Getting Published: Picture Books to YA

As I mentioned last week, at the Virginia Festival of the Book I sat in on a panel titled: Getting Published: Picture Books to YA. The panelists, were authors Laura Rennert (Buying, Training and Caring for Your Dinosaur), Deborah Heiligman (Charles and Emma), Bonnie Doerr (Island Sting), Emily Ecton(Night of the Living Lawn Ornaments), and Ruth Spiro (Lester Fizz, Bubble-Gum Artist).


Laura Rennert (LR) is an author--AND an agent (in fact she reps one of our very own!) Buying, Training and Caring for your Dinosaur was actually Laura's daughter's wish. Another thing that I thought was really cool about Laura was this: She submitted her manuscript to publishers under a different name--because she didn't want the fact that she's an agent to impact the assessment she received on her work! She only confessed that she was the author when an offer was made on the book! 

Deborah Heiligman(DH)  writes mostly nonfiction and has published 27 books (5 of which are fiction). She got started by writing articles in Scholastic News--she fell in love with writing for kids. She quit when she started her family but continued writing on her own.

Bonnie Doerr (BD) wrote a "tween" novel called Island Sting. Her passion for writing came out of being a reading teacher. She's a nature fanatic and her her novels celebrate caring, involved, “green” teens who take action with attitude and a touch of romance.

Emily Ecton (EE) is a Middle Grade teacher with a degree in playwriting. She's also  a writer and producer for Wait, Wait...Don't Tell Me!, 
the NPR news.

Ruth Spiro (RS) started writing in 2001 as a stay at home mom. Her stories have also been published in popular anthologies, notably The Right Words at the Right Time, Volume 2: Your Turn, edited by Marlo Thomas, and several Chicken Soup for the Soul titles.  She especially loves writing for children, and her picture book, Lester Fizz: Bubble Gum Artist, will be published by Dutton.


Just like at the Science Fiction panel, a moderator asked questions and the panelists answered. I have to be honest--I didn't take a ton of notes during this panel. It moved rather quickly and I didn't want to pay attention to what I was writing and miss anything that was shared. But here are the things that I did capture:

QUESTION: What advice do you have for getting published?

LR: Do your homework--present yourself professionally. A good place to do that homework? Publishers Market Place.


BD: Be determined and persistent. Develop thick skin.


DH: Work on your craft. No matter how many contacts you might have in the industry, you still need to write the best book possible.


RS: Get out there as much as possible. Get involved. Go to signings. Meet as many people as you can.


EE: Read in the genre you're trying to write.

QUESTION: Do you need an agent to get published?

LR: Fewer publishing houses are accepting unagented manuscripts these days. Agents help a lot with the editorial/revision process and they have good contacts in the industry--a business that's constantly growing. Agents work not on one book, but on your entire career.


BD: Doesn't have an agent, but wishes she'd had one. She is happy with her publishing company though--she had a lot of say in her book's design.


RS: It is possible to sell without an agent. Especially if you meet editors at conferences--she has a list of editors who are willing to read her work. However, she's thinking about searching for an agent because it's much easier to make writing a career if you have one.


DH: Her agent kicks her butt! Agents are incredible support systems.

QUESTION: Something about Picture Books...

LR: Picture books are created for ages 0-9. Words and pictures play an equal part.  90% of fiction picture book authors have nothing to do with the artwork. Currently, the sweet spot for picture books that are selling are for ages 4-6 (400-1000 words). Picture books say a lot with a little.

RESOURCES FOR WRITERS:

Nancy Lamb: The Writer's Guide to Crafting Stories for Children (Especially good for word count guidelines.)


Thomas Nelson: Writing a Winning Book Proposal (Click for a free download!)


Association of Authors' Representatives (AAR) Website--questions to ask potential agents


Predators and Editors Website

FINAL NOTE:

All of the panelists spoke about the benefits to attending conferences. Making contacts in the industry and branching out can really put you on the right track toward publication. Of course, you've got to have a great book too =)




PS I found the images on the authors' webpages!




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VA Festival of the Book 1

Two weekends ago I went to the Virginia Festival of the Book.  For those of you who don't know what it is (from the festival website):

The mission of the Virginia Festival of the Book is to bring together writers and readers and to promote and celebrate books, reading, literacy, and literary culture.

Programs range from traditional author readings and book signings to a StoryFest day of children's authors and storybook characters; from a panel on how to publish a novel to a discussion on running a book club; from a workshop on book-binding to a discussion on freelancer's rights. All programs are open to the public; with the exception of a few ticketed events, programs are free of charge.

Basically, I got to sit in on industry panels and meet awesome authors and try to overcome my ridiculousness shyness (aka completely debilitating fear to do things by myself when I don't know anyone). Yeah, the shyness thing? TOTALLY backfired. But I'll save that for tomorrow's Friday Funny. 

Moving on.

Here are the panels I attended:

Science Fiction: Other Places, Other Universes
David Louis Edelman (Infoquake), Katherine Kurtz (Deryni Series), and Kim Harrison (White Witch, Black Curse) talked about their books, writing processes, influences--and, you know, science fiction/fantasy

Book Signing
Kim Harrison--author of eight thriller and fantasy books, including the start of a YA series (Madison Avery)

Getting Published: Picture Books to YA
Laura Rennert (Buying, Training and Caring for Your Dinosaur), Deborah Heiligman (Charles and Emma), Bonnie Doerr (Island Sting), Emily Ecton (Night of the Living Lawn Ornaments), and Ruth Spiro (Lester Fizz, Bubble-Gum Artist) spoke about their books and publishing processes.

Land Ho! Creating New Worlds in Any Genre
P.J. Hoover (The Forgotten Worlds Trilogy), Keri Mikulski (The Screwball Series), Stacy Nyikos (Dragon Wishes), Barrie Summy, (I So Don't Do Myseries/Spooky/Makeup Series) Suzanne Morgan Williams (Bull Rider) shared their tips for creating believable worlds--in everything from fantasy to nonfiction.

Agent Roundtable
Agents Jenny Bent, Erin Cox, Laura Rennert, and Simon Lipskar discussed what they look for in writers and insight into the author-agent relationship.

Needless to say I'm gonna share everything I learned! Next week. I just wanted to let ya know what's to come. Well, okay let's be honest... It's mostly because I started to type it all out in this post and, um, yeah. Holy long post.


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I Got a Ticking Clock - But It Ain't My Biological One

Some girls feel each and every tick in their internal "it's time to have a baby" clock.

I, on the other hand, feel each and every tick in my internal Author Clock*.

Currently, I consider myself a writer - I'm happy to. But I want that Author title. Opinions, I'm sure, differ on this, but I won't consider myself an author until I'm published... or at least agented!

With all the research I've done and people I've spoken to and communities I've become a part of - I'm no fool. I know that it's a long, long road. I know there will be (possibly a lot of) rejections. That's the way of the industry and I am mentally prepared for it.

But I'm not even there yet. I'm only half way done with my first draft of my first novel. Before I can even begin to send out queries, I have to finish the draft, edit it, rewrite sections, edit it, rewrite sections, edit it... And it's not a fast process. (Well, not if I want to have a well crafted novel anyway.) When I look to the future, when I dream about being successful, I can't help but be struck with fear about how far away it might be.

Again, mentally I am prepared for the long haul, but physically I feel the pull in my gut. Every minute. Every second I'm not writing, editing, building my platform (and I still feel lost about that part of it); every moment I waste sleeping, eating, doing anything other than immersing myself in my work - I FEEL IT**. Little, invisible strings have grown along my skin and they are stretching toward this elusive future. It's a dreadful, exciting, wonderful feeling.

*Okay, okay - so I definitely want to have a baby - but this blog isn't about that!
**I also believe that you should make sure to live your life while writing - you'll never run out of material that way... it's just hard to step away from the ol' desk these days..



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