Tip of the Snow: there's a very strong possibility tomorrow there will be a snow day here. That makes me very happy!
Just to continue on with my post last week about the SCBWI conference, here's some more information I learned.
Francesco Sedita, Vice President & Publisher at Grosset & Dunlap and an author of the Miss Popularity series:
1.) If you are writing a series, it's important to focus on writing a character that a child wants to return to. And make sure they are as 3-dimensial as possible.
2.) To get a handle on what kids want try to stay up-to-date on pop culture and know the celebrities the age range you are writing for likes and why they like them.
3.) They take submissions that usually fall into 3 categories: young middle-grade (1st, 2nd, 3rd grade), middle middle-grade (4th and 5th grade), and older middle-grade (6th and 7th grade)
Ben Schrank, Publisher at Razorbill:
1.) Common mistakes writers make include: writing for the market, trying to talk like a teen and not creating your own voice and language, windmilling (using lots of words with nothing happening), starting a story at the wrong place instead of in the middle of something, and not telling a story in a unique enough way that it stands out from all the other submissions.
Libba Bray, Author Extraordinaire:
1.) Make characters less than perfect and allow them to make mistakes. Allow for growth. And don't fall in love with characters, because you will miss their faults and maybe their strengths.
2.) Make the work matter to yourself!
3.) That Libba is hilarious and really sweet to talk to, and she has great picture ideas!
Susan Raab of Raab Associates, Inc. talked about "What's Selling, What's Not?"
1.) Types of books that publishers currently want: books like The Wimpy Kid series, fantasy is still selling, mystery & ghost stories are growing, inspirational or uplifting books are also growing in popularity, and funny books.
Suzanne Young, Author:
1.) She's completely charming and her new book series The Naughty List looks incredibly fun. Plus, she and her team at the SCBWI Team blog have way more in-depth and excellent information about the conference. You should definitely check it out.
If you get a chance to go to a conference, I highly recommend it!
--Emily, Miss Querylicious
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
SCBWI Recap 2
Posted by
Emily Marshall
at
6:53 AM
5
comments
Monday, February 8, 2010
Hashing Out Hashtags
CONGRATULATIONS to the winner of a signed copy of Lisa Schroeder's FAR FROM YOU ... Kimberly Job! Kimberly, our email address is author2author.blog [at] gmail [dot] com if you'd like to send us your mailing address to get the ball rolling.
Posted by
Kate Fall
at
6:16 AM
2
comments
Friday, February 5, 2010
Birthday Giveaway!!!
Tip of the day: It's my birthday! Please, have a cupcake (or two or three) in my honor!


Posted by
Lisa Schroeder
at
5:00 AM
20
comments
Thursday, February 4, 2010
"I don't care who's wrong or right, I don't really wanna fight no more"
Tip of the Day: Click HERE for the Be Our Valentine Giveaway! You have a chance of winning three autographed romance YAs (The Espressologist, Stupid Cupid, and A Match Made in High School), handmade Valentines from the authors and yummies. And happy release day to A Match Made in High School today!
One thing you may not know about me is that I hate fighting. And I suck at holding a grudge. Really, it's almost a negative quality sometimes because people can do really nasty stuff and I'll totally forget and I'll be all, Hi! How are you! the next time I see them. I've got relatives that can hold a grudge for a good 30, 40 years so I have no idea where I get this from.
Anyway, the whole Amazon versus Macmillan thing of last weekend-- ay yi yi yi yi. That really had my head spinning. I'll admit, when I saw the buy button for my book disappear off of Amazon I was freaking. The A2A girls got a panicky note from me. I saw people on twitter saying I don't get why authors are freaking out and really? We were freaking out because a major distributor wasn't going to be carrying our book anymore. That sucks. When you are a new author and not a bestseller, your book doesn't have a long shelf life in the stores. They say the typical book has 90 days before getting sent back to the publisher. Now this isn't a hard fast rule or anything-- if a book is doing well at certain stores they'll keep it longer. Lots of books do see 6, 9 months etc. But the 90 day thing does happen. So from there your book is sold at independents (hopefully) and online retailers. And if Amazon goes away, well, that's not so great.
The whole situation was confusing, especially to me as a newer author because I don't totally get all of the book publishing world yet. I know a heck of a lot more than I did last year but it's constantly a learning process. Luckily there were some really articulate people ready to put the problem into more comprehensive terms. Like Scott Westerfield here. When he explains it, it makes sense.
Anyway, what were your thoughts on the whole fiasco? I'm glad they stopped fighting (for now) and hopefully things end up where both sides are content (maybe?). I 'm not so sure we've seen the end of it though-- as of now the Buy button is still not back on my Amazon page. Hmph.
Kristina, Miss Delighted to Debut
Posted by
Kristina Springer
at
5:38 AM
6
comments
Labels: business, Kristina Springer, Publishing
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Libraries are Money! (or Arrrr, Matey!)
Laurie Halse Anderson recently posted her thoughts on how book piracy sucks. Also here. Her answer to the naysayers who shout, "But I can't afford books! And you want me to read your book, right?" is to go to the library and check the books out there. And if the library doesn't have the book, find a librarian and make the suggestion that they purchase it.
As a librarian, I say YES, PLEASE DO!
And to the naysayers who shout, "What's the difference between checking out a book from the library and downloading it from a pirate site online for free? I'm not paying for either one!" I say the following regarding public libraries:
1) Every time a patron comes into my library, it counts as a statistic. And good stats = good fodder for keeping good budgets so we can keep buying lots of materials.
2) Every time a patron recommends a book and we purchase it, and then the book is checked out, each check out counts as a good stat. See above.
3) Every time a patron recommends a book and we purchase it, us librarians can then recommend it to more and more patrons. Each patron who checks it out is another good stat.
Then on the author's income side...
4) If the recommended book is enjoyed by library patrons, word of mouth between the readers can cause more and more peeps to buy the book themselves...
5) Which can cause the library system to buy more books...
6) Which can cause more royalties for the author.
So in summary, checking a book out from the library DOES provide potential "income" for both the library (in the form of stats which can support the library's year-to-year budgets) and the author (in the form of more book sales to libraries and patrons).
I was young once. I had my days of Napster "free" music downloads and bootlegged PC software in the broke college years. But for real, now that I know better I wish I'd checked out more music from my public library and used the software at the computer lab. OK, OK, I still don't think Bill Gates needs my money, but think of all the people who work for BG, or for those who work for BG's workers, or who work in PC software sales and marketing and and and....well, you get the idea. It all trickles down.
Some day I'd like to work as a librarian part-time and as a writer full-time (instead of the present opposite ratio). In order for that to happen, I'll need royalties! And I'll need a library budget! Please don't steal, matey!
Deena, Miss Subbing for Pubbing
Posted by
DeenaML
at
6:53 AM
3
comments
Labels: Deena, Libraries, Publishing
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
SCBWI Recap 1
Tip of the Day: didn't get to attend the SCBWI conference in New York, but want to feel like you did? Then check out the wealth of information at the conference blog. It's like you were there, but didn't have to pay the admission price. Win, win!!
So I'm back from New York and my first time attending the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators conference. I'm still trying to process all the information and I have this thing called work (boo) that I have to go back to this morning, so this post will be short and sweet. But pictures and a fuller recap will be coming next week. Including the awesomest pic with the delectably lovable and recent Printz-winning author Libba Bray.
Had the best time meeting people, talking about writing, and seeing The City. I HIGHLY recommend attending a conference if you get a chance. You'll walk away feeling inspired and anxious to get home and write.
The top 5 things I heard repeated at the conference include:
- Creating 3-dimensial characters is so important.
- You need to find your own voice--not anyone else's--and that's how you can seperate yourself from every other story out there.
- It's good to keep reinventing yourself as an author and constantly trying new concepts, ideas, and ways of writing.
- Go back home and forget everything you've learned. Rules are meant to be broken (within reason), and everyone is in search of an unusual book that graps them and stands out from all the rest. Just stay true to yourself and your own voice.
- To be a writer the most important thing you have to do is WRITE!
Living in a virtual world you kind of forget editors and agents are approachable. Much like the celebrities of the writing world that hold your future in their hands. Meeting some in person makes them transform from pictures on a screen to real life people. And most of them are really nice, down to earth, and pleasant to be around! All of them just want to find a great book and a great author. They are on your side and rooting for you. I think that's an excellent thing to be reminded of.
--Emily, Miss Querylicious
Posted by
Emily Marshall
at
7:21 AM
2
comments
Labels: A Writer's Life, Conferences, Emily Marshall
Monday, February 1, 2010
Six Things I Learned from Online Pitches
Tip of the Day: Check out the interestingly worded letter from Amazon to its customers regarding the Macmillian pricing dispute. (Yes, Amazon, customers will pay for books if we think the price is reasonable and we won't pay for them if we don't. We do that. Really, you didn't need to spell that out for us.)
Posted by
Kate Fall
at
6:25 AM
4
comments



