How to use this Page

Hi everyone!  Fellow illustrator Kristi Valiant (who has an adorable book about dancing penguins coming out later this year; everyone go preorder it) has a very informative blog post on promotional postcards for illustrators (you know, the ones you make and send out to art directors several times a yaer hoping that someone says "YES!  I love his/her work and have the perfect project for this art style!")  In any case, I wanted to share this post with you, because it is a great resourse for illustrators who are promoting themselves, their artwork, or their upcoming books.

Kristi Valiant Promotional Postcards Blog Post

Alicia Schwab has worked as an illustrator and designer for nearly twenty years and holds a BFA from the University of Wisconsin-Stout. Her career began in Hannover, Germany where she co-founded and co-owned a graphic design company. During those years she developed her illustrative voice producing illustrations for newsletters and books. After returning to the States, she continued working at design firms in Minneapolis, Minnesota as well as producing illustrations for newsletters, websites, and food packaging. For more than a decade, Alicia has concentrated on illustrating for the editorial and children’s book market. She is a member of SCBWI since 2001, and in 2012 she became the SCBWI-Minnesota Illustrator Coordinator for that region. Outside of the studio, Alicia enjoys speaking to the community and schools about her work.

I  begin with an idea in my head and start sketching on paper to figure out who my characters are and what they want. Let your subconscious have a say too. Try to let ideas flow without judging them. This sketch was drawn on a large sheet of tissue paper and I used the lower edge to redraw a character from another piece. When I scanned it into the computer a funny accident happened. I noticed the little person looks as if she is trying to tell the audience a secret. A lightbulb flashes and I have a new direction, the girl gives the boy butterflies whenever he sees her.

There is a lot of body language that need to be worked out between the two of them. I tried several different ways of how they hold their hands and position their arms. Some things look great in the sketch stage but then don’t work when fleshed out into solid shapes with the paint.

I sketched several different arms and hands separately and pasted them in place in Photoshop to see what works and get the proportions right. I also chopped up the original sketch and spaced the two a little farther apart.

For the purpose of this example, I have gone back into the final art to simulate the color studies I did for the background areas. Normally, I work this out as I paint. Three areas: the far hill with the tree, the path and the foreground.

I am fairly happy with everything. I went back into Photoshop and fiddled with his right arm some more.

How long have you been illustrating?

I have loved drawing all my life. As a child, my art allowed me to express the ideas I had not yet learned the vocabulary for. This would prove to be a useful tool later in life. But professionally, I started taking illustration jobs a year after college.

When did you decide you wanted to illustrate a children’s book?

Growing up, I loved drawing and I was surrounded by great picture books. It only seemed natural to me, to try to make my own picture book as soon as I learned how to write words (at about age seven). My passion for children’s books continues to this day.

I see you attended the University of Wisconsin-Stout. Do you think the art classes you took in college helped you develop an illustration style?

I hold a BFA in Graphic Design. The program has a strong foundation in studio (fine art) classes. I took extra painting classes that helped a lot with color theory and composition. I also acquired a strong knowledge of computer graphics skills that has enabled me to stay competitive as an illustrator/designer. The program did not offer illustration courses at that time, so I have learned on my own and taken additional children’s book illustration classes through MCAD, in Minneapolis.

What was the first thing you did where someone paid you for your artwork?

After college, I moved to Germany co-founded a graphic design company. I began by doing editorial illustration and my work won an award, the “1997 Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture & Design” back in the States. Each spread featured a pop-up with a riddle to solve.

How did you end up starting a graphic design company in Germany?

I’ve always had a curiosity for what is over the next horizon. I had studied abroad for a semester in college and was  looking for a way to go back. I figured if I could support myself, I might be able to travel in my free time.

What made you leave Germany and move to Minneapolis?

It was a great experience, I enjoyed living, working and traveling in Europe. But the time came when I wanted to live back in the States near my family.

Have you done any work for children’s magazines?

Not yet, but I have done work for the children’s section of a newsletter: “Just Coz” for Smiths Medical.

How did you get to illustrate the book titled, Great Group Skits?

I acquired this project through a networking connection. I had a great experience working with Search Institute Press on the book, GREAT GROUP SKITS, written by Lynn Grasberg and Gina Oldenburg. I enjoyed working with the text and creating chapter head illustrations in black/white.

How did you get involved in illustrating Good Grief, Finding Peace After Pet Loss?

This project also came to me through a networking connection. Although the author, Sid Korpi self-published this book, I did not work directly with her on this project. Sid had a clear vision and marketing plan for the book that worked out really well.

Have any of your books won any awards?

The book Good Grief, Finding Peace After Pet Loss has won 4 awards: 2011 Green Book Award—(Category: Animals).
2010 Premiere Book Award—”Best Book of the Year”, (Category: Self-Help).
2010 Reviewers Choice Award from Reader Views (Category: Inspiration/Spirituality).
2010 IPPY—Independent Publishers Book Award (Category: Pets/Animals).

Is Good Grief, Finding Peace After Pet Loss a self-published book? How is the book doing?

Yes, it is and it has done really well. It is still receiving good reviews from readers as well as the recipient of several awards. The book is not only well written but is well designed which lends itself as a reliable source to comfort those who are grieving the loss of an animal companion. Having been through this a few times myself, I was able to connect the illustration with the audience.

How did you get the job to illustrate St. Catherine University: Guide to Reflective and Intentional Giving?

Through word of mouth from networking. The Twin Cities creative community is like a small town, everybody knows everyone. It is vital to network and stay connected. http://www.aliciaschwab.com/books/book01.html

How long is the book? How many illustrations did you do for the book?

I created seven full bleed, campus scene illustrations to enliven nostalgic, fond memories of alumni experiences at the university. I was asked to incorporate a circular theme into the artwork. I always love a challenge, so I worked the theme into the gesso ground.

I see you became the illustrator Coordinator for the Minnesota SCBWI chapter in 2012. How did that happen?

I have been a member of SCBWI since 2001. I have volunteered for several organizations over the last +twenty years. I started volunteering for SCBWI a few years ago and found it a rewarding experience. When the position became available I applied for it and have been the IC for over a year now. I feel strongly about being part of a supportive community that helps people find their potential as a children’s book writer and/or illustrator.

What is your favorite medium to use?

Currently, my favorite is acrylic paint.

As Illustrator Coordinator, what types of things have you done with the MN SCBWI chapter members?

I develop workshops to help members learn the craft, marketing and business of children’s book illustration. We have been also exploring newer areas of the industry by offering workshops on Picture Book Apps and Ebook publishing. Last year, we hosted our first Portfolio Show at our regional conference, which was well attended. For the future, we are looking at doing a One-Day-Intensive for illustrators and one for writers. It has been a rewarding experience to work with Quinette Cook, RA and Jessica Freeburg, ARA of the Minnesota SCBWI chapter.

Have you taken advantage of showing off your portfolio at one of national conferences?

This last February, I participated for the first time at the New York Conference and Portfolio Show. I would recommend any SCBWI member to take part in this event or the portfolio opportunities at LA Conference. You will learn a lot.

Do you see yourself writing and illustrating your own book someday?

I have held fast to my childhood dream of becoming a published author/illustrator. I am in several critique groups for writers and for illustrators.

Do you have representation from a artist rep or an agents?

I am currently not under representation but am actively seeking an agent.

Not counting your paint and brushes, what is the one thing in your studio that you could not live without?

I love my sunny studio, but it is chilly most of the year being that it is located in our basement, so I drink lots of hot tea.

Do you take pictures or do any research before you start a project?

I do, I use myself as a model with a big mirror. Because the client is local, I was able to make my own reference photographs for the book for St Catherine University. This helped tremendously to understand the campus layout, the position of the sun, the building proportions and the greenery.

Do you think the Internet has opened doors for you?

Sure, social media, blogging and access to information via search engines has really helped me grow as an illustrator.

Do you use Photoshop with your illustrations?

I currently use Photoshop in the sketch stage of the project and the fiddle with a few things for the finish. It is a deep program and enables me to utilize it in a variety of ways.

Do you own or have you ever tried a graphic Drawing Tablet?

I use a small Wacom Bamboo tablet when I need to draw on the computer. I would love to upgrade someday to a larger unit.

Do you think your style has changed over the years? Have your material changed?

My style has changed a lot since the mid-90′s, but so has my target market. The type of editorial illustration I sold in Germany is different than what was being bought stateside at the time. It taught me to be flexible. I used to work in ink and watercolor, then dabbled vector art while working traditionally in acrylic.

How do you market yourself?

I do blogging, social media as well as send out promotional postcards. I also advocate networking and getting involved in a professional organization such as SCBWI.

What are you working on now?

I am currently writing/illustrating a picture book about a very curious dinosaur.

Do you have any material type tips you can share with us? Example: Paint or paper that you love – the best place to buy – a new product that you’ve tried – A how to tip, etc.

Currently, I paint in acrylic paint on watercolor paper. I use forks and different things to scrape into the gesso to create the background texture. Experiment. Play. Make a mess. Acrylic is forgiving in that you can edit out the areas you don’t like by painting over it.

Any words of wisdom on how to become a successful illustrator?

Draw everyday. Study what children’s book art is being published by visiting the library and the bookstores. Join a critique group. Read voraciously in the genre you want to illustrate in. I learned in Germany the best way to get to know a culture and its people is by learning the native language. Illustration is not just “pretty pictures” but is also a form of communication. The “culture” that it conveys is the specific use of language in the written word. For example, you wouldn’t create the same kind of illustration for picture books as you would for the young adult fiction genre. Understand what age group you are aiming for, and you will better understand your audience through the way they communicate.
N
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN

Louise Fury is attending the NJSCBWI June Conference and doing critiques. She is with the L. Perkins Agency that was founded in 1987 by Lori Perkins, a former newspaper publisher and editor. They specializes in many different genres. Currently there are five agents representing approximately 200 authors to the publishing industry.

The Agency has agents in 11 foreign countries and works with an established film agency. The L. Perkins agency works hard to stay ahead of the curve and makes it a priority to help their authors stay ahead of the pack. In 2010 they broke new ground by being the first (and currently ONLY) agency to hire a literary agent who works exclusively in the digital marketplace.

Louise Fury is a senior agent at the L. Perkins Agency and specializes in romance, all kids and young adult material and pop culture nonfiction. She has sold books to both traditional and electronic publishers including Random House, Harper Collins, Simon & Schuster, Samhain and others. Louise encourages authors to have one foot in traditional publishing and the other in the digital-first arena. Actually Louise has reported 26 deal to Publishers Marketplace during the last 12 months, which is extremely good.

Here is Louise’s Wish List.

I am looking for writers with a unique voice and an unforgettable story.  I’m particularly drawn to stories with a strong protagonist.

I want delicious adult romances with creative plots, sexy liaisons and unique characters that sweep me up in their love story and leave me smiling and sighing and longing for the romance to last forever.

Yesterday we talked about Paper Lantern Lit, Lexa Hillyer, Lauren Oliver, who are part of this  years NJSCBWI conference and what they were doing with authors, editors, and Stephen Barbara. Today, I thought I would share a great article they wrote to help authors improve their writing. Here it is below:

Chapters are kind of like socks—something we writers and editors use ALL the time, but hardly ever think about. We all know that most novels are anywhere from 40,000 words to 140,000 words long, and we all know they’re broken up into units called “chapters.” But how often do we stop to ask why? How do you know you’re getting the most from a chapter?

We see this challenge in two parts: WHAT goes in the chapter, and HOW it goes in.

Let’s start with the juicy WHAT, first.

Chapters must give good, purposeful content that moves the story forward, that’s what! Unlike socks (ew), a chapter is something you should be able to sink your teeth into and get some real nutrients from it. Let’s consult the magic 8-ball of chapter content questions:

1) What is the main character’s goal in this chapter? How does that goal evolve? (I.e., is the main character thwarted, or does her goal get more urgent?) If there’s no goal, what would make a good goal for the chapter? It should be based on the character’s overall goal in the book! If her goal in the story is to find missing treasure, then perhaps the goal in this chapter is to first dig up the map, or confront the pirate who buried it.

2) What happens in this chapter? Is there action, and does it naturally lead to more action? If not, what new actions might lead to consequences that increase the urgency or difficulty of the goal? (Here’s the thing about goals: we should be making it more and more difficult to get to while simultaneously more and more seemingly necessary.) For instance, perhaps the pirate who buried the treasure has mysteriously vanished, and now your main character must solve the mystery of his disappearance! Or maybe the character’s mother plans to sell her home, and now she needs that treasure more than ever.

3) What new information is learned? (And why now?) If not much is learned, what “clue” might be inserted into this chapter to help set us up for the actions and reveals of future chapters?

4) Does the chapter seem urgent? Does it have tension? If not, what would make everything more pressing, more dire? What might be causing the tension to deflate? Watch out for moments where things are getting easier for the characters, where they seem to be fed the answers. Instead, there can be clues leading them forward, but there should also be obstacles keeping us interested! Remember that you are supposed to be making things more complex and challenging—that’s good narrative!

5) Unity of action. Is the action contained to one location? Does it focus on a single event? Is there a logic to where and why it comes to an end? If you close your eyes, can you easily picture this chapter? Can you describe the action in a sentence? (Think: It was Mrs. White, with the wrench, in the drawing room).

6) Is there causality from one chapter to the next? Remember that the goal in chapter A should lead directly to the goal in chapter B, either linearly (“I had to talk to character M and he told me to go talk to character N”) or because some obstacle encountered in Chapter A redefines the goal in Chapter B (“I got shot at while talking to character M and now I need to go to the hospital, which has replaced talking to character N as my immediate goal.”)

7) Where have we come from? Have the actions, revelations, and emotions of the chapter been properly “seeded” in previous chapters? If not, what would be a few specific places earlier in the book where we might get enough information or “clues” to prepare us for what happens now?

8) Where are we going? What are the elements of this chapter that you’d like to see “pay off” later in the book? In novels, unlike in life, everything must serve a purpose. Even small developments should have some impact on the plot—a.k.a. that development should cause something important to happen later, throw a wrench into the narrative making the goal harder to get to, or aid in a significant reveal later on. Otherwise, it’s simply filler!

Now on to the HOW!

That is, how are we building this baby? What’s the appropriate structure of a chapter? Get ready… we’re about to tell you how to win a game of writing Jenga.

1) Importance of Innies. Is the chapter “in” strong? Does the opening “hook” you from the beginning with a surprising or vivid first sentence/paragraph? Are you peeking around the doorframe or leaping right into the middle of the room? Variety is the key. Experiment with the three A’s of openers: Action, Atmosphere, or Attribution (i.e. dialogue that is quickly attributed to a character). Either start in the middle of a scene with a sound (Splat! The burger hit him in the face), or with vivid description and mood (A dark, feathery form swooped across the fading skyline like a streak of black ink across the gray) or in the midst of a conversation (“How dare you call me selfish! I’m only trying to help you,” Cindy said, raising an eyebrow at me.)

Read the Rest

Talk tomorrow,

Kathy

Tweet

ComiXology’s Chip Mosher of Marketing and PR moderated a panel with Jeremy Atkins of Dark Horse, Dirk Wood of IDW, Mel Caylo of Archaia, and addition Hunter Gorinson of Valiant Comics with the goal of sharing tips and pro experience with indie creators and future marketers on Friday, March 29^th at WonderCon. The result was quite an entertaining panel featuring their professional blunders and secret discoveries about he ins and outs of comics promotion.

Mosher started out by asking for the embarrassing stories each had accrued in their work experience, “professional blunders” that contained teachable moments. Atkins admitted to the cringeworthy common mishap of hitting “reply all” on an email and copying a person specifically to be excluded from a conversation, with plenty of sympathetic groans from the audience. Mosher’s own tale of woe was equally relatable, reading an e-mail from Emerald City Con and then forgetting to reply afterward, thereby losing booth space for BOOM that year. Wood was more circumspect about his failures, noting that “25% of marketing is what I would call blunders” that can lead either to success or to a “thud”, and that he finds it impossible to tell which will happen in some circumstances. Persistence, he advised, is the key to forge ahead despite an unpredictable market.

Caylo dredged up his own worst moments with a story of “drunk tweeting” from the wrong account, declaring his love for someone, a tweet that remained up on a company account overnight whereas Gorinson stuck to the ever-present bugaboo of typos in press releases regardless of how many times the releases are checked before sending them out. Wood’s observation that some blunders can have positive results prompted the panel to consider whether they had similar lucky moments. Wood, particularly, “stumbled into successes” by having random, unlikely ideas for promotion like sending Godzilla costumed promo agents to “smash” stores, something that met with great success. The panel quickly turned interactive, fielding questions from the floor, and the first question, probably also the first on everyone’s mind, was how to run PR and marketing strategies on a shoe-string budget.

Mosher wittily commented, “This guy thinks that we have budgets” to his fellow panellists before Caylo took up the question with what became perhaps the strongest message of the panel event: “It’s all about relationships”. He suggested that those seeking press for comics go to shows, have e-mail conversations that are “not always pitching”, so that it’s easier when you do want to ask a favor to bring it up. He also added that “offer giveaways” on sites that increase “cross-promotion” are a very smart move. Atkins, who was particularly earnest and animated throughout the panel suggested that Twitter is a major player in promotion for building and continuing to cultivate professional relationships, including the retail industry in your list of contacts. Wood spoke to the indie creator’s situation trying to get books distributed. “Nothing speaks louder than a consignment situation”, he said, and pointed out that Top Shelf started through delivering consignment issues to comic shops, “giving books” to shops and allowing them to sell them rather than seeking solicitation. This involves “relentless beating of the pavement” since there is “no replacing grassroots”.

Atkins used this idea to springboard into a gambling metaphor: “In gambling and in life, you only win when you can afford to lose”. You shouldn’t expect return immediately, he warned, but trying different approaches and continuing to do so as long as possible is key. Mosher had strong feelings on the subject, reflecting on the example of a student protester who brough the New York Stock Exchange to a standstill by busking for dollar bills all day, then throwing a hundred bills onto the exchange floor. It was the perfect example, for Mosher, of “getting attention at low cost” and using the least resources to garner the “biggest impact”.

Gorinson focused on knowing your material and audience to get attention. Knowing the pitch well, and the many angles from which it might be interpreted, breaking out of narrow genre definitions, for instance, may win the day. He recommended top comics news sites as vehicles for spreading the word, as well as working “with anyone and everyone”, including small blog sites. Mosher’s experience at BOOM confirmed this premise. Starting out publishing only 4 to 7 books a month, he scoured blogs, put people in press lists, and sent them PDF review copies in an era before most comics companies were using PDFs in this way, and thereby grew a press list of 400 contacts.

Wood added that looking at comparable publishers and types of titles to the comic you are trying to circulate is a good starting point, looking to see how and where they are doing their marketing and focus your attack in that way. A common pitfall the panellists all agreed on is when creators send a pitch to a company for a comic series that’s a 12 issue proposal or longer. Companies aren’t willing to take the risk, they advised, and a 3-4 issue format is much more appealing at the outset of a project.

A follow up question from the audience regarded strategies to capitalize on the rash of superhero movies and growing movie fans who might never have read a comic. Several panellists felt that there’s no one single approach to bring film fans into comics, but a more surefire method is to “start them young”, reaching young readers with comics visual literacy. Mosher agreed, stating that there are more kids comics today than in the past decade, and comics continue to have unique qualities of storytelling that continue to appeal as a child grows up reading them. Gorinson added that Free Comic Book Day is an excellent opportunity to “get into as many shops as possible” and reach new, young readers. Mosher and Caylo both returned to the subject of cross promotion between films, tv, and comics, like the inclusion of ashcan comics in dvd box sets to show fans what comics alternatives are available for their favorite products.

A direct marketing question from the floor focused on the similarities or differences between selling comics and other products, like household items. Atkins felt there was very little difference at all, except that it’s more possible in comics to “know who that person is” you are targeting since “They are me, or some version of me”, as a comics fan. He continued with some other salient advice, such as “You have to believe in what you’re selling” and believe that you are “one of the best advocates for it”. Gorinson felt that marketing comics is different from marketing other consumer products because he often feels an “obligation” to live up to the quality of the work he’s promoting in his own efforts.

Gorinson and Atkins also suggested doing some research into major news sites to find out who on staff might be a comics fan, “finding” that contact, or locating dedicated geek blogging attached to news sites. Atkins and Mosher commented that using social media makes reaching out to news writers more and more direct. Mosher admitted that not everyone may have the desire or “skill set” to promote their comics properly despite attempts, and in that case, he advised, you should find a friend who thrives on that kind of work and collaborate on promotion.

The final big topic addressed by the panel, and one which inspired some lively reactions from the speakers, was the use of transmedia and multiple media formats to draw attention to comics. Caylo said that it’s all about “synergy” between comics, films, and related video games, based on his work at Archaia. Atkins clarified, however, that adding transmedia content to promote comics, such as an app or video game should still be “meaningful to the overall story.

I posed a last question to the panel before it came to a close, wondering what the biggest pros and cons are to using social media as a promotional tool. Gorinson replied that you have to be “clever” in different ways to use social media properly for this purpose, while Mosher commented simply, but with some emotion, “Trolls!” as his biggest con. Caylo was the most personally engaged by the question and gave the following run down: social media’s benefits are “accessibility” and the quickness and “ease” of getting the word out about your product, especially when doing it for free. The “dangers”, however, are that “You are open to trolls and people who want to bait you”. “Ignore them”, he recommended, since once they “engage” you, they’ve “got you”. Block them if necessary, and learn to take “the bad with the good” when it comes to social media.

The panel was surprisingly lively, with all the panellists more than willing to share from their personal struggles to find the golden balance when it comes to marketing with limited budgets, and each expressed an obvious commitment to the survival and growth of worthy comics through good strategies and trying innovative methods to see what works for each book and each particular situation. Building personal relationships, watching out for the wrong kind of blunders, and learning from them when they occur, were paramount for these indie publishing marketers.

Photo Credits: All photos in this article were taken by semi-professional photographer and pop culture scholar Michele Brittany. She’s an avid photographer of pop culture events. You can learn more about her photography and pop culture scholarship here.

Hannah Means-Shannon writes and blogs about comics for TRIP CITY and Sequart.org and is currently working on books about Neil Gaiman and Alan Moore for Sequart. She is @hannahmenzies on Twitter and hannahmenziesblog on WordPress.

Ask anyone who’s been in a writers critique group, and you will hear that there is no better way to hone your craft.  Ideally, a critique group gets you where you want to go as a children’s writer.  But what if you can’t find a group to go to?

Start one of your own.  I know, it’s a little scary.  But it’s worth it.  (Trust me:  I’ve been in critique groups since 1995. All that critiquing helped me reach some major publishing milestones!)  So here goes, a few pointers from my own experience:

GET THE WORD OUT.

The best way to let like-minded writers know that you’re starting a group is to contact the SCBWI critique group coordinator listed on your regional chapter’s website and/or newsletter. This chapter volunteer collects names of ‘critique seekers’, and sorts them according to geographic location.  If there is not a group in your area open to new members, he or she shares your contact information with interested writers who live and work in the same area so you can network on your own.  Another route is to contact local community education programs and universities offering ‘writing for children’ courses, and ask the instructors to make an announcement to students about your intention to start a critique group.

GATHER ESSENTIAL FACTS ABOUT POTENTIAL MEMBERS.

Start a file with everyone’s email, phone number, address, websites. Ask basic questions: what genres and for which readerships do you write? When can you meet—mornings, afternoons, or evenings—and which days of the week?  How often do you want to have meetings:  once a month, twice a month or weekly?  Where are you located and how far are you willing to travel for the meetings?  Do you want to read/critique manuscripts at the meetings or outside of the meetings?  Do you want to share marketing information at the meetings or focus only on the craft inside of the critique group?  Answers to these questions will assist you in structuring the group for maximum mutual benefit, and get things off to a strong start.

FIND YOUR MEETING SPACE. 

This is a matter of choice and luck.  The first place to look for free meeting space is your local library.  Most have a community room for small groups, and if there is room, you may be able to schedule the space up to a year at a time.  Other options include bookstores, coffee houses, and members’ homes.  As long as the venue is comfortable, relatively quiet and convenient to all members, your location will work well.

SET YOUR FIRST MEETING.

Set the date, gather members and get going.  The agenda for a first meeting should be to discuss and set ground rules, and to simply get to know one another a bit.  Sample work might be read to the group so others can get an idea of your writing ‘personality’, but no real critiques should be done at this first gathering.  You might hand out tips on critiquing the work of others, and a checklist of literary elements to look for in a manuscript.  There’s a lot of information about the critique process on various websites, as well as entire books on the subject. Two excellent books are: HOW TO START AND RUN A WRITERS’ CRITIQUE GROUP by Carol J. Amato; and THE WRITING GROUP BOOK:  CREATING AND SUSTAINING A SUCCESSFUL WRITING GROUP by Lisa Rosenthal.

KEEP IT GOING.  Encourage each writer to take their work up a notch with upbeat yet honest comments. Listen with patience and respect.  Motivate one another.  Commiserate and celebrate together.  Keep up the good work.

Submitted by

Dianne Ochiltree, www.ochiltreebooks.com

Author of MOLLY, BY GOLLY! The Legend of Molly Williams, America’s First Female Firefighter, 2012 Bronze Medal winner, Children’s Literature, Florida Book Awards

Talk tomorrow,

Kathy

Chuck Sambuchino who writes the Guide to Literary Agents Blog from Writer’s Digest had another good post and is sponsoring a book give-a-way of Kathy Leonard Czepiel, author of A VIOLET SEASON
(Simon & Schuster), named one of the best books of 2012 by Kirkus Reviews.

She is the recipient of a 2012 creative writing fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, and her short fiction has appeared in Cimarron Review, Indiana Review, CALYX, Confrontation, Brain Child, and elsewhere.

Czepiel teaches writing at Quinnipiac University in Connecticut, where she lives with her husband and two daughters. Learn more about Czepiel
and her work at her website.

As an added bonus, Chuck posted five of Kathy’s tips on writing the first draft of your novel. So read and learn, then visit Chuck to leave a comment and maybe win a copy of Kathy Leonard Czepiel’s award winning YA Fantasy Novel.

1. Make an outline. Then be willing to leave it behind. Writing an outline forces me to think through some big questions before I begin. But I follow it the way I travel with my husband sans kids: “Hey, Honey, look at this weird little mountain on the map. Wanna check it out?” And pretty soon the story has taken a turn. Sometimes the side trip changes everything, and I revise my outline. Sometimes it’s a dead end. Then I have my outline to get me back on track.

(Learn how to start your novel.)

2. Think of your first draft as the clay, not the sculpture. Imagine that what you are doing is digging up clay, just a hunk of stuff from which you’ll create something later. Much of it will be messy and unrefined, but that’s not your problem now. Your job is simply to get from the beginning to the end. Keep digging! When it’s time to write a second draft, you will have your raw material.

3. Every time you think about how pedestrian and clumsy and downright awful your first draft is, remind yourself that no one else has to read it. I don’t show my first draft to anyone. I already know it needs a lot more work, and I even know what some of that work will be, so asking someone else to read it would be pointless (and embarrassing). If you don’t know what your first draft needs, then by all means, ask for help. But if you decide not to show it to anyone, it may be best not to tell anyone about it either. Otherwise, your well-meaning friends will keep asking you how it’s going, and you will have to distract them with beer or chocolate or witty conversation on another topic (my personal favorite).

4. Don’t let a lack of research slow you down. I write historical fiction, so I do a lot of research, but I only do a little bit to get started. When I began drafting my debut novel, A Violet Season, I needed to know that violets were grown in the Hudson Valley beginning in the early 1890s, and that wet nurses had become somewhat obsolete by the turn of the century, when infant formula was invented. As for the details—how to pick violets, how much wet nurses were paid—in my first draft, I made them up! If I’d been concerned about research too soon, all those trips to the library (and the violet farm, and the Lower East Side of New York City, and so on) might have prevented me from ever finishing that first draft. Instead, I use CAPS in my first drafts to indicate where details need to be filled in later.

(Read author interviews with debut novelists.)

5. Set a deadline. A Violet Season was written over four summers—each summer, another draft. This was a crazy schedule, I know, but in some ways it was perfect. There was a clear end to the summers (sadly), and to my drafts. If you don’t have a deadline, you run the risk of one draft spilling into the next, and you may never feel a sense of closure or accomplishment. This is really important in a business in which we often work alone and without recognition. When you finish your draft, celebrate! Then start the next one.

GIVEAWAY: Kathy is excited to give away a free copy of her novel to a random commenter. Comment within 2 weeks; winners must live in Canada/US to receive the book by mail. You can win a blog contest even if you’ve won before. (Please note that comments may take a little while to appear; this is normal).

Deadline for leaving a comment ends on March 20th, so don’t delay.

Talk tomorrow,

Kathy

I am an architect with an architecture degree from the University of California, Berkeley. I currently reside in Oakland, California. Most important, I love illustrating and storytelling and it all started when I was very little…

One of my most vivid and earliest memories as a young child was my drawing of an old man sitting on a stool. I couldn’t believe how lifelike he turned out! I showed my grandmother who immediately told my mom, “Did you know your daughter can draw?!” I fell in love with drawing ever since. Everyday after school I would watch cartoons and then try to create my own characters and stories. My school notebooks were often filled with more outlandish doodles than actual notes.

Here’s April:

Before I do any sketching at all, I will read a manuscript over and over many times.  Sometimes I even close my eyes and just brainstorm ideas.  This step is important to me because this is when all the initial images and emotions I get from a story start forming in my head.  I also start doing research and compiling photos at this point as I did for Summoning the Phoenix: Poems and Prose about Chinese Musical Instruments.

Then I start on rough thumbnail sketches.  Since I have a hard time drawing at a very small scale, my thumbnails are usually at half size.

Next I refine my thumbnail sketches.  I know that for this particular spread, I wanted the background to have a grandiose feeling of wind, waterfalls, and mountains that was reminiscent of a traditional Chinese painting.  This was the imagery that popped into my head when I did my initial brainstorming.

Sometimes I have a couple of options with different compositions.

Once the final thumbnail sketch is chosen, I will work on the final, full size sketch.

I scan the image into my computer and color in Photoshop.  Here is a final illustration of a girl playing the guzheng from Summoning the Phoenix: Poems and Prose about Chinese Musical Instruments (Shen’s Books, 2013).

How long have you been illustrating?

I have been drawing since as far back as I can remember.  I was definitely that kid in school that had her notebooks, binders, and backpack covered in doodles.  So technically I have been illustrating for almost my entire life.  But professionally, I started in January 2012.

I see you are an architect. When did you decide you wanted to illustrate a children’s book?

After being in the architectural profession for many years, I realized that I could never be totally passionate about building design.  I needed to do something that gave me the freedom to be more creative and whimsical.  So in 2009 I enrolled in a children’s book illustrating course at UC Berkeley Extension and I instantly fell in love with the combination of storytelling and art.  I knew this was the direction I wanted to go in.

Did you go to school for art? If so, where and what did you study?

No, I studied architecture at UC Berkeley.

What was the first thing you did where someone paid you for your artwork?

I recently had an art exhibit at a local ice cream parlor for the Oakland Art Walk.  I sold a few pieces from that show.

Have you done any work for children’s magazines?  

No, but I would love to!

I see that you are represented by Kendra Marcus at BookStop Literary Agency.  How did that come about?

Kendra was one of the speakers at the South San Francisco SCBWI Illustrator Day last September.  Her straightforward attitude and experience in the children’s book industry really stood out to me.  Another huge plus is that her office is located in the Bay Area.  Although I didn’t formally meet her at the event, I invited her to check out my art exhibit a few weeks afterwards.  It turns out she remembers my work from the Illustrator Day (which is always a good sign) and a week later we met up for coffee.

It looks like you have a signed a contract with Creston Books. Will this be your debut book?

No, the contract with Creston Books has a longer schedule (release date Fall 2014) so my debut book will actually be with Shen’s Books (2013).

Can you tell us a little bit about the book and how that contract came about?

Creston Books is a young, local publishing house started up by author and illustrator Marissa Moss.  In fact, the debut list of books is coming this Fall.  I met Marissa at her children’s book party this last summer.  At the time she was looking for an illustrator for a manuscript she had acquired.  She sent me the story to see if I would be interested.  The fictional story is comprised of beautiful, minimal text and strong imagery about a family living in a fishing village.  Once I read it, I accepted the offer.  The book is appropriately titled Village by the Sea.

It looks like you also are illustrating a non-fiction book with Shen’s Books.  How did that contract happen?

The author Emily Jiang picked up my postcard from the SCBWI LA Conference last year and thought that I would be a good fit to illustrate her book, Summoning the Phoenix: Poems and Prose about Chinese Musical Instruments.  Luckily, the publisher agreed.

Do you have any desire to write and illustrate your own book?

Yes, I would love to write and illustrate my own book.

Have you put together a portfolio geared for the children’s book industry?

Yes, I prepared a portfolio for the SCBWI LA Conference last year.  It’s a work in progress because I am constantly switching out and adding new pieces to it.

Have you made any book dummies to show off?

Yes, I have a couple of book dummies for stories that I have written and illustrated.  One story is about a magical fish ball called Little Me and the other is about an adventurous beagle called Frank the Monster.

Not counting your paint and brushes, what is the one thing in your studio that you could not live without?

My computer, but my coffeemaker would come in at a close second!

Do you try and spend a certain amount of hours every day working on your art?

It seems like for the last year, I haven’t gone one day without working on some kind of art project for at least a couple of hours.  Lately I have been working like crazy to meet the deadline for my first book.  I actually have to remind myself to get up and stretch every so often.  It’s hard to step away when I am really immersed in my work.

What is your favorite medium to use?

At the moment, it’s pencil and digital.

Do you take pictures or do any research before you start a project?

Researching is very important to me before I begin a project especially for the nonfiction book about Chinese musical instruments I am working on with Shen’s Books.  In this case, researching on the Internet was not adequate since I needed to have a good detailed look at each instrument.  Fortunately, there is a local Chinese youth symphony that allowed me to take photos during their practice.  I was able to get a firsthand look at how the musical instruments were played, what they sounded like, and what they looked like in real life.  All those elements eventually shaped the final artwork.

Do you think the Internet has opened doors for you?

Yes, the Internet is definitely a great marketing tool and is a convenient way for people to view my portfolio.  I was really opposed to social media sites at first but then I came to terms with the fact that it’s a necessary evil because it’s one of the main ways that people interact and stay connected nowadays.  So now I have learned to embrace it and to have fun with it.

Do you use Photoshop with your illustrations?

Yes, I scan my pencil drawings and then color them in Photoshop.

Do you own or have you ever tried a graphic Drawing Tablet? 

I own a Wacom Bamboo tablet.  It’s pretty basic but does the trick so far.

Do you think your style has changed over the years? Have your material changed?

I am constantly learning new things and refining my craft.  So I have definitely evolved as an illustrator but there are certain elements of my style that has carried through.  Initially I was set on being a traditional artist.  My medium of choice was either watercolor or colored pencil.  Then I ventured out and tried using Photoshop to tweak and then color the illustrations.  To me, it’s just another artist’s tool and I have never looked back since.  Now I am more comfortable with experimenting with other materials or I may even go back to using watercolor in the future.

How do you market yourself?

Besides using the Internet (updating Facebook, Twitter, my blog), I attend SCBWI events, hand out postcards, participate in art shows, and enter in art contests.  Bottom line is I try to get myself out there as much as possible because I never know who is going to see my artwork.

Do you have any career dreams that you want to fulfill?

I often daydream that I would follow in the footsteps of illustrators that I admire: Chris Van Allsburg, Brian Selznick, Shaun Tan…just to name a few.  Not only do they all have long lasting careers, but their work has also branched out into the world of film and animation.  If you’re going to dream, why not dream big!

What are you working on now?

I am working on my two book illustration projects, submitting a proposal for another art show, and developing some of my own stories and illustrations.

Do you have any material tips you can share with us? Example: Paint or paper that you love – the best place to buy – a new product that you’ve tired – A how to tip, etc.

I could not function without my iMac, Photoshop, Epson large format scanner, and Cuisinart Grind and Brew Coffeemaker.

Any words of wisdom on how to become a successful illustrator?

I strongly believe that if you work hard and stay focused, you can achieve anything.  Success will follow naturally.  Stay inspired and don’t be discouraged because the path to success is different for everyone.  Last but not least, remember to have fun!

Thank you April for sharing you journey and process with us.  Please let us know when you picture books come out. We’d love to see them and cheer you on. You can visit April at: www.aprilchu.com

If you have a moment I am sure April would like to read your comments.  I enjoy reading them, too, even if I don’t have time to reply to all of them. Thanks!

Talk tomorrow,

Kathy

Every book sold on the market needs an ISBN Number and a bar code, so if you are planning to self-publish a book, you will need both of these things, too.  Retailers use these numbers to track and catalog your books, and to report your sales.  

I am not saying you should run out and purchase these right now, because it will depend on the choices you decide to make. You may decide to accept a package from a company that includes these numbers. You could run into an editor who wants to buy your book and that would change everything.

That being said you should realize what they do for you and your options.

ISBNs are sold like any other commodity by Bowker www.bowker.org and a few authorized re-sellers. And to accommodate the needs of these self-publishers, they made individual numbers available for the first time.

In addition, Bowker is actually registering your publishing company when they issue you your numbers, not your individual books. This is a key step for many self-publishers and that’s a pretty good reason to get an ISBN as well.

Bowker sells most of the ISBN numbers and discounts according to the amount purchased. The cost of buying just one is $125, so it is better to buy a block of numbers, because you will need more than one anyway. Most publishers these days are going to publish at least five (5) versions of a book (Hardback, Softback, EPUB, MOBI, and PDF), each of which requires an ISBN.

Smashwords will tell you that retailers such as Apple and Sony will not accept your Smashwords book unless you have a unique e-ISBN and everything on Smashwords is an e-book, but there isn’t a special e-ISBN, just plain old ISBNs.

Owning a block of 10 ISBNs is usually enough for two different books. Those who purchase blocks of 10 ISBNs are usually self-publishers who have researched their needs before making a purchase and realize this is the most cost effective purchase for their needs. The price of 10 ISBNs is $250.

The Bookland EAN Barcode is an essential component of booksellers handling of the book. You must provide a retail price for your barcode. Cost $25

The largest book retailers, as well as many book wholesalers, require books to display the Bookland EAN barcode graphic symbol which carries the ISBN. At the point of sale in a bookstore, the ISBN is scanned and all related information about the title is accessed in their sales system — identifying the price correctly and subtracting a copy from their inventory etc.

In the US, the first digit of the add-on data indicates which currency the price is expressed in — so for US dollars, the designated digit is a 5. So an add-on of 51995 indicates a price of US$ 19.95. The largest US retailers such as Barnes and Noble now require the use of EAN-5 barcode on books they handle. Scanners in American bookstores cannot read the Bookland EAN code without the corresponding 5-digit add-on. Publishers who don’t comply with this requirement may be penalized.

Please remember what I said last week, writer’s who want to self-publish need to do there homework and try to hold back their enthusium in order to make the right choices, so please check back for my weekly post or start researching on your own if you can’t wait. Just make sure you do your homework before you jump in with both feet. Click here to read 1st Self-Publishing post

Talk tomorrow,

Kathy

If you have decided to self- publish, there are lots of things you need to know and consider. Don’t think you get to wiggle out of doing your homework and making a plan on the steps you need to take and things you need to consider.

The biggest mistake writer’s make, is thinking their story is ready after they have finished writing their book. Whether you go the traditional route or want to self-publish, it is always a mistake to run out and seek someone to publish your book after the first draft. You should pat yourself on the back, because you have accomplished something that eludes many writers and you have a right to be excited and proud, but 99% of the time it is not ready for publication. You have just taken step one of the publication process.

So many self-published books could have made money for the author, if only they could take control of that excitement of finishing that first draft.  Even if it is your fourth draft and is the best book ever written, don’t mess it up by accepting a bad contract. There are companies who try to act like real publishers, who will take anybody and any book and offer a contract. The author is elated and jumps at the offer. Don’t do That!

I am convinced these companies do not give any thought as to the quality of the content. Sometimes I wonder if they even take the time to read the books submitted. They offer production, distribution, press release, and design and artwork, but it is all so inferior that even if the first draft of the book was well written and unique, it ends up being so ugly and made from such poor quality paper that no one, other than friends and family would purchase the book. Then they throw on an extremely high price, like $25 for a picture book, which further dooms the sale of the book.

These pretend publishers realize everyone has friends and family and will get those sales and occasionally they might get someone who really promotes their book and sells more than 50 copies.  For all their work these motivated authors end up making maybe a total of $150. When if they had taken their time, did their homework, and made the right choices, they could have put out a good book that people actually read and would have made money for them.

There are so many things to consider and now so many forms of publishing your book. At the beginning of the year, I promised to start including self-publishing in my post. Next week, I will start pointing out steps you need to take, places to consider, and what they bring to the table, new formats and how to make that happen, and how to get your book seen and distributed.

Hope you’ll stop back.

Talk tomorrow,

Kathy

One of the assignments the writer’s attenting the Writer’s Retreat in March are facing is putting together a pitch for the novel they have written.

Goal is to pique interest in what you wrote and hear, “Tell me more!”

A pitch is a two or three sentence summary of your book. You want to: indicate the genre, the basic premise, and to generate interest to the point where the agent or editor wants to read your manuscript. A pitch should tantalizes the listener with a hook that sets your manuscript apart, so choose your words wisely.

To prepare you can:

1. Read movie descriptions.
2. Read the jacket of a few of your favorite novels – that’s the level of detail you want.

It should be a short and snappy, only be about 2-3 minutes long. Here are a few types of pitching techniques you can use:

1. The When a… technique brought to you by Craig Lewis

2. Hollywood-style: This is where you describe your novel as a mix of two other well-known books or movies. Hint: make sure the two you use were both profitable. For example: “It’s Twilight meets Harry Potter.” Then explain in the rest of your pitch.

3. The “Save the Cat” method: The idea is to come up with a sentence or two that describes your novel and includes the following:
• It should be at least somewhat ironic.
• It should paint a compelling mental picture.
• It should give an idea of genre and audience.
• It should have a killer title.

Blake Snyder, screenwriter and teacher, describes this method for coming up with loglines for film ideas in his popular screenwriting book Save the Cat, but it works for pitches, too.

Here are a couple from Blake’s book Save the Cat. They should be movies you know:

“A cop comes to L.A. to visit his estranged wife and her office building is taken over by terrorists.” – Die Hard
“A businessman falls in love with a hooker he hires to be his date for the weekend” – Pretty Woman

Start here, add some interesting details like who your hero is, what his goal is, why he needs it, what’s stopping him from getting it, then focus on the heart of the conflict and you’ll end up with a “knock their socks off” pitch. You cannot go wrong with this formula.

4. The 1,2,3 Log Line Approach:

First log line: a single sentence that includes:
The hero
The hero flaw
The life changing event that starts the story
The opponent
The ally
The battle or conflict

The second log line:
The character who changes & what changes

The third log line:
includes a sentence about the book’s theme. What the character learns? How he or she changes.

Now:

Since so many of us are using social media and are used to packing in lots of details in short sentence, you could hone into this mind thinking when start. Maybe going to Twitter and writing something or using your cell phone to text your pitch to see how it feels.

You can even get an app for your iphone to help you pitch. Here’s the link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pitch-your-book/id432755697?mt=8

Write and Revise: Try writing 10-15 short intros to your pitch. This is the hook. When done pick the best and polish it. If you nail this part you are almost guaranteed to be asked to submit.

Now it is time to describe your book in a bit more detail. Be natural, be excited, be funny (if that is you or part of the book) describe the key turning points of your story, but make it short.

Practice Make Perfect: Pitching can be nerve-wracking, but it gets easier if you do it often, so practice on your family, friends, and anyone else who will listen. The more you do the more relax you will be.

Formal Pitches: If you are doing a formal pitch to an agent or editor at a conference, then finish by asking if your novel sounds like something they’d be interested in and let the discussion evolve. If they request a portion of your book, then make sure you clarify what they are asking for – the first few chapters – the entire manuscript? Remember to ask for a business card and contact information.

Hope this helps! Even if you aren’t attending the Writer’s Retreat or a conference in the near future, you still should be prepared. Opportunities are all around. Don’t let one slip pass you by not being prepared.  I can’t get the memory of a writer I know meeting a publisher in line at a funeral and letting him know about her book, which ended up being the catalyst of her first published book. 

Talk tomorrow,

Kathy

I've been a fan of Jo Knowles ever since reading Lessons From A Dead Girl and even more so after See You At Harry’s (Candlewick, 2012) plus I love her fun and positive tweets from @JoKnowles on Twitter. I've also heard great things about Jo's Pearl and Jumping Off Swings, so am looking forward to reading those next!

 Jo has a master’s degree in children’s literature and taught writing for children in the MFA program at Simmons College for several years. Some of her awards include a New York Times Notable Book of 2012, Amazon's Best Middle Grade Books of 2012, An International Reading Association Favorite 2012 Book, an SCBWI Crystal Kite Award, the PEN New England Children's Book Discovery Award, and YALSA's Best Fiction for Young Adults. Jo lives in Vermont with her husband and son. Her next book, Living With Jackie Chan, a companion to Jumping Off Swings, will be available September 2013.

Q: What's your writing process? What was your writing process for SEE YOU AT HARRY'S?

So far for all of my books, I've just started writing and discovered the book as I went. Not surprisingly, my first drafts are big messes. After I clean things up a bit and have a basic rough draft, I create a storyboard to help me get organized and figure out the themes, plot and rhythm of the book.

Storyboard from Jumping Off Swings.

The storyboard process I use I learned at a workshop with Carolyn Coman. Basically, you get a sheet of paper that's large enough to fit enough squares to represent each chapter of the book. Then you follow these steps:

1. Think of a scene with the strongest image that best represents that chapter. Draw it as best you can in the first box.

Part of a storyboard series from READ BETWEEN THE LINES, Jo's newest project.

2. Write a very brief phrase that describes the point of that chapter and write it in the bottom of the box.

3. Think of the strongest emotion conveyed in the chapter and write it at the top of the box.

Repeat for each chapter, one per box.

Part of a storyboard series from READ BETWEEN THE LINES, Jo's newest project.

This leaves you with a big visual that illustrates the movement of the book both actively and emotionally.

Part of a storyboard series from READ BETWEEN THE LINES, Jo's newest project.

Since my books tend to be less action driven and more emotionally driven, seeing the book this way is a big help. I can see the spikes of emotion and how they play out in the text, and where I need to insert more or less action, or emotional peeks.

Seeing the images also helps me to think about how stagnant certain chapters or groups of chapters might be, and helps me pinpoint where I need to move my character around more. (For example, in PEARL, Bean spent way too much time on the roof, which was her place to escape. I don't know that I would have realized this if I hadn't drawn a storyboard and had that visual.)

Q: What advice do you have for aspiring writers?

Remember that getting published is not a race. I recently read a blog post by someone who had taken three years to sell her first book, referring to her journey as "The Long Road to Publication." Long road? Three years?? Oh my.

In reality, I think the average time it takes most people going the traditional publishing route is more like ten. I think people tend to measure success on how quickly they can sell their first book. This is a shame because speed has nothing to do with it. I think longevity AFTER you sell your book would be a better marker.

Childhood restaurant that inspired Harry's in SEE YOU AT HARRY'S.If you want to be an author, you need to take time to learn the craft and learn it well. Read a thousand picture books. Study the rhythms of your favorites. Type out the text and close- read it without the pictures. Pay attention to the types of details that are in the text versus the ones that are implied or easily and more effectively shown in the illustrations.

The next step is to learn how to revise. To learn how to listen to feedback and make the best use of it. I can't tell you how many aspiring writers I've met who have told me they didn't want feedback because they felt their work was as polished as it could get. But they hadn't shared it with anyone but family members!

One of the hard lessons I learned when I first started out was that I really didn't understand what revision meant. When an editor suggested a revision without a contract, I happily addressed the changes she proposed, but not to the degree I should have. I tweaked, I didn't revise. There is a very big difference.

Revising is rewriting. Not rearranging. Not fixing typos. Not deleting a sentence here and there. That’s what you do at the copyediting stage. Better to learn this with critique partners guiding you than with an editor who doesn’t have the time or patience to teach you him- or herself.

There is just so much to learn and so many early mistakes to be made when you're first starting out. It's worth it to take your time and get lots of feedback from other writers (and make those mistakes with them, not an agent or editor). Not only that, you will develop some wonderful relationships and create a community–a support network–which will be invaluable when you DO start submitting.

I am as impatient as the next person, but for new writers, I can't emphasize this enough: Please don't treat the time it takes you to get published as a race, or measure your journey against someone else's and use that as a marker for success and failure. Instead, think of your journey to publication as a travel experience to savor. The more you learn, the more people you connect with, the better prepared you will be for your final destination. And the more people you will have to celebrate your success with!

Q. What are you working on now? Any other upcoming events or other info you'd like to share?

I'm currently working on two projects. One is a contemporary YA novel called READ BETWEEN THE LINES. After writing JUMPING OFF SWINGS I swore I'd never write another book with multiple points of view, so naturally this book has ten. It's kind of a "day in the life" sort of story about how each character's actions affect the next. While I wait for my editor's comments on that, I've started a humorous middle grade/tween novel tentatively called FROM THE COMPLAINT BOX, about a boy who goes to a funky independent school and the adventures/mischief he gets into with his two best friends. When I told my agent I was writing something funny he said, "That's how you described SEE YOU AT HARRY'S and it made everyone weep!" So, he's suspicious. We'll see!

Where can find out more about Jo Knowles:

Jo Knowles website - Jo Knowles blog - Twitter (@JoKnowles) - Facebook

SEE YOU AT HARRY'S book page

==========

Also see other Inkygirl Interviews.

By Francesca StaAna

Everyone hits their comfort zone at one point or the other. Whether it’s a kid who won’t exert enough effort to get A’s instead of B’s, or a sales rep who’s contented with merely reaching his quota, those who are in their comfort zones operate at low-risk, neutral state.

Freelance writers usually find themselves in it when they’re earning a satisfactory amount of money and have collected a respectable number of works for their portfolio. And while there’s certainly nothing wrong with staying in your comfort zone for a short time (go ahead, bask in your achievements—you deserve it), lingering in it for too long can be dangerous.

Resting on your laurels for an extended period of time can lead to the atrophy of your talents and skills. This is why you should never allow yourself to become too complacent. Instead, strive to improve your craft and work to attain new heights every so often.

Snap Out of It

Getting out of the comfort zone can be especially difficult for freelancers mainly because there’s isn’t really anyone to push you out of it. No solid boss dangling a promotion, no professors urging you to get A’s, and no parents checking your report card.

That’s why it’s important to always keep an eye on your work and writing habits. If you find yourself in that “way too comfy” state in your freelance career, be sure to do something different in order to shake things up.

Consider the following ideas:

Fly Solo – A lot of freelance writers thrive on platforms such as Elance and oDesk—and for good reason. These websites offer convenient solutions for connecting freelancers with clients, and they can really take the pain out of project hunting. However if you’ve been at it for quite a bit, you may want to consider setting out on your own and finding work yourself.

Do the legwork. Go ahead and build a website and find ways to promote yourself. Look into other ways to find clients, such as cold-calling (or cold-emailing), SEO, or social media marketing. Doing so will not only improve your marketing skills, but it can also allow you to broaden your client base and find more challenging (and possibly more lucrative) projects. Not to mention, you’ll get to keep 100% of your earnings and you won’t have to go on low bidding wars with others.

Get out there—literally – Some writers (introverted ones, in particular) take comfort in the fact that their job doesn’t require a lot of face time. Thanks to the power of the web, acquiring clients and delivering the work can all be done remotely. And to top it all off, you don’t even have to leave the house and you don’t have to worry about making awkward small talk.

Yes, finding clients online can certainly be easier and the chances of you embarrassing yourself in front of prospects are relatively low. However, doing it and only it can limit your growth and potential.

Sure, the online route is effective, but you know what – so is having real world meetings. The former may be more convenient, but actually going out there and meeting people opens up potential for deeper relationships. Not to mention, you’ll get to hone your social and speaking skills in the process.

Instead of focusing all your efforts on online strategies, consider attending a real live event every once in a while. Check out your local Chamber of Commerce and see if there are any networking opportunities that you can grab. Any small biz gatherings in your neighborhood? Go for it. Or head to EventBrite.com and search for events in your industry.

Networking events can certainly help you connect with potential clients, but as a bonus, these things are also rich in opportunities for collaborations, partnerships, and even friends. So don’t just attend for the sake of reeling in clients; go out there with an open mind and have fun while you’re at it.

Deliberately go above and beyond – Starting today, make it a point to over deliver and go above and beyond in your projects. Is your client expecting the first draft in 3 days? Submit it tomorrow. Wake up earlier. Work a little harder this time. Deliberately exceed expectations and strive to deliver work that’s beyond your caliber. Will it be difficult? Yes. But doing these things will undoubtedly make you a better writer and service provider as well.

How about you – what do you do when you’re feeling too comfy in your career? Please share your tips in the Comments below!

Francesca is the founder of Credible Copywriting and specializes in writing blog posts, web content and press releases for startups, Internet companies, and mobile app developers. She’s currently developing Copywriting 2.0, an online course that teaches aspiring copywriters the ins and outs of the biz. Sign up here and get notified when course launches.

So for those of you who write picture books, I thought you may be interested in reading this article written by Simone Kaplan.  She has more than two decades of insider experience at major publishing institutions such as Henry Holt and Company and HarperCollins Publishers, during which she’s personally accepted, edited, and rejected hundreds of children’s picture books. She knows how the words you write must spark the interest of an editor or agent.  Don’t miss signing up for her free monthly newsletter filled with good information about writing picture books.

Beginning with Beginnings

by Simone Kaplan

The thing about the beginnings of manuscripts is that they are important. In terms of the overall narrative, they’re not more important than any other parts of your manuscript—say middles or endings. But because editors, agents, and children read them first, they have to show, right from the start, that what follows is worth reading.

Publishing professionals receive and read hundreds of manuscripts a month. They don’t have time to read every manuscript through to the end. They start at the beginning, so the beginning has to grab their attention, pique their interest, and indicate either that the author can write or has a good idea in order to read further. If you write a good beginning, editors and agents will read on to find out if you can develop a compelling plot, create credible characters, and sustain reader interest. If you don’t write a good beginning, the manuscript is likely to be rejected before the reader gets to the end of the first page. Just as important is the response of the ultimate “reader” of the picture book: the child who is hearing the words and who either is, or isn’t, engaged by the end of the first few spreads. Thousands of picture books line the shelves of libraries and bookstores; yours needs to engage the reader from the beginning.

So the big question is: How do you write a beginning that makes the reader—either the professional reading a manuscript or a child—want to read further?

The solution is simple to articulate but difficult to achieve. There are no rules when it comes to writing, but there are some helpful ideas. And one idea that helps answer the question posed above is that of dramatic structure. Having a structure helps anchor your narrative and gives you a way to think of plot. Plot has been analyzed and described by many critics across many genres and eras. For our purposes, though, a plot is simply a way of organizing a series of related incidents, events, and situations leading to a satisfying resolution. It’s helpful to divide the plot into three sections: the beginning, the middle, and the end. This arrangement starts with the first section: the setup, or beginning.

A good beginning does three main things:

1. It introduces your main character or characters—the who of your story.
2. It introduces the circumstances and situation, showing your reader the world in which your story takes place, and gives the reader a sense of what the story is about—the where of your story.
3. It introduces the desire/need/conflict that is going to drive the character and the story—the what of your story.

That’s why beginnings are sometimes called “setups”: they establish what the story is about, engage your reader’s interest, and make him or her want to continue to read.

A good rule of thumb is that the beginning should take up about one-quarter of the book. If you think of a standard thirty-two-page picture book and do the rough math—which allocates a single page at the beginning to the half title, a spread to the title and copyright/dedication, and a single last page of the book—you have twenty-eight pages, or fourteen spreads, to tell your story. That means the beginning should be about three to four spreads. If you’re thinking in terms of a 1,000-word-count guide, that means 250 words. When you consider that the trend these days is toward even shorter books (600 words or less), you don’t have a lot of time to set up your story and engage your reader.

It’s not easy to do, but it is possible. Since you don’t have a word to spare or a sentence to waste, you need to be economical. The most economical way of starting your book is to find a way to introduce all three elements at once. The best openings establish the situation in which the protagonist finds him- or herself combined with the dramatized action, the conflict, or the expression of a desire.

A skilled writer can establish mood and tone and write an opening that contains the premise and the situation of the whole book. You can—and should—aim to do the same. At the very least, you should set up the who, the where, and the what of your story. It’s been done in almost every good picture book you can read. And you can do it too. Examine some of your favorite picture books to see how they are set up; you can learn a lot by analyzing some good beginnings and seeing how the masters handle the challenges. Then try to apply the principles that worked for them to your own work and create beginnings full of promise and excitement.

© 2012 Picture Book People, Inc.

Simone Kaplan is a picture book lover, editor, consultant, and writing coach, and is dedicated to making you a better picture book writer. She provides creativity-enhancing, skill-building, heart-expanding support for the creators of picture books so they can write the best possible books they’re able to write.

You can find out more about her work at http://www.picturebookpeople.com, or reach her at simone@picturebookpeople.com ro read more about working with her at http://www.picturebookpeople.com/services.html

Don’t miss signing up for Simone’s free picture book newsletter.

Talk tomorrow,

Kathy

By Sarah Raff

Two hundred years after the initial publication of Pride and Prejudice, commodities marketed to Janeites overwhelmingly emphasize Jane Austen’s powers as an advisor. Shoppers can choose among volumes called Finding Mr. Darcy: Jane Austen’s Rules for Love or Dating Mr. Darcy: The Smart Girl’s Guide to Sensible Romance; The Jane Austen Guide to Life, Happily Ever After, Modern Life’s Dilemmas, Dating, Good Manners, and coming soon, Thrift; older miniatures such as Jane Austen’s Little Advice Book, Jane Austen’s Little Instruction Book, Jane Austen’s Universal Truths; books called The Jane Austen Companion to Love and to Life but also the 2013 Jane Austen Companion to Life mini wall calendar; and works of fiction masquerading as advice, with titles such as The Jane Austen Marriage Manual, Dear Jane: A Heroine’s Guide to Life and Love, What Would Jane Austen Do?, and even Jane Austen Ruined My Life: a novel. This visibility of her so-called guidance helps to reveal how attractively Austen perfected the didactic tradition of the eighteenth-century novel. Austen’s predecessor Samuel Richardson aspired to be a guide for his readers on matters of romance and conduct, but no one today looks for counsel in A Collection of such of the Moral and Instructive Sentiments, Cautions, Aphorisms, Reflections, and Observations contained in the History, as are presumed to be of general Use and Service or any of the other volumes of extracts he compiled from his novels. Meanwhile, a drawback of Austen’s marketability as an advisor is that it risks branding Austen’s admirers as sexually and socially desperate. So at least my students tell me. Far from the companion who guarantees one’s literary distinction, Austen the mentor can be a style-cramper for young women in just the way that Mrs. Bennet is for Elizabeth Bennet: association with her suggests that one lacks a romantic partner and is willing to make an unseemly effort to get one.

What I find remarkable in this latest twist to Austen’s reception is how precisely yet incompletely it follows cues set up in the opening sentence of Austen’s best-loved novel. There, Austen takes Richardson’s notion that reading can turn things around for your romantic life and gives it a utopian dimension, offering up a narrator who can help readers not just with counsel but with limitless powers for active intervention in the world. When Pride and Prejudice’s narrator adopts what initially seems to be the tone of an advising aunt to give the reader’s implicit antecedent question, “will my beloved ever propose to me?” the coy but distinctly encouraging answer, “It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife,” she offers to write us the love story we want through the sheer force of her magical thinking and ours: her control over the fictional world will extend into our world and dictate the behavior of that particular man whose name we have mentally substituted for the general term, “single man.” By an entirely different logic, the words “universally acknowledged” hint that the narrator is prepared to extort a proposal for the reader from the man in question by using group pressure against him. In a society ruled by the gentleman’s code requiring that if it is generally supposed that a man will marry a particular, willing woman, he is honor-bound to propose to her, power to make matches goes to anyone who can persuasively articulate universal opinion, as the narrator here proves that she can do. The reader’s romantic hopes get an additional boost from the sanguine expectations of others—how could the narrator and a whole universe of acknowledgers be mistaken?—and from the sense that, since she herself acknowledges her beloved’s want of a wife, she belongs to a prestigious group, one whose alliance with herself can only further her chances with her beloved.

Of course, the trap laid for that straight, nubile woman and every reader willing to identify with her soon appears. The next sentences of the novel oblige the reader to recognize that the universe whose apparent prestige was the basis for her romantic optimism has boundaries: standing outside it are the single man himself, whose “feelings or views” may, the narrator warns, be “little known”; the intelligent Mr. Bennet, who sarcastically asks whether marrying a Bennet daughter was Mr. Bingley’s “design in coming here”; and indeed the narrator, who abruptly revokes her opening promises, prepares to draw a mustache on her once-flattering portrait of the reader, and transforms her own persona. Suddenly, the advisory figure to whom the reader confessed the name of her beloved no longer looks like that comfortable confidante, benign and wise, who was ready to grant the reader’s desire and testify to the dignity of that desire, but rather like Mrs. Bennet: liable to misjudge the desires of eligible men, unable to tell the difference between a vulgar local community and the world, abjectly desperate to find her protégée a husband, likely to sink rather than raise the reader’s social status and marriageability. Having unwarily accepted the matchmaking services of this Mrs. Bennet-like figure, the reader now seems to stand condemned before the new, Mr. Bennet-like narrator coming into view, who articulated that opening sentence not to endorse its assurances but to ridicule them.

By taking Austen as fairy godmother or pathetic yenta, the Janeite and anti-Janeite camps ignore this last transformation in the narrator. Perhaps their doing so represents an insight: after all, the narrator soon eases the pressure of her threatened scorn by offering up for our identification the magnificent Elizabeth Bennet, who demolishes the law that desire for a husband makes a woman contemptible. That Pride and Prejudice, with its wealth of generalizations about love, inspires so many readers with the hopeful, even euphoric eagerness for rules that it sends up in Mary Bennet, Mr. Collins, and the reader of its opening sentences suggests that Austen retained a fundamental allegiance to advice-book tradition she knew so well how to mock.

Sarah Raff is Associate Professor of English at Pomona College. She served as the foreign fiction correspondent for Publishers Weekly from 1997 to 1998. Her upcoming book about Jane Austin’s erotic evolution will be published by Oxford in September 2013.

Subscribe to the OUPblog via email or RSS.
Subscribe to only literature articles on the OUPblog via email or RSS.
Image credits: (1) The submissive reader by Rene Magritte, 1928 via wikipaintings.org. (2) Altered version of Dear Abby star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Original photo by Ben McCune, 2006. Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.

The post Happy Birthday, Pride and Prejudice! Would you find me a date? appeared first on OUPblog.

By Karen Cioffi

Can you think your way to writing success?

Yes! Let’s take a look at a perfect example: Chicken Soup for the Soul. It took the authors 144 attempts to land a publisher.

One hundred and forty-four submissions. What if they gave up after 25, 50, or 100 rejections?

Co-authors Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen had a positive mindset and clear vision. They had focus and determination. They knew exactly what they wanted – for Chicken Soup for the Soul to be a New York Times best seller. In fact, according to Canfield, the number one reason for being stuck and not realizing your potential or goals is the lack of clarity.

Canfield and Hansen fulfilled their dream with positive thinking, clarity, and perseverance.

Whether you call it positive thinking, a positive attitude, or a winning mindset, it’s the strategy of having a dream, creating a plan, projecting the positive results of that plan, and taking the necessary actions to accomplish your writing goal.

Part of positive thinking is the importance of determining your true motivation. In other words, what is your purpose? Why do you want to succeed? And, what do you want to succeed at?

All this matters.

You need to know and be focused on what you want, what success means to you, and exactly what you want to succeed at. You also need to know your motivation, your purpose. Do you want to:

• Write and market as a hobby or just pass the time?
• Earn a supplemental income to be able to buy the extras you can’t afford now?
• Make a full-time living at writing and marketing – be able to support yourself?
• Become rich?
• Become successful in the writing and marketing world?
• Become a famous author?

Will becoming a New York Times bestselling author be your pinnacle? Or, is your heart set on becoming a multi-millionaire, or a billionaire? Maybe you simply want to be a career author, getting contracts for your work on a regular basis. What about a freelance writer who works regularly? Only you know what success means to you.

This strategy of a positive mindset and positive projection is nothing new. In 1953, Norman Vincent Peale made the psychological term ‘think positive’ popular via his book, The Power of Positive Thinking. And in 1958, Napoleon Hill, using Andrew Carnegie as inspiration, wrote Think and Grow Rich.

Now it’s referred to as the scientific realm of positive psychology, and more and more people are being made aware of the positive mindset strategy — especially through sources such as The Secret. Adding to this, super successful people like Oprah, Deepak Chopra, Louise L. Hay, Dr. Wayne Dyer, and Tony Robbins enthusiastically proclaim the benefits.

Harnessing this ‘mind power’ can lead to writing success, better health, wealth, and even happiness. This is the premise behind the strategy and many believe it really works.

So, what does it take to create and nurture positive thinking?

Hill wrote, “All the breaks you need in life wait within your imagination. Imagination is the workshop of your mind, capable of turning mind energy into accomplishment and wealth.”

Seven Steps to Writing and Online Marketing Success

1. 1. Answer the questions raised earlier. What do you want to succeed at and why? Take time and think carefully about these questions. Determine exactly what success is to you. Imagine it and see it clearly.
2. 2. Put your vision into words and other visuals. Write it out in detail and make it readily visible. Read it every day . . . envision it every day. Canfield and Hansen put projection notes all over the place, even in the bathroom. This is a visualization technique and you can also use images or objects to help with your projection.
3. 3. Create a realistic writing and marketing plan. Again, you will need to make it detailed. List the steps needed to go from point A to point B? TIP: Include learning the ropes as part of your plan. Even if you’re already a pro, there’s always more to learn. Learn the craft of writing and learn and test marketing strategies to find those that will work for you.
4. 4. Give yourself a timeline. Don’t leave your success plan open-ended. State when you will achieve the success you want. It may be six months, it may be a year — just be sure to be realistic. Make it doable. This will help keep you on track.
5. 5. Don’t just talk the talk. You must walk the walk. This means do the work. Take the action steps necessary to attain your objective. Go into it realistically, knowing it will take time and effort.
6. 6. Keep positive. No matter how positive you are, there will be times when negativity rears its head. Simply stop it in its tracks. One technique is to recognize negative thoughts when they come. Suppose you’re taking all the right steps, but you just can’t seem to make it all work. You begin to doubt your ability. Take note of those thoughts and actually replace them with the vision of attaining your goal. Talking to friend, peer, or coach is another strategy to help you get back the ‘right’ mindset. You can also repeat simple positive affirmations such as “I am a successful writer; I am a successful marketer; my efforts are successful.” Come up with ones you feel comfortable with and are appropriate for you.
7. 7. Keep focused and persevere. To help keep focused, prepare weekly writing and marketing plans and read them every morning, then actually act on them. It’s hard to lose focus if you keep your objective front and center. A coach or mentor can help in this area also. And in regard to perseverance, Norman Vincent Peale said, “It’s always too soon to quit.”

Nothing in life is guaranteed to go smoothly, so expect the unexpected. Know where you’re heading, envision where you want to be, and ride through any obstacles that may come your way.

What are your thoughts on the power of positive thinking to boost your freelance writing career?

Karen Cioffi is a multi-award-winning author, freelance/ghostwriter, editor, and online marketer. For more writing and marketing tips, go to her site and sign up for her free newsletter, The Writing World.

The other day I had a mentoring client ask me, “Is it possible to make a living writing only what I’m interested in?”

I’d like to answer that question here, because there’s a lot more to it than meets the eye.

First of all: Yes, if what you’re interested in is technology, health, business, or a few other in-demand areas — you can make a living writing only what you’re interested in.

But for the rest of you, who may love writing about quilting, or butterfly collecting, or bluegrass music, or auto racing — it may be somewhat more difficult to earn a good living writing about these topics.

That said, there are ways to make more money than you would expect writing about topics that you love but are in lesser demand. For example, you can think of ways to slant these topics so they’ll fit into a variety of publications.

For instance: My husband Eric is the news editor at BoardgameGeek.com, and before that he wrote about boardgames for magazines. There are really only one or two paying markets for this interest — so what Eric did was to match the boardgame to the market. He wrote about a game called Primordial Soup for Discover, a game about sheep herding for Sheep! magazine, and a game about fish for a magazine for aquarium enthusiasts.

That’s a smart move! But keep in mind that even so, Eric did also have to write about topics that weren’t particularly interesting to him to keep his income up.

Now, I’m going to make a crazy claim: I make most of my writing income writing about what I’m truly interested in.

How is that?

Well, part of my job as a freelance writer is to find what’s interesting about a particular topic and convey that to readers in a fun, reader-friendly way. My job is to be interested in whatever I’m writing about.

For example, I recently wrote an article for a trade magazine about cold-water carpet extraction. It’s not a topic I would normally be interested in, but my editor was paying me to be interested.

I interviewed three experts in the industry, and really, nothing is more fun than talking to people who are passionate about what they do — even if what they do is clean carpets. One of the interviews was especially fun — it was with a source who said, “I can talk about carpet cleaning all day!”

(By the way, it’s funny — I’ll interview a top celebrity who’s a bore, and then have a great time talking with a sanitation/janitorial expert.)

Freelancers need to be inherently curious about everything. If your goal is to make a living through freelance writing and you’re doing a lot of marketing, it’s a certainty that one day you’ll be presented with an assignment on a topic you don’t love. If you can become interested in that idea, then yes — you’re earning a living writing only about what you’re interested in.

How about you — do you write about topics that don’t interest you just to pay the bills? Do you have any tricks for making yourself interested in a topic you don’t love? [lf]

By Linda Formichelli

One thing I hear a lot from my mentoring clients is that they’re afraid if they make a misstep in their pitches or how they deal with editors, an editor will put them on a black list and they’ll never get a gig.

Let me tell you something: There is no black list.

What is true is that editors move around a lot, so if you piss of an editor at one publication and she moves to another publication, your chances there are pretty slim. However — and this is a pretty big however — it’s pretty hard to piss of an editor enough that she would remember you, hold a grudge, and tell other editors to put you on the “buzz off” list.

I know of one writer who got into major trouble with a big magazine for selling essentially the same article to two competing magazines at the same time. And guess what? That was several years ago and her career is still going great.

And one time I pulled off a boneheaded move that got me banned by an editor, and, well, my freelance writing career is going gangbusters.

Editors are people, just like you and me. They understand that writers are human and they make mistakes, and that everyone approaches things slightly differently. And keep in mind that an editor’s job is to find good writers and help them turn out the best articles possible. It’s a partnership, not an adversarial relationship.

So rest assured that if your LOI or pitch aren’t perfect or if you have to ask an editor a question about an assignment, or you make a typo in an article — you will not be put on a blacklist.

By the way, if you’re interested in becoming one of my mentoring clients, I have three spaces open for new clients starting in January 2013. Check out the Mentoring page to read testimonials, get more details, and sign up.

By Linda Formichelli

Why aren’t you making a living as a freelance writer? In fact, why aren’t you marketing and writing right now?

Whatever ails you — whether you’re afraid or depressed or disorganized — I have posts that will help you, right here on The Renegade Writer.

Problem: You’re afraid to contact editors.

Read these posts:

Are You Afraid to Pitch Editors? This Is the Reason You Shouldn’t Be

6 Crucial Lessons About Editors I Learned from Starting My Own Magazine

How to Find Out Everything You Want to Know from an Editor

7 Excuses to Stay in Touch with Editors and Clients

Here’s Why You Shouldn’t Worry About Getting on the “Editors’ Blacklist”

Problem: You’re waiting for the perfect time to get started.

Read these posts:

Why You Should Stop Thinking About Becoming a Freelance Writer

Bust My Excuse: I’m Too Old to Get Started!

Bust My Excuse: I’m a Busy Mom…I Don’t Have Time to Write!

Still Waiting for The Right Moment to Begin Your Freelancing Career?

Problem: You’re feeling demotivated, scared, or depressed.

Read these posts:

The Depressed Writer: An Interview with Julie Fast, Author of Get It Done When You’re Depressed

7 Motivation Hacks for Freelancers

How to Get Past Your Writing Block Using Brute Force

The First Hurdle: Why Writers Should Stop Being Scared and Take a Leap of Faith

Does Rejection Get You Down? Here’s How to Develop Resilience as a Freelance Writer

Recording of Become a Confident Writer Teleclass Now Available

7 Proven Tip for Getting Into the Write Mood

Problem: You’re feeling disorganized and scattered.

Read these posts:

Renegade Writer Q&A with David Allen, Author of Getting Things Done

Renegade Writer Q&A with Laura Vanderkam, Author of 168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think

How to Gain Control Over Your Freelancing Life

7 More Ways to Gain Control Over Your Freelancing Life

The ADHD Writer: Making Distraction Work for You

How to Organize Your Assignments, Research, Interviews & All the Rest

9 Great Ways to Capture Your Most Creative Ideas Now Matter Where You Are

That’s all for now…but there are more than 1,000 helpful posts on this blog, so if I didn’t address your problem, please select a category in the drop-down box on the right and browse the archives!

December illustration by Susan Drawbough. Susan has been creating whimsical artwork for children’s markets and publishing for years – magazine covers, picture games, and books. Being constantly around children from toddler age to middle school provides Susan with tons of inspiration. www.susandrawbaugh.com/

I managed to post everyday again this year.  Lot of posts informed visitors of contests they could enter.  Others tired to keep you up-to-date with Industry changes, while others let you know editor and agents likes and dislikes, and other industry talk.  Plus I tried to share successes, so we could all find hope and share the joy.  Here are the articles that I felt were worth another visit.  You may have missed them during the year.

Writing Cross Culturally

Agents for Picture Book Writers

Book Scouts

What Teachers and Librarians Need Now

Industry Changes: Jenny Bent Weighs in on the Good and Bad

Categorized Children’s Picture Books

It All Starts With Research (not the kind you think)

Words of Wisdom from Penn & Teller

Ten Character Development Tips

Tropes, Foils, and Other Writing Definitions

Tips to Avoid Horror Story School Visits

He Said, She Said – Using Dialog Tags

Writing and Publishing in the Digital Age

Non-Fiction Writing and Illustrating Offers Publishing Opportunities

How to Approach a Critique Session

Picture Book Writing Tips

Chipping Away at Writer’s Block

Crafting a Picture Book Dummy

Market Your Book─ Without The Book

Book Fairs and Exhibits

Re-Imaging Your Picture Book

Effective Query Letters

First to Final Draft – Novel Developmental Process

Book Contracts & Negotiations

Wordless Picture Books

Formatting for Maximum Visibility

How to Pitch and Submit Illustrated Projects

There’s a Whole Universe Out There:  World Building

Using Academic Standards as a Marketing Tool

Summoning the Muse

World Building

Too Theme or Not to Theme

School Visits – Teacher Talk

Free Database of Publishers Accepting Submissions

Five Opening Novel Blunders

Gone in Seconds

Story Behind the Newbery

Editor Answers Questions

Look into Tension

Develop a Thick Skin

The Waiting Game Tips

Killing Your Darlings

Hooking Your Readers

Finding the Perfect Name for Your Characters

Poetry Critique/Revision Checklist

Can You Answer “YES?” – Synopsis Questions

Critiquing Your Writing? Nine Story Elements to Check

Critiquing?  Revising? 10 Writing Style Elements to Check

Inner Lives of Your Characters

Finding Photos

Write What You Know

Show don’t Tell – When to Break the Rule

TENSION

Will Your Manuscript Keep Your Readers Reading

First Pass Editing List

Screen Writing Plot Techniques

The Journey of Writing a Novel

Agent and Editor on Trends in YA and Kidlit

Talk tomorrow,

Kathy

Many of you know that in addition to writing paranormal novels, I also write YA contemporary romance. Well, on January 22, my first novella in the Game. Set. Match. Heartbreak series releases through Swoon Romance. Yay! So I thought I'd talk a little about writing romance.

Here's what I learned while working on the GSMH series. First, you can't write emotions without feeling them. I had to become sixteen again to write Love All. Why? Because that's when I first fell in love. First loves are incredible. They are all-consuming. You feel like your heart will stop every time your boyfriend (or girlfriend) walks out of the room. I had to tap into those feelings and relive them.

In Love All, Meg has a great boyfriend named Ash. He's the kind of guy you want your first love to be. But here's something you should know about me. I've been in a few love triangles. I hate to admit that, but I'm an open book on this blog. My involvement in them stemmed from my own insecurities, and so does Meg's. Meg's past, complete with a cheating boyfriend, has left her with little confidence. I've been there. I've felt that heartbreak. Yes, I cried a few times while writing this series, but I had to.

So here's my advice to you. If you want to write a romance, be prepared to relive first love, heartbreak, infatuation, attraction, longing... The list goes on. It's not easy to make yourself that vulnerable, but you can't write a good romance without being willing to go there.

Do you agree?

The goal of query letter is to elicit an invitation from an agent (or editor) to send in sample chapters or the whole manuscript.

A query letter is a ONE PAGE letter with three concise paragraphs: the hook, the mini-synopsis, and your writer’s biography. Don’t stray, if you want to be taken seriously as a professional writer. Keep it simple. Stick to three paragraphs.

Paragraph One—The Hook: A hook is a concise, one-sentence tagline for your book. It’s meant to hook your reader’s interest, and reel them in.

Example:  Bridges of Madison County

When Robert Kincaid drives through the heat and dust of an Iowa summer and turns into Francesca Johnson’s farm lane looking for directions, the world-class photographer and the Iowa farm wife are joined in an experience that will haunt them forever.

Agent Query suggests using the when formula: “When such and such event happens, your main character—a descriptive adjective, age, professional occupation—must confront further conflict and triumph in his or her own special way. Sure, it’s a formula, but it’s a formula that works.”

Note: Many writers use the “when” formula, so use it as a starting point. Write your basic hook and then spice it up.

Example: Non-”formulatic” fiction hook:

The Da Vinci Code
A murder in the silent after-hour halls of the Louvre museum reveals a sinister plot to uncover a secret that has been protected by a clandestine society since the days of Christ.

Paragraph Two—Mini-synopsis: This is where boil down your entire novel into one paragraph and expand your hook. Put in the hard work of practicing and revising, until you get that paragraph to sing the same tune as your whole book. Read the back flap of books you like to get a feel for how to create a juicy paragraph.

Paragraph Three—Writer’s bio: Keep it short and related to writing. If your book revolves around a hospital and you are a nurse, then say that. If you have a published book, been published in some magazines, etc,, or won a writing contest or award, then let the agent know. if you’ve never been published, never won any awards, hold no writing degrees, and have no credentials to write your book, then don’t say it. This just gives you more space for Paragraph Two.

The Closing: Thank the agent for their time and consideration. Let the agent know you have the full manuscript available upon request. Note: Never query an agent unless you have written, revised, and finished your full manuscript.

TIPS:

1. Always address your query to a specific person.

2. Make sure you mention the title of your book.

3. Mention the word count and genre of your book.    

Note: Novels should be 80,000 to 100,000 words. Young adult novels can be significantly less: 40,000-60,000 words. Insert word count and genre at the end of your first “hook” paragraph.

If your novel is 200,000 words – Cut before you query.  No one wants an overweight manuscript. AgentQuery reports unless your manuscript is a historical family saga or an epic science fiction battle, agents hit DELETE on proposed first-time novel over 110,000-120,000 words.

4. Share the reason why you are querying this particular agent. Let the agent know that you have researched them and have a reason for choosing them for representation.

5.  Have someone you know check for typos and grammar mistakes. It is very easy when e-mailing a query letter to click the send button before throughly checking your text.  Writers seem to be in the mode to triple check everything when they snail mail their queries, but since we send so many personal e-mails without closely checking every word, that “Send” button can be easily clicked.  The mistake snail mailing query writers make is forgetting to include their contact information – something you don’t need to include with an e-mail. I know that sounds crazy, but I have seen it when writers have sent me submissions for editors and agents.

Need to see an ACTUAL query letter before you’ll know how to write one? Here is the query letter Author (at the time agent) Nathan Bransford:

Dear Ms. Drayton,

As a young literary agent with Curtis Brown Ltd. I have long admired Inkwell, as well as your strong track record. To paraphrase Douglas Adams, if you searched for a book that was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike THE BOOK THIEF (which I absolutely loved), you might just have JACOB WONDERBAR AND THE COSMIC SPACE KAPOW, a middle-grade-and-up science fiction novel that I just completed. Still fun! But no one dies – Mr. Death would be lonely.

Jacob Wonderbar has been the bane of every substitute teacher at Magellan Middle School ever since his dad moved away from home. He never would have survived without his best friend Dexter, even if he is a little timid, and his cute-but-tough friend Sarah Daisy, who is chronically overscheduled. But when the trio meets a mysterious man in silver one night they trade a corn dog for his sassy spaceship and blast off into the great unknown. That is, until they break the universe in a giant space kapow and a nefarious space buccaneer named Mick Cracken maroons Jacob and Dexter on a tiny planet that smells like burp breath. The friends have to work together to make it back to their little street where the houses look the same, even as Earth seems farther and farther away.

JACOB WONDERBAR AND THE COSMIC SPACE KAPOW is 50,000 words and stands alone, but I have ideas for a series, including titles such as JACOB WONDERBAR FOR PRESIDENT OF THE UNIVERSE and JACOB WONDERBAR AND THE VACATIONING ALIENS FROM ANOTHER PLANET. I’m the author of an eponymous agenting and writing blog.

I’d be thrilled if you would consider WONDERBAR for representation, and a few other agents are considering simultaneously. Thanks very much, and hope to talk to you soon.

Nathan Bransford

Here are a few other places to look:

Nathan Bransford dissects a really good query letter and extoll its virtues.

Click Here to Visit Galleycat. They have 23 Agent Query Letters That Actually Worked.

Nonfiction writers don’t need to have a completed fiction manuscript.  They only need a proposal before seeking representation from an agent. Here’s are books and places to help with writing a proposal:

• “How to Write a Non-Fiction Proposal” Former literary agent, Nathan Bransford.
• Agent Sharlene Martin’s book, Publish Your Nonfiction Book: Strategies for Learning the Industry, Selling Your Book, and Building a Successful Career By Sharlene Martin and Anthony Flacco
• How to Write a Book Proposal, 4th Edition By Michael Larsen

Talk tomorrow,

Kathy

Yesterday we talked about writing a successful query letter.  Today we are going to discuss how to find the right agent for those query letters.  I know you might be saying, “Just give me an agent, any agent and I’ll be happy.”  Well, be careful what you wish for, you might get it and it might not be pretty.

It is important to do your homework and learn everything you can about the agents you are considering.  What good is sending an agent a query if they would never be interested in the type of book or writing you do? What good would it do you to have an agent who makes you feel uncomfortable? Make list of agents and  narrow it down.

Here are my homework suggestions for finding the right Agent:

1. When you read a novel you like and you can see similarity to what you are writing, look in the back of the book to see if the author thanked their agent or editor. Write down the names.

2. Visit Literary Agency’s websites and look at the bios of the agents. They list the genres each agent is looking for and their likes and dislikes.  Add the names of the ones that fit what you are writing to your list.  Cross off the ones that don’t fit.

3. Many agents are on Twitter – Follow them.  You can find out little things about them to clue you in on their personality and things they like.  Occasionally, they will say something about what they would like to receive.  Here is the link to Galleycat. They have a list of agents on Twitter. Just understand that the information was posted in April of 2011, so some of the information has changed. Example: Mary Kole is no longer at Andrea Brown and John Cusick is no longer at Scott Treimel NY. They both are still on Twitter.

4. Look for agent and editor blogs and follow the ones on your list.

5. Keep your eyes open for blogs that write about the publishing industry.  Check out your favorite author blogs, too. Keep your list on your desk and write down important information as you find it.

6. Check out conferences and workshops, even the ones that you do not expect to attend. They list the agents attending and give you information about each one.  So what if  you don’t attend, you have increased you knowledge of the movers and the shakers in the industry. Sign-up for a few each year, where the agents on your list are on the faculty.

Why is it important to attend a few conferences or workshop each year? ANSWER: It lets you see the agent in person and get a feel for what they are like.  Are they snarky, soft spoken, friendly, not friendly, sound like they know the industry or not? An agent may look good on paper, but meeting them in person will give you a better chance to know if you would get along with them.

NOTE: Not all conferences are equal.  Do you homework in this area, too.  Find out which ones actually help you mingle with the agents and editors. At the June New Jersey SCBWI conference, we encourage the faculty to mingle with the members. The editors have even helped introduce members to agents with a recommendation for the agent to take them on as a client.

7. Network. Talk to other writers and  illustrators and pick their brains.  Ask others about the agents on your list. Meet an editor at a conference? Work an agent question into the conversation. This will help you narrow your list down and you never know where the networking will end up.

8. Read Publisher’s Lunch it’s free, but if you are interested in sales and contracts, pay for access to the full version of Publisher’s Marketplace. If you are part of a Writer’s Group, you could share the costs. Lots of valuable information about how successful the agent you are considering is with books deals.  Of course, don’t stick your nose up at a new agent.  You might have a better chance getting your foot in the door with them and they could be the next big agent in the industry.

Of course, it is always a leap of faith when choosing someone to work with, but if you do the above you will increase you chances of success. If you have any other good ideas to add, please send so we can all benefit.

Talk tomorrow,

Kathy

By Lisa Evans

It happens to all of us: The ebb and flow of freelance work means there are times when we have lots of assignments on our plates and times when our inbox is empty. Sometimes it can seem as though your email is broken. Refresh, refresh … still nothing?

For me, those slow times usually occur around the Christmas holidays. With editors on vacation, there’s no one to pitch to and it takes three times as long to get a response.

While slow periods may seem like your worst nightmare – a detriment to your business success – there are many ways to use them to your advantage. Here are some of my favourite strategies for turning downtime into cashtime.

1. Research Editorial Calendars and Plan Ahead

Most publications have editorial calendars outlining the themes that each month’s issue will cover. Matching your query to a theme on the magazine’s calendar will not only show the editor you’ve done your research but will make it that much easier for them to accept your idea. Most publications include their editorial calendars in media kits – packages given to potential advertisers. Use your downtime to research editorial calendars and plan your pitches for the upcoming months.

2. Start a Blog or Website

If you’ve always wanted to start a blog or set up a website, but haven’t had the time, this is your chance. Use your downtime to plan your website’s content or write a month or two worth of blog posts and save them for busy times when you aren’t able to update on a regular basis. Blogging is also a great way to keep up your writing skills.

3. Create a Marketing Plan

We all know how important marketing is to our freelance success, right? Use downtime to plan your marketing strategy. Decide which publications you will target each month, which conferences or writing events you will attend during the year, and set a monthly or yearly sales goal for yourself.

Now is the time to design and print business cards or to make a template letter of introduction. If you don’t already have a system for keeping track of queries, consider setting one up. Mine is a simple excel spreadsheet where I record the date I send each query, follow up dates and notes from editors.

4. Sign Up for Online Courses

Use your downtime to learn the tricks of the trade and improve your skill set. Online courses provide a channel for you to meet other writers, learn from experienced professionals, stimulate your brain and add to your writing repertoire. Linda Formichelli’s Write for Magazines course is a great place to start. (Subscribe to Linda’s email list to get an announcement when the next session is set.)

Is there a type of writing you’d like to break into? Whether it’s medical writing, corporate writing or personal essay writing, there’s a course on it. Seek training in an area that will allow you to add a new revenue stream to your business. If you’re a lifestyle freelance writer, like me, try taking a course in writing white papers, for example – an area where you can land better-paying clients and expand your services and expertise.

5. Research New Markets

Hit the magazine stands and research new markets. I like to take my downtime to read through and analyze magazines I’ve never heard of or never written for. Make a list of the type of articles that appear in the publication and brainstorm ideas.

Have a query letter lying around without a home? Check to see if it fits in any of these publications. I had an idea on how to get flawless wedding day skin that I’d been pitching for nearly a year to various wedding publications before stumbling upon a bridal magazine I’d never heard of. I pitched the idea and within a week had a response. They liked it. Sold – thanks to downtime.

6. Plan Informational Interviews

Informational interviews are a great way for you to pick the brains of writers whose work you admire. Most people are more than happy to be treated to a coffee and have an opportunity to talk about themselves for a half hour. Introduce yourself, say you’re a freelance writer starting out in the business and you’d like to talk shop with them. Joining a writing association can be a great gateway to meeting experienced writers.

7. Write for Online Markets

Need some fast cash during your slow days? Online markets are often in need of copy, as they update on a daily or weekly basis and can be a great way to keep yourself busy writing and keep your pocketbook full.

8. Get Out!

Don’t let the slow times drag you down. There’s no sense chaining yourself to a desk grovelling for work that just isn’t there. Get off your butt and have experiences you can write about later.

Is there a new restaurant you’ve been dying to try? A dog-sledding adventure you’ve been waiting to take? A new exercise class that intrigues you? Now’s the time. You never know what ideas might pop into your head while savouring a local delicacy, freezing your butt off or wiping the sweat from your brow.

Lisa Evans is a health, lifestyle and travel freelance writer. Her work has appeared in Alive, Canadian Living, Entrepreneur.com, Experience Life, The Globe and Mail, Longevity, The Toronto Star, The Sun and What’s Up Families. Visit her at her website.