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A UNIQUE CONFERENCE THAT HIGHLIGHTS:

• What is new in children’s nonfiction publishing
• How you can use your talent to create books, e-books, apps,
and other media
• Finding work and setting up a business in the children’s
nonfiction market
• How to sell and market your nonfiction products with 21st
Century technology
• Applying your expertise in fiction to a new genre: nonfiction
• The Common Core Standards and how your nonfiction books
and apps can meet them

Faculty and Panels Include:

• Trade nonfiction publishers • Authors
• Educational publishers • Illustrators
• Magazine publishers • Graphic Designers/Art Editors
• E-book and app developers • Editors
• Book packagers/creation houses • Educators

Who Should Attend:

Authors/writers; illustrators/artists; editors; designers; students of creative writing, graphic design, and media studies; and digital developers–whether you are a beginner, intermediate, or published.

Why the world of children’s publishing needs this conference and why you should attend

1. The new Common Core Standards have put an emphasis on Nonfiction like never before. At higher levels of education, children are expected to read more Nonfiction than Fiction.

2. Nonfiction is more popular than ever before, with several major children’s books awards allowing Nonfiction entries and choosing Nonfiction winners. There are an increasing number of Nonfiction-only awards.

3. It is easier for authors, editors, designers, and illustrators, to find work and to get published in Nonfiction than in Fiction.

4. The revolution in digital publishing is about to transform Nonfiction.

5. Apple iBooks Author free software is tailor-made for authors, designers, illustrators, and other content creators to develop and publish Nonfiction products.

6. Self-publishing is the perfect solution for niche, Nonfiction publishing.

7. Independent creation and publication of illustrated Nonfiction books, enhanced books, apps, and games are increasingly attractive to digital developers.

8. Skills and expertise in Nonfiction are highly transferable to Fiction.

9. This is the first-ever conference devoted specifically to Children’s Nonfiction and to finding opportunities for work, setting up your own businesses, and getting published in the Children’s Publishing Industry.

10. The conference is planned, professionally organized, and presented by people who have successful careers in Children’s Nonfiction Publishing and who are dedicated to transferring their knowledge of the industry to those who will carry it through the 21st Century.

Click here to register!

Cost:   Early Bird Registration: $390     After March 15: $430
Includes conference fee and all meals.
Low-cost housing in college dorms available. For more information, or for additional housing
options, click here.

Intensives, Manuscript Reviews, Proposal Reviews, Marketing Strategy Reviews, and Portfolio Reviews available as extras. Click here for details of One-to-One Critiques.

- See more at: http://www.childrensnfconference.com/#sthash.H3nN4RLJ.dpuf

Talk tomorrow,

Kathy

Lionel Bender is Co-Founder and Editorial Partner of UK-based book packager Bender Richardson White (BRW) and of MJL Digital Publishing. BRW creates, develops, and produces children’s illustrated nonfiction and educational materials for publishers in the UK and across North America. It regularly commissions SCBWI authors. MJL Digital Publishing produces self-guided walks in London for online delivery. Lionel is also the author of 65 children’s illustrated science and natural history books and a regular visitor to major book fairs in the US and internationally.

Lionel will conduct a four hour Intensive Workshop on Friday Afternoon, June 8th titled:

Working in Children’s Nonfiction

Description:

What does “nonfiction” include: not just information books but also educational materials, magazines, games, electronic products: a look at some examples. Understanding age ranges, reading levels, the international co-edition market. Illustration and design of children’s nonfiction.
How authors and illustrators can enter this field. How to pitch a nonfiction idea.

The Art and Craft of nonfiction writing: research; approach, and voice. Working with editors. Managing time. Contractual issues of payment, copyright; ensuring accuracy; deadlines; picture research.
How a typical illustrated nonfiction book is produced: The author and illustrator as part of a team. Stages of production of a children’s nonfiction book. Checking stages.

On Saturday and Sunday he is scheduled to do two workshops (descriptions below) and one-on-one consultations.

VISITING BOOK FAIRS: WHY AND HOW?

Description:

What and where are the major book fairs? Why should you visit them? What opportunities do they offer authors and illustrators? How can you maximize your chances of meeting publishers at these events? How do you get past the gatekeepers on the booths? How should you prepare for a visit? What should you do on the day? How do you follow up meetings? Learn the tricks of the trade from a regular book fair visitor and exhibitor. Question and answer time.

BOOK PACKAGERS 101

Description:

What are book packagers and why should you know about them? How do they differ from publishers? What types of books do they produce? Why do they exist and how do they work with publishers? How do they commission and work with authors and illustrators. How much do they pay? How do SCBWI get to meet them and work with them?
Workshop includes examples of book packagers products and what is special about them; handout with list of book packagers. Question and answer time.

Lots more stuff to report. Some new “Get You in Front of an Agent and Editor” ideas in the works. It is going to be a celebration of success and a path to future successes. Hope you will put it on your calendar of events you want to do.

Talk tomorrow,

Kathy

Educational publishers have been accused of not providing enough support to help independent bookshops stay on the high street, as owners call for more discounts.

read more

It is possible to make a living writing for children. However, for most writers, this will not happen by publishing a picture book (or two or three), a middle grade or YA novel, and then sitting back to wait for the royalties to roll in.

To earn a living writing for children, most writers need to write many different types of work for various children’s mainstream and educational markets.

Thursday night, May 8, at 8:00 EST, children’s author Rita Milios will present this week’s teleclass for members of the Children’s Writers’ Coaching Club.

Milios will help club members get started writing for the various educational and testing markets that are constantly contracting new writers. This is more interesting work than you might think!

Find out more about the Children’s Writers’ Coaching Club and join the club here.

I do believe that it may be harder to get a book published if the main character is gay. I don't believe that if you can't find a publisher then it means you're being discriminated against.

In an essay in Salon Sarah Schulman says, "In 1999, I completed a novel called The Child. I had published seven novels and two nonfiction books between 1984 and 1998 with excited, positive reviews, translations, awards, and all the signs of success. But suddenly I could not get anyone to take this book.... Why was this book suddenly so unacceptable? There are people who believe that we live in a merit-based publishing environment. According to them, the reason I could not find a publisher was because The Child is less deserving than every novel that has been published in the last eight years, and, therefore, it objectively deserved to remain unavailable to readers. [Full disclosure: Huh? Is she saying some people believe thre is one person who controls all of publishing, like God, and weighs up every novel and its merits?] "The Child is about a romantic, sexual relationship between 15-year-old Stew and 40-year-old David. ... The relationship between Stew and David was intertwined with the story of a lesbian lawyer, her lover, and her legal partner. I have written widely about the ways and reasons that lesbian literature is disrespected in America, and I do not have the opportunity to fully replicate that information here."

I can think of a lot of reasons this book could have been rejected:
- Editors weren't comfortable with a relationship where one of the main characters verges on a pedophile and relationship is portrayed sympathetically.
- Editors thought there was a limited market for the book.
- Maybe it wasn't well written.

I just don't buy it. If an editor thinks a book will make money, they will publish it. No one has a right to be published, and I don't see that this is a sign that we live in troubling times.