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This May Illustration was sent in by Nancy Cote. You will be meeting her on this coming Illustrator Saturday, so this is just a teaser.

Last week I posted a date for a Networking Dinner in June, after saying months ago that we would have dinners in June, July, and August. I am working on making that happen. Here is what I have so far. Please do not wait to sign up. As always we do not make money on these dinners, so they will be cancelled if we do not get a good response.

Date: June 26th
Time: 6:30 pm – 9:00 pm Networking, dinner, dessert
Cost: $145 per person. Includes dinner and drink.
Place: Private Room Morton’s Steakhouse 551 Fifth Avenue New York, NY 10017

3 to 1 ratio of attendees to Editors/Agents/AD, could be less.

OUR GUESTS FOR THE EVENING:

Ginger Clark, Literary Agent with Curtis Brown LTD
Daniel Nayeri, Editor at Clarion Books, an imprint of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Lucy Cummins, Associate Art Director with Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Connie Hsu, Sr. Editor at Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Melissa Sarver, Agent at Elizabeth Kaplan Literary Agency
Kate Sullivan, Associate Editor, Little, Brown, and Co. BFYR
Tamra Tuller, Sr. Editor at Philomel Books
Allison Wortche, Associate Editor at Knopf Books for Young Readers
Tamson Weston, Editorial Consultant, Published Children’s Book Author, and Editor with over 15 years of experience at several prestigious publishing houses including HarperCollins, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and Disney Hyperion.

July 24th

CAFÉ CENTRO (location unconfirmed)
Private Dining Room
METLIFE BUILDING AT GRAND CENTRAL STATION
200 PARK AVE. AT EAST 45TH ST.
NEW YORK, NY 10166

Our Guests for the evening:

Agent John Cusick - Scott Treimel Agency
Agent, Holly McGhee – Pippin Properties
Agent, Liza Fleissig – Liza Royce Literary Agency
Executive Editor, Regina Griffin – EgmontUSA
Associate Editor, Leila Sales – Viking Books
Agent, Susan Hawk – The Bent Agency

August 14th

CAFÉ CENTRO (location unconfirmed)
Private Dining Room
METLIFE BUILDING AT GRAND CENTRAL STATION
200 PARK AVE. AT EAST 45TH ST.
NEW YORK, NY 10166

Our Guest for the evening:

Editor, Heather Alexander – Dial BFYC
Executive Editor, Erin Clarke – Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers
Artist Representative, Christina Tugueau – Christina A Tugeau Agency
Art Director, Katrina DamKoehler- Sterling Books
Agent, Scott Treimel - Scott Treimel Agency
Agent, Stephen Frazer - Jennifer DeChiara Literary Agency

Please send me an e-mail if you would like a dinner spot at one of these dinners. Put Summer Networking Dinner and the date in the subject area.

Talk soon,

Kathy

With so many new people signing up for our various events, some are getting confused on exactly what each one offers.  So I wrote up the descriptions that people could refer to when they had questions on the NJSCBWI events.  I’m sure I have missed things.  If you have attended one of these events and notice something missing, please let me know.

FIRST PAGE SESSIONS:

Everyone who attends gets to hear their first page read.  These areheld during the week, starting at 4pm, ending a little after 6 PM.  There is an optional dinner is provided withthe editors.  Dinner usually ends by 8 PM.  Costs for members: $30, plus $30 for dinner.

All the first pages are read aloud by volunteer readers and two editors/agents give feedback on what they heard.

Everyone brings three copies of a first page of a single manuscript with them. Do not put your name on the paper, but do include a title and indicate the genre (picture book, chapter book, middle grade, young adult, non-fiction).

Your manuscript must fit on a single sheet of paper. If you submit a second sheet, only the first one will be read.

Use standard manuscript formatting—double spaced, 12 point Times New Roman or Courier font, one-inch margins all around, half-inch indents for each new paragraph, single column of text. Start at the top of the page, though, instead of spacing down like you normally would for a first manuscript page.  (This applies to all submissions, at all events)

A first page has 23 printed lines (not sentences!), including the title, of text from your manuscript.  That means if you have a picture book, you will be able to get a large portion of your manuscript on that first page.  It does not mean only the sentence or two
that would appear on the first physical page of the printed book.

If your text rhymes, put each rhyme on a new line. Do not leave a blank line between stanzas.

MENTORING WORKSHOPS

These workshops are one day workshops, typically held on Sundays.  Breakfast is available at 8:15 AM.  Program starts at 8:45 AM.

Everyone attending receives a 20 minute one-on-one critique.  Novel Attendees submit the first 30 pages of their manuscript along with a synopsis, 35 days prior to the workshop.  Picture book people submit their full picture book 35 days prior.

Everyone is placed into Writing Groups for peer critiques.  These are exchanged with your group a month before via e-mail. Each member of the group will read and critique the other group member’s submission prior, so everyone is ready to discuss their critique for each.

When one person in your group is meeting with their editor, someone else’s manuscript is being discussed by the group.

Lunch is provided in the cost of the workshop and attendees get to sit at lunch with the editor/agents.

Before and after lunch we have a First Page Session (Please see above description).

The day ends with a Q & A with the editors/agents.  End time is no later than 5 PM.

WRITER’S RETREAT

This is a small Weekend Workshop. Two editors spend the weekend no more than 18 attendees.  Start time 3 PM Friday.  End time 3 PM Sunday.  All meals are included in the cost of the weekend.  All meals are with the editors/agents.

Everyone receives a 45 minute one-on-one critique with their mentor.  The first 30 pages, plus synopsis or a full picture book text is submitted 35 day prior to the weekend to give the editors/agents enough time to critique.

At this time everyone will e-mail the other people in their group their manuscript, so they also will have time to critique in advance of the workshop.  Novel groups normally contain 5 per group. Each group critique receives 45 minutes, too.

Other things included during the weekend:

First Page Session (See above).

Various Workshops:

Example:  This year we are having Pitch and Blurb Writing

Come out and join us.  I promise you will have a dog gone good time.

The last two Summer Networking Dinners are being held next week on Aug. 23rd and 24th.  We have a spot available for Aug. 23rd and one spot on Aug. 23rd.  If you are already secured your spot for Aug. 23rd, then please look for my e-mail listing your dinner choices.  People on the 24th do not have to make their entree choices in advance.  People on the waiting list for September 8th in Princeton, NJ.  I am working hard to try to add and editor or agent for that dinner, so don’t give up, yet.

Remember you can sign up for the First Page Session taking place at the Wyndham Hotel and Conference Center on September 20th.  Sarah Dotts Barley, Associate Editor at HarperCollin and Ariel Colletti, Assistant Editor at Atheneum/Simon and Schuster will be joining us for the session and dinner afterwards.  Click here for more details.

There are two spots available for the Writer’s Retreat being held at the at the Hyatt Regency September 30th to October 2nd in Princeton, NJ.  Connie Hsu, Editor at Little, Brown, and Company and Heather Alexander, editor at Dial Books for Young Readers will be out mentors.  Click here for more details.  Anyone who has sign up to attend, please make sure you have your manuscripts ready to submit.  The deadline is August 27th.

Don’t forget that about the NJSCBWI Free Craft Day on November 5th.  Space is limited, so you need to register in advance.  There will be a dinner afterwards with the editors and people can chose to stay for dinner and hear our quest speaker, agent Stephen Frazer.

On November 6th, there will be a Mentoring Workshop and Illustrators’ Day.  The Hyatt Regency is giving us a reduced price for anyone who wants to stay over on Saturday night.  Here is the link to more info for this weekend of events.

So many of us know Rebecca Frazer, Aquistions Editor at Jabberwocky/Soucebooks.  I have confirmed that Rebecca has resigned and will be letting me know very soon as to what she has up her sleeve.  In the meantime, it will not help to mail your manuscripts and query letters to Rebecca.  Check back for more details on this turn of events.  We certainly wish Rebecca the best and hope she can still be involved with all of the SCBWI.

Talk tomorrow,

Kathy

The Galaxy Project Contest

Rosetta Books is launching a contest to discover science fiction writing talent, in conjunction with the ebook release of selections from the classic science fiction magazine Galaxy. The winner will receive a modest $1,000 advance and “guaranteed e-book publication as part of The Galaxy Project collection.” Judges include author Robert Silverberg.

The winner will:

• Be published in e-book as part of The Galaxy Project collection.
• Receive an advance of $1,000 against royalties of 50% of net receipts to 2,500 copies and 60% of net receipts thereafter for world English digital rights.
• Retain the copyright and all rights other than the initial digital use (per Galaxy Magazine‘s policy)

Contest deadline: Sept. 2, 2011.  http://www.thegalaxyproject.com/

Summer Networking Dinners start next week.  July 5th is full, but you still have time to reserve a spot for July 6th.  There has been a lot of shifting around of editors and agents.  Please check:  http://kathytemean.wordpress.com/2011/06/20/summer-networking-dinner-with-editor-info/for the latest information.

Still a few spots for the Weekend Writing Retreat September 30 – October 2nd.  Please e-mail me at kathy.temean (at) hotmail (dot) com if you want to reserve a spot.

This week, editor Rebecca Frazer from Sourcebooks/Jabborwacky agreed to come in on November 5th’s Craft Day to do a workshop on picture books.  Editor Cheryl Klein is already schedule to do a workshop on novels.  This is free, but space is limited.

Both Rebecca and Cheryl will be staying for dinner and doing the Mentoring Workshop on Sunday November 6th.  Registration Forms:  http://www.newjerseyscbwi.com/forms/workshopregistration.pdf 

Publishing Industry Changes:

At Penguin Children’s, Nico Medina joined the Grosset & Dunlap/PSS! team as senior managing editor. He returns to Penguin Children’s after working at Egmont USA. Bonnie Bader has taken the role of editor-in-chief for Warne and Early Readers, and Gillian Levinson has been promoted to assistant editor at Razorbill.

Kristin Ostby has joined Albert Whitman & Company as senior editor. She has been a freelance editor, and previously worked at Grosset & Dunlap/Price Stern Sloan.

Talk soon,

Kathy

The past few week, I have started getting a bunch of questions from writers.  Not just New Jersey and New York, but member from all over the world, wanting to get more information.  The Summer Networking dinners take place in New York City and are offered first to the people attending the June Conference in Princeton, NJ.  If there are spots still available after the conference, they will be sold to other members who did not attend the conference. 

I will post the dinners and dates when we finish setting them up and anyone who wants to secure a spot before the conference can do so if they pay an additional $75.

We are currently working on gathering the editors and agents participating this year.  Each dinner will have at least 4 editors, agents (usually we have at least one dinner with art reps, art directors, editors and agents for the illustrators).  I look for very nice restaursants with pirate dining rooms, so we can mix and mingle before dinner.  Once we orderdinner, everyone introduces themselves and gets to talk about what they are working on, so all the agents and editors can get to know you better.  We have the editors and agents switch seats during dessert, to help give everyone more opportunity to talk to our VIP’s.

It is a lot of work to coordinate all the editors and agents and then plan the dinners, but everyone has loved them, so I continue to do them.  They are a lot of fun and since we keep the dinner small, they provide a lot of opportunity to talk with the editors and agents attending.  Dinner includes appetizer, entree, dessert and one alcoholic beverage.  Dinners are held on Tuesdays and Wednesdays during the summer months and usually are around $125.  All dinner must be paid for in advance and there are no refunds.

Look forward to spending some time with you this summer.

Talk tomorrow,

Kathy

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On September 16th and November 4th, the NJSCBWI will have their Fall First Page Sessions.  Both will be held at the Princeton Theological Seminary in Princeton, NJ.  The cost to attend is $25 to come to just the session and an additional $25 to stay and have dinner with the two Editor/Agents.

For September 16th, we have Marissa Walsh, Agent at Fine Print Literary and Leila Sales, Assistant Editor at Viking Children’s Books.

Marissa is open to representing everything, except fantasy.

She is the author of Girl with Glasses: My Optic History  

I just confirmed Joe Monti, Agent at Barry Goldblatt Literary for our November 4th First Page Session.  I should be able to confirm the second person very soon. 

Joe is interested in Children’s and Young Adult or Teen Lit.  He is loves fantasy and science fiction.  And is very  interested in  working with writer/graphic artists on graphic novels to picture books.

Joe lives in Princeton, but he isn’t able to join us for dinner next week.  I was hoping he would be able to come and then we could have a few more people meet him.  Anyway, I think he will be a great addition to our First Page Session in November.

Agent and author John Cusick from the Scott Treimel Agency has agreed to join our Networking Dinner on July 28th at A.J. Maxwell’s.  This is the first thing John has come out to with the NJSCBWI.  I have met John and he is really nice.  You will like him.  I’m reading his book GIRL PARTS.  Really good so far.

So we have one open spot for that networking dinner, please e-mail me to get in.  It should be really nice.  We have a private room for the evening.

If you would like to attend one of the First Page Sessions, you should sign up sooner rather than later, since we limit space to enable everyone to hear their first page read out loud to our industry experts.

Talk Tomorrow,

Kathy