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Barbara Fisch and Sarah Shealy are offering a great workshop for new authors. It's basically Publicity 101. Some of my favorite parts:

All reviews of your book will be good. Kidding. When you have a good review, use it. Mention it on your blog or website. BUT when you quote, you're only allowed to pull 10% of the review. Interesting, right?

Also, blogs and blog tours are a great way for exposure. You can have giveaways and contests.

And finally, the children's lit world has a longer build than other genres. So if you don't see a review right away, don't panic.

Posted by Suzanne Young

Great session with Stephen Fraser. Quick notes:

The state of the children's book market is “cautious”. Publishers ask 'is this book essential to our list?'

We are in an era of no mediocre books. They don’t want midlist books. Pubs want books that will be best sellers.

So make your books stand out.

Posted Suzanne Young

This is Kelly Sonnack of the Andrea Brown Lit Agency. She reps picture books to MG and YA. As well as a few illustrators and graphic novelists. To submit, you can email her a query along with the first ten pages pasted in the body of the email.

Kelly tells us to write what's in our heart. And not to be swayed by ecomonic news. Children's books are still selling really well!

Jennifer Rofe and Jamie Weiss Chilton with the Andrea Brown Literary Agency are talking about market trends in children's literature. Great workshop! Here's just a few tidbits!

What editors are looking for:

Picture books- Short text-under 700 words. Snappy writing. Character driven stories. Multiple hooks.

MG - light paranormal. Interest in light romance and fun girl stories.

YA-Editors are looking for good stories and unique perspectives on teen themes. Real kids in extraordinary situations. High concept (can be summed up in one sentence.) Multiple hooks, literary and commecial appeal.

Don’t write to a trend. A good book doesn’t need trends.

posted by Suzanne Young

Arthur Levine had a great moment recalling a golden age. From a publisher's perspective: There was a period in the 80’s where there was a great momentum in picture books. The great thing about that period was the richness and input. People were talking about and wanting them. There was a sense that if he put them out there, people would want them. Now it’s harder. Now he has to do things differently to create extraordinary picture books. Like, cleaning the office.

Posted by Suzanne Young

Arthur Levine is leading a panel on Creating an Extraordinary Picture Book. His question to the distinguished panel: "What is an extraordinary book to you?"

Well, everyone is so bright eyed and bushy tailed this morning (not really) but they are trickling in to listen to Lin Oliver get us prepped for the wonderful upcoming panel. But already, she's got us cracking up!

She's reading from the submitted jokes. We were asked to take a popular children's book and change the title... something to reflect the recession. One of the winners: "Cloudy with a chance of Spam".

Getting packed in here now....

posted by Suzanne Young

A quick break in the action to show you a few photos from the day so far. Btw, TEAM BLOG has an amazing table on the SCBWI floor!

The Team Blog T-shirts!

Posted by Suzanne Young

Fabulous editor Krista Marino (Delacorte) is giving a super in-depth workshop on how to establish your YA voice. After 5 minutes of listening, I thought, "Wow. I still have a ton to learn!"

This workshop required preregistration and it's obvious that Krista worked very closely with these writers and will do so over the next four days. I'd highly recommend it if you're looking for some serious editorial advice.

Some of her great points were focusing on finding your authorial voice. If you read a Meg Cabot or Stephen King book, you know the author without having to look. How do they do that? She offers a handout with several elements that are key to establishing your voice.

I wish I had that handout!!!

But she did say that as adults writing for teens we should try to recapture our childlike outlook. Our perspective changes as we experience things, so it's important to be able to identify with that unaffected self.

All in all, I wish I'D PREREGISTERED! She sounded brilliant! Next year, I'm so in! Hope you wil be too!

Posted by Suzanne Young

Links to SCBWI TEAM BLOG Keynote Interviews...

Today blogger Lee Wind offers a great interview with Holly Black, one of the terrific keynote speakers for the upcoming SCBWI Annual Summer Conference. (She is also featured in the 2010 CWIM!) Lee has recently joined Twitter so add him to your follow list--he'll be blogging and tweeting along with the rest of us from the L.A. event August 7-10.

If you haven't, also check out Paul Yoo's interviews with keynoters Ingrid Law and Betty Birney. There will be more interviews with SCBWI conference keynote speakers from TEAM BLOG between now and the event which I'll link you to when they are posted.

(And for those of you who still may be thinking about registering for the event but haven't yet, read Suzanne Young's post featuring feedback from three first-time conference goers.)

Blogger of the Week:
Suzanne Young

YA Author Suzanne Young started blogging at www.suzanne-young.blogspot.com a little over a year. She didn't have a publishing contract and began blogging, she says, mostly just for fun. "Over the next several months, I tried to find my niche. One of the things that really worked for me was my ongoing story blog, Going Green. It was a YA story that I was writing every few days strictly for my blog. I seemed to gather some readers from it and loved doing it!"

When it was time to send her work to publishers, Suzanne began by submitting her manuscript directly to editors. "It was a scary time for me, but I gathered interest and was feeling great," she says. "Then I got an email from Melissa Sarver with Elizabeth Kaplan Agency. She had been reading my blog and wondered if I was currently represented. After a few weeks of emailing and talking with her, I knew she was perfect and ended up signing with her! Soon after, I sold two books to Razorbill. And my blog played a huge part in finding Melissa, proving that blogs can be important for up-and-coming authors."

Her debut novel Smitten Kittens, featuring Tessa Crimson and her squad of cheerleaders who investigate cheaters (as in cheating boyfriends) will be released from Razorbill in 2010.


Suzanne also participates in a group vlog called Lip Gloss Lit. "This one for me is a blast. I got together with a critique partner of mine, author Amanda K. Morgan and we started a vlogging site where we blogged via video. It's a great way to show our personalities and be able to chat with people on a more personal level. We’re always looking for guest vloggers, so keep us in mind!"

For bloggers just starting out, Suzanne advises "let your personality shine through. Sure, my blog might not always be about writing (like when I talk about my daughter’s desire to trap squirrels in jars) but I try to always make it fun. That’s my style. So let your blog reflect your style and people will get to know and care about your journey!" And indeed her ebullient personality comes across in her blog.

Visit www.suzanne-young.blogspot.com today and wish Suzanne...