New York is a surprise. Walked around the corner and ended up in the audience of the Today Show. The hosts Matt Lauer and Ann Curry were warm and funny, speaking to the crowds while we waved. I waved. Yes, I’m corny.
Did the New York things like the Statue of Liberty, harbour cruise, shopping at Macy’s with Tory. Well, she deserves it after giving me her songs for our book ‘That’s Why I Wrote This Song’.
Had dinner in the University area of Union Square with SCBWI authors Vicky Shiefman, Seta Toroyan, Nancy Lewis and Nancy Castaldo. They shared USA publishing news - there are so many cuts in publishing houses, take over of smaller presses. In fact that’s what happened to my US publisher Tricyle which is now an imprint of Crown which is part of Random House USA. It could be a good thing as Random House’s distribution seems strong and ‘I AM JACK’ is ‘everywhere’ - with announcements that it is coming out 13th October 2009.
There are lots of new literary agents who were editors and publishers. If you want a US agent this is the time to search. However it seems that the USA agents are much more creatively involved than Australian agents. They take a strong editorial role. With the publishing cuts in the USA, the SCBWI authors felt that there was a reliance on the agents doing some of the editorial work before the manuscript was submitted.
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