's resolutions!  Maybe working on marketing was on of them.  We meet on  Jan. 25  2012 at the College Station Barnes and Noble at 9:30  for critique (bring copies) and 10 AM for the Schmooze.  Molly Blaisdell will be speaking: Do You Need an Agent? How Do You Snag One?

Also locally:

The Children's Literature Book Club meets on the last Thursday, January 26th, at 4:30 pm in the Arts Council board room. Our book to read this month is Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson.

2011 News

Check out Sherry Garland's new blog post on Into the Woods We Go:  Where Do Ideas Come From? , December 31, 2011. 

Molly Blaisdell's book REMBRANDT AND THE BOY WHO DREW DOGS was featured back in the summer in the NGAKids 2011 Summer Scoop.

KathiVision (I so dub it!)

Check out Kathi Appelt's Youtube Channel for some fun video clips. Love Eric Rohmann and BONE DOG.

Encouragement

From Hilary Wagner, an encouraging blog post to keep you going in the face of rejections.   

Hero's Journey

Here, from The Writer's Journey,  the Hero's Journey with charts.

Accolades

A new national ambassador of Children's Literature is named: Walter Dean Myers. Read about in the NY Times.

NSK Neustadt Prize for Children's Literature....Do you know what this is?  This award is intended to enhance the quality of children's literature by promoting writing that contributes to the quality of their lives. 

Each NSK Neustadt jury narrows to areas of children's and young-adult literature principally through the author nominations it brings forward. All nominations  come from the jury members. What do you win?  A check for $25,000, a silver medallion, and a certificate is presented to the laureate at a public ceremony at The University of Oklahoma every other year in odd-numbered years. The 2011 winner is Virginia  Euwer Wolff. Read about it here.

Sales

A blog post on the importance of pre-sales. Something to know.

The views expressed here are my own, and not necessarily those of the SCBWI.

Current Scratch: Best, Hot, Promote!, The Revolution

Howdy folks, I bet everyone is busy and barely has time to breathe. Still, children's books are our passion. That's so important! Take time to create good books in the midst of the buzz. We don't have a meeting until January.   We meet on  Jan. 25  2012 at the College Station Barnes and Noble at 9:30  for critique (bring copies) and 10 AM for the Schmooze.  Molly Blaisdell will be speaking: Do You Need an Agent? How Do You Snag One?

Here is an upcoming regional event:

SCBWI Events in Texas and Beyond, Austin,  http://www.austinscbwi.com/ Regional Conference: Something for Everyone
February 17-19, 2012 St. Edward‘s University
Base Rate is $150 Members/ $165 Non-members

Best

PW's best of 2011 is out. This seems like a hot list of books to me. You might find something to check out too.

Hot

Yes we want to write books to shoot out there. Here is an article on YA and Middle Grade trends in the LA Times that you may enjoy.

Here's the link to the New York Times Best Selling Chapter Books list,  just in case you need have a little reading time right now.

Here is the link to an essay contest at BookWish.org to win a free YA  critique from a publishing expert. This might also open your eyes to the world in a much wider way.

Here is a link to a contest at Query Tracker for children's authors looking for an agent.

Promote!

Do you have a book out. Here is a list of ten non-traditional ways to promote your book.

The Revolution

Here is a thoughtful post from Kathlenn Duey at WriteWriteWriter about the revolution going on in publishing.

Another thoughtful post about the Revolution from Anne R. Allen's Blog and going with traditional publishing.

The views expressed here are my own, and not necessarily those of the SCBWI.

Today's Scratch: Craft, Query, Fun

Howdy, folks! Thought I'd toss a little scratch before Thanksgiving.

The conference was most excellent. Yay to our RA Liz Mertz and her assistant RA Jacqueline Gramann. What a wonderful event! I hope things are buzzing for you from all that inspiration.

We have one more event for the year-end.  Our Holiday Gathering is set for Nov. 30 at 5:30 p.m. in The Village Cafe, 210 W. 26th Street, Bryan, TX.  Come on for good conversation.  

CRAFT

Need some plot support here are 27 plot points to get you on the road to creating a solid novel.  A free master class on plotting from plot whisperer Martha Anderson.. Totally check this out. It is time well spent. 

QUERY

Here is some very straight forward querying advice if you need a little more to get that query sparkling.

Check out the new agent over at DMLA. Here is an interview article  of Katie Shea at Writer Unboxed.

FOR FUN

I just watched the "THE BOOK JOB",  a Simpson episode, guest starring Neil Gaiman (he totally has a Newbery Medal), where Homer and the gang form a team to create a YA phenom book series. It's quite hysterical. Here is an article where Neil discusses his experience.  Look around at streaming sites and catch this Simpsons episode. You will laugh and nod.  Good stuff.

The views expressed here are my own, and not necessarily those of the SCBWI.

Current Scratch: Nanowrimo, Connect, Revolution

Howdy, folks!  I know this weather is begging you to get outside, but take time to work on your projects. Our conference is also coming up folks.  Here is the link. Sign up!  It's going to be fab.  Here's the scoop:

Connections & Craft Conference! Speaker are fab -- Author Kathi Appelt, Author/Illustrator Brian Floca, author Doris Fisher, author Molly Blasidell, editor Claudia Gabel of Katherine Tegen Books and agent Elena Mechlin of Pippin Properties.

November 12, 2011 A&M United Methodist Church
417 University Drive
College Station, TX 77840

SCBWI Members! Alert! Registration for the Winter 2012 Conference is Open!

More local events:

November 18th: CLBC member Janet Fox will be at the CS Barnes & Noble to discuss her books and writing from 4 to 6 PM.

November 30th: SCBWI BV Holiday Gathering at The Village Cafe at 5:30 PM.

January 26th in 2012: the next CLBC (ChildLitbookclub) meeting. Book: Bridge Over Terabithia. The discussion leader will be Alicia Clay O'Neill. Check their calendar for upcoming books to be read. Join the book club yahoo group to get updates: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ChildLitbookclub/ .

January 25th: next Schmooze.

NANOWRIMO

It's the time of the year for NANOWRIMO, the National Novel Writing Month project. Writers all over the world join together and write 50,000 word novels.  You've missed the kick off but you could still jump in. Check it out it.

CONNECT

Writers need to connect. Here are some online spots to meet up with writers and find critique partners..

SCBWI Forums
SCBWI LinkedIn
Verla Kay's Blue Board
SheWrites
AbsoluteWrite
Writer's Guide to Twitter

Revolution

The Publising App Expo site will help you become more aware of this growing segment of the publishing industry.

uTales is a site for authors and illustrators to come together and create and publish e-picture books.

Learn about popular app trends at AppData.

Also interested in what's happening with ebooks? Try EBOOKNEWSER, an online magazine from Mediabistro all about ebooks.

The views expressed here are my own, and not necessarily those of the SCBWI.