4 Comments on A photo journey of ALA Annual 2011, last added: 7/6/2011
Continued from Leg #1 (Melbourne) and Leg #2 Part 1 (Auckland). Friday: Friday in Auckland began with a Publisher's Forum. About 50 people from the New Zealand publishing industry were on hand for the discussion. The session opened with a panel on rights selling in the international market. I think the main takeaway of the session is how important the face-to-face meeting is, how important relationships are. As Stephen Maat (Bruna Netherlands) said, he could meet with a publisher every year for ten years and never buy anything, but there will be that day that they call him up, or send him that email and say, "This is the perfect book for you" and it will be. Then, I was on a panel along with Tom Mayer (Norton) and Fergus Barrowman (Victoria University Press). Hal Wake (Vancouver Writers' Festival) moderated. A lot of what we talked about was how eBooks were changing the publishing industry--in NZ and Australia, eBooks have yet to hit the level that they have in the States, because they don't have the Kindle, Nook, or iBookstore. Tom talked about the opportunities and potential changes that eBooks and the market of Kindle Singles could have on the industry, particularly with nonfiction--eBooks may make it more acceptable to publish a 25 or 50 page book, as opposed to having to expand a nonfiction subject into longer, book-length work. Other advantages include being able to update nonfiction more frequently. We talked about the shift of making paper books more gifty, more objects to keep, vs the type of books that may eventually become e-only. After a networking lunch we had one-on-one meetings with New Zealand publishers and agents--some just wanted to talk business/pick my brain about publishing in the US, some pitched books. I finished up with meetings early enough to go for a run before dinner--unlike the rainy Wednesday, the weather was perfect for a run in the Auckland Domain. I had a delicious sushi dinner with Cassandra Clare and her husband Josh--I had run into them in the lobby earlier--and then I was off to a cocktail party hosted by the Fesivals' board of trustees. Then back to the hotel where once again Karen Healey, Garth Nix, Sean Williams, Margo Lanagan, and others were convened in the hotel lobby for wine and sea breezes. Saturday: In the morning I met up with Alexis Warsham (Crown) in the lobby and we walked over to the Aotea Center where our Publishing Panel (this one open to the public) was housed. We found our way through back passages to the Green Room where Tom, Nikki Christer (Random House Australia) and our moderator publishing consultant Geoff Walker were already convened. We covered much of the same ground as our Industry Publishing Panel--talked a lot about eBooks, Amanda Hocking, Barry Eisler, etc etc. But of course when the Q&A portion began, we got a bunch of the expected "how do I get published" questions, and even one woman who was bold enough to actually pitch her book--luckily, it wasn't a children's or YA book, so I didn't have to turn her down in public, OR invite her to send it. One audience member asked us what we thought of the recent news that an agent was becoming an eBook publisher--to be honest, because I hadn't been able to check email and read the news as regularly while in NZ, I hadn't yet read about the news. Some of the others had heard the recent news of agent Ed Victor exploring eBook publish
Libby's posts on beginnings, and then Anna's post about BLOW OUT THE MOON (which was a beginning for me, too), and then Meghan's post about how it feels to begin painting a new book made me think about another beginning--my start at the company I work now.
This week another editor and I took our shared assistant out to lunch, and she was recounting how she felt after she interviewed with me, how badly she realized she wanted the job, so much so that she could barely talk about it after the interview to her boyfriend. This was so different from her reaction to other interviews she had been on that her boyfriend commented, "You really want this job, don't you."
It reminded me about my own beginning. I talk about my "path" in my interview here, but not the specifics, really. Not those moments, those specific moments that I'll remember forever:
-I remember how I spent the night before my interview frantically trying to figure out what to wear. I didn't own a suit then (I still don't, actually), and was trying on skirt after skirt, shirt after shirt. I finally settled on a black business skirt separate, and a nice, deep purple, short-sleeved T-shirt. And I borrowed a long black suit jacket from Grace (do you remember, Grace?!) that didn't quite fit right, but I thought made my outfit look more professional. I found out afterwards that Megan found my outfit "refreshing" compared to all of the boring interview suits. Whew.
-I remember how it was so incredibly hot and humid and sticky the day I interviewed--it was the middle of July. After my interview I was so distracted and excited and worried, because I wanted the job so much, more than I wanted anything else in the world. I was so distracted that after the interview I went to get on the T (subway) and completely forgot about using a token and ended up walking into the turnstyle without paying. Ouch.
Other moments:
-A few weeks later, I was standing at the information desk in the children's section of B&N where I worked, waiting for the phone call. I had interviewed for two jobs at the time, the EA job and also a position at the Horn Book, a job that my coworker at B&N also interviewed for. The Horn Book told us that they would wait to see who Megan hired for her editorial assistant before making their decision, because they assumed that was the more desireable job, but that process had of course dragged on longer than expected, so we were waiting for that call, too. I would have loved either job. So I was standing at the information station talking to my coworker when the intercom buzzed saying that she had a call. My heart started beating faster when she took the phone and I could tell that she was getting good news, and I felt a mixture of dispair and hope. When she got off the phone she was trying not to be too happy because she knew I was worried about my own situation. But I was happy for her. And even though I despaired that I wouldn't end up with e
After Melbourne, I was off to Auckland, New Zealand. It struck me as I exited the plane that this was the first time in a while I'd set foot on a country I'd never visited before. The last time was Japan two years ago, but even then that wasn't quite accurate, as I'd set foot on the Tokyo airport as a child.
The weather when I arrived was amazing. As I walked towards the airport exit I couldn't resist taking a picture of the scene outside of the window--the sky was amazingly large:
And here's the sky from the airport parking lot: I was eager to ask my driver for some tips on what to do on my one day off. However, it turned out that the driver, Gun, had just move to Auckland from Brooklyn! In fact, he had lived in Fort Greene, a neighborhood in Brooklyn adjacent to my own. He did give me a few thoughts on New Zealand, though, but mainly recommended that I try to get out of the city. Alas, I didn't have time for that. That night I walked around the city, had dinner at a Thai place in a little food court in front of an Asian grocery store, and later spied the Sky Tower from afar: Before my trip, my friend Rose had said, "The Biggest Loser went to Auckland, and they jumped off the Sky Tower! It looked like something you would do!" Indeed. I signed up for a combo Sky Walk and Sky Jump for the next day. Unfortunately, the next day, Wednesday, was stormy: wind and pouring rain does not make a happy Sky Tower walk and jump--I rescheduled for that Saturday, and decided to trek over to the Auckland Domain to go to the Auckland Museum instead. First, I stopped in a little French cafe for a breakfast crepe and a flat white (coffee with milk): 
Hi all! I'm finally back from my travels to the Southern Hemisphere--returned to New York last night. Don't have time for a real post, so I thought I'd leave you with this video of Karen Healey kicking off the New Zealand Listeners Gala Night of the Auckland Writers and Readers Festival. Eight authors, including Meg Rosoff, Fatima Bhutto, and A.A. Gill were tasked to tell true stories inspired by the alphabet. Here's Karen's story:
This week is Book Expo America here in NYC, so I'm diving right back into the swing of things...more next week!
Greetings from Melbourne! Well, Geelong, to be exact. I've been here since Friday morning, and am slowly getting over jetlag. I'm staying with old friends who used to live in NY and am having a great time--getting a taste of what normal life is like, combined with a bit of sightseeing, too. Today I'm off to Melbourne to have lunch with author Karen Healey and her Australian editors at Allyn & Unwin.
 Before I left NYC, I arranged a Q&A with two of our fantastic Associate Art Directors at Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. Thank you so much to Tracy Shaw and Alison Impey for answering some questions! Note: they both answered these questions independently, but I loved arranging this so it seemed more like a conversation--I thought it especially telling that they answered question five in the exact same way.
1) Please list five books you've designed in the last two years. Alison:
Tracy:
When I was trying to break into the publishing industry, I did a few informational interviews to find out more about publishing and to get advice about next steps. I found the experience to be invaluable, and now that I've "made it", I'm happy to give back and grant informational interviews when requested. I've been doing quite a few lately, and it inspired me to write a post about tips for how to make the most of your time.
-Confirm your meeting/phone call the day before. And be understanding if the meeting needs to be postponed or rescheduled.
-Come prepared with questions to ask, and don't be afraid to take notes. This shows me that you're prepared and serious about my time. Don't expect the person you're meeting with to ask all the questions. They're not interviewing you; this is an opportunity for you to ask questions that may help you in your quest to break into the industry and learn more.
-Research ahead of time. Google both the person you're interviewing and the industry you're trying to learn about. These days, you can find so much information about publishing online. Don't waste your time or the time of the person you're talking to. For example, if you Google me, my blogs come up, as well as the interview I did for the Career Cookbook. There, I talk all about how I got into publishing and the nature of the industry in general. I don't mind talking about these things again, but I'm always impressed when someone tells me (whether in an informational interview or actual interview) that they've read about me, and then ask a question that expands on what I've already said.
-Be professional and put you best foot forward. Even if you're not interviewing for a position, if you impress the person, they'll be sure to remember you and refer you to other jobs or keep you in mind when future openings arise.
-Show up on time, and take the person's lead as to when the meeting is over. It might be a good idea to ask the person how much time they have at the beginning of the interview.
-Send a thank you email or card afterward
Some potential questions to ask (again, don't ask these questions if you can already find the answers online/elsewhere):
-Do you like your job? Would you recommend this field?
-How did you break into this industry? How do people generally break into this field?
-When you're hiring people for XX position, what qualities do you look for most? or What qualities do you feel are most important for this field?
-What is your favorite aspect of your job? Your least favorite?
-What do you wish you could have known back when you were starting out?
-What is a typical workday like? What are you typical hours per week?
At the last informational interview I gave, the person brought me a little box of mini cupcakes as a way of thanking me for my time. Gifts are never expected (and I would strongly suggest NOT bringing a gift to an actual interview!), but I was actually quite touched/appreciative. Plus, they were delicious. However, in the past I've been sent a person's self-published book as a thank-you for my time, which gave me a bad taste in my mouth, because it made me feel that the person was a little disingenuous about asking for publishing career advice, when perhaps he really wanted an opportunity to share his writing with me.
How man
A few weeks ago we had our biannual Library Preview. We introduced our Fall/Winter 2011 list to local librarians, reviewers, and educators. As usual, our School and Library Marketing Director/Guru wore amazing shoes for the occasion:
Our super secret guest star was author/illustrator Sujean Rim, creator of Birdie's Big Girl Shoes and the upcoming Birdie's Big Girl Dress. She talked about working in fashion, yet always harboring a love of children's books: So, since we were talking about Fall/Winter 2011, I thought I'd give you all a sneak peek at the books I've edited on that list. Except as I started writing this, I realized that I had given an earlier sneak peek back in October here. Although, back then we didn't have all of the titles or covers finalized yet. Well, many of the covers are still in progress now (particularly for the YA titles, for some reason), but I thought I'd go ahead and post the covers we do have below. And since I described the books in more detail then, I'll be brief here. Picture books:YOU WILL BE MY FRIEND! by Peter Brown (Sept. 2011) This is a companion book to Children Make Terrible Pets. In this adventure, Lucy the Bear decides that she's going to make a new friend. Of course, this doesn't turn out to be as easy as she thinks it's going to be. The House Baba Built: An artist's childhood in China by Ed Young, as told to Libby Koponon (Oct. 2011) This book has been a labor of love for everyone involved--we've been working on it for over two years, and in a sense, Ed has been writing it for his whole life, although in earnest since he became
As Anna mentioned yesterday, I was able to stop by San Francisco for a quick visit before heading up to Nevada for an SCBWI conference. I was so happy to get to meet little Tilda, who is SO ADORABLE AND SWEET!! Here she is wearing her little blue rose headband:
Alas, it was just a quick trip, and after one night I was on a plane again headed up to Reno, and then a drive to Virginia City for the Nevada SCBWI mentor program retreat. It was held at the St. Mary's Art Center, which was formerly a hospital (and rumored to be haunted by a nun): It was a lovely, intimate location. I had my own room, but we all shared bathrooms. Nothing says "editors are people, too!" than having one brush her teeth next to you! I arrived on Thursday evening, because early Friday I was given the opportunity to go on a wild horse tour. Our able tour guide was wild horse photographer Mark Terrell. Check out some of his gorgeous photographs here. And check out my not-so-gorgeous photography below. We saw several bands of horses (herds are made up of many bands), and most had foals. So cute! I managed to take two fairly interesting videos. This one features a little foal standing up: And this one features a stallion trying to see if a mare was in heat. She made it very clear that she was not interested: We even stopped by the Bunny Ranch (yes, that Bunny Ranch) to check out the band of horses that usually hangs out in front.
Last week (well, I think it was last week) the hashtag "YAmafia" started appearing on Twitter. (see some of the #YAmafia tweets here) I was having a particularly busy week and wasn't online that much, and so didn't have time to figure out what it was referring to, but when someone tweeted this wrap-up of the whole "controversy," I was able to get a handle on what was being discussed.
I just wanted to touch on the fact that it's the nature of social media that furthers things like this. In an age where "one in five U.S. divorces are fueled by Facebook" and Facebook and social media is making it harder to get over your ex, when people's interactions are more public than ever before, it's perhaps unfortunate but somewhat natural that suspicions and jealousy and paranoia increases as well. When I first got on Twitter, I remember feeling a little weird and jealous eavesdropping on authors and editors and agents banter and reply to each other. Are they really such good friends? I wondered. Of course, as I got more in the swing of how Twitter worked, and I "bantered" with other Tweeps myself, I realized that in some cases, yes, and other cases, no--in many cases, people only know each other via Twitter.
Anyway, to my knowledge, there is no YA Mafia (and yes, I know personally and have worked with many of the authors who have been mentioned as possible "members"). There are, however, authors who are friends, and these friendships can seem cliquey on occasion, especially from the outside. Just as friendships in the workplace can seem cliquey. And yes, authors (and editors and agents and, well, people) can be thin-skinned and sensitive, and sometimes hold grudges. But that's just part of the business. Any business.
As it is with pretty much every other industry, networking is important, and relationships matter. However, just as in every industry, it's not the end all, be all.
I don't want honest, negative reviews to go away. I read bad reviews of the books I edit all the time. I have Google alerts for my books, after all. Bad reviews don't really bother me all that much any more, although of course any kind of bad review can sting, and a mean-spirited review, whether it's from Kirkus or on a blog, stings even more. But negative reviews can be helpful in terms of editing--if I'm seeing the same criticism over and over, I know what to watch out for in future books. When I'm trying to acquire a book, if a colleague on our acquisitions meeting isn't in support, I do have to hear them criticize the book--but of course the criticism is said in such a way because they're telling it to my face. And at that stage, it's constructive criticism, because if I do end up acquiring the book, I can work towards addressing the concerns. Anyway, if for whatever reason it's your mission to review books, for better or for worse, then by all means, be honest. You don't have to be especially nice about it, but you don't have to be mean about it either.But keep in mind that more likely than not, the author, editor, and agent of the book will read your review.
The problem with social media is that it's public, but people don't seem to remember that. If I discuss a book in my book group and criticize it, that's where it
Last Thursday I had a tooth pulled. I've been having some other teeth issues related to teeth grinding and a misaligned bite that require me to wear a mouth guard during the day for 4-6 months. I've already had a mouth guard to wear at night since college for the aforementioned teeth grinding and TMJ. (I have bad teeth in general--lots of cavities. I think it's genetic.)
Anyway, long story short, the oral surgeon said to me before the surgery, "I guess it goes without saying that you have a stressful job!"
I paused. Because the truth is, my job IS stressful. Or, at least, I get stressed by my job. Everyone in my company gets stressed out. My first assistant would grind through mouth guard after mouth guard. But I laughed and said, "Well, yeah, but it doesn't sound like it would be stressful. I'm a children's book editor."
I realized how ridiculous that sounded.
I remembered this post from about five years ago--"It's not brain surgery." Anyway, I think I take myself too seriously sometimes. I need to remind myself to keep things in perspective.
Getting a random comment such as the one from Anonymous (of course) on my post last week didn't help any. Because the comment was so ridiculous, I have to assume that it was a joke, or at least something written, for whatever reason, to make me angry. It DID make me laugh, and it DID make me a little angry. But anyway. Being a children's book editor is my job. Not my life. I value the work I do, and I dedicate way more than normal working hours to it, but I'm not a robot. I have to remember that balance in my life is important. It's important in everyone's life. Whether we ARE brain surgeons, or authors, or illustrators, or editors, designers, engineers, or teachers. We should all strive for excellence, but we need to also strive for balance. Yes, there's always something more we can do, but without balance, we'd be unstable, without balance, we burn out. With balance, we can do better jobs, and live better lives.
So, in honor of balance, let me share these quotations, all from the reliable source called the internet:
"What I dream of is an art of balance." ~ Henri Matisse
"Happiness is equilibrium. Shift your weight. Equilibrium is pragmatic. You have to get everything into proportion. You compensate, rebalance yourself so that you maintain your angle to your world. When the world shifts, you shift." ~ Tom Stoppard
"People with great gifts are easy to find, but symmetrical and balanced ones never." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
"Living in balance and purity is the highest good for you and the earth." ~
As I mentioned last Monday, last Wednesday was the photo shoot for the yet-to-be-named cover. On Monday, we reviewed the photos of our top choices from the model call. It was interesting to see that the one model I had thought was gorgeous did not photograph as such. One of the photographer's and designer's faves from the model call also did not photograph well. But our other top choice had absolutely lovely photos--she clearly knew how to model, and her poses were expressive and natural. There were a few other strong options as well. However, the problem was that we only had a "second hold" on our top choice, meaning that someone else had also really liked her and was considering her for a Wednesday job. We decided to challenge the first hold, and as of Tuesday morning, we thought we had her booked.
In the meantime, we were also searching for a male model. We had two top choices from Monday, but were told right away that one had been booked. We wanted to see more options, and so the model agencies told us they were sending two male models to the office.
Only one ended up showing up--it was a little surreal to have this tall, good-looking male model with us in a publishing company's conference room. When I saw him, I thought he looked a little familiar, and as I was flipping through his portfolio, I recognized a shot of his (that happened to be a shirtless photo--hee hee) from Friday.
"We've met you before, haven't we?" I asked him. He looked at me a little confused. "Were you at the model call on Friday?" He didn't remember. The models go to so many different calls that I guess I couldn't expect him to remember us.
At any rate, it was good thing we saw him again, because we realized that we liked his look over the other model we had chosen from Friday. We booked him.
It was all set. We were sent the schedule. And then, around 3:30 on Tuesday afternoon, the day before the shoot, we were told there had been a mix-up with the female model and that she had been booked elsewhere. After a flurry of phone calls, we decided to book our second choice, who luckily we still had a first hold on. Whew.
The day of the photo shoot was a busy one at work, and I knew I couldn't be there for the whole day. The designer, Alison, would be there the whole time to art direct, so I knew everything would go smoothly, but I did want to a least stop by to see how it all worked.
Bethany and I stopped by the studio at 10:30. The male model's call time was 9 am, so his make-up was done by the time we arrived. The female model's call time was 10 am, so she was in a robe about the sit down in the make-up artist's chair.
Alison and the stylist showed up the rack of clothing the stylist had picked out for the girl, ranging from leather jackets, to tank tops, textured dresses, slouchy sweaters, skinny jeans, leggings, etc. There was also a table of accessories. Awesome. "Everything's for sale, by the way," the stylist told us, "selling it would mean there's less for me to return later." Tempting, but I managed to resist.
The photographer started shooting the male model while the female model was getting her hair and makeup done. Different poses, different lighting, two different shirts, sitting standing, etc. Various assistants milled around helping with the lighting. Alison and the photographer discussed the different angles and what effect they wanted to achieve. It was fascinating. I love watching other creative professionals at work--it'
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1 Comments on Q&A with Designers, last added: 5/9/2011
Love the LBYR stuff!
And I recommend Athens :)
I still have my relo packet too! Packrat mentality...
Fun to see this and my goodness that was a long time ago! Those offices seem like another life and we seem like other people in it.