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This illustration by Eric Sailer was in the NJSCBWI Art Show and was the winner of the Unpublished Illustrator award. Congratulations, Eric! eric.s.sailer@gmail.com

Hi there. Jersey Farm Scribe here on…

Attacking A Conference

This past weekend was the NJ SCBWI conference. It was my first. So I thought I’d share some of my thoughts and experiences with you all.

First part of a conference that has to be attacked…

Actually Registering!

You can’t get anything out of a conference, if you don’t go.

Are they cheap? No. They’re not. And to be honest, as a simple farm girl, it wasn’t a small nut for me. But all jobs have their expenses. I buy feed for my piglets. This is feed for my writing. (And remember, even if you’re not published, talk to your accountant about deducting the conference cost, hotel and travel.)

So I was determined to go. A few days after registration opened, I looked at my husband and said, ”I’m going to stop THINKING about registering and just go register.” Then I said, “I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

And three hours later, I had completed registration.

The conference had so many amazing options. On top of choosing which workshops to sign up for, we had the options of which of the amazing list of agents and editors to pitch to, eat with, various opportunities for one-on-ones and even peer critiques.

After researching which agents and editors I thought I was a good match to stalk – I mean be around, I was excited to have registered!

Then, a few days before the conference came the part I didn’t expect:

Feeling like I didn’t deserve to go.

Who do I think I am, going to a “writer’s conference”??? I’m not good enough to be a REAL writer.

To be painfully up front with you all, it’s a good thing it wasn’t something that you paid for at the door, because I may have chickened out.

I have tomatoes to plant anyway, and I have to get that sheep fence fixed!

The excuses were just FLYING out of me. I was nervous and antsy and felt like I had absolutely no business being there.

Putting on my big-girl boots and getting over it.

I got in the car early Saturday morning and told myself… this is one of those times you just have to act braver than you are. MANY writers, published or not, feel like they don’t deserve their acclaim.

But I knew I had to get past that in order to get the most of the weekend.

And walking down the ominous skywalk into the check-in area, I decided to officially leave the frightened, non-deserving part of me completely behind.

And within moments I was swept up into the whirlwind that is the NJ SCBWI conference, with amazingly friendly faces, positive encouragement and more information than you could possibly imagine.

Agent & Editor Interactions

This is my biggest take-away that I feel I can pass on. Here’s the big secret:

They’re people!

Who’d have thunk??

And while I’m not saying not to tell them the concept of your book or the super special twist on your novel, what I am saying is: be able to talk about other things as well.

(I’m not sure what the protocol would be to mention names here, so I’ll just say:) I had a great time chatting with an agent, an editor and a fellow author during a social time Saturday night after the comedian. I wasn’t pitching. And I wasn’t looking for an opportunity to pitch. We were just talking. It wasn’t an agent, an editor and two authors. It was four people.

I’m going to call myself out here:

Before this, I had seen agents and editors as these all-knowing, powerful beings that step in and make exciting things happen, or not happen.

While I’m still in awe of their wealth of knowledge, and grateful for all I learned from them, I think I broke down the mental wall in my mind. They’re people.

And (at least the ones I met) REALLY nice, laid back, fun people. They like books! So we have at least some similar interests.

And they have HARD jobs. A few of them confided in me that they don’t love the level of spotlight attention they’re given at conferences sometimes. But they all handle it with grace. When the editor sat down at our lunch table, people stopped mid-chew and all 14 eyeballs darted up towards her. But she introduced herself (even though we all knew who she was) sat down and seamlessly laughed at the length of the line for food.

I can honestly say that I had a wonderful time getting to know some of the agents and editors at the convention on a personal level. And I truly think that’s important.

But of course, when you are pitching…

Be honest. Be specific. Be READY!

Have the CONCEPT readily pitch-able. I learned a great way to think of concept in Jill Corcoran’s workshop. It’s not just the plot, the story, the characters. It’s why should someone read it? The same way you’d try to convince someone to go see a movie. People say, “what’s it about?” But really, what they mean is, “why do I want to see it?”

Cut the fluff.

Words like “adventurous” “mysterious” or “changes everything” (ALL of which were in my pitch on Saturday morning) don’t hold any real meaning.

I guess what it comes down to is that we need to be showing and not telling in our pitch, just as much as in our manuscript.

Everyone thinks their book is a “page-turner”. So that doesn’t give them any information. Tell them WHY. Use specifics. Use adjectives that matter. “Memorable” doesn’t cut it. Use an adjective that describes why she’s memorable instead.

Be READY!

I don’t just mean be ready to pitch. I mean be ready to hear the feedback, positive AND negative. And embrace them BOTH.

These are high-level professionals. I was very lucky to have their feedback. They’re not pointing out fault for their own sake. It doesn’t matter to them in the least. When they pointed out my faults, they were doing it for my sake, so I could improve.

And improve I did.

I had more “ah-ha!” and “I never thought of that” moments in those two days than I can count.

An example you ask? Well, I learned about the importance of drawling the reader in at the end of every chapter.

So I’ll give you a few examples of some of the most important, tangible things I learned in my next post. 

Erika, another great article, so glad you are on my team!

Talk tomorrow,

Kathy

Art Show Teeming with Talent

By Leeza Hernandez, Illustrator Coordinator, NJ SCBWI

At the New Jersey SCBWI 2011 Annual Conference, more than 40 illustrators exhibited work in the Juried Art Show.

This is the second year that NJ SCBWI has offered the show to illustrators—in addition to the regular portfolio display—to help show off the variety of member talent to industry professionals during the conference. The show ran Saturday and Sunday and was accessible to all attending members for viewing.

The jury included editors, art directors and agents from this year’s faculty. They selected the winners based upon the following factors: Craft, Consistency, Concept, Impact, Marketability and Appropriateness.

First place went to Lisa Falkenstern (www.lisafalkenstern.com) for her Steampunk-style Humpty Dumpty piece. She left the conference prior to the announcement of the winners, so a friend called live from the amphitheater to break the news.

Falkenstern’s reaction was regret for not staying until the end, but also shock. “I entered my piece because I wanted to see the reaction to Steampunk from children’s book people,” Falkenstern said. “I was sure I wasn’t going to win—I just wanted to see  what people would say. To me it wasn’t a typical children’s [book] illustration.”  She added that she never wins anything so the shock was two-fold!

For winning the show, Falkenstern will visit two publishing houses to meet with art directors and editors and show her portfolio of work.

The two runner-up winners were Kelly Light www.kellylight.com  and Katia Wish www.katiawish.com , who each received a $50-off gift certificate for a future NJ SCBWI event.

Here is Kelly Lights winning entry:

Here is Katia Wish’s entry for the art show.

Honorable mention went to Kim Wood, who received a $25-off gift certificate for a future NJ SCBWI event.

When thinking about showing an illustrator’s work one member of the jury had this piece of advice: “There were many strong pieces and I found this a hard decision. In the end it was marketability that broke the ties, because in the end—even if all the other qualities are there—if it can’t find a place in the bookstores, it has no chance of success!”

There was no theme for the juried art show. IIlustrators were invited to submit one print of a piece of work that showed off their style in the best possible way.  NJ SCBWI will be featuring the juried art show, portfolio display and a special bonus exhibit at next years’ conference, so stay tuned for more details.

Leeza Hernandez is an illustrator/author and serves as the Illustrator Coordinator for New Jersey SCBWI. www.leezaworks.com

Thanks Leeza for sharing an inside view of the art show.

Talk t